Andrew Zack

Andrew Zack of The Zack Company is a thirty-year publishing veteran (former editor at S&S, Warner, Donald I. Fine, and Berkley, plus ex-agent at Scovil Chichak Galen) who runs a boutique agency and is notably vocal on #MSWL about his tastes. He's consistently said he wants "good page-turning thrillers, mysteries, crime novels, science fiction, fantasy, and even women's fiction," plus narrative nonfiction—specifically tweeting he'd "like to find more nonfiction, particularly narrative nonfiction with a journalistic approach." He's picky on fantasy specifically, stating "#fantasy has to have an utterly original plot. It cannot in any way feel familiar. And the writing has to be incredible. There are so few markets left for a fantasy novel. It has to grab the reader from page one," and even when he requests fulls he's warned "the odds are really slim that I'll offer representation. It has to really impress me." On horror he's explicit about what he doesn't want: "I love Supernatural on TV and I'm sure the novels do just fine, but when I'm thinking horror, that's not quite what I have in mind. I'm thinking bigger, meatier stories, with layers of plot and very, very strong characterizations," and he favors horror that's "really well-written" with "a strong psychological element" over gore/pulp. For suspense/thrillers he leans character-first: he wants books "as much character-driven as high-concept, with strong characters likely more important overall," plus "Suspense or Thrillers with a Paranormal Element," and plots with "intellectual puzzles that allow the reader to try and figure it out with the protagonist." Submission-wise, TZC moved to a form-only system: "We receive all submissions electronically. We simply do not have the space to store hundreds of pending submissions" — no emailed attachments and no pasted first chapters in the description field, and turnaround can run "as long as six months" . Be warned that real querier experiences on QueryTracker describe year-long waits ending in form rejections, so patience (and ignoring any "respond in X weeks" claims from older directories) is advised. No specific recent Publishers Marketplace deals or named current clients surfaced in search results beyond older testimonial blurbs, so treat his client-taste evidence as anecdotal rather than a verified sales track record.