An Introduction
Hello!
I just wanted to pop-in and share a little about me and my agency. I've been a longtime fan of (and contributor to) these forums under a different username, but I thought I would create a separate account for the agency so I'll place my information below. I hope that it answers some questions about my background and credibility.
I founded the Jennifer Azantian Literary Agency on February 1st of this year. I specialize in science fiction, fantasy and horror for MG, YA, NA, and Adult readers. Before starting my agency, I worked at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. I was the assistant for Elise Capron and Sandy Dijkstra as well as the office and submissions manager for the agency. During my time there, I was involved in every step of the publishing process, and I opened to submissions myself a little over two years ago. After my time at SDLA, I worked with the Paul Levine Literary Agency for several months, and it is under his mentorship that I started my own agency.
The reason I started my own agency is that I want the freedom to advocate for the authors that I believe in. While at the Dijkstra agency, I took on one author who has come with me to my new agency, and I couldn’t be happier to continue working with her. We are currently on submission with her novel. I am fiercely protective of writers, and I want to be clear that I would not have started my agency if I didn’t know I could provide the best of service for my authors. I am an editorial agent who has filtered through tens of thousands of submissions, written effective pitch letters, and networked with top editors at all the major publishing houses. While I felt I had a strong background, there was still a piece missing, and that was how to get my authors the very best terms when offers were made. Though I had some experience with the process at the Dijkstra agency, I needed more if I wanted to strike out on my own. That is why I paired up with Paul Levine, an agent and publishing lawyer of over thirty years. With Paul working with me for my authors, I feel the Jennifer Azantian Literary Agency offers everything that an agency should. There is risk when choosing any agent to represent your work, and I wanted to share my strengths and my weaknesses so that authors can make an informed choice when submitting their work to me.
~Jennifer Azantian
azantianlitagency.com