Susan Velazquez Colmant is the subsidiary rights director at JABberwocky, where she manages audio and translation rights in addition to her own growing client list. She was born and raised outside of Dallas, Texas and received a B.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in Gender Studies from SUNY Oswego in 2016. Her hobbies include visiting art museums, trying new restaurants, and practicing her French with her husband, who was raised in Corsica.
You may contact her at susan[at]awfulagent.com.
How to Query Me
This webpage will be updated when I open/close to queries, in addition to announcements on my social media pages. Please do not submit queries to my general email; those will be deleted upon receipt.
I will be open for queries from June 1st, 2025 through August 31st, 2025.
To query me, you can follow the submission guidelines on Query Manager. I request a 1-2 page synopsis and the first 20 pages attached as a Word doc.
Link: https://QueryManager.com/susanvcolmant
My Manuscript Wish List (#MSWL)
In general, I gravitate towards any story that details a complicated family dynamic, illustrates a transformative coming-of-age experience, and features unique voices like multicultural and LGBTQIA+ characters. To note, I’m open to stories where identity is the focus and also stories in which diverse identities play a secondary role to the main plot.
For queries submitted from June 1st, 2025 through August 31st, 2025, I am ONLY looking for romantasy, romance, fantasy, general upmarket fiction, and women’s fiction in young adult, new adult, and adult categories. In 2025, I am also eagerly looking for adult nonfiction clients in the narrative nonfiction, pop science, pop culture, and self-help space with a special emphasis on writers from diverse backgrounds.
I am NOT seeking any other genres not specified here. Please do not submit to me if your query does not fit within these parameters.
To note, I do respond to every query but sometimes queries can get lost in QueryManager or in my inbox. If you have not received a response from me within 6 months of your initial sending, you may email to confirm the status of your query.
I have a more detailed MSWL and my “anti” wishlist on my personal website susanvcolmant.com. Please note, I know that it’s very difficult to find an agent who matches your project 100%. My rule of thumb is that if you’re project matches +60% of my MSWL, it’s worth a shot to submit to me even if there’s something in the “anti” list. I’m always happy to be surprised in my reading!
What I’m Looking for in Adult Upmarket/Book Club Fiction and Women’s Fiction:
I believe you can have “a coming of age” at any point in life—I like to call it “a coming of self”—so I love stories about protagonists discovering new parts of themselves or coming to terms with their past, whether they’re 25, 45, or 85.
I love family sagas centered on complicated family dynamics. I particularly enjoy stories where the younger and older generations make peace with their differences and learn to have a renewed appreciation for each other.
I also love reading stories about the immigrant experience, especially if they explore what it means to live within the diaspora and exemplify “Ni de aquí, ni de allá” (“not from here, not from there”).
I gravitate towards both contemporary and historical stories, although I really love to see historical stories set in diverse, underexplored time periods and settings. I am particularly interested in seeing stories set during the Chicano movement and stories set in the American Southwest (particularly Texas!) and Mexico.
I continually to be fascinated by the power of cults or things that feel “cultish”— parasocial fandoms, extreme loyalty to brands, super tight-knit familial or friend groups that become suffocating, etc.—so I’d love to see stories that explore these concepts. I don’t want necessarily want things to veer into the horror or thriller side; I want things to be more meditative on why these “cultish” things mean so much to the characters.
On a lighter note, I love “girl power” narratives and other generally empowering stories about young people forging their way through the world and learning from their mistakes to become stronger people, especially alongside a group of close-knit friends (the non-culty kind!).
I also enjoy what I call “rich people problems.” Think Succession, The White Lotus, Gossip Girl, Saltburn, etc. There’s just something that fascinates me about the people who have everything and yet nothing at all, especially when there’s an outsider trying to break into their midst and grab something for themselves.
What I’m Looking for in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Romance:
I’m looking for fun, high-concept premises that play with tropes in the vein of Netflix’s Set It Up or Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe whether set in modern day or a period setting. I will note that I’m getting a little bored of enemies-to- lovers/rivals-to-lovers so if your story is in this vein, I’d like it to feel fresh and different. (Please, no more stories where people are just straight up mean to each other in the name of banter!)
I’d really like to find a good friends-to-lovers romance or romances in which the love interests help each other grow and change for the better in the vein of When Harry Met Sally.
