Jessica Berg

Hi, I’m Jessica, founder of Rosecliff Literary.

Here’s the short version: I want books I can’t put down. Real people making real messes, a story that keeps moving, and a mood so strong I can feel it in the room. If that’s your book, I want to see it.

Quick status note: I open and close to queries through the year. Check my QueryManager page before you send to see where I’m at.

What I want right now

Horror with feelings. I don’t need jump scares. I want dread that builds. Grief, hunger, obsession, family secrets that won’t stay buried. I love:

• Gothic horror. Old houses, old money, slow ruin.
• Domestic horror. The house is haunted. Or the marriage is. Or the whole family is.
• Folk horror with a setting so real I can smell the air.
• Horror rooted in a real culture, a real history, a real community.

Dark academia for grown-ups. Secret societies, rivals, schools and workplaces where power matters. Give me a setting that feels like it’s watching your characters. I want more than the aesthetic. I want someone to want something too much and pay for it.

Suspense that comes from people. Domestic suspense and psychological thrillers where the tension comes from relationships, not a twist on page 300. A slow burn is great if every chapter tightens the screws. Bonus points for a creepy old house.

Women who want things. Upmarket and book club fiction about women chasing what they want, sometimes badly, and dealing with the fallout. Friendships where love and resentment share a bed. Families with long shadows. Midlife do-overs. And yes, please, a main character who isn’t 25.

Historical that doesn’t feel dusty. I’d love something outside WWII. Show me women stuck inside the rules of their time (marriage, money, law, medicine, church) and what it costs to break them. Big love, big betrayal, big ambition.

Romance with a dark streak. Love stories braided into suspense, horror, or history. I want the kind of book you read with your shoulders up around your ears.

Nonfiction

I want books that ask a big question and don’t hand me a neat answer.

Memoir-plus. Your life is the lens, but the book is bigger than you. Your story plus what it shows us about money, power, motherhood, faith, desire, shame, class, or caregiving. Reporting, history, and science woven in are very welcome.

Select self-help and psychology. You need a clear reason you’re the one to write it (credentials, experience, or an audience who already trusts you), a promise I can explain in one sentence, and warm, plain writing. Tell me why you, why this, why now.

I’m also open to true crime, pop culture, women’s issues, wellness, and anything witchy.

Submission Guidelines

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

I welcome submissions via Query Tracker. Please include a query letter and your first ten pages. I aim to respond within 12 weeks, but often work more quickly.

Guidelines & Details