Mark O’Brien

My special interest is drag. You should absolutely weaponize this fact if you write about drag queens/kings/things, or if you are drag queens/kings/things. #MSWL

Happy #MSWL day! I’m an associate agent at Azantian Literary Agency, building my list in YA, queer romance, select nonfiction, and graphic novels for all ages. Query me here!
querytracker.net/query/bookmarkobrien

Gently begging the ol’ query inbox for YA speculative fiction that comps to Welcome to Night Vale and/or A.S. King. #MSWL

I’d love a queer romance with an autistic protagonist and/or love interest, as an actually autistic agent (and, apparently, alliteration aficionado). I loved Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient! #MSWL

I’ve lived most of my life in poverty. I’d love to see realistic depictions of poverty in both fiction and nonfiction, showing the hardships while steering clear of tragedy porn territory. #MSWL

In contemporary YA, I’m a sucker for gorgeous, meticulously crafted prose—think E. Lockhart and Jandy Nelson. #MSWL

I’d love to see super strange manuscripts, too. If Welcome to Night Vale could be a comp title for your project, please send me your query. #MSWL

Across the board, I’d love to see more nonbinary and transgender authors and stories in my QueryManager inbox—particularly (though not exclusively) transmasc authors and stories! #MSWL

Mini #MSWL thread! I’m an associate literary agent at Azantian Literary Agency, representing YA, queer adult romance, and adult nonfiction. Query me here:
querytracker.net/query/bookmarkobrien

#MSWL Fiction or nonfiction by Black writers about marijuana—a book of essays, a cookbook for special brownies and treats of the sort, political analysis of legalization, a queer romcom with a budtender main character, fiction where a character gets high responsibly and nothing bad happens to them…

My bio: www.azantianlitagency.com/about-us/mar...

ALA submission guidelines: www.azantianlitagency.com/submissions

QueryManager: querytracker.net/query/bookma...

Looking forward to reading your work! ☺️

I would love to see more queer romance in my inbox. I’m a fan of authors like Alexis Hall, Kris Ripper, Cat Sebastian, Helen Hoang, Kennedy Ryan, Meryl Winsler…and bonus points for neurodivergence representation, as an autistic agent who speaks neuroatypical! :) #MSWL

In contemporary YA, I want weird. I want queer. I want earnestness unafraid of itself. I want wordplay. I want fun. Would love to see something contained within a unique setting—on set at a TV show, at sea, something about leap years… #MSWL

In everything, and especially in middle grade fiction, I gravitate toward a strong sense of humor. I’d love to find new work like Stand Up, Yumi Chung!, The Serpent’s Secret, or A Series of Unfortunate Events. #MSWL

Happy #MSWL day! I’m an associate agent at Azantian Literary Agency, looking for:

•select middle grade
•young adult contemporary realistic fiction, and realistic-ish, like A.S. King
•queer romance
•adult nonfiction

Wanna dive deeper into my wishlist? Let’s!

If your manuscript has so much as a hint of a whisper of a rumor of a vibe of Welcome to Night Vale and you haven’t queried me yet, what are you doing? #MSWL

Some more #MSWL items for me:

•Middle grade science fiction like Insignia by S.J. Kincaid, which I loved

•Epistolary fiction like Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

•Lyrical, literary, lush contemporary (or contemporary-ish) YA—again, Jandy Nelson comes to mind

•If one of your comps is Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, check out me in the acknowledgments and also query me NOW

•I’m SO looking forward to the next Jandy Nelson book!

More #MSWL thoughts:

•If you can write like Hozier (especially on Unreal Unearth and First Time) and you haven’t already queried me, consider: changing that!

•I loved, loved, loved Matt Baume’s Hi Honey, I’m Homo! I would love to work on something similar for younger readers.

•Projects about the realities of fame, even at the micro- or local-celebrity levels. (Fame is another lifelong fascination for me!)

•Non-fiction about online relationships

•Comps to: R. Eric Thomas, Jenny Lawson, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green