Question & Agent: Julie Gourinchas of Bell Lomax Moreton

Welcome to Debutiful’s Agent Week! We gathered some of our favorite literary agents representing the most exciting debut books and asked them questions about what makes them love a submission, their agenting style, and the books they’re working on.

Julie Gourinchas is a literary agent at Bell Lomax Moreton in the UK. Writers she works with have won or been nominated for the British Book Awards, the Hugo Awards, the Stoker Awards, the BSFA Awards, the Betty Trask Award, and the Saltire National Book Awards, among others.

We dug into why she loves “weird girl lit,” the differences between agent work in the US and the UK, and why she’s an atmospher-first reader.

What types of projects are you most interested in right now? What feels oversaturated in your inbox?

Right now, I’m on the hunt for a contemporary, intersectional femgore horror. Something that sits in the Nightbitch, Bat Eater, The Lamb-type spaces would be very welcome. I’d also love to see more own voices literary folk horror playing with folk traditions we don’t often see represented in the Western literary canon: the manananggal of the Philippines, for example, or Slavic vârcolacs. 

With romantasy still at its height, there’s quite a lot of it in my inbox at the minute. While I am looking for romantasy, I don’t think I’m quite the right fit for the more traditional romantasies that play with fae creatures and secondary worlds. I tend to prefer my fantasy much more grounded – human in nature – so anything with elves, fae, demons, or other such creatures is likely not for me.

On the flip side, I’m also seeing, surprisingly, rather a lot of queries, mostly horror and thrillers, set in the 90s and 2000s, which I find particularly interesting. There is clearly a real sense of nostalgia for that period, but I’m not sure I have that yearning yet.

Kate McKean recently told me, “I want to forget I’m reading a query.” What makes you gobble up a submission? What makes you stop dead in your tracks once you start?

At the query letter level, a clear-eyed understanding of genre, positioning, and pitch will go a long way. Any author that can communicate immediately that they understand where their book sits in the market and who their target readership is has my instant attention. 

As for opening pages, I’m an “atmosphere first” kind of reader. I can’t help myself – I love a vibe! I want to seamlessly enter the book’s world – whether that’s feeling the searing heat scorching across the desert, or seeing wicks of fog mist up from Victorian cobblestones. A confident, clearly-communicated sense of aesthetic goes a long way for my immersion, and I like to say that a world draws me in, but the characters keep me there.

What should all first-time authors know about the publishing industry? Either submitting, or selling, or marketing, or… anything!

That publishing is a business, and that, like all businesses, the point is to make as much money as possible. Once your book is acquired by a publisher, and especially once it’s out in the world, it becomes a product – which means it will be picked up by consumers who will have opinions on it, some of which you may disagree with. Things like cover design, marketing strategy, etc: all this is designed to help the book reach a maximum of readers. Of course, a book is still something rooted in love of story and passion for the craft, and will (and should!) always be important to you as its creator, but I think keeping a level head about “books as business” will help in the long run. 

Who are some recent debut clients you represented in the last few years? Any upcoming ones you can brag about?

Bitter Karella debuted in October 2025 with Moonflow (Orbit US/UK) – which is now shortlisted for the Stoker Awards! My author Cate Baumer debuted in February 2026 with The Faithful Dark (Hodderscape) and entered the Sunday Times bestseller chart at #13.

I have loads of exciting clients debuting this year: Jesse Aragon with The Demon Star (DAW & The Broken Binding, July 2026); C.N. Vair with The Devil Knows Her Name (Berkley, August 2026), publishing as Fawn in the UK (Transworld, August 2026); and last but certainly not least, Dorian Ravenscroft with The White North Has Thy Bones (Raven Books, Bloomsbury UK, October 2026). Fun fact – all three of these authors were acquired in pre-empts!

You obviously are a UK-based agent. What are the main differences between agenting in the UK vs the US?

I’m in a bit of a unique position here, being a UK-based agent but having grown up in the US. My understanding of the market is probably coloured by both countries, which allows for a unique perspective and a (I hope) savviness for cross-market potential. I generally submit to both the US and UK directly – though on occasion relying on some wonderful co-agents in the US – and am always looking to deepen and broaden my transatlantic connections.

Speaking logistically, though, there is one main difference between US and UK agents, as I understand it: US agents aren’t salaried, and UK agents (by and large) are. This means that US agents directly earn a higher share of the commission, but they don’t have a stable salary to rely on. I find it wild! This is a job like any other! Agents should have salaries!

I know you love “weird girl lit” (which is also one of my favorites). What draws you personally to books like that?

There’s a running joke among all my clients that, if you ever get an editorial note from me, it will without a doubt be some variation on “make it more fucked up.” But I’ve always been drawn to the weird, dark, and gruesome, because I think there’s a certain kind of honesty in those spaces, and a willingness to confront the unseemly corners of humanity. With the global situation often feeling completely unknowable and uncontrollable, I think there’s a certain comfort to be found in these weird, small, intimate stories – a sort of digestible (and, importantly, fictional) darkness that we can consume at our leisure.