Agenting

I am exclusively taking on clients who have been systemically excluded from publishing with a focus on BIPOC authors.

I joined Looking Glass Literary Agency in October 2025 after spending four years at Ladderbird Literary. Prior to that, I was a technical editor, a senior editor at the literary journal F(r)iction, and a book coach and editor for women of color. I hold B.A.s in English and Communications, both from the University of California at Davis. I am a board member at Literary Agents of Change. You can find me on Instagram @agent.stefanie or on BlueSky at @agentstefanie.bsky.social.

I’m currently seeking MG, YA, and Adult fiction and nonfiction, primarily by BIPOC authors. In MG and YA I love gutsy, messy main characters in a layered narrative–bonus if there are sports, unique hobbies, or world-saving involved. I’m open to all genres in MG and YA, but prefer gutsy contemporary and grounded fantasy, horror, and mystery with a strong sense of adventure (saying ‘gutsy’ twice is not a typo!). In Adult fiction, I’m specifically seeking cozy mysteries, grounded fantasy, and romantic suspense helmed by BIPOC protagonists. In Adult nonfiction, I’m hunting for cookbooks from first, second, third (& so on!) -gen immigrants finding their ways back to their roots, as well as health/fitness-centric, body-neutral cookbooks; and nonfiction that sits at the intersection of advocacy and the following: sports and exercise science, health and fitness, nutrition, medicine, and animals; though any nonfiction intersecting with advocacy is welcome in my inbox.  Across the board I appreciates anticolonialism and decolonization; non-Western-centric perspectives (and folklore); and protagonists that disrupt the status quo.

Not For Me:

Please don’t send me books where the protagonist or any companion animal dies at the end. Don’t send books that revolve around abuse, suicide, or self-harm (though they can be in a character’s past). If your story mentions these topics but does not revolve around them, please include a content warning.

I am generally not a fit for portal fantasy unless it’s a very different take on the genre. I am not a fit for nonfiction or fiction that centers Christianity, and not a fit for nonfiction or fiction that idealizes weight loss.

Fun facts about me:

Other things I love:

  • running
  • hiking
  • baking
  • volleyball
  • swimming
  • knitting
  • animals (especially dogs, especially curly dogs)
  • saxophone and piano
  • mariachi
  • reading about the outdoors and/or sports (kayaking! mountain climbing! parkour!)

Submission Guidelines

Please submit your query + first 50 pages (or for nonfiction, your full proposal) to https://QueryTracker.net/query/stefaniemolinasantos.

Here’s my same profile on Manuscript Wishlist !

Submit: https://QueryTracker.net/query/stefaniemolinasantos

Follow me on Instagram: @agent.stefanie or Bluesky: @agentstefanie.bsky.social

Decoding My Form Responses

I use form responses for almost everything. I simply cannot answer queries in a reasonable time frame without them!

Thank you so much for taking the time to submit to me! Unfortunately, this project is not the right fit for me at the moment, so I am not the best agent to represent it. Others may feel differently, and I wish you nothing but the best in all your creative endeavors.

This is the form I use when something about the query wasn’t a fit. Most often, it’s a concept that I know I’m not a fit for or that I’m not passionate about, which is so subjective. Sometimes, there’s so much world in the query that I get a little lost, and I know from that I won’t be able to edit the full work (another personal taste thing). Other times, the query is just poorly written (follow one of the many templates on the internet and you’ll be fine).

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to consider {{title}}. While I adore the premise and found much to like about the work, I didn’t fall in love with the opening pages as much as I had hoped. For this reason, I have decided to pass. {{first_name}}, I am so sorry this wasn’t the right fit. Please know I’m wishing you every success as you continue on your publishing journey. Thank you again for deciding to query me. I appreciate the opportunity very much.

This is the form I use when I’ve read onto the first 20 pages (or the full manuscript, in the case of PB) and got stuck somewhere. Most often, it’s because the writing or the voice didn’t grab me, for no particular reason other than personal taste. Sometimes, it’s because the story’s not getting started fast enough–often I see us getting bogged down in dialogue or in the everyday without stakes. If there’s another specific problem that jumps out at me as an objective editorial thing, I will try to add it to the form.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to consider {{title}}. You’re a wonderful writer and there is so much to love about this work, but unfortunately I am not an exact fit for the story at this time. An agent who feels a special connection with this story will be a better advocate for you. For these reasons, I have decided to pass. {{first_name}}, I am sorry not to offer you representation at this time. I thought long and hard about this decision; it was not an easy one. Please know I am wishing you every success with your work. Thank you for taking the time to query and send your story. I appreciate the opportunity very much.

I do use this form to pass on full manuscripts. This happens when the first 20 pages captured me enough to request, but as I read on I got confused or lost interest and stopped, most often because of pacing or infodumping. A subjective reason I sometimes stop is because the world is too convoluted for me, and again, that’s a personal quirk of mine.

Most often if I read an entire full there’s a good chance I’m offering. If I don’t, I will send at least some feedback about why I passed, anywhere from a couple sentences to a couple paragraphs. I will not typically send more than that, because if I have a vision that goes beyond that–I ask myself–why aren’t I offering on this?! And then I ask to meet 🙂