Publishers Marketplace: Brianne Johnson

Writers House is one of the largest agencies in the world and prides itself on providing an extraordinary amount of individual client attention, combined with full-service benefits of foreign, subrights, accounting, royalty, and contract departments.

I started at Writers House as starry-eyed intern in 2007 and have been lucky enough to work my way up (to Assistant, to Junior Agent, to Agent) for the last several years. I love what I do, and am cultivating a pretty omnivorous list. My main focus is children’s books, but I also love some select adult fiction—see below for a more precise breakdown.

Children’s:

I’m extra-crazy-picky with taking on picture books, but I do love them and rep them. I would love a great picture book series, like a Fancy Nancy or a Knuffle Bunny—something where we could see fabulous, memorable characters encounter a variety of new circumstances. My tastes tend to run toward the funny, here—very sweet, gentle picture books are just not for me. The same goes for chapter books. I’m particularly on the lookout for humorous, entertaining chapter books that also have some kind of educational angle to them, something that could be brought into a classroom to supplement the new Common Core Standards, and ALSO something a kid would gleefully reach for, themselves.

I’m also very interested in seeing illustration work for cover design and picture books, and would love to take on a great new author/illustrator.

I have a great love for middle grade—bring on the whimsical, the imaginative, the dark/crass/wacky/hilarious (Roald Dahl's bizarre flights of fancy comprise some of the most pleasurable reading time of my life) and lower-fantasy in general—I would go live at Hogwarts if I could..!

I’m also looking for exciting, high-concept, gobble-down-in-one-sitting YA novels that keep me up way past my bedtime, as well as more beautiful, literary works that explore the coming-of-age theme from a truly original angle and beg for multiple re-readings. I'm a huge Francesca Lia Block fan, and tend to gravitate toward stories featuring offbeat, alternate-lifestyle protagonists who trailblaze their own weird and wonderful paths through life--I want unforgettable characters who burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.

Adult:

My adult list is narrower than my children’s list. What I am really on the hunt for are juicy, well-researched historical novels—I adore Geraldine Brooks, and one of my favorite reads of all time is Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel (the first few books, before they devolve into cave porn). My ultimate adult project wish list would include a romantic historical with some unique fantasy elements, a literary, Beat-like coming-of-age, a thrilling survival tale with well-researched, back-to-the-land details, and a dark, witchy, semi-realistic novel (think a modern-day Practical Magic or Garden Spells).

Regarding contemporary adult fiction, I’m pretty excited about the New Adult category—it’s about time this very real genre was identified. In general, I’m interested in reading more about younger adults and this rich, peculiar, “second coming-of-age”, where one is really exploring what it means to be an adult in the 21st century. Like my YA interests, I love stories set in the counter-culture, and love light twists of fantasy or magical realism.

The one link I have throughout the many genres I'm interested in is humor. It doesn't necessarily have to be silly humor—sometimes it's more interesting to find humor in darker settings—but I do love a story can illuminate something about humanity AND make me laugh. Life is serious enough. Reading should be a joy.