Q6: LGBTQIA: Yes!. YA Contemporary: Yes! but I just can't get into the writing voice, it doesn't entice me in the least. Pass.

Q5: I'm always on the look out for Women's fiction and anything that could be a great book club pick. The writing is there but I'm not just emotionally connect to the novel's concept. Pass.

Q5: I am incredibly selective of any PB I want to work with and this one doesn't have a hook that I'm drawn to. Pass.

Q4: The writing has potential but I'm just not interested in superheros unfortunately. Pass.

Q3: The writing is too experimental for me. I also hate anything with drugs in it. Pass.

Q2: Interesting premise but the writing is telling me the story instead of showing me, to use an overused cliche. The first several paragraphs of writing couldn't hook me in. Pass.

Q1: Space sci-fi is so not my forte. Reading about space travel and other planets turns my brain to mush. Pass.

Query #10: Literary fiction with a hooky, twisty family plot set in the Midwest; it's not explicitly comped, but this reminds me a lot of My Absolute Darling and Educated. Request.

Query #9: A memoir query -- the story sounds interesting, actually, but Amy isn't acquiring memoir and we get so many Running with Scissors comps each year; this is a genre where you have to strive to stand out. Pass.

Query #8: Super quirky commercial fiction, which I like, but the plot sounds like it consists of a lot of extreme, purposeless violence toward the female main character, which really puts me off. Pass.

Query #7: Adult, multi-POV novel set in a small town -- very good. But it's extremely short (at 45K words), and the query is more a long character summary than a description of the novel, which makes me dubious about the plotting. Pass.

Query #6: A (never been staged) play that the author would like assistance turning into a novel. This isn't the role of a literary agent. Pass. Also a good reminder to finish your novel before querying! I don't request unfinished manuscripts.

Query #5: Author begins by saying, in effect, "I don't think there's a market for my fiction." From there, it takes about two pages to get to the title of the book being queried. Don't submarine yourself at the outset, and edit your query letters! Pass.

Query #4: Picture book; Amy's not acquiring picture books. Pass.

Query #3: I waffle -- literary women's fiction (PERFECT), but it sounds extremely sad/serious, whereas the author's (great) credentials are all in comedy. Still, a comp title is one of Amy's faves (Where'd You Go, Bernadette), and I like the voice in the query. Request.

Query #2: Self-help, which Amy doesn't (and hasn't ever) represented, and it's mostly a meandering paean to the author's awesomeness (written, oddly, in third person), rather than a description of the book. Pass.

Query #1: Literary fiction riffing on an iconic American novel -- this I like. Word count of more than 200,000 -- this I do not. The included writing sample is very wordy and meandering, confirming my instincts. Pass.

#tenqueries 10: MG Contemporary: This pitch doesn’t include a strong enough hook. It’s a story about friendship and growing up—but it seems too quiet for me. Pass.

#tenqueries 9: Adult “Cross-Genre”. I’d instead suggest the author categorize this as “Sci-fi with romantic elements”. The pages didn't quite do it for me -- they're good, but they don't feel unputdownable for me personally. Pass.

#tenqueries 8: YA Sci-fi: This was a strong query, but the beginning feels a touch overwritten without grounding the reader in the character's POV, so it feels a little slow to start. Pass.