Michelle Witte

Literary Agent

Mansion Street Literary Management

Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

#querytip If you're querying & change your email address for some reason, let agents know. Every once in awhile I get emails bouncing back.

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

+You have no idea how helpful it is to open a ms and remember which one it is immediately w/out having to search query inbox. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Another formatting #querytip (kinda): When I request ms (full or partial) I ask for author to include query letter as first page of ms. +

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

These might seem like obvious #querytip's that everyone already knows, but you'd be surprised by how many writers don't do these things.

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

And make sure to include your contact info in the manuscript document itself. Not just author name and book title. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Although I just upload a ms to my ereader instead of printing it out, I still need that info easily accessible. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Also, make sure to put page numbers, author name, manuscript title on every page (in header, footer, whatevs). #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

All of this is to say—make it easy for an agent to read your manuscript. Annoyances do not make for ideal submission reading. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

More ms formatting fun: only ONE (1) space after a period. That's another holdover from typewriter/early word processor days. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Those formatting issues, btw, come from antiquated (i.e., pre-2000) advice, but word processing has evolved greatly since then. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

For the love of commas, use italics instead of underlining. That's one I can't easily search & replace, and it drives me BATTY. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Standard manuscript formatting: 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced. JUST SAY NO TO COURIER. (It's annoying to read.) #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

I like it when writers mention social media accounts and author websites in a query. Makes google-stalking easier. #notkidding #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Strong verbs can make a blah query extraordinary—but don't go overboard to where it looks like a thesaurus barfed on your query. #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

Part 2 of 4 in my series on Magical Realism is up on the blog now. What Magical Realism ISN'T: michellewittebooks.com/2015/08/what-m… #MSWL #querytip

Michelle Witte
@michellewitte
Literary Agent
Publishing professional and mental health advocate. I write craptastic books. Some people think I'm funny. You should probably be worried about those people.
171 MSWL
18 Tips

The phrase I most dread seeing in query letters is "I wrote this book to teach children..." Unless it's like a how-to, just NO. #querytip