Mark O’Brien

#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

Some #MSWL -y thoughts about what I’d love to see in my inbox:

•MG about space, fiction or non-fiction! My mom works on glass used in the aerospace industry; I have a lifelong fascination with all things outer space.

•Trans authors!

•Adult queer romance with asexual heroes!

Writers, if you're interested in querying me, please check out my bio and MSWL linked above, then fill out the form below. Thank you so, so much in advance for considering me as a business partner and champion for your work! It is an honor. QueryManager.com/bookmarkobrien

Well, it happened. SO excited to share I’ve joined the amazing team @jenazantian has assembled at Azantian Literary Agency as an associate agent, repping MG, YA, queer adult romance, and nonfiction! Editors, please say hi—I’d love to chat!
azantianlitagency.com/about-us/mark-o'brien