Sometimes the best ideas are associated with a red couch. . .

Dawn Frederick, Owner/Literary Agent – CLOSED TO QUERIES through 8/1/19, Only Open to Queries Aug/Sept, taking pitches at conferences 2nd half of 2019
Email: dawn@redsofaliterary.com

Laura Zats, Literary Agent– CLOSED TO QUERIES beginning 5/15/19 through 9/1/19
Email: laura@redsofaliterary.com

Amanda Rutter, Associate Literary Agent – ON SABBATICAL THROUGH FALL 2019
Email: amanda@redsofaliterary.com

Stacey Graham, Associate Literary Agent– CLOSED TO QUERIES 9/1/2020 through 4/1/2020, she will only take pitches at conferences 1st half of 2019
Email: stacey@redsofaliterary.com

Erik Hane, Associate Literary Agent– CLOSED TO QUERIES beginning 6/1/19 through 9/1/19
Email: erik@redsofaliterary.com

Liz Rahn, Subsidiary Rights Agent
Email: liz@redsofaliterary.com

Kelly Van Sant, Associate Agent 
Email: kelly@redsofaliterary.com



Office Phone: 651.224.6670
NO PHONE QUERIES WILL BE ACCEPTED. Please follow the requested submission guidelines we’ve provided in print and on our website.

More information about RED SOFA BOOKS, our e-publishing arm, can be found at www.redsofabooks.com 

Dawn Frederick 2014Dawn Michelle Frederick is the owner/literary agent of Red Sofa Literary, established in 2008. She brings a broad knowledge of the book business to the table, bringing multiple years of experience as a bookseller in independent, chain, and specialty stores; sales, marketing, and book development experience; previously a literary agent at Sebastian Literary Agency. She has a B.S. in Human Ecology, and a M.S. in Information Sciences. Dawn co-founded the MN Publishing Tweet Up, is the current President of the Twin Cities Advisory Council for MPR, a member of the BOD for Loft Literary, and a teaching artist at Loft Literary. You can find her on Twitter at @redsofaliterary.



Laura Zats graduated from Grinnell College with degrees in English and anthropology. She began working in the publishing industry in 2011, joining Red Sofa Literary in 2013. As an agent, she specializes in children’s fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and romance. She is also one-half of the weekly publishing podcast, Print Run. In her free time, Laura serves on the board of the Minnesota Book Publishers’ Roundtable, teaches classes on writing and publishing, and drinks a lot of tea. Connect with her on Twitter @LZats.



IMG_3898After training and working as an accountant for over a decade, Amanda Rutter became an editor with Angry Robot, helping to sign books and authors for the Strange Chemistry imprint. Since leaving Angry Robot, she has been a freelance editor, through her own company AR Editorial Solutions, BubbleCow and Wise Ink. She also finds time to write blog posts for Tor.com. In her free time, she is a yarn fiend, knitting and crocheting a storm.



Stacey GrahamStacey Graham comes to us from the other side of the literary blanket, as an author of four books, multiple short stories, as a screenwriter, ghostwriter, and editor. She loves working with writers at all stages of their careers and will use her experience in authorship to help navigate the sometimes crazy waters of publishing for her clients. She currently lives outside of Washington, D.C. with her husband and five children. She considers the resulting nervous tick from her children to be charming.



Along with working as an agent at Red Sofa, Erik Hane is a freelance editor and writer based in Minneapolis. Since graduating from Knox College and the Denver Publishing Institute in 2012, he has worked as an assistant editor at Oxford University Press and then as an acquiring editor at The Overlook Press, both in New York. This experience at both academic and commercial publishing houses means he’s performed editorial work on everything from serious scientific nonfiction to literary novels.

At Red Sofa, Erik is hoping to see a wide range of upmarket fiction and nonfiction. In nonfiction, he loves seeing complex subjects written about in an engaging way for the non-expert, or energetic, incisive looks at topics not usually treated that way (looking at you, sports writing). He wants to see literary novels that place story first; no use writing beautifully if nothing’s going on.



Liz Rahn graduated from Concordia College with degrees in English Literature and History. She was in the 2015 class of the Denver Publishing Institute and does freelance editing in addition to her work with Red Sofa Literary. She has worked on a range of books from young adult, literary, social science, and academic writing, and she’s excited to tap into the word of foreign rights and audiobooks. In her spare time, if she’s not reading, she’s probably walking her dog or playing video games.



Kelly Van Sant has nearly a decade of experience in the publishing industry. She cut her teeth in New York working at esteemed literary agencies such as Writers House and Harold Ober Associates, where she developed an eye for compelling, emotionally resonant stories, honed her editorial skills, and soon grew adept at contract vetting. After relocating to Minnesota, Kelly joined Llewellyn Worldwide as their Contracts Manager across all three imprints and then moved to Quarto Publishing Group USA where she led the contract department. After years on the publisher’s side of the fence she returned to her roots in agenting. She has worked as a freelance editor with various publishers and is a teaching artist at the Loft Literary Center. She also blogs about writing and the publishing industry at Pub(lishing) Crawl and co-hosts their weekly podcast. You can learn more about Kelly and what she represents at her website, penandparsley.com, or on twitter @bookishchick


16 Responses to “”

    • redsofaliterary

      The old address you found is not correct. We generally prefer email queries. Our contact info is on the Contact section of our page. Thanks!

      • bobiozzia

        Thanks, but as I stated, I mailed a Holiday card that was returned. If you don’t want the mailing address known, I’ll understand and this correspondence will have to do: HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

      • redsofaliterary

        We appreciate that Bob. Happy Holidays to you too. That address is in fact old, and our address was pulled many years ago. So my apologies if you were provided info by an outlet with the wrong info. We do our best to notify folks, but it’s up to them to update the info.

    • redsofaliterary

      As with any agency, it’s best to query the person who most matches your book. Avoid querying all of the agents at the same time. It happens here and it doesn’t leave the best impression. And if one person turns it down at an agency, still look at the core reason for the rejection.

      Was it generic? – Then the query needs to be worked on.
      Were there specific reasons? – If it’s purely individual vs. the idea just not working within the boundaries of that agency, you’ll know if it’s a good idea to query a different agent there.
      Why was it turned down? – If specific reasons were mentioned, and you’re seeing the same from other agencies, then it’s time to step back, tweak the idea, and start over again. If the agent didn’t turn down the idea for the entire agency, (see point 2), and the idea is essentially repackaged and better (that’s important btw)…then query a new agent within the specific agency.

  6. Nanette Joseph

    I’m looking for a literary agent. I have books in manuscripts form. Need publishing, editing, marketing & distribution.

  10. 18 Top Sports Literary Agents - Writing Tips Oasis

    […] Based in Minneapolis, Erik Hane is yet another leading literary agent who’s actively seeking sports titles that offers an incisive insight on a leading athlete or sport. After graduating from Knox College and Denver Publishing Institute, he bagged the role of an editor in Oxford University Press. This was shortly followed by his role as an editor in Overlook Press, after which he decided to work as a literary agent in Red Sofa Literary Agency. Since Erik has worked with several renowned authors, you can always count on him for proper distribution. Erik can be reached out here. […]

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