Submission Guidelines

General Query Standards

  • To submit to a Red Sofa agent, please email a query letter before attempting to send a full book proposal or sample chapters. Please put the contents of your query IN the body of your email. We will not open attachments unless they have been requested in advance.
  • Please read each individual agent profile below to determine who is the best fit for your project.
  • If there is an interest, the agent will directly contact the author. The typical response time for requested materials is 2-3 months. Depending on the time of the publishing season, it may take longer (based on travel and work commitments for the agency).
  • You will never be charged a reading fee.
  • If an agent requests to see your book, please send those materials via email.
  • We do not accept queries via phone calls or standard mail.

Our stance on AI Use:

Per the AALA, we also acknowledge that generative AI can be helpful if used properly. But this also means that creation of any book needs to be human-created.

While AI can be a handy tool in brainstorming, creating marketing ideas, and research, that’s the extent to which it should be utilized. Please avoid using Claude (associated with Anthropic) or ChatGPT at minimum. Using a service like DuckDuckGo will certainly provide access to these tools, while keeping searches anonymous without any need to create an account.

Per general industry standards, a manuscript’s narrative (a.k.a. its words) should not be created by AI. Do not generate text/sentences from AI prompts. Avoid using AI to tighten the narrative of any passages within your book. It’s always a good idea to have an open conversation with your agent, if there are questions about AI and/or how it could be potentially be used.

Please note that Publishers (and readers) are also on board with these AI standards.With AI detectors like Pangram, any text that is edited or written will be flagged accordingly. By using AI to write any book, a writer risks reputational and career harm. Additionally, the U.S. Copyright Office has stated any AI-generated narrative will not be protected by law. Using AI to create any book is not acceptable to our publishing partners, or this agency.

Please also remember to verify the accuracy/inaccuracy of any AI-generated content. Always confirm the original source for any fact, quote, or image. Do not inherently accept the results provided by these engines without taking the proper investigative steps.

Additional links: Jane Friedman’s post about AI here, Wiley’s guidelines on AI, The Author’s Guild guidance on AI, and for Citations, check out Zotero.

Materials Required

  1. The full manuscript is needed for fiction (while you should not include the full manuscript in your initial query, your manuscript should be complete and fully edited at the time of your query)
  2. A full book proposal complete with author bio, book synopsis/overview, competitive titles, market appeal (WHO will read the book), promotion strategy (HOW readers will learn about the book), and chapter summaries (for non-fiction). This is required for nonfiction, encouraged for fiction.
  3. Sample chapters (if nonfiction)
  4. If a memoir - the book needs to be fully completed.  (While you should not include the full manuscript in your initial query, your manuscript should be in good shape editorially at the time of your query)

Some Tips & Tricks

  • Read Jane Friedman’s article on Query Letters. Inevitably, one’s query will need to be revised before it’s fully ready to go. This is a great resource if you’re still fine-tuning that book pitch.
  • Anyone querying Red Sofa Literary should consider the types of categories represented at this agency. Study each agent’s requested categories.
  • Always do the necessary research so that you have a strong knowledge of the category for your book.
  • As a writer, it’s always a plus if there’s experience in connecting with readers and writers in the industry, especially if your book is rooted in nonfiction or memoir.
  • It’s best to follow industry standards in regard to standard word counts, as well as ensuring your book is in the correct stage to (for querying agents).

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Dawn Frederick's Representative Categories - CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS

  • Nonfiction — It needs to be smart, with noticeable platform, and commercial. I enjoy a wide range of topics. Generally the quirkier the idea, the better. I love current affairs, oddball histories, animals, extreme sports, and more. I’m less likely to consider a Memoir, unless it’s a story that truly lines up to my interests and will fill a hole on bookshelves.
  • Mystery/Thriller - Less mainstream, more quirk. I absolutely enjoyed VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVISE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto, DAISY DARKER by Alice Feeney, MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James.
  • History – Social, quirky and commercial histories. (I listen to a LOT of shows on MPR and NPR).
  • Pop Culture – I’m a nerd to the core, if it’s a fun and offbeat topic, there’s a good chance I’ll be interested.
  • Social Issues/Current Affairs—Women’s Studies, Diverse Narratives, LGTBQIA,, Social Sciences, and more.
  • Young Adult – Fiction (Romance, Humor, Contemporary, and anything offbeat).
  • Middle Grade – Fiction, Nonfiction.

