Since our launch in 1992, we at Victoria Sanders & Associates LLC have been pleased and proud to represent a diverse and exciting array of writers of both fiction and non-fiction. We are an eclectic group of book-lovers whose different tastes range widely across genres. We approach each work that captivates our collective imaginations, whether memoir, commercial women’s fiction, socio-political nonfiction, thrillers, humorous, or self-help/motivational just to name a few, with enthusiasm and the promise of possibility. We endeavor to represent writers of diverse styles, thoughts and viewpoints, and stories which capture the flavors of all cultures.
Amongst the glittering and gifted list of clients we are privileged to align ourselves with are the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, the internationally and New York Times bestselling thriller writer, Karin Slaughter, who has been translated into more than two dozen languages, the currently long-running New York Times bestselling author Denene Millner, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist/author Nick Chiles, the American Book Award winning journalist/author Jeff Chang, and a host of exciting newcomers like Carolina De Robertis, Sarah Pekkanen, Matthew Aaron Goodman, and Sejal Ramani.
Our agents enjoy working one-on-one with writers to strengthen their proposals and manuscripts. Our goal is to provide not just a dynamic base as a springboard to the business of publishing, but a nurturing space for imagining, developing and selling the work of our writers.
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Victoria Sanders
After receiving her BFA from New York University, and earning her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Victoria Sanders worked in the Legal & Contracts department at Simon & Schuster. Realizing that she could satisfy her taste for the art of the deal and her desire to be involved in the creative end of book development as a literary agent, Ms. Sanders trained as an assistant in two top New York City agencies before founding her own, Victoria Sanders & Associates, in 1992. A literary agent for well over a decade, she counts among her illustrious clients the New York Times and internationally bestselling thriller author, Karin Slaughter, whose last five thrillers have debuted on the London Times, New York Times, Der Spiegel and Dutch Bestseller Lists and two American Book Award winners (Jeff Chang and Cecelie Berry). She takes great pride in the work she does on behalf of her prestigious client, the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, ensuring that the literary giant perseveres in the canon. Ms. Sanders represents a multi-cultural roster of clients, who offer diverse styles, viewpoints, and storytelling. She finds it most rewarding discovering, fostering, and ushering great new voices into publication.
Tanya McKinnon
Tanya McKinnon has been a literary agent since 1998. She began her career in publishing as the youngest person to become a full editor and collective member of South End Press. While there she helped conceive and edited NYT bestseller Cornel West’s Breaking Bread. After receiving an M.A. in cultural anthropology, she returned to publishing in New York, working as a foreign scout where she read and reported on manuscripts for such film clients as MGM, Sally Fields, Howard Braunstein and Bruce Berman, as well as international publishers. As a literary agent she specializes in non-fiction, multicultural fiction, children’s books, and graphic novels. She enjoys working closely with her authors, offering in-depth editorial feedback. In addition to agenting, she teaches in the Publishing Certificate Program at City College.
Chris Kepner
Chris Kepner is a native of Buffalo, New York and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. Starting as an intern for Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, Kepner joined Victoria Sanders & Associates in May 2008. According to his mother, Chris has had a book with him ever since he could hold one. From the Hardy Boys Mysteries and Goosebumps, to Kurt Vonnegut and Ernest Hemingway, Chris’s passion for literature has always been strong. With very eclectic interests, he is open to all types of books as long as the writing is exceptional, though he tends to gravitate to literary and upmarket commercial fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction. Please include the first three chapters in the body of the email.
Chris maintains a blog and welcomes your questions and comments:
The Writer’s Advocate: Advice and perspective from a literary agent
Bernadette Baker-Baughman
Bernadette Baker-Baughman has a MS in Professional Writing and has worked on both the editorial and marketing sides of publishing. As the Marketing Coordinator for Beyond Words Publishing/Atria Books, she headed up campaigns for two New York Times best-selling titles. In 2005 Bernadette co-founded Baker’s Mark Literary Agency where she discovered talent such as Farel Dalrymple, Faith Erin Hicks, Paul Guinan & Anina Bennett, Dan Elconin, David Axe, Carson Morton, and Zack Giallongo, among others. In 2010 Bernadette joined Victoria Sanders & Associates. Bernadette is currently interested in representing commercial adult, YA, and middle grade fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels. In fiction she gravitates towards books with a wide audience access point—specifically books with cultural or contemporary touchstones (reimaginings, historical fiction, fiction based on legend or myth, fiction with fantastical elements that are part of the cultural collective imagination, Steampunk, etc). In nonfiction she is looking for image rich books, pop culture, art, quirky gift books, light sociology, and narrative nonfiction. In graphic novels she is seeking beautifully illustrated works of nonfiction, memoir, young adult or children’s fiction, high fantasy, funny character driven stories, and graphic literature. Bernadette is also willing to talk to writers who do not have art attached to their comic concept or illustrators willing to work with other authors.
