Elisa Saphier — MacGregor & Luedeke Literary

I am closed to submissions and will not read your query if you send me one. My hope is to open officially again late in 2026. Inbox transparency: currently in early Nov for fulls and partials and for pitch/conference requests. (I keep this current so you can always check back and see where I am. I also try to post semi-regular updates on Twitter and Blue Sky; I always respond to a query eventually.) I am currently most looking for genre manuscripts to balance out the more heavily literary list I currently have and I will be updating the below with changes and more specifics once I reopen; it is my old and will be shifting. I am always most excited to find great writing and full characters, regardless of genre. I am focused on uplifting marginalized voices and want to be a part of seeing publishing become more equitable and less unbalanced of underrepresented writers. While I am mostly genre agnostic (quality of writing and everything else is much more important to me as both a reader and an agent) I gravitate more strongly toward stories of identity and self discovery in literary fiction, psychological thrillers and mysteries, memoir, and queer romance. I love to cry though a book but am not morally opposed to happy endings. In all genres I prefer standalone books over series. I am not actively looking for science fiction or fantasy, although do keep reading queries that excite me so I’ll say that in spec fic I strongly prefer “SFF lite,” and am turned off by vampires/aliens/shapeshifters etc. I am almost never the best fit for high fantasy, although touches of magic can be okay. I do have a significant soft spot no matter the genre for stories that reflect back our world, that challenge the status quo, that show the truth of white supremacy/patriarchy/oppression/trauma. I love character-heavy books that start conversations about race, class, gender, etc. But I do read almost anything and I’ve been a bookseller for many years and so have a good feeling for what people are looking for, even if it’s not my go-to. What I’m most looking for in my inbox, in no particular order:

Adult

literary psychological thrillers/mystery; queer romance (especially but not exclusively friends to lovers and forced proximity); literary fiction; literary memoir; stories of marginalized people where the marginalization isn’t the story; dark academia; suburban malaise; amateur theater

Young Adult

found family; queer coming of age; emerging awareness of identity; amateur theater

Middle Grade

true to life fiction; questioning of self and belonging; amateur theater

A few themes/genres I am not a good fit for

pop-culture/fashion; praising religion (don’t be fooled if you’ve found me because my agency has lots of Christian authors, I am the anomaly there); hard sff or horror; World War II; shape-shifting/vampires/zombies/etc; picture books or really anything for kids younger than upper middle grade; technology; power dynamic relationships in romance; insta-love romance; most satire; espionage; mob/mafia/military; conservative talking points

Fun facts about me

name pronunciation: Uh-Leesa Sapphire (like the gemstone) Submission Guidelines Submissions should be emailed to elisa@ I am currently closed to submissions! Once I am open again, send a query with your pitch, synopsis, and first few pages directly to my email. I’ll get back to you just as soon as I can! (Which won’t be as soon as I’d like.) I’m not comfortable with formality so feel free to just call me Elisa. Vital Info elisa@ @ElisaSaphier @elisasaphier..social Website Agent

Fiction