Anne Tibbets
Literary Agent
Donald Maass Literary Agency
Literary Agent @MaassLitAgency . Author. SCREAMS FROM THE VOID out now. Opinions & sarcasm my own.
Literary Agent
Winfield Winfield @WinfieldWinfie1
@AnneTibbets It’s just that a lot of successful authors happened to make friends in the industry before getting their books published. And sadly, not all books are good. Marketability is sometimes more important than artistic merit. -glares at “midnight sun”-Having friends in publishing is helpful for social marketing and getting blurbs but it won't get you a book deal. And not all published books are magnificent, no.
Literary Agent
Sherry is writing @busybooklife
@AnneTibbets Thank you! Always wondered, if I write more than one genre (horror & fantasy) is it best to seek an agent who does both? Or if I find one for, say my horror novel, will an agent generally rep me for my next one even if not their usual genre? (Did that make sense?)Try and find one who does both. It's very helpful during the submissions process if they're familiar with both markets. Usually, your agent will shop your mss even if it's not their typical bag, but it serves YOU better if you find one who does both.
Literary Agent
Autumn Harvey @booksbyautumn
@AnneTibbets Is it bad to uses a comp out of your genre? I write sci-fi but my style has a fantasy feel. My comps tend to be older as well because I’ve been more influenced by them. Comps stress me out.I hate comps. What if you wrote something wholly unique? There wouldn't BE a comp! But I know pub houses count on them, however, so they're rather important in that regard. I know it sucks but have at least 1 comp from the last 5 years. It helps.
Literary Agent
Becca @AuthorBeccaDay
@AnneTibbets I've seen a huge increase in first person present tense lately, particularly in my genre (domestic thriller). Do you as an agent have any preference for POV or tense?Not really? I notice a lot of YA is in 1st too. I think 3rd omniscient is currently out of fashion, and difficult to pull off, but everything in publishing is cyclical, so wait a few years and it'll be back.
Literary Agent
An Amaranth Who Says Black Lives STILL Matter @nevertherose
@AnneTibbets @jenchentran Say you have several finished novels: should you query them simultaneously? Like, best (worst?) case scenario, 1 agent offers to represent you for a certain project, but a different agent offers to rep a different project (because you were querying them simultaneously)? Bad idea?I know writers who have queried all their complete novels at once, all over the place, and I can't say whether or not it was effective or not...?
Just don't send more than one to each agent at a time and you should be fine.
Literary Agent
Winfield Winfield @WinfieldWinfie1
@AnneTibbets How important is it to have connections in traditional publishing to be green lit?Not very important if the book is magnificent.
Literary Agent
Astra Crompton @ulzaorith
@AnneTibbets @nyla_samu If I can ask a follow up: does this mean the advance/potential royalties are paid out in whatever currency is local for the publisher or is it converted to USD through the agency?I worked for a UK publisher as a writer and when the check got to me, it was in US dollars, so I believe - and I'm not sure it works this way for everyone - they convert and send in the writer's country of origin...? But this could depend on the press.
Literary Agent
Joseph Hall/J. Aaron Hall @Jaaronhall
@AnneTibbets Has this year just been a bad time to query in general? I noticed that, starting the March quarantine in the US, my number of query responses (negative or positive) dropped. It's like I don't exist anymore.I tell ya, it's been rough. Time, family, stress, illness. Also, the number of queries I got in quarantine doubled, & I felt a lot of the stuff I was getting was still in the early stages of draft. As in, people throwing their 1st drafts out there to see what would happen.
Literary Agent
Abbey Kirberger @AbbeyKirberger
@AnneTibbets Hi! What MS flaws do you consider unfixable?Concept flaws. Like inherent racism or sexism within the premise. That's a fatal flaw. The rest can be fixed in editing if it's identifiable
Literary Agent
Nyla🌈 @nyla_samu
@AnneTibbets Hi, does your agency take writers outside of the US? ThanksAbsolutely! I have 3 clients from Canada.
None from the elsewhere yet, but it's not a deal breaker.
Literary Agent
Eric Scot Tryon @EricScotTryon
@AnneTibbets @jenchentran Aside from the basics (disregard for formatting, proofreading, query guidelines) what are some of your immediate red flags in query letters you receive?Racism & Sexism are the two biggies. Sexual assault used as character "development."
Literary Agent
What happened next? MK Tighe writing @next_happened
@AnneTibbets Thanks for this! How often do you personalise a rejection? What’s your busiest and quietest times of the yr for queries? And what’s the most annoying grammatical or technical error you see that’s a huge turn off?Sorry to bombard!
Summer seems to be fairly quiet. I personalize about 25% of the time because when I'm open to subs there are literally thousands and I just don't have time to do each one. Grammar is fixable. I don't have a personal pet peeve there.
Literary Agent
Nicole Mainardi Author - is querying @nmainardiauthor
@AnneTibbets What’s your favorite movie and why is it The Mummy (og, not the Tom Cruise trash)?You have a bookish, adventurous, smart, and gorgeous woman who saves a roguish, swashbuckling, brave soldier and you add a gorgeous historical setting and a well defined and almost sympathetic enemy...? Besides the perfectly plotted script? It's the PERFECT movie, well, almost
Literary Agent
Nicole Mainardi Author - is querying @nmainardiauthor
@AnneTibbets What’s the worst and best part of your job (and publishing as a whole too?)?The worst part = the near-misses. The ones where the editor loved it but for some reason or another the book didn't make it thru acquisitions.
Those burn worse than when the ed just didn't dig it.
The best part = finding a mss I love & contract negotiations which I strangely love
Literary Agent
Samantha 🖤🧛🏻♀️🎸Curreli @ThatWriterGirl3
@AnneTibbets What do you think about requeries? If a manuscript has gone through major edits since the first query, would you consider the revised project?I have the policy that unless I invite you to requery, don't.
Literary Agent
Mike Demilio @mikedemilio
@AnneTibbets I wrote my first book 13 yrs ago, self-pubbed and did little marketing, so sales were modest. Would mentioning this be a liability or a plus when querying my new MS?I'm always one for full disclosure.
I've self pubbed books which flopped.
I'm not going to hold it against you unless you pitch me that same book from 13 yrs ago. :)
Literary Agent
N.C. Kay @NC_Kay_author
@AnneTibbets Is it ok for a comp to be something like [classic author/novel] x [my twist]?Yes, as long as you also have a recent one in there too. ala: [classic author/novel] x [my manuscript] + [setting/plot device/atmosphere/voice of recent release]
Literary Agent
Debbie Hofstetter @DebsHof
@AnneTibbets Do you require/expect something big to occur in the first couple of pages or is it okay to gradually tell the story?Depends on the type of manuscript. A slow plot build works if the voice is compelling.
Literary Agent