Callen Martin

What I'm Looking For

With 2026 being the Year of Reading, I’m prioritising Middle Grade that’ll get children – especially boys – back into books and the escapist world of stories. There’s so much vying for a child’s attention nowadays (gaming, social media, tv and film) and I want the stories that can compete, capturing the thrill of gaming or adventure or the laughs of a social media trend on the page. I want big adventures, brilliant worlds, and pacey stories for readers aged 7+ in any genre that are told in accessible ways – ideally with a shorter wordcount and a sense of real returnability – with a clear, emotional heart. Stories that I have enjoyed recently include A Box Full of Mysteries, the Skandar series, Inkbound: Meticulous Jones and the Skull Tattoo, Isaac Turner Investigates: The Clockwork Conspiracy, and Grumpfort.

In Middle Grade, I will always have a soft spot for an underdog, those with a human/animal or human/magical-creature bond such as in The Last Bear or Skandar, soft boys, and stories where our hero was supposed to be a villain like in Villains Academy or His Royal Hopeless.

In YA, I am drawn to high concepts, a strong sense of voice, and clear emotional depth. I love stories where the author makes me, the reader, feel what it is that their characters are feeling or experiencing, and worlds that make the real one fade away. I am particularly looking for thrillers with a twist I don’t see coming, smart dystopian stories, anti-heroes, and young adult protagonists who don’t set out to change the world, only save something that means a lot to them, not taking NO as an answer to achieving it, unintentionally changing their world for the better in the process. Think of how Katniss initially set out only to save Prim in The Hunger Games before ultimately saving all of Panem.

In SFF, I am looking for unique but accessible magic systems like that in King of Dead Things that isn’t just control over the elements, and worldbuilding or magic that I can get gleefully nerdy about, such as A Language of Dragons with its fantastical story being one tied up in decoding, etymology and linguistics. As the SFF market is so competitive, I will always appreciate stories with clear comparative titles that take the established elements of the genre just that one step further or books that can be summarised with a one-line, laser focused pitch such as A Language of Dragons – Bletchley Park with dragons!

Across everything, be it contemporary or speculative, I will never say no to a love story and leg-kicking romance (especially diverse or queer) but am excited to see books that explore the opposite. For example, a young person’s first heartbreak (through either a breakup or other means of separation) such as in History is All You Left Me or relationship betrayal like shown in the brilliant twisty and funny film, Do Revenge (Netflix).

My evergreen dream projects or elements of story that I would always like to see – these could either be in MG, YA or NA (surprise me!) – include something that could be compared to The Last Unicorn (film); a 21^st Century Jacqueline Wilson or Goosebumps; anything that reads like a Taylor Swift song; locked-vicinity magic like that in The Night Circus or locked-vicinity fantasy like The Prison Healer; a queer YA or New Adult spin on iconic 00s films (think The Devil Wears Prada, The Princess Diaries); an m/m version of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; music magic; anything with a monster / creature system similar to Pokémon; gaming / RPG; and logical bonkers-ness as seen in stories like Malamander.

Above all else, I am an editorially minded agent and am excited to be surprised by the books submitted to me. I look for potential, not polish in everything and live by the motto that to edit is to play detective, asking down which alleyway and through which window is the best version of a story. So if you think I might be a good fit for you or your manuscript, please do submit to me. I’m excited to read… Metaphorical deer stalker hat at the ready!