Jessica Sinsheimer, Agent at Context Literary

Jessica Sinsheimer has been reading and campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004. Now an agent at the Context Literary Agency, she is always on the lookout for new writers, and–whatever the age group–she tends to love contrast: highbrow sentences and lowbrow content, beautiful settings and ugly motives–the books that are beautiful and scary, heartbreaking and hilarious. She loves secrets, scheming, revenge, plotting–and stories that have to be written forward and backward to make sense (SHE LOVES discovering a very cleverly planted clue that makes sense in retrospect). She’d love more of what she thinks of as “Rom Com 2.0” works–powerful, nerdy women with humor and heart. More underrepresented characters, please–especially those with power, agency, and happy endings.

Member Reviews of Jessica

Generous & helpful

Jessica was incredibly generous and helpful with her comments and industry knowledge. She truly listened to my query trenches-related issues, gave valuable feedback and offered up some actionable items. I am so very grateful I scheduled with her!

Ilana Sparrow

I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Jessica Sinsheimer was fantastic! She was kind, personable and helpful. She gave positive feedback and helpful editing suggestions. She even went out of her way to show me how to look for agents using key words on twitter and using the manuscript wish list website. I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Megan Persinger

She went out of her way

Jessica Sinsheimer was fantastic! She was kind, personable and helpful. She gave positive feedback and helpful editing suggestions. She even went out of her way to show me how to look for agents using key words on twitter and using the manuscript wish list website. I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Megan Persinger

New inspiration

I just finished my 10min consult with Jessica as part of my gold membership and it was amazing! She was able to help me get through a plot issue that I had been struggling with and even gave me some new inspiration. I can’t wait to put all the pieces together and share this story.

Laura Millar

Unsurprisingly, she was awesome!

I won a Ten Minutes with an Expert chat from a Facebook live first pages event and was thrilled to find a coveted meeting with Jessica available in July. Unsurprisingly, she was awesome! She didn’t mind working through technical issues with me to ensure I had her comments in front of me as we chatted (even though she was running behind schedule and had already had a long day running a Manuscript Academy event), and provided excellent feedback that helped me understand the strengths and weaknesses in my query letter. Now as I rework my blurb, I have high hopes that the finished product will be a lot better thanks to her notes.

Sarah Adler

I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Jessica Sinsheimer was fantastic! She was kind, personable and helpful. She gave positive feedback and helpful editing suggestions. She even went out of her way to show me how to look for agents using key words on twitter and using the manuscript wish list website. I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Megan Persinger

The day after I took her precise and useful notes and revised my query, I got a full request for my manuscript.

Jessica was extremely thorough, professional and compassionate in helping me to improve my query letter.  The day after I took her precise and useful notes and revised my query, I got a full request for my manuscript as well as a note from an agent that my query letter was SOLID.  The proof is in the pudding, and Jessica is a gem.

Jai Franklin Sarki

She went out of her way

Jessica Sinsheimer was fantastic! She was kind, personable and helpful. She gave positive feedback and helpful editing suggestions. She even went out of her way to show me how to look for agents using key words on twitter and using the manuscript wish list website. I left my session with her feeling more confident than ever.

Megan Persinger

Work with Jessica

LIVE Meetings: Meet face-to-face, from home. Choose Zoom, Google Meet, or phone, and speak for the appointed time about your query, first page, and/or first ten pages (for longer meetings). Does not include written notes, but is a chance to have an honest discussion about your work, and to ask follow-up questions. International meetings welcomed.

WRITTEN Critiques: Get detailed, thoughtful notes on your work. Comes with large-scale edits (character, world, plot, tension, concept, conflict, and similar as needed) in an editorial letter and small-scale, line-by-line notes as needed (for longer critiques, an average of three per page). Work arrives in your inbox by the date on the calendar.

HYBRID is a live meeting at the appointment time, with written notes.