Joelle Delbourgo Associates, Inc.
We are currently closed to queries except through personal recommendation. We’ll let you know when we reopen. Good luck!
Submission Guidelines
Please read our guidelines carefully. Note that we no longer accept children’s books, including YA, middle grade and picture books. We do not accept screenplays, novellas or poetry.
You may send a query to joelle@delbourgo.com.
- Write a polished letter, 1 page or under.
- Clearly identify the genre or category of your proposed book.
- Provide a brief overview of the proposed book.
- Tell us something about yourself, about your qualifications to write your proposed book and your platform. We are also interested in why you decided to write the book. Let us know if you are a previously published author, and if so, what you have published.
- Is this query exclusive or are you querying other agents?
- Note if your manuscript has been submitted to editors or is currently under consideration at any publisher.
- For nonfiction, let us know if a proposal and sample chapters are available. If not, you should probably wait to send your query when you have a completed proposal. Please do not send the proposal or manuscript as an attachment unless we ask for it.
- For fiction and memoir, embed the FIRST 10 pages of manuscript into the e-mail after your query letter. Please no attachments. If we like your first pages, we may ask to see your synopsis and more manuscript. Both should be completed before you query us.
- If we have requested a partial or full manuscript or a proposal, a gentle follow-up after 30 days is fine.
Fiction: literary and commercial novels, women’s fiction, mystery, thriller.
Non-fiction: narrative nonfiction, biography, business, current events, health, history, memoir, parenting, popular reference, psychology, popular culture, science, mind/body/spirit, food (including cookbooks)
Do not send: Westerns, poetry, children’s books (including picture books, middle grade and YA), screenplays or previously self-published books.
Due to the sheer volume of queries that we receive, we only respond selectively if we are interested in seeing more material. If you have not received a response in 60 days you may consider that a pass.