Renee Fountain is President and Literary Manager at Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management — a veteran dealmaker with 30+ years in publishing and a deep background in film/TV rights who hunts commercial fiction and nonfiction with strong screen potential.
In brief
Fountain's confirmed recent sales span a science Q&A nonfiction title, a solo-travel narrative, and a crime thriller — signaling real traction in accessible nonfiction and commercial suspense/thriller, the two lanes most consistent across her stated wishlist and actual record.
Her July 2025 wishlist update sharpens her fiction focus toward horror (genre-defying, genuinely scary), rom-com (comedy-forward), and romantic mystery — and adds serial killers as a specific subgenre flag worth noting.
Her five years as a book scout for a television network's development division and her co-ownership of a bicoastal agency with LA roots make her an unusually capable advocate for projects with adaptation potential — she handles foreign and domestic sub-rights in-house.
Client roster names like Jonathan Fredrick (multiple confirmed titles including audio), Leah Elson, and Jen Ruiz indicate she cultivates longer-term author partnerships rather than one-and-done deals.
She explicitly excludes Middle Grade, picture books, standalone scripts, previously published or self-published work, and material featuring political, viral, terrorist, or animal abuse themes — a harder gate list than many agents maintain.
Lately
Her mid-2025 wishlist refresh zeroed in on several clear priorities: horror that defies tropes and genuinely frightens (including serial killer narratives), comedy-forward rom-com, and romantic mystery. On the nonfiction side, she flagged self-improvement, pop culture, narrative nonfiction, and business titles — with a special call-out for women-led business stories.
What Renee is looking for
She wants horror that genuinely unsettles — not comfort horror, not familiar tropes rehashed, but stories that push the genre somewhere unexpected and actually scare the reader. Serial killer narratives are a specific area of appetite within this space.
Confirmed by her sales record (Bad Men Will Come) and listed as a specialty. Commercial, plot-driven, with strong pacing. Her TV-scout background means she gravitates toward projects that translate visually.
She wants rom-coms where the comedy is doing genuine heavy lifting — the humor has to be a structural element, not window dressing on a love story. If the 'com' isn't working hard, she's not interested.
A recent addition to her wishlist, blending investigative or mystery plots with romantic tension. A growing area of interest in her 2025 update.
She's drawn to emotionally resonant, character-led women's fiction in the vein of Rebecca Serle's work — meaning contemporary, relationship-driven narratives with a literary shimmer but commercial readability.
Humor as a primary register — not a subplot. She welcomes both funny fiction and comedic nonfiction, though specifics depend on execution. This overlaps with her rom-com interest but extends to standalone humorous nonfiction.
Her sales record backs this up: Twelve Trips in Twelve Months (Jen Ruiz) is a travel narrative. She wants commercial narrative nonfiction with a strong voice and a story spine, not just reportage.
Practical, accessible self-help and wellness nonfiction. Her roster includes Sandy Weston (Train Your Head and Your Body Will Follow) and Beyond the Baby Blues author Rebecca Fox Starr — so health, mental wellness, and body-based topics have real precedent on her list.
Cultural commentary and pop-culture nonfiction with energy and voice. She names this explicitly as an interest area, likely with an eye on crossover media appeal.
Business and entrepreneurship nonfiction, with particular enthusiasm for women-led perspectives — founders, executives, or books addressing professional women as the primary audience.
Accessible, personality-driven science writing for general audiences. Confirmed by There Are No Stupid Questions…In Science (Leah Elson) — humor and accessibility appear to be the key factors.
Listed on her agency profile but absent from her 2025 wishlist update, suggesting it's a background interest rather than an active priority. The agency explicitly excludes 'extreme fantasy/sci-fi' — ground-level, contemporary-feeling fantasy is the lane, not high epic or hard SF.
Not the right fit
On Renee's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Renee
Submit only fully edited, submission-ready material — she states this explicitly and it is non-negotiable. Rough drafts or works-in-progress will not be considered.
Do not submit previously published or self-published work in any form.
Hard-exclude your manuscript from consideration if it contains political, viral, terrorist, or animal abuse themes, scenes, or premises — these are disqualifying regardless of overall quality.
Her July 2025 wishlist is specific about what she's actively hunting right now: lead with the genre label she used (horror, rom-com, romantic mystery, narrative nonfiction, women's fiction) and match her language closely in your query letter.
If you're querying horror, signal in the first paragraph that the book subverts familiar tropes and that it is genuinely frightening — she flagged both criteria explicitly.
For rom-com queries, demonstrate the comedy through the writing itself, not just the pitch. A query letter that makes her laugh is doing its job.
Given her background as a TV development scout, a brief note on adaptation potential (without overselling it) is likely to land well — especially for thriller, crime, or high-concept nonfiction.
She handles foreign and domestic sub-rights in-house, so if you have international ambitions, that is a genuine advantage worth noting if it's relevant to your project.
Verify the form is currently accepting submissions at ghliterary.com before querying — status was unconfirmed as of the date of this profile.