Thread by @LZats

I woke up super early and was going through my queries because none of the pets wanted to hang out with me (and also capitalism) and I wanted to talk for a minute about how agents talk about queries on social media (#querytip)

Many agents, myself included, have built up our brands/social media platforms talking about queries (see my #500queries as an example). And sometimes, the tips are honestly helpful, or they shine a light on an otherwise murky process. Plus, it's quick and easy to do!

But here's my hot take: a ton of the time, the way agents talk about queries on social media is not helpful. In fact, it's actively bad for writers.

Let me explain.

1) queries have set, industry-standard format. It takes a ton of information and shoves it into ~300 words. This is a supremely specialized document, a supremely specialized skill, and to teach that takes tons of time. By breaking it into fun #querytips we're obscuring this point

1.5)and setting writers up for failure. If they get their query knowledge from twitter, they perhaps dont see how to balance the weight of their story in a pitch or understand how their metadata feeds their plot paras. And in queries, it's the overall impression that matters most

2) If other agents are anything like me, they aren't super keen to tweet the exact same query information again and again (have comps! But not too famous or too old!) so they start getting Specific.

But guess where those Specific Tweets come from? Bad, bad queries

2.3) I've seen some truly unbelievable, bad queries in my time, and most of them likely come from writers with mental health issues who are, nevertheless, shooting their shot. But talking, online, about these books is a bad thing to do, even in the guise of a #tip.

2.6) first of all, no one who sends those types of queries is on writer twitter. By bringing those subs, which are an inevitable part of this job, onto the soc meeds, we're using these people as a punchline. Second, "don't send me the third testament" is not a #querytip, sorry.

2.9) third, constantly talking about "crazy subs" communicates to a LOT of writers who have mental illnesses that agents are not their advocates. We're telling them that publishing is not safe for them.

3) Discussion of queries on a character-limited social media also gives writers a complex about querying. Yes, it's hard to learn and super-specialized, but throwaway tweets about rejections communicate that agents will reject a sub because of one single error.

3.3) This means that writers will panic-spend hundreds of dollars on query conferences, critiques, and more, often from people who are just trying to take advantage of them and won't actually help them get published.

3.6) Many will also become so afraid of rejection, that each one (and there will be many rejections, this is a numbers game) will hit them hard. Some will quit. Some will start to see themselves as less worthy, less competent, rather than someone who's just learning a skill.

3.9) And guess what happens when an author conditioned like this finally signs with an agent? They likely will end up in an unequal power dynamic with that agent, rather than as partners. This has negative ripple effects on one's entire career

4) I believe it's important that agents accept that if they want good subs in the manner in which the industry currently calls for, they need to teach querying--at conferences, online, etc. But it's necessary to understand that the way we tweet about it matters.

4.5) A single tweet won't mess with a writer's prospective career, but tweets build to reinforce a larger pattern in the industry that harms new writers. As a key part of this system, it's our responsibility to be generous and kind. To not use their effort as a punch line.

(fin) I believe there's an affirming, helpful way to discuss writing queries and the editing process online, and I want to call on all the Agents who Post to think more critically about the implications their #querytips have on their followers.

Postscript: it's necessary to mention that in the first several years of my career, I was actively encouraged by my boss to post about "crazy" queries and other things to raise my visibility as a publishing expert. As time passed, I realized how harmful this behavior was.

Postscript pt2: I know I'm not alone amongst younger agents in being taught bad habits that reinforce the old guard-style of agenting. Many of us are working hard to correct these behaviors, but it's not a perfect process.

CORRECTION: Someone very rightly pointed out that my point #2 here conflates bad querying with mental illness. This was not at all my intention and I apologize for my inexact and ableist word usage here. If I can clarify, (1/5)

Bad queries =/= mental illness (a huge portion of people in publishing have various mental illnesses, myself included). The trend I meant to point to was the one of "extreme query advice" that uses mental illness as the butt of the joke 2/5

The "extreme" queries agents often latch onto and make fun of online are the queries in slush that are assumed to be the work of someone with untreated mental illness (often these are religious manifestos/conspiracies/diatribes against a certain group) 3/5

These types of submissions are an inevitable part of your slush pile and ALL authors should be treated privately and publicly with compassion and respect. These books should not be used as "extreme publishing advice" or "hey, this is a fun story about a bananas idea." 4/5

Also, as a human, you shouldn't try and diagnose a stranger (or discount them) based on an idea they sent you. And it's bad for agents to see a query, which they might never consider honestly, and shit on it in public because it's extreme and gets you lots of likes 5/5