#book agents

[novlr]

Lots of people have told me I should self publish, but I think I still want to try to go through traditionally publishing my book first. I've got a finished manuscript, so how do I go about querying agents to find the best fit?

Pitching your manuscript to literary agents is a length process that requires lots of dedication, and a great deal of research. To get the most out of your querying, you definitely need to go in prepared.

We've put together this walk through for how to pitch your novel to literary agents, including some helpful do's and don'ts at the link below!

[mysharona1987]

[editorauthoranna]

I'm almost on the last leg of my journey to become a certified book coach via Author Accelerator*! Because of that . . .

I'm looking for ONE fiction author in need of querying guidance! What you need: 🌱A fiction manuscript ready to query 🌱Dedication to the process 🌱A positive attitude What you get: 🎉A pitch plan 100% personalized for you 🎉A knockout synopsis & query letter 🎉Peace of mind that you're querying with your best foot forward Ready to get serious about querying your book? Send me an email asking for the application! *I am currently in the Author Accelerator fiction book coaching program. Work you complete with me will be sent to the Author Accelerator certification team as part of requirements for me to obtain book coaching certification. Please note: Your work will only be looked at insofar as to evaluate my performance.

[barryfox]

Tips for Writing a Query Letter for a Non-Fiction Book

Through the years, many people have asked me how to write a query letter for their non-fiction books. (I’m a ghostwriter.)

The query letter is the “pitch note” that you send to literary agents you hope will represent you and your manuscript. 

Here’s a brief summary of things to consider when writing your letter. If you like, you can read more at "How To Write A Query Letter.” 

#1 - Keep it short and sweet!

Keep your query letter to a page, a page and a half at the most. Any longer and you risk boring the agent, while proving that you cannot present your idea and its key selling points quickly and concisely.

#2 - Begin with the proper salutation

The query should always open with a salutation, as in “Dear Ms. Smith” or “Dear John Smith.” Address your query letter to a specific agent at a specific literary agency – and spell the name properly

#3 - Give the book’s hook

The hook, also known as the handle or elevator pitch, is an intriguing statement that answers three important questions: “Why?” “Who cares?” and “What will it do for me?”

#4 - State your purpose and give the basic details

Explain what you’re looking for, as in “I’m seeking representation...” Then, give the basic information: title, subtitle (if any), word count, genre, and the target readership (who will buy your book and why).

#5 - Tell the agent why you picked her or him

Mention why you sent your query letter to this particular agent. Perhaps she represents books similar to yours, or you saw that she requested books like yours on her WishList.

#6 - Identify the target audience

In other words, briefly explain who the book is written for.

#7 - Show them your platform

Mention some of the highlights of your author platform in your query letter. Learn more about the author platform by reading “How to Build Your Author Platform - 8 Key Steps.”

#8 - Explain how you will help sell the book

Briefly detail what you will do to promote and sell your book.

#9 - Tell the agent who you are

Briefly mention who you are and why you’re qualified to write this book.

#10 - Give them a taste of your writing style

Although you should write the letter in a professional manner, you can take the opportunity to demonstrate your writing style. But don’t go to extremes. Remember, the query is a business letter.

#11 - Close properly

End your letter by thanking the agent for reading your query.

#12 – A Few Things to Avoid

Submit a query letter with typos, brag about or belittle yourself, disparage other authors, misrepresent anything about your book or yourself, say that everyone tells you that your book idea is fabulous, use imaginative fonts or layouts, or ramble on.

Good luck with your query letter! 

[littlekhada]

This thing is a month old and I. I forgor. So, yeah, rebels Thranto AU chilling with Kalluzeb!

