Michelle Hauck lives in northern Indiana with her hubby and dogs. She was a co-host of the yearly contests Query Kombat, Nightmare on Query Street, Picture Book Party, and Sun versus Snow and a six time Pitchwars adult mentor.
Her Birth of Saints trilogy from Harper Voyager includes Grudging, Faithful and Steadfast.
She is an associate literary agent for Storm Literary Agency. Michelle is currently accepting all genres of young adult and middle grade, and some select adult genres. In adult, she has a particular love of science fiction and fantasy as well as cozy mystery, and does not accept adult romance, though she does love a romance sub-plot. Please check out her full wishlist and submission directions at Storm Literary Agency.
New: she is now looking for graphic novels in middle grade, young adult and adult. Please include a link to your portfolio in your query letter for graphic novel artwork.
She likes positive, upbeat characters, quirky humor (or really any humor) and is always excited to see stories with diverse underrepresented voices (including and not limited to LGBTQA+, neurodiversity, BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous People, and disability). Also she likes: Characters with lots of backstory that is revealed slowly, villains with complex motivations and layers, and stories set on secondary worlds or settings that are other than American or European.
I use Query Manager and respond to all queries. I have tried to respond to queries in under a month, but am now more like six to eight weeks to send a response. I still try to respond to requested material within three months, but you are welcome to nudge if I go over four months. You may submit to more than one agent at Storm, but only one at a time.
I am reopening to queries on February 16, 2023! Please allow two months for a query response and four months for a response on a full request.
Please note that for this query window, I will only be looking for select genres. Those are: Adult Fantasy (of all subgenres, but specifically second world fantasy and/or by marginalized voices), Adult Cozy Mystery (Contemporary time period and/or by marginalized voices), YA/MG Fantasy, MG Humor/Adventure, YA Thriller, YA Romance (specifically LGBTQ+), YA/MG Historical, low stakes YA/MG Contemporaries, YA/MG Mystery, and Graphic Novels.
I am NOT seeking Science Fiction or Horror in this query window, Historical cozy mystery, or Issue-driven YA/MG Contemporary. I hope to reopen to those genres some time in the future.
I do not want queries for nonfiction, chapter books, or picture books at this time.
Some of my favorite genres in YA and MG are high/epic fantasy, mystery, historical fiction that relates back to today’s kids, and sweet romance in YA. But I am open to all genres of YA and MG.
Some things on my current wishlist are vegan characters, stories involving camping, a humorous and fun middle grade romp, and YA or MG sport stories, YA or MG historical fiction with lots of heart, YA romcoms, adult epic fantasy, cozy mystery with a younger main character, cozy mysteries set in locations outside the US, and diversity in all forms.
Some books I’ve read recently and enjoyed are: Murder in an Irish Village, The Last Cuentista, the Murderbot series, Amari and the Night Brothers, Mexican Gothic, Saddled with Murder, Arsenic and Adobo, Project Hail Mary, Cemetery Boys, New Kid, When you Trap a Tiger, House of Salt and Sorrows, The Jasmine Throne.