I am so excited to write a new manuscript wish list! Rising Action has grown so much over the last year and a half. It’s been such a fun and exciting time and we are thrilled at the chance to accept new authors. We are currently looking for our 2025 publishing program!

So what I’m looking for this time is a bit eclectic. I very much love genre-blending and sometimes I find books that I normally wouldn’t be drawn to that I am obsessed with. Here’s what I’m hoping to see land in my inbox in very specific terms;

• Comedies! Hilarious family drama, and/or funny situations characters get themselves into. Anything that makes me laugh out loud! If it’s got a comedic element with a strong female protagonist, I want it, PLEASE!

• I’m looking for some more female-driven/nonbinary-driven thrillers, especially if they’re messy, messy characters. I love a good ensemble cast and messy family dynamics—think LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY or MALIBU RISING. Do you have a DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES / REAL HOUSEWIVES-esque thriller? Please let me read it!

• Thrillers in the same vein of Simone St James THE BOOK OF COLD CASES or THE SOULMATE by Sally Hepworth!

• This is new for me, but I’m down for a female-driven/nonbinary action story that’s KNIVES OUT or clue in tone. Do you have a female spy novel? Yes, please!

• Book club fiction that’s a “coming of age” for adult characters. We have a lot of books that focus on the 20s/30s, but someone discovering themselves later in life or someone going through a change in their 40s/50s and older would be so awesome!

• Horror in the vein of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, GET OUT, US. I want more mentally scary than visually scary. Also looking for horrors that have a bit of levity to them, like M3GAN.

• Contained Family Drama/Contained drama with a unique cast of characters. I would love to find something like THE NEST that has a great cast of characters that all come together or WHITE LOTUS where they’re all weird and tied together by being at the same place at the same time.

• Locked room thrillers/suspense; ie CLUE.

• Non-fiction that feels stranger than fiction— the like how is this real life but it is real life kind of nonfiction. Something that really blows people’s minds.

• Medical thrillers or Medical soap operas that are in a book. Basically, think of a book version of GREY’S ANATOMY.

• RomComs that are heavy on the COM. I loved LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS. I am a huge reality TV/TV buff so any RomCom that takes place on a set whether it be film/tv stars or reality stars like ONE TO WATCH I am obsessed with. RomComs with diverse lead characters are ALWAYS of interest! Multicultural RomComs too please! Whatever the story, I want to LAUGH and SWOON!

• TRUE CRIME in NonFiction! I am ALWAYS looking for true crime! If you have a true crime like SWEET BOBBY, CASEFILES or MURDAUGH MURDERS, I want to read it. Please. Please please please.

Those are some of the specifics of what I’m looking for but if you have something outside of those realms that land in the following genres, please feel free to submit it to me as well;

• Psychological and domestic thrillers

• Domestic Suspense

• Romantic Comedies

• Book Club Fiction

• Horror

• True Crime

• MCs that are members of the LGBQTIA+ community, ND, BIPOC, Plus-sized, mental health representation.

• Multicultural characters and stories

Please know I am not interested in religious fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, political fiction or nonfiction, novellas, picture books, middle grade fiction or COVID related stories.