Jen Babakhan is a literary agent with Books & Such Literary Management.

Jen’s Wishlist:

Women’s Fiction with strong female leads and unique hooks, including:

Romantic comedies
Historical romance
Romantic suspense
Cozy mysteries
Historical
Contemporary

Nonfiction with a unique point of view including:

Christian living
Self-help
Bible studies
Devotionals
Cookbooks
Gift books

Jen grew up spending afternoons sitting in the middle of bookstore aisles, thumbing through the adventures of Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Berenstain Bears, or the latest Shel Silverstein book of poetry. The smell of new and old books, and the act of browsing through pages transported her into other worlds from her earliest years.

Her love for reading quickly turned into a love for writing. Jen believes that the gift of writing is from God and not to be taken lightly. With that ability comes the chance to bless others with our creative work.

Prior to becoming an associate agent in 2024, Jen graduated with a degree in communications and became a marketing specialist for an international nonprofit, where she worked to develop the business’s brand and recognition of that brand—two important elements for every author to master as well.

She later transitioned into freelance writing and ghostwriting when her two children came along. In these roles Jen wrote for Reader’s Digest from 2017 to 2021, and her work has been featured in various national outlets.

She lives in California with her husband, two children, and two incredibly stubborn Shih Tzus.

Laurie McLean is a literary agent with Fuse Literary.

Laurie is a founding partner at Fuse Literary representing New York Times and international bestselling authors, as well as indie published authors who want to also publish traditionally, and debut authors with promise. She spent 20 years as the CEO of a publicity and marketing agency, and 8 years as an agent and senior agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents in San Francisco before co-founding Fuse Literary in 2013 with Gordon Warnock.

Laurie was well known in the early days of the Apple Macintosh phenomenon as the CEO of the successful Silicon Valley public relations agency bearing her name. After 20 years there, she switched gears to immerse herself in her personal writing. Laurie had been writing professionally since high school–first as a journalist, then as a public relations agent–but now she could finally spread her wings as a novelist. She penned three manuscripts before deciding that she missed using the shark part of her brain and that the life of a literary agent was her perfect match. Prior to all this, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the State University of New York and a Master’s Degree at Syracuse University’s prestigious Newhouse School of Journalism.
Fiction

Laurie specializes in representing authors of entertaining and interesting middle-grade, young-adult, and adult genre fiction. Her clients include the New York Times and international bestselling YA and middle-grade author Julie Kagawa, epic fantasy bestseller Brian D. Anderson, debut modern Asian fantasy author team Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle, historical mystery and romance author Heather Redmond/Hiestand, hotshot up-and-coming Latinx activist author Nonieqa Ramos, Afrofuturist, children’s book author and poet B. Sharise Moore, award-winning steampunk and fantasy author Pip Ballantine, award-winning middle-grade author Melissa D. Savage, street lit author OG Rev, award-winning kid lit and mystery author Penny Warner, cyberpunk science fiction author Kimberly Unger, and award-winning romance novelist Linda Wisdom, who has had more than 100 romance novels published in her career.

Genres Represented:

Fantasy
Science Fiction
Mysteries
Thrillers
Suspense
Psychological and Supernatural Horror
Weird Westerns

Laurie Does Not Represent:

Nonfiction
Commercial Fiction
Literary Fiction
Women’s Fiction
Children’s Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Comics
Traditional Westerns
Anything featuring rape, pedophilia, racism, bigotry, or gratuitous violence

Lily McMahon is a literary agent with The Watermark Agency.

She is passionate about nonfiction books that address big-picture questions about morality and wellbeing as well as contemporary social, political and economic issues.

Lily started her career as a Publications Intern at the United Nations before spending several years at Bloomsbury Publishing as an Assistant Editor, where she commissioned new titles for the religious studies list and managed the editorial process from proposal to publication. She has an MSc in Philosophy from the London School of Economics.

After years spent living in New York and London, she is now based in her native San Francisco. In her spare time, she likes to write, do yoga, cook and travel.