"Hey, I said no cheatin!'" Zeb utters abruptly, leaning forward to fix a glare upon Thrawn. "Yer countin' yer cards, aren't ya? You may be the superior military strategist, but I know my cards. And you best bet I know how to count 'em." Beside him, Kallus stifles a laugh. Because of course the former Grand Admiral is counting his cards. The man has no grasp on politics whatsoever. Rules are arbitrary, laws even more so, and Kallus is willing to wager a great deal of credits that the man has never stepped foot inside a casino. "My apologies, Captain Orrelios." The response is a smooth drawl, tainted with embarrassment. "It appears I have yet to learn the etiquette of these games." "Or any etiquette at all," Eli Vanto adds from where he sits besides the Chiss, directly opposite Kallus. "For being the genius you are, you sure are stupid sometimes."

(By TheReadingWriter on AO3)

[chio-chan2artbox]

Step Forward - Part 3 They are going on a date!!!

100 reblogs -> I will start working on part 4 (final chapter) 150 reblogs -> I will do 2 chapters for their date instead of 1

Part 1, Part 2 Check out my tags for fun facts XD

Kofi

[obscurexsorrows]

A bookstore (banksquarebooks on insta) in Connecticut curated lists of book recommendations for different Pedro characters and I’m OBSESSED

[onebadnoodle]

agents 4 & 8 of the new squidbeak splatoon

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/perchance-to-dream-15/

Perchance To Dream #15

I slumped into the chair opposite a fellow writer at a neighborhood coffee shop.  She and I hadn’t met in a while because of Covid restrictions. Naturally, I was delighted to see her looking well. She told me she’d taken a hiatus from adding to her ongoing Sage Adair mystery series. In the interim, she’d been editing the “how to” book her Tai-chi teacher had written. Hearing her, my eyes scrolled to the back of my head. “Just what the world needs, another Tai-chi book,” I thought. My smirk disappeared when she said an agent had sold the manuscript for several thousand dollars.  Admittedly, I’ve never made much money from my novels. I write because it is my passion. American author Anne Lamott advises that passion is the only reason to write. She is a teacher in order to make ends meet and is careful to warn her students … that the odds of their getting published and of it bringing them financial security, peace of mind, and even joy are probably not that great. The situation is similar in other parts of the world. In his blog, one South African lawyer who longs to break into fiction echoes the same lament.  He believes the copyright laws in his country are killing the artist’s opportunity to profit from their work. …those who aspire to make a career out of writing?  They have my innermost sympathies. One negative he fails to mention is that publishers make profits a higher priority than art. As such, they no longer forage through authors’ submissions; they rely on the keen eye of agents who know the pulse of the market. Agenting has become so competitive, many have dropped from the field. These days, to find one’s book in print, most artists are obliged to self-publish. To succeed, not only must they have talent but marketing and distribution savvy. Unfortunately, learning these additive skills comes at the expense of following their passion.  To begin with, an author needs a well-designed webpage.  It should include links to social platforms and might require a web manager to address changes in technology, computer glitches, and mischief-makers. Unless the writer is an artist, someone will have to design the book’s cover. A technician to formant text is also imperative because layouts vary with the different distributors.  An intellectual property attorney is useful to read through service contracts and to keep the author from running afoul of copyright law. At last, when the book is in proper form as either print or electronic copy, prepare to pay distributor fees. Finally, if sales are brisk, an accountant is useful to ensure the IRS gets its fair share.  The next challenge is marketing. Covid has done much to disrupt the traditional routes to an audience. At the height of the pandemic, conventions, bookstore talks, library presentations, and discussion groups disappeared. Health prohibitions have eased of late, but risks persist and so the yellow brick road remains narrow.   An author can and should submit advance copies of a book to reviewers, newspapers, podcasters, and book bloggers.  These are the safest venues while Covid is a concern. Unfortunately, the pandemic has inundated these program hosts with interview requests, so patience and persistence are the names of the game.  As for garnering television and radio appearances, collecting buffalo feathers is easier.   Consultant and ghostwriter Erin Donley has affirmed that self-publishing isn’t for sissies. I agree and at age 86, I find the challenges too daunting. My upcoming memoir, Getting Lost to Find Home, will be my final book.  To those who continue on their self-publishing journey, I wish them a safe harbor. If the signposts I’ve provided are of any use, my work is done.  

