From the Agent’s Desk:

Queries, Submissions, and the Fiction Market in 2026

In this session, writers will get a glimpse of publishing from the agent’s perspective. What subgenres are editors asking for (or avoiding)? What kinds of books tend to stick out in agents’ inboxes? Why does it take everyone so long to reply to queries? We’ll begin with a brief overview of the market for fiction and submission trends, touch on query tips and things to avoid, then segue into an AMA for attendees to ask their questions about all things trade publishing. 

Speaker’s Bio: Maggie Cooper is an agent with Aevitas Creative Management, representing adult fiction and select nonfiction projects with an emphasis on queer and trans stories and books that make our world kinder, weirder, more joyful, or all of the above. She holds a degree in English from Yale University, attended the Clarion Writers Workshop, and earned her MFA in fiction from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she served as an editor for The Greensboro Review. Maggie is also a writer; her prose chapbook, The Theme Park of Women’s Bodies, was published by Bull City Press in 2024.