Jes Trudel (she/her/mx) is a literary agent with The Rights Factory.

Jes has been devouring stories longer than she can remember. Her favourite childhood books were Jack London adventures (which she never really outgrew). Jes’ experience includes working as a freelance editor for 15+ years, teaching creative writing to people around the globe, and founding WritingCommunity.ca in 2020 when the whole world went digital. She’s been a guest presenter with SCBWI, the 12×12 Picture Book Challenge, Write For Kids, and TSNOTYAW podcast, and has contributed to BoldFace, Children’s Book Insider, and the SCBWI blog. She joined The Rights Factory in 2023 as an editorial assistant. She represents mainly authors of children’s literature, though her authors are multi-talented and interdisciplinary storytellers. As an editorial agent, Jes works with her clients to develop their manuscripts into the best version they can be.

At the moment, I’m accepting only children’s literature, including:
– Board books (BB)
– Picture books (PB)
– Chapter books (CB)
– Middle grade (MG)
– Young adult (YA)

In addition to traditional styles of storytelling, I also love graphic novels and novels in verse. I’m also open to short story and poetry collections for kids. I accept both illustrated and text-only manuscripts. If you are an illustrator only, I’m sorry, but I can’t represent you at this time (unless you create full-length wordless picture books).

My favourite BB/PB/CB categories are:
– Concept books with a strong hook
– Expository nonfiction
– High-concept fiction
– Low-concept or “quiet” fiction
– Nonfiction related to mental health, DEI, social justice, community building, and/or entrepreneurship
– I prefer lyrical over rhyming texts, but if you do have a rhyming story, please make sure the meter is perfect and the rhymes are not cliche/forced

My favourite MG/YA genres are:
– action/adventure
– contemporary
– mystery
– romance
– speculative
– suspense/thriller
– Nonfiction related to mental health, DEI, social justice, community building, and/or entrepreneurship

Thematically speaking, I especially like:
– complex adult/child relationships
– complex friendships
– non-traditional and found families
– anti-heroes
– unreliable narrators
– love triangles (romantic or platonic)
– slow burns and friends or enemies to lovers
– forced proximity (romantic or platonic)
– stories that verge on “too dark” for kidlit, but not in a graphic/gory way

I’m not a good fit for:
– horror
– paranormal
– historical fiction
– hard scifi
– epic fantasy
– books for the Christian market
– nonfiction related to food and beverages, politics, pop culture, religion, spirituality, sports, or finance

I’m looking to represent authors across their careers, through multiple age categories and genres. So if you’re interested in writing books for adults and are thinking representation by me might limit your options, I absolutely plan to represent adults books in the future, especially those of my existing clients.