#Agent Query

[erinysceidae]

Guess who just submitted her very first query for a publishing agent?!

It’s me! I sent one.

Just one.

I have so much more work to do.

[adastra-sf]

Bad news for those querying agents: "AI" is ruining this, too

Sending your book manuscript off to agents in hopes of selling it? Be aware that at least some of them have taken the lazy route and are now using "artificial intelligence" to process submissions, thereby wrecking the author/ agent process.

If an agent doesn't read your manuscript themselves, don't trust them to be able to sell it to a publisher, either. Any agents doing this have made themselves irrelevant and unnecessary, and aren't worth paying agenting fees, as they only slow submission to publishers.

[breakfastteatime]

As I am once again a querying writer™️, I thought I would share some general thoughts, feelings and tips about how to cope with what can be a long, drawn out, and incredibly hard experience.

With every query I send out, I expect rejection but hope for the best. Pessimistic perhaps, but I've found it really, really helps. To be clear, rejection never feels great (not even the personalised ones), but by expecting agents to pass on the submission, even from those who seem so perfect for the book, takes some of the sting out of it.

So, here we go: Breakfast Tea’s querying advice!

Ignore stories about other people’s querying journeys. You’ll hear about people who get signed by the first agent they query with the first book they ever wrote. Good for them. A friend of mine won a competition and agents came to her begging to represent her. Amazing for her, but those examples are also highly unrealistic for the majority. I’m on my sixth attempt (4 YAs – three of which were not good enough to be submitted in retrospect, and 1 adult thriller I’m still kinda bummed about but oh well!) and though I’m feeling really, REALLY good right now, I also don’t expect to get anywhere. I’m gonna shout from the hilltops if I do, buuuuut I also don’t expect to land an agent (as explained above). And if I don’t, well, onto attempt number 7!

Start writing something new as soon as you can. Ideally original fiction because agents will ask you what else you’re working on – and sometimes even ask you to outline this in the query letter (although I don’t think I’ve submitted to anyone like that in *years*). That friend of mine from above says agents also expect you to be in the same genre with the next project, so don’t query an adult thriller and tell them you’re now working on a picture book for toddlers.

If you can't write something new yet, find other distractions. Anything to take your mind off waiting for responses.

Have a rejection coping strategy in place. I find the first few don’t really bother me because of the whole ‘expect rejection’ mindset I try to have, but after a while they really, really, REALLY start to bring me down. Mine is usually eating cake and/or other little treats. Something that just reminds me I exist beyond my writing.

Accept the loss of control. Oh man, I hate this. I haaaaaaaaaaate this. Once that query package is sent out, that’s it. You’re out of control of the whole situation and you’re waiting either for a rejection, a full request, or just eternal silence. Thankfully most agencies are better now at specifying that silence = rejection. Patience is essential. I’ll let you know if I ever get any better at it.

You will get silences on full requests. You shouldn’t, but you will. I’ve had several. It is incredibly rude and exceedingly frustrating, but that’s querying for you. Even after chasing some agents just will not respond.

You may also get really rude rejections. Back in the 2010s I had one post about my story ON HER TWITTER PAGE after she rejected me. Like literally, I got the rejection and then I saw her tweet. Arsehole. And no, I can’t remember her name because I would publicly shame her. I’ve had rejections that were a sentence, I’ve had rejections that made no sense, I’ve had multiple rejections from the same agent on the one book I sent, I’ve had agents reject me by the wrong name, I’ve had agents reject me using the wrong pronouns (my name is traditionally masculine so my pronouns are in my submission). If you get something like that, blacklist them from any future projects. You deserve better.

I prefer form rejections to silence unless the agency specifies a timescale for ‘silence = rejection’. I personally prefer the certainty of a rejection. I know, weird.

Always chase agents who say it’s okay to chase them. You never know!

Personalised rejections are nice to receive. Oh, they still suck, but it’s a sign you’re on the right lines. And if an agent says ‘please submit your next project to me’ take them up on it.

