submissions

Here you’ll find everything you need to submit work to Upstart Crow Literary.

(Should you want to learn more first, our Writer's Toolbox has a handful of useful links for writers wanting to improve their craft before seeking publication.)

Writer's Toolbox
How to Submit to Upstart Crow
  • Please put your query and sample in the body of the email. We will not open emailed attachments.
  • Author/illustrators: NB—Please include a link to your online portfolio and/or to your downloadable dummy. (Thank you!)
  • Submit a QUERY and TWENTY PAGES of your manuscript to one of the agents listed below.
If your submission is received by our system, an automated response will be emailed to you.

Upstart Crow runs a nearly paper-free office (or that’s what we aim for, anyway), and trust that we are serious when we tell you: we do not accept hard copy submissions via the US mail. We consider only electronic submissions. Mailed submissions will be thrown unread into the recycle bin.
Agents currently accepting submissions
Kayla Cichello

A bit about Kayla's tastes

Kayla is seeking everything from heartfelt or humorous picture books (she has a soft spot for animal protagonists) to dynamic, unpredictable YA (she loves a good murder mystery or a clever rom-com). Kayla’s taste lies squarely in that sweet spot between commercial and literary, and she is looking for captivating voices and rich worldbuilding—whether it’s a seaside town in Maine or a fantastical other world. Kayla welcomes dark humor, suspense, magical realism, awkwardly adorable romance, and everything in-between. She is not seeking sci-fi, horror, or high fantasy. Kayla is also open to representing illustrators. Some of her favorite illustrators include Mike Boldt, Amber Ren, Vashti Harrison, and Eliza Wheeler.

Some favorite titles that provide a sense of her tastes:

Picture book: Penguin and Pinecone by Salina Yoon; Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown; I Don’t Want to be a Frog by Dev Petty; Bad Dog by Mike Boldt

Middle grade: Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina; Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi; Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed; The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Young adult: The Sea is Salt and So Am I by Cassandra Hartt; Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson; Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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Adult: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams; The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang; Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal;

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Kayla's submission email is: kayla.submission@gmail.com. Thank you for submitting your work!

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Submit to Kayla Cichello

Any agents not listed above are CLOSED to submissions. Manuscripts sent to them will be discarded unread.

RESPONSE TIMES

We respond to most queries within twelve weeks. Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming number of submissions received, personal responses are only very rarely possible. But if we are interested, we will request your full manuscript.

Many writers fear writing queries, but it shouldn’t frighten you off! They’re easy. If you don’t know how to write a query, please read the Writer’s Toolbox post “How to write a query letter” for a quick tutorial.

Thank you for trying us, and all good luck! We’ll try to get back to you as quickly as possible.