Elisa Moles

An agent with Painted Fire Literary Agency

About

When it comes to the arts, Elisa has always been passionate about bringing to light undiscovered and hidden nuances, ideas, and voices, and connecting them to audiences. Whether through her years in education, flute performance, or developing manuscripts with clients, Elisa has been a champion of the work of others.
As an agent, she approaches each relationship differently, tailoring the experience for each client — whether they are developing or a seasoned pro. She is tireless in exploring every avenue to find the right publisher to reach the best and widest audience.
And as an artist herself (a classical musician with a doctorate in music performance and literature), Elisa knows how isolating and grueling the road can be. Her aim is to not only sell books, but provide writers with tools and community to live a lifestyle of creative productivity. Elisa is a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute.
For me, fantastic fiction all rests in the structure. Stories with cohesive and creative structures, true to each writer’s background and voice, stand the test of time beyond simple trends and gimmicks. I especially love psychologically complex and self-aware characters, plots and set-ups that investigate nuanced thematics, and care on the line level, whether that be through gorgeous language, humor, propulsion, or all of the above. I’m looking for distinctive and compassionate voices who are telling organically unexpected stories in a wide variety of styles and genres. Surprise me."
At the top of my wishlist right now: My tastes are wide-ranging, but I'm especially excited by upmarket and genre-defying works across categories, including but not limited to speculative, mystery/suspense/thriller, paranormal, historical fiction, cross-cultural, and contemporary and book club fiction. I have a soft spot for smart and elevated romcoms. I'm particularly on the lookout for sci-fi/fantasy with rich, consequential worldbuilding (cozy to epic) and innovative hooks. When it comes to literary fiction, I am most drawn to projects with timely subject matter and precisely drawn characters.

Country of Publication

United States

Professional Associations

Member of AALA

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

12 members set this agent as a Favorite.

Statistics Synopsis

Faster: Elisa Moles's overall average response time is faster than most agents.

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Fiction Open

Especially interested in upmarket fiction.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Children, Middle grades, Young adults.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres (Excluding: Erotica), including:
General

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Elisa Moles available.

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Elisa Moles Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the agency or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

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Accuracy

We have received 3 reports from 3 different members within the past 12 months. The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.

Days Reported

5 min | 64.3 mean avg | 31.0 median | 157 max days (81.3 std dev)

Other Information

The agent will try to make a decision within 56 days. (33.3 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 56 days.)
Most recent response reported was received on 02 Mar 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 25 Feb 2026.
Date compiled: 15 Sep 2026 06:57 UTC (3 hours, 2 minutes ago).

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Dates

Last Updated: 03 Jul 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.