Melissa Edwards, Agent at Stonesong Literary

Melissa Edwards joined Stonesong as a literary agent in August 2016. Previously, she was a literary agent at the Aaron Priest Literary Agency, where she managed the foreign rights for a 40-year backlist. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt Law School, Melissa began her career as a litigation attorney before transitioning into publishing. She is a tireless advocate for her clients and a constant partner during the publication process and beyond.

She also represents adult commercial fiction. She’s looking for fresh voices in thrillers, general fiction, and women’s fiction with unusual takes on the tropes that we all love. She represents select children’s authors, as well.

She can be found on Twitter @MelissaLaurenE.

Work with Melissa

LIVE Meetings: Meet face-to-face, from home. Choose Zoom, Google Meet, or phone, and speak for the appointed time about your query, first page, and/or first ten pages (for longer meetings). Does not include written notes, but is a chance to have an honest discussion about your work, and to ask follow-up questions. International meetings welcomed.

WRITTEN Critiques: Get detailed, thoughtful notes on your work. Comes with large-scale edits (character, world, plot, tension, concept, conflict, and similar as needed) in an editorial letter and small-scale, line-by-line notes as needed (for longer critiques, an average of three per page). Work arrives in your inbox by the date on the calendar.

HYBRID is a live meeting at the appointment time, with written notes.

Member Reviews of Melissa

The advice concerning my query letter from Melissa was probably the best I have received during my writing career.

The advice concerning my query letter from Melissa was probably the best I have received during my writing career. It was personal, and caring, and my query will be much stronger thanks to her help.
I highly recommend other authors to invest in this consultation.

Dave Wickenden

Amazing!

Melissa was amazing! Our discussion landed in the "sweet spot" of being complimentary yet getting down to the nitty gritty of what I needed to change to make my query letter better represent my work. Thanks, Manuscript Academy and Melissa!

Kristen Robinette

Very helpful

Melissa was very helpful. She pointed out which sentences were unclear and how to condense and change the order of some of it. I took her advice and sent out 8 new queries. Two days later I had a partial request from one of them!

Dee Garretson

All of these critiques are worth every penny and then some.

Melissa was great! She gave both specific and general feedback that has helped me answer some lingering questions I have, and I believe her honesty and transparency will help me not only create a better manuscript, but also find the right agent for this book. If you want someone who will be straightforward, choose Melissa. You can't go wrong. All of these critiques are worth every penny and then some.

Helen Tosch

Got right into the heart of what needed to be addressed in my first 10 pages.

Melissa was very prepared and got right into the heart of what needed to be addressed in my first 10 pages. Fifteen minutes goes by quickly, and she was able to give me highly workable action items on my pages and my query.

Lowell Buckner

Strong recommendations

This was my third or fourth session with Melissa. As always, a highly productive 15 minutes. She had strong recommendations from the start and her advice is much appreciated.

Lowell Buckner

Right down to business

Melissa got right to business in our short ten minute session. That may be a turn off to some but as I thought about it I realized how professional she was. She gave me her frank opinion on my first pages coupled with my query letter and it all seemed to click. Our short ten minutes together showed she knows how to conduct herself in a frank, business like manner. Even better is the fact that the changes she recommended will surely be implemented as I'm now working on a new starting point for my novel.

Okafor Chen