If an agent forwards your work onto another agent who ‘may be more suited’ get excited but stay realistic. Many years ago, I had a project move between three agents (one of whom I’ll be submitting to again with this project). None of them signed me, but oooh it was so thrilling for a while! It was my second project – a YA sci-fi that actually got the most amount of requests of anything I’ve ever sent out. It will never see the light of day.

Don’t be disheartened if you submit to a contest and don’t get chosen – still query traditionally. Same if you submit to a course and don’t get selected. Agents don’t tend to read the submissions – readers do – so the agent won’t have seen your work yet.

You’re absolutely allowed to feel like shit and to cry about being rejected, but you gotta get back up and keep querying and keep writing.

You’ve got to be in the right headspace for querying. The last time I did it, I had to stop because I’d just started a new job with a huge new learning curve, and I couldn’t manage queries and new job at the same time. I resumed querying a long time later once I felt more settled.

Do not lie to agents. Now, this may be more specific to the UK, but agenting is a really small world and they all talk. So if you try to nudge an agent by going “Oh, another agent has a full request” or “another agent has offered representation” and that’s not true? You’re fucked.

Celebrate a full request – but stay realistic.

Agents will reject the same book for totally different reasons. I had one agent reject a horror novel because it wasn’t scary enough, and another because it was too scary. It’s all very subjective.

Agents are not rejecting you as a human being, they are saying no to what is essentially a business proposal. It’s a really strange way to look at it, but you are more than your writing!!!!!

Okay, I think that’ll do for now! Feel free to drop me an Ask if you wanna know more!

[raineandsky]

Imagine a hero x villain where the villain is kind of inept, and he basically has one last attempt to convince supervillain he's worthy of his job (and possibly life tbh), and he comes across a badly injured hero. This starts a long con where he ingratiates himself with her, slowly learning details to her powers (think Black Canary's scream), only to sell her out to supervillain. But it turns out he ... might have grown a little fond of her.

Probably a really basic idea. 😅

there's no basic ideas in this house - we like what we like!! thank you for the request as always :)

His whole plan was leading up to this moment. Why is he stalling?

The villain stands outside the supervillain’s door. He should be in there, should be explaining his master plan the he knows the supervillain will love, but no—here he is, lingering outside like a wimp.

He knows why he’s lingering. Of course he does, it’s been pretty hard to avoid.

He found a hero. Injured, weak, vulnerable. He took her in and helped her recover, all under the guise of some concerned civilian who just so happened to know emergency first aid. She was unsure at first; closed off, speaking only to thank him for the food he brought her and the bandages he wound around her injuries.

Then she got comfortable. Talked about her work, the other heroes, how her power worked—her sonic blast, to give it a name. She demonstrated on his poor mug, his favourite, and beamed when the villain showered her in praise and amazement. As heroes do.

She got better, returned to the agency, but not without the stab of affection the villain had managed to plant in her.

The hero returned, of course. Talks of heroism turned into talks of life—her cat was probably eating all her food, heroism made her awful lonely, his sofa was cosy with a blanket over her lap and the fireplace crackling in front of her, could he draw her, please? The villain had tried to play his pad of notes—notes on her—off as a sketchbook before, and was suddenly deeply regretting it.

The drawing’s still in there. He’s been looking at it, with all its wonky lines and uneven pen marks, as he pieced together his plan. Maybe too much. It’s clearly had an effect.

Dammit, now he’s thinking about it again—thinking about her. All he should be thinking about is how he can manipulate the information out of her for the supervillain’s gain. All he can think about is the movie night they’ve planned for this evening.

The supervillain appears at the end of the corridor. He eyes the villain for an awkward moment before he says, “Everything alright, [Villain]?”

Come on, do it. No, don’t. The villain shuffles on his feet. “Yeah. Could I grab you for a meeting quickly?”

The supervillan’s expression only gets more quizzical but he doesn’t say no. He opens his office door and ushers the villain inside with a sigh.

He flops down in his chair, gesturing idly for the villain to start. The villain flips his notepad open, his speech laid out in his mind. I’ve integrated myself into [Hero]’s life. With a little pushing, think of what we could find out! He glances down at the page for inspiration.

