Harvey Klinger, Inc.
- Dec 29, 2024
- 13 min read
Harvey Klinger, Inc. has been shaping books since the vinyl era. Founded by its namesake in the late seventies, the agency has remained independent for nearly half a century, positioning itself at the crossroads of publishing trends, from paperback booms to digital storytelling. The roster includes authors whose work extends well beyond print. Agents actively sell foreign, film, and television rights and maintain strong relationships with major publishers and global sub-agents, making the agency a gateway for authors into international markets and multimedia exposure. Harvey Klinger and its team of agents span a wide range of genres and bestseller pedigrees.
Since its founding in 1977, Harvey Klinger, Inc. has operated as a New York City literary agency focused on trade publishing across adult fiction and nonfiction, as well as young adult and middle-grade books, with an additional presence in children’s categories and illustration. Over time, it has grown from a one-agent office into a multi-agent firm whose clients regularly place work with Big Five publishers and established independent presses. Its public materials emphasize three recurring priorities, which are reflected in both its list and its marketing language, namely close editorial work with authors before submission, long-standing relationships with major houses, and active management of translation, audio, and other subsidiary rights. The agency is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents, which signals adherence to the standard professional codes and practices governing reputable trade-focused agencies.
The firm’s reputation rests less on a single flagship genre than on consistent performance across a defined group of categories that large trade houses can sell at scale. Its agents represent both literary and commercial projects but tend to concentrate on upmarket and commercial fiction, crime and suspense, selected fantasy, young adult and middle grade, and narrative and accessible nonfiction rather than on highly experimental work, poetry, or academic monographs. For writers, the central question is not simply whether the agency is reputable, but whether its structure, individual-agent focus, and rights strategy align with the specific category, output pace, and long-term goals for foreign, audio, and film or television exploitation that define a given project and career plan.
Agency In Context
Harvey Klinger, Inc. is a New York City–based literary agency and a member of the Association of American Literary Agents. Founded in 1977 by Harvey Klinger, who began his career as an editor at Doubleday and still serves as president and an actively acquiring agent, the firm has grown from a one-person office into a small, tightly run trade-focused agency. Today it maintains a seven-agent roster that includes Harvey Klinger, David Dunton, Andrea Somberg, Wendy Levinson, Rachel Ridout, Cate Hart, and Grace Demyan, with Levinson also overseeing the agency’s foreign rights program.
In its materials, the agency describes itself as representing high-quality writers of adult fiction, nonfiction, young adult, and middle-grade books, emphasizing strong editorial skills, close relationships with major publishers, and a collaborative, career-oriented approach. Longstanding listings and writer reports characterize it as a traditional, selective firm that receives a high volume of queries but takes on comparatively few new clients each year.
For authors, this context matters. Harvey Klinger, Inc. is not a high-volume query factory nor a one- or two-person boutique confined to a single narrow niche. It sits in the middle: large enough to support a varied list and an active rights operation, yet small enough that individual agents’ tastes and strategies drive acquisitions. That balance means a prospective client needs to consider not only the agency but also a specific agent’s list, and to understand that any offer of representation will likely entail a high level of editorial engagement and long-term planning rather than a purely transactional, one-book arrangement.
List Architecture And Focus
The agency’s list is exhaustive within its categories but closely aligned with what large trade houses can realistically publish. Across public agent profiles and wishlists, a clear pattern appears: most projects fall into a set of repeatable, trade-facing lanes rather than an anything-goes list.
In adult fiction, agents at Harvey Klinger, Inc. are strong fits for:
Literary and upmarket novels with clear narrative arcs and a defined commercial angle, especially those that can sit in book club or mainstream trade positions.
Commercial genre fiction, particularly crime, thriller, suspense, historical, and selected strands of fantasy and science fiction that lean toward strong hooks rather than dense experimental worldbuilding.
Women’s fiction and relationship-driven narratives that balance emotional interiority with accessible plotting.
In children’s and young adult work, several agents actively seek:
Young adult across contemporary, fantasy, thriller, and near-historical categories, often with high-concept premises or strong voice as the entry point.
Middle grade adventure, mystery, and emotionally driven contemporary stories, with some agents also open to select chapter books, picture books, and illustrator-led projects.
