Clare Mao is a Brooklyn-based agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates who champions curious, genre-blending adult fiction and nonfiction — from literary love stories and upmarket book-club reads to cultural criticism, food writing, and illustrated projects with bold concepts.
In brief
Her client roster skews heavily toward writers with hyphenated identities — poets, journalists, illustrators, musicians — reflecting a genuine preference for creators whose work spills across disciplines, not single-lane authors.
Her current list already includes a Chinese mythology-inspired tarot deck, an emo-music photo archive, and an astrology cocktail book, signaling that she closes deals in the illustrated/nonfiction-hybrid space, not just literary fiction.
She has assembled a notably international and diasporic fiction list (clients include authors with Hong Kong, Irish, Chinese-American, and South Asian backgrounds), suggesting her 'diverse characters' preference is consistent and deeply held.
She explicitly does not represent children's/YA, sci-fi/fantasy, or horror — a broader exclusion than some older notes captured — so writers in those categories should not query.
Her response window is 4–6 weeks and she cannot reply to every submission; no response within that window is effectively a pass.
Lately
Her current agency bio frames the ideal client as someone who is simultaneously a writer and something else — a poet, a musician, a journalist, an illustrator, a bar owner, an artist. This framing is not generic; it signals that a single-identity 'novelist only' pitch will feel less compelling to her than a query that conveys a full creative life.
What Clare is looking for
Her primary fiction interest. She wants novels with vivid, specific senses of place, deeply rendered characters, and prose that earns the word 'beautiful.' She works across the literary-to-upmarket spectrum and is drawn to elevated love stories featuring diverse characters. Think emotionally intelligent book-club fiction with real writerly ambition. She is also drawn to speculative fiction in the vein of Jeff VanderMeer or Victor LaValle — literary authors who use the uncanny as a lens rather than as genre scaffolding.
She is actively hunting for nonfiction that examines culture with rigor and style — criticism, reported narrative, and essay collections. Her stated focus areas include solidarity, food, art, fashion, pop culture, new models of community-building, and the environment. Writing that blends journalistic instincts with a critical or essayistic voice is squarely in her wheelhouse.
Her list already includes a mythology-inspired tarot deck, a photographic music archive, and an astrology cocktail book — this is not an aspiration but an active, proven market for her. She is seeking illustrated projects, cookbooks, photo books, and tarot/astrology concepts where the visual design and the intellectual concept are equally strong. Weak concept plus pretty pictures will not get far; she needs both.
She welcomes memoir and journalism-driven narrative nonfiction, particularly where the personal story intersects with larger cultural or community questions. A strong, distinctive authorial voice is essential.
Not the right fit
On Clare's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Clare
Email cmao@sjga.com with the subject line formatted exactly as: QUERY – [Your Project Title]. She specifies this format herself; deviating from it is an avoidable mistake.
Fiction queries: paste your query letter plus the first three chapters directly into the body of the email. Nonfiction queries: include your query letter and a full proposal.
She cannot personally respond to every submission — if you have not heard back within four to six weeks, treat the silence as a pass and move on.
Lead your query letter with a strong sense of place and a clear statement of what kind of character work drives the book; these are her stated primary criteria in fiction.
If you are querying nonfiction, make the cultural argument explicit early: what is the book in conversation with, and why does it matter now? Her taste (Ruby Tandoh, Hua Hsu) runs toward criticism with personal stakes, not detached analysis.
For illustrated or concept-driven projects, describe both the visual design vision and the intellectual concept in equal measure — she has explicitly sold in this space and knows the difference between a strong hybrid concept and a coffee-table book.
Her bio emphasizes writers who are 'having fun' and who have a creative life beyond the page. A one-line bio note about your other work (journalism beat, artistic practice, community project) is not filler — it is directly relevant to how she evaluates fit.
Do not query with sci-fi/fantasy, horror, children's, YA, or standalone poetry collections — these are explicitly outside her scope.
Speculative fiction is welcome only when it operates in a literary register; if your book is primarily a genre SF/F read, it is not a match regardless of the literary quality of the prose.