I've been at my desk for 22 minutes and I've already received TWO notices of offers from querying writers, so let's talk about it real quick!
It's my favorite thing when a writer tells me they've got an offer from another agent bc it marks a turning point--but I'm not talking about their career. I'm talking about how this is the point where all the agents drop the pretense that the writer isn't the one in power.
It's when agencies are forced to drop their gatekeeper act & actually sell themselves to a writer, and even if I don't end up competing for the book, it's so heartening to see writers setting boundaries and deadlines and being respected by this industry for the first frickin time
1) listing cumulative degrees in the signature instead of having actual real bios on their website OR (1.5) any evidence of previous mentorship or sales
2) gaslighting writers into thinking they aren’t the ones who have the power in an author/agent relationship
It’s in a writer’s best interest to let all other agents know they have an offer on the table—you can compare (potential) agents and better get exactly what will work best for you.
If an agent has requested your partial or full (beyond standard opening submission requirements), 1) if they use email, send them an email in thread but add to subject line OFFER RECEIVED. 2) of using query tracker/manager, push the offer received notification
As promised, here's a thread on word counts! I won't be dipping my toes into the specific conflict that inspired this thread, so think of this instead as more of a Beginner's Guide to Word counts!
Word counts are one of the first things a writer will learn about when they start looking into the publishing side of the business of writing. Not because it's a definitive rule, but because it's easy to list and teach, and it's a pretty basic metric (most) professionals agree on
Here are two things that are both true: 1) a book should be exactly as long as it needs to be for the story 2) genres have standard word count ranges and these ranges are there for a reason!
I'm starting my morning with a gigantic pot of tea and my slush pile, so let's talk about queries for a few minutes!
Every query needs a metadata paragraph, where you tell an agent the data (material information) about your data (the book itself). Most of this metadata is super easy to provide...
Title--I bet your book has one, even if it's a working title!
Word count--just look at the bottom of your word doc!
But then you get to the tougher stuff that, frustratingly, feels like it should be simple: category and genre
I've been talking with authors a lot about how they're frustrated that writing in a panini isn't getting easier. So here is my guide to writing in a global pandemic/when life is hard and uncertain/in late-stage capitalism/in a climate crisis:
Write your 1) most marketable idea 2) as best as you can 3) as fast as you can
If you can't write your most marketable idea, write the idea that you're the most excited about