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
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Lily Mehallick she/her @LilyMehallick
@annmrose What the lowest word count for a YA fantasy that’s acceptable? Is 50 or 60k too low and will turn away most agents? Thanks for answer questions!Hmmm… well I can’t answer for anyone other than myself, and I wouldn’t scoff at a 60k YA fantasy. I don’t mind when there is room to grow. And to be completely honest adding 20k words always feels a little less daunting than trying to cut those words
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Lakewolf @rdwolf
@annmrose What is the most important part of a query letter for you?I love queries with a strong hook and solid concept. I also love it when authors say what inspired them to write the story they did
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Gail Guerrero @_gail_guerrero
@annmrose When an author gets an agent, do the agent expects the author to write a certain amount of books at year, or at any given time? Can a represented author write only one book each two or three years, if that's how their writing speed is?This would be a great question for when you have a call with agents as everyone will answer differently. I personally don’t require any set amount of work.
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Writer's Block @Mind_Trace
@annmrose Hi. My stories are very long. Should I query the word count accepted part for the genre and say there’s more? Or query the full story with the understanding that it’ll have to be split into several books to get the full story, if picked up?You should probably try to fit within word count standards as best you can. Not having a full/complete book isn’t a better idea than saying it needs multiple books to make it a whole story. 😬 shoot for stand alone with series potential
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Jill Safran @WittyMystic
@annmrose @tjhrudman Thanks for doing this! I want to know if I should mention my book has potential for a sequel in the query or if I should just pitch it as a stand-alone book?To put it frankly every book has series potential if there is a market for it so IMO it’s not necessary to say. But stand alone with series potential is fine to put in a query.
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Jean-Maré Gagliardi🇿🇦 @jeanmare_gag
@annmrose When would it be appropriate to check in about full requests? Is between 3-6 months ok? I get that agents have clients & that takes priority so as eager as I am, I also want to be respectful. And for agents who use email over QM, what do you suggest I make the subject line?I think 3 month increments is reasonable. So once at 3 months again at 6 etc. Sometimes it takes us a while and not because we aren’t excited to read. Bandwidths just aren’t like they used to be and things are just taking longer all around
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Chiarra Arpaia @ChiarraArpaia
@annmrose I coauthored a novel I would call fantasy (fairies, magic, second world) but beta readers are telling me it reads more like literary fiction. How do I describe that/pick genre/know who to query? Also, why do so many agents only rep fantasy for YA?Well there is literary fantasy — the literary part is more about the voice when there is magic and fairies and other worlds.
I couldn’t tell you why for the second question. I know a bunch of agents who take adult fantasy. We are out there.
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Margo Sloan is Querying & Writing @MargoSloan215
@annmrose Do you frequently toss book samples if the letter doesn't speak to you, or have you ever found the first five pages so good, it trumps a lackluster query? Thank you <3Queries are hard so I always look at pages. And I have signed and sold a book I got because of a not great query and an amazing sample.
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Megan LaCroix🦉 @meganwritenow
@annmrose Is YA fantasy a particularly hard sell these days?The short answer is yes. 😔
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Megan Lind Persinger @meganthebookwrm
@annmrose When you're reading a full, how far do you normally read before you know it's not for you and reject it? Also, what's the number 1 reason you reject fulls?I just keep reading until I find myself not wanting to anymore 🤷🏼♀️ there is no set number of pages. There are a number of reasons I could reject. I usually try to give some kind of explanation when I do so.
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mona @monatheraven
@annmrose Can you tell when an author is nervous & has a tiny typo in the e-mail response to a partial or full request? Do you take off points for this? 😂🥺
👉🏼👈🏼
Never! We all make typos now and then. The other day I used the completely wrong word but at the time I was so sure it was correct. Infinity instead of affinity. It happens. We’re all human.
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Logan K. Glendenning @LKGlendenning
@annmrose If my manuscript is intended as a duology, should that be clearly listed in the query/synopsis? And is an intended duology a dealbreaker (generally) for most agents?Well you are now asking them to commit to selling two books (at the same time) not just one so that does make things harder. It’s why we always say stand alone with series potential is preferred. For some it could be a dealbreaker.
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AshleyQuinn @AshleyCQuinn
@annmrose My novel: superhero story with addiction, mental health, & MeToo issues. It crosses a couple genres & I'm uncertain which genre to go with. Few agents say they like spec fiction, but this seems like the best fit. How to handle multiple genres when querying? Thanks!You ask yourself, If I walked into a bookstore and went to look for my book, what shelf would it be on? That is how you classify it's genre.
Does that help?
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Stacy A. Alderman @StacyAnneWrites
@annmrose Is it ever okay for a synopsis to be more than one page? Like a page and a half? Page and a quarter? #strugglingI think 1-2 pages for a synopsis is the perfect length.
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C.W. Maurer @CWMaurerWrites
@annmrose @theWhitneyPearl I was looking over a synopsis for a writing group member, and they had included a line along the very-loosely-summarized lines of "A and B share a romantic moment (fade to black)"Is something like that helpful/encouraged to know what level of sexual content the book contains?
I don't see any issues with it. And it does just what you say here; shows the level of heat on the page.
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sandrayc @sycwrites
@annmrose How realistic is it to find an agent in the UK or US for an Asian writer whose debut is a novel heavily rooted in South-East Asian culture, including colloquial dialogue?I don't think it should be too hard at all. As long as they represent what you are offering, query them!
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
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Tara Santora (they/them) @Tara_Santora
@annmrose Is it annoying if I query at nights or on weekends? I don’t want to be annoying, but that’s when I’m most available. #askagentYou need to do you. It doesn't matter what time you query IMO.
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Jodene Weber @JodeneWeber
@annmrose I queried you but received an odd message after hitting send, and I saw on QueryTracker others have received the same, so it wasn’t clear if you received our query+pages or not. Do you send rejections? It’s hard to gauge if you received the query. Thank you for taking questions.I keep my DM's open for query issues and am happy to check if they have come through on my side. I know our site is funky. I'm sorry.
Unfortunately, Prospect's policy is we only reply if we want to see more, which is crappy I know, but since the site is so clunky...