
I accept queries through Query Manager at: https://QueryManager.com/JoshuaBilmes
Take a look at my blog for full information on my query guidelines and what I’m currently looking for. That is the place to go to for all submission-related questions. One important thing I’ll emphasize here is that I want your query to include information about both you and your manuscript. Here’s a link to a Publisher’s Weekly column about how someone sold their book by mentioning their college in a query letter. There’s always something worth saying about yourself.
And to tell you about me:
Joshua (@jabbermaster) is the President and founder of JABberwocky Literary Agency, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024.
His path to owning his own literary agency started in high school, when he sent monthly letters to the editor of Analog, the leading science fiction magazine, critiquing each issue. These letters led Betsy Mitchell, the magazine’s associate editor, to offer Bilmes the chance to do freelance readers reports and other work for her when she joined Baen Books shortly after its inception. Joshua Bilmes and the publishing industry took an immediate liking to one another, and he started at Scott Meredith soon after graduating from college.
In 1994, Bilmes struck out on his own to establish JABberwocky Literary Agency. The agency has had enduring relationships with Brandon Sanderson and Charlaine Harris, each of whom have sold more than 30 million books worldwide, and Grady Hendrix, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Jack Campbell, Peter V. Brett, Elizabeth Moon, Simon R. Green, and Tanya Huff are other agency clients who have sold in the millions of copies, and the agency now has a burgeoning business in romantasy and hockey romance, with major authors like Emily Rath, C.N. Crawford, and Elizabeth Helen.
While his path to becoming an agent went through the science fiction genre, his interests were and are far broader. The first book he ever sold was a mystery novel, MARY’S GRAVE by Malcolm McClintick. The agency’s top clients include authors who have written SF, horror, mysteries, and genre-blends. A Variety junkie since high school, Bilmes has recently sold multiple nonfiction books about the entertainment industry, like A PERIODIC TABLE OF BROADWAY MUSICALS and A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE: HOW AND WHY THE STAR WARS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL HAPPENED. Aki Peritz’s DISRUPTION, about the thwarting of the 2006 liquid bombing plot, was a Best Nonfiction title for both Kirkus and Christian Science Monitor.
Joshua’s open for queries, but often has a long response time. He also scouts for new talent at several conventions every year.
Other relevant links: Joshua’s Blog
I’m excluding work by my own clients here, but…
Favorite fantasy: LITTLE BIG by John Crowley
Favorite sf novel: HYPERION by Dan Simmons and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels
Favorite mystery: THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL by Franklin W. Dixon, because it was the first
Favorite director: Stanley Kubrick
Favorite movie not directed by Kubrick: Jerry Maguire
Other Favorites: Goodfellas, lots of Tom Cruise, Bull Durham, The Empire Strikes Back, Superman: The Movie, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Favorite movie theatre: Loews Astor Plaza (1974-2004)
Favorite film composer: John Williams
Current Tennis Players to Watch: Gabriel Diallo
Favorite Metropolitan Area to Visit Bookstores: was Washington DC, in a post-Borders age nowhere, really, which is hard to get my head around
Borders Visited: 238. After L.E. Modesitt’s 310ish, this may be 2nd place for most visited by someone who never worked for the company. All gone now.
Favorite bookstore hang-up: Snooty indies with crappy sf sections
Favorite Song: Hotel California
Favorite Ringtone: What’s a “Ringtone”?
Favorite Pizza: Sunnyside Pizza
Favorite Mexican: De Mole in Woodside
Favorite Italian: Manetta’s
Favorite College Thing I Finally Stop Doing Very Often: Eating at Uno’s as there got to be fewer and fewer of them. But I still do love an individual deep dish veggie pizza so long as no one shows me the calories count.
Favorite Food Shopping: Going to NYC green markets to buy chocolate chip cookies, brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip loaves, cream cheese chocolate chip loaves — all the good healthful things that don’t have any calories. But also, green market strawberries and blueberries in season are better than what you get in the grocery store. And crimson crisp apples are way too hard to find and way under appreciated.