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davidmariottecomics · 10 months

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The Perfect (Editorial or Agent) Match

Hey there, Yogi Bear!

To start out today's blog, I wanna talk about a kinda fun recent thing. Steve Lieber, who I've mentioned before for having his 12 point portfolio review critique without even looking, asked about the writing review equivalent. Jim Zub took a stab at it and his list is pretty good. And Chip Zdarsky's were also recommendations! And all of these are from Bluesky, so hope you can read 'em all! But, while I liked the other lists, I also had some thoughts. So my 12 critiques are here, which I consider pretty supplemental to Jim's!

And now that you've taken all this advice and are feeling really comfortable with your script, writer-type, what're you gonna do with it?!

What Does an Agent do?

Before I get too far, let me make explicitly clear--I do not have an agent. I've worked with a number of agents. I know lots of creators who have them. But I don't have one myself, so I can only provide so much guidance. Okay, that disclaimer out of the way, what is a literary agent and what do they do?

It's a lot like other forms of agents you might've heard of. Your agent is a person who supports you and represents your interests in business. They are an advocate on your behalf. This means everything from reading your manuscripts to help refine/sell them to reviewing paperwork for you to making sure you're getting paid what you're worth and more. In the book market, there are certain publishers that will almost exclusively review agented submissions--you need to have someone who has been trained to know what the publisher might want and who has access to contacts there to advocate for your work. The reason for this is often to cut down on submissions that otherwise just have to go unanswered and to preserve some level of privacy for editors. Having an agent might not work for everyone, but if you can find someone who you like working with and can afford, they're going to be a lot of help. Agents can get your work to more potential buyers, help identify where your work will best fit in the marketplace, and, again, generally advocate for you.

But just like publishers and editors, not every agent is looking for every type of story. Specific agents, and even whole agencies, can have niches that they are interested in working in and representing. This is really important when we're talking comics. There are some agents that don't really represent cartoonists because they don't do art representation. There are some agents who only do art representation and might not be the right fit if you also wanna write. There are agents who primarily focus on books for middle grade or young adult readers. There are agents who just plain don't do comics. So how do you find an agent who might be a good fit?

Manuscript Wishlist

Manuscript Wishlist (or MS Wishlist) is *an* option for finding your agent, but it's one that I think can be really helpful. The basic idea of MSWL is that the website version has vetted agents and editors who have submitted profiles explaining what they are looking for in submissions. It's built off of a Twitter system where agents and editors tag posts #MSWL to flag the sort of work they're looking for from writers. One of the things I really like about the site is that in addition to details on what the agents and editors are looking for, and how to go about querying them, a lot of folks also take advantage of the sidebars that include things like lists of "what I like" so you can get an even clearer idea of if your work will mesh well with their interests and if your personalities will mesh well while looking to work together.

There are a ton of other resources out there for how to write good queries and each agency/agent/publisher/editor is going to have their own submission guidelines that you'll have to look up and follow--so I won't get into those--but this is a way to start seeing who might be interested in building a relationship with you.

Also, keep an eye on Publishers Marketplace. This is a primary source for what publishing deals are happening. Maybe you want to submit a query to an agent about a talking dog. Might be good to check publishers marketplace to make sure that agent didn't just sell a book about a talking dog.

MSWL Editors

MSWL also includes editors and for similar reasons. Editors have things they're interested in working on and it helps clarify to agents and to unagented folks what sort of titles they might be interested in acquiring. I *do not* currently have a MSWL set up on my own because I am not currently seeking submissions (sorry), but next time I think I might be, I'm going to be looking into it because I know what sort of stories I like to tell and what I would like to see from other folks.

Obviously, if you don't have an agent, double-check that the editor you're submitting to accepts unagented submissions. That's hugely important. But especially in comics, only taking agented submissions is uncommon. And if an editor is making clear what they'd like to acquire, you wanna get it in front of them because that is the most direct pipeline to traditional comics publishing. But it's also worthwhile to remember that because of how agents and editors work together, there's a lot of outreach between the two where editors are searching for talent, but only want to reach out, not be reached out to--especially if you're looking to do work on an existing property, rather than an original.

Now I'm gonna go batten down the hatches and prepare to ride out the rest of the coming storm!

See ya next time!

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Honkai Star Rail (Video game), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), The Broken Room by Peter Clines (Book), Crime Scene Kitchen (TV show), Dumbing of Age (Webcomic), Shortpacked (Webcomic--though some of these pop culture strips sure are dated and/or in poor taste!), Solve This Murder (Podcast), Praise Petey (Cartoon), the acoustic Sonic Symphony performance at the Speed Cafe (see below), at time of posting having power and not a lot of rain/hurricane weather, owning (but not having watched yet) the Venture Bros finale movie, getting 3 5-star (the best possible) character pulls in a row in Honkai (but not the character I really wanted, who I only have like 9 days to get now if I can...).

New Releases this week (8/16/2023): Brynmore #2 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #1 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog #63 (Editor)

Final Order Cut-Off next week (8/21/2023--last day to get your preorders in): Brynmore #3 (Editor) Godzilla: The War for Humanity #2 (Editor) Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's 30th Anniversary Special (Editor)

New Releases next week (8/23/2023): Godzilla Monsters & Protectors: All Hail the King TPB (Editor--on the latter half)

Announcements: Becca is at Cartoon-a Palooza in Temecula on 9/15 & 9/16. It's a cool free all-ages little con, so come on out and see them!

Wanna support me? Consider joining my Patreon! This week, in addition to this blog (but without the Patreon plugs!) and one of my legacy blogs, I shared for the $10 and up members the script (and some extras) for my Beast Wars 2022 Annual story, "Rhinox's A-Maze-ing Adventure". You can only see it there! And I'll have more scripts, pitches, comics, etc going up in the weeks and months to come! Also coming soon, just coordinating with Becca, we'll be releasing a tease of a new comic we're working on together. It'll be on both our Patreons, but if you like art and adult art in particular, definitely don't miss Becca's either!

