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Marilyn Allen

About Marilyn

Marilyn Allen is a literary agent and founding partner in the Allen O'Shea Literary Agency. She has culminated 25 years of experience by doing sales and marketing for various publishing houses. She served as Associate Publisher, Director of Marketing and Senior Vice President to Harper Collins, as well as Vice President to both Penguin and Simon & Schuster.  She has directed sales and marketing teams for Penguin Books, Simon & Schuster, and Avon Books.

Marilyn has had the pleasure of working with authors such as Stephen King, Ken Follett, Barbara Kingsolver, John Gray and Mary Higgins Clark, but currently represents many nonfiction authors including several New York Times bestselling writers. Her focuses are nonfiction, cooking, health, parenting, crafts, self-help, pop culture and business.  She herself has co-authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Book Proposals and Query Letters (Penguin Books) with her partner Coleen O'Shea. 

Query Instructions

We work primarily with nonfiction writers, and are especially interested in projects in the following areas:

  • Cooking and Nutrition  
  • Health and Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Parenting
  • Sports
  • Science
  • Fitness  
  • Pop Culture
  • Finance
  • Business/Career
  • History and Politics
  • Crafts
  • Gifts

We welcome a 1-page query letter via email submission. The letter should briefly answer the following questions:

  1. Why is your work unique?
  2. Why is your experience/perspective in the given field interesting to editors and their respective marketing teams?
  3. What current following/hold do you have in the marketplace concerning this publication or past publications?
    • Social Media presence, speaking engagements, workshops, media appearances, etc
  4. Any awards/honors for your writing