Jay Mandel

An agent with WME Books (see other agents at this agency).

About

Jay Mandel is the worldwide head of books at WME and has been a literary agent there since 2001. He began his career at The Writers Shop (nee the Virginia Barber Literary Agency) in 1994.
Jay represents a wide range of both fiction and nonfiction – from international literary work to suspense thrillers, investigative journalism, political theory, history, popular science, business, technology writing, memoir, and sports content. Among the clients he represents are New York Times Magazine staff writer Sam Anderson, journalist and historian Lesley MM Blume, documentarian Ken Burns, historian Alexis Coe, essayist and novelist Sloane Crosley, mathematician/writer Jordan Ellenberg, Atlantic contributor David Frum, syndicated columnist and co-founder of The Dispatch Jonah Goldberg, the twice Booker shortlisted Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid, the author of the international bestseller I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes, activist, writer and podcaster Amanda Knox, novelist and historian Brad Meltzer, science writer Mary Roach, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

This agent may not respond to all queries. After waiting 42 days, assume your submission will not be accepted.

Country

United States

AI Policy

Unknown AI policy

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Collapse section Fiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

General Open to all/most Subgenres
Suspense/Thriller Open to all/most Subgenres

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Lengths:

Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream, Personal.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Business/Finance.
History.
Memoir.
Politics/Political Science: Political theory.
Science.
Sports/Recreation.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Jay Mandel available.

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Instagram @wmebooks
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Jay Mandel Submission Statistics

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We have not received any submission reports for this listing in the past 12 months.

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Dates

Last Updated: 14 Jul 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.