Or, you can buy something from my webstore! A lot of what is there is no longer in print and won't be going back to print anytime soon to my knowledge. The stock I have up is pretty much the stock I have. And you can get it signed and personalized and sent to you for a pretty reasonable price which includes shipping. Alternatively, I still have a few things up on eBay and I'm going to be adding a few more!

Sorry to be hyping ways to send me money so much recently, but between rising rent and utility and gas costs, not so rising work hours/pay for Becca and I, and us also trying to plan a wedding for a year from now, money's been tight a lot! I know that's the case all around, and if you have been supporting me in any way, it has not gone unnoticed at all! This week, Becca and I checked out a venue that we really like for the ceremony and reception. So, hoping we can make that happen!

Pic of the Week: I referenced it earlier, but the Sonic Speed Cafe pop-up here in San Diego did a special mini acoustic performance of the Sonic Symphony that's about to be touring the whole world! So we had three musicians in the restaurant playing some Sonic hits! It was a lot of fun!

#comics #comics editorial #sonic speed cafe #sonic symphony #manuscript wishlist #find an agent #find an editor #making comics #comic script critique #steve lieber portfolio review #jim zub portfolio review #chip zdarsky got jokes

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kimyoonmiauthor · 1 year

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Agent non-Apology

I’m here to do a break down and try to find a better solution, as always. Paragraph breaks are roughly guessed since the original had none. Original thread: https://twitter.com/SBLitAgent/status/1658675176865660933

Long thread ahead, captain: Arguing on Twitter isn’t my vibe, so I don’t, but I want to say this: Take it from someone 13 months into long COVID, mental health is wealth, and protecting it is vital. We can choose to hear the most dramatized, demonizing take on a misunderstanding—a thread written specifically for querying writers who have yet to break into the profession interpreted in the context of professional writers—and take it for truth, reacting to it. No one is stopping anyone from doing so, and honestly, I don’t judge people for it.

We’re all sad and scared and hurt. We feel so helpless in this world, and anger feels powerful; it feels like it accomplishes something. I’ve been there time and time again, and I’m not going to pretend I won’t stop back for thirds. The downside to this anger, though, is that with every jump we make to put someone in the Bad Person category, we make our own world less safe. Are there shmagents out there? Absolutely. But they are a rarity, and if you spend too much time here, it’s easy to become convinced otherwise.It’s easy to start truly believing it’s common practice for agents to harm writers.

Having a new agent to put on a Do Not Query list every week very, very quickly depletes not only a writer’s hopes of getting published but also any faith in the industry. This is what the question boils down to: Do you want to write someone off as a potential champion of your work because of a tweet that was misinterpreted and amplified? That’s for every writer to decide individually, but it’s important to note that mob mentality is no friend to logic.

Any tweet—this thread included—can be read in the worst possible way, but it doesn’t have to be, and the world will feel much friendlier for it. For the past year, my central nervous system has been hijacked by stress. I have a fainting disorder; I have nausea so intense I have been physically starving multiple times; I used to be an elite athlete and now can barely climb a hill. I know how debilitating constant negative bombardment is. So that’s it, the whole takeaway: in a time of relentless turmoil, trusting people to be good instead of expecting them to be bad can make a huge difference in our mental health, and right now, we need all the positivity we can muster. With love and peace, y’all—truly.

In the interests of better discourse, I’m going to break it down for you, Savannah...

This is called deflecting. You need an apology editor.

We can choose to hear the most dramatized, demonizing take on a misunderstanding—a thread written specifically for querying writers who have yet to break into the profession interpreted in the context of professional writers—and take it for truth, reacting to it.

For writers who interacted with your thread this will feel like gaslighting. This will feel like you didn’t say you were saying you didn’t even like books and just saw them as a paycheck.

Also, the “we” here, as used is passive aggressive white womaning, just labeling it because white women don’t know they are doing it most of the time (and saying this as an Anthropologist with a BA that studied this, and with white women who owned it for good, rather than evil.) This does not go well with People of Color, who recognize it for what it is. It feels for a lot of People of color, like a fight you want to start, rather than trying to make peace. And since a large portion of people were people of color, they will likely dislike you doing this. For allies that know what white womaning is, they will also dislike it and see it for what it is. I would encourage you, as many therapists say, to use I statements with apologies.

No one is stopping anyone from doing so, and honestly, I don’t judge people for it.

You are, which is why it feels passive aggressive, because you turn this around with more white woman we statements. I know you think it feels like you’re trying to make peace, but without ownership, it’s not peace. I’ll show you how it’s done so you get better PR.

We’re all sad and scared and hurt. We feel so helpless in this world, and anger feels powerful; it feels like it accomplishes something.

Saying people are unjustified in their anger and anger well-directed is not change is destructive when you’re talking to writers who are asking for change. You’re talking to people who want change in the industry--I specifically gave you a list to look at, such as asks for transparency in mswls, such that you tell where your marketing advice comes from, or some numbers to figure out where to go.

I’ve been there time and time again, and I’m not going to pretend I won’t stop back for thirds. The downside to this anger, though, is that with every jump we make to put someone in the Bad Person category, we make our own world less safe.

Not always. Sometimes putting a white supremacist Nazi on such a list for someone like me, who checks all of their, “I hate you boxes” makes *me* safe, and that’s something you should contend with as well. You said, and offered up, that you have Long Covid, then would you feel safe with someone who said “Long covid doesn’t exist.” No, right? Especially when they get violent with you.

Are there shmagents out there? Absolutely. But they are a rarity, and if you spend too much time here, it’s easy to become convinced otherwise.It’s easy to start truly believing it’s common practice for agents to harm writers.

Truly unable to call out your fellow agents for things like selling Nazi Romance books, which I put number one on the list of why we strike agents to you is unbelievably bad. Your fellow agents within your agency also hated explicitly on neurodivergent people and then said that grief was not marketable, which is patently not true, given Encanto, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Turning Red, and a variety of other books, shows, etc. I can do gratuitous plugs of my friends’ books. There is a corner of the market due to covid that need trauma processing books. Again, personal taste is not the market.

Owning why, and trying to fix it is much harder task, but saying agents can’t fix it and it’s up to the person getting railed against, sounds like another round of abuse. YOU fix your own mess.

