Kiana Nguyen (Agent)
Kiki Nguyen started in publishing in 2015 with an internship with Wunderkind PR, independent book publishing PR company, working on campaigns with authors such as Ernest Cline. There, she discovered a practical industry for her codependent love of fiction. In 2016, Kiki went on to intern with DMLA where she soon joined the team full-time as an assistant literary agent.
Kiki is now building her client list within young adult and adult fiction with a focus on queer and BIPOC authors.
Kiana Nguyen's Availability During Manuscript Mart Week:
- Tuesday, May 13: 4:00–7:00
- Wednesday, May 14: 4:00–7:00
- Thursday, May 15: 1:00–4:00 & 4:00–7:00
- Friday, May 16: 1:00–4:00 & 4:00–7:00
- Saturday, May 17: 1:00–4:00 & 4:00–7:00
Zoom Meetings with Kiana will be scheduled within these time periods (all EDT), but are subject to change. If Kiana must make a change to this schedule, we will arrange a mutually agreeable Zoom time outside of Manuscript Mart Week.
What I'm Looking For
Dark, gritty, fun romps in Romance, Horror, and Domestic Suspense especially; both Young Adult and Adult. I want to have a good time with bitchy, irredeemable characters who do what they want when they want and have to suffer the consequences. If they have never cared about doing the right, responsible, legal thing they’re already halfway to my heart. I want extroverts with personality and chaotic social lives, please I’m bored and dying. Bonus points if it’s characters in their 20s-30s that feel like they’re living in the 2020s. With Domestic Suspense, Psychological Thrillers, and Thrillers of that nature: Suburban houses occupied by unhappily married straight couples aren’t the only options for settings and character scenarios! Cities exist! So do apartment buildings and single people with myriad friends/friend groups outside of nosy housewives and the PTA! And really, I would love to read about women whose lives don’t revolve around men in any way.
I want to have fun! I am always a sucker for dark, meaty twists and turns (hello, Lisa Jewell!) but I’d love to see different narrative tones à la the 1999 classic Jawbreaker and Scream (which is a Horror, I know but still applicable and also what I rep!). Doom, gloom, and dread are fantastic ways to doll out a mystery or suspense but not the only way and I am dying to see more narrative variety in the genre.
Horror that doesn’t take itself too seriously and feels like the narrators are just as unreliable as the potential kill count. I’m bored by single-family homes and ancient estates, so let’s change the location and demographic of the characters, please.
Romance with heat and bite—the rom-coms are getting corny and lacking the “com” to begin with.
SFF that pivots away from the rigamarole of royal politics, machinations, knighthood/guards, etc. etc. I want to have some hectic times with the serfdom, please, I beg.
Sample Titles or Authors
august clarke: METAL FROM HEAVEN (Adult SFF)
H.A. Clarke: THE SCAPEGRACERS
Specializes In / Will Consider
FICTION: Young Adult, Thrillers/Suspense, Romance, Horror, LGBTQIA+, Fantasy, Commercial Fiction, Family Saga, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction