Hi! I’m Roger Copenhaver and I’m the founder of Yes & Literary, launched in April 2025. My pronouns are he/they and I’m a gender non-conforming nerd who’s passionate about books, video games, and food. Yes & is a literary agency dedicated to amplifying LGBTQIA+ voices and other marginalized storytellers. My goal in launching the agency was to help enrich the kinds of stories that are told by queer people about queer experiences as all our stories have unique elements to them that deserve to be celebrated. 2025 was primarily a year for networking with publishers and editors while starting to sign my first few authors that I’m now working on pitching. In 2026, my goal is to grow my list and double down on securing book deals for the authors I have the pleasure of working with. I enjoy books across genres, fiction and non-fiction and am open to queries across genres if they help contribute to applying the voices of queer and marginalized authors. My favorite authors are folks like N.K. Jemisin, Jeff VanderMeer, and Adam Silvera. I’d love to see submissions for cozy fantasies like Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes series, historical fiction and/or retellings of stories that haven’t been at the forefront, and books with speculative elements like Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, a favorite read from 2025. I also love stories that feature food in their storytelling like Robin Sloan’s Sourdough and books where the place and seeing can become a character like N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became. I’m interested in characters that have their imperfections, stories that offer hope and an imagination for a better future, and aren’t afraid to get into the messiness of humanity. I also would love to develop a limited list of cook book authors that offer something new for cookbooks and love to tell stories through food and cooking. Prior to launching Yes &, I worked in-house at Amazon Publishing where I was involved in our largest and most complex vendor contract negotiations with editorial and design firms, image stock houses, font foundries, and other creative service providers. I led our vendor management team and coached others in contract negotiation, which I describe as my bread and butter and I feel is one of the strengths I offer as an agent. I’ve supported in-house projects for new and emerging authors to best selling and celebrity authors.
Fun facts about me
I’m a big gamer and Teamfight Tactics is my current go-to, but I play a variety of games. I love good food and whiskey, specifically bourbon. Weller 107 is a favorite. I used to compete and the coach competitive collegiate debate at the highest levels. Submission Guidelines
Queries can be submitted here
Guidelines & Details Vital Info roger@ @ Linkedin Website Agent
Fiction
Action/Adventure, BIPOC Crime Fiction, BIPOC Literature, Bookclub, Caribbean Literature, Commercial, Contemporary, CyberPunk, East Asian Literature, Eco-Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Humor, LGBTQ, Literary, Magical Realism, New Adult, Romance, Romcom, Science Fiction, Speculative, Speculative Literary, Upmarket Speculative, Young Adult
Non-Fiction
Art, Biography, Cookbooks, Cultural criticism, Current Events, Fashion, Feminism and women\'s issues, History, LGBTQ, Memoir, Pop Culture, Relationships and family, Self-help, Spiritual, Witches/Witchcraft
Favorite sub-genres
"Big Idea/Think", #ownvoices, #wndb, 1800s+ historical, AAPI Fantasy, Accessible Literary Fiction, Action-Adventure, Activism, Adult, Adult Rom Com, Adult Romantasy, Adult SFF, Adventure, African Diaspora, African Fantasy, African Sci-Fi, Africanfuturism, Apocalyptic, Asian Diaspora, Asian Fantasy, Asian Sci-Fi, BIPOC, BIPOC Fantasy, BIPOC Mystery, BIPOC Sci-Fi, Biography, Biography & Memoir, Category Romance, Classic retellings with BIPOC characters, Climate Fiction, Commercial YA, Commercial adult fiction, Commercial and Literary, Complicat