Ann Rose
Literary Agent
Tobias Literary Agency
agent: @TheTobiasAgency & #rosebudauthor wrangler | author: ROAD TO EUGENICA & BREAKOUT | opinions are my own | she/her rep:@evascalzo layout:@ana_scribe
Literary Agent
Thea Verdone is my pen name @herefortheMSWL
@annmrose Yes, please! If my book is half romance and hits all the romance beats but the other half is character-driven literary drama, what do I call it genre-wise? I’ve been pitching it as upmarket gothic romance, but is literary romance a thing? Do I just call it upmarket? Thank you ❤️Where would you go to find it in a bookstore? It can only sit on one shelf.
Literary Agent
David Neuner @david_neuner
@annmrose Thank you so much for taking our questions! What advice do you have for querying more than one manuscript at a time? I have a new MS that is ready to go, but I’m actively querying another manuscript in the same genre. I wouldn’t sub to agents/agencies where I have an open query.Keep good track and be prepared for an agent to ask (if you get an offer and notify others who have the other MS) which book do you want as your debut and if it’s one they aren’t excited about to step aside
Literary Agent
B Wheeler @MagicalHippo
@annmrose How important is it to bold or caps character names in queries or synopses? It’s so distracting to me!Wishing you a great workout!
Character names should be ALL CAPS the 1st time they’re mentioned in the synopsis, but nothing special for the query.
This is really helpful when going through the synopsis & they mention a side character at the end & I’m like wait who are they again? They’re easier to find
Literary Agent
Caitlin Foley @caitlinrfoley1
@annmrose Does the query letter or the first pages have the biggest impact on your decision to read/pass?Well this is going to depend on who you ask. I know some people who look at the query after the pages and some who look at the query first. So really it’s both that are super important
Literary Agent
Evelyn Hunter Right @evelynthewriter
@annmrose If you plan on writing under a pen name, how should you address that in your query to an agent?It’s not super important to do that at the query stage but you could do something like
Sincerely,
Ann Rose
Writing as A.M. Rose
Literary Agent
Petra Baillie Author @PetraBaillie
@annmrose How often does an agent pick up a MS based on their gut instinct and love for the story over potential to sell?It can happen. I’m not sure how often but we will find passion projects that we will fight to the ends of the earth for ❤️
Literary Agent
Ilya Ellis is querying 🏳️🌈 @ilyaellis1
@annmrose Do you have a maybe pile for your queries? If you do what turns those maybes into a request?I do. And a maybe for me is—I need to come back and take a deeper/longer look at this when I have time.
Turning it into a request would just be that it is as awesome as I was hoping it would be—which isn’t very helpful I know ❤️
Literary Agent
Autumn is 17k in Black Diary of a Wimpy Kid 🤓 @autumnwritesya
@annmrose If I want to query a MG novel I think would work very well as a GN…how would I word that in a query?Are you trying to sell a prose novel or a GN script?
If it’s a prose novel then I wouldn’t worry about what other formats it could be good in since this is the format you are currently trying to sell in, if that makes sense.
Literary Agent
Laura Author of ALIANA reaches for the moon💙 📚🌙 @ljrwritenow
@annmrose I was tutoring my GED student about earth science crust/mantle/core while you were on the elliptical. Here’s a rhetorical question, which is more mind numbing?Actual question 🙋🏼♀️ What do you NEED in the first ten pages?
The 1st ten pages of the MS should introduce us to the MC and their world and start building up to the inciting incident.
Also remember, start with agency not necessarily “action”
Literary Agent
M. Patrice @callmpg
@annmrose If a book is self-published with limited sales, can the author retire the ISBN, revise the manuscript, rename the book, and offer it to an agent as "new?"There would have to be a considerable amount of work done for this to be a “new project”
It might be better to just work on the next new thing instead
Literary Agent
John Evans @roninmercllc
@annmrose Why does it seem like Agents hate to read? In the past two months, I have seen a dozen agents on Twitter say that they will autoreject MS with a high word count, despite the fact they are the ones who request a certain amount of pages. If you ask for 10 pages that's 2500-5000wrdsUnless I’m not understanding your question, rejecting based on high word count means word count for the entire project itself not the sample pages. So yes, if you send them a 200k word MG they will likely just auto reject.
Literary Agent
Erin Giannini @ErinAries74
@annmrose Is it bad form to send queries to agents at agencies where one of their coworkers already passed?As long as they don’t have a no from one is a no for all policy it’s totally fine to do
Literary Agent
n; shrimp @ntl_enty
@annmrose If I see on an agent's timeline they skipped my query but dealt with all the ones around it, am I in trouble or can I have hope? Asking for a friend.Have hope. There are many reasons this could’ve happened. So no reason to dread or make assumptions. ❤️
Tell your friend not to worry 😉
Literary Agent
Gail Notestine @gail_notestine
@annmrose I have a self-published MG series that I have been told would make a great kids TV series. Would a book agent handle that?Book agents have connections to film agents and some have direct connections to the film industry but since your book is already published a book agent likely won’t be interested unless it has massive sales. You’d likely want to try and find a film agent at this point
Literary Agent
rob is revising @robinspncr
@annmrose Hiii Ann👀 I’m revising a lower YA fantasy, but I have heard it’s not very popular. I feel like most authors are writing upper YA because it’s more comercial. What are you thoughts?thank you for your time and happy elipticalling!!💞💞
I think all ages need books ❤️
Literary Agent
Kit Bowman is querying YA Fantasy! @kit_bowman
@annmrose What are you most looking for in a synopsis?The overall story and character arc. So hit the major plot points and spoil the hell out of it.
Literary Agent
Savannah Carlisle @SavvyCarlisle
@annmrose What's a reasonable amount of time to give agents who have your full once you get an offer? I feel like I've heard two weeks, but are there agents who will just pass because they can't review that quickly?Two weeks is still the standard. And agents not having time anyway isn’t a new thing. We have to look at what we have currently on going and evaluate at the point the offer comes in if our bandwidth will allow time to consider. And sometimes we have no choice but to step aside
Literary Agent
E. Edmond Tucker @etuckerwrites
@annmrose What kind of info do you like to see in the about-the-author section of a query letter?I love to know why an author was moved to write the book or their personal connections to the story.
Literary Agent
Sarah M. Anderson @SarahMAnderson1
@annmrose If 1-2 agents have the full, do you still send out new queries? Thanks for your time (as always)/sorry for your elliptical time.Yes. Keep going until you have an offer. Or at least that is how I would do it. You can do whatever you are comfortable with ❤️
Literary Agent
BRCloth @brclothwrites
@annmrose What types of marketing do agents have over small pubs or self published authors? I see so many saying even if they get an agent they would still have to do most the marketing themselves. Is this true?An agent’s job is to sell the book to a publisher. An agent’s job is not to market the book. Marketing is done through the publisher.