Marilyn Allen is a literary agent and partner in the Allen O’Shea Literary Agency. She represents many non-fiction authors, including two New York Times bestselling writers. She focuses in the areas of non-fiction, cooking, health, parenting, crafts, self-help, pop culture and business.
Prior to becoming an agent, Marilyn spent 25 years working for various publishing houses, rising to Associate Publisher and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Harper Collins. In addition to her work at Harper Collins, Marilyn has directed sales and marketing teams for Penguin Books, Simon & Schuster and Avon Books.
With her partner Coleen O’Shea, Marilyn is the author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Book Proposals and Query Letters” (Penguin).
Marilyn has taught publishing courses at New York University and for Gotham University. She frequently conducts publishing seminars and is a popular speaker at writing conferences. She is the literary consultant for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.