Hayley Steed

Hayley is a Literary Agent primarily representing writers of fiction. She previously worked for seven years at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency, joining Janklow & Nesbit in September 2023. Before that she worked in book PR, after completing a degree in English. Her authors include The Sunday Times and The New York Times bestselling authors, and she has been named both a Trailblazer and a Rising Star by the UK book trade. 

Her clients include Yomi Adegoke, Clare Pooley, Heather Marshall, Kehinde Fadipe, Sara Nisha Adams and Leah Hazard.

I’m looking for commercial and book club fiction across all genres. I’m particularly drawn to a strong hook – a setting, scenario or a ‘what if’ that captures my attention immediately and leads the way into a gripping story. I love to find compelling and distinctive voices that draw me in but are matched with well-paced plots and commercial appeal. I’m always open to books that cross genres, or which feel a little different.

At the moment I’m particularly keen to find an elevated love story – epic, contemporary, or with an edge of the speculative, against any setting or backdrop. I want to feel swept up and completely captivated by the characters and their chemistry. I’d love to find a love story with a speculative edge, something along the lines of The Time Traveller’s Wife or In Five Years, where the magic is part of the plot, but set in a real, or grounded, world. Having said that, I’d be open to space, or light sci fi, as a setting too, as long as the story itself feels more about the characters and it serves as a backdrop to a wider story.

I also love general fiction books that feature love within another story – One Day, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Lessons in Chemistry come to mind at taking a different kind of approach to love. I’m also really enjoying books that have a kind of coming-of-age but later in life like All Fours by Miranda July or The Wedding People by Alison Espach, which are as funny as they are compelling.

I’d love to see more novels celebrating platonic love too – love between sisters, mothers and daughters, and friends in particular, like Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors or Wicked, or anything that explores the sense of community. I equally love book club novels that explore these themes, or more romantic storylines too, alongside a mystery like Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall or Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

I’m fascinated by stories that centre around a very specific job or skill – think the ice dancing of The Favourites or the tennis of Carrie Soto – and I’d love to see more in this vein. Really anything in the style of Taylor Jenkins Reid is a yes from me, and I love anything that explores the crazy commitment of people to the things they love.

I’m open to historical novels, usually as a setting to a bigger story or theme, and I’m always interested in stories that explore family in all its forms, whether that’s family secrets, emotional drama, or the family we make around us in our friends and communities. Kristin Hannah and Lucinda Riley are two of my favourites in this space and I’d love to find something similarly sweeping and arresting.

I love anything that explores the dark and creepy, be that a tense relationship between a couple, siblings, or friends, or a locked room mystery in a brilliant setting. I’m particularly drawn to complex female friendships that veer into the obsessive, and if you’ve written a book like Yellowjackets, I absolutely want to see it. I enjoy reading anything by Jane Harper or Susie Steiner, crime driven by the protagonists and the atmospheric setting, and I’m always on the lookout for a novel that keeps me on my toes and changes the way we expect stories to work like The Appeal or something with a cinematic high concept such as Wrong Place, Wrong Time. I’d love to find a break-out thriller for my list, something character-driven that explores the dark side of human nature with a killer one-line pitch and twist.

I’m very much on the search for horror too, from great concepts like Get Out to more classic horror with big houses and plenty of atmosphere. I particularly love horror that serves as a commentary on social issues, whether that’s body horror and femininity, or place and colonialism, and I’m happy for my horror to skew into more of a crossover space too. A horror version of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders is a very specific current request of mine.

I also like general fiction with a dark edge and an unexpected twist, which may come in forms other than thrillers or horror, but always have an atmospheric tension. I’d love to find a novel that fits the dark academia genre, or anything that feels unpredictable with intrigue that keeps me turning the page, like The Guest by Emma Cline, or something soapy like Tell Me Lies. I’m generally very interested in anything that reflects, examines or satirizes the world we’re living in, addressing our wider culture with a genre. This might appear as women’s fiction, thriller, dystopia or a general fiction novel with a brilliant lead character. I love The List for that reason, which holds up a mirror to some very difficult but universal topics. I love novels with complex characters and nuance, which are happy to explore the grey areas.

I also love to be surprised so, even if I’ve not mentioned what you’re writing here, I’m happy to see it - though I don’t represent children’s, picture books, or high literary fiction, and I represent very little non-fiction.

Across all genres, I’m particularly interested in female voices and showcasing underrepresented talent and experiences whose voices aren’t being heard in the mainstream.