On the nonfiction side, the agency’s collective appetite covers:
Narrative nonfiction in areas such as history, culture, science, true crime, music, and memoir, with an emphasis on projects that can reach a general readership rather than academic specialists.
Business, lifestyle, and practical nonfiction built around clear markets and author platforms, including idea-driven work in areas like social criticism and popular science.
Individual agents carve out more specific territories within that framework. A few examples that matter to querying writers:
Cate Hart focuses on historical work across middle grade, young adult, women’s fiction, romance, and narrative nonfiction. She shows particular interest in underrepresented voices, overlooked Southern history and culture, and high-concept fantasy. She also considers some contemporary and romantic projects that carry similar emotional and structural weight.
Andrea Somberg maintains an exhaustive list that includes fantasy and science fiction, upmarket commercial and book-club–oriented fiction, young adult and middle-grade fiction, and both narrative and practical nonfiction. Public deal records and profiles show a long run of sales in these areas, which signals that this breadth is backed by consistent placements rather than aspiration alone.
Wendy Levinson represents literary and narrative nonfiction and serves as Director of Foreign Rights, evaluating projects for their translation potential and international marketability.
Rachel Ridout and Grace Demyan lean into darker and more overtly commercial territory, including crime, thriller, horror, westerns, and speculative fiction, alongside selected literary and near-literary works, making them logical targets for authors working at the intersection of genre and voice-driven storytelling.
The agency explicitly states that it does not accept screenplay submissions, even though it negotiates film and television rights for existing book clients. Its orientation is toward trade books rather than pure poetry collections, academic monographs, or highly experimental projects far outside commercial norms. Authors working primarily in those areas are unlikely to find this a natural home.
For writers, the practical value lies in matching both category and agent. A tightly structured historical fantasy for young adults is best aligned with someone like Cate Hart; a dark, high-concept adult fantasy or horror novel belongs in the query stack of Grace Demyan or Rachel Ridout; a music-driven narrative nonfiction proposal or cultural history is better suited to David Dunton or Wendy Levinson; an idea-driven commercial nonfiction or cross-category fantasy with strong series potential may be a fit for Andrea Somberg. Treating “Harvey Klinger, Inc.” as a single destination rather than a set of distinct, taste-driven lists risks producing blunt submissions. The agency actually functions as a small network of overlapping specialties, and effective querying depends on understanding where a given project sits within that architecture.
A Commitment To Emerging Talent
The agency presents itself as structurally open to debut authors and explicit about working with both published and unpublished writers. Its submission guidelines state that it is “always interested in considering new clients, both published and unpublished,” while also noting that it takes on “only a very small number of new authors in any given year.” That combination of openness and selectivity is paired with what the agency describes as a “hands-on, personal approach” and “strong editorial skills,” signalling that new clients are expected to engage in substantive craft work before a project is submitted. Agents’ individual profiles reinforce this stance, with several, including newer agents, explicitly highlighting an interest in debuts and early-career writers.
For a first-time author, the practical significance of that positioning lies in three areas.
First, editorial involvement is part of the model. Many of the agency’s agents describe themselves as editorially focused and routinely work with clients through at least one, and often several, rounds of revision before a manuscript or proposal is shown to editors, particularly in crowded categories such as young adult fantasy, domestic suspense, and narrative memoir, where a strong premise is not enough on its own. This level of engagement can markedly improve a debut’s chances in a competitive submissions grid, but it also lengthens the road to submission and requires a writer who is comfortable revising in partnership rather than viewing the manuscript as finished at the query stage.
Second, representation is framed as a career relationship, not a one-off placement. The agency’s own materials emphasize that it focuses “not just on [authors’] books, but on their careers,” and agent profiles and interviews echo that they look for writers they can support over multiple projects. A debut novel or nonfiction work is therefore treated as the opening move in a longer sequence. Agents think about how it positions an author for second and third books, how option clauses may shape future choices, and how to build a coherent trajectory rather than chasing a single spike. For authors seeking continuity and long-term guidance rather than a strictly transactional arrangement, a small firm with low agent turnover and a stated philosophy like this can be a meaningful advantage.
