Agentspotlight

Seasoned literary agents on the business of publishing.

- By Kristy Stevenson

Ernie Chiara
Fuse Literary | Boston, Mass.

GENRES: Fantasy, science fiction, and horror in the adult, young adult (YA), and middle-grade age categories, as well as YA contemporary

CLIENTS INCLUDE: Katharine J. Adams, Cassandra Newbould, Aman J. Bedi, Meredith Mooring

Ernie Chiara started with Fuse in 2017-as a writer and client. He recalls wanting to learn as much as he could about what was happening behind the scenes with publishers, editors, their likes and dislikes, what books they were acquiring, etc. And the more he absorbed, the more his interest in the agenting side of the business grew.

Today, Chiara tries to be the type of agent every writer hopes to find. "And that's different for everyone," he says. "But it starts with open communication so we're working together toward the same goal. I want my clients to know exactly what's happening with their projects as we prepare them to submit to publishers, which acquiring editors we'll be sharing them with, and what's happening at every point along the way."

What do you look for in clients?