For writers

As someone who knew no one in publishing when I first started out, I’m hugely passionate about helping demystify the industry for others. As I’m not able to be as chatty online as I once was, I’ve instead pulled together my biggest writing tips and industry thoughts here. I’d also love to ask that if you repost/share/quote anything here, that you credit me! All rights reserved, etc.

Please note, that to every ‘rule’ below, there are exceptions and things do change over time, so take everything below with a grain of salt. Nothing here will guarantee you an agent or a book deal. But this is what I learned in my own experience of trial and failure, and from chatting with other authors. I hope something here’s helpful!

 General publishing questions

  • There are different types of publishing, ranging from traditional publishing to indie/self-publishing, and I’m going to focus on trad publishing, since that’s what I know. But know first this is a multi-year process—it took me five books written over five years of writing (25 - 40 hrs a week) to sell one, and from selling to publication (when it’s on shelves), it’ll have been over a year and a half. It’s a long process!

    1. And the first thing you have to do is write the book (and, like, to the very end).

    Then, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Then, if you can, send it to some readers to see how it all lands—everybody* needs a second pair of eyes, since we’re often too close to see it with a fresh eye. Then rewrite some more based on that feedback. Also, get used to people asking you “you wrote a book! Can I read it?” or, if you’re lucky, “Where can I buy it?” and then you laughing miserably as you try to explain how publishing works.

    *okay FINE, most people, not the unicorns.

    2. When you’ve taken the story as far as you can take it, you try to find an agent through a process called querying (more tips on this in the Querying section below).

    The big publishers (usually) don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts, so the only way to get published with one of them is to have an agent. They are the ones with the connections to publishers; they sell your book and negotiate your contract, and are your business partner, career manager, and advocate with your publishers. So you write a pitch for your book called a query, and send it to agents you think will be a good fit, and hope one of them will love your book and think it’ll sell, and agree to represent you. It is a mutual choosing; you don’t hire them, and they don’t hire you. You both get paid when you sell a book to a publisher!

    3. Next, you and your agent will prepare your book for submission to publishers.

    This usually involves a couple rounds of edits, to get the book in the best possible shape for an editor.

    4. Your agent sends your book to editors at publishing houses. This can be in rounds, big or small, but it can takes time to hear back. People can sell a book in two days, or in two years. Rejection is the name of the game (typically), so let it sting when it comes, lean on your agent and writer friends as needed, then get yourself back up and keep working on your craft. But you either sell the book, or—and I’d highly recommend this—you and your agent start working on the next thing, so you have something ready to go, either if the first book sells or doesn’t sell.

    5. You’ve sold your book! Congratulations! Your book will probably be on bookshelves in 1 - 2 years from the time you sell, which is totally normal. Now, you begin edits with your editor at the publishing house. You’ll usually go through 2 - 4 rounds of edits before you’re both happy with the book, in which case it’ll go to the small edits, which go to different editors—copyeditors, proofreaders, etc.

    6. Usually after that happens, the fun stuff kicks off ~6 - 9 months before publication date: cover design, the book going up on retailers, seeing your words formatted as a BOOK for the first time, marketing and promotion starts, etc. This typically continues to ramp up until pub date. And hopefully, your agent/or publisher is hustling to sell the book to foreign publishers too, which are a nice little bonus. By this time, you might be neck-deep (or, um, submerged) in writing Book 2, in which case when people show shock and awe that you’ve written A Book you’ll look at them blankly as you struggle to remember what in the world they’re talking about, and then go “oh that was so Book 1 ago, I’ve moved on.”

    7. If you’ve survived this far, all the congratulations in the world to you. Your book is now on shelves, and you’re A Published Author. 🖤

  • To the first, no! And to the second, depends.

    Trad publishing is not impossible to break into. It takes grit and dedication and research and a ridiculous amount of persistence, but if you were the child constantly in timeout/the principal’s office for being stubborn or blissfully doing your own little thing whether you were supposed to or not, congrats! You may have the makings of an author.

    To illustrate, I don’t have a Masters in writing or a degree in a relevant field. I wasn’t particularly good at academic writing and barely scraped by in college. When I started taking fiction writing seriously, I didn’t know a soul in publishing. I found my agent the old-fashioned way, through querying, and she (bless her) saw something in my writing and plucked me from the slush pile. By the time my book sold, I had a modest little social media platform, but I never went viral, or had a TikTok, or been smiled upon by Stephen King, or anything like that.

    Basically: I didn’t have any publishing connections, formal writing-focused education, and very little social media. What I did have was a knack for researching, a drive to learn everything I possibly could about the craft of writing, and bull-headed stubbornness. As far as the things in my control go, if I can do it, anyone can.

    Now, onto the indie/self-publishing question.

    I won’t say much here because other people are way more qualified to offer advice on that, but here’s my take on it—there are pros and cons to every publishing path, and you have to decide which ones you’re most willing to deal with.

    To provide hope, let’s look at indie/self-publishing pros:

    • Indie publishing is pretty much on your timeline, so it can be much, much faster than trad (from selling my debut to it releasing, it was over a year and a half—which is, alas, very normal). A very successful self-publishing author I’ve chatted with said she doesn’t have deadlines—she gets the book done when it gets done, sends it to her editor when it’s ready, and (for the most part) sidesteps the stress of timing. Brilliant.

    • You have 100% control over everything, from cover to title to every word that goes inside the book. You can keep that emotional support scene you can’t bring yourself to cut! You can even have pictures/art put in the book! You can name a character something ridiculous*! Lovely.

    *we are not discussing whether you should, just that you can.

    • You keep all money you earn (unless you use a hybrid publisher that takes a cut, but anyways). Who doesn’t like that?

    Now to gently rain on the parade, indie/self-publishing cons:

    • It’s on your timeline—but that means you have to swap your writer hat for a production hat for a marketing hat for a formatting hat etc in order to get it all done. Meaning, if the book is going to be edited + have a cover + be marketed so that people can, you know, find your book, YOU have to do all the work. No one is going to do it for you, unless you hire people! So you better be good a managing Things, or hiring someone to manage Things.

    • it’s pretty expensive upfront. Unless you’re a magical Jack-of-all-trades who can do literally everything yourself (and do it well), before you ever hold your book in your hands, you have to find/hire/work with a cover designer, editor (please, please hire an editor, and a good one), find a company who will print the books, figure out how they will print them (on demand or by runs), figure out timing for prints so that they’ll be ready by release date, format/typeset the entire book (which can be a massive headache), etc—and that’s only the production side.