Traditional publishing is hard enough without this extra level of baked-in mistrust, and while this certainly isn’t fair, it is true: the only people that mistrust really hurts are querying writers. My professional reputation isn’t decided by a snowballing mischaracterization, but if writers walk into the querying process already disillusioned with it, the whole experience will be miserable. Having a new agent to put on a Do Not Query list every week very, very quickly depletes not only a writer’s hopes of getting published but also any faith in the industry.

No, it doesn’t. As much as you have thousands of writers coming to you, we also have thousands of ways to find a path to publishing. We know all of the options aren’t you, you who put on the website that YA writers somehow are a cheaper version of Adult writers. C’mon, show some respect for the PROFESSION of writers and you wouldn’t be in this mess.

This is what the question boils down to: Do you want to write someone off as a potential champion of your work because of a tweet that was misinterpreted and amplified?

That’s the thing, you don’t look like a champion with this tweet thread. What you look like is blaming others for things you said, and you need a writer to help you out. Hey, I’ll do it for you without the white womaning, free of charge. I’ll help you with the PR lesson you forgot since you left school. And though I never took marketing class, I did learn PR under fire such that I probably could swipe that 150k, you boasted about last time.

That’s for every writer to decide individually, but it’s important to note that mob mentality is no friend to logic. Any tweet—this thread included—can be read in the worst possible way, but it doesn’t have to be, and the world will feel much friendlier for it.

This feels like gas lighting... for the average writer. You’re not going to apologize.

For the past year, my central nervous system has been hijacked by stress. I have a fainting disorder; I have nausea so intense I have been physically starving multiple times; I used to be an elite athlete and now can barely climb a hill. I know how debilitating constant negative bombardment is. So that’s it, the whole takeaway: in a time of relentless turmoil, trusting people to be good instead of expecting them to be bad can make a huge difference in our mental health, and right now, we need all the positivity we can muster. With love and peace, y’all—truly.

Mixture of white womaning and deflecting your own trauma as an excuse. I’ll show you how to do better, because apparently your whole agency needs help with the PR campaign.

1. I say this often because I mean it: Trauma is not an excuse for abuse. You fuck up, you own it.

I say this as someone with c-ptsd and a lot of issues. I equate it to the Caspian sea, wide, but shallow. But I fuck up a lot. I own it as quickly as possible. And then I go off and do self-care until I can handle it.

2. Learn for PR reasons how to make clean apologies.

An apology is what you did, why it was wrong, and how you swear you’re going to do better.

3. Focus on how you can do better in the future and address real concerns in a mature way.

I gave you a really good list for this. I encourage you to look at it. I meant it for all agents. Start better discourse, communicate better, give us transparency, and update your guidelines to be dead clear. Show that you genuinely want to work with us.

Again, instead of what you did, showing how you could have written this thread to help. Here. A writer can help.

Hi, yeah, so the last thread I made turned into a mini-disaster and I own that. I shouldn’t have said I could make 150k a year with my degree and that writers are not also seeking a career. I didn’t understand much at the time, but take this as trying to open up and understand.

What I meant to say, is I feel passionate about books as much as you are passionate about books and I hope to be passionate about selling your book.

I understand that you also have concerns about the other agents in my agency and that some of you are talking about how we posted, “If it’s too difficult to write for grownups, write for children.” though I had no hand in that, I will try to work with my fellow agents towards fixing that by the end of this or next week.

In the interests of engaging better with what happened last week, I’m updating my client submission requirements to include more explicit submission guidelines, such as clear trigger warnings, and clear turn around dates. I am also willing to update and talk openly about where I get my marketing info about books and how I come to my manuscript wishlist conclusions. I also solemnly swear to never, ever sell Nazi Romance or Black Slavery Romance books. In the interests of better discourse, I will also agree to try harder to understand how difficult it is also for writers, so I can be your strongest advocate, and also learn how to talk about diversity more. I will do my best to hold my fellow agents also accountable, and work towards better solutions.

I will understand if you would not like me to be your agent after the last thread. I own that. I am very sorry, your anger was justified, and I will try my best to work with you rather than against you.

Tada~~ the magic of being a writer is also because often we try our hardest to understand psychology well to write better characters.

So do a version of my rewrite, than the problem above. And learn the PR techniques I used. And be genuine about it. I’m sure you put me on mute, but maybe someone would be kind enough to show you this post.

#agents #agent wishlist #manuscript wishlists #kt literary

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literaryamy · 10 months

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Oh how I wish I could always be surrounded by the smell of books, to hear the turning of pages echo in my ears, to place them on my chest and feel their weight, to trace the texture of their covers, and to read them all day everyday and not worry about a single worldly thing.

Too much to ask?

#book #readers #literature #romantic #books store #book nerd #book quotes #90s #aesthetic dark #poetry #manuscript #love poem #pastel #1950s #poem #poems on tumblr #wishlist #wishes #longing

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lordsardine · 2 years

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#hrhng will okay #i shilled out some money to have a 30 min talk with an agent reviewing 30 pages and my query next week #im either about to be in an okay mood or a sour mood next thursday #i wanted to like. talk to one first before i shill out more money for an editor . i do have some questions regarding editing direction #how the query is. comp stuff. etc #oh my god though i took like an hour (fuck work) of agonizing which agent to pick because the one i wanted wasnt available -__-#after staring at this agent's manuscript wishlist i think she's a good fit to at least talk to about my work #in a perfect world she would read it and be like 'wow i want to sign you on!' but im being realistic ^^;#miscellaneous #when im home in tampa regardless of everything else i think i want to take a stab at writing the new novel. just for a nice break

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katy-l-wood · 1 month

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I'm on submission with my newest attempt at traditional publishing right now and it's really driving home the loss of Twitter to the publishing community. Yeah, there was a lot of drama and crap there. But when I've been on submission before and I'd wake up to a new list of editors my agent had sent my manuscript to, I could pop on Twitter and look up 90% of them, find their wishlists, see what kind of books they were publishing, find interviews they'd done. It was all in one place and free and easy to search through. Some of that stuff is still out there, but it's scattered or behind paywalls.

