Moe Ferrara is a BookEnds Literary Agency agent with a fandom-rooted sensibility, hunting for voice-driven adult and YA fiction — especially rom-coms with real plot stakes, romantasy with bite, and atmospheric horror that unsettles rather than shocks.
In brief
The wishlist explicitly elevates adult fiction as the current top priority, a meaningful shift worth noting for querying writers who may know Moe Ferrara primarily from YA work.
Moe Ferrara's taste is shaped by fandom culture — they reference fanfic tropes ('Oh. Oh.' moments, AUs, SidGeno energy) with genuine fluency, signaling they respond to the emotional architecture readers build around beloved characters and ships.
The agency page resolves a potential source conflict: Moe Ferrara is at BookEnds Literary Agency, not Triada US — query through BookEnds' submission infrastructure accordingly.
For romantasy, Moe Ferrara draws a firm line at epic fantasy: more than three POVs or more than two maps is a hard stop, and comps to Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones are disqualifying.
A personal note in the wishlist asks writers to flag parental-death content in queries — this is a stated sensitivity, not a genre restriction, and failing to include that warning is a real misstep.
Lately
Moe Ferrara publicly named adult fiction as the top priority for the current submission season, marking a notable emphasis shift for anyone who may associate them primarily with younger age groups.
What Moe is looking for
This is a headline priority. Moe Ferrara reads across the queer and straight spectrum and welcomes any heat level. The non-negotiable: the central conflict cannot be one that evaporates the moment the two leads have an honest conversation. Strong plot beyond the romance is essential — the romance is the draw, but there must be something else keeping the reader there. Tropes are not just tolerated but actively requested: forced proximity, fake dating that slides into 'wait, were we always dating?', grumpy/sunshine pairings, enemies-to-lovers chains. Contemporary setting is fine, but so are soulmate premises, alternate universes, and a light supernatural thread woven through. Sports romance with a hockey or football (including soccer/football) backdrop is a particular sweet spot — Moe Ferrara has deep sports fandom roots and gravitates toward teammate dynamics and emotional-support-forward energy over pure rivalry. The pitch that lands will have an 'Oh. Oh.' gut-punch moment at its center.
Romantasy is a genuine passion, not a trend chase. Moe Ferrara's entry points into the genre were Karen Marie Moning and Anne Bishop's work — dark, lush, creature-forward fantasy with romantic heat. Retellings of familiar stories with genuine new twists are a stated guilty pleasure. Mythology beyond the standard Western canon is actively encouraged; selkies and other underrepresented supernatural creatures are explicitly welcomed. Vampires are a weak spot unless the lore is genuinely reimagined. Hard limits: epic fantasy with sprawling world-building, more than three POVs, or more than two maps. Swordplay (literal or metaphorical) is fine; Tolkien-scale complexity is not.
Moe Ferrara's horror sweet spot is the uncanny rather than the brutal — stories set in our recognizable world where something is subtly, persistently wrong. Slasher fiction, jump-scare mechanics, and gratuitous violence are not a fit. Body horror is acceptable when it serves the narrative rather than existing for shock value. The tonal touchstones Moe Ferrara names are atmospheric and darkly whimsical rather than straight gore.
Not the right fit
On Moe's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Moe
Submit through BookEnds Literary Agency's official submission form — the agency page is the authoritative destination, not any third-party directory or wishlist aggregator.
If your manuscript deals significantly with parental death at any age level, include a brief heads-up in your query letter. This is a stated personal sensitivity, not a genre gate, and skipping it is a real misstep.
Lead with voice and hook above all. Moe Ferrara's stated north star is a book they can't put down — structure your opening pages and query letter around the compulsive read quality, not just the premise.
For rom-coms, name the trope up front and demonstrate in the query that the conflict has genuine stakes beyond a simple miscommunication — Moe Ferrara has a known peeve about conflicts that evaporate with one honest conversation.
For romantasy, specify your creature/mythology choices and clarify your POV count and whether you have maps. Anything over three POVs or two maps should not be queried to Moe Ferrara.
For sports romance, lean into the emotional partnership dynamic in your pitch rather than rivalry. Moe Ferrara gravitates toward teammates over adversaries.
If your horror is more atmospheric-uncanny than slasher, say so explicitly in the query and name the tonal register. A brief comp to a TV show in that vein is fair game and aligns with how Moe Ferrara themselves describe their taste.
Moe Ferrara's wishlist explicitly says they enjoy being surprised by projects they didn't know they wanted — if your book sits near but not exactly on the stated list, query anyway unless it's in a hard 'no' category.