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I have a novel that i want to be illustrated and its a YA novel but im afraid it would be considered New Adult because my character is 18. Is it wise to inform the agent in the query that you want the novel to be illustrated or do you wait to get represented by one and then tell them? (not illustrated by me)

My second question is the illustrations i want inside the novel fits more with graphic novels and by me wanting graphic novel artwork and panels inside the novel to work alongside the novel text, would i consider this a graphic novel or would it still be considered a illustrated novel?

P.S: This not a comic book but its a hybrid between comic book elements (artwork/Panels) with ordinary novel text.

First you're using graphic novel and illustrated novel almost interchangeably and they are VERY different kinds of books. Graphic novels add a layer of story with art. Illustrated novels do not. Graphic novels are very light on actual text. Illustrated novels are light on art.

You need to be VERY clear what you want because what you want here is not going to be easy to get. Publishers aren't keen to do graphic novels: they don't sell like books do and they're expensive to produce. Publishers aren't keen on illustrated novels either because of the added production costs.

Since you're submitting text-only queries don't include anything about illustrations in the query letter.  If an agent is interested in your work, and you have a phone call to discuss your project, that's when you mention you see this as an illustrated novel.  

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I have a manuscript on submission now that's getting requests. It's part of a series. I've started working on the second book, but I'm also working on a second, entirely different book. I always have two projects going and it's possible project one will never sell.

What I wonder is, being a woodland creature, what happens if I get interest in the manuscript and they ask for an outline on the second one in the series or the second and third? I spent ten days trying to force an outline and my brain just doesn't work that way. I see scenes and write them. I know how the books start and end and some things in between, but not everything. Things just sort of fall into place at the right time. Are agents or publishers going to take a chance on an airhead who can't plot out a book?

Yup. I've got a bunch of 'em here taking up real estate on my client list. I tend not to think of them as airheads however as much as pantsers.

When you get an offer on the book on submission, the editor will often ask "what else does the author have?"  You don't need an ouline or a synsopsis, but it does help to have a concept statement and something about what the book is about.

That said, if you don't, you don't.  I've sold LOTS of books that no one knew anything about (including the author.)  Most of the time it works out just fine.

Stop worrying about this. Worry about how cold my toes are and send cat pictures to warm me up!

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A little over a year ago, I published a noir novel with a small, but known crime publisher. It got good reviews, but not huge sales. Still,  I was hoping to parlay that into getting an agent for my second book, but, alas, even the shark has not bitten yet.

Now the publisher is asking about my second book. I'd like to get another title under my belt, but they don't really have the resources for marketing. My question is, should I go with a second book with them, and build my list, or keep holding out for something better?

There is no hard and fast rule to answer this question, I'm sorry to say.  The first thing you need to ask yourself is what you want your career to look like. You can stay happily published for years with a small press, selling at "not huge sales" numbers.  If you move to a traditional press, you need good sales, and then more sales. And they are generally not going to give you any more help on that than your small press did unless you're one of the top five books in their catalog. They may tell you differently; don't believe them.


What bigger publishers can do very well is make sure that trade accounts know about your book, and libraries too. What bigger publishers do NOT do very well is build a community of fans.  That is your job (whether you have it done for you, or you do it) and would be with any publisher.


One thing you do need to know is how many books your small publisher can print, and if they can print MORE if you need them.  Returns can kill a small press so they are not likely to print huge numbers without huge orders before hand.

There's nothing wrong with building a successful career with a small press. A lot of very fine writers have done that.

If you dream of moving to a bigger league though, you'll need to have an established community of readers to take with you.

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Dear Duchess of Sharkington,

I'm currently querying a thriller, but I'm also working on a collection of dystopian sci-fi short stories. I can't imagine one agent being interested in both, so if I nab an agent with the thriller, how will she feel about me self-publishing the short stories? Is that taboo? 

I'm not sure why you are assuming an agent who likes thrillers will not be an agent who likes dystopian sci-fi short stories.

In fact, on my list you'll find:








and you'll also find








I don't think that kind of diversity is the exception these days.

When an agent is interested in your work, you'll mention the other project. Some agents are quite ok with their clients self-pubbing things, others not so much.  You'll want to work with one who is.  But never assume that your work can't be sold either. 

