Cortney Radocaj

AMAZING thread.

You’re not weak if you can’t look at rejections right away, or if you need someone to be your buffer.

Take care of yourself. Set boundaries. Your mental health is more important than ANYTHING pub related. ❤️

#querytip #amquerying #amwriting

Friendly reminder:

Query = pitching your book (introduce characters, conflict, tension, hook, leave the reader wanting more)

Synopsis = literal (polished and readable) list of the plot points in your book (not meant to hook or entice, should give EVERY spoiler)

#querytip

#querytip Check the formatting of your query before submitting! If your query, synopsis, or pages are in one huge block of text without any paragraph breaks, they become extremely difficult to read—and therefore extremely difficult to connect with 😞

#querytip I am not the person for vampires right now.

In the future? Maybe. I’ll probably warm back up to them at some point 🧛🏻‍♀️

But for now, no vampires for Cortney.

(But like, still send me other monsters? Plz??? 🧟‍♀️🧞‍♀️🧜🏽‍♀️🧚🏾‍♀️)

#querytip seeing a LOT of MS’s pitched as the first in a series today.

Planning series is fine, but as a debut author try to make your MS stand alone as well—publishers less likely to take the risk of a series not selling well w/a debut author than one w/an established fan base!

#querytip Being selective & purposeful in the agents you query will go a lot farther than throwing your story at any and every agent you can.

i.e. querying an agent with a genre they specifically say they don’t want is a sure way to get an auto rejection.

#querytip Reconsider including comp titles if the only two you have are over 10 years old.

If all you’re including are older titles, it makes me question whether or not you’re in touch with the current market and popular tropes and such in your genre.

Y’all.

If you’re querying an agent, I don’t recommend a) disparaging the entire job of an agent, or b) ranting about how stupid you think writing queries is.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GET AN AGENT’S (positive) ATTENTION

#querytip

#querytip Remember when you’re sending a query, you’re pitching ONE book—not a series! Telling me your book is the first in a series is fine, but the query itself needs to be focused on ONE book.

Show me it has an arc and conflict of its own!

#querytip I am NOT the right fit for novels that use an epistolary format! It just doesn’t grab me; I need to be immersed in the POV, and epistolary dilutes that for me

(Plus, I’m pretty sure I’m scarred from reading every single word of CLARISSA in one month during college 🙈)

#querytip A common theme I’m seeing today in my box—dry beginnings.

It doesn’t matter how interesting your starting point is if there’s no emotion, no sensory details to ground us.

Keep the reader immersed! Bring them into your MC’s head! THAT is what will hook readers.

It’s an immediate red flag, bc if you don’t read, if you don’t put in that SMALL BIT of effort, it makes me question whether you’re a) serious about publishing and b) able and willing to make edits.

#querytip

Send me your next, unpublished MS instead! 😊

#querytip

I’ve seen several queries in my box this morning for books that are previously published—PLEASE don’t send these to me!

The majority of an agent’s work is already done if a book is already published, and you’d need STELLAR sales for a big house to pick it up.

#querytip