Michelle Z. Jackson is the founder of the Jackson Literary Agency — a debut boutique founded July 2025 by a prolific romance and women's fiction author with 30+ published novels — who is actively building a list centered on emotionally resonant fiction from underrepresented communities, with a particular pull toward diverse romance, women's fiction, and commercial stories that blend hope, heart, and heat.
In brief
Jackson is a brand-new agency (founded July 2025), meaning her list is wide open but also that she has no confirmed deal record under the JLA banner yet — writers are getting in early with a former Senior Literary Agent who has agenting and editorial experience predating the launch.
Her own author background — 30+ romance and women's fiction novels across Urban Christian/Penguin Random House, Harlequin Mira, Special Edition, and Love Inspired — gives her unusually granular genre knowledge; she isn't learning romance from the outside.
The breadth of her stated wishlist (dozens of sub-genres across fiction and nonfiction) signals an opportunistic, generalist-adjacent appetite, but the consistent throughline is emotionally driven stories with hope and joy, and BIPOC, multicultural, and own-voices voices across every category.
She has a documented personal affinity for twin narratives and explicitly welcomes stories about twins — a rare, specific hook writers can leverage.
Her imprint relationships appear to skew inspirational, multicultural commercial, and women's fiction (Urban Christian, Harlequin Love Inspired, Brown Girls Publishing) — writers in faith-adjacent or inspirational romance land in a sweet spot, even if she does not foreground that publicly.
Lately
Jackson announced the founding of her own literary agency in July 2025, marking a transition from Senior Literary Agent at a prior agency to independent practice. The agency's mission centers on mentoring authors from underrepresented communities and developing their brands for quality, authentic publishing.
What Michelle is looking for
Romance is Jackson's professional home ground — she has written it for decades across inspirational, contemporary, multicultural, and commercial imprints. She wants everything from slow-burn contemporary to time-travel romance, small-town settings to Amish romance, category romance to romantic comedy. Multicultural and faith-based romance sit in an especially warm spot given her publishing history. Emotional payoff at the end is non-negotiable — she needs that satisfying sigh.
She is drawn to commercial and upmarket women's fiction that explores family dynamics, mother-daughter relationships, friendship, and multigenerational bonds in fresh ways. Book-club-ready stories with crossover appeal and a strong emotional core are a priority. She favors prose that is immersive and descriptive — readers should feel inside the story.
She wants twisty, propulsive reads that keep her up at night — stories where the stakes are personal, the reveals are earned, and the suspense is tightly wound. Diverse and multicultural voices in the thriller space are particularly welcome; she sees a gap she wants to help fill.
She is interested in commercial and contemporary YA, particularly YA romantic comedies and layered YA contemporary romance. Stories featuring BIPOC protagonists and own-voices perspectives are most welcome. The same emotional heat that drives her adult list applies here — she wants YA that makes readers feel deeply.
She welcomes contemporary MG and MG with magical realism elements, especially stories centered on friendship, family, and underrepresented voices. Fantasy grounded in reality appeals more than high-concept worldbuilding for this age group.
Across all categories, stories from and about Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities — including specifically Caribbean and West African literary traditions — are a stated agency mission priority. Classic tale retellings reimagined with BIPOC characters are explicitly desired. This is not a sub-category for Jackson; it is a lens applied to everything she seeks.
She is drawn to historical fiction with emotional resonance and strong character interiority, particularly stories that illuminate underrepresented historical experiences. Fairytale and classic retellings set in historical periods, especially with BIPOC leads, are a sweet spot.
Given her own publishing history with Urban Christian and Harlequin Love Inspired, faith-based and inspirational fiction — including Christian romance and contemporary inspirational romance — represent a genuine area of expertise and editorial comfort. She is not merely receptive; she has sold and written in this space.
She accepts a range of nonfiction categories but her stated passion and proven track record live firmly on the fiction side. Nonfiction queries should still carry emotional resonance, practical value, and ideally an own-voices or underrepresented perspective. Children's nonfiction picture books (by author-illustrators) are also listed.
Not the right fit
On Michelle's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Michelle
Submit a query letter plus the first ten pages of your manuscript through the agency's online form — do not email queries to her direct address, which the site explicitly labels as not for queries.
Allow up to 60 days for a response before following up; the agency is newly launched as of July 2025, so response times may vary during the early build-out period.
Lead with emotional stakes in your query — Jackson filters everything through feeling first. Describe concretely what emotion your book delivers and when: does it make readers laugh, cry, feel hopeful? Name the feeling explicitly rather than leaving her to infer it.
If your protagonist is a twin, or twins play a meaningful role in your story, say so early — she has stated this as a personal passion and it will earn immediate attention.
Multicultural, BIPOC, own-voices, and faith-adjacent stories should foreground that identity context in the query — it aligns directly with the agency's stated mission and Jackson's personal publishing history.
Use comp titles drawn from her stated favorites when relevant — authors such as Brenda Novak, Mia Sosa, Vanessa Riley, and Jodi Picoult map cleanly to the commercial-emotional-diverse fiction she seeks.
Avoid pitching your book as a pure genre exercise; she wants premise plus twist plus resonant theme. A classic-tale retelling with a BIPOC lens, or a familiar trope given a fresh cultural or emotional angle, will speak to her sensibility.
For nonfiction, demonstrate a clear platform and audience — her experience skews fiction-heavy, so a nonfiction query needs to be especially compelling on commercial viability.
Verify the live query form status before submitting — the agency is newly founded and submission windows or guidelines may have been updated since this profile was written.