When I sign a client, I sign them for all their work. Sometimes that means calling in a co-agent. Sometimes it means getting help from friends. Sometimes it means things don't work out and the client needs a new agent.  All of these things have happened.  Cross the bridge when you get there.

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Because agents must ‘fall in love’ with a book, in order to represent it to the fullest, this raises a question. How much does personal taste, (influenced by life experience), as opposed to commercial viability, (influenced by market), help an agent make a choice?

Because my memoir appeals more to women I am hesitant to query male agents. Certainly male bias on my part but I just don’t think men will get it. Which leaves me thinking, if men are not my readers, why waste my time querying male agents.

As readers we don’t have to actually experience an author’s travails in order to feel his/her pain and be moved by their strength and ordeal. Just because my mom never ate out of a dumpster does not mean I am not moved by Jeanette Walls. But repping and reading are two different things.

Authors and readers cross gender lines all the time, (your post 9/22), but would/could a male best rep a female nuanced memoir even though his life-experiences negate the emotional and physiological connection?

This does bring to mind male gynecologists and obstetricians. Even though they don’t have the equipment they certainly can do the job.

The only way you can find out if someone responds to your work is to query them.  If you're asking if you should only query women agents, you're asking the wrong question.

The right question is: if you have to choose between agents at an agency should you choose a female agent over a male agent.

Now, if you were in my sophomore year econ class you'd hear the dreaded phrase "all things being equal" which means the two agents in question have no variable OTHER than gender.

And I can assure you that is never ever ever the case. Agents vary by taste, success at picking commercial projects, success at picking award-winning projects, and number of writers consumed for breakfast annually.

So, what to do:
The first thing you do is make a list of ALL the agents who say they're looking for memoir.  You don't leave any of them off the list.

Then you pare down first by "what have they sold" and you remove the agents who are clearly not selling anything, or not selling memoir.

Then you have a list.

IF you have more than one agent at an agency, you check the guidelines to see if you can query all of them (but obviously not at the same time.)  If you can, then you just prioritize the list for who gets first crack at you. You can pick the women over the men here cause there's zero cost. If they say no, you can query down the list.

If it's one and done though (query one agent at the agency and that's it) then you must decide which agent is best suited for your work. The LAST thing you look at here is gender, in my opinion.  I can absolutely garuntee you that in a contest between who would do a better job with memoir the best indicator is what an agent has sold, not their gender.

Lots of gents have sold lots of books that appeal to mostly female readers. Don't limit your chances by assuming men won't get you.  Some of these guys are pretty smart. One of them used to work for me in fact until he wandered off and got Bent.

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I'm 65, have never published fiction, used to publish a fair amount of nonfiction but that was 20 years ago. Here's my question: can I hope to publish a novel I write just out of the blue without jumping through all the hoops of publicity and networking, etc. I know that no one would have heard of me, so why would anybody take a risk? But if it's good enough, is that enough?

Sure you can write a novel, no hoops involved.

And you can query an agent for that novel, and the agent can sell that novel, and you can do all that with no hoops involved either.

However.
And you knew that was coming, right?

What you describe as "hoops of publicity and networking" is what the rest of us call "finding people who will want to read your book."

Is your goal just to write, or is your goal to have your books read by more than your critique group?

If you want to enter the business side of publishing, you will find a set of hoops delivered to your doorstep by your agent, along with a plan for how you will be jumping through them for quite some time.

And you know what? It's not all that miserable.  Talking to readers is really a lot of fun. I do it everyday here on the blog, and it's one of the things I like most about my job.

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If my query was rejected by an agent, does it make sense to query a different agent in the same agency? 

Unless the agency has a "query one/query all" policy, yes.

Here's how you tell if the agency has a "query one/query all" policy?

(1) you query a central email such as [email protected]

Here's an example of that:

All queries should be sent to Submissions(at)KnightAgency(dot)net.....

Queries must be addressed to a specific agent. Please do not query multiple agents. To determine which member of our team would be most appropriate for your project, visit our “About Us” page.

(2) the agency website says one and done. 


Here's an example from the Andrea Brown Agency:

Visit the agents' bios page and choose only one agent to whom you will submit your e-query.<!-----clue--><!-----clue-->

Now, here's an example from FPLM which is NOT one and done, and not query one/query all:

Each FinePrint agent has particular interests in fiction, and accepts submission in the genres listed on their bio pages.

If we’re interested, we will ask to see a few chapters or the full manuscript.

