Elizabeth Kaplan

Elizabeth Kaplan

Elizabeth has represented numerous critically acclaimed and best-selling authors throughout her 20-year career as a literary agent. She is known for the sharp insights and editing skills she brings to the development of successful projects and authors’ careers.  She works tirelessly to connect individuals, and to find the right home for each project.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Elizabeth moved to New York City and began her publishing career as the assistant to Jim Silberman, the founder of Summit Books. Elizabeth worked as an editor at Summit for three years before moving on to assist another publishing legend, the literary agent Sterling Lord. Before beginning her own agency in 2002, she worked as an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, and the Ellen Levine Agency.

Elizabeth's main areas of focus include: literary fiction, young adult fiction, narrative nonfiction (especially issue-based books), history, biography, food writing and cookbooks and memoir.
 
These are just a sampling of her wide and varied list:

  • Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (#1 NYT Bestseller)
  • The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, E. Lockhart (Printz Honor, 2009. Finalist for the 2008 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature)
  • The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Michael Ruhlman
  • FDR, Jean Edward Smith 
  • The Faith Club, Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner
  • Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing, Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman
  • Beautiful Jim Key: The Lost History of the World’s Smartest Horse, Mim Eichler-Rivas
  • Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know, Randy Stross
  • Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals, Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (NYT Bestseller)
  • Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Chris Gardner with Mim Eichler Rivas (NYT Bestseller)
  • Motherless Daughters (NYT Bestsller), Hope Edelman
  • The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage, Cathi Hanauer

Melissa Sarver

Melissa Sarver

Melissa joined the agency in 2006 and soon began representing authors in both fiction and nonfiction.  In fiction she is interested in adult, YA and middle grade, and is looking for literary and commercial projects.  She likes dark, edgy stories with brilliant prose and strong voice as well as quirky stories with a fresh sense of humor.  She especially enjoys family sagas, multicultural stories and similarly emotional stories with dystopian themes.  In nonfiction, she is looking for voice-driven narrative nonfiction, memoir, lifestyle, business, travel writing, pop culture, cookbooks and food writing.  A graduate of Boston University, she benefits from the experience of working with several literary agencies: Waxman Literary Agency, Brick House Literary Agents, and Imprint Agency (now FinePrint). 

Recent sales include:

  • The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice, Todd Henry
  • Sweet Vegan: A Collection Of AllVegan, Some Gluten-Free, and a Few Raw Desserts, by Emily Mainquist
  • Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother’s Compulsive Hoarding, Jessie Sholl
  • Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide To Spending, Investing And Giving Back, Kimberly Palmer 
  • Songs For A Teenage Nomad & Instructions for a Broken Heart, Kim Culbertson
  • A Torrent of Light, Sangu Mandanna
  • Wintersweet, Tammy Donroe