Juliet Mushens
Literary Agent
Mushens Entertainment
Literary agent at @MushensEnt , sartorialist and cat wrangler. Wartime consigliere. Pollyanna-ish. Generally heard before I'm seen. Bend and SNAP.
Literary Agent
Hina Malik @dodgyjammer
#askagent if you have two projects that could interest an agent, do you submit as two separate subs or as one email?I would pick your strongest and just submit that #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
John Huw Evans @JohnHuwEvans2
#AskAgentWill agents represent people across a political divide.
I'm asking based on an agency representing "celebrity politicians" I personally dislike.
I can't imagine them being a home for me.
I think it's perfectly fair as a writer to take a look at a client list and feel it doesn't fit your own beliefs/leanings, and take that into account when submitting. #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Debbi Voisey @DublinWriter
@mushenska Would you (or any agent, do you think?) ever consider reading a submission you have previously passed on again, if the author did considerable work on it? 😊 #askagentOnly if I've specifically requested to see it again after the work #AskAgent
Literary Agent
tastestrange @lewisjcwilliams
Hi. Do you dismiss queries without reading the attached documents? I write my query letter in an objective manner and therefore it does not reflect the prose of the book. ...(it would sound strange if it did!) #askagentnormally I read some of the pages unless there is a very glaring reason not to! #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
Clare Zinkin (MinervaReads) @minervamoan
Hello. Thanks for answering questions here. Would you expect to sign a writer before asking them to do major changes to a manuscript? Or would you ask them to do the changes first and then sign? #askagentdepends how big the changes are! If they're very big I'd normally ask for a 'revise and resubmit', and might offer rep based on that. Otherwise, I'd need to be sure we were on the same page #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Sophie Draper @sophiedraper9
@mushenska @skellybacken completely understand - does that change if you have an offer of representation and worried about keeping them waiting too long for an answer? #askagentIt's normal to let the offering agent know within a week or so, and to tell everyone else you need an answer by then #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Stewart Clyde @StewartClyde_
@mushenska If my novel is self-published, can I still submit it, and if so, would a publisher still consider it?#askingforafriend
you can but I might worry that it's already reached its sales potential. It's not a hard rule of mine though #AskAgent
Literary Agent
John Huw Evans @JohnHuwEvans2
@mushenska I'm thinking more of unstated dislikes that are just a non-no like combining crime with SFFI'd guess those would vary agent on agent, and I'd try and mention them in my submissions page #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
E.P. Larrson lives in a dumpster fire @E_P_LWB
#AskAgent I’ve seen different ranges for acceptable adult fantasy word counts (specifically between UK and US agents). For UK, what would you consider to be the acceptable word count for adult fantasy debuts?The majority are 100k-120k words. The longest debut fantasy I have sold was 150k #AskAgent
Literary Agent
John Huw Evans @JohnHuwEvans2
#AskAgentAre there any categories or combinations of categories that agents will turn down without even reading? Ignoring obvious social taboos
it depends on the agent! I list the genres I don't represent on my submission page so if I get a submission in one of those genres I wouldn't read it #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Dr. Sarah Kelly @skellybacken
@mushenska #askagentI chased up (politely) an agent who asked me for a full MS some weeks ago and have still heard nothing - is it best to assume they’re not interested or worth a follow-up? Thanks 🙏🏻
It depends on how many weeks it's been - I think after 8 weeks fine to nudge, and do remember that right now some agents are slower because of illness/childcare etc. #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Ruthie Mack @ItsRuthieMack
#askagent What's the best way to approach the cover letter?90% about the book, 10% about you. Elevator pitch, blurb and some comps. I've actually just written a blog post featuring my own made up subs letter and I'll post it after! #AskAgent
Literary Agent
KC Harper @kcharper613
@jounwin @mushenska @julietpickering I’ve written an epic fantasy that’s getting great reviews from beta readers (unknown to me), but it is 136,000 words in length. How strict would you say word length guidelines are for Agents and publishing? #AskAgentIt's okay for epic fantasy, though can still be tricky in translation as translated books are even longer than in english #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Rebecca E Roberts @BeckyERoberts
@mushenska Thanks for your reply. I was worried because the contributors to the discussion seemed to regard it as true, 'but who cares if it's lowbrow - I love reading them anyway.'there are absolutely definitely literary first person POV novels! #AskAgent
Literary Agent
Literary Agent
Lynne Arrol @LyndoA
@jounwin @mushenska @julietpickering Hi thanks to all of you for doing an #askagent session. I like using dialogue in my writing as I also like writing plays. What balance of dialogue to prose is acceptable in novels written for children and adults?I like dialogue too but just make sure it's not at the expense of developing setting and character #AskAgent