Notice that it does NOT say "one agent"



But your real question is: if one agent at an agency says no, and the agency is ok with querying other agents, is it worth it? Yes it is.  We work under the same letterhead but we don't have identical tastes.    No one of course has ever told me they don't like a book I've sold but that's more in fear of the mortal peril that would ensue, than an expression of differing taste.

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My college keeps an archive of all senior projects. Prior to turning in their projects, the student authors submit a release, detailing what level of access to the project the college is allowed to provide. Here's my dilemma: my senior project is a novel and I am about to start submitting it to agents. I am concerned that allowing my college to provide somewhat public access to a draft of the novel could be problematic if I do find an agent and a publisher.

The release form includes four options (directly quoted from the form):


A. (college) may provide access* to my (project) to third parties, including but not limited to students, employees, and members of the general public.


B. Access to my (project) is restricted until (date), after which time copies may be provided by the College to third parties, including but not limited to students, employees, and members of the general public.


C. (college) may provide access* to my (project) only to students and employees of the College.


D. Access to my (project) is restricted until (date), after which time copies may be provided by the College only to students and employees of the College.

*“Provide access” means that the Library will hold the (project) in its collection and make it available to users as defined in each level of access. Access may be provided in any format or medium, including via the internet, and may be provided for a period of time determined by the College.




I can also stipulate that my adviser is allowed to change the level of access after I graduate.

Please let me know if you have any advice about how best to protect myself and my novel's future.

You don't need to worry this will hinder you in the search for an agent or in the publication process. Lots of people have early work in their college libraries. Having the work held in a library's collection is not the same thing as having it published.

If you were a client of mine, I'd choose option B which restricts access for the present but will allow people to see the work at a future date. When you become a famous novelist and biographers are writing about you, you'll want to make sure they can see your early work.

It's interesting that there's no way to opt out of the work being in the library at all.

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 I recently completed writing a thriller, and began querying it as such. After a few rejections, I began to reread and rethink about the book, and it seems as though (with a few very small changes), it would have been better as a young adult thriller. I changed the age of the main characters to better reflect that, and edited a few bits of the story, and it is now about 100 times better.

Is it acceptable to re-query agents that had already rejected the original version of the novel? What about querying a different agent in the same agency (one that, obviously, deals mostly in YA topics), even if I haven't heard back from the original agent yet?

What you're asking is if it's ok to re-query after a MAJOR revision (this revision changes the category of the book--that's major.)  You certainly can, but this is info you need to lead with in the query.

Here's what that would look like:

Dear Snookums,

I've revamped my novel SharquesGoneWild from an adult to a YA thriller.  It's a lot better now. I hope you'll want to take a second look.

Obvioiusly of course, not those exact words but you get the idea.

And yes, if you haven't heard from an agent, it's ok to query someone else at that agency.

This is the kind of thing writers obsess over endlessly and often think "oh my god, I'll end up on the blacklist of all time if I do anything remotely off the guidelines" but remember: agents are looking for good work to sell. All the huffing and puffing I do about format and query madness is to help you show your work in the best light. [It's easier to see the work is good if the lights are ON.] If this book is good, we want to hear about it.

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OMG. I have a partial request that came in over a week ago. Is it too late to send it? Is she going to think I'm irresponsible or an idiot for not checking my spam folder?

No
No

Stuff happens. Just send the partial. You might include the phrase "I'm sorry to be late in replying, my spam folder thought you were delicious."

Check your spam folder daily.

It's good practice for obsessing over your Amazon sales rank.

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I wanted to be a writer all my life and I finally feel like I am on the right path to become one. However, I am a Hungarian living in Hungary and I do not want to publish my work here and I feel like there is a potential market for it in the US. I usually write in English and even though I speak the language fluently, there might be some grammatical mistakes, odd word usage or sentence structures in my writing.

(1) Do you think it would still be possible for me to publish my work in the US? Obviously, the editor would have to work more on it than on a regular MS.

(2) Also, would anyone take me seriously if they realize that the draft was written by a non-native speaker?

(3) Would it become a problem when it comes to promoting my book (if it gets published)

Let's take the questions in order:

(1) Sure.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves. You're assuming there's no interim step between you finishing the book and an editor getting her paws on it. In fact there are two interim steps.