    • If you want the book to really fly, you have to market the book, and I mean market. Hustle big time*. You can have an amazing book that’s gorgeous and and amazing, but it won’t sell if no one’s heard of it.

    *for whoever is going to pop into my email saying ‘Hey Ande, I didn’t market my self-pubbed book at all and it exploded!’ yes, okay, wonderful, how does it feel to be the divine favorite? The rest of us mortals must toil along for our spoils.

    Now let’s look at trad publishing:

    • With trad publishing, it’s true you don’t have 100% control on some things—cover, title, etc, but I will say that a good publisher usually wants you to love whatever they go with, so they will usually hear you out. Also, this is why you have an agent, who can go to bat for you on the things most important to you.

    • You don’t pay a cent upfront, pretty much ever. Or you SHOULDN’T upfront, not to an agent, not to an editor, not to a cover designer or publishing house or anything. Your agent gets paid when you get paid, and your publisher gives you an advance that you keep. You don’t lose any money by going the trad publishing route.

    • You also have an entire team of experienced people behind the book, from your editors to cover designers to a marketing/publicity team to the all hallowed typesetters etc. You don’t have to learn how to typeset, yall. You don’t have to pay out of pocket for facebook ads or whatever will draw the masses these days. I’ve dabbled with marketing before for other ventures, and decided I did not want to be the sole person responsible for waving around my book. And don’t get me started on typesetting—few things make me see red like technology issues or not knowing how to make A Formatting Thing happen.

    I know people who are in their ZONE with indie/self-pubbing, and love it. If you have time, some cash, are very managerial and organized, and prefer to run the show, self/indie could be a great fit. Though I will say—if the goal is someday to be traditionally published, I’d honestly recommend skipping indie publishing, and going straight for trad. Both are a lot of work, but (real talk moment) self-pubbing first doesn’t usually (USUALLY) increase your odds of getting a trad book deal. I think a lot of people think indie is easier than trad (or an easier path to it), but typically that’s just not the case. While it’s true publishers are dipping more into the successful indie pub space, people like Andy Weir and Olivie Blake who started out self-published and were snatched up are more the exception, not the rule—and that’s not a comment on the quality/content of the book. A book can be amazing but very hard to get in the public eye, especially since right now the market is bigger than it’s ever been, for both indie and trad.

    Tl; dr: Do your research and see what fits best for YOU as a writer, determine what things are most important to you, and follow the path accordingly. And don’t be afraid to pivot, try different things. Whichever path you choose can be a daunting process, but you can absolutely make it happen.

    (Oh no, I did say much about indie/self publishing. Oh well hope that was helpful.)

  • If you have never, ever shared your work with someone else before, then YES. The answer is unequivocally, unmistakably, yes.

    (watch someone come barreling into my inbox saying they didn't, and succeeded just fine--if that's you, CONGRATULATIONS. You are a rare species and I applaud you and want to be you.)

    But for us peasants, writing is a craft, not an innate talent. It's something you have to work at, work hard at, and test out. And almost always, we ourselves are too close to our own work to know if it's, well, working.

    Whether you opt for a critique partner or a beta (or whatever else you want to call them), I'd rec one big thing: suggest swapping or sending them a couple chapters first, and testing out the relationship. Don't commit to sending a 400 page book right off, because you might find very quickly that their feedback style does Not fit what you need (or for the recipient, they may discover your book/writing/etc might not be a great fit for them). It's okay to try a blind date and for it to not go well--you just want to make sure you're not committing to a full six months of dates before you've ever met! To make a strange analogy. So: give each other an out, and say something like, "Let's swap a couple chapters! And if our styles mesh, we can do a few more." Etc. That way you build up trust in small increments, rather than take one whopping leap of faith and plunge off a cliff.

    Ahem.

    The other thing I'll say is make sure your reader actually reads your genre/audience. Asking an adult romance author to read your middle-grade sci-fi story could yield some radically interesting feedback which may or may not be helpful. But if you know the reader is part of your target audience and reads the sort of book you're writing, they'll be able to give feedback specific to the genre/audience much more effectively.

    Now—if you’ve shared work before and it was horrifying, absolutely terrible and you never ever want to do that again, it’s okay. But I’d highly recommend deciphering whether the problem is A. you shared your work with the wrong person, or B. sharing work is just not how you function. Because there is a difference. And I believe about 90% of writers I know would say another reader is invaluable, and necessary in beginning stages as you figure out what you’re good at and what you need to work on. I only know of a couple of successful authors who only show their work to their publishing team, and that’s what works for them!

  • Social media is a wonderful thing for making those writer connections. Adrienne Young and Kristin Dwyer started the #findmywritingcommunity hashtag on Instagram, and that's how I found most of my close friends! I would recommend starting a writing social media--my weapon of choice is Instagram--and scrolling through that writing hashtag, or any writing-related hashtags. Then when you see someone's post that connects with you, comment or message them, and introduce yourself! It can be awkward. You might not hit it off. Or you might swap pages and discover that you all might not be great writing partners. That's all okay. But you know what? You might hit it off. You might become amazing critique partners or beta readers for each other. But you'll never know unless you put yourself out there!

    Some ideas for starting a writing social media:

    • pick a handle. One related to books or writing can be great for letting people know this is for writing, not just a personal page!

    • post an intro pic! Tell people a little about yourself, what genres you write or read, as much about your WIP as you’re comfortable sharing. It can also be helpful to say what you’re wanting, like, ‘I’m hoping to connect with more fantasy writers,’ or, ‘I’d love to find a CP or beta reader for my WIP!’

    • If you’re making a writing account… I’d honestly recommend refraining from publicly sharing about books you don’t like. Publishing is small. And the author whose book you posted a scathing review of might someday be on a panel with you. Or you might be asked to do an event with another one. Just be mindful. 🖤

    • but the biggest thing I’d say: interact with others! Respond to the comments you get. Go through a writing hashtag, like + comment + follow someone new. Take the first step and message them: introduce yourself, and ask about their writing journey; they just might become a new beta or CP. That’s how you make deeper connections and find your people!

    Someone more tech savvy than me can tell you about the algorithm game/technical things to do to boost visibility, but honestly, you don’t really need to if you’re intentional about reaching out to others. I’ve met some of my dearest friends on here, including some writer friends who have turned into real life friends.

