Jen Nadol is a former YA novelist turned literary agent at The Unter Agency who specializes in commercial and upmarket fiction—particularly dark contemporary, thrillers, mysteries, and horror—alongside narrative non-fiction and memoir for adult, YA, and select MG audiences.
In brief
Nadol brings an author's editorial instincts to her agenting: fifteen years in publishing, including her own novels with Bloomsbury USA and Simon & Schuster, give her a rare dual perspective on craft and the market.
Her wishlist skews dark and character-driven: psychological thrillers, mysteries, horror, and domestic suspense are where her taste is most sharply defined, but she is equally enthusiastic about propulsive rom-coms and women's fiction with genuine emotional depth.
She draws a hard line at high fantasy and anything with a 'chosen one' or dragon — and specifically flags satirical, quirky, or offbeat framing as a mismatch, a meaningful qualifier that eliminates a large swath of speculative fiction many agents welcome.
Her non-fiction appetite is broad but filtered through one consistent lens: accessible voice and wide-audience appeal. Highly specialized, academic, overtly political, or military-focused projects are not her fit.
Picture books and novellas are explicitly off the table (picture books only for existing clients); middle grade is welcomed but her own language signals selective enthusiasm — she gravitates toward MG with sophistication rather than younger, lighter fare.
Lately
Her current agency biography confirms she represents adult, YA, and middle-grade fiction alongside narrative non-fiction and memoir — and explicitly rules out picture books, novellas, and high fantasy. This is the highest-authority statement of her current scope.
What Jen is looking for
This is the gravitational center of Nadol's list. She wants tightly plotted, emotionally grounded stories — domestic thrillers, psychological suspense, and crime fiction that combine pace with genuine character complexity. Think Gillian Flynn's moral ambiguity or Tana French's immersive procedural atmosphere. Stories that grip from page one and hold through a resonant ending are her sweet spot.
Nadol lists horror as a core interest alongside thrillers — she wants the kind of horror that earns its dread through character and atmosphere rather than pure shock. Stephen King is her named touchstone, which signals she values psychological unease and narrative momentum over gore-forward or splatterpunk approaches.
She is drawn to literary-leaning or commercial/literary crossovers where something slightly strange or unsettling lives inside an otherwise grounded, contemporary world. This is distinct from SFF world-building — the magic here is a mood or a lens, not the central architecture of the story.
Nadol explicitly loves a fast-moving, funny romantic comedy and women's fiction with strong character arcs. The operative word is 'pacey' for rom-coms and 'great character development' for women's fiction — she is not looking for quiet, introspective slice-of-life but for stories that move and deliver emotional satisfaction.
Nadol is occasionally the right home for SF, but only under specific conditions: the work must be grounded in plausible science and lean into the mechanics and human consequences of that science rather than space opera, alien worlds, or fantastical extrapolation. She cites writers like Andy Weir and Alan Glynn as the right register. SFF as a blended or speculative genre is rarely a fit.
Nadol was herself a published YA author, so she brings genuine genre fluency here. She favors YA that is emotionally resonant and concept-driven — darker contemporary, mystery, and suspense translate well from her adult wishlist into YA. Her named touchstones suggest she values emotional authenticity and narrative momentum over trend-chasing.
MG is a smaller, more selective part of her list. Her own taste markers — Lockwood & Co. and When You Reach Me — suggest she wants MG with mystery, wit, and intellectual texture rather than younger or lighter fare. She is not a good fit for younger MG or anything reliant on animal protagonists.
Nadol is genuinely open across non-fiction categories, provided the voice is accessible and the content has broad appeal. She is drawn to works that excavate human psychology and behavior, as well as narrative journalism, true crime, and health/wellness told through a compelling human lens. The key filter is readability for a general audience — she is not the right fit for academic, specialist, or highly political works.
Not the right fit
On Jen's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Jen
Send a query letter and up to ten pages of your manuscript pasted directly into the body of the email — no attachments for the sample pages.
Address her by name and reference a specific element of her wishlist that genuinely applies to your book; she is precise about what she does and does not want, so a targeted pitch demonstrates you have done your homework.
Lead with genre and a one-line hook: her stated ideal is an original concept with a gripping plot — put both on the table in your opening paragraph.
Run your book against her explicit exclusion list before querying: dragons, chosen-one plots, animal protagonists, satirical or quirky framing, high fantasy, novellas, and picture books are firm nos. If any of these describe your work, she is not the right agent.
For non-fiction, front-load the accessibility and audience angle — she filters for broad appeal and a readable voice, so signal both early.
Her email address is publicly listed as jen.nadol@theunteragency.com; verify the submission guidelines on The Unter Agency's website before sending, as details can change.