I also really enjoy good ol’ sweeping romances that feel like modern day fairytales like Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan or the film Maid in Manhattan (which is one of my favorite rom-coms of all time).
I am looking at all spice levels in this genre.
What I’m Looking for in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Romantasy:
Although I said I’m not open to any other genres at the moment, I would be open to genre blends in romantasy—a romantasy with a crime/mystery element, a romantasy with a twinge of horror, etc.
I am usually not a huge fan of complex worldbuilding or magic systems but lately, I have found myself longing to immerse myself in detailed worlds. I would especially love to see unique magic systems, like magic based on beauty/makeup as in Dhionne Clayton’s The Belles series or the light/shadows magic system in Garth Nix’s The Seventh Tower series.
As a general note, I’d love to see fantasy that involves the lesser known or less highlighted fantasy creatures such as unicorns, griffins, mermaids, selkies, etc.
And this may be crossing a little into science fiction, but I’ve really been enjoying stories that play with time travel, time slips, and parallel universes such as in Ashley Poston’s The Seven Year Slip and Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop.
I am looking at all spice levels in this genre.
What I’m Looking for in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fantasy:
I’m looking for retold fairy tales and myths (especially if they are beyond the usual Grimm Brothers’ and Hans Christian Andersen retellings) or stories set in worlds inspired by various cultures, both low and high fantasy. I’d love to see more myth retellings in the vein of Madeline Miller but beyond the typical Greco-Roman myths. I’d also be open to modern day versions of myths (those probably crosses over to the contemporary fantasy side).
I am looking for stories with a charming setting—whether it’s a cozy small town or a particularly charming block in a big city—that feel like another character in the story and an emotional, cathartic arc for the protagonist as they undergo a “coming of self.”
I also would love to see stories that incorporate a quirky magical realism such as in the television shows Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies whether it’s kept light and fun or leans to the dark, Gothic side. I also enjoy stories that play with “maybe it’s magic, maybe it’s mundane.”
I’d also love to see cozy fantasies that crossover into the romance or romantic comedy space such as The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.
Adult Nonfiction
In 2025, I am eagerly looking for nonfiction clients in the narrative nonfiction, pop science, pop culture, and self-help space with a special emphasis on writers from diverse backgrounds.This is the first time in a long time that I’ve actively sought out nonfiction so I’m casting a wide net.
In narrative nonfiction, I am particularly looking for stories that shed light on a little known or quirky parts of history, politics, science/technology, or pop/internet culture, especially if there can be a throughline to tie to today’s events. For example, FASHIONOPOLIS by Dana Thomas, MEET ME BY THE FOUNTAIN by Alexandra Lange, DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY by Erik Larson, and CULTISH by Amanda Montell.
I consider myself as a recovering Chronically Online person and as our lives become more and more influenced by social media algorithms, I am on the lookout for titles that examine our current internet culture and its real-life ramifications such as in Jonathan Haidt’s THE ANXIOUS GENERATION.
But I don’t want just doom and gloom analyses about how we’re too much on our phones. I’d love nonfiction with a practical, prescriptive approach on how to spend less time online, how to build an in person community, and how to reach people who have fallen down the wrong rabbit holes. I’d love to see something in the vein of HOW TO TALK TO YOUR SON ABOUT FASCISM by Craig A. Johnson and STOLEN FOCUS by Johann Hari.
I am also open to prescriptive nonfiction dedicated to all areas of self-improvement–making better food choices, making better financial decisions, making better dating approaches, and strengthening personal relationships. Generally speaking, I want to find nonfiction titles that make me feel like I’ve learned to look at the world in a new way and I have been given the tools to improve myself or the environment around me.
I am open to memoirs but note, I will be extremely picky about them. I like the style of narrative nonfiction that blends in the author’s personal journey into the topic such as THE LADY FROM THE BLACK LAGOON by Mallory O’Meara. So what I will be seeking in memoirs is the ability to go beyond a personal narrative and establish a connection to a “big picture” aspect such as TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT by Rick Steves, CARELESS PEOPLE by Sarah Wynn-Williams, or WHAT’S EATING US by Cole Kazdin.
Please note, I am NOT looking for cookbooks, gift books, fitness guides, business/entrepreneurship guides, or religion/spirituality nonfiction.
