Kelly Peterson

A lot of times agents will stop reading once they realize it’s not the best fit for them or isn’t quite ready. We unfortunately don’t have enough time to finish reading every full we request if we know it’s not for us.

Not very often, actually! We have to really see something in the writer and the story and in my case, an R&R is more so giving the author the ability to prove they can handle the edits I’d be throwing at them, as well as making sure our visions align. :)

Well you don’t want to query agents with an incomplete manuscript! So finish your second book first, but make sure you’re not trying to have an agent represent a second book in a SERIES. They need to be two separate stories/series completely. :)

I started as an Intern and then move dup to an assistant/apprentice! Before the internship, I started as a book blogger. :)

Thrillers and horror at the moment, which I’m totally down for! I’m so ready for the fall spook season! I’d love to see more ghosts too, and MG and Adult stories!

I’m the black sheep in this and I know it. I don’t like to read your synopsis unless I AM on the fence about requesting more pages. I know that a synopsis showing how your story unfolds can have a large impact on other agents though.

Book proposals are usually utilized for non-fiction only! And sometimes if agents believe they can sell your next book (because they already sold one or a few) quickly, we may ask for a proposal and sample chapters in order to garner some interest in your next idea.

It’s a little on the long side, but I’ll sometimes go over a bit without a fuss. It depends on the agent I think.

Nah, that would be a conversation to have with them if/when they ask and offer representation. :) You just want to personalize for the agents, so “I saw on your MSWL page that you’re looking for historical in the vein of Ruby from Cold Mountain. This manuscript has her voice and

Website! Connections! Blog! Instagram and Bookstagramming! And literally just conversations and being nice to people on twitter consistently.

No, you should only focus on one book in a query anyways, but you can say it’s an expected/proposed duology. :)

In an initial query, yes. As a nudge when deciding on a book, not necessarily. :)

I posted a query stats post at the beginning of this year, but I believe it was a 0.013% of queries and submissions who actually became my clients/received offers.

Oof, that’s tough. The only tips I can really give without knowing anything is to make it personal and write what you feel you need to write. Market yourself as a writer, not just marketing the book. And give specifics for comp titles (i.e. the games of The Hunger Games meets the

Not much. Three to four sentences at most. :)

It worth the time and energy spent negotiating contracts, buying out of contracts, re editing it, getting it down from Amazon and such.

Because if you’ve already published, it means the rights are usually not for sale, and even if they could be bought, then it will cost more money to get out of the contract with a small press, so the book would have to have the potential of earning A LOT of money in order to make

Whatever floats our boats at the moment usually. It depends on whether we need to stick to a schedule, do edits, make calls, meet edits, look over contracts, etc., and if there’s Pitch contests coming up or something. All dependent on what’s happening!

Hopefully this helps explain better. :) Narrative is usually insinuating a narrator, whereas voice has a bit more of a personal feel/connection with the main character. google.com/amp/s/hilbertt…

Yes, yes, and new pages. :)