JABberwocky Wrapped: 2025 in Review – JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc

What a year 2025 has been! To say the least. But here at JABberwocky Literary Agency, we’ve had a few major changes for the better and a lot of client books that we’re excited and proud to have worked on. Consider this our annual formal bragging rights post!

Our team grows ever bigger — JABberwocky hired four new people this year! Sam Morgan joined as our book-to-film agent, managing all film/TV rights for the agency. Destini Baylis Adams has gone from intern to subsidiary rights assistant this year as well as becoming our Instagram manager (which, hey, smash that follow button if you haven’t yet). Ella Gill joined as a new agency assistant, assisting Joshua Bilmes, and our unofficial expert on the show Survivor. Most recently, Claire Miller has been brought on as our part-time royalties assistant to aid in the delightful processing and databasing of complex spreadsheets. We’re at 15 total employees on the heels of our 31st year, and while our LaCroix supply needs to be restocked a lot more often, it’s a worthwhile cost to having a bigger and cooler set of people to work with.

Two tall stacks of books showcasing the spines, roughly seventeen books tall. There are thirty-eight books in total; this is approximately two-thirds of the client books we had publish in 2025! — _{This is only two-thirds of the client books published in 2025!}

Brandon Sanderson continues to reach milestone after milestone every year, and this one is one of his biggest yet: he has now sold over 50 million books worldwide! Brandon’s latest book, TAILORED REALITIES, also published this week to positive critical and popular reviews, with Publisher’s Weekly deeming it “a bounty for Sanderson fans.” Earlier this year, he published the fifth Secret Project book, ISLES OF THE EMBERDARK, and announced his latest collaborative novel, SONGS OF THE DEAD. Contrary to popular belief and despite several years of working as his agents, the JAB team still does not know when Brandon finds time to sleep!

Grady Hendrix started the year off strong, with WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS hitting #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, #5 on the USA Today list, and #2 on the Indie list; more recently, the book won as Readers’ Favorite Horror in the Goodreads Choice Awards! Later in the spring, Victoria Zeller’s debut YA novel, ONE OF THE BOYS, also became a “bestzeller” landing on the NYT at #9 and the Indie list at #5, and continues to be championed by indie bookstores and libraries alike in their Best of Year lists. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s latest spell-binding novel, THE BEWITCHING, became a USA Today and Indie bestseller over the summer, and has garnered a whopping six starred reviews! PUCKING STRONG, the eagerly anticipated fourth book in Emily Rath’s hockey romance series, was an instant NYT bestseller, landing at #6 on the Paperback Trade list (and #1 in the “agonizingly good slow-burn romance” category, at least in our humble opinions!).

But bestseller lists are only one cause for celebration! Allison Epstein’s FAGIN THE THIEF, a reimagining of the infamous Charles Dickens character through his eyes, earned praise from outlets such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal; Allison was even interviewed about her book on NPR. THE COUNTRY UNDER HEAVEN, a literary weird Western by Frederic S. Durbin, received four starred reviews and was deemed a top New York Public Library pick of the year, as well as their #1 Horror Pick. Adam Oyebanji’s sci-fi thriller, ESPERANCE, earned standout reviews, and is an editors’ choice for Amazon, Booklist, and Goodreads.

We want to give an extra special shout-out to our debut authors of this year! Publishing a first book is equal parts thrilling, nerve-wracking, and stressful — we’re honored to champion clients through their debut journeys, road bumps and all. Congratulations to Linda H. Codega, A.T. Sayre, Victoria Zeller, Tim Chawaga, and Colin Brush for publishing your first novels!

Motheater by Linda H. Codega
The Last Days of Good People by A.T. Sayre
One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller
Salvagia by Tim Chawaga
Exo by Colin Brush

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This year was an exciting one on the film side! Sam Morgan joined as our book-to-film agent, a new and very welcome role on our team. He’s been keeping very busy too — while most of the film news is ~top secret~ for now, some of our highlights include: Adam Oyebanji’s mystery novel A QUIET TEACHER is optioned at Universal, Suzanne Palmer‘s award-winning short story “Waterlines” is optioned with Lumanity Productions, and serialized Verticals are forthcoming from Shannon Mayer and Christine Bell at ReelShort!

Our subsidiary rights team has also been very hard at work this year! They brokered over 150 new translation deals and 40 audio rights licenses (not even counting deal renewals!). Among some of the most significant deals are dramatic audio rights to Elizabeth Helen’s Beasts of the Briar series; Spanish rights to Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian’s Strata Wars; French and Italian rights to Grady Hendrix’s WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYWARD GIRLS; French and Italian rights to Shannon Mayer’s Of Quirks and Curses saga; and audio rights to Jessica Lacy’s TASTES LIKE CANDY plus two standalones. JABberwocky once again returned to the UK for the London Book Fair with our biggest group of attendees yet: president Joshua Bilmes, subsidiary rights director Susan Velazquez, subsidiary rights associate Christina Zobel, and COO Brady McReynolds. Christina also represented JABberwocky in person at the Frankfurt Book Fair with our largest client list to date!

As 2025 slowly dwindles down, the JAB team is excited about the wonderful things 2026 will bring (but especially the books). Here are some forthcoming titles from JABberwocky clients to look forward to:

On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield
Saber-tooth by Robin Gow
Death by Irish Coffee by Alex Erickson
Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson
Limelight by Andrew Keenan-Bolger
The Greenies, written by Emma Mills
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale by C.M. Waggoner
Blindside by Michael Mammay
Rabbit Test and Other Stories by Samantha Mills
Hazel Helps Out by Dori Hillestad Butler
Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer
Frozen by Stardust by Elizabeth Helen
For Better or Murder by Simon R. Green
Squad Kill by Jack Campbell
Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet by Emma Mills
Navigators You Can Trust by Patrick Fitzgerald
Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian
The Three Coffin Problem by Lavie Tidhar
A City Dreaming by Maurice Broaddus
The Killing Rules by Bree Despain
The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Winterborne by J.D. Netto

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And that’s a wrap! 2025 brought a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly (in publishing and beyond). So we’re extra grateful to be working with such a fantastic list of authors and illustrators. Thank you to all you readers, writers, editors, publishing professionals, and generally lovely folks for your support of our hardworking clients and their work.

We’ll see you next year!

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Client books published in 2025

January

Rebellious Grace by Jeri Westerson

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Motheater by Linda Codega

Miserere: An Autumn Tale by T. Frohock (revised edition)

February

Stone Certainty by Simon R. Green

Where Shadows Bloom by Cat Bakewell

The Contest by Jeff Macfee