The James Rovira Literary Agency

The James Rovira Literary Agency is currently soliciting manuscripts.

I consider fiction, children’s books, plays, and scripts, but not poetry. Interested authors are encouraged to email a one to two page query letter with one sample chapter, both contained in the same Word or .pdf file, to jamesrovira (at) gmail (dot) com. Please include in your query letter up-to-date contact information, a brief description of your publishing history, a complete plot synopsis (not just a teaser), and some description of the market for your work. Purely genre fiction, porn, or fan fiction will not be considered, nor will these submissions receive a response.

Works that are cleanly written with little need for copy editing will be considered for representation. Works that need extensive editing, however, will receive extensive comments on the first two pages and then an estimate for editing services. I do not offer representation for unedited manuscripts, I will not read completely any manuscript that needs extensive editing, and I do not provide editing services for free. All contracted authors will receive comments and feedback.

Please keep in mind that writing as a creative activity and publishing as a business opportunity are two different activities, and that the mindsets required for each are very different. All publishing involves some risk to publishers, especially print publication, so publishers are understandably careful about investing in products that they cannot sell. Unfortunately, a novel’s quality has little to do with its market appeal, which has been especially evident over the last ten years, during which time some of the worst written books have been among the biggest selling worldwide. I am only interested in representing quality fiction, however, and authors need to keep in mind that most publishers will expect first time authors to work hard to promote their own work through readings and social media.

I have been publishing and editing since the 1990s. My publications include fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, non-fiction, film and book reviews, and scholarship in the fields of literature, philosophy, and cultural studies. I currently reside in the greater Central Florida area.

Represented authors: Martin Reaves, A Fractured Conjuring

Now available for purchase on the publisher’s website and on amazon.com as well as through book reader services (it may appear on these on different schedules, however).

Bestselling novelist Chloe Sender is lost. Lost in her past; lost within her mind; lost within the pages of her own half-finished manuscript—a story that haunts her with every word, with every increasingly twisted sentence. And somewhere just outside her consciousness—shimmering at the periphery of her vision, capering through her dreams and seeping into the pages of her manuscript—an ancient evil is in pursuit. Down twisted corridors of thought, something waits. Over broken pathways of memory, it pursues. Though unseen, it is close enough to touch…

Martin Reaves’s A Fractured Conjuring is now available from Black Rose Writing. Reaves is a rising fiction writer who is gaining the attention of small publishers within his genre. He has been invited by Double Feature Press, under the editorship of Sarah L. Covert, to contribute to a volume consisting of two novellas, alongside another novella by Joe Pulver. He has also been invited by Mark Parker of Scarlet Galleon Publications to contribute a short story to an anthology titled Dead Harvest, a story that involves characters and events related to A Fractured Conjuring. Martin Reaves’s previous publications include Relative Sanity, Relative Karma, and Dark Thoughts: A Collection of Dark Tales.

Readers of Relative Sanity are saying…

“A great read! Could not put it down once I started reading. Plot kept me guessing…”

“I haven’t been as involved in something dark since Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons a couple of years back and the only reason I compare these two books is because Brown also has a knack for putting his characters and readers in uncomfortable, perilous places and yet you love every second of that difficult flight. I enjoyed this book just as much, if not so much more, than Brown’s.”

“Grabs you from the first page and hard to put down until you finish the last! You think you know how it ends but it was totally unpredictable. I recommend this to all my friends and fellow readers!”

“Relative Sanity is a brilliant psychological thriller! I had difficulty putting it down. A must read and a perfect addition to your holiday reading list. You will not be disappointed.”

Read more customer reviews of Relative Sanity.