Jess Regel

Helm

My Manuscript Wish List®

The best way to get a sense of my list is to look through the homepage of helmliterary.com. If you think your book would fit in with the titles listed, then it’s a safe bet to query me. But you’re here to get into nitty gritty, so…

Across the adult, young adult and children’s fiction categories, I’m looking for the same type of book: books that are compulsive, contagious, and creative. I’m particularly interested in “conversation starters,” books that bridge the literary-commercial divide, combining a high-concept with beautiful writing, and voice-driven contemporary stories. I’m always looking for characters who tell a story from a unique perspective, and through which we see the world differently. As someone who had no personal connection to the publishing world before I began, I am passionate about discovering books by historically excluded writers. I’m drawn to ambitious projects, coming-of-age stories, charming and stylized love stories, atmospheric magical realism, dark and twisty suspense, and genre-bending literary fiction.

I represent very little nonfiction, but when I do it tends to be feminist and/or anti-racist. Again, check out my website www.helmliterary.com and you’ll find the type of nonfiction I’ve represented in the past.

I don’t typically represent picture books, genre fiction (category romance, high fantasy, cozy mysteries, westerns, procedurals, military, etc.), faith-based books (in fiction or nonfiction), or practical nonfiction. I also do not represent screenplays.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to helmsubmissions@gmail.com

If you think your project is a good fit for me, please send your query to he*************@gm***.com.

I wish I could respond to everyone, but I am only one very tall woman. You will receive a confirmation of receipt, but due to the volume of queries I receive, I can’t respond personally to every query. No response within a month is a pass.

If I am interested in reading more, I will be in touch!

Guidelines & Details

Vital Info

Website

Agent

I’d like the next…

My favorites include…

Books I didn’t represent, but that I loved:

Recently: Emily Wilder’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, The Husbands, Expiration Dates, The Last Dragon on Mars, Hello Beautiful, Long Bright River, On Our Best Behavior, The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea, All My Rage, Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and Fleishman is in Trouble

Less recently: The Thing About Jellyfish, The Neverending Story, Eleanor and Park, The Glass Castle, Station Eleven, Prairie Fires, Gone Girl, What I Loved, An American Marriage, The Haunting of Hill House, The Husband’s Secret, One Day, Fingersmith, Bone Gap and The Vanishing Half.

Movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Almost Famous, The Big Lebowski, When Harry Met Sally… pretty much any smart rom com actually.

TV Shows: Stranger Things, Broad City, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Arrested Development, Felicity, Happy Endings, Silicon Valley, Ramy, Parks & Rec, Succession, Pen15, Ted Lasso, Mythic Quest