Jill Marsal

Jill Marsal is a founding partner of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency and has been in the publishing industry for 20 years. Previously, she worked as a Literary Agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency for eight years and at Dorchester Publications and Tudor Publishing, editing women’s fiction and suspense/thrillers. Jill also has a strong legal background and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She practiced as an attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for five years.

On the fiction front, Jill looks for women’s fiction (both contemporary and historical), commercial fiction, stories of family, interesting relationships, Southern fiction, or multi-generations, and romance. She also is looking for mysteries, psychological suspense, cozies, and thrillers that keep the pages turning and have an original hook. She welcomes a dramatic storyline and compelling characters in interesting situations or relationships. If you have a novel that has a highly original concept or voice, Jill would love to see it.

On the non-fiction side, Jill’s areas of interest include business, current events, health/wellness,  self-help, lifestyle, advice/relationships, psychology, parenting, history, science, and narrative non-fiction. She is particularly drawn to projects which will move readers or leave them thinking, which make provocative arguments or share interesting research, or which offer useful, new advice.

Jill enjoys working with both new and experienced writers. A few of Jill’s represented books include WITH LOVE FROM THE INSIDE by Angela Pisel (Putnam), THE CHALLENGER SALE by Wall Street Journal bestselling authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson (Portfolio), FIELD GUIDE TO HOMICIDES by NYT bestselling author Lynn Cahoon (Kensington),   A TASTE OF SUGAR by NYT bestselling author Marina Adair (Grand Central), CROSS HER HEART by #1 WSJ and Amazon Charts bestselling author Melinda Leigh (Montlake), LIMITLESS MIND by Stanford Professor Jo Boaler (Harper One), MIDDLE SCHOOL MATTERS by Phyllis Fagell (Da Capo), and FEELING AT HOME: THE BRAIN AND WHERE WE LIVE by John S. Allen (Basic).

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