RELATIONAL, NOT TRANSACTIONAL
A thriving publishing career does not happen by accident. We represent a select group of authors so that our team can generously invest in each client—providing the support, guidance and advocacy you need to excel as an author.
We are expert negotiators and love securing great book deals for our clients, but our work doesn’t end when the contract is signed. When you become an ILLUMINATE Author, we commit to supporting you through every crucial stage of your publishing process, including:
- proposal development
- contract negotiations and selecting a publisher
- editorial, as needed
- titling, cover design and positioning
- book launch and marketing campaign
- brand extension opportunities
- finding your ideal pace and balance
- conflict mediation
- and career goal-setting.
When challenges or “bumps” in the road inevitably come, you’ll feel relieved to know you have a trustworthy advocate by your side, to help you resolve problems with grace, strength and wisdom.
SPECIALISTS, NOT GENERALISTS
We believe in the power of doing less, better. So, while we have successfully handled a broad variety of genres, we focus primarily on adult nonfiction.
Our genres of expertise include:
- Christian living & spiritual growth
- lifestyle (health & wellness, food, home decor, garden, travel, etc)
- family & relationships
- faith & culture
- leadership, business, finance
- church & ministry
- narrative nonfiction
- devotionals
- gift books
- Bible studies & curriculum
- companion journals
Several of our existing clients extend their brand into other genres, such as fiction and children’s, and we are happy to continue serving as their champion. But we are closed to queries outside of adult nonfiction from new authors.
Our strong relationships with acquisition editors at all the leading publishers—including multiple imprints at HarperCollins, Penguin-Random House, Hachette, and all of the top religious publishers—ensures that we have the connections to help you find the best publishing partner for your books.
STRONG LEGACY, BRIGHT FUTURE
Our agency celebrates a rich tradition of lighting the way for some of the industry’s most compelling communicators. Founded in 2006 as D.C. Jacobson & Associates, we have always specialized in helping faith-based authors build profitable, life-giving, and sustainable publishing careers.
In 2019, after 13 years with the agency, Jenni Burke stepped into the role of president and acquired the business, rebranding to Illuminate Literary Agency in 2020.
Our team brings diverse experience and strong networks in the publishing industry. Together with our clients, we’ve built Illuminate into a premiere literary agency with a reputation for finding and developing emerging voices into key thought leaders and helping national bestselling authors thrive with the highest level of care. We love working behind the scenes to shine a spotlight on our clients’ messages. Together, we’re on a mission to light up the world with good books!
Illuminate is known for exceptional author care, a collaborative spirit, and fair dealings. Publishers frequently remark that our book proposals are the industry’s gold standard. (And that commitment to early excellence ensures a successful “transfer of passion” and stunning end results.)
With millions of agency books in the hands and hearts of readers around the world, we continue to build on our strong legacy of faithfully guiding authors into life-giving, profitable, and sustainable writing careers.
Committed to Excellence
Jenni Burke
CEO & Literary Agent
Jenni Burke is on a mission to see authors truly thrive, so their words and lives can make a deep and lasting impact in the world for good.
Her love of books and Jesus first led her into the Christian publishing industry in 2003, when she interned with a Portland based agency. After guiding a wide range of manuscripts through Multnomah Publisher’s production & editorial department, Jenni moved to the other side of the publishing desk in 2006 to help Don Jacobson start a literary agency, D.C. Jacobson & Associates. As the agency grew over the next 13 years, Jenni’s career advanced from an author relations manager, to associate agent, to senior literary agent, before she stepped into her current role as president and owner in 2019. Jenni rebranded the agency to ILLUMINATE in 2020.
Now, she’s championing ILLUMINATE authors with the attentive and strategic guidance that her clients and publishing partners have always valued.
“Authors are my heroes,” Jenni says. “It takes a great deal of courage, insight, and perseverance to write and promote a book you believe in. I feel honored to get to lift up people who’ve been entrusted with these life-giving, world-changing messages,” she says.
Seeking: Each year, Jenni seeks to sign a few clients who are exceptionally strong in what she calls The Four Cs: Concept (message, angle), Craft (writing skill), Crowd (platform, network), and Character (work ethic, fit).
Theme Verse: When Jonathan is considering a bold, audacious move up a steep cliff to take new territory, his armor-bearer says to him: “Do all that you have in mind. Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul,” (1 Samuel 14:7). Jenni wants to be that kind of champion for her clients as they pursue their dreams and goals.
