There seems to be confusion about what an agent “closing to queries” actually means. It does *not* mean that we aren’t responding to the things that are *already* in our inbox! It just means that we are not accepting any new, unsolicited work! #querytip

If you're getting form rejections or rejections with no feedback from editors or agents, consider having people critique your query letter and synopsis in addition to the manuscript. It could be that your pitch isn't selling the book.

#pubtip

How many illustrations are in a #PictureBook?

They're not just great for delaying bedtime! #Illustrators work to bring visuals to our favorite #stories & our Lead Agent, Regina Brooks explains how. #BooksByTheNumbers

@scbwi @ALALibrary #ChildrensBooks #KidLit #PubTip #WNDB

This Q&A with Sangeeta Mehta & literary agents Sarah LaPolla & Kim Lionetti gives you insight into how to turn your first #book deal into a long-term #writing career. @janefriedman @sarahlapolla @BookEndsKim @wnip @Blackwriters #Pubtip #querytip #amwriting
ow.ly/QtRH30pltw8

Y’all.

YA and MG are not the same thing.

I do not represent MG.

Submitting it under YA on my Query Manager and hoping it’ll slip by won’t work. Especially if you still state it’s MG in the query (but even if you don’t, I can tell when a story feels MG).

#querytip

Hear what agent @carlywatters has to say about completing your manuscript before seeking representation. #querytip #pubtip

Ask yourself honestly--is your email REALLY TRULY in need of a red exclamation point? #pubtip

In your query, I need I know about your book. It’s great to learn about what inspired you to write the book, if your life/job experience had something to do with the story, but I need to know about the manuscript first. #querytip

When contacting a literary agent, please address them by name and not “Hi Agent” or “To Whom it May Concern” #querytip #WritingCommnunity

Check out the latest episode of The Rose Quinn Podcast to hear from literary agent @carlywatters, including her top query no-no's and tips! bit.ly/2Omub6S #querytip #pubtip

Fantastic thread for full of great #querytip tweets from @CortneyRadocaj.

TL;DR give your readers a hot second to get to know your characters before shit hits the fan. The emotional investment and payoff will be worth it, I promise.

#querytip #editingtip #writingcommunity #amquerying #amediting

(Honestly it’s one of my favorite opening chapters ever it had me hooked from the very get go, @veschwab is INCREDIBLE and that opening is incredible ugh)

There are exceptions to this—the one that comes to mind is the opening scene of THIS SAVAGE SONG, where Kate is setting the church on fire.

But even this, in the WAY it was written, allowed the reader a chance to get to know Kate and her CURRENT state of being.

Now, “normal” doesn’t mean “boring”. Bored characters = bored readers. It should still be engaging and enticing—but it should also showcase the MC AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE. As their life currently is. Not AFTER everything has snowballed into change.

We NEED to see the MC before the inciting incident. We NEED to see the steps leading to the inciting incident in order to be invested and care about it. We NEED a semblance of normal for them first.

It’d be like watching The Matrix if it started after Neo has already taken the red pill.

Sure it’d still be cool—but why would we care about him? How would we understand the consequences of this choice? How would we understand the emotional and mental pieces of that choice?

We’re thrown into an (often) emotionally charged situation, one where life changing stuff has gone down and a lot is going on and it SHOULD be exciting and enthralling...

And all the reader is experiencing is confusion and distance from the MC.

It may seem logical to start in the meat of things as it’s ramping up—but it has the opposite effect.

If we don’t get to see the character in some version of their “normal”, if we don’t get to see the inciting incident, why should the reader care what happens to them?

A common theme in my inbox today: beginnings starting in the wrong place.

The query builds a great inciting incident... and then the story begins AFTER that inciting incident has happened. In the aftermath of whatever kicks off the MC’s journey.

#querytip #editingtip