Third, debuts are positioned within a rights-aware, multi-house landscape. Public deal listings and rights catalogues show first-time authors placed with a range of publishers, from major New York trade houses to well-regarded independents and specialty imprints, across categories such as young adult, fantasy series, and narrative nonfiction. Many of these projects are sold on world or world English terms that can later underpin translation and audio deals, which the agency’s foreign-rights office and co-agent network actively pursue. For a debut writer, this means that a successful first book is more likely to be treated as an asset across territories and formats, rather than only as a single domestic print-and-ebook release.
These factors define what “commitment to emerging talent” looks like in practice. Harvey Klinger, Inc. is open to debuts but sharply selective, expects substantial editorial collaboration before submission, and orients its work toward multi-book careers with active attention to rights. Debut authors who welcome deep revision, prefer a traditional path through established houses, and think in terms of long-term trajectories rather than isolated wins are the ones most likely to benefit from this particular model.
Industry Expertise And Rights
Industry expertise matters to an author only when it changes contracts, rights control, and long-term income, not merely how informed an agent sounds on a phone call. At Harvey Klinger, Inc., that expertise shows most clearly in how the agency handles foreign, audio, and film or television rights.
The first structural advantage is its foreign rights operation. Agent Wendy Levinson serves as Director of Foreign Rights and runs an active program that places translation rights through a vast network of co-agents. The agency produces dedicated rights catalogues for major book fairs and regularly reports foreign deals for both adult and children’s titles across Europe, Latin America, and Asia. For an author, this means that a successful domestic sale is more likely to be treated as the starting point for territorial and language expansion rather than as the extent of the project’s reach. A midlist or debut title that might never find a foreign publisher on its own can, in this context, acquire a second life in translation.
The second advantage lies in the handling of audio and film or television rights. Harvey Klinger, Inc. is not a screenwriting shop, but it does manage these subsidiary rights for its book clients and often works with specialist co-agents to place them. In many cases, audio and dramatic rights are negotiated separately from the main print and ebook deal, rather than being bundled away by default. For authors working in categories that adapt well to other formats, such as crime, thriller, young adult, high-concept fantasy, or narrative nonfiction, that infrastructure can materially affect the project's lifetime value. An agency that treats audio and dramatic rights as active assets is better positioned to do more with them than one that routinely grants them to publishers without a broader strategy.
For a writer considering representation, the value of this expertise is unlocked by asking specific questions during offer conversations, such as:
How often the agency retains translation rights rather than granting them to the publisher, and how actively those rights are marketed in different territories.
Which rights does a given agent typically seek to retain in negotiations, particularly in audio, film, or television, and in newer formats such as podcasts or serial digital projects?
How sub-rights revenue is split among the author, the agency, and any co-agents, including typical commission structures for foreign and dramatic deals.
How decisions are made about which titles receive dedicated rights catalog space or targeted attention at major fairs, and what an author can realistically expect for a debut or early-career project.
The answers to these questions move the discussion from “this agency understands the market” to “this is how your work is likely to circulate across languages and formats if you sign here.” For authors concerned with translation, audio, and adaptation potential, that level of clarity is often as important as the size of the initial advance.
How Harvey Klinger, Inc. Acquires Work
For authors considering submission, the mechanics of how the agency takes work on a matter as much as its reputation. Harvey Klinger, Inc.’s submission guidelines and individual agent profiles outline a relatively standard but deliberately structured process.
Key elements of the general process include:
Queries are submitted by email to individual agents, using the addresses listed on the agency site or the specific contact method an agent designates.
Writers are asked to approach only one agent at the agency at a time. If that agent is unavailable or a reasonable period has elapsed without a response, it is acceptable to query a different agent; however, simultaneous submissions within the firm are discouraged.
Phone queries are not accepted, and unsolicited screenplays or poetry are declined outright, even though the agency handles film and television rights for existing book clients.
Some agents periodically close to queries or use tools such as QueryManager for specific categories; therefore, authors are expected to confirm the current instructions on the agent’s page before submitting.
A typical query package, synthesized from the agency’s general guidelines and individual agent instructions, includes:
A concise query letter that clearly states the project’s category, approximate word count, and a one-paragraph hook that frames the central premise.
A brief author bio that highlights credentials relevant to the project, such as prior publications, platform, or professional expertise in the subject area.
A writing sample, often the first five to ten pages or the opening chapter, is pasted into the email body unless the agent specifies a different format.
For fiction, a short synopsis is sometimes requested, outlining the complete plot and ending.