[ricky-mortis]

Curtwen Week Day 4: Haunted

[bookhoarding]

Book Review: Flight Risk by Cherie Priest

If you aren't a cozy mystery book fan but you like Psych, The Booking Agents series might be a good jumping off point for you.

A cozy mystery so gripping I read it in one day. If you aren’t a cozy mystery book fan but you like Psych, The Booking Agents series might be a good jumping off point for you. I definitely wouldn’t call myself a “cozy mystery” fan, but when life gives you a free book by author you like, you don’t say no. And I’m glad I didn’t say no. What I love about Priest’s writing is how she focuses on…

[fixyourwritinghabits]

If there's one take-away I want to make clear about ruining your career by pettily review-bombing other writers, it's that traditional publishing is not a competition you can win. You have no control over how well your sales do versus someone else's sales. No amount self-promotion, hard work, and social media is going to guarantee a viral tweet, a Booktok sensation, or rave reviews. Those are beyond your control.

In this, your fellow authors are not your rivals, but your peers. If you are not super rich or well-connected, you will be reliant on connections you have to communities that know and trust you, and this is far more important than anything you do on your own. The publishing world is quite small, and these relationships will be a boon in building your future opportunities as well as helping other writers. The industry, in fact, relies on selling books with similar themes at the same time, because they know readers who like one Greek-inspired fantasy will likely pick up another one. That's how publishing trends work!

Publishing is never going to be free from drama or interpersonal-driven conflict. Review-bombing is going to continue, driven by political or ideological agendas. But treating what should be a professional career as some sort of winner-takes-all Squid Game is going to blow up in your face the moment you're caught out, and it will ruin your career before it even begins.

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: the evil fungi did it

We all know of The Last of Us, but that franchise isn't the only example of fungal invasions. We've got zombies and apocalypses, we've got gothic horror, we've got fantasy, we've got romance, we've got space - no genre is safe from having their characters become the home of fungal organisms.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

The Girl with all the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts series) by M.R. Carey

Want another fungal zombie apocalypse? Then I come bearing great news! The Girl with All the Gifts is a post apocalyptic novel following a group of characters fleeing across an infested wasteland, trying to stay alive and hoping to find a cure. One of the characters is Melanie, a young girl who carries the contagion inside of her and hungers for flesh, but like many children of the apocalypse has kept her humanity. Is she and children like her the answer to the cure we are looking for? Or are they the start of something entirely new? This book has also been adapted as a movie!

Cold Storage by David Koepp*

Years ago, a quickly growing fungal organism capable of wiping out humanity came dangerously close to spreading. It was contained and kept in cold storage underneath a military repository. Since then, a larger storage facility has been built on top, the dangers on the lower floor being largely forgotten. That is, until it makes a new attempt at escape. Now, two unsuspecting security guards might be all that stands in the way of complete extermination. This book is both funny and genuine in its characters, and genuinely creepy in its portrayal of body horror.

Salvaged by Madeline Roux

Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, and has run so far she ended up in space. Now she works as a "space janitor", being sent off to clean up the remains of failed research expeditions. But in trying to cope with her problems, she has fucked up on her job multiple times, and is now close to losing her position. Her last chance is the Brigantine: a research vessel gone silent, all crew presumed dead. But when she arrives to salvage it, Rosalyn discovers the crew isn't as dead as presumed. But are they still human - and will Rosalyn be able to keep her own humanity?

