Lydia Shamah is a Carol Mann Agency agent hunting for high-concept, tonally precise fiction — especially psychological thrillers and YA/crossover fantasy — alongside platform-driven nonfiction that challenges conventional wisdom.
In brief
Lydia Shamah's wishlist centers on psychological thrillers, YA fantasy/crossover, and nonfiction with a strong platform angle — with a consistent throughline of 'edgy but written with a light hand.'
The touchstones they name — Tana French, Gillian Flynn, V.E. Schwab, and Michael Lewis — reveal a taste that bridges literary tension, genre momentum, and narrative nonfiction authority; a manuscript needs to satisfy on at least two of those axes to land.
Shamah explicitly welcomes dark and spooky material, unreliable narrators, and timely headlines-inspired premises — writers trying to soften or 'clean up' a dark concept before querying are likely misreading what this agent actually wants.
For nonfiction, platform is non-negotiable: Shamah states outright they want authors already building a following who are disrupting conventional thinking in their field — a great idea without an audience is unlikely to move forward.
Query status is unverified; writers must confirm the current submission window directly before sending.
Lately
Shamah's wishlist emphasizes wanting the 'next' Tana French, Gillian Flynn, V.E. Schwab, and Michael Lewis — a quartet that signals they are looking for writers who can anchor a franchise or body of work, not just a single standout book.
What Lydia is looking for
This is Shamah's stated top priority in adult fiction. They want airtight hooks, unreliable narrators, and prose that earns its tension without feeling heavy. Think: a premise that could dominate a book-club conversation AND a thriller reader's commute. Timely, headline-ripped concepts are especially welcome.
Shamah wants alternate worlds built with real specificity — not generic fantasy topography, but settings that feel entirely invented and inevitable at once. Retellings of classics and fairy tales are welcome when the angle is fresh. Dark and spooky tones are explicitly encouraged, not just tolerated.
Shamah is drawn to stories that capture the acute emotional texture of first love — the excitement and the pain in equal measure. Voice and emotional authenticity matter more than plot complexity here.
Strong world-building is a non-negotiable regardless of setting — a New York City novel must build its world as deliberately as a far-future one. Magic realism is a listed favorite sub-genre. Works in the vein of quiet, literary dread are welcome.
Shamah has a deep appetite for rigorous, well-reported journalistic nonfiction and extraordinary true stories. The writer's analytical authority and narrative drive matter as much as the subject. Works that expose hidden systems or reframe how readers understand an institution or industry are a strong fit.
Shamah is specifically seeking authors who are already challenging orthodoxy in their field AND have begun building an audience around that challenge. The platform is not a bonus — it is part of the pitch. A strong concept without evidence of traction is unlikely to succeed here.
Listed as a sought category and consistent with Shamah's stated comfort with dark, spooky material and touchstones like Neil Gaiman and Penny Dreadful. Best positioned where horror intersects with literary or speculative elements rather than pure slasher/gore.
Shamah lists both as sought nonfiction categories. True crime works best when it has the investigative rigor of the journalistic titles they admire. Memoir should carry a strong authorial voice and a broader cultural argument beyond the personal story.
Not the right fit
On Lydia's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Lydia
Send to querylydia@carolmannagency.com — this is the address listed in the agency's own submission guidelines, and it is the authoritative destination.
For fiction: include a query letter, a short author bio, and the first 25 pages pasted into the email or attached per their format preference. Do not send the full manuscript unsolicited.
For nonfiction: send a query letter, a project synopsis, your bio, a description of your target audience, and a list of competitive titles. Platform evidence should be explicit and early in the letter — Shamah states it as a core requirement.
Lead with the hook. Shamah's wishlist repeatedly emphasizes 'big hooks that feel completely fresh' — your first paragraph should make the concept unmistakable in one or two sentences.
If your work is dark, spooky, or morally complex, do not sand those edges off in the query. Shamah explicitly welcomes those qualities; a sanitized pitch may actually undersell the manuscript.
Use the TV touchstones as a calibration check: if your book shares DNA with Fargo, Stranger Things, Penny Dreadful, or Jessica Jones in tone or structure, say so — Shamah named these publicly as favorites, and a sharp comp to one of them can function as useful shorthand.
For YA retellings or fairy-tale-adjacent work, make the freshness of your angle the centerpiece of your pitch — Shamah wants retellings that feel 'totally unique,' not a recognizable template with new names.
Verify that submissions are currently open before querying — status was unverified at the time this profile was compiled.