Dara Kaye

Literary Agent

Ross Yoon Agency

Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

Dara Kaye @DaraKaye

Just got a query pitching a book described as both "a true story" and "creatively written nonfiction", but lists only novels as comps and notes it's adapted from a story that won a "Best Fiction" prize pic.twitter.com/0mkeGFKyLO

General #pubtip advice:

Agents have limited time to evaluate submissions. You want us spending it reading and responding, not puzzling over what we're looking at.

Double check you understand the distinctions between genres & your query makes it clear!

twitter.com/DaraKaye/statu…

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

Today's #pubtip is about permissions.

Come with me, authors--I'm about to save your future selves a whole lot of agita!

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

Working on a couple proposals this week where authors said fascinating stuff on the phone that wasn't in the proposal.

So today I want to talk a little bit about memorable stories and "sticky" facts.

This is a #pubtip thread, we're talking specifically about nonfiction books.

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

#pubtip Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games are not good comps when pitching your novel.

Listing decade(s)-old massive international juggernauts doesn't help me see where your specific book might fit on the shelf or in the current market, and it sets an insanely high bar.

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

Dara Kaye @DaraKaye

Just got a query pitching a book described as both "a true story" and "creatively written nonfiction", but lists only novels as comps and notes it's adapted from a story that won a "Best Fiction" prize pic.twitter.com/0mkeGFKyLO

#pubtip -- I don't have a ton of time to evaluate and respond to submissions --you want me spending that time reading and responding, not trying to puzzle out what the heck I'm looking at.

Double check you understand the distinctions between genres & your query makes it clear!

Dara Kaye
@DaraKaye
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @RossYoon . @smithcollege , @UCL , & @FulbrightPrgrm alum. Mom to a two-year-old chaos muppet.
33 MSWL
11 Tips

Nichole ✨✨✨ @tnwhiskeywoman

Just learned about this situation and YIKES. To accuse a whole Nora Roberts... wow. This is why you check in with your agent before posting something like this. 😬😯 pic.twitter.com/X87plvzYGB

Today's #pubtip: You can't copyright a book title.

As a result, lots of books share the same titles.

Sometimes they're obvious, e.g., many romance novels called "Forbidden Love".

Sometimes weird, e.g., Mitchell's CLOUD ATLAS and Callanan's THE CLOUD ATLAS both pubbed in 2004