For nonfiction, a proposal is standard and typically includes an overview, author background, market positioning, chapter summaries, and one or more sample chapters.
Response times and specific preferences vary among agents. Some, especially those actively building lists, maintain detailed wish lists and participate in online pitch events, where they signal current interests in specific subgenres or topics. Others may respond primarily through the regular query inbox. In many cases, silence after the stated or customary response window functions as a pass rather than a delayed yes, which means authors should track submissions and move on when that window closes.
In practice, the path into the agency usually follows a sequence that looks like this:
A targeted query goes to one agent whose list, wishlist, and recent deals clearly align with the project.
If the concept and sample pages resonate, the agent requests a partial or full manuscript (for fiction) or a more complete proposal and additional material (for nonfiction).
After reading, the agent either declines, offers representation, or, if substantial changes are needed before they can commit, invites a revise-and-resubmit.
Once representation is offered and accepted, many agents at the firm work with the author through one or more rounds of editorial feedback and revision to bring the manuscript or proposal to a submission-ready state, and only then begin approaching editors.
For writers, the fit question goes hand in hand with the process. Authors who want an agent primarily as a negotiator and prefer minimal editorial input may find this model less comfortable. Authors who are open to sustained revision in partnership with an agent, and who are prepared for a selective, sometimes slow, but craft-focused route into traditional publishing, are better aligned with how Harvey Klinger, Inc. acquires and develops work.
Who Harvey Klinger, Inc. Is Best Suited For
You are likely a good fit for Harvey Klinger, Inc. if several of the following apply.
You are writing squarely in its core lanes. That usually means literary or upmarket commercial fiction with a clear narrative spine; crime and suspense; selected strands of fantasy or science fiction with strong hooks; young adult or middle-grade fiction with a clean, marketable premise; or narrative, accessible nonfiction for a general trade audience.
Your primary career goal is traditional publication with Big Five houses or serious independent presses. You expect your main books to reach readers through that ecosystem rather than through a direct-to-reader or subscription-first model.
You want an agent who is a developmental partner. You are prepared to revise proposals or full manuscripts in response to detailed feedback, including structural changes, character work, line-level tightening, or rethinking the way a project is positioned for the market, before it ever goes on submission.
You think in multi-book arcs rather than one-shot placements. You want someone who will help you sequence projects, negotiate options, and plan a coherent path over several titles rather than simply sell a single manuscript and move on.
You care about what happens to your work after the initial print and ebook deal. Translation, audio, and film or television possibilities matter to you, and you want an agency that treats those rights as live parts of the strategy rather than paperwork at the back of the contract.
You have the temperament for a selective, editorially involved shop. You can tolerate slow or silent passes, are realistic about odds, and would rather have a small number of serious shots with a well-prepared project than rapid circulation of a rough draft.
The agency is likely a poor or marginal fit if any of the following describe your situation.
Your central ambition is to establish a self-publishing or direct-sales business in which you control all variables, including price, release timing, cover, and all subsidiary rights. You may consider a traditional deal only a short-term experiment or a marketing bump, not the core of your strategy.
Your primary work sits in formats the agency does not represent. This includes poetry collections, screenplays, most plays, or heavily experimental writing that would be difficult to shelve in a standard bookstore category.
You are looking for a one-off solution. For example, you want an agent to place a single backlist book that has already been self-published and underperformed, or to handle a particular deal, while then returning to a completely independent model.
You want an agent whose involvement ends at contract negotiation. You do not want to discuss structure, positioning, long-term strategy, or how rights are carved up, and you prefer to keep editorial and strategic control entirely to yourself.
You are focused primarily on packaging intellectual property for Hollywood rather than on building a publishing career. You want someone to shop a concept to producers first and are less concerned with the health of the book as a trade publishing project.
When compared with other firms, Harvey Klinger, Inc. sits in the tier of long-established New York agencies with a compact multi-agent team, a consistent record in key trade categories, and an active foreign and subsidiary rights operation. The agency is designed for authors who want to work in those categories, who are willing to treat the agent relationship as collaborative and editorial, and who care about the long tail of rights and career architecture. If that is how you work and what you want from representation, and if at least one agent’s wishlist and recent deals line up with your project, the agency belongs on a serious query list.
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