  • You have a couple options for early readers--and I should add, I don't believe in paying for early readers, whether it's CPs or betas. There are thousands of writers of every genre, audience, trope-preferences, etc out there who also want readers--find them! You'd be amazing at how many people would be delighted to swap pages.

    Critique Partners: this is usually another writer, someone who is at a similar place to you skill-wise (but obviously you'll have different strengths/weaknesses!). But usually, this is the first person (or one of the first people) who sees the book. They might see a first draft (make sure they're aware/comfortable with that!), or you might send them the first draft you've shown anyone but might actually be your sixth. But the point is, they know this is a Work In Progress, that it's Not at its full potential, but they're committed to helping you get it there.

    Also, usually a CP is someone you're sending stuff to as well--so you're reading each other's work, whether it's chapter-by-chapter, or in big chunks, full drafts, etc. But they'll ideally encourage you with what's working, give ideas for how to strengthen the parts that might not be, and honestly, you need a friend in the writing trenches with you. And you, be that for them in reverse, too. I should also add you can have one CP or many--CPs for different projects (like I do, depending on the genre/audience I'm writing), or CPs for different seasons, or one faithful CP until the day you die. It's whatever works for both of you, but the point is, it should be mutual.

    Beta Readers: Betas can be writers or just readers--a writer friend you met online or a reader you know IRL who absolutely loves the genre you write, whatever. But the way I think of betas is that they're there to have the full reader experience (so reading the whole manuscript through), and let you know how it went. I usually like to have at least two non-writers in my pool of betas, so I know they'll be coming at it from an audience/readership perspective.

    My suggestion: If you're very new to writing, I would rec finding a CP first, someone who can really get in the writing trenches with you and help get that manuscript to the best place you can. A comrade in arms, as it were. Then, when you feel like you've gotten the book to a pretty good spot, start the hunt for a couple of betas. I'd recommend finding at minimum two, because one reader's thoughts can be subjective; two, however, will give you an idea of what's really working and what's not. Three betas might be better, that way there can be a tie-breaker in case the betas disagree.

    (I will once again do my shameless little plug to beware who you share your book with--a random person you sorta know IRL who says "hey I'll read your book" might not be the best person to give the kind of feedback you need (of course, they might be perfect, but that's a risk, and I've suffered through enough risks in my little writing career to want you to Not have to, so just know: it's a risk).)

    What to do now that you've ensnared people into reading:

    1. I like to send people a little blurb/paragraph about the book, so they know what they're getting into. You can even send the first chapter with it, if it's the first time you're sharing with someone, that way they can see your writing style.

    2. I'd also let them know where in the writing process you are--like, "I've revised this twice and am still working on the plot, will focus on the prose after I nail that down, so please don't mind the typos" or something like that, that way they're not focusing on something you haven't even gotten to.

    3. List a couple things you'd like them to give feedback on! You can ask about pacing--any parts that are too slow? when did you put the book down for the night?--or what character seemed extraneous, or the least well-rounded, etc.

    4. Give a deadline for when you'd like feedback. Even if you are not technically on any deadline but your own, if you don't give people a deadline, sometimes they just... won't read? Or take it seriously?? But giving a target date ensures THEY know when to read by, and YOU know when to expect feedback. I usually say something like "I'd love to start revising in about a month, so I'm hoping for feedback by October 15th; if you're unable to read by then, no worries, but please do let me know!"

  • Funnily enough, I’m going to address this question to you—how can you be a good CP/beta reader?—because it’s not just about what someone can be to you, but what you can be to them. So—look for these things in others, but I’d encourage you to also really step up to these traits, too.

    My number one thought/advice: friends, if you agree to read someone’s pages/their book, please for the love of Pete, honor your word. Of course there are times when life gets in the way and you miss a reading deadline--that's okay. But communicate that to the writer! If you say you're going to read and provide feedback, that is a commitment. Not a mood read, if you 'feel like it.'

    Now, if you start reading someone’s work and you're like 'this is not for me,' that's okay--it happens. In that case, kindly let the writer know that you're unable to finish the read, or wouldn't be the best person to give feedback on the subject matter, etc. But say it with me now, yall: communicate.

    (and be kind. Please, please be kind. It takes a lot of trust/faith for a writer to show their words to someone, so please don't take it lightly. Give them the same kind of respect and acknowledgement that you would want someone to give YOU and your words)

    (end rabbit trail)

    Over the years, there have been quite a few times when I’ve been ghosted after sending pages or a manuscript; awks. And if we're still chatting down the line, it'll make me hesitate to send anything again. I encourage you to Not be that person, but instead do your best to be the dependable friend who will always at the least communicate. That's one of the things that separates writing as a hobby/mood thing, versus a profession/career, where you're planning to make lasting relationships and take it seriously.

    Tl;dr: So if you find someone you'd like to form a mutual partnership with, make reading their work a priority!

    My second thought: always, always, always point out what is working in someone’s work. Don’t be afraid to gush over it. But make sure there is a nice hefty amount of positive things you’re pointing out, in addition to the things that could be strengthened. And always end on a positive note + encouraging point.

    My third thought: be kind in what you critique. Don’t criticize (there’s a difference!). I tend to phrase things like “Things I would’ve loved to see more of,” or something like that. Not, for instance, “this thing sucked,” “you totally made no sense when…” or “This didn’t work at all.” You can absolutely be honest with your feedback, but really take care in how you word things. I’ve heard people shred other people’s pages in the name of ‘just being honest,’ and ‘wanting to help,’ and that’s…. not helpful. If you’re criticizing (i.e. giving feedback in such a way that makes the writer never want to write again) instead of critiquing (giving helpful and encouraging feedback meant to spark ideas in the writer), you’re probably doing it wrong. It costs nothing to be kind, and put critique in a tactful way!

    My fourth thought: if you’re pointing out an issue or something the writer could improve on, give suggestions! Illustrate with examples of what you’re talking about, or throw out a few different solutions for the plot hole (I call these spitball ideas—they could be awful but hey, something might work). Go into brainstorming mode—there’s no such thing as a bad idea, and even if you have a silly solution, it might spark something much better in the writer (which is the goal!).

