79 Comments

What food taste or food aroma immediately brings you home?

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Hello! How important are titles when querying? My YA manuscript title is similar to a few other titles (a romance novel published in 2018, a literary fiction novel published in 2010). I know the title will likely change during the publishing process, but would an agent be concerned by something like this, assuming it's not the title of a hugely popular book?

Also, do you have any recommendations on how to find and vet good critique partners, particularly online? It's a lot of work to be a critique partner, and sometimes it's hard to know if someone will be able to provide valuable feedback when you don't know them.

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When querying, do short stories published in paying venues mean anything? Should they be mentioned at all?

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I hope you don't mind if I ask one more question.....I'm a big Writing Excuses fan, and one of my biggest writing goals is to be an author guest on a Writing Excuses cruise. Any suggestions on how to go about achieving that goal (other than publish a hugely popular book, I imagine)? Thanks :)

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Hey! I'm working with one of the big 4 publishers on my debut book (nonfiction), releasing in April 2020. I'm very aware (and accepting of the fact!) that I will be doing a lot of marketing and publicity on top of that of my publisher - do you have any tips in terms of managing the relationship between myself and the publisher (my editor / the publicity team / the marketing team)? I'm aware that they are a big company and I'm a first-time author, but I'm super eager and just want to make sure we work as smoothly together as possible!

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AnonymousAug 8, 2019

Do you have any best practice recommendations for folks who have self-published multiple books in the past but are now interested in pursuing traditional publishing? (With a project that has NOT already been self-published, of course.) Do you mention your self-published work at the query stage or wait for a phone call? Is it necessary/recommended to tell agents that you plan to trad pub under a different pen name than your self-pub stuff?

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If someone's torn between two agents at the same agency, how would you suggest they pick who to query?

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Hi! One of my current WIPs doesn't easily fall into specific marketing categories of MG/YA, but I know my current fan base will love it and has wide appeal (think Stranger Things/Sabrina/Labyrinth with a 14yo protagonist). Should I worry about making the narrative a better fit for traditional marketing categories or just write the story first and let the agents/editors/pub team figure out where it fits and work it out in revisions? (I'm an indie dipping my toes into trad pub)

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I understand you are closed to unsolicited queries--does that mean an author would need to know someone in the industry in order to get their MS to you? Are there any alternate paths to get an MS on your desk, and what might they look like? Will you participate in Twitter pitch events? Do you foresee ever opening to unsolicited queries again in the future?

I'm sorry to launch so many questions at once. Thank you so much for this Q&A, and for the newsletter! The insights really are invaluable.

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One other thing... I'm going to the Writers Digest Convention in New York Aug. 21-25. Anyone else attending?

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My editor and I finished polishing up my sci-fi novel. I've been sending out queries to agents and publishers (using a book proposal letter my experienced editor and I crafted). So far, zilch. Nothing but rejections. I'm shocked, and my editor is surprised at the response, too. Any suggestions to gain their attention? I'm really wondering if they are reading the pages of the manuscript they request in the submission letter.

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Do you have any tips on how to make the inclusion of background information feel more natural, and not an infodump or an Austin Powers-y, "Here's a video call from Basil Exposition! He's going to give you a paragraph of all the information you need to know for the action to make sense!"

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Do you have any tips for picking titles for books? Thank you!

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Is there a hard and fast rule about how long an author should query? I've seen all sorts of timeframes on #publishing Twitter. Things I've read: 6-12 months per book, but if you still don't have any offers of representation after a year then start querying another book. However if you believe in a book you shouldn't give up no matter what, cause it only takes 1 yes. Still, never say anything on social media about how long you've been querying a particular book, cause that could be a turn-off to some agents.

What is the standard or is there no standard? This has always been confusing to me, especially with how each individual agent has different preferences.

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Ohh, when to nudge on fulls. I've heard six months, but I waited a year on some, out of nervousness. I couldn't resist fiddling with the manuscript while waiting, so I attached the New and Re-Polished version with the nudge. And now, naturally, I'm fretting again, and hoping that doesn't make it seem like the original submission was lacking. It's just...been a year, so I'm a year better now. XD

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I saw you were into horror lately. Any movies you’re really hyped to see coming up?

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One more question—how does one stand out in queries other than writing alone? Is there a tactful way to say I’ll work my ass off to succeed, please take a chance on me without sounding like a beggar?

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Thanks for doing this Q&A! My current WIP has a lot of swearing. Like a LOT - f-bombs all over the place. I've had a few other authors tell me this can be a hard-sell, but I also know that my MC's voice demands some pretty harsh language (for reference, it's a near-future SF for adults). My agent is reading it now, and will hopefully give me additional guidance, but in your experience do you find that books with an abundance of swearing can be hard to sell to editors? Thanks!

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I see a lot of anxiety on Twitter about getting to the stage where you will be querying, but having a small social media presence. How much does a small social media presence matter to agents, assuming the work itself is quality?

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I remember in your manuscript wishlist you mentioned something about YA contemporary/fantasy that doesn't feel like urban fantasy. Do you have any book recs along those lines? I'm not sure if I'm looking in the wrong places, but it seems like not much of it exists (yet). That's the general realm I like to read and write in, and it's feeling lonely. I did just finish Magic For Liars, loved it, and don't know what to do with my life now. That's about as close as I've found recently.

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I love the bizarre characters and world I'm building, but I would also like to sell this action/fantasy WIP someday, so I'm trying to balance my desire to take some crazy risks with the realities of marketability. I sometimes freeze on writing this story because I'll make a risky plot or worldbuilding decision and then fear I'm killing the marketability factor and start to overthink my choices. What are the most essential marketability considerations I should keep in the back of my mind while I write/plot?

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How do you know what book to work on next? I know every writer is different, but assuming the writer wants a career in publishing, how do you choose? People always suggest the one that calls to you the most or the idea that is most marketable (and then they turn around and suggest not writing to the market). But I have anxiety and perfection issues I’m having to come to grips with so I can talk myself out of or into just about any idea I have at this point.

Thank you for the QandA. I enjoy reading other people’s questions as well.

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Good Morning Dongwon, Im polishing a short story with the aim of getting it published in a magazine. Once I query, is it common that magazines (i.e. Uncanny) have editors who will make a final review of the story and suggest editorial changes, or is it a better practice to hire my own editor to get my story baby perfected before I query? Thank you for your great newsletter, Im happy to be here.

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What's the most oft-repeated misconception that you hear from authors about writing?

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I'm in an RPG group that switches games after each arc. We've done Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, Uncharted Worlds, The Sprawl, and Masks (my favorite so far). Any recommendations for what we should do next? Are there any horror games we should look into?

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Do you have any tips for cutting down wordcount?

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What do you think about speed of writing? I am a relatively slow writer (often when I speak to other writers, they quote words per day I can only dream of) and I am worried this means I can never publish because *actually meeting a deadline* when it comes to words is not something I know that I can do.

Do you think this is as much of a problem as I think it is & do you have advice?

ps will you be at worldcon? o///

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So, let's say there's this book I have always wanted to write, and I write it, and then I want to look for an agent. Does this entail that I should also be committing to a writing career? Does having your book picked up by a publisher also mean that they expect other books from you? I'm not against the idea, but I don't know that I'll be ready to think about that while I'm still working through the whole process for the first time -- if I manage to get there. My mind just doesn't want to go there yet. But is this something agents consider when choosing clients?

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