Just. Fuck Musk. He took such a valuable resource away from so many people all to stroke his own damn ego.

#Musings

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performativezippers · 3 months

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If you don’t mind me asking, how did you find a writing agent to represent you? Been interested in writing a book for a while and I thought you might have some pointers since your posts are so informative and I think you’re an awesome writer :)

Great question, and thank you so much!

Background: The reason you get an agent is because you're interested in having your book published by a publisher (not self-publishing). Not all publishing houses require you to have an agent, but all of the big ones do, and many of the other legit ones. Some big exceptions are boutique small presses, like Ylva, for example, who accept unagented submissions and sometimes even solicit people.

But in most cases, if you want to be published by a publishing house, you need an agent, which is because these houses do not accept book submissions from authors. they only accept them from agents; ergo, to be published you need to submit, and to submit you need an agent.

Answer to your question: The way you get an agent is by applying, a lot like a job application. Here are the steps:

You need to write your whole book first (unless it's nonfiction) and have it be as good as you can possibly make it. That means beta readers, editing rounds, everything. Get it to the level where if you were self publishing, you'd be done.

You write what's called a query letter for your book, which is essentially a cover letter. Title, word count, comparison titles, plot hook, character intros, take them through about 50% of the plot, establish clear stakes, plus a bio about you. All of this in 400 words, mind you. This is often the hardest thing you'll ever write. I find the podcast "The Shit No One Tells You About Writing" to be the very best way to learn how to do this, and also a LOT of great stuff about writing craft. I listen religiously even though I haven't queried in years.

Research agents. There are thousands of agents out there. Some don't rep in your genre, some are not accepting queries (only working with the clients they already have). You can follow them on social media and search "Manuscript Wishlist" or MSWL to see what they are looking for.

Start querying! Send your query letter and sample pages (usually the first 10-50 pages, depending on what each specific agent wants) to agents, usually in batches of 10-15 at a time.

WAIT

Some agents get back to you very quickly. Most never get back to you at all, and you figure sometime between 6 weeks and 6 months is a pass. It's a very awful, sad, dehumanizing process that you need to be prepared for.

I queried for a year. I queried 65 agents. I only received one offer of representation. I think this low success rate was because I had a weird book that was outside of any typical genre (this was my fault, not that I created something new) and a bad query letter, but my writing was good and my now-agent saw potential in me.

But I will say this: If the only reason you want to write a book is to be published, you should either be good with self-publishing, or not do it. The odds of being published are astoundingly low. There are many many more talented authors than there are slots for debut novels. It takes talent and perseverance and luck to make it through all of these processes and emerge with a book deal, especially from a large publishing house that will pay you an advance and treat you well.

So I'd say, write the book if you want to write the book. Make it a joyful process whose best possible outcome is it being written. And then when you're done with it, if you're ready to drink from a firehose of research, resources, rejection, and hope, then fucking do it!

#ask zipps #publishing #publishing fiction #querying

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gollancz · 8 months

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Heya, this is probably just in my head cause I've been typing up a story, but I've been writing books for years but have no clue how publishing works so other than typing one up out of my notebooks and currently working on typing up another nothing gets done with them.

If I wanted to like submit a novel to Gollancz to see if you'd publish it would I need like a writing agent or something?

Hi there! Congratulations on all your writing! Getting started is the hardest part, followed by actually finishing the dang thing (and then followed by whichever bit of editing the author is currently on and therefore hating the most)

We are occasionally open to unsolicited/unagented submissions, however as we are still (shamefully) working through our last batch - thanks to a grave underestimating of how many we would get, and overestimating of how much time we had around everything else - I can't say for certain when we plan to re-open them.

That said, even for authors we pick up through unagented submissions, we would generally recommend that they look into getting a literary agent, and often will refer them to agents we work with regularly! This is for a number of reasons that will benefit both you and us:

Your agent will have a broader knowledge of your genre pool, and be able to submit your work to editors within the field more broadly. If they've been around a while, they'll also have a sense of what each editor's tastes are so they know where it's worthwhile to try.

Your agent should be your biggest champion. They should have a good knowledge of publishing contracts, so they understand what's standard to be asked, and what is unusual. That helps manage expectations for both the author and the publisher in negotations.

They will act as a relationship buffer: when your book is acquired, it'll be based on passion and excitement, and - particularly if you're a debut author - it can be very hard to bring up things you're uncomfortable with for fear of rocking the boat or damaging the relationship with your editor. Your agent gets the lovely job of being able to be the person who can communicate any concerns or things you're upset with directly to your editor, without you having to feel like you have to throw your toys out of the pram directly. The nature of a go-between might feel like a bit of a game of Telephone, but it's actually really valuable to also take a step back from the situation and can often take the panic out of discussions. (Note: You should NEVER be in a situation where you feel like your editor is making you uncomfortable or that they wouldn't take feedback well, however the relationships between authors and editors and agents and editors are very different)

They can focus on the business administration side of things while you get to focus on the fun bit of actually being creative!

There are loads of ways you can pitch to agents - whether it's through one of the many pitching events (PitchWars, PitMad, specific pitching hashtags on twitter etc.), through writing competitions (The Future Worlds Prize is one we're directly involved with for unrepresented British SFF writers of colour) or as a direct submission. If you are submitting directly to an agent, make sure that you check:

Are they open to submissions?

Do they represent books in your area?

What are their submission guidelines?

Most agents will get inundated with submissions - more than it's feasible to read! And if you aren't in their genre, or don't follow their submission guidelines, it's a quick way to get your work disregarded without it even being looked at. Check out Manuscript wishlists, agent websites, and agents' social media to see what's going on!

On tumblr, @literaticat has a wonderful 'Ask the Agent' blog and I really recommend it. Agents on twitter often run AMAs as well, depending on what else is happening, so keep an eye out there.

I hope this is helpful! I'm always happy to answer publishing and writing questions, and good luck with your writing!