    My final thought: try to understand what the author is trying to do with their work, and see what you can do to help them get there. Their vision is key, not yours! And your number one goal should be to be helpful, however they need. So ask questions! What are they trying to accomplish? What do they hope the reader will feel at a certain point? How do they want the story to end? Etc. Learn to separate your preferences from whether a story is actually working—i.e., if you don’t like sci-fi, maybe don’t dock a sci-fi story for being in space?! You don’t have to like space, but you can learn to tell what makes a good sci-fi. That’s a dramatic example—I’m not saying ‘go and read what you hate and try to force yourself to love it’—but similarly, when reading someone else’s work, you might not have had a character make a certain decision if you were telling the story—but that doesn’t mean the story is bad/must be changed, just because you’d have told it differently. Don’t try to change someone else’s work to fit your vision of what their story should be! Instead, I really encourage trying to see what the author is trying accomplish, and learning to tell whether the story is achieving that.

  • Unfortunately, with my scheduling constraints, I’m no longer able to read pages or query material—however, here you will find my best query tips and tricks, and I can’t encourage you enough to find a critique partner or beta who can give you encouragement and feedback!

    1. First draft: also called a rough draft, zero draft (for the perfectionists out there who'd like to pretend the first draft isn't a flaming dumpster fire), skeleton draft, or 'hakuna matata draft,' if you're me. Personally, I hammer out a very short (~50k-60k words) skeleton draft that is full of gaps and holes, but I do it in about a month or two. It's a mess. Not even book-shaped. There are countless [HAMILTON'S MURDER SCENE TK HERE] brackets that I'll fill in later. But the point is to get it done, because anything can be fixed in revisions.

    2. Developmental edits: big picture edits. Rip-out-an-entire-subplot edits. Nothing is safe. This can take multiple rounds if necessary, but ideally, each round of edits gets smaller and more focused.

    3. Line edits: the fun part! If you're me, anyways. You've graduated from cutting entire characters and are now focused on making the story most effective. This is where you spend time at the sentence-level and make the prose shine.

    4. Copy edits: this tends to be when you're working with a publisher, but in a publishing house, you'll typically have a copy editor whose amazing job it is to fact check all the things, make sure the chronology of the story works, ensure a character doesn't have a birthday twice in the book, etc. My amazing copy editor for You Are Fatally Invited checked to see if wheelchairs float in water because of A Plot Thing (update: they do not). Copy editors are a gift. Love on your copy editors.

    5. Proofreading (or, First Pass Pages if you're working with a publisher): one last read-through checking for typos, grammar things, and tweaking things at the word level as needed. In a publishing house, you might have first pass pages, then second pass pages, even third pass pages, to make sure no little typos slip through the cracks. Wouldn't want your main character Gary to miss his shift without an f, would we.

My biggest advice for fledgling writers

Finish writing the book

Set a timeline for yourself and finish that first draft, whatever it takes—proving to yourself that you can do it is half the battle. If you keep getting slowed down by details you're unsure of, start a notebook (or spreadsheet) and make a note of each thing to figure out later, and then move on. And don't be afraid to experiment with your writing. Never stop trying to improve your craft and learning from others!

Find your people

Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to other writers. Learn to be a good beta reader—to give kind, honest critique, trying to understand what the writer is trying to accomplish in their words—and to receive that critique too.

Look beyond your own page

Research the business side of writing, like querying, and what makes a good literary agent, and how publishers and editors work, etc. Read good books and ‘bad’ books, picking apart the good and the bad of each. I honestly learn more from bad books than I do from good ones, which is weird to say but there we are. And for the love of heaven, read recent books (within the last 5 years) in your genre, so you know what the market is doing and what people are reading these days!

Beware who you show early work to

Harsh watering can murder a sapling that hasn’t gotten its roots in deep. Very well-intentioned family/friends/people (mainly non-writers) assume you need all the harsh critical feedback to help you improve, but that’s not true—similarly, all sunshine ‘this is perfect’ feedback isn’t always helpful, either.

You need feedback that is looking for the potential of your work, and willing to help you get it there. Which means encouragement on what you’re doing well, brainstorming when you get stuck, and honest but kind notes on what to focus on/how to strengthen the next round. Learn how to give this yourself, too. There is a difference between critique and criticism, and ain’t nobody need criticism, yall. Let me know if you want me to come somewhere and deliver a Ted Talk on that, because I will. I’ll bring my soapbox and megaphone.

Learn to face rejection (in your own time)

It’s the worst, but it’s a writer’s rite of passage. Let it sting, then pick yourself up, see if there’s anything you can learn from it, and put yourself out there again. It will get better. You will get better. The only failed writer is the one who gave up. If you’ve got stories inside you that you have to share and you can’t stop writing, don’t give up.

Additionally, learn to face rejection—and feedback—with grace

It really should go without saying, but I beg of thee: don’t argue with an agent’s rejection, or go around your/an agent to track down editors/publishers and sneak into their inboxes or phones. That will not help you! Similarly, if someone gives you feedback, try to take a step back and see where they are coming from. You don’t have to accept feedback you disagree with, and hopefully, the person giving feedback is being kind about it (we’re not talking about Those People who think they’re helping by shredding your book and handing it—and your will to write—back to you in tatters). But even good feedback can sting, and that’s okay. But to respond by shutting down, outright dismissing, or lashing out will only serve to alienate that person who is (hopefully) trying to help tease out your work to its highest potential. Being professional about your work is part of being an author.

And lastly, always, always be kind…

…even when you get those rejections, even if someone acts snotty about something, or if someone’s books end up not being for you. You’re not just a consumer/reviewer anymore—if you’re a writer and aspiring author, other writers are now your colleagues, and playground rules still apply: tearing down others [in the industry] says more about you than it does about them. I personally would recommend against criticizing books or authors in public/online, or posting negative reviews. Even in closed conversations, I’d still exercise caution. You don’t need to be besties with everyone—or gush lies about loving a book you secretly want to convert into confetti—but publishing is smaller than you think. So, be mindful! Be professional! Kindness is free!

Query advice

(aka, first step toward traditional publishing: how to find an agent and pitch your book)

  • Because they are a gift to writers everywhere. At least, a good agent is. In a nutshell, agents are business managers, career strategists, brainstorming partners, and soft 'lawyers' all in one--they take care of SO many things so you can focus on writing! They sell your book for you (wooo no trying to sell it yourself!), negotiate your contract, are there to ensure everything is smooth between you and your publisher, etc.

