How can I submit my idea to Quirk?

We love smart, original, cool, and fun books! If you are an agent, please refer to each editor’s blurbs below.

Authors, if you have representation, we encourage you to have your agent reach out directly to our editors. Please note that our unsolicited submissions inbox is currently closed. We’ll update this page when the inbox is open to submissions again. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding!

Please note: we only review digital queries and sample material. No physical submissions, please.

Thank you for thinking of us!

 

Jhanteigh Kupihea (Editorial Director) is looking for exceptionally written, high-concept adult fiction. She loves horror and speculative fiction that asks a big “what if?” question with high emotional stakes. She’s especially attracted to social justice themes in these genres. She also loves fun, voice-y novels for women, especially ones that focus on female friendships or subvert romantic comedy tropes. Regardless of the genre, she gravitates toward distinctive voices and anything that plays with unusual structures, so think of her for your modern update on the epistolary novel or your interactive novel.

In gifty non-fiction, she’s looking for books about the highly visible aspects of popular culture, including TV, movies, celebrities, and self-care trends. In narrative nonfiction, she’s looking for books about the less visible people and forces that have shaped our culture in unusual and/or meaningful ways.

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Arnold (Senior Editor) is looking for high-concept stories for the young and young at heart. In YA, she’d especially like to see genre-bending, high-stakes fiction that grapples with social justice in surprising ways; psychological thrillers; queer rom-coms; and nonfiction at the intersection of pop culture and social issues. In middle grade, she’s drawn to dark and strange magic a la Coraline, clever twists, and nonfiction that uses fun, humor, and inspiration to bring readers to new topics. In picture books and board books, she’s looking for concept-driven, funny, and joyful read-alouds.

In all categories, she is on the lookout for diverse, underrepresented voices, stories that play with structure and format, characters that could step off the page, and atmospheric settings that make her feel transported.

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jess Zimmerman (Editor) is looking for adult narrative nonfiction, humor, and gift books, particularly from underrepresented authors. (Though if you have a great nonlinear or formally peculiar piece of fiction, send it over.) She’s especially interested in the internet, science and science fiction, fresh or funny takes on the literary canon, the occult, myths and legends, and anything offbeat, dark, mysterious, or weird. Her ideal book has an oddball candy coating and a chewy social justice center.

 

Rebecca Gyllenhaal (Assistant Editor) is on the lookout for high-concept commercial nonfiction and fiction for adults and welcomes diverse authors and pitches.

In adult nonfiction, her bread and butter is pop history, but she is also interested in pop culture-driven projects and gift books with an off-the-wall sensibility. She is open to humor and is seeking any project that can capture that particular darkly absurd millennial sensibility. Any project driven by cultural obsession and/or affection is likely to catch her eye. Some of her personal obsessions include cults, conspiracy theories, bizarre subcultures, weird history, folklore, hauntings, and all things strange, macabre, and obscure.

In adult fiction, she is looking for concept-driven novels, especially in the realms of mystery, psychological or domestic thriller, and horror. (Bonus points if it features an unusual setting and/or loads of atmosphere.) Her greatest love is Gothic fiction, especially when it deliberately plays with the tropes. She is also open to genre-adjacent fiction with a literary bent. Loose retellings interest her: if you have a haunted house story with a twist or a modern update on Northanger Abbey or The Picture of Dorian Gray, send it! She also loves novels that meditate on new technologies, the gig economy, and late capitalism. All fiction must have a beating heart, a strong voice, a tight plot, and a fresh, grabby hook.

Rebecca also writes and edits the licensed Pop Classics series, which adapts cult classics films and TV shows into picture books.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Yang (Assistant Editor) supports Alex Arnold and develops select projects for the YA and kid’s list at Quirk. She’s drawn to middle grade with a pinch of magic and plenty of heart, YA romance that plays with beloved tropes, and science fiction and fantasy that steps away from or critically engages with Western canon. She has a soft spot for lighthearted queer romance and anything that reminds her of a Studio Ghibli movie.

 

Are you an illustrator or represent illustrators? Please send all illustration samples to [email protected]. This account is monitored directly by our design team. Thanks!