#Gollancz Blogging #Getting Published #Writing Advice #Ask Box

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literaticat · 6 months

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I'm an editor and I've been thinking about putting a "this is how to make my life easier" sheet for agents and I could use an agent opinion to tell if this is going to go over badly. I've noticed especially more seasoned agents don't respond well to being told to do something they don't usually do so idk.

This sheet would include things like these are the genres I never want, this is what I need material wise, this is my timeline so pls don't nudge before X, this is what I always need in every manuscript etc.

Is that too presumptuous? I'm struggling immensely with wasted time because I practically never get correctly targeted submissions paired with the right material and I could be soooo much faster if I did, like I could decline everything in under a week vs months. What do you think?

My first instinct is to say YES PLEASE THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!!! Like a "wishlist +" kind of thing! The more info we have the better. It's not going to stop every agent from sending you bullshit -- but it WILL help the thoughtful agents be even more thoughtful and hopefully result in more targeted submissions and people taking your preferences into account.

So I sat with it for a few to try and suss out why an agent might NOT want this or react badly to this... I think as long as it comes across as genuine -- like "this is what I'm wishing for, this is what I will never like, this is what my workflow looks like, help me help you" -- I can't see anyone having a problem with it, as long as it doesn't come across like you are being bossy or complaining.

("You dum-dum agents never send me what I want so I'm going to give you a lesson on how to do your job" would NOT go over well, in other words! -- but "I'm so excited to connect with you and see great projects -- this is what I'm dying to see, and this is what's NOT a fit, and this is how I prefer to see submissions etc!" is a good thing!)

I'd also suggest, re the nudging, that you set up a sort of canned "auto-response" that you can just plug in -- so when an agent first sends you something you can respond to acknowledge receipt right away and say in that response what your timeline is looking like, when you expect to get back to them, and please don't nudge before then unless there's an offer or something. Honestly that would probably save everyone a lot of headache!

(And then if/when you send a decline, send your wishlist with it!)

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rosieethor · 1 year

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Hi there! I had a quick question for you. You used to have a free post on Patreon that had a bunch of tips for researching agents to query, and I've had it bookmarked for a while, but I can't access it anymore because your Patreon stuff is all down currently. I was wondering if you happen to have that article up anywhere else? I'm about to search for agents for querying round 2: electric boogaloo and I was hoping to refresh myself before diving in. If you don't have it up anywhere, no worries, and thanks for writing it in the first place!

Hello! Happy to repost it here! I took down my Patreon, as it was causing me too much stress to create enough quality content to feel as though I could justify charging folks. Anyway, without further ado, my general overview of how to research and evaluate literary agents when you're in the query trenches: ~~

Lately I’ve been working with some of my mentees to build their query lists. It’s an exhausting process with a lot of research and guess work. In light of some recent discussions and advice floating around to “research” agents, I thought I’d throw together a sort of haphazard guide on how I do that and what I look for. “Research” is pretty nebulous advice and it’s just… not very helpful without any kind of caveat that no matter how much research you do, you’ll never be 100% sure about an agent until they reveal themselves to be a schmagent (shady agent). It’s sort of… Schrodinger’s schmagent, if you will.

This isn’t going to be an exhaustive how-to, but it’s a starting point. I hope it helps you as you figure out who you want to query and who you’re willing to trust with your career.

Depending on what type of book you’re writing, there are many tools the industry has to offer that you can use to figure out if agents are legit, what they are interested in signing, and what books they’ve sold.

MSWL

Manuscript Wish List is an incredible resource. Agents can upload their wishlists to a profile on the website so you can see up to date information about not only what age categories and genres they’re accepting, but what other sorts of things they’re most interested in seeing like themes and writing styles and ship dynamics etc. This is a great place to start with building your query list and can help you narrow down who would be the best fit for you.

But… it doesn’t filter out schmagents. You don’t have to pass any sort of test in order to make a profile on MSWL except… be… an agent. Of any caliber. There are lots of agents on MSWL that I would never suggest someone query. On the flip side, there are lots of agents who are not on MSWL who I would suggest someone query.

Querytracker

This is another great tool the industry has to offer. I didn’t use it for myself, but have used it to help others with building their query lists. The gist of it is that you can log all your queries and see when other people submitted and got their responses to see where you are in the queue. You can also see examples of form rejections from certain agents to see if yours was a form of personalized, and there’s a list of pretty much all the agents in existence.

However, this list of agents is not vetted in any way. There’s no quality control of the list, so again it’s just a starting point. There is a tool on the site called “Who reps Whom” where you can see an non-exhaustive list of authors and which agent reps them. This list is sometimes out of date though since authors leave agents sometimes and don’t announce their new representation until their book sells. It also sometimes lists multiple agents for an author when that author has sold different books repped by different agents. It can sometimes help you see which agents are losing clients, but it doesn’t really tell you why and that’s the important detail that will help you see if an agent is bad-bad or just bad for that author.

There is a paid version of QT, which I’ve never used, but I’ve heard it’s a great tool to have while you’re querying, but maybe not before you’re querying.

Children’s Bookshelf

If you’re a kidlit writer of any age category, you should be subscribed to Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf newsletter. It’s a biweekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) newsletter that includes a deal report. This lists all the book deals from picture book up through YA that are being announced that week.

First of all, you should get on this whether or not you’re ready to start querying. It’s a great, free resource that will help you stay aware of what’s selling in the industry. Keep in mind, though, that books being announced now won’t come out for at least a year or two. They also probably sold months ago. What’s selling now won’t be what’s selling in a few months, necessarily, so be wary of chasing trends.

Mostly, though, this is a great way for you to see who is selling what to whom. See a book deal that sounds cool? Check who the agent was. Then check who it was sold to. Is that a publisher you’d like to publish with? Maybe check out that agent’s wishlist to see if you’re a match!

Old editions of Children’s Bookshelf and the deal reports are available online, too, so if you want to do a bunch of research right now, you can search for those on PW’s website.

Publisher’s Marketplace

I hate this website very very much mostly because they charge so much money for you to get access to what should be free information HOWEVER it’s a very useful tool with lots of internal connectivity and links that are actually helpful. If you’re willing to shell out the money, you can check up on agents’ sales and see how their sales are.