    In more detail:

    For one, if you want to publish traditionally, you typically have to have an agent. Big publishing houses don't usually accept unsolicited manuscripts, meaning, an agent has the connections to submit your book; you can't! (which is exciting news, because who wants to be the one to cold-call sell your book to big publishers? Not I)

    Second, unless you have great experience with publishing contracts (which are a Whole Thing), you need someone who knows what they're looking at and can negotiate a contract for you. This is your agent's time to shine! And why you want a good, well-informed one who will fight for your best interests.

    Third, agents handle so many other things like making sure you get paid, coming up with a plan to sell your subrights, and ensuring things are going smoothly between you and your publisher.

    Real talk moment: while ideally your agent would become a friend, your agent is not required to be your friend (nor is being a friend a guarantee that they’re your best champion). Some amazing agents who are darned good at their job aren’t really friends with their clients. That’s okay. An agent is your business partner, career manager, and ‘defender’ if anything goes down with your publishers, for hopefully all of your career (years and years across books and books). You need to be able to be open and honest with them, but ‘friend’ is not in the job description; someone who will go to bat for you, is.

    HOWEVER, your agent should always treat you like an equal—never like you work for them or must take their word as gospel. That’s a good thing to keep an eye on in the offer call, if they make you feel like an equal, or give you a list of things You Must Do and don’t leave in room for pushback. It’s an agent’s (and editor’s) job to set the book up for as much success as possible, so of course they’re going to give you their thoughts and have a strategy for things. When it comes to working on the book together, they’ll provide edit letters (usually), and you can take or leave their suggestions, or brainstorm together to find another idea. And they really are the experts in the field (provided they are good agents/editors), so if they point something out that doesn’t work in your book, it’s not a bad idea to listen to them—even if you don’t take their suggestion on how to fix it. More on this below.

  • Before you start sending out queries, I recommend having several things in place:

    1. A completed manuscript that’s been edited (multiple times), and formatted for submission, with a title page and page numbers and chapters beginning on their own pages. I like to have the manuscript split into 3 - 4 general document sizes, because agents will ask for different numbers of pages: 10 pages, 25 pages, 50 pages, and the complete manuscript. That way, when they say “please send me the first 50 pages,” you’re not scrambling to get it all formatted.

    2. A query letter (250 – 300 word pitch summarizing your book)

    3. A synopsis (1 – 2 pages, with all the twists and reveals. Don’t worry about spoilers)

    4. A list of agents that you have vetted and would be prepared to work with if they should offer to represent your work. You don’t want to work with just any agent!

  • A few things to keep in mind!

    1. Querying a book with a word count way over or under genre norms.

    I had a friend* who somehow completely missed that YA books are regularly 75k - 90k words long (usually, for debuts), and dumbly queried a 137k word YA thriller (THRILLER. Which are usually ~80k. This friend did not do her research.). Said-friend got all form rejections, likely because agents glanced at the query, saw the word count instantly, and did an automatic pass.

    But why? Agents are limited on time and are flooded with queries, so querying a book almost 50k over the genre norm is giving them a great big reason to turn it down, without even getting to the sample pages. Readers these days—in a lot of genres—aren’t gravitating towards longer books, so publishing a longer book from a new, untried author is more of a risk for a publisher. Hence, publishers are looking for certain word counts (again, if it’s a new author). So, from an agent’s perspective, if a book is going to be way under or way over what is normal for the genre, getting the book ready for publishers is going to be a lot more work—it’s much easier to edit an 80k book, than a 140k book. If a book is any length over the norm, the story will really have to justify it. If it doesn’t, it’ll require extensive snipping, which means a lot of editing with the agent before it can even go to a publisher. Alternatively, if the book falls pretty short, it’ll require beefing up. Either way, an agent would have to put in quite a bit more work when there’s—unfortunately!—no guarantee a publisher will snap it up.

    Now, of course, there are exceptions to every rule—but (hard talk moment), tragically, you can’t expect to be the exception, know what I’m saying?

    Fantasy and literary fiction have a lot more leeway—those can run upwards of 100k words for a debut, even—but on the whole, it can be hard for an agent to sell a book over 100k words to a publisher. And so, harder for a writer to get an agent with a higher word count.

    Don’t be my friend! My humble advice would be to look up genre norms for what you write, and do your best to stay within 5k words of that. That could help an agent make it past your query letter to your pages!

    *The friend might’ve actually been me in my early querying days

    2. Using comps (comparative titles, aka books that are like yours) that are too big/ overdone, or too old.

    Comp’ing to big/overdone titles: If you’re going to use The Lord of the Rings as a comp title, puh-lease be mashing it up to something like Legally Blonde—i.e., something surprising and unusual that will make agents sit up straight and go “wait WHAT.” For the most part, people have worn out LotR and Harry Potter as comps, unless you really show them why yours is different. My advice would be to skip the overused classics, and go for the well-known recent ones.

    Comp’ing to old books:it can be tempting to comp to a tried-and-true old book, and while you absolutely can, it’s generally a good idea to have at least one comp that has been published in the last five years, in your genre. This tells an agent where your book will sit on a shelf, and that you know the genre and what’s publishing these days, both of which are very important. See more under “Even More Thoughts on Comp Titles.”

    3. Not following the standard format for a query.

    Query’s are formulaic by design—they’re organized to give an agent all the information needed to decide to keep reading: your genre, word count, comp titles, and a short and snappy pitch to hook them in. It can be tempting to throw the ‘rules’ out the window to inject Flare and Personality into your query (which can work, but, well, is a risk), and pour out every juicy bit of the plot so they can Really See What They’re Missing, but what an agent is looking for is how they in turn can pitch the book to publishers. And if they have to weed through to find that, then that’s more work they have to do.

    4. Alternatively, not following an agent’s specific instructions for query material.

    Sometimes agents will be specific instructions on their websites—”please upload the first ten pages,” “please upload your query ONLY,” “please upload the first three chapters in .docx,” or “Please don’t follow-up unless six weeks have gone by.”

    Follow the instructions, friends!

    5. Querying agents only a couple at a time.

    Let’s say you send two queries, and one of them offers to represent you! Amazing. Now, you need to notify all the other agents who have your query that you now have an offer of representation, and will be making a decision in two weeks. Only—it’s bad practice to send more queries after you get an offer, so you can only notify the other agent. Which means you might be missing out on a bunch of other agents.

