What Editors are Asking for Right Now

(And what they aren't)

If you’ve ever wondered what editors want, the short answer is: everything and nothing, preferably at the same time.

Ask an editor what they’re hungry for right now, and you’ll get a laundry list that sounds like a cross between a dating profile and a hostage negotiation: “High concept, but also deeply literary. Commercial, but with exquisite sentences. Escapist, but grounded. Accessible, but not dumbed down. Could it maybe win the Pulitzer and sell like Colleen Hoover?”

In other words: they want a unicorn that can also hit quarterly sales targets. That’s what I wanted when I was an editor, and it’s still what I want as an agent. But trends to happen and there are call outs for certain genres from time to time. This is a list of what I’m seeing a lot of on wish lists, my inbox, and directly from editors (along with my thoughts on trends)

What Editors Want Right Now

“High concept with heart.”
This phrase is everywhere. Translation: something you can pitch in a sentence at lunch with a sales rep that doesn’t make them glaze over. But also, it has to move us to tears. Basically, they want Yellowface meets Gone with the Wind written like the genre defying Maggie Nelson.

Romantasy, romantasy, romantasy.
Yes, it’s hot. Yes, every romance editor seems to be looking for it. But whisper it quietly: some editors don’t like it, others live for it. But they all seem to want them because the last one sold six figures in a week on TikTok, and no one wants to be the person who passed on the next one. I don’t represent it, I do like to read one or two every now and again, but I stick to the genres I’m really good at representing. But there is no denying romantasy rules right now.

Rom-coms.

I receive more rom-com submissions than anything else. Thrillers are the second most popular genre I receive. Romance makes up 30% of the publishing space right now and rom-coms are at the heart of it. I LOVE rom-coms. I represent them and I don’t think they are trendy. The tropes in rom-coms (hockey/tennis/sports, etc) are tropes that can trend and die but the evergreen storylines are forever like enemies-to-lovers, meet cutes, opposites attract, second chance, forbidden love and love triangles. I love ‘em all!

Fun nonfiction.
“Smart but not boring” is the rallying cry. Editors are desperate for books that make people feel like they’re learning while laughing or at least nodding knowingly on the subway. If your memoir reads like a podcast episode people would happily listen to for free, congratulations, they might buy it. You need to be an expert with a huge platform that is more than just social media however.

Books that feel like an escape.
After several years of collective doomscrolling, editors will happily swoon for anything that doesn’t remind them of the news. Does your novel take place in a world with zero pandemics, fascist uprisings, or supply chain issues? Fantastic. Add a love triangle and you’re golden. Is it new and daring? Even better. High concept, action packed, fun to read – yes please!

What Editors Are Absolutely Not Asking For (Even If They Secretly Buy It Next Week)

Another pandemic novel.
We all lived it. No one wants to read it. Unless you’ve written The Decameron 2.0 or can make hand sanitizer erotic, save yourself the submission. And definitely do not send to me!

Dystopia that looks too much like CNN.
Even if every editor said, “We’re not looking for near-future dystopias right now” the translation is unless it’s genius, hilarious, or somehow features dragons, no thank you.

Autofiction about your Brooklyn breakup.
The appetite for “sad writer drinks wine and contemplates the East River” is… limited. Unless your prose is so incandescent it sets the page on fire, editors will smile politely and send you a form rejection.

The next Succession.
Here’s the secret: every editor wants Succession. But because fifty writers have already pitched “Succession but set at a cheese company / law firm / ballet school”, most of them will now pretend to hate it. Until, of course, the real “Succession but…” lands on their desk and they snap it up.

The Contradiction at the Heart of It All

Editors want originality. But they also want comps to three bestselling books. They want you to surprise them, just not in a way that makes them nervous in an acquisitions meeting. They’ll tell you they’re tired of a trend right up until the next book in that trend goes viral, and then suddenly they’re starved for it again.

So what does this mean for writers? Mostly this: by the time you hear what editors “want,” they’ve already moved on. Trends are like subway trains, by the time you’ve run down the stairs, the one you were aiming for has left the station.

The only real answer is the one no one likes to hear: write the book you can’t stop thinking about. Because the dirty little secret of publishing is that the book editors end up buying is almost never the book they swore they were looking for. It’s the one they couldn’t ignore, even when it wasn’t on their list.

So yes, editors are asking for “high concept but literary,” “escapist but urgent,” “romantasy but not that romantasy.” But what they really want is the same thing readers do: something that makes them forget, for a few hours, how impossible the rest of this industry actually is.

In other words, editors are looking for everything. So write what you want, whatever speaks to you! Even as a seasoned agent (and former editor) trying to predict the next trend is a fools errand. Just write what you love and find your people.If you love a subject, whether it’s romantasy, historical fantasy, rom-coms, memoir, gothic thriller, pet detective mystery, fan fiction, or anything this else, there is a community and a publisher waiting for you.