        1A you find a good independent editor who speaks English as their first language and you hire that person to review your manuscript for words/phrases that might be problems.  The trick is to make sure you work with an editor who understands the difference between incorrect and style. 

       1B: You submit the novel to agents who, most likely, will have a thing or two to say about polishing up the manuscript before sending it to an editor.

(2)  Yes.

(3) No.


Kérdése?

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I've seen some agents say they like to see TITLE meets TITLE or "this would appeal to fans of ..." and some who don't like comparisons at all. When I think of my MS, immediately two things come to mind, a book and a TV show. What do you think of using both to show that I know who my book would appeal to? Or would using a TV show be a big no-no?

I have a real aversion to using film and TV shows as comps. This is particular to me I know. The reason is that I don't have TV so a lot of times the comparison is useless to me. On the other hand I haven't read every book in the world (not for lack of trying) so sometimes those comps go over my head too.

I don't think it's cause for setting a query on fire to use a TV show as a comp, but I think it's smarter to use books.

The only big no-no in queries is bad writing. 

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Over the years I have seen incredible queries on your other site.  (A Comedy of Terrors. Worst case scenario.  Everyone's favorite, Premeditated, still gives me goosebumps.)

The voice has always kicked the query to the front of the line; I have a query for my very soon to be query-able ms.

I actually have a few queries; my favorite has what I feel might be a problem.

It is written in a slight Maine accent...there is only one character in the story with that accent, but I feel it gives the query a certain edge.

Port Templar, 95,000 words Sci-Fiction

“Hello there, my name’s Gubby I run the garage up ta Port Templar. She’s a gorgeous Maine town that’s got everything; lobstah rolls, steamers, even sells lobstah magnets to them damn tourists.


I didn't know whether to include it as an example, but wanted to illustrate the effect I was going for.

No no no.
Do not write your query using the voice of a character. That is NOT the same thing as your "voice"  as an author. What you've used above is vernacular and style particular to a character.

All the words in the query; which ones you choose and how you string them together: that's YOUR voice.

Here's voice: And so it came to pass that the writers found their way to a cave, rough-strewn with artifacts perhaps from those who had came before, decorated with odd markings on the wall, dimly lit by the sun dropping in the east. They decided, not without some bickering, they were writers after all, to tarry here for a while, hoping to find shelter and maybe a well-mixed martini.


It's the choice of words and phrases: "And so it came to pass" could have been "then" or "now" or any number of other choices.

"rough strewn" could have been "littered" and so on.

And it's not just diction (word choice) it's the rhythm of the sentence.  And the twist at the end.

That's voice. That's what you're trying for.  That's why you revise. Voice is found in revision. It's found in saying the sentences out loud. It's found in the first million words of practice. It's found in knowing the rules so you can break them with elegance and beauty. It's found in knowing a lot of lovely wonderful words so you use the perfect word, not the almost-right word, or worse: the over-used word.

Voice is who you are. Not who your characters are. 

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Questions: Is it to my advantage to mention that this is the first book of a five book series? (1)Or is this boastful, and ultimately harmful to my yet to be established reputation, since this is my first novel? (2) Also, I realize my email address is extremely peculiar. Should I make a professional email account so people take me seriously? (3) Or is it good to stand out?(4)

Ok, youze guyz. It's becoming clear that you're just firing off questions here and not reading the questions already posted.  I'm pretty sure I've answered all of these before.

If you don't know HOW to find all the other posts here's what to do:

Go to the main page of the blog.

See the blogroll on the right hand side, right below the sloth?



That number after *query pitfalls? 266? That's the number of posts I've written on ways to fuck up your query. Click on that link and ALL the posts turn up for your viewing pleasure.

I like getting questions.
I don't like repeating myself.


Here are the answers to the questions above:

(1) No
(2) That's not the reason it's a bad idea, but it's still a bad idea
(3) Yes
(4) The only thing that should stand out is your writing. 

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If a university press decides to publish a manuscript, should the  author have a literary agent?

Remember that I am a literary agent so I think every author benefits from being repped by a good agent.

However. What you're really asking here is if you (or anyone) can navigate a contract or a publishing relationship without an agent and the answer is yes you can.

I've posted before about some of the things to do.

For university presses, you want to be VERY careful about copyright. Make sure they do not register the copyright for your work in the name of the university. I've seen this happen more than once and it seems to be the standard opening gambit on many contracts.

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