    I’d rec sending between 5 and 15 queries out at a time, and as passes come in, think about sending out a couple more. And I’d also advise making sure to query both some of your top choices among the others, not saving top choices for later—because if you do get an offer, you want to be able to reach out to at least a couple of your top choices, and not feel like you missed the opportunity!

    6. And lastly—giving up too easily.

    I’ve heard querying writers say they’ll give it 30 queries, and then quit. Or they only have the patience to query for six months. Or they’ve decided to only query their top five, and that’s it. But what if it’s the 31st query that gets offered on? Or you get one in the seventh month? Or your perfect agent is actually Not in your top five picks, but is another agent you passed over instead?

    You might’ve heard me say this before, but I’ll say it again: the only failed writer is the one who gave up. It took me nine months and sixty-eight queries to find my agent, which in some ways, was fast. One friend of mine only queried a month before her first offer. For another, it was several years and multiple books—and then within 3 months, she had not only an agent, but a pretty fantastic book deal with a big publisher, too. And for another, it took over 1000 queries until she landed a top agent. And each of these writers is amazing! Taking time is not necessarily a reflection on the book, or a person’s writing. No one’s writing journey looks the same.

    I can’t tell you how tempted I’ve been over the years to quit, including right before I got my agent offer—and then a couple years later, literally the week before I received the book deal for You Are Fatally Invited. You never know what’s around the corner, and if you assign yourself an arbitrary time to quit or number of agents to query, you have no idea what you could be missing out on. If you believe in a story, and can’t get enough of the craft of writing, don’t give up.

  • 1. The shorter the query letter, the better. 250 words is the sweet spot, 300 max. But aim for 250.

    2. Have one sentence near the top, with your comps, the genre, and the word count. That’s what an agent is looking for first, to get a feel for the project. Example: “NINTH HOUSE meets THE INHERITANCE GAMES in THOSE WE DECEIVE, a 90,000 word YA thriller." More on this under ‘Log line.’

    3. Research EVERY single agent you query—be picky. A bad agent is legitimately worse than no agent—they can screw your career, but just as well, a good agent can really make it successful.

    4. Personalize your query letters! Yes, I know this is a topic of debate—lots of writers say this doesn’t matter, and for some agents, it really doesn’t. HOWEVER, in my experience (and that of other friends I’ve chatted with), personalizing can also make an agent sit up straighter and take notice. So: I’d suggest finding a specific reason why you think that agent is a good fit—not just, “I saw you represent thrillers,” but, “I saw you tweeted about this specific thriller, and thought mine would be a good fit.”

    5. have a list of comps (comparative titles), and adjust the combo based on your agent’s manuscript wish list.

    6. Always, always, always be courteous, even if someone sends you a curt pass. Publishing’s a small world, and agents/writers/publishers talk.

  • Some quick thoughts on picking titles to compare your book to:

    1. Steer clear of comps that are too similar to each other! You want to show how your story is DIFFERENT, or puts a new spin on a familiar story. Comps are the place for you to do that. So instead of comp’ing two similar dystopian books, consider using one dystopian book and one other book/film in a different category. To exaggerate, comp’ing Mad Max: Fury Road to Mad Max: Furiosa doesn’t tell us what’s different about your story—but comp’ing Mad Max: Fury Road to Indiana Jones or even The Princess Bride?! Gimme, I want to see what that would look like.

    2. Placement: I highly rec putting your comps, book details (title, word count, genre), and maybe even one-line pitch in a single sentence near the top of your query.

    3. Using movies, tv shows, or songs as comps: this can actually be very effective, but I’d also really rec using at least one successful book that came out in the last few years.

  • Don’t underestimate the importance of your log line (one-sentence summary of your book). They might seem short/unimportant, but this is your first chance to hook the agent. You want them to want to keep reading, so you need to have an unspoken question that will make them want to know the answer, and thus keep reading. It’s also a great place to tap into the emotional arc/background of the character, which is the heart of the story!

    There are of course different ways to format a log line, but a tried and true one (if you need a place to start) is this:

    "Character wants (goal)--but when (obstacle) happens, they must (face a dilemma/decision)."

    Obviously, you should dress it up, but that’s the general template: focusing on the major question/decision your character will have to answer. Bonus points if you can show us your MC’s original goal pre-story goal/life (like, earning her place among her found family) pitted against this new dilemma (learning found family has dirty secrets, idk). But that clash of goals is what intrigue is all about!

    This should for sure go near the top of your query, so agents can look at it at a glance and get all the info they’ll be scanning for. Here are two ways to do it (and the bad/very loose examples are my own of The Hunger Games, but hopefully you’ll see what I’m trying to say):

    1. linking your log-line to your ‘housekeeping’ sentence where you say the genre, title, word count. I like this way, because it gives everything to an agent in one fell swoop, and agents are fans of saving time/not having to hunt through a query to find the dirty details!

    “THE HUNGER GAMES, a [90,000] word YA dystopia, follows a young girl seeking to avoid notice by her society’s oppressive regime; but when her sister is named in the deadly reaping, Katniss must decide if she’s willing to cling to her plan of escape, or take her sister’s place in the public eye—and deadly games—to save her life.”

    2. Right after your housekeeping sentence; this can also be effective, because you can make it longer to include more details.

    “[COMP TITLE 1] meets [COMP TITLE 2] in THE HUNGER GAMES, a [90,000] word [YA dystopia]. Katniss wants nothing more than to feed her family and remain unnoticed by the oppressive Panem government; but when her sister is named in the annual reaping, Katniss must decide if she’s willing to cling to her plan of escape, or risk taking her sister’s place in the public eye—and deadly games—to save her life.”

  • Here are some things I did:

    - Look in the back of books I love/similar to mine, see if the writer thanked their agent in the acknowledgments. That’s a good sign.

    - Use Querytracker’s feature of looking up an author to see which agent represents them! Found a lot of agents that way.

    - Go through https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/find-agentseditors/agent-list/ and wrote down every agent that represented all of my genres.

    Then once I had a big master list of names, I’d do a general google search of each one, which usually pulls up their agency website/page, their manuscriptwishlist.com page (SUPER helpful for what they’re looking for), their twitter/social (great for getting a feel for what kind of person they might be), and any interviews they might have done (very helpful!). Highly recommend checking each of those quickly.