The notepad has been open on this page too much recently. It flips itself, irritatingly, to that godawful 30 second drawing, and any words the villain was gearing up to say die on his tongue.

He showed it to the hero with a grimace and she laughed. Loud, unabashed. Like someone who isn’t afraid of who she is. “Looks just like me!” she cried. “It’s no Picasso, sure, but it was by you, so that must count for something!”

The lines are even more crooked than he remembered. Jesus, why did he keep this? It doesn’t do her justice.

“[Villain]?”

The villain looks back up like he just remembered where he is. He did, honestly. He was more than a little lost in his own thoughts. Thinking about her like some irritating fly that just won’t take the hint away no matter how much you swat it.

“Yeah, I, uh, yeah.” Flawless start. The villain clears his throat and flips the pad closed. “I just, uh, thought I’d say that whatever you’ve done with the light bulbs is good. It’s, uh, brighter. In here. In all the rooms.”

The supervillain stares at him blankly. “Is that… what this was about?”

No! “Yeah.”

The supervillain has never had less emotion on his face than right now. “Okay.”

“Okay,” the villain echoes, and with a quick nod he turns on his heel and gets the hell out of there.

The halls are quiet, thankfully. The villain lobs the notepad in the first bin he finds, and after taking three steps he grumbles to himself and pulls it back out and tears the drawing out and replaces the pad in the bin.

He might as well just go home. He has a movie night to set up anyway, and he needs to rob the corner store of all the popcorn they have.

[mummer]

work all week. have to keep my apartment clean constantly for showings because i dont know when the showings will be. need to pick a mattress even though all the mattresses are too expensive. dont know when im getting my couch. have to pick an internet provider….. have to go get my new credit card…… need to do the dishes all the time…. my plans with friends keep falling apart and i have no money and it’s raining. and i need to go through my closet sometime this week. and put as many unneeded books in the little free library as i can. and my fridge is leaking again and i almost threw up last night and im taking constant dating app Ls and im falling behind on movie watching and i need to think of newsletter ideas. and write my book which im scared to go back to cause idk what to do and now i think it’s stupid. And i’m lonely and i need to do pilates

[onthearrow]

Book update~

I started pulling together a pinboard for my original manuscript's agent guide (a visual document meant to be a high-level pitch for my book) because I was soooo intimidated that I wouldn't know what visual direction to take it in

Anyway needless to say that fear has been quashed LOOK AT THIS

By the way, the one sentence summary of my book is:

"The daughter of a recently deceased alcoholic must partner with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, on a quest across modern Greece to save Mount Olympus."

I started querying with agents this week. If (when! gotta be positive!) I get an agent, then that agent will try to sell my manuscript to a publisher.

Anyway thank you to those of you who have cheered me on so far this is soooo far out of my comfort zone but I'm really excited about it!!

[novlr]

I've often seen many publications and publishers often require a cover letter for submissions along side the work itself. Do you have any advice on how to make a decent cover letter when submitting fiction?

Query letters can be intimidating, but they’re completely manageable if you approach them in three easy steps. We’ll walk you through each one:

1: The introduction

This part’s pretty simple. You say hi to the agent; you get their name right (v. important!), you scatter in some personalisation, and you state your cause: to secure representation for your book. 

A few important things to remember:

Address the agent by their first name — not by “Sir or Madam,” and definitely never as “Sirs.”

If you open your query letter with “Dear Sirs” and send it to an all-female agency, your letter’s going to get chucked in the shredder. If the women of this agency are particularly vindictive, they may then take the shreds and make them into a voodoo doll.

Open with a quick note about why you chose this agent in particular. It might be that you heard them speak at a conference, you loved the books they listed as influences on their website, or you noted that they represent one of your favourite authors. Even though agents know that you’re querying several dozen others, they want to feel like you’ve chosen them for a reason.

