Betsy Amster is president of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, a literary agency in Los Angeles. Before opening her agency in 1992, she spent ten years as an editor at Pantheon and Vintage and two years as editorial director of the Globe Pequot Press. A frequent instructor at The Loft, the acclaimed literary center in Minneapolis, Betsy has also run publishing workshops at Mediabistro, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and UCLA Extension's Writers' Program. In addition, she has been profiled in Poets and Writers, the Los Angeles Times, on the Web del Sol/Algonkian Writer's Workshop website (http://www.webdelsol.com/Algonkian/interview-bamster.htm) and in the ASJA Newsletter (http://www.asja.org/newspub/x0502b.php).

The agency's areas of interest include: Literary fiction, quirky mysteries and thrillers, memoirs, narrative nonfiction, travelogues, social issues, current affairs, psychology, self-help, popular culture, women's issues, history, biography, art & design, business, health and medicine, science and technology, parenting, cooking and nutrition, and gardening.

The agency works with both first-time and established writers and is known for its expert attention to every aspect of the publishing process.

Rights inquiries: info@amsterlit.com
Submissions for adult titles: b.amster.assistant@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)
Submissions for children's and teen titles: b.amster.kidsbooks@gmail.com (see below for submission requirements)

ALL MAJOR PUBLISHERS

Wendy Mogel, Sandi Ault, Cash Peters, Amy Alkon, Margaret Leslie Davis, Maria Amparo Escandon, Alice Feiring, Joy Nicholson, Phil Doran, Elaine N. Aron, Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn, Christopher Noxon, Robin Chotzinoff, Sharon Montrose, Diana Wells, Rob Cohen & David Wollock, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, John Vorhaus

MONA LISA IN CAMELOT: HOW JACQUELINE KENNEDY AND DA VINCI'S MASTERPIECE CHARMED AND CAPTIVATED A NATION by Margaret Leslie Davis (Da Capo - first serial to Vanity Fair); THE BLESSING OF A SKINNED KNEE by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner/Penguin - New York Times Bestseller; subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Times Sunday Magazine five years after publication); WILD INDIGO by Sandi Ault (starred PW, starred LJ, "thrills galore"--NYTBR; Winner of the 2008 Mary Higgins Clark Award, a special Edgar; Berkley Prime Crime); REJUVENILE by Christopher Noxon (Crown); ESPERANZA'S BOX OF SAINTS (Scribner - #1 L.A. Times Bestseller) and GONZALEZ & DAUGHTER TRUCKING CO. (Three Rivers) by Maria Amparo Escandon; THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON IN LOVE and THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Broadway); THE RELUCTANT TUSCAN by Phil Doran (Gotham); ETIQUETTE FOR OUTLAWS by Rob Cohen & David Wollock (HarperEntertainment); THE SOUVENIR: A DAUGHTER DISCOVERS HER FATHER'S WAR by Louise Steinman (Algonquin/Plume); BABY SIGNS: HOW TO TALK WITH YOUR BABY BEFORE YOUR BABY CAN TALK (Contemporary; with The Miller Agency); THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES (L.A. Times Bestseller) and THE ROAD TO ESMERALDA by Joy Nicholson (St. Martin's; with The Miller Agency)

GRIFTER'S ROLL by John Vorhaus (Shaye Areheart Books)
MONA LISA IN CAMELOT: HOW JACQUELINE KENNEDY AND DA VINCI'S MASTERPIECE CHARMED AND CAPTIVATED A NATION by Margaret Leslie Davis (Da Capo)
ENTERTAINING DISASTERS: A NOVEL WITH RECIPES by Nancy Spiller (Counterpoint)
REVENGERELLA: ONE WOMAN'S BATTLE TO BEAT SOME MANNERS INTO IMPOLITE SOCIETY by Amy Alkon (McGraw-Hill)
THE BIG SKINNY: HOW I LOST MY FATTITUDE by Carol Lay (Villard)
WILD INDIGO, WILD INFERNO, WILD SORROW, and WILD PENANCE by Sandi Ault (Berkley Prime Crime)
THE SHINIEST JEWEL: A FAMILY LOVE STORY by Marian Henley (Springboard)
THE BLESSING OF A B MINUS by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D. (Scribner)
GOOD TO THE GRAIN by Kimberly Boyce (Stewart, Tabori & Chang)
TRAILER TRASH by Samantha Dunn (Toby Press)
NAKED IN DANGEROUS PLACES by Cash Peters (Crown/Three Rivers)
THE UNDERVALUED SELF by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. (Little, Brown)
REAL LEADERS DON'T DO POWERPOINT: HOW TO SELL YOURSELF AND YOUR IDEAS by Chris Witt (Crown Business)
THE BATTLE FOR WINE AND LOVE (OR HOW I SAVED THE WORLD FROM PARKERIZATION) by Alice Feiring (Harcourt)
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF WORKING GIRL: REAL-LIFE CAREER ADVICE YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE by Karen Burns (Running Press)
A VICKY HILL EXCLUSIVE! and SCOOP! by Hannah Dennison (Berkley Prime Crime)
THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE SIXTIES by Judith Nies (HarperCollins)
100 TREES AND HOW THEY GOT THEIR NAMES by Diana Wells (Algonquin)
THE ITALIAN STYLE HOME by Elizabeth Helman Minchilli & Domenico Minchilli (Artisan)
TRUMBO: RED, WHITE AND BLACKLISTED by Christopher Trumbo (Nation Books)

TV, Film, Foreign

PLEASE ADDRESS ALL RIGHTS INQUIRIES TO info@amsterlit.com

UK: Mary Clemmey
Scandinavia, Holland, Spain/Latin America, Portugal/Brazil: Philip Sane, Lennart Sane Agency AB
Germany: Mohrbooks
France: Donatella d’Ormesson
Italy: Vicki Satlow
Former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia), Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czech & Slovak Republics, Greece, Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia): Milena Lukic, Prava I Prevodi
Russia: Alexander Korzhenevski Agency
Japan: English Agency; Japan Uni
China: Big Apple Tuttle-Mori
Korea: MiSook Hong, Korea Copyright Center

Betsy Amster, President

Mary Cummings, Agent

Our submission requirements have changed. Queries for adult titles in the categories we represent must be addressed to b.amster.assistant@gmail.com. For fiction or memoirs, please embed the first three pages in the body of your e-mail. For nonfiction, please embed your proposal. We do not represent screenplays, poetry, westerns, fantasy, science fiction, action adventure, techno thrillers, spy capers, apocalyptic scenarios, or political or religious arguments.

For children's picture books and for middle-grade and young adult novels, please address your query to b.amster.kidsbooks@gmail.com. Please embed the text of your picture book or the first six pages of your novel in the e-mail. No illustrations, please.

We do not open attachments unless we have requested them.

No phone or fax queries. Please understand that owing to the number of inquiries we receive, we will respond only to those that interest us.