Jeanne De Vita is a literary agent with Martin Literary Management.

Before moving onto the agency side of the business, I worked in publishing for over a decade as an acquisitions editor and developmental editor for traditional publishers and authors. I’ve worked with hundreds of new and aspiring authors as well as established NYT bestsellers across the genres. I understand the mechanics of a great story and am looking for un-putdownable voice, expert structure/pacing, and a premise that I want to stay up late reading.

I still teach writing and editing craft at the college level, so I’m a technician who reads quickly and assesses books based on how successfully the submission meets the expectations of the genre, sub-genre, or niche. Are you a superfan of the genre you are writing? Can we swap excited stories about our favorite books and have honest conversations about the business, the process, and the work that goes into creating great stories? I have an editorial approach, a practical perspective on the business, and a deep passion for this work.

I’m currently open to most commercial genre fiction, and I especially encourage new authors, indie authors, and authors underrepresented in traditional publishing to query. I am always open to LGBTQIA+ authors and #OwnVoices stories.

Genre fiction is my happy place: romance, romantasy, thriller, horror, mysteries, speculative fiction, and more.

But I’m not a great fit for some genres, so please do not query the following:

no contemporary YA (fantasy, dystopian, or romantasy YA is great)
no memoir unless you’re writing something immersive that reads like a novel like Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner or Know My Name by Chanel Miller
no Christian/inspirational/religious novels and nonfiction
no children’s books and middle grade fiction and nonfiction
no grimdark

Fun facts about me: I’m a devoted Critter who loves all things Critical Role. I’m still not over the Campaign 2 loss…I will never forgive Lorenzo! IYKYK. I play video games (badly) and would live in a fantasy universe if I could, although let’s be real… I wouldn’t survive long in a real-world Valheim or 7 Days to Die. I’m more a Stardew Valley-level survivor and builder. I live in Los Angeles but grew up in Chicago and prefer cold and snow to heat. My mother was a trad-pubbed author when I was growing up, so I learned from a young age that writing could be studied, learned, and developed. I am a firm believer in craft, beats, structure, and tropes as tools for impactful fiction.