Please do not sent picture book, memoir, prescriptive, or business book ideas. Much appreciation! 🙂 

Queries can be sent to Dawn’s attention at:  dawn [at] redsofaliterary [dot] com

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Riley Jay Davis's Representative Categories - CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS UNTIL 2/1/2027

Currently accepting submissions for a variety of manuscripts. Riley's always looking to promote books from authors of marginalized or underrepresented identities particularly Autistic/Disabled, Black, Indigenous, POC, Queer, and Transgender authors.

For non-Fiction titles, they are always looking for topics related to-- Race and Culture, Social Justice issues, Film Studies, Media Literacy, and Anthropology

In Fiction, they are looking for Young Adult or Middle Grade-- Horror, Magical Realism, Historical, Dystopian/ Science Fiction

Also looking for Children's picture books

Seeing my current reading list can help show what they're looking for reading at the moment, this is what they've read in 2023

Hunger Games Series, Twilight Series, The Weight Of Blood, The Black Guy Dies First: Black Horror Cinema from Fodder to Oscar, The Hundred Years War on Palestine, Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea, It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics, Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World, Yellowface, Capitalism and Disability: Selected Writings

Anyone looking to submit ideas should fill out this Google Form linked here 

Riley's email address is: riley [at] redsofaliterary [dot] com

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Milan Wilson-Robinson's Representative Categories

Fiction: marginalized voices, unreliable and morally ambiguous characters, dark comedy, writing that shifts plot and characters in tandem when it serves the story

Non-Fiction: Cooking and Baking, Food/Wine writing, music, art, and performance arts, anything about Amrita Sher-Gil, Francesca Woodman, or Dorothy Dandridge, film analysis, memoirs about artists, travel writing (especially from a BIPOC lense).

Writers I enjoy: Zadie Smith, Kiley Reid, Ottessa Moshfegh, Melissa Broder, Raven Leilani, Issa Rae, Michaela Coel, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Donald Glover, Jordan Peele, Candice Carty-Williams, Julie Powell, Hanif Abdurraqib, Julie Powell, Samantha Irby, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Toni Morrison, Danez Smith, Sterlin Harjo, and Quinta Brunson.

Milan's email address is: milan [at] redsofaliterary [dot] com

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Ruth Gila Berger's Representative Categories - CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS UNTIL 1/15/2027

  • Narrative nonfiction with a story - especially if it marries two seemly disparate fields like art and mathematics, physics and cooking, birds and language, etc. I want to read experts who can charm and surprise me, make me laugh and never take a tone of intellectual superiority.
  • Memoir is where my heart lives but you have to knock my socks off and be connected to something in the larger world. Memoirists must have a platform to sell.  Good questions to consider: How does the thing I survived serve the story I want to tell? How is the narrator’s persona introduced and built?
  • Essay collections that show up in the wrong outfit, take a circuitous or unexpected route to writing, and question assumptions, yes please.
  • Fiction that has a hook, nuance and heart. Characters should to haunt me. Any dialogue needs to kill it and plot rules. For historical fiction I’m looking for unexplored periods, or set in countries other than North America, and by writers whose stories have been erased.
  • Same for YA Fiction.
  • Graphic Novels, only if they are original, beautiful and funny.

For all of it, if you’ve been told to shut up and stay in the margins where you belong, I want to be your champion. Representation matters. I am interested in queer writing and writers who identify BIPOC or neurodiverse.

Please include the first ten pages of your manuscript pasted into your email, below your query. For graphic novels, please attach a PDF of the first twenty-five pages.

I am the wrong agent for high fantasy and science fiction with elaborate world-building.
I’m not interested in anything rah-rah patriotic.
I do not represent screenplays, playscripts, poetry, children’s literature or middle grade.

On my inspiration shelf: Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Diaz, Moby Dyke by Krista Burton, Carrie Carolyn Coco by Sarah Gerard, Enjoy Me Among My Ruins by Juniper Fitzgerald, Things I Didn’t Do with This Body by Amanda Gunn and The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang

Ruth's email address is: ruth [at] redsofaliterary [dot] com