Nicole Payne

In general, I represent young adult and adult fiction novels, preferably in romance, women’s fiction, literary fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, and speculative fiction. They hold a special place in my heart. As I slowly delve into non-fiction, I would love to see more science-based books, especially biology and forensic, as well as medicine, travel, and cookbooks in my queue. I’m also actively seeking diverse voices and stories across the board. Give me all the books!

Specific things I want to see:

In general

• Stories that have amazing voice, killer plot, magical words, and a uniqueness that can’t be matched
• More diverse voices and stories written by BIPOC authors

​Fiction

• Time travel romances with a twist
• Romantasy
• More than just the stereotypical rom-com but still cute and with great chemistry and banter.
• STEM or STEAM-related books
• Exotic settings- looking for non-European
• Mythology – Egyptian, Norse, Chinese (no Greek, please)
• Contemporary Fantasy, High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, and Dark Fantasy
• Vampires (different than Twilight), Zombies, Aliens, or Psychics
• Unique take on fairy tale retellings
• Books focusing on body positivity
• Books with flawed characters – love character growth and fine with Happy For Now as long as they’re working on bettering themselves to achieve that Happily Ever After
• Books with unreliable narrators- there’s nothing better than being sent down dozens of wrong rabbit holes
• Redemption stories

Non-fiction

• Pop science- books in the biology, forensics, technology, and medicine realm but told in an engaging way and not like a typical textbook
• Cookbooks- looking for Eurasian, or African specific recipes with a story
• Health and wellness – would love something inspirational and uplifting and focus on body positivity
• Spiritual/inspirational/religious – would love to follow a spiritual journey of enlightenment in some way

I’m NOT looking for:

• Picture/chapter books
• Middle grade
• Political novels
• Poetry Collections
• Novellas or stories less than 50K
• Erotica
• Previously published novels (please only send unpublished ones)

Specific Things I DON’T want to see:

• In paranormal fiction, no ghosts or genies. Witches are fine as long as there’s a unique take on them
• In fantasy, not looking for teen girl who unknowingly has powers and must save the world
• Stories that start with the character waking up from a dream or nightmare
• Stories that start with the character being followed by a person in a hooded cloak
• Stories that start with the setting or weather (ie: “It was the winter of …” or “It was a beautiful fall day…”)- show not tell
• Stories that start with backstory. Prefer stories that start right where the scene is happening and the backstory is woven in later

I normally post some wishlists on my tweets featuring #MSWL so make sure to go follow me to see what’s next on the menu! 🙂

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to http://querymanager.com/npayne

I don’t take email submissions. Please query me at http://querymanager.com/npayne for any queries to be considered. Thanks!

Guidelines & Details