Hannah Fergesen
Literary Agent
KT Literary
Lit Agent at KT Literary.(QueryManager.com/HannahFergesen). Author of THE INFINITE MILES (Spring 2023). She/They. Sal: Mx. rep: @LitAgentMarini

Literary Agent
Caveat: not every story has big global stakes, and that's okay! But even in character-forward stories, there are usually repercussions for more people than the main character. We're looking for the answer to the Why Should We Care question, and this is a great way to do it. 5/5

Literary Agent
Giving us both global and personal stakes in your query tells us why we should care about the character, and the larger reasons why the character should be trying to overcome the conflict. 4/

Literary Agent
In queries, I like to see the summary start with character, the conflict, and personal stakes, and end with the global stakes, i.e., if X character doesn't succeed, not only will they lose the love of their life; their hometown will be wiped from existence. 3/

Literary Agent
Not only do we want to know what's at stake for characters on a personal level (what happens for them personally if they don't reach their goal), we want to understand the global stakes too (what happens to the world/their family/their town/etc) if they don't reach their goal. 2/

Literary Agent
Writers, here's a #querytip (and general writing tip, honestly) for your Friday: you'll often hear agents talk about wanting queries to reveal the stakes for characters, so that we know what's driving the story. But did you know there are two types of stakes we like to see? 1/

Literary Agent
Writers, just a heads up that a referral isn't a referral if I've never heard of or spoken with the person who "referred" you. Get confirmation from this person that they have actually been in communication with me before you use their name in your query. #querytip

Literary Agent
Writers, please let *all* the agents you've queried (that you haven't heard back from) know if you've received an offer of rep, not just the ones who have requested your manuscript; those who haven't had a chance to read yet need to know too. #querytip

Literary Agent
Seeing a notable uptick in queries categorized as “new adult”, so this is a reminder that New Adult is not currently a thing in traditional publishing, and many agents may be auto-rejecting your queries based on this category listing in your query #querytip

Literary Agent
Been hearing from writers that @ktliterary doesn't state that we require 3 pages along with your query on our website - but we do!
ktliterary.com/submissions/
Always a good idea to pay attention to submission guidelines on the agency website! #querytip

Literary Agent
Queriers! Just an FYI that sometimes your fancy signatures and embedded illustrations/photos show up as attachments - and trigger deletion of said query. Best to simplify, and err on the side of caution! #querytip

Literary Agent

Literary Agent
I'm seeing a new trend in queries lately where a logline is placed at the top, even before a salutation. This makes it seem, initially, as if the querier has forgotten to include a salutation with my name, which is usually an auto-reject for me. Please don't do this! #querytip

Literary Agent

Literary Agent

Literary Agent
Queriers: an FYI that queries that don't include my name in the greeting generally get deleted/go to junk mail. #querytip

Literary Agent
A #querytip for everyone who might be tempted to call YA a genre in their query:

Literary Agent
If you share an email with your spouse, consider getting a personal one for sending queries - less confusing for me that way! #querytip

Literary Agent
Amy TrulyHollyJolly🌲❤️ @atrueblood5
Opening not working? Today on the blog, Lit agent @HannahFergesen shares what grabs her in… chasingthecrazies.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/fir… pic.twitter.com/ByAEL4CLlJI answered some #querytip questions from @atrueblood5 over on her blog - check 'em out!

Literary Agent
#Querytip: If your spamblocker isn't set to let emails from anyone at ktliterary.com thru, you won't receive my passes OR requests.
