A surefire way to determine an agent is the best fit for your manuscript/writing career is by learning everything you can about them. Such information is great when choosing who to query and deciding who you’d love to work long term with. As a site dedicated to guiding writers through the publication journey, we’ve put together awesome agent interviews for you!
Today, we’re introducing Tommy Dean of the Rosecliff Literary!
· Path2pub: How did you become an agent?
After working in the literary magazine space as an editor for two literary magazines for over 5 years, our agency creator, Jessica Berg, asked me to join as an agent in early 2025. Though I didn’t do an internship at a traditional agency, I’ve been honing my writing and editing craft for years, and I know a great story when I read one! I’m excited to start my agenting career with Rosecliff Literary as we take on opening doors for all authors.
· Path2pub: What genres do you represent, and why did you decide ‘these are what I want to help bring to the world’?
I’m representing the genres I love to read! Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Literary Thrillers, and True Crime. These are also the genres readers have always loved and will continue to seek out! I love being pulled into a story that I can’t stop reading, and these genres do that for me!
· Path2pub: What instantly catches your eye in a query letter/manuscript?
A great logline/elevator pitch/hook that tells me who the character is, what they want, what’s in their way, and what the stakes are if they don’t get it! I love a query that quickly shows me what the book is about while maintaining depth. I love a query that helps me visualize some of the main story events!
· Path2pub: What is that element that makes you know at once that a story is not for you?
Stories that are not a part of the genres I represent. I don’t take on romance, science fiction, and fantasy, and I don’t prefer stories with ghosts. These aren’t the stories I’m drawn to, so I don’t have relationships with editors that publish in these genres either.
Also, stories with word counts well below 70,000 words. They’re just too hard to sell in the current market.
· Path2pub: How hands-on are you editorially?
One of my favorite parts of being an agent is working on developmental edits with my clients to make their book the best it can be before we go on submission. I love to brainstorm and really think through plots and story beats, and make the book urgent and resonant!
· Path2pub: How submissions-ready do you prefer a queried manuscript to be?
I wish I could wade into the editing arena with so many authors and books, but due to a lack of time and energy, I love books to be as good as they can be before they are pitched. I want to find characters I’m rooting for, and plots that already make a lot of sense. I love to work with authors who prove they have a great understanding of writing craft and story structure!
· Path2pub: Do you have goals for how many clients you want to acquire in a year?
I started in February 2025 and aimed to sign 10 clients. I ended up with 7. I’d love to sign another 8-9 clients in 2026!
· Path2pub: What is your favorite trope?
I love small-town lies and secrets, the sins that haunt characters their whole lives. I love characters who, when thrown into impossible situations, find a way to survive.
· Path2pub: What are some books you think everyone should read?
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, Ozark Dogs by Eli Cranor, Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby, The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda, The Bright Forever by Lee Martin, and James by Percival Everett.
· Path2pub: If a writer could write a book specifically for you, what would you want it to be about?
A gripping mystery, full of crime, and high stakes, where secrets and lies lead the main character toward the possibility of death if they can’t solve the mystery in time!
· Path2pub: What is your favorite part of being an agent or an agenting experience you’ve had that you’ll always cherish?
I love getting to tell authors how much I love their books, how their characters have affected me, and how I think I can help them make the book even better. I love seeing authors getting excited about doing one more revision before sending the book out on submission!
· Path2pub: What advice do you have for querying writers?
Make sure that your book is as good as you can make it before querying. The first page should do so much work in getting the agent excited about reading the other 299+ pages.
Make your plot paragraphs read like a movie trailer, something that hooks me both visually and emotionally to your main character! Make sure that your story has enough words to be a novel!
· Path2pub: What are your non-publishing related hobbies?
Hanging out with my wife and kids! Going to my daughter’s theater performances and talking to my son about his animatronic creations! Reading, always, reading!
Thank you for the amazing answers, Tommy!
Tommy Dean is an associate literary agent with Rosecliff Literary, the author of two flash fiction chapbooks and a full flash collection, Hollows(Alternating Current Press 2022). He is the Editor of Fractured Lit and Uncharted Magazine. Submit your query to https://QueryTracker.net/query/TDRL.
To professionally critique your query letter and first pages, send us an email here!
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