The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

Novella. Reid is a young woman living in a small community after a climate collapse. Resources are scarce, but Reid's biggest problem is Cad, a mind-altering fungal parasite that lives inside her body. When she is offered a rare chance at attending a far-away university in a secluded dome community, Reid must decide whether to leave or stay to help support her community.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia*

Noemí Taboada is a glamorous and well-off young woman, but when she receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin, Noemí must leave her glamorous life and travel to find out what is wrong. As she arrives at High Place, a mansion on the Mexican countryside, Noemí is met with mysteries and her cousin's new English family. As she tries to find out the truth behind High Place and its inhabitants, Noemí's only ally is the youngest son of the family. But will she be able to find out what so scared her cousin before it's too late for all of them?

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

A young pregnant woman flees a cult that left her body strange and changing in terrifying ways. Hiding from both a world wanting to oppress her and the cult seeking to force her back, she does her best to raise her children while trying to find out the truth of the cult and being pursued by a hunter in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Bleak and scary, Sorrowland is a book that will creep under your skin with horrors both fantastical and very, very real.

What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier duology) by T. Kingfisher

Novella. Alex Easton, retired soldier, travels to visit their childhood friends, siblings Madeline and Roderick Usher, after finding out that Madeline is dying. In the siblings' rural, ancestral home, Madeline walks in her sleep and looks to be fading away, while around it wildlife seems to be possessed by a strange force. With the help of a mycologist and an American doctor, Alex attempts to save Madeline and reveal the truth of her illness.

Wanderers (Wanderers duology) by Chuck Wendig

A strange illness has struck the United States: with no warning, random people with seemingly no connection simply get up and start walking. They do not eat, do not sleep, do not communicate, and they do not stop - and if you try to force them, they literally explode from the inside. Teenaged Shana isn't one of these sleepwalkers, but her little sister is. Unwilling to leave her sister on her own, Shana accompanies the growing flock of walkers, protecting them as one of many "shepherds". And this protection proves necessary, as the sleepwalkers is only the first step toward what might very well be the extinction of the human race. An 800 page epic, Wanderers is a slowburn apocalypse story with a multitude pov characters and plot threads, from fungal pandemics and all-knowing AI to the all too real portrayal of radicalization and bigotry.

The Dawnhounds (The Endsong series) by Sascha Stronach

The Dawnhounds is a book where you just kind of have to let the story and the world wash over you. It skirts the line of scifi and fantasy, with a futuristic world of environmentally friendly mushroom houses and deadly fungi bio weapons next to literally god-given superpowers and near-immortality. It’s really cool and unlike anything else I’ve ever read, but also a bit confusing. Bonus: it’s also sapphic!

Agents of Dreamland (Tinfoil Dossier trilogy) by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Novella. A government agent known only as the Signalman; a cult preying on the young and vulnerable, promising to usher in a new age; a woman who exists outside of time, searching for a way to save humanity. Agents of Dreamland is short, but includes many spooky elements, among them an alien and possibly world-ending fungi. The narrative is non-linear and a bit strange, but also fascinating.

The Genius Plague by David Walton

Soon after landing his dream job at the NSA, things get weird for Neil Johns. His brother Paul, a mycologist, returns from a trip to the Amazon, carrying a nearly lethal fungal infection and a strangely sharpened mind. At work, Neil starts picking up mysterious messages originating out of South America, where cases similar to that of Paul starts occurring. And strangest of all: all the infected seem to be working towards the same goal. Recommended with the caveat that, while the fungal stuff is really cool, The Genius Plague is also happy to idolize American intelligent agencies and demonize environmentalism and anti-imperialism.

Little Mushroom: Judgement Day (Little Mushroom duology) by Shisi

An Zhe isn’t human. He’s a mushroom who absorbed the DNA of a dying man, allowing him to take on human guise and leave the wilderness. Entering one of the last human bases, a place struggling to keep out the mutated and dangerous creatures of the wilds, An Zhe must keep his identity secret as he searches for something which was taken from him. While not my cup of tea (frankly, I need more female characters), Little Mushroom is an undeniably unique m/m romance novel.