2: The pitch

So now you’ve got their attention and made them feel special; it’s time to introduce them to the headliner. In this section, you state the novel’s word count and genre. Then you describe, in just two or three sentences, what the book’s about. Finally, you throw down a few comparison titles or authors that encompass your target audience. 

This is the trickiest part, because these are the lines that’s going to make the agent interested in reading your book. You may find it helpful to get some feedback on your pitch from other writers before writing your query. In your pitch, you’ll need to strike a delicate balance between writing in a literary tradition and writing something new. If your book is too weird and progressive, the agent might not feel confident it will find an audience. But if it’s too similar to titles that are already out, the agent won’t feel like you’re offering anything fresh. 

3: The humblebrag

Now that you’ve sold the agent on your book, the next and final step is to sell them on you. At this point, you can mention any writing you’ve published in the past (including short stories or related articles), any training you’ve undergone as a writer, and any biographical trivia that directly relates to the book you’re pitching. 

You may not have a huge amount of professional history to share at this point, and that’s okay. The agent just wants to see that you’re serious about embarking on a career as a writer.

Then, you thank them for their time and sign off. See? Easy!

Want some more detail? You can read the full post in the Reading Room at the link below!

[thebroccolination]

Just because I haven't talked about him in a while, this is my favorite son Win Phawin. He's a good boy. The best boy. Let's let him sleep for a while until I need him to suffer again. ♡

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

.

[yunisverse]

For the fandom art meme: EBA

break cmon ooh!!

[roach-works]

There is word going around that tumblr is moving to be a legacy project and will eventually be sunsetted. Ive been following your work for probably close to a decade, and id hate to lose track of you if tumblr goes down eventually. Is there anywhere else i can continue to follow and support you?

the sky has been falling on tumblr since forever, and yet i stick around. i don't know where else i'd actually enjoy, and im not interested in having a flood of people pitch me new alternatives. i know what i like, and i like tumblr, so ill probably ride this bizarre hellsite to the very last stop.

i might get a bluesky or a pillowfort eventually--if i do, i'll announce it. im finally going to have more time for creative work this winter, so it's possible i'll finally haul myself bitching and moaning on to instagram.

the boat boys series is getting another novel-length installment; in fact, the sequel to after the storm turned out to be three novels long, and so now the focus is on editing book two act one into publishing shape. it's probably going to be published like After the Storm, as a wordpress serial.

i've also recently finished the rough draft of my first solo novel, a coming of age superhero romcom. it's been pretty funny watching everyone start nano just as i typed The End on a story that took me a year and a half. anyway my goal this winter is to get the manuscript into decent shape and then hunt down an agent. if any agents have also been following my tumblr for a decade, hi, i love you, please save me.

after all that, im thinking ill either learn rug tufting or get really into furry porn. possibly both! gigantic neon monster penis could be a very fun subject for throw rugs.

anyway, i have a lot of cool stuff in motion im very excited to share, and ill find a way to let people know about it. thanks for sticking around!

[itsawritblr]

Querying.

[aritany]

hi! i saw your posts about being not being thrilled with your previous agent -- it seems to me like you were saying you didn't feel like they really understood/appreciated queer stories, and also felt like they were relying on the author-as-influencer phenomenon for marketing. these are both hurdles i anticipate with querying/publishing; do you have any advice? red flags to look out for, questions to ask?

yeah! we outgrew each other professionally and creatively since the time i signed with her. i came out publicly and gave myself the freedom to start telling primarily queer stories, and that just wasn't where her passion and expertise lay (and that's fine!), so parting was was less of a dramatic breakup and more of a natural end to this chapter.

i think the author-as-influencer phenomenon is becoming more and more common as publishing accelerates the way it has been the past few years, and since i haven't started querying again yet, i haven't had the opportunity to speak with other agents about it. i just couldn't get behind the almost frantic time to hustle energy - i really don't need more things to panic about.

in terms of advice: see if you can speak to other authors about their experiences with agents. all people change, and all agents will shift perspectives as they gain experience, but writers are usually more than happy to share their stories. i've heard rumour of a blacklist going around, but i haven't seen it myself, so i can't speak to its credibility.

