Dearest New Writers, it is with great love and best wishes for you that I strongly suggest some hesitation before adding "bestselling, award-winning" and other such super-duper-extra-fabulous (ahem, truth-stretching) superlatives to your bio. #querytip #authortip

#querytip Check the formatting of your query before submitting! If your query, synopsis, or pages are in one huge block of text without any paragraph breaks, they become extremely difficult to read—and therefore extremely difficult to connect with 😞

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

It's royalty statement season again. It's common for money in publishing to go up and down like a pinball (advances, royalties, returns, subrights deals, etc).

#pubtip

Great opportunity for everyone! #amediting #amquerying #querytip

This week, I've had a spate of really rude follow-ups to queries. #querytip: Be patient, be generous, be kind. You're not going to bully anyone into representing you.

Q: How much of the story should a query cover?

A: You're just pitching the story, not giving away all the details. Similar to the back cover description on a published book. #querytip

Reading through queries this morning and I have two very obvious #querytip. 1) I don't want to see debut projects greater than 150,000 words. 2) Your book should be 100% complete before you query me.

This whole thread is amazingly great, but I think this one in particular is something all authors would do well to follow. #querytip

#querytip --- as general rule, do NOT comment on an agent's appearance. It doesn't matter if you think it's a compliment. It doesn't matter if their picture spoke to you (whatever that means). #WritingCommunity #HowNotToQuery I really shouldn't have to say this. 🙄 #amquerying

Oh goodness gracious, loves of mine, PLEASE do not subscribe someone to your email list w/o asking, but also DO NOT subscribe a submissions email to your list. At any given time w btwn 1k & 3k emails in our submissions, only submissions go there, I'm begging you #querytip #subtip

Authors: Please do NOT send your #query to my inbox. All queries must come through QueryManager. I delete all queries in my email. For your sake, and those who want to read your words, follow submission guidelines! #querytip
corvisieroagency.com/saritza-hernan…

#querystats I hit query 0 so all queries have been answered. Check your spam/junk if you haven't heard back.

I do have 14 requested manuscripts now to work through, and those go back to 1/15.

Retweeting because it keeps happening, ie people using my nonfiction query form to submit novels...thanks all! #pubtip

Word count matters. Sure, a fantasy novel or a historical sagas get dispensation from the 100,000 average. But your YA thriller’s just got to be under 100,000 words. 200,000 does not a YA thriller make. #pubtip

Authors, DO NOT CALL EDITORS AT WORK. Most of the big 5 publishers, maybe all, do not take unsolicited manuscripts. #querytip

#querytip A referral from a name I don't know actually hurts you more than it helps because it feels like someone's trying to run a scam. Only mention a referral if it's someone you're sure I know and trust.

Examples of reasons for rejection: voice, lack of craft, word count, derivative storyline, similarity to project already repping, unsaleable project in current market. 2/2 #pubtip

Just because an agent represents your genre, it doesn't mean your project is right for them for any number of reasons. 1/2 #pubtip

Dudes! If you are querying an agent you need to write a professional business letter to them. I seriously do not want to see a single other query that tells me about someone's adorable pet (unless it is the story). #querytip #agentrant #pubtip #amquerying