Kodie Van Dusen is an assistant agent at The Rights Factory who hunts for philosophically grounded, structurally sharp fiction—especially upmarket horror, absurdism, and speculative work—alongside wide-ranging narrative nonfiction.
In brief
Her stated fiction priorities center on adult horror, absurdism, and science fiction, but she frames genre as secondary—what she's really after is an author who has something meaningful to say about humanity and can prove they understand story structure.
Her current client roster is small and recently assembled (she joined The Rights Factory in 2023), so her sales record is still building—this is an agent whose taste is defined more by her public wish list and literary influences than by a long deal history.
She is a published author herself, which is a meaningful signal: she is likely to respond well to craft-conscious query letters that demonstrate self-awareness about theme and structure rather than pure plot summary.
Her nonfiction wish list is unusually broad for an assistant agent, spanning narrative journalism, philosophy, parenting, women's issues, true crime, politics, and cultural criticism—suggesting she is actively building her list across both fiction and nonfiction.
As of May 2026, her submission form is closed. Writers should check her current form status before querying.
Lately
Her current agency page positions her explicitly around authors who have 'something reflective and important to say about the nature of humanity,' emphasizing that genre is less important than philosophical point-of-view and structural mastery. This framing suggests she will push back on query letters that lead with genre and tropes rather than theme and argument.
What Kodie is looking for
Her most-emphasized fiction category. She wants horror that carries genuine literary weight—work with a strong philosophical point and clear commercial accessibility. Think of it as the literary end of horror, not the purely visceral end. Gothic atmospheres, psychological dread, mythic or folkloric underpinnings, and dark academia settings all fit her sensibility. The key qualifier: the author must demonstrate command of structure and a clear sense of what the work is 'about' beyond the scare.
She names Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and George Orwell as touchstone authors, which defines her absurdist taste precisely: darkly comic, satirical, humanist, and idea-driven. She wants work that uses the whimsical and the absurd to say something reflective and important—not absurdism as pure comedy or randomness, but absurdism with a philosophical spine.
She wants SF that is idea-forward and human-scaled rather than epic or world-building-heavy. Her own shorthand is 'more Douglas Adams and Ted Chiang, less Frank Herbert'—meaning she favors near-future or conceptually focused work, sharp prose, and stories that interrogate what it means to be human. Hard SF, military SF, or sprawling epic space opera are not her territory.
She is open to work that doesn't fit neatly into a single genre box, including magical realism and literary crossover fiction. The consistent through-line across all her fiction categories is that she prizes philosophical clarity and structural competence—genre-blending is welcome as long as the author knows what they're doing and why.
She is actively acquiring narrative journalism in the tradition of immersive, deeply researched popular nonfiction. She also wants cultural criticism, corporate criticism, and political nonfiction. Her named touchstone writers—Johann Hari and Neil Strauss—signal she favors propulsive, voice-driven investigations over dry academic analysis.
A wide nonfiction band that reflects her active list-building. She wants accessible, idea-rich work in psychology and philosophy, parenting titles, and books addressing women's issues. These categories suggest she's looking for nonfiction with a strong conceptual argument, not just personal experience.
True crime is explicitly listed as a current acquisition target. Memoir is sought selectively—the 'select' qualifier is meaningful; she is not a generalist memoir agent. The strongest memoir pitches will likely have a strong narrative arc and a broader social or cultural dimension rather than being purely personal.
Not the right fit
On Kodie's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Kodie
Lead with theme and philosophical argument, not plot summary or genre label — her own language makes clear she is selecting for authors who know what their book is 'about' at a deeper level.
Name your structural touchstones deliberately: if your work sits in the Vonnegut / Adams / Orwell / Ted Chiang vein, say so explicitly and briefly explain why — she responds to authors who understand their own literary lineage.
For horror queries, make the literary underpinning unmistakable in the first paragraph — she wants upmarket horror with a commercial hook, so neither a purely literary pitch nor a purely commercial one is right; show both registers.
For nonfiction, signal your narrative approach early — she favors the immersive, journalist-as-protagonist style over dry expertise-led proposals. A strong opening anecdote or scene can do more work than a credentials paragraph.
Avoid foregrounding genre conventions or market comparisons before establishing the book's core idea — she has stated that understanding what you're trying to say matters more than genre, so open with the 'why this book matters' argument.
Verify the submission form is open before querying — it was confirmed closed as of May 2026, and submitting to a closed form is likely to be ignored or auto-declined.
As an assistant agent still building her list, she may be more accessible to debut authors than more established agents — a well-crafted query that demonstrates craft and self-awareness could stand out on a smaller, curated slate.