Melissa Edwards
Melissa Edwards
Melissa Edwards is a literary agent and Executive Vice President at Stonesong. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt Law School, Melissa began her career as a litigation attorney before transitioning into publishing. She is a tireless advocate for her clients and a constant partner during the publication process and beyond. Melissa also acts as a contract consultant for authors and agents under the business MLE Consulting. Melissa is always interested in developing her adult commercial fiction list, with a particular eye out for vibrant and fun young women’s fiction, stories with magic, mysteries and thrillers by authors from underrepresented backgrounds, and upmarket book club fiction.
Subject Focus
Experience
Submission Requirements
How to successfully present your work
We welcome electronic queries for fiction and nonfiction. Our system is set up so that every email query receives an automatic reply confirming receipt. After that, we will be in touch only in the event we would like to request more material. This is because we receive such a volume of submissions that it is impossible for us to respond individually to every query. If you have not received a request from us within 12 weeks, consider that we have passed. If we request additional material, we will of course respond with a specific reply. We request that queries be submitted in the following way: – Please review the individual agent biographies and submit your query addressed to one agent at submissions@stonesong.com. Categories we do not represent include plays, screenplays, and poetry. – Include the word “query” in the subject line of your email to ensure we receive it and it isn’t filtered as spam. – For Fiction: Include the first chapter or first 10 pages of your work, pasted into the body of your email, so that we may get a sense of your writing. Please do not send attachments. – For Nonfiction: Include your bio, credentials, social media analytics, previous publications in major media or books, and any other media, so that we may get a sense of your author platform.