Leslie Zampetti
Literary Agent
Founder & Literary Agent at Open Book Literary. Lapsed librarian. Rapacious reader. Wishful writer. She/her. Member of @scbwi & @aalitagents.
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Folks checking out my #MSWL Day posts!
I will re-open to queries in the spring - you can check out my timing, etc. here:
querytracker.net/query/Lzampetti
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Picture books are my guilty pleasure! #MSWL
MORE:
Fun & funny
Instant kid appeal 🤝 Classroom/Library potential
Lots of layers
LESS (or better, none):
Teachy or preachy
Sentimental or nostalgic
Rhyme
Books of my 💛: I WANT MY HAT BACK, SOUL FOOD SUNDAY, PLANTING STORIES... PURA BELPRÉ
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Keeping an eye out for mysteries:
Steeped in setting like S.A. Cosby or Liz Moore
Cozy comfort reads (Christie crossed with Kawashiro?)
Amateur detectives like Cash Blackbear or Kausar Khan
#MSWL
manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/leslie-zampetti/
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#MSWL Day is here!
I'm seeking more narrative nonfiction for children and adults. Think THE MONA LISA VANISHES (Day) or Candace Fleming's books for kids.
More like THE ART THIEF (Finkel) or NO HUMAN INVOLVED (Neely) for adults. Also seeking nonfiction that really brings setting to life!
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It's #MSWL Day! 😃 🔍 📖
My most recent white whale project? A chilling, thrilling mystery with a disabled detective - where their disability is a strength.
Wishlist:
www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/le...
Submission guidelines:
www.openbooklit.com/submissions
Next open to queries 3/3/25!
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Norma @normajeanesays
My white whale (I have been asking for years!) is an atmospheric traditional contemporary mystery in the vein of Louise Penny and Suzanne Chazin. Bonus points if the author and characters are both marginalized! #MSWLAhoy! I've been seeking this whale of an #MSWL too! 🐋📚😊
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racquel marie 🌹 @blondewithab00k
✨ what was/will be your first read of 2022? ✨First read of 2022 (not counting requests with offers or client manuscripts 😊): Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong. So glad to finally begin the Chief Inspector Chen series!
Hint: looking for adult mysteries like these when I reopen to queries 1/3/22. #MSWL
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Karen Chaplin @CapChapReads
#mswl I am looking for middle-grade mystery. Mysteries were one of my fav things to read and watch as a kid. Take me back to The Goonies and Encyclopedia Brown with mystery, adventure, friendship, and an element finding yourself.Me too!!! #mswl
But I’d really love it with a voice we’ve not seen before.
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Elizabeth Law @elawreads
You know what we're seeing now that's positive? Rather than a picture book bio per se, picture books about a portion of someone's life, about a new art movement, the invention of something, a [fill in the blank] or moment that changed history. #KidlitchatThis! I’ve been seeking books like this! #MSWL 👇👇👇
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Ann Clare LeZotte @annclezotte
I think 2020 had more disabled Own Voices than any previous year. The creators are predominantly white— kids need to see themselves at the intersections. Here are some I read & liked. I didn’t do a lot of YA. Fill in the gaps & share your favs. (Skip my bk; it has enough love.) pic.twitter.com/YatGeNSX5XLove to see more books featuring disabled #ownvoices. (Hint: I'm looking for this, especially BIPOC creators. #MSWL)
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Lane Clarke @lanewriteswords
Like I know we’re anti pandemic books but I’m just saying a found family pandemic book about teens with homes they can’t stay in who instead band together and make a home for themselves would hit so hard. They all adopt each other. It would hit SO HARD.Ok, you got me. #mswl
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Melissa Stewart @mstewartscience
A4: I wish there were more editors, agents, reviewers, and award committee members with an interest in earth science, physics, and chemistry. Why are nearly all science-themed picture books about animals and life sciences?#BlackinSTEM #scicomm #scbwisummerspec #scbwiEquity
I would love to see some great picture books for these sciences. I had second grade patrons who wanted these! #MSWL
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Eva Scalzo 🇵🇷 @evascalzo
I was diagnosed in 1994, and The Babysitters’ Club was the only reason I knew what diabetes was too. I still want a YA with type I diabetes rep. #mswl twitter.com/mariskreizman/…Seconded! Diabetes truly is an invisible disease. Though I’d love MG or YA with Type 1 or Type 2... #MSWL
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Read the late great Barbara Neely’s BLANCHE ON THE LAM yesterday. So sad we only have 4 of these. I’m going to have to dole them out to myself as treats...
I’d love a contemporary #ownvoices mystery that tells it like it is, just as Ms. Neely did. #MSWL
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Shira Schindel @Shiras24
@leslie_zampetti These ideas are awesome (I'd SO love to read them!), and also, I've yet to see a mainstream YA romance with two MO characters, or Conservative characters, or really almost anything mainstream without a bar/bat mitzvah, inter-faith relationship, or the Holocaust.I know! Maybe you’re writing something? 😉
I’d love to see contemporary Jewish YA without the b’nei mitzvot or Holocaust or even anti-Semitism. I am up for inter-faith relationships tho - if done in a fresh way. 😊 #MSWL