As writers make good on their New Year’s resolutions to finish their projects, it is important to ask: What do editors want this year?

The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, a London-based organization, posed that question to fifty-six different editors from both the UK and the US.

The lists included Penguin Group (USA) senior editor Brent Howard (New American Library imprint), Random House UK editor Emma Buckley and Sidgwick & Jackson editorial director Ingrid Connell.

Here’s more from Howard at Penguin Group (USA): “Working for a commercial imprint can make it a challenge to find projects with wide enough appeal, but I’m always looking for non-fiction by passionate, motivated authors with distinct voices, writing on popular subjects like World War II, the American West, American presidents and sports. I’m drawn to true stories that surprise me and stick with me, stories that make me realize that I never knew as much about a topic as I thought I did. If an author can tell me a true story about our world and hook me with the narrative drive of a novel, I’m sold.”