JESSICA VITALIS

BIO

Jessica Vitalis is a middle grade author with numerous awards and honors including the Reading the West Book Award, the WWW 2024 WILLA Literary Award, the High Plains International Book Award, and an NCTE Notable Verse Novel designation. Jessica often writes from lived experience and explores topics such as death and grief, domestic violence, bullying, and socioeconomic disparities while emphasizing the importance of friendship, found family, and hope. 

An experienced developmental editor and mentor, Jessica loves using the extensive craft knowledge she gained in the thirteen years she wrote and studied before landing her first deal to provide pre-published writers with the support she wishes she’d had on her journey. When working with mentees, she typically identifies big picture opportunities for improvement and is the best fit for writers willing to tackle deep revisions. She prioritizes offering feedback in a supportive manner and on helping writers not only improve their manuscripts but also level up their craft knowledge. 

MSWL

I am primarily looking for upper middle grade manuscripts (but may also consider YA). I’m open to a variety of genres including contemporary, speculative, historical, and novels written in free verse. I’m most likely to be drawn to stories with a unique premise and a strong, distinctive voice (bonus points if you can make me laugh or cry). I typically enjoy stories that encourage readers to ask big questions about themselves or the world around them (while being entertaining and not veering toward the didactic). I tend to prefer lighter world building/hints of magic in speculative stories (in other words, if your story takes place in an enormously complicated fantasy world completely different from ours, I’m probably not the best fit). In young adult I gravitate toward stories with a romance arc. I will prioritize diversity and inclusivity but I’m unlikely to consider stories with marginalized point of view characters if the writer does not share that identity. 

I’m not the best fit for:

  • stories with protagonists ten-years-old or younger

  • portal stories (stories that open in one world and jump to another)

  • time travel

  • graphic novels

Some books I love:

  • Hana Hsu and the Ghost Crab Nation

  • Listen to the Girls

  • Turtles of the Midnight Moon

  • Tagging Freedom

  • Starfish

  • A Monster Calls

  • Etta Invincible

  • ALONE

  • Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf

  • The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

  • Iveliz Explains It All

  • Show Me a Sign

  • We Dream of Space 

  • You Owe Me One, Universe

  • The Wednesday Wars

  • The Probability of Everything

  • The Poet X 

  • Hunger Games

  • The Secret to Belonging

  • What If It’s Us

  • A Very Large Expanse of Sea