A word of caution: PM has some “top dealmakers” lists you can peruse. These are misleading and simply list agents who are making the most deals. There’s no vetting of the quality of these deals. There is a well known schmagent who often tops these lists, so just because someone appears on a list, don’t take that as gospel that they are a quality agent.

Avoiding Schmagents

There are a lot of schmagents out there and really they fall into two categories: Bad agents who are out to screw you over and bad agents who don’t realize they are bad agents.

The former are usually a little easier to spot. I say usually because… not always. Sometimes very successful agents turn out to suck at their jobs. *stares at the current situation* But! You can sometimes spot these agents because there will be articles or blog posts about how much they suck. There will be podcasts where the hosts have to call the agent by a rhyming fake name to avoid a lawsuit. Etc.

The latter are a little harder to spot sometimes because they talk a good game. They sometimes talk about bad agent practices and share their own processes in the name of transparency (lots of good agents to this too!) These agents have the best of intentions and really want to be good agents, but they might have bad training or not enough strong connections in the industry to actually sell your book. They might not know enough about contracts to negotiate a good one, or they might not actually know what is and isn’t industry standard. They think because they are well-intentioned and not out to scam you that they’re not a schmagent.

Basically, the first case is like hiring a con artist to do your plumbing and they come over to fix your sink and break your toilet in the process. The second case is like hiring your really enthusiastic neighbor to fix your sink. They might be excited to do the job, but if they have the wrong tools and the wrong training, a lot can still go wrong.

So how do you know who to avoid?

Google

Okay I know this is going to sound extremely ridiculous but just. Just. Google. Google the agent’s name or the agency and scroll through the first couple of pages of results. If there are public facing horror stories to be had, you’ll probably find them here. Sometimes I see people sign with schmagents and I know if you google their name the second or third result is a detailed and horrifying blog post from an ex client all about her “year with a terrible agent.” A simple google search of the agency’s name would reveal this information, and it hurts my heart to see people signing when there are so many obvious red flags for them to find if they just search.

Writer Beware

This is a great website with detailed accounts of many known schmagents and Schmagencies. It’s not exhaustive by any means, but you’ll see some great info here about bad actors in the publishing industry, what they’ve done, and why it’s recommended that you stay away.

Red Flags

There are also just a few red flags to look out for. Things like agents charging you up front—never ever pay an agent. Agents get paid a commission off of what they sell for you. They only get paid if you get paid. Money will flow from the publisher to the agent (who will take their 15%) and then to you.

Keep an eye out for agencies that charge a reading fee for queries. Again, don’t pay them money. Be wary of any agency that also provides paid editorial services. The same goes for if an agent tells you to work with a paid freelance editor in order to get signed. (This is different from feedback suggesting you work with critique partners or an editor. That’s a good suggestion. Prescribing that you work with a specific editor and pay them for their services as the conditions to get signed as a client is not okay.)

I am also very wary of any agent or agency that requires exclusivity on queries, partials, or full manuscripts. Exclusivity, to me, reads as though the agent doesn’t believe they stand a chance against other agents if they decide they want to sign you and… that’s a red flag to me. If they don’t think they can measure up, then they probably can’t and you shouldn’t be giving them a chance. (I’ll note that this is different from exclusivity on an R&R, which I think can sometimes be warranted in cases when an agent takes a lot of time to give you notes. Sometimes an agent will give revision notes and ask for exclusive right to consider the revised—be sure to nail down a timeframe for this so you don’t get stuck waiting for them to read for 6 months. Give them a head start of a few weeks or a month, but don’t give them forever to consider.)

Evaluating

When I evaluate an agent for a query list, I look at their sales.

If they have sales, I look to see if they are sales to publishers/editors you would be interested in working with? Likely, their sales are indicative of who they have relationships with. If you are submitting with the hopes of a traditional print deal to a large publisher, but the agent mostly does digital only deals to small presses, that’s probably not going to be the right fit for you. If you’re a middle grade writer but the agent has only ever sold adult historical romance, then… again, maybe not the right fit.

If they don’t have sales, I look at the other agents at the agency. Who has been agenting longer at the agency who might be mentoring them? Look at their sales and evaluate those. It’s possible the new agent you’re querying will make different contacts, but they’re likely being trained by the higher ups at the agency. Make sure you’re comfortable with that.

Check where the agent was trained too. Probably, you’ll see this in their agent bio. You’ll see some former workplaces—do they have prior experience in the industry? At a publisher maybe? A strong internship at another agency? This isn’t necessarily always going to be the sign of a good agent, but it can tell you what their history is and who might have had a hand in training them.

Other things I look at are their client list. Does the agent have a ton of clients already? Do they have a lot of high profile clients? These aren’t necessarily marks against them, but it might be an indicator that their plate is already pretty full. They might not be taking on a lot of new clients—or if they are, they might be overloading themselves and setting you up for very long wait times or even being neglected as a newer client. That’s definitely not always the case, and there are plenty of agents with huge lists full of very successful authors that juggle it all quite well.

This is where the last piece of the puzzle comes in and I realize I’m about to sound just extremely annoying but… do a vibe check. You don’t have to have a concrete reason not to query someone. If you feel at all uncomfortable or you get a weird vibe from someone, it’s okay to just say “Maybe I’ll skip that person.” I skipped an agent who was probably lovely, but gave of a kind of weird ra-ra feminist terf vibe to me that made me feel like maybe that wouldn’t be a safe relationship for me. I also skipped a male agent who I saw tweeting at women in a way that just felt a little uncomfy to me. That agent was later revealed to be a total creep, so… my vibe check war right on point there. Just… sometimes it’s worth taking a risk on a newer agent (it certainlywas for me) but it’s not always worth taking a risk on an agent who just feels off to you. Especially if you’re a marginalized person and you get a vibe from an agent that might indicate they’d try to exploit your identity or just be kind of shitty to you… you’re not obligated to query them! Even if they request in a pitch contest! Even if they slide right into your DMs to ask for your book (especially if they do this omfg this is so inappropriate). Basically… listen to your gut.

Okay so… what am I actually looking for?

