Molly O’Neill
Molly O’Neill founded the art department at Root Literary, establishing it as a home for illustrators and graphic novelists when she and her clients joined the team in 2017. She’s been the editor and agent of #1 New York Times bestsellers and global publishing phenomenons, a publishing/tech start-up executive, and a marketing and publicity expert; all of these experiences now power her work as an advocate for talented bookmakers. Her clients and their books benefit from her decades of industry experience, her multifaceted professional background and deep professional network, and her richly-contextualized lens on the publishing industry and its processes, trends, and decisions. Clients on her list include emerging and established authors, illustrators, author/illustrators, and cartoonists/graphic novelists, and many talented multi-category, multi-genre successes.
Molly loves the creative process and early-stage project development, is invigorated by business strategy and entrepreneurial thinking, is fascinated by intersections of art, commerce, creativity, and innovation, and is perpetually looking for ways to build connections between creators, readers, stories, and their champions. She is especially passionate about the people behind books, and is drawn to ambitious creators who constantly challenge themselves, who are adept communicators and creative, flexible thinkers, and who have as much enthusiasm for their readers as for their own successes.
