Agent Advice: Kelly Bergh of Lucinda Literary

Kelly Bergh is an agent with Lucinda Literary representing adult practical nonfiction, specifically in the categories of health and wellness, mind-body-spirit, and popular psychology. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Kelly Bergh

What made you want to be an agent? And what was your journey in becoming an agent?

While I was in graduate school, I was working as a children’s librarian and editing whatever I could get my hands on—mostly textbooks! Working with university presses was a great start to my editorial career. A friend of a friend writing a book hired me as her writing partner, which was my first foray into trade publishing, and it was because of that project that I learned about what literary agents do. (Agents aren’t typically involved in scholarly publishing, so I hadn’t gotten to work with any while in academia.) I realized quickly that it was my dream job: still editing, but with a whole lot more socializing. Some mutual acquaintances introduced me to the founder of my agency and the rest is history!

What was the first thing you sold, and what is the most recent thing you’ve sold?

The first book I sold was written by psychologist Chris Moore, PhD, and reframes guilt as a good thing (Collins Canada and BenBella, 2025). My latest sale is a book called Beyond Betrayal (Putnam and Bloomsbury U.K., 2025), written by psychotherapist/“affair counselor” Lauren LaRusso, that helps couples recover from infidelity.

What are you looking for right now from writers that you’re not getting?

Organization! There are so many writers who come to me with vague ideas. I receive so many queries per day that I don’t have time to brainstorm with you—I need to see proof of concept first. I love it when writers are already actively producing content/sharing their expertise in their field in other ways, like on social media or through other publications, and who are doing their homework about what goes into a proposal. Before querying agents, make sure you can show me clearly what your book is about, how it will be structured, and why you’re the best person to write it. I represent prescriptive nonfiction, so I need to see an actionable framework that readers can follow to implement the knowledge you’re sharing.

What excites you most about publishing right now?

I love that book publishing in 2024 is an extension of social media in many cases. There are so many amazing content creators out there who are excellent at sharing their ideas short-form, and a book can offer them a new, longer format through which to share an expansion of that information with their existing (or new!) audience.

What can writers do to improve their chances of a good first impression?

Again: Organization! It is abundantly clear to me in the first 10 seconds of reading your query letter whether you have researched who I am, what I represent, and whether your idea is fully developed or not. Remember to edit your pitch before sending it, and make sure you’re only querying agents who work in your genre.

What’s the number one mistake you see in queries?

Sometimes writers get so excited to share details about their book that they forget to include their elevator pitch! It’s very easy to ramble in a query, so try your best to be short and sweet in telling me what your book is about, why you’re the best person to write it, a couple comp titles, and any notable features you might incorporate. Agents have very limited time to read queries, so the faster you can get to the point, the better.

What’s your best piece of advice for writers?

The best writers are the ones who are doing things besides writing. They’re creating content and sharing their expertise elsewhere, they’re teaching, they’re reading, and, most importantly, they’re listening to what others are asking of them. Let your book be the natural next step in whatever it is you’re already doing—don’t force it.

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