    It’s a lot of work, but there were SO many agents I decided not to query based on something I found (either something not great, or just realizing they wouldn’t be a good fit). This is going to be your business partner for your career—you want to do the leg-work now to know if they’re going to be a good fit.

    Online Places to Find Agents:

    - Agent Query: https://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx

    - Publisher’s Marketplace - https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/

    - Query Tracker.com

    - Publishing Crawl: http://www.publishingcrawl.com/resources/

    - Agent Spotlight: http://www.literaryrambles.com/search/label/Agent%20Spotlight

    - Manuscript Wishlist: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/find-agentseditors/agent-list/

    - Researching Agents + Tailoring Your Query to Them: https://publishingcrawl.com/p/doing-your-research-the-query-trenches-part-three

  • On the call, I would suggest following the agent’s lead and letting them ask their questions first. Some may not say in the initial email if they are offering, usually because they want to feel you out and make sure you click/agree on revision ideas before offering! So if they don’t bring it up right away, I would recommend waiting a bit to ask; but after you guys have chatted some and it seems like a good moment, feel free to ask if this is an R&R or an offer of rep!

    Below are a bunch of questions and explanations on what to look for, but don’t feel the need to ask ALL of them; feel free to pick and choose what’s most important to you. However, because I’m, you know, me, I’ve underlined the ones I think are most important to know:

    I. About The Book:

    What did you connect with most in the book? Always a good ice-breaker, but this will hopefully give you an idea of their feedback style—whether they give encouraging notes, are more blunt, etc.

    What are the biggest revisions you’d recommend? You don’t need to agree with everything—revisions are always a negotiation—but you want to make sure that most of their suggestions lines up with your vision of the book. If they are very pushy with their feedback, that’s helpful to know too. That may work for some people, but if it doesn’t work for you, that’s good to know now.

    II. Questions about the publishing/on-sub process:

    - What are a few of your recent sales? What publishing houses have you sold to? This will give you a feel for their track record, where their connections are at. I’d jot down names and publishing houses to do your own lil research project on them later. Also, it’s okay if the agent is newer and doesn’t have many sales—if that’s the case, ask about their agency’s recent sales, and if they have a mentor at the agency. Write down the name of that mentor, and research them later. But if they’ve been an agent for a few years and have no sales to show for it… that’s a yellow flag at least.

    - How do you form and maintain relationships with editors? It is SO important for agents to have a good answer to this—networking/connections are everything in this business, and you want them to be proactive in getting out there and making themselves known to editors, especially if they are newer.

    - How do you handle the submission process? Selecting the publishers/editors, deciding how large a round to sub first? How open are you to hearing editors I would like to sub to? You want to make sure she's not over there subbing to her buddy at a small-time press before hustling with the big league publishers; and (in my opinion) you should always be in the know of who your agent is or isn't subbing to, and why!

    - When we’re in the sub process, how open are you with information? Will you keep me updated as rejections and offers come in? Will I know exactly who you're submitting to at all times? Are you willing to share the rejections with me? Seems obvious, but you want to know what submission is going to look like with this agent. Sub can be a very stressful time as is; you don’t want any surprises, like your agent actually not informing you of who your book is going to. Some agents have a method, where they share all the rejections at once every few months—others will send it as they receive them. But if you like to be In the Know, it can be helpful to ask what the agent regularly does, so you’re not like “hey, haven’t gotten a single pass yet, must be a good sign!” and then get slammed with eight passes in a single day. Ya know?

    - Going along with that, do you have a plan for submission in mind already? Which houses/editors do think will be a good fit for this project? Do you contact editors in person/online to pitch them the book before subbing to them? I would highly recommend asking what imprints/editors the agent has in mind, and why they think that particular house/editor would be interested. This’ll be a good gage as to whether they are planning on subbing to the Big publishers (which they SHOULD) or small indie ones you’ve never heard of (not a good sign if those are the only ones they mention); this will also show whether they are keeping up with the big editors/what they’re looking for (so, good sign if they say imprints and mention specific editors). If they have only vague answers/no specific imprints in mind, and are very ‘oh we’ll have to see,’ that’d be a yellow flag for me. I would also encourage jotting down the names of editors/imprints they mention, for you to research after the call. (though, it goes without saying, please Do Not Ever contact an editor/publisher that an agent mentions. Ever!)

    Also, if the agent is newer, I would hope they are trying to pitch books to editors before subbing them, so editors know who the agent is and are expecting to hear from them. Many established agents don’t do that, which is fine, but if they do, that’s a fabulous sign. It’s always good to find out either way, so you’re on the same page concerning sub strategy!

    - How are contracts handled at your agency? (sub questions: how do they (the agent) negotiate contracts? Do they hire out to a freelance contracts team, or do it themselves? Will I get to see a contract before it’s ready to sign, in case I have concerns about anything? This one is very important—an agent should never receive your contract and send it right to you to sign. That indicates they haven’t negotiated anything, and that’s pretty suspish. There is always something to negotiate. Publishers will try to slip weird things in your contract that is good for them (like having unlimited time to decide whether to buy your option book, etc), and good agents are specifically trained to look out for these things and push back. You need that. Contracts are an agent’s time to shine!

    - What is your agency’s stance on AI in contracts? For me this one was important—as an artist of several mediums, I did not want AI to have any part of my book. Publishers are very squirrely when it comes to this, and while it’s near-impossible to get a solid, 100% No AI clause put in your contract, it’s good to know where your agent stands on the issue, and what success they’ve had in fighting back. If that’s something important to you!

    - Does your agency have boilerplate contracts with the big houses? The answer should be a big Yes. Boilerplate contracts are ‘template’ contracts that have all the things that an agency has previously negotiated with the publishing house, so they don’t have to start a contract from scratch. This saves a lot of time, and also can give piece of mind for the things the agent has already negotiated.

    - Worst case scenario, but what happens if this book does not sell?

    So—the answer you want to hear is a very resounding “We work on the next thing.” Wishy-washy answers on this are fishy. But an agent can say the right thing, and then decide later on they’re not a fan of your next ideas—so this question is less about the right words, and more about seeing how they talk about a book dying on sub. Which is why I’d highly recommend asking to chat with a client who is still in the submission process. More on this later.

