Andrea Brown Literary Agency is a full-service literary agency founded by Andrea Brown in 1981. Headquartered in Southern California with agents located across the United States, the agency began by representing children’s book authors and illustrators and has since expanded to represent adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction across a wide range of genres. Its clients include debut and established writers, illustrators, graphic novelists, and other book creators.
The agency emphasizes long-term career development, editorial guidance, contract negotiation, and close personal attention to its clients. ABLA also handles subsidiary rights, including foreign, audio, merchandising, and film and television opportunities through specialized partners and co-agents. Kelly Sonnack became owner and president of the agency in 2025, while founder Andrea Brown remains with the firm as Founder and President Emeritus and continues to represent clients.
Andrea Brown Literary Agency Submission Guidelines
Submitting Your Work to Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Before submitting to Andrea Brown Literary Agency
The Market List recommends you verify the market is active and accepting submissions before sending your manuscript via regular mail. You may verify a market status by either visiting their website, calling their listed phone number, or confirming via regular mail that the market is still active before sending them your work.
To be sure your submission is appropriate for this market, we recommend you familiarize yourself with Andrea Brown Literary Agency by reading a sample issue before submitting.
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From the Guidelines
Submission Guidelines Details for Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Andrea Brown Literary Agency accepts digital submissions through QueryManager. Writers should query only one ABLA agent at a time; if that agent declines, they may query another open agent. There is no limit on how many ABLA agents may eventually be queried for the same project, provided submissions are sequential rather than simultaneous. The agency does not consider AI-generated work.
For adult projects, the agents currently accepting submissions are Laura Rennert, Saritza Hernández, Kathleen Rushall, and Lara Perkins. All other ABLA agents accept children’s work only. Writers should review each agent’s bio before submitting to confirm genres and categories.
A QueryManager submission should include a short query letter describing the work, previous publishing credentials if applicable, a short author bio, contact information, and the appropriate sample:
- Novels: first 10 pages.
- Picture books, text only: complete manuscript.
- Illustrated picture books: full PDF dummy with 1–2 color samples plus an online portfolio link.
- Graphic novels, art and text: 10–20 sample page spreads plus a synopsis.
- Graphic novels, text only: first 10 pages of script.
- Nonfiction: proposal plus 1–3 sample chapters.
- Illustrators seeking representation: art samples in PDF format plus an online portfolio link.
The agency sends a response to every submission, although response times vary by agent. If another agency makes an offer of representation, ABLA asks to be notified immediately and requests two weeks to review the submission. Significantly revised projects may be resubmitted after more than six months, clearly marked as revised; new projects reset the submission rules.
ABLA also notes that promising queries may be shared internally among its agents, but submission materials are not shared outside the agency and AI is not used to read queries or manuscripts.