Brought to you by

Gracie Freeman Lifschutz

Dystel, Goderich & Bourret

My Manuscript Wish List®

As I build my list, I’m looking for projects across a few major categories in Fiction and a few categories specifically in Nonfiction. No matter the type of project, I prioritize underrepresented voices, #OwnVoices works, and intersectional perspectives. I’m drawn to fiction that captures the pains of growing into oneself and the complexity of interpersonal relationships. For nonfiction, I would most like to see projects that dive into pop culture, social justice issues, and cultural criticism.

Across all categories, but especially in YA and younger Adult narratives, I love a good hook that makes a book fit a little more askance into a genre. Think: Jennifer’s Body, Joy McCullough’s Enter the Body, Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girls series, etc. If you’re taking classic tropes and turning them on their head, I want to see it!

I’m drawn in large part as well to prose that I consider “delicious”; books I love tend to make me want to eat their sentences or tattoo them on my eyelids, just so they can become a part of my being.

In Fiction, I’m looking for, specifically:

  • Contemporary Romance and romantic comedies: particularly those that feature body positive/neutral rep, demi-spectrum rep, late bloomers
  • Folk horror or Gothic horror that examines issues in our world while still being accessible
  • Young Adult: thrillers, contemporary fiction, and rom-coms
  • Stories that feature demi-spectrum representation, mental illness, and disability authentically
  • Deep friendships, friends as family, non-traditional families (think: family is who you choose, the complexity of having difficult bio family, etc.)
  • Jewish representation where religion isn’t the focus (think: Crossing Delancey or The Nanny, moreso than Unorthodox)
  • Feminist psychological thrillers
  • Complicated and messy heroines
  • Light magical realism
  • Grounded genre fiction

In Nonfiction:

  • Cultural criticism
  • Pop Culture-focused social analysis
  • Social Justice narratives
  • Food systems and culture
  • Deep dives! Give me your books on weird conspiracy theories, cults, metaphorical wikipedia wormholes
  • The intersection of all of the above

Please no:

  • Second world sci-fi
  • Hard fantasy
  • Post-climate apocalypse narratives
  • Military fiction
  • Legal or political espionage thrillers
  • Holocaust fiction
  • Stories featuring assault or abuse
  • Redemption of hate group members
  • Dystopian fiction

It would be impossible to list out all the minutiae of my likes and dislikes here, so please view this as a guide for best general fit.

For further on myself, my clients, and the like, you can find me on our company website and on Instagram.

Fun facts about me:

  • I listen to too many podcasts
  • I love live theater
  • I co-hosted a radio show in college
  • I love to cook and bake
  • I’ve been playing D&D and TTRPGs for at least 6 years

Submission Guidelines

If we might be a fit, please query me via QueryTracker: https://querytracker.net/query/GracieFL after reviewing our company submission guidelines.

Guidelines & Details