Laura Zats

Pretty much as a rule I won't look at books that were queried on behalf of the writer rather than by the writer themselves. #pubtip

.@aimeehyndman killed it when she queried me bc she had a great book. The fact that she was 18 wasn't a selling point #pubtip

I love it when I get queries from teenagers, but I hate it when they don't follow protocol and rest on "hey, I'm young and stuff" #pubtip

I hate when books begin with 10 pages of monologue about how things are instead of actually telling a story. Begin with action! #pubtip

#pubtip: There's a difference between urban fantasy and contemporary fantasy. Know which one you're writing.

I like decisive writing—no "probably," "most likely," "maybe," or "relatively" #pubtip

#pubtip: telling is most common w/ emotions—"she looked shocked" doesn't mean much of anything—there are lots of different types of shocked!

#pubtip: comic sans is never a good idea.

As long as I haven't already read it, I don't care if you send an updated MS. But I go by date, so you go to the back of the line #pubtip

My interest is piqued when I peek at the settlement on top of the mountain peak #grammar #pubtip

You don't have to point out the themes of your novel when you #query. I'll figure it out. I promise #pubtip

#pubtip: a truly personalized query letter can push you from "maybe" to "request"

Do you know what can always be cut from a query? How you found out about me, and how you "understand that I rep X genre." #pubtip

I like to check through @QueryTracker every few months to see what people are saying about me. Many agents do this #pubtip #FYI

#pubtip: EMPATHY is NOT an extra-sensory perception. It's just called being observant and a good human.

#pubtip: you DISDAIN how your blouse is DISTAINED with coffee

New trend I'm seeing in genre and YA: empaths #publishing #pubtip #trend

#pubtip: I will never, ever look at a YA or NA book over 100k. Ever.

#pubtip: line breaks in queries are your friend. I automatically reject huge chunks of text

#pubtip: if your email title won't fit in a tweet, just walk away. #badqueries