Bonus AKA these don't technically involve any fungi but have similar vibes of parasites and nature corrupting the human

Parasite (Parasitology trilogy) by Mira Grant*

In the near future, a great leap in medical science has improved human health by leaps and bounds: a genetically engineered tape worm. Within a few years, almost every human has their own personal parasite implanted. But now, something is happening to the parasites - they want more, whether their hosts want to share or not.

Annihilation (Southern Reach trilogy) by Jeff Vandermeer

For decades, Area X has been completely cut off from humanity. The only ones to enter are small organized expeditions, many of which never return, or return... wrong. We follow the latest expedition, its participants known only as the anthropologist, the psychologist, the surveyor, and our narrator, the biologist. As they enter into Area X to try to find out its secrets, only one thing is for sure: they will never be the same again.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Young adult. Over a year ago, the Raxter School for Girls was hit by the Tox, a strange disease that killed off many and left the survivors' bodies slowly changing in terrifying ways. The island the school is on has been in quarantine since then, and the girls dare not leave the school grounds lest they become victims of wild animals changed by the Tox. But as they wait for the promised cure, one of the girls goes missing, and her friends are willing to do anything to find her. Unsettling, spooky, and sapphic, this is a unique read featuring body horror and messy, dangerous girls.

(Second) Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris trilogy) by Jeff Vandermeer

Ambergris, a city created by a mushroom-like people, is now the home of humans, but the original inhabitants are still there, residing beneath the city.

Creatures of Want and Ruin (Diabolist's Library series) by Molly Tanzer

It’s the prohibition era, and while Ellie does fishing during the day, at night she bootlegs moonshine in Long Island. But unbeknownst to Ellie, some of the booze she smuggles has a strange source: distilled from mushrooms by a cult, it causes those who drink it to see terrible things, such as the the destruction of Long Island.

Bloom by Wil McCarthy

The inner solar system has been overtaken by fast-reproducing, fast-mutating technogenic life. Humanity has fled to the outer solar system, hiding beneath the ice of Jupiter's moon, but even here they aren't safe from possible incursion of mycospores, which lead to deadly blooms. Now a group of astronauts venture back to an infected Earth.

[leverage-ot3]

I’ve talked about this before but imagine what it’s like for someone in a country/place where eliot is Top Most Wanted and then your tech guy finds a breakout star baseball player on their visual scanner that looks EXACTLY like spencer. but…there’s no way that’s him, right???

and then the next year it happens again but this time it’s some one hit wonder country singer kenneth crane that has like 78 tween-run fangirl blogs dedicated to him. you see a grainy video of him being chased by a horde of screaming teenage girls and ??? no way Eliot Last Thing You’ll Ever See Spencer is a country singer star just. signing pictures of his face right…?

a few months later your intern shows you footage of an eliot lookalike who is in san lorenzo talking about how there is dog fighting in the presidential palace and you just. sigh. because of course. a scant few days later the political geography of the country changes drastically and damien moreau is imprisoned. …interesting

and then a year of silence goes by. he still shows up as blips on the radar but he must have a good hacker working for him because his tracks on the internet are expertly erased.

every time you ask through interagency channels some random interpol guy talks in (condescending?) riddles at you and it also somehow feels like he’s threatening you

and then your friend who recently got into foreign hockey teams sends you a dropyourgloves video of someone called jacques the bear. you immediately get a headache (and watch some more videos because even you can admit this guy is a good hockey player)

and you know he’s a Bad Guy but it’s been admittedly a bit entertaining seeing what claim to fame he will come upon next. and his most recent actions over the few years make you wonder.

a few months later your phone pings because multiple heads of state evacuated from DC. the reason? eliot spencer was in town. you hear two days later a bioterrorist was taken down by… the report was redacted. your hacker tells you spencer and two teammates were behind the successful operation. which, huh.

not even a full year later it is released that spencer is dead and… you don’t know how to feel.

[et-voices]

Happy year of Toxic Yaoi I guess