Jon Michael Darga
Literary Agent
Aevitas Creative Management
Kathryn Hahn fan account / agent at @aevitascreative / lord of whispers / views are my own (he/him)
Literary Agent
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Jessica Florence @Florence_Jess
@jmdargz Does having a bunch of self-published books deter agents when the author is querying?no! not unless you’re querying a book that you’ve already self-published — that will make it a tougher sell to publishers, because they don’t want the material already available to readers for less money
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J. J. Crown @iAmJJCrown
@jmdargz Thanks for doing what you do, Jon! Really appreciate the time and effort you invest in the writing community. My question is, when reading the first few chapters of a submission, what are the most critical things/deal breakers that an agent looks for?beyond the obvious (captivating hook, good writing, etc.) I believe that the plot should start by the end of Ch1 — the reader should know what it is and “the quest” (such as it is) should have gotten underway. if it hasn’t, your book should start later. (this is why prologues=🙅🏼♂️)
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AmoryTHilts @AmoryWriting
@jmdargz @ReedsyHQ Thanks! Obvious in retrospect ha. I understand agents receive countless queries. I’m surprised there’s not a way to give a quick response though with a rejection i.e Lacking voice, wrong genre, too long, poor query letter, etc. Something automated. Do you have thoughts to why?I do — agents can get dozens of queries a week! if it’s a “quick response” — say, a minute, which is a lowball — to respond to each query, that can still take hours every week. if we’re also editing, answering emails, negotiating contracts... sometimes there really isn’t time
Literary Agent
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LivMacy @MacyLiv
@jmdargz @AmoryWriting @ReedsyHQ And what if you’ve gotten editorial guidance and are confident in your sub package? I’ve had zero reqs for partials or fulls.At what point is it time to stop because of marketability of the ms? How do you know it’s just subjective?
the dirty truth of publishing is: it’s ALL subjective. you know your pain threshold better than anyone in terms of how long to be on sub. some people keep an eye on new agents and are constantly “on sub”
one q: have you gotten guidance on your query letter? that can be crucial