Natascha Morris

Okay, JADA JONES: ROCK STAR, PRINCESS IN BLACK, MEET YASMIN!, CHICKEN SQUAD, are some of mine #askagent

Can I circle back to you? I am not in my office and I am terrible at titles, and my chapter books are on my rolling cart. #askagent

You need to know where your novel would sit in the bookstores. B/c it is only going to sit in 1 place. Take Outlander for example. Originally, it was shelved in romance. Now it is shelved in fiction. But it is also historical and sci-fi. But it is mostly romance or fic #askagent

For Kidlit, yes. Though have a conversation with your agent, since they may have a brand vision for you. For me, I am selfish and I want all my clients' kidlit stuff. Now if they want to do some adult thriller stuff, then we might talk them needing an adult agent. #askagent

Read SAVE THE CAT, and try reading it on your Kindle. Also @NaomisLitPix has a great link she shared with me once on this so I am tagging her in #askagent

I mean we are all kind of stressed and some have admitted to having a hard time focusing, but people need books. And we need queries. So BookEnds is moving like normal. Will we see things effected, yes, but we work 2 years in the future, so we need to work for 2022. #askagent

hahahaha this! So much this! #askagent

i do alot of author care: talking about new projects, how we feel about editorial responses, if they need me to step in for them, also being second eyes on their work. Really we are kind of like gardeners meets best friends, always there to lend a hand and prune things. #askagent

I am such a sucker for daddy/daughter books. And I love HAIR LOVE. So to me it is breaking down those expectations of what dad roles and mom roles are. #askagent

Also consider how your job experience is an asset. Work at Bank? Customer service experience! Teacher? Project management experience! You still need to learn the ins here on the ground, but those skills can transfer and be helpful. #askagent

I agree, historical is really tough in YA. That being said, if you can bring something FRESH then I am open to seeing it. WWII might be a bit tired if you are going the usual story routes, and personally, it needs to be extremely researched. But I'm game. #askagent

So here one of my client's query letters. She posted it to her blog so other people could see what worked for her: laurataylornamey.com/writing-tip-qu… Hope that helps! #askagent

I always actively encourage my authors to set up a website. It is never to early to start marketing yourself as an author. You are not aspiring: you ARE. #askagent

I mean I did this for a MG I sold. It is perfect for fans of the AMAZING RACE. But if you have ever watched the Amazing Race, and then read the book (which comes out 10/1/19) you will see why the comp works. It needs to be well known enough, people understand the comp. #askagent

For books, you want to use something in the last 2-3 years. For TV/Movies/Musicals you are really using it for plot comps so you need to be really spot on. Comps can be tricky as they set expectations since they can also be used to allude to your writing style as well. #askagent

Is the timing right? All these questions pile up so we say, okay set it aside and come back to it. There are alot of authors that were so close that I am keeping my eye on because they ended up in my maybe pile. #askagent

I wish I was always that certain! The real truth is that sometimes talented authors have books that aren't quite right and we have to think about it more. Do we have time to really dig in? Do we have the passion for this? Does it change the author's vision if we do X? #askagent

Honestly, I don't care. Your work is going to stand for itself regardless if you are 16 or 60. #askagent

You want the same as you would see on the back of a book. What would make you pick up a book and read it? Same holds for a query. You are selling your book to us, the same way a book sales itself to a read. @BookEndsJessica @bookendslit might have blog post about this. #askagent

I think an age range can bite an author in the ass, particularly if they don't understand it. So if an author is like "I have a picture book for 10-15 year olds" I know they don't know the category. So personally, I think it can hurt you. #askagent