Tell me a bit more: Jenni’s degree is in English Communication and Business Administration from Corban University. She is a native Oregonian, where she lives with her husband Seth—a counselor—and their two young children. She enjoys getting her hands in the dirt with her family, ministering in her local church and community, and planning her next trip to Italy. After a long day working on books, Jenni likes to relax… with a book. An Enneagram 7 with an 8 wing, Jenni enjoys leveraging her experience to help her clients envision their ideal future in publishing (the 7), and then rolling up her sleeves to help make sure they get there (the 8). Jenni has combined two of her passions—ministering to Christian leaders and spending time in Italy—into the Tuscany Writers’ Retreat, a soul care pilgrimage for writers (and their spouses) in the land of the Renaissance. She’s led groups in 2014, 2016, 2018 and is hoping to take a group of ILLUMINATE clients there in 2024!
Instagram: Jenni occasionally shares personal & professional update at @jenni_burke
Tawny Johnson
Literary Agent
Tawny Johnson has learned to rely on her professional instincts to recognize books that will have a solid message and win readers’ hearts.
She first honed this ability during her years of experience in retail as a bookstore manager, regional manager, product buyer, and marketing manager for a chain of 10 successful Christian bookstores. After her career in retail, she moved into publishing at Multnomah Press, where she shared her expertise in marketing and advertising while becoming adept in negotiating international book rights. In 2014, Tawny became a literary agent with Don Jacobson and Jenni Burke at D.C. Jacobson & Associates. And most recently, Tawny has joined forces with Jenni to lead the agency to an unprecedented new level of author care and excellence under the Illuminate banner.
“My career as a literary agent is a rewarding culmination of all my past experience in the industry, coupled with my passion for exceptional writing, depth of content, and theological integrity,” she says. “I consider it a privilege to support my clients as they develop life-changing books.”
As an agent, Tawny leverages her rich history in the book industry to benefit her authors. When asked what it’s like to work with Tawny, clients describe her as offering extensive…
- expertise,
- encouragement and challenge,
- availability & responsiveness,
- celebration,
- loyalty, and
- humor.
Seeking: Tawny is seeking strong non-fiction writers who have an established platform and a beautiful way of expressing their unique perspective.
For Tawny, It’s Personal: She actually came to Christ through reading a memoir. So she knows, first-hand, how God can use the words printed in a book to touch the heart of a searching soul.
Tell me a bit more: Tawny holds a BA in Bible and Theology with a minor in English Literature from Multnomah University and a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Multnomah Biblical Seminary. She is a native to Portland, Oregon who in her free time likes to travel, putter in her unruly English garden, and join her husband in his new pursuit of sailing. “I love to eat good food with my eyes closed, listen to interesting ideas, and laugh with my family and friends—preferably while in front of a fire in County Cork or watching a sunset on Nantucket,” says Tawny.
Martin Raz
Director of Contracts & Royalties
Martin Raz (Marty) is known in the office as a vault of knowledge and an expert data analyst. He enjoys interacting with our authors and publishing partners to ensure that every contract is thoroughly vetted, and that our clients receive royalty statements and payment in an accurate and timely manner.
Marty’s career in the publishing industry began in 1989, when he joined Questar Publishers (later to become Multnomah Publishers) in Sisters, Oregon. During his 30+ years in publishing, Marty has been engaged in many facets of the publishing business, including accounting, information technology, operations, and contracts.
When not sitting in front of a computer, Marty dabbles with cooking, tends his sixty-year-old Nectar berry vines, and enjoys watching basketball, especially the Portland Trail Blazers. A life-long Oregonian, he loves living in the Pacific Northwest, despite its soggy days, with his wife Keri Jo, as together they cheer for their two older children navigating the collegiate waters, as well as their lone high school son.
Kaitlyn Bouchillon
Strategic Assistant
Kaitlyn Bouchillon grew up with her nose in a book, often sitting at the dinner table holding a story in one hand and a fork in the other.
She holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication with a Print Concentration and a Religion minor with Samford University. (It’s a mouthful, but it comes down to this: she loves Jesus and the written word.)
In May of 2015, Kaitlyn began her Virtual Assistant business and quickly became a sought-after Book Launch Manager and Executive Assistant. The following year, she self-published Even If Not: Living, Loving, and Learning in the in Between. Adding in over a decade of writing at KaitlynBouchillon.com, she now shows up at the table with publishing and marketing experience in one hand and compassion and understanding for writers in the other.
As the Executive Assistant to Jenni Burke, she works behind-the-scenes to offer exceptional support to the entire Illuminate Literary team, while also bringing hope, light, and encouragement to social media through the Illuminate Literary social media accounts.
Instagram: @kaitlyn_bouch