There’s not one perfect checklist to use for this that’s a surefire way to weed out the baddies and keep the goodies. Unfortunately, a huge part of this industry is figuring out what works for you and being willing to communicate that. You won’t know what you’re looking for until you find it sometimes. If you’d asked me who my dream agent was before I queried, I would have given you the name of an agent I would never ever ever query if I had to go into the trenches now. Sometimes what you think you want and what you actually need are two very different things, and I’m really lucky that I got what I needed without trying to.

It’s helpful if you keep in mind some stuff about what youwant like:

· Do you want an editorial agent, or do you want to manage the editorial side yourself with CPs etc. and just have your agent sell your work?

· Do you want an agent who specializes in your age category/genre or do you want an agent with broader contacts in case you decide to branch out?

· Do you want a large agency that manages a lot of clients and may have a really strong internal subrights department? Or do you want a more boutique agency where you might be in a smaller pool of authors?

· Do you want to publish traditionally with a large publisher, or are you interested in submitting to some digital imprints or independent publishers?

Keep all this in mind as you do your research on agents. I recommend that you reevaluate these wants as you go along to see if that’s still what you want or if your career plans have changed. But, use these as a way to steer you with your search. Don’t submit to an agent just because their wishlist matches up with your book. Make sure their agenting style matches up with your career plan too.

Dream Agents

Lastly, a plea from me to you: don’t have a dream agent. It’s okay to have like… an idea of what kind of agent you want and the relationship you hope you’ll have but… don’t pick a real agent to have as your dream agent. Nine times out of ten what you’re going to end up wanting in an agent isn’t what you think you want now while you’re in the query trenches, but also it’s weird and maybe a little bit unhealthy to idolize an industry professional who may or may not be doing their job well. Just because you like an agent’s twitter presence doesn’t mean they would be the right agent for you. There are a lot of agents out there who do a great job, so it’ll be better for you in the long run to have a dream type of agent rather than an actual specific dream agent. Keep your options open and dream broadly.

Whisper Networks

There’s a lot of talk about whisper networks in publishing and… basically yeah. These exist. They spread a lot of good information. They also spread a lot of bad information. Basically these are avenues for gossip, so take it all with a grain of salt. I’ve heard things before from the source and then heard a very twisted and garbled version of that story again a few days later from someone else. It’s like a big game of telephone and everyone’s tryingto pass along the right info, but stuff gets twisted along the way. Be cognizant of who your source is and who their source is etc.

Not everyone has access to whisper networks and… unfortunately that’s kind of just by design. The reason we have whisper networks instead of a detailed database is because these conversations can quickly turn into big spectacles that end with a cease-and-desist order and threats of lawsuits. Agents hold a lot of power in this industry—especially the ones with daddy’s money to throw around—and none of us wants to deal with that, especially since we don’t get paid nearly enough to actually fight it. We also don’t want to burn bridges. Maybe there’s a shitty agent out and about, but they rep some authors we really respect or they work at a great agency that we might someday want to query. Until the power imbalance in publishing is more even, it will continue to be dangerous for authors to talk publicly about bad agent behavior—even when it is very clearly unethical.

I don’t have the solution here. Maybe there just… isn’t one… Maybe someone a lot smarter than me will come up with one. Maybe we’ll all just keep circling on this issue for decades to come. At the end of the day, my best advice is to talk to other authors. If you’re having a weird experience, talk to someone else. The best thing we can do is compare notes to see if what we’re dealing with is normal.

In Closing

So… I hope this is useful in one way or another. It’s definitely not a catch all and it’s not a perfect system. These are just the tools I know of and the way I think about agents/agencies when putting together query lists with my mentees. A lot of it is guess work. I think the industry would hugely benefit from more regulation and standardization but… that is another conversation for another time because we’ve crossed over 3000 words on this post and it’s time for bed.

With that… good luck!

#querying #literary agent #publishing #publishing industry #writing advice #querying is hell and i am so sorry

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bts-hyperfixation · 1 year

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Ok, so BTS with a bookworm girlfriend. The sort of lady who wants books instead of jewelry. A woman who, if you let her into a bookstore, get comfy 'cause you ain't leaving anytime soon. What sort of bookish things do you think each would do for her? Or him. 🌹

Namjoon: while he is away in tour he has signed them both up for one of those mystery book club of the month things. It comes with a drink and snacks. They read the book together and then they spend hours discussing the book over face time while snacking together. When he returns they go to a bookstore and pick books together. Sometimes they don't see eye to eye and have to get multiple books (what a shame)

Seokjin: whenever he thinks of them he will go to their Goodreads wishlist and send them a book. Originally he'd started out with jewellery but realised that they weren't wearing it. His partner doesn't know that he has the Goodreads list to start with and is more than a little confused because he forgets to include a note, they just appear at the door bearing their name.

Yoongi: buys them book memorabilia, things all book lovers long to own like a typewriter and ornate bookends. He builds his love custom shelves, becoming more and more creative when space starts to become more of an issue.

Hoseok: Buys an apartment with space for reading. There's a nook in the living room filled with fluffy pillows and blankets. A room with beanbags and cozy rugs. Shelves upon shelves waiting for his darling's books, with unique sections and creative names written on each shelf.

Jimin: Researches the best libraries in the world and takes his partner to all of them. Finds little bookstores in all the cities and towns they visit on tour and sends special editions of well known books back to his partner in Korea. They have at least 30 1st print covers of Alice in wonderland with different dedications written on the first page

Taehyung: Befriends the author's his partner idolizes and charms his way into getting hands on unfinished manuscripts so his partner can read them before anyone else. Gets them invited to book launches and festivals where his partner can collect as many books and freebies as they both can carry.

Jungkook: knows exactly where all of the comfortable chairs are inside the comic book sections of all of his partner's favourite bookstores. He will quite happily sit there for hours with a drink and a couple comic books and wait. Sometimes he will just sit and watch them shop in awe

#bts fic #kpop fic #namjoon fic #seokjin fic #yoongi fic #hoseok fic #jimin fic #taehyung fic #jungkook fic

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bdapublishing · 4 months

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✨Welcome to our fringe fiction dreamland✨ Dive into our Manuscript Wishlist with us!

