Kate McKean
Literary Agent
Howard Morhaim Literary Agency
CLOSED TO QUERIES. VP at Morhaim Literary. Daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings. Rep’d by @Michaelbourret
Literary Agent
An actual human person got a book deal* from reading Agents and Books and she tells you all about here today!
*and not even a client!
katemckean.substack.com/p/agents-and-b…
#pubtip #WritingCommunity #amquerying #amwriting
Literary Agent
Erik Patterson @erikpatterson
Finished a book that I hated and accidentally left it at the coffeeshop & now I hope someone takes it and reads it and enjoys all the “WHAT THE FUCK,” “then WHO CARES” notes in the margins. pic.twitter.com/tvvVzlpo5yBasically your number one job as a writer is to make sure your reader never says Then Who Cares about your characters/plot. #pubtip
Literary Agent
How to Deal with Rejection
katemckean.substack.com/p/how-to-deal-…
#amwriting #amquerying #writingcommunity #pubtip
Literary Agent
Is it a problem if your agent wants to be a writer, too?
#pubtip #amwriting #amquerying #WritingCommunity
katemckean.substack.com/p/agents-who-w…
Literary Agent
Book publicity is incredibly hard and book publicists are literal angels and if you want to know why read this:
katemckean.substack.com/p/how-publicit…
#amwriting #amquerying #pubtip #writingcommunity #agents #books
Literary Agent
Also, if you are a repeat offender of sending undeniably bad, aggressive, and insulting queries, I set a filter for your name/email and you're automatically sent to the trash. Sorry not sorry. #pubtip
Literary Agent
Under no circumstances should you GROUP DM agents to query your work. #pubtip #amquerying
Literary Agent
I really, really, really don't want a publishing start up that disrupts query letters.
#amquerying #pubtip #writingcommunity #amwriting
katemckean.substack.com/p/i-dont-want-…
Literary Agent
One of the fundamental challenges of writing a book is getting everything you know about your subject/characters/plot/etc from your head to the actual page. You know what you know, but the reader doesn't know what you know until you tell them. #pubtip
Literary Agent
What's the difference between market and platform?
katemckean.substack.com
#amwriting #writingcommunity #pubtip #amquerying
Literary Agent
Hello. It is not necessary to notify me if another agent has requested your full manuscript. Congrats! But I don't need to know. Tell me if you get an offer of rep, but otherwise, we're good. #pubtip
Literary Agent
Whoooooooo wheeeeeeee, I got a little salty in this week's paid Agents and Books:
Stop Using Statistics to Prove Your Market
katemckean.substack.com/p/stop-using-s…
#pubtip #amquerying #amwriting
Literary Agent
If you think that calling your book a romantic suspense thriller mystery historical novel with light fantasy/magical realism means everyone who likes ANY of those genres will like your book, you need to read this: katemckean.substack.com #pubtip #amwriting
Literary Agent
Thinking about your author platform can be terrifying.
#amquerying #pubtip
katemckean.substack.com
Literary Agent
How long does a book have to be? If you're wondering about word counts for whatever you're writing, look here: katemckean.substack.com #pubtip
Literary Agent
When your pitch mentions the race or other characteristic of the marginalized of only one character, I know what the default of all the others is. #pubtip
Literary Agent
In your query letter, Catharine "Kate" McKean doesn't care that your main character goes by a nickname for the entirety of your novel. #pubtip
Literary Agent
I'd say one in every 100 queries mentions a client that I have not worked with in about 13 years, when I left one agency for another. This isn't an auto-rejection level offense. But it tells me where you got your info, and that info is bad. #pubtip
Literary Agent
Kate McKean @kate_mckean
Pub credits et al tell us what you're up to, or have been up to. What worlds are you active in? Has anyone heard of them? Are they related to the book you're querying? Will they help with promotion? #pubtip 2/3If you don't have any yet, don't worry--if you're writing fiction. If you're writing many types of non-fiction, we definitely ARE looking for pub credits related to your book. #pubtip 3/3
Literary Agent
Kate McKean @kate_mckean
Some end of year #pubtips: When agents ask for your pub credits or previously published works in a query letter, we're not asking you to prove SOMEONE ELSE LIKED MY WRITING SO YOU WILL TOO. 1/3Pub credits et al tell us what you're up to, or have been up to. What worlds are you active in? Has anyone heard of them? Are they related to the book you're querying? Will they help with promotion? #pubtip 2/3