here are a few examples of questions you can ask when you get to the stage of querying where you've got an offer and are having an interview:

why do you think this story is important?

why do you think queer stories are important in general?

do you believe that social media presence is essential in traditional publishing? is the onus for marketing on the author?

would you ever encourage an author to push past their comfort zone for the sake of selling books? if so, why?

further reading that might interest you:

Red Flag Warnings: How to Spot a Shady Literary Agent

r/PubTips: agent vetting

writer beware: literary agents

[bee-barnes-author]

Got my first agent rejection today. Really trying to not let it ruin my confidence in this book.

[hayatheauthor]

Update Regarding My Sudden Hiatus + Author/Publishing News

Guess who's back from the dead!

Jokes aside, I truly do feel terrible for going on hiatus without saying anything, and then I come back and see that I've hit 2k (which btw is absolutely amazing and left me shell-shocked) and that just made me feel worse for leaving unannounced. So, here's everything that's been going on:

(click read more if you want to learn about my experience at my first writer's workshop & pitching to an agent ++ publishing updates for The Traitor's Throne)

If you DON'T want to read more: long story short I'm back and will revamp this blog Monday onwards.

Would you look at that I'm finally getting the hang of Tumblr etiquette!

Anyways, I know if I took the liberty of casually explaining everything we would just be here all day and I would ramble endlessly SO, I'm going to summarise everything into a list:

One of the biggest reasons for my departure was because *insert drum roll* I graduated! That's right, your girl is officially a diploma holder and ready to conquer college! Although I've seen the 'finals week or my final week' meme enough times to start questioning what I signed up for.

My writing life has been a little...disappointing. There's no other way to break it to you folks, but when I started this blog, I was knee-deep in the query trenches, and now, I'm still there. Does that suck? Yes. Am I going to give up? Absolutely not! BUT I do have some changes planned:

I've officially decided if this final shot at traditional publishing doesn't do well, I'm going to give in and self-publish The Traitor's Throne in May-June 2024. Which means you might potentially be able to purchase my baby pretty soon!

BUT I decided to give querying one last shot and actually joined a writer's workshop (which is going on as we speak btw). I joined the online Boston Writing Workshop, I'll drop a review on that on Sunday, but so far I've actually learned A LOT from it, and have decided to give querying another go while implementing what I've learned. Dw I'll also be putting out a review about the workshop on Sunday.

So, here's a summary: I've created a self-publishing deadline for my current project while also giving traditional publishing a final shot. I also joined my first ever writer's workshop this weekend and will be pitching to agents for the first time.

Overall, I think my lack of success in the querying scene kind of made me feel like a fraud when giving writing advice. I'm the type of author who does A LOT of research when I write, which is why I have so many tips on so many topics, but that doesn't make me an expert.

This workshop especially made me realise I've been making some rookie mistakes and focused so much on my story that I forgot the query and synopsis are just as important. Maybe this realisation came too late and I've lost my chance of traditionally publishing The Traitor's Throne, but I am grateful for everything it's taught me.

ANYWAYS—see what I meant by we'd be here the whole day if I didn't use a list??

Let's get back to the important stuff; yes, I will start putting out blogs again, and answering my asks. I'm also thinking of launching a beta reader project where I'll beta read some of your works for free! Stay tuned to see that announcement since it'll come soon.

Thank you so much for supporting this silly little blog of mine, and I hope you have a good weekend! As always, I'll see you on Monday! 💕✨

[literaticat]

It's been recommended for a writer who is a POC to look for agents who actively rep writers of color. It's enough for an agent to say they want diverse stories, but if they don't rep diverse authors than they talk the talk but don't walk the walk. 

This advice has been bothering me. 

Querying agents is tough and no matter what you look like, agents only sign a handful of clients a year anyway. 

I keep thinking, it would be cool to be an agent's first diverse author. If we get along, and they like me and my work then that's all there is to it. 

But should I be wary of agents who don't rep a diverse client list? 