We are currently about a week into our open call for fringe BIPOC stories, and we wanted to post a little about the kinds of manuscripts we’re looking for. From now until JUNE 30, BIPOC authors are encouraged to submit all their wildest, truest, weirdest stories. Don’t sell yourself short, no idea is too fringe. 🍄

Swipe through for our ever-expanding list of genres/themes/narratives we wanna see! The BDA team has also contributed their own dream BDA manuscript to help paint the picture even more. 🖖

Got a story that defies genre, shatters expectations, or breaks molds? Gimme, gimme!!! Diversify publishing with us as we seek to amplify marginalized voices in publishing.

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hayatheauthor · 1 year

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How To Get Out Of The Slush Pile And Make Your Agent Say Yes

In the literary world, the term slush pile refers to a stack of unread, unsolicited manuscripts or queries from aspiring novelists. Authors can often find themselves in the slush pile due to cold queries, unprofessional letter formatting, or a generic pitch.

Are you facing constant form rejections to your queries? Here is everything you need to know to get out of your publisher’s slush pile.

Customise Your Query

if you approach an agent as just another name on your list, they will treat you the same way. Agents and publishers receive an ample amount of queries every single day, many of which are cold queries that are automatically rejected with form responses. As an author, it is your job to create a compelling query that hooks your agent in.

The easiest way to do this is by customising your query letter.

I have already talked about easy ways to do this in some of my earlier blogs, but here’s a quick rundown of how to customise your query to hook your literary agent:

Start with their name

Queries that start with ‘dear agent/team’ have a higher chance of ending up on an agent’s slush pile. It’s important to address your agent by their given name both at the start of the query letter and somewhere in between it (something as simple as ‘this is why I chose to work with you, their name’ can work wonders).

Avoid using any terms like miss/mrs/mr since you might end up using the wrong term for an agent and get off on the wrong foot.

Why them?

When trying to convince your agent why they should pick you, it’s important to show them why you picked them. This helps create a bond of trust and makes your agent know you aren’t just blindly sending out queries to every agent who works in your genre.

When I was querying agents, I would always make sure to include a line that went as follows:

I found out about you on manuscript wishlist and decided to get in touch with you since you expressed interest in the genres and themes The Traitor’s Throne incorporates.

I would then make a quick nod to anything they might have said on their MSWL, agent page, or Twitter. A great way to do this is by scanning their manuscript wishlist for certain phrases that fit your book. Maybe they showed interest in a ‘high stakes murder mystery’ or ‘swoon-worthy romance’. You can use these short phrases to customise your query, so long as they fit your book.

Mention their past projects

Can’t find anything on their MSWL that fits your book’s themes? Instead just mention a past project of theirs that follows the same themes as your book. A quick line such as ‘your previous work with (author name) for (book name) encouraged me to get in touch with you’ can seamlessly customise your query without feeling too overbearing.

Remember, only two to three lines of your query letter should talk about your agent. The rest is supposed to be about your book and your experience as an author. I would recommend putting this section at the end of your query letter, right before your synopsis and sample pages.

Follow Their Guidelines

Most literary agents and publishers have a set of guidelines in place for authors looking to query them. These guidelines help them sort through the queries and also ensure your query isn’t marked as a spam email.

Some agencies will ask you to customise your subject line a certain way, others will ask authors to answer a set of questions that help them gain insight into your project.

When querying an agent or publisher, remember to always check their website’s submissions or contact page (even if you’re reaching out via query manager or query tracker) and follow the guidelines mentioned there.

This helps your agent know you were genuinely interested in reaching out to them and also ensures they actually read your query.

Keep Things Simple

One of the most important things to remember when querying is to keep things simple. Don’t overstuff your query with information, don’t dive into a detailed analysis of what happens in every chapter of your book in the synopsis (unless the agent asks you to).

The point of your query letter is to hook your agent, not bore them with the details. Make your query simple, short, and intriguing. Drop an introduction, hook your agent with the first paragraph, and end your query letter strongly.

Here is how to format your query letter to make your agent say yes:

The introduction. One or two lines about your book’s details. The title, the word count, the genres, and a brief description of your book—something like ‘this is a novel about an old con’s path to redemption’.

The hook. This is the most important part of your query letter! It’s where you draw your agent in and give them a compelling hook that convinces them to read your sample pages. Keep things brief, about 150 to 300 words. Remember, you don’t need to talk about the story, but tell your story. Hooks generally read like the blurb of your book.

The author introduction. Author introductions for first-time authors can feel like a jarring feat. If you’re a first time author, just create a brief author bio that mentions any experience you have in the literary industry or any hobbies you have that are relevant to your book. For example, I made sure to mention my blog and internships as a content writer in my author bio because this shows my agent that I know how to market my book.

The customised one-liner. As mentioned above, consider dropping a quick one-liner about why you picked this agent for your manuscript. Remember to keep this short and don’t go into too many details.

Stay Professional

Always remember to be courteous and professional when you’re interacting with an agent or publisher. Start and end all of your emails properly, make sure your query doesn’t have any SPAG mistakes, and always treat your agent kindly. Even if they reject you.

Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you did end up getting an agent but they called you up one day and said their friend or colleague mentioned you sent them a very rude email after getting rejected!

Maintaining a positive impression of yourself is always important. Remember, these agents might end up being important industry connections in the future. Or, they could casually mention your poor mannerism to other agents which could ruin your chances of getting traditionally published.

It is good practice to follow up rejection emails with an email thanking the agent for their response and asking them whether they have any colleagues or fellow agents in mind who might be looking for a project like yours.

Some agents might just ignore this message, but others will provide you with at least a couple of agents you can get in touch with. This gives you the advantage of a referral, and also makes the agent see you in a positive light, which can be beneficial when building industry connections.

Conclusion

I hope this blog on how to get out of the slush pile and make your agent say yes will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper.

Want to learn more about me and my writing journey? Visit my social media pages under the handle @hayatheauthor where I post content about my wip The Traitor’s Throne and life as a teenage author.

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