Jenna Satterthwaite

While Jenna is open to most genres, in particular, she would love to find the following.

In Adult Fiction, she’s especially looking for:

• Psychological and domestic suspense full of twists

  • Think: Lucy Foley, Vera Kurian, Andrea Bartz, May Cobb, Eliza Jane Brazier, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, Jeneva Rose, Jessica Strawser

• Murder mystery, cozy or traditional, contemporary or historical, serious or humorous, hijinks welcome and big family drama very welcome

  • Think: Louise Penny, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Lucy Foley, Tana French, Before She Disappeared, Dial A for Aunties, Rhys Bowen, Knives Out, Only Murders in the Building

• Fantasy – cozy with low stakes, high/epic, portal and romantasy

  • Think: Legends & Lattes, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Every Heart a Doorway, Sarah J Maass, Leigh Bardugo

• Rom-coms and romance – in particular I’m interested in POC voices in romance, body-positive romance, LGBTQ+ romance, and adventure romance (think The Lost City). If you can give me a strong hook, an ‘impossible’ situation, and real, quirky characters I can root for, I’m sold.

  • Think: Tia Williams, Emily Henry, Angie Hockman

• Women’s fiction: give me that heartfelt beach read. Bonus points for sister relationships, complex family dynamics, intergenerational tensions, and upmarket writing.

• Sci fi – I don’t want my sci-fi cold; give me human connection, make me cry, give me that high concept worldbuilding and heartache that lasts for a week.

  • Think: This Is How You Lose the Time War

• Speculative – give me speculative twists on rom-coms, thrillers, mysteries, etc. Give me time loops, robots, parallel worlds, fantastical creatures, etc. Give me a story rooted in the present that has that one, addictive speculative twist.

  • Think: The Rehearsals, Groundhog’s Day, Bone Gap, Stranger Things

• Upmarket and book club fiction

  • Think: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Britt Marie Was Here, Great Kitchens of the Midwest, Taylor Jenkins Reid

In Adult Non-Fiction, Jenna is selective. She’s especially looking for:

• Voicey memoir (solid platform is a huge plus)

• The next big ex-evangelical voice, and both feminist and LGBTQ+ voices in the Christian context

  • Think: Rachel Held Evans, Matthew Vines, or Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood

• Spiritual deconstruction / reconstruction

  • Think: Kate Bowler’s Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved

• Self-help from an “expert” millennial or Gen Z voice on topics such as divorce, sexuality, pregnancy, parenting

• Books highlighting alternative approaches to death (living funerals, death doulas, at-home body care, etc.)

In Young Adult, she’s especially looking for:

• Fantasy, cozy or epic, contemporary or infused with sci-fi

  • Think: Iron Widow, Only a Monster, Where Dreams Descend, Caraval, Sarah J. Maass, Girl of Fire and Thorns, Leigh Bardugo, Brigid Kemmerer’s A Curse So Dark and Lonely

• Sci-fi that makes me feel as much as it makes me think; bonus if you can make me cry

  • Think: The Ones We’re Meant to Find

• Thriller/suspense and mystery

  • Think: One of Us Is Lying, Come Find Me

• Speculative

  • Think: The Grace Year

• Atmospheric horror or extravagantly satirical horror

  • Think: House of Hollow, Wilder Girls, Bodies Bodies Bodies

In Middle Grade, she’s looking for:

• Graphic Novel – mostly interested in author-illustrators; fantasy or contemporary. If my ten-year-old would love it, we’re on to something!

  • Think: Amulet, Smile, Drama

• Fantasy with series potential

  • Think: Chris Colfer, The School for Good and Evil, Wings of Fire

• Contemporary stories that explore the multicultural / multilingual experience

• Horror

In Picture Books, she’s only looking for author/illustrators and the following very specific projects:

• Books that explore neurodiversity, in particular, high sensitivity/sensory processing

• If you have What Happens on Wednesdays but set in Chicago, please send that my way!

• Books that celebrate the joy, grittiness and diversity of urban living

• Books highlighting the multicultural experience (bilingual books English/Spanish), especially from the point of view of a refugee child

  She is not currently looking for:

• Picture books (unless it’s a referral/request or fits the above)

• Chapter books

• Hardcore/gory horror

• Erotica

• Military Science Fiction

• Anything with child abuse or gruesome child death described in detail on the page (okay to refer to it as part of a character’s backstory, but I can’t take it on the page; exceptions made if you are Tana French) … my heart can’t take it!

• Poetry or screen plays

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to https://querymanager.com/query/Jenna_S

Jenna only accepts queries through the Query Manager system. Please be prepared to include a query letter, synopsis, and the first 30 pages of your manuscript.

Guidelines & Details