I think, as you research agents, it's good to keep an open mind. An agent actively saying "I'm looking for marginalized voices" is great and all -- but it's not the ONLY thing that matters. After all -- some people might not put that on their website or have a "mission statement" or whatever, but they DO actually sell books by all kinds of creators. And others might indeed just be saying that to say it, but there's no action behind it. (Some people also might SAY they want to rep Diverse Books -- and they DO rep Diverse Books -- but also they are toxic a-holes, or just wouldn't vibe with YOU PERSONALLY!)

So, IMO, while their statements about diversity or the identities of the creators on their list or whatever else are things to think about, they are not the ONLY things to think about.

(In other words, and this goes for ALL writers: There are lots of agents out there! But the agent who is a great fit for your work might not be a great fit for another author, and vice-versa. An agent can be great, but not great for YOU. That's why it's important to do as much due diligence as you can before you query, rather than JUST googling "Top Agents" or whatever.)

Tips on Researching Agents

The first step in building a good query list is to find agents who rep the kinds of books you write; you can go on Query Tracker or similar and just literally filter by category. That will probably be quite a lengthy list, including great agents and lousy agents, and multiple agents that are at the same agencies, so you'll want to narrow it down.

I'd take a multi-pronged approach. Start by looking at who reps the authors whose careers and books you admire and want to emulate. (You can often find these names in the acknowledgements of the books, or on the author's website, or by googling author name + agent, etc). Put a little star by those names!

Then, I'd get a subscription to Publishers Marketplace for a month and look at Dealmakers, compared to the long list you have going.

Who are the agents who seem to do lots of deals in your category? Who are the agents who seem to rep books by BIPOC authors? Who are the ones with books that sound cool to you? Who are the ones that seem to work a lot with publishers, imprints or editors you admire? (If you have other criteria, add that, too!) -- Start starring that list, baby!

You're probably going to start to see patterns here; take notice which agencies seem to crop up often with what kinds of deals -- you might notice some that seem to ONLY EVER rep sort of sketchball sounding projects, weird/tiny publishers, vs ones that clearly have more Cool Sounding or "Bigger" Books, etc. (You might even reverse-engineer and look up titles or authors that you think feel Problematic in some way and see who reps THOSE -- maaaaaybe that's a little "x" by their name!)

THEN, I'd dig deeper on the agents you have starred, bearing in mind that you'll need to pick ONE agent per agency, at least to start with, and some agencies might have LOTS of cool sounding agents. Go on their MSWL profile if they have one, go on their website and see what they are asking for and what they say about themselves, google and see if there are interviews with them. If something resonates with you: ADD A STAR!

At this point, some people will have NO stars, or just give you the ick for whatever reason; you can cross them off. Some people will seem PHENOMENAL, like "ultra-star" category -- and most will probably have a star or two and sound like good possibilities but who knows.

IMO, the most important criteria are: A) They are somebody who seems to have a good reputation and who SELLS BOOKS (or, if they are new, they are at known Good Agency); B) They seem to like your kind of book and/or have some things on their wishlist that seem to vibe with your work -- generally just seem like they could be a great fit. Both of these are top priorities and nobody who doesn't have those two things should be on your list.

But it feels like the vast majority of the agents who have made it this far in the process and fit those two criteria and have some stars probably WOULD have at least a somewhat diverse client list -- unless they are VERY new? (IN which case, OK, hey, they are new, but they are at a good agency that surely has sold books by BIPOC creators?)

If an agent has made your "Cream of the Crop and Good Possibilities" list, but they DON'T have at least a somewhat diverse client list, or it is just unclear from their website what the deal is... I am NOT saying don't query them. (Hey, you did a lot of due diligence! They MUST be great in lots of ways if they got this far!) -- but maybe DO put a little ? next to their name.

And IF they offer, you can talk to them and see, hey, do they really seem to "get" me and my book? Do they have a vision for it? Do I feel comfortable talking to them? Does this feel RIGHT? (And, they should connect you with some clients of theirs that you can talk to, as well!) -- And you'll be able to decide from there.

Good luck!