 In this interview, Jon Michael Darga answers questions about being an agent... and more! Jon Michael Darga of Aevitas Creative Management represents titles across a diverse range of genres, including memoir (most recently, the New York Times bestselling Vagabond by Tim Curry), pop culture (New York Times bestsellers How to Save a Life by Lynette Rice and Your Favorite Scary Movie by Ashley Cullins), platform-driven (New York Times bestseller How to Piss Off Men by Kyle Prue), and cookbook (Family Thai by Arnold Myint, named a Best Cookbook of 2025 by the New York Times and the Washington Post), as well as select commercial fiction primarily in the romance, mystery/thriller, and horror spaces, Darga graduated from the University of Michigan with Honors with a BA in English and Creative Writing, and later attended the Columbia University publishing program. Before coming to Aevitas, he was an editor at Crown, a division within Penguin Random House, where he worked on several bestsellers and award winners. He is the Co-Head of Aevitas Collaboration and was a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree in 2025.  What’s your favorite moment so far of being an agent? I don't know if I'd pick one favorite moment — but the best moments are always when something clicks into place. It's whenever you reach out to a writer with a great book idea and get an email back that, yes, they're definitely very interested in writing that book and want to talk to you. It's whenever you send out a knockout book proposal and get enthusiastic responses from editors — and then get to call your client and tell them that you've sold their book. It's when you first see the book cover and can imagine it on shelves, when a book hits the bestseller list and you know that it found its audience and resonated with them in the way you knew it would... all of those moments are my favorites, and I couldn't possibly pick one at the exclusion of the others! What do you love most about agenting? Nothing beats the feeling of thinking of a book idea that you want to read but that hasn't been written yet, finding the right writer for it, making it happen, and then actually getting to read it and see it on shelves a year or two later. It's always wonderful to have querying writers approach you with their books, of course, but there's nothing like knowing that a book literally wouldn't exist without you having the idea in the first place. (And, let's face it — being able to "custom order" a book like that is just cool!) What do you wish querying writers knew? Telling an agent that there are no comps for your book because you are a truly singular and unique writer isn't the flex that you think it is — there are always elements of other books that you can jigsaw together to reach a resemblance to yours. (The romance of x, the commercial voice of y, the pacing of z, etc.) Asking writers for comps is a test to see if an author is familiar with the marketplace they want to be a part of, if they read within the genre they're hoping to publish in, and if they can speak thoughtfully about where they'd like to see their book shelved in a bookstore. I understand that finding comps isn't fun, but it's an important way to understand the ecosystem you're about to enter. And a smaller note: I promise that agents really do read your queries, and that misspelling our name (or even putting the wrong name) on a query letter will not cause us to delete your project unread. Typos happen to the best of us. We really do want to support writers, and we really do read the submissions that we receive. I promise. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever heard? This is not necessarily the best writing advice that I've ever heard, but I often find myself advising authors to read their work aloud at least once before finalizing the manuscript. It's amazing what a read aloud can do: it highlights when dialogue is clunky and doesn't sound like something a person would actually say, it can make it abundantly clear when a sentence has awkward punctuation or becomes run-on, and it generally reveals the fluidity of a manuscript. It forces you to slow down and really pay attention to the words. Bad writing might escape an edit, but when you're reading everything out loud, the problems become more glaringly obvious — and, therefore, easier to spot and fix! Describe your dream client. I don't think that there's any one dream client — authors are, shockingly, people, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes with their own dreams, personalities, ambitions, and communication styles. It's sort of like writing a "grocery list" for what you want your ideal partner to have when you're dating — it's not like you're going to refuse to go on a date with somebody just because he has blue eyes instead of green! Generally speaking, though, any dream client is one who cares deeply about their work, is able to engage with you thoughtfully and meaningfully regarding the material, and who understands that even agents are human beings who get sick, deserve time off, sometimes make their own typos and mistakes, etc. The best working relationships that I've formed with clients are ones where it's a true partnership, and where there's a mutual respect and a concentrated effort on both parts to listen and figure out the best way to communicate openly and honestly with one another. Everything else is just icing on the cake.  What project would you love to see come across your desk? I'll be coy and not answer this one — because I work primarily in the non-fiction space, a lot of my dream projects right now are ones that I'm actively trying to develop with authors or editors. I don't want to give a good idea away and have somebody else run off with it! What interests or hobbies do you have that you’d love to see in a book? Well, many of my hobbies involve reading, writing, cooking, baking, and enjoying movies and TV shows — so that's maybe a little self-explanatory! What book or author made you fall in love with reading? What a great question. I honestly don't think that it's an exaggeration to say that my love of reading began with the picture books that I would demand to read over and over again — Berenstain Bears, Franklin the Turtle, Letterland. The first books that I remember reading on my own and feeling were "unputdownable" were probably either the Magic Treehouse series or Harry Potter. I distinctly remember saving up my allowance and going to Borders (RIP) so that I could buy the next book in the Magic Treehouse series — and I still have them all! What author would you love to have dinner with? Dead or alive? Dead would probably be JRR Tolkien — I'm a huge "Lord of the Rings" fan, and while we have fairly different personalities, I think, I don't know that I could pass up the opportunity to meet him. Alive, I'd probably pick David Mitchell, Tana French, or TJ Klune — authors whose work means a lot to me, whose brains I'd love to pick, and who I think are kind people who would contribute to great conversation. (And if cookbook authors count — Ina Garten, of course.) What book world would you like to live in? I'm not sure I'd like to live permanently in any book world — alas, I think I'm probably so used to the 21st century that having computers and phones and electricity and showers fully stripped away does not sound like a great time — but I wouldn't mind spending some time in Middle-earth or Narnia. What do you believe is your strength as an agent? I'm very hands-on and come from an editorial background. I work extensively with my clients on all areas of their project, at all stages, from general idea concepting to line edits on the final manuscript. I'm often as hands-on — sometimes more so! — than an editor at a publishing house, and I never take on a client or a project if I feel like I don't have a strong perspective and POV to bring to a book and help shape it. HOW TO QUERY JON: You can send a query to Jon Michael Darga here: https://querytracker.net/query/jonmichaeldarga  Attend a Writers Conference in 2026:
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