Paige Wheeler

Paige Wheeler is a founding partner of Folio Literary Management, LLC. Prior to forming Folio Literary Management, Ms. Wheeler founded Creative Media Agency (CMA) in 1997 and served as its President for nine years until she merged CMA into her new company, Folio, in 2006. Her goal was to create a literary agency that truly serviced its authors and their intellectual property. With the formation of Folio, she is now able to provide the ability to sell both domestic and foreign rights, as well as offer the services of a marketing department, a speakers bureau and licensing capabilities.

What I'm looking for

I'm looking to represent a broad range of projects. In particular, I've been reading upscale commercial fiction and nonfiction books that tell a unique story or ones in which the author has a huge platform. I seem to be especially drawn to a story if it has a high concept and a fresh, unique voice.

Fiction: All commercial fiction and Upscale (think book club) fiction, as well as women's fiction, romance (all types), mystery, thrillers, and psychological suspense. I enjoy both historical fiction as well as contemporary fiction, so do keep that in mind.

Nonfiction: I'm looking for both narrative nonfiction and prescriptive nonfiction. I'm looking for books where the author has a huge platform and something new to say in a particular area. Some of the areas that I like are lifestyle, relationship, parenting, business (!), popular/trendy reference projects and women's issues. I’d like books that would be a good fit on the Today show.

What I'm not looking for

Fiction: children's, science fiction, fantasy

Nonfiction: academic nonfiction

How to contact me

I only accept submissions via email, and request that you include your query letter and first 5 pages in the body of the email. Email me at: pwheeler@foliolit.com and include "Query" in the subject line. My response time for queries is usually within a week; for partial and complete manuscripts, 6-8 weeks.

Please note that due to an IT issue, all material submitted prior to 1/14/2010 has been lost on my hard drive (!) and you'll need to resubmit. My log is intact, however, so please only resend if you did not receive a response.

Some favorite (non-client) books

I love Victoria Holt, Pam Houston, Amy Tan, Patricia Cornwell, Lawrence Block, Helen Fielding, Kate White, Peter Mayle, Frances Mayes, Steven J. Gould, Chinua Achebe, Janet Evanovich, Laura Hillenbrand, Dava Sobel, Meg Cabot, Richard Ford, Tracy Chevalier, Philippa Gregory, to name a few.

What kind of writing inspires me

I'm motivated by projects that are commercially viable and that I’ve totally fallen for and can’t stop talking about. I need to be a cheerleader for a project so my enthusiasm level must be very high. However, sometimes I love books that aren't commercially viable. That’s when I sadly have to turn away projects. I like books that are well organized and constructed and have a brilliant and unique voice. Don’t just write a story, write it intelligently. More specifically, for fiction I like plot lines that make sense (or are cleverly written); may give a fun twist to a tired storyline; have really engaging, believable characters that shine; are well written with thoughtful prose. In nonfiction, I like for the author to have the expertise to write the book and the platform to help sell it. The projects should cover a niche that has yet to be addressed and be timely and necessary, or at the very least, interesting.

What I love about my job

I love to be an author's advocate. It's a thrill to make a writer's dream come true of selling their book. It's even more exciting to help that person grow their career. As much as I'd love to shut myself off from the world and read, I'm also an extrovert and love meeting with people. This job really fits my personality. Also, the individuals that make up the publishing industry are simply wonderful: they're smart, opinionated, well-read, and a bit quirky.

Where to find me:

I’ll be at the following conferences in 2010:

January 28-29: Space Coast Writers' Guild - Cocoa Beach, FL

February 26-28: Sleuthfest – Deerfield Beach, FL

March 8: MWA Event - Chevy Chase, MD

April 16-18: Desert Dreams – Phoenix, AZ

April 23-24: Spring Fling – Chicago, IL

May 1: Malice Domestic - Washington, DC

June 12: American Independent Writers Conference - Washington, DC

July 8: Thrillerfest - New York City, NY

July 29-31: RWA National Conference - Orlando, FL

October 1-3: Emerald City RWA - Seattle, WA

My response time

If I've asked to see something from you, you should hear back from me within six-eight weeks.