    III. Client-Agent Relationship:

    - ASK THIS QUESTION: Is there any situation where I would be charged for your services, apart from the commission of any book we sell? This is SO IMPORTANT—an agent should never, ever charge you for editorial services, or doing their job (until they sell the book!). An agent gets paid when you do (when the book sells). Yes, an agent picking you is taking a risk, but you are also taking a risk back on them. That’s the name of the game; there’s a mutual interest in getting that book sold. And if you feel bad about an agent putting in a bunch of work for you before they’re paid, remember: YOU are doing all the work of writing and revising the darned thing, without getting paid. An agent should be paid for their job, which is to sell it/manage your career. But payment for editorial services should not be anywhere in your contract, and if an agent does say ‘well in some circumstances I expect you to compensate me for XYZ before the book sells’…. Run Forrest run. And thank me later.

    - What is your preferred method of communication/business hours? How soon can I expect an answer to any given e-mail? What is your general turnaround time for reading a revision/new draft? There’s not really one ‘right’ answer here, but my two cents are: email and zoom is great. Phone calls are great. But regular texting can traverse into the more ‘casual,’ and to be honest, I’ve seen more people have issues with more casual agents than the more professional ones. Regardless, Ideally, an agent would respond to a client’s email within a couple days (regularly, barring very busy seasons), or a week tops. But clients shouldn’t be just… waiting for weeks for a response to an email.

    As far as reading a draft goes, my thought is 1 - 4 months would be standard, with 4+ being a bit sketchy, unless there are extenuating circumstances—an agent who takes forever to respond or read a revision might also be stalling your career. So ideally, 1 - 3 months for reading a draft is a good answer, and if they’re on the 3 - 4 month end… that can be fine. But I would hope they’re ‘on it’ communication-wise with updates, so you’re not just floating in the abyss wondering if it’ll be tomorrow or in six months that they’ll finish reading.

    - Does the agent represent all of the genres you want to write? You can have multiple agents for different genres, but I’ve heard that can be very stressful. So finding out what all genres they would be willing to represent is a good thing to know for your career.

    - If for some reason we need to part ways, how will this be handled? Are there any stipulations I should be aware of? Again, worst case scenario thinking, but if the agent (heaven forbid) turns out to be the Wicked Witch of the West, you want to know how to break up. Usually agencies will do a '30-60 day mutual termination,' where you're free to go your separate ways, but it's good to know that. I'd also advise checking the contract to see what happens if you guys terminate WHILE you're on sub (ideally, the agent will pull the submission from editors immediately). I’ve seen it happen a couple of times where an author tries to leave an agent while their book is still out to editors, and the agent refused to pull the book from editors during the 30 - 60 day period. Meaning, if an editor passed on a book, even though the agent/author are in the process of breaking up, that author and their future agent cannot take that book back to that publisher. Or alternatively, if the book sells during that period, the author is stuck with that agent for that contract. Yep. Not ideal.

    - If a situation should arise where you are no longer able to represent my work, do you have a plan for me? Or will I need to seek new representation on my own? What if I'm in the middle of the submission process? How would I proceed? also very important to ask in this day and age—not only are there the sketchy agents who drop clients for strange reasons, but health issues can happen to anyone, and without warning. It’s awful to think about, but you never know. So even if the agent is wonderful, you want to make sure your agent has a plan for you if something arises, if they will help you find rep with someone else, or if you'll be on your own.

    - ASK THIS: Can I talk to a couple of your clients? This is KEY. Never sign with an agent unless you can talk to clients first—any reputable agent will gladly agree. Ask to speak with a client they have sold a book for, and a client they have Not (one who is still on submission to publishers). That way you can get a sense for how loyal they stay to a client if it takes a while for the book to sell (which is very important).

    Note:

    If the agent is testy/offended by any of these questions, that's a good thing to know now. And is a bit of a yellow flag, if not a red one. Because eventually, you guys will be crossing many of these bridges together, and you want someone who is going to keep you very informed, and answer your questions graciously and openly. Not someone who is like 'just let me do my job, stop asking questions.' There are agents out there like that, unfortunately! Better to ask all the uncomfortable questions now, than be trapped later on.

  • If there is one thing to do your due diligence when researching an agent to see if they are a good fit, it’s talking to an agent’s clients. Think of it like a traditional interview: someone can look good on paper and say all the right things in the moment, but it’s the references that really know what’s up.

    And before you feel bad ‘harassing’ an agent’s clients, know that if an author loves their agent, usually they’ll be happy to share! I’m always delighted to wax eloquent on my agent to her prospective clients. So chances are, the agent will have a couple of authors who would be delighted to chat.

    Anyway—the goal here is to get a better sense of the agent’s working style, if you all would be a fit, and to just confirm the things that they said on the call (i.e. if they say they always respond to emails in 24 hrs, but the client says they are terrible at emailing and the only way to get ahold of them is by phone… well, that’s good to know, ya know?)

    Note: if you can, try for a zoom/video call—some people are much more comfortable being honest about tricky things (i.e. rough experiences) if it’s not written down, where it can be screenshot + shared around.

    If you need guidelines on what to say when first reaching out:

    Hi [Name],

    I hope this finds you well! I am considering [Agent’s] offer of representation on my [adult thriller novel, or whatever you’re comfortable sharing], and I’d love to ask a few questions about what it’s like working with her. 

    I’d love to either set up a time to chat by phone or zoom, or I’d be happy to correspond by email as well. Please let me know what would be most convenient for you.

    Thank you for being willing to chat!

    All my best,

    [Your Name]

    What to ask:

    -       Overall, what is it like working with [Agent]?

    -       What is their communication like? On average, how fast do they respond to emails? What about their turnaround time for an edit?

    -       What happens if you disagree on an edit?

    -       Are they pretty collaborative? Open to you pushing back editorially?

    (hint: the answer should always be YES, they understand this is your book and want to preserve your vision!)

    -       What is their feedback style? Do they ask open-ended questions, or give you a series of instructions? Are they blunt and to the point? Encouraging? Tough love?

    -       At what point does [Agent] like to be brought in on a project? From the brainstorming stage, or later on? Do they have a preference for seeing only polished drafts or earlier/rougher ones?

    - Can you walk me through what it was like between signing with [Agent] and going on sub? How many rounds of edits did you all do? How many months before you went on sub?

    -       What was the sub process like?

    -       Is there anything else you think would be helpful for me to know?

    I would take notes on their answers, and then compare them with your notes from the agent call (because you did take notes, didn’t you?). But hopefully, a couple of chats later and you should have a good sense of what the agent is like to work with!

  • —coming soon—

  • —coming soon—