#literary agent

[strawberyswirl]

Trying to find more sci-fi and fantasy authors to follow

Does anyone have any good suggestions? Are you yourself a published or aspiring writer in these genres? If so, please let me know, as I'm looking to connect with more people in the industry (and just follow some awesome people)! ^_^

[john-mantle-secret-boss]

I strongly feel Billford is just canon. Why, you may ask? Two things. First, it *to me* makes more sense. The way they talk to each other and especially the fact that bill only does what he wants, and he really wants ford to side with him. He also treats ford different than the henchmaniacs, who we know are his ‘friends’. Second, WHAT DOES ‘one thing led to another’ MEAN IF ITS NOT THE INTENTION??? That phrase is very contextual, but generally has a sexual/romantic undertone of SOME KIND unless explicitly stated otherwise. But here, they LEAN INTO the undertones. Idk man, triangle and autistic man gay

[breakfastteatime]

As I am once again a querying writer™️, I thought I would share some general thoughts, feelings and tips about how to cope with what can be a long, drawn out, and incredibly hard experience.

With every query I send out, I expect rejection but hope for the best. Pessimistic perhaps, but I've found it really, really helps. To be clear, rejection never feels great (not even the personalised ones), but by expecting agents to pass on the submission, even from those who seem so perfect for the book, takes some of the sting out of it.

So, here we go: Breakfast Tea’s querying advice!

Ignore stories about other people’s querying journeys. You’ll hear about people who get signed by the first agent they query with the first book they ever wrote. Good for them. A friend of mine won a competition and agents came to her begging to represent her. Amazing for her, but those examples are also highly unrealistic for the majority. I’m on my sixth attempt (4 YAs – three of which were not good enough to be submitted in retrospect, and 1 adult thriller I’m still kinda bummed about but oh well!) and though I’m feeling really, REALLY good right now, I also don’t expect to get anywhere. I’m gonna shout from the hilltops if I do, buuuuut I also don’t expect to land an agent (as explained above). And if I don’t, well, onto attempt number 7!

Start writing something new as soon as you can. Ideally original fiction because agents will ask you what else you’re working on – and sometimes even ask you to outline this in the query letter (although I don’t think I’ve submitted to anyone like that in *years*). That friend of mine from above says agents also expect you to be in the same genre with the next project, so don’t query an adult thriller and tell them you’re now working on a picture book for toddlers.

If you can't write something new yet, find other distractions. Anything to take your mind off waiting for responses.

Have a rejection coping strategy in place. I find the first few don’t really bother me because of the whole ‘expect rejection’ mindset I try to have, but after a while they really, really, REALLY start to bring me down. Mine is usually eating cake and/or other little treats. Something that just reminds me I exist beyond my writing.

Accept the loss of control. Oh man, I hate this. I haaaaaaaaaaate this. Once that query package is sent out, that’s it. You’re out of control of the whole situation and you’re waiting either for a rejection, a full request, or just eternal silence. Thankfully most agencies are better now at specifying that silence = rejection. Patience is essential. I’ll let you know if I ever get any better at it.

You will get silences on full requests. You shouldn’t, but you will. I’ve had several. It is incredibly rude and exceedingly frustrating, but that’s querying for you. Even after chasing some agents just will not respond.

You may also get really rude rejections. Back in the 2010s I had one post about my story ON HER TWITTER PAGE after she rejected me. Like literally, I got the rejection and then I saw her tweet. Arsehole. And no, I can’t remember her name because I would publicly shame her. I’ve had rejections that were a sentence, I’ve had rejections that made no sense, I’ve had multiple rejections from the same agent on the one book I sent, I’ve had agents reject me by the wrong name, I’ve had agents reject me using the wrong pronouns (my name is traditionally masculine so my pronouns are in my submission). If you get something like that, blacklist them from any future projects. You deserve better.

I prefer form rejections to silence unless the agency specifies a timescale for ‘silence = rejection’. I personally prefer the certainty of a rejection. I know, weird.

Always chase agents who say it’s okay to chase them. You never know!

Personalised rejections are nice to receive. Oh, they still suck, but it’s a sign you’re on the right lines. And if an agent says ‘please submit your next project to me’ take them up on it.

If an agent forwards your work onto another agent who ‘may be more suited’ get excited but stay realistic. Many years ago, I had a project move between three agents (one of whom I’ll be submitting to again with this project). None of them signed me, but oooh it was so thrilling for a while! It was my second project – a YA sci-fi that actually got the most amount of requests of anything I’ve ever sent out. It will never see the light of day.

Don’t be disheartened if you submit to a contest and don’t get chosen – still query traditionally. Same if you submit to a course and don’t get selected. Agents don’t tend to read the submissions – readers do – so the agent won’t have seen your work yet.

You’re absolutely allowed to feel like shit and to cry about being rejected, but you gotta get back up and keep querying and keep writing.

You’ve got to be in the right headspace for querying. The last time I did it, I had to stop because I’d just started a new job with a huge new learning curve, and I couldn’t manage queries and new job at the same time. I resumed querying a long time later once I felt more settled.

Do not lie to agents. Now, this may be more specific to the UK, but agenting is a really small world and they all talk. So if you try to nudge an agent by going “Oh, another agent has a full request” or “another agent has offered representation” and that’s not true? You’re fucked.

Celebrate a full request – but stay realistic.

Agents will reject the same book for totally different reasons. I had one agent reject a horror novel because it wasn’t scary enough, and another because it was too scary. It’s all very subjective.

Agents are not rejecting you as a human being, they are saying no to what is essentially a business proposal. It’s a really strange way to look at it, but you are more than your writing!!!!!

Okay, I think that’ll do for now! Feel free to drop me an Ask if you wanna know more!

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont)

05/07/2025

[allthetropes]

every "good" literary query letter has to have a section on how you've won 400 writing competitions and you're actually already a published author and everybody already loves you. that feels like a scam somehow i just can't put my finger on why.

[hangingslothcentral]

a couple of people expressed interest in hearing more about my prose stuff and navigating traditional publishing, so!

excitingly I've just finished what will be the final round of revisions for now on the novel I've been working on for the last few months to get it all scrubbed up and pretty, ready to be sent out to some literary agents

of course, getting a novel published begins with writing that novel and revising it, but it's actually only one of three things that you need to have ready to go before you begin looking for the perfect agent to help you get your book onto a shelf near you

generally speaking this is what you need:

a finished, revised novel which is the *best version of itself it can be*

a summary of that novel, usually under 750 words, which tells the WHOLE story, including the end

and a cover letter to send out to agents

all three of these things are pretty labour intensive to produce. I'm going to share some stuff about getting prepped to start this process; it's not really advice, it's just a general overview of all the bits you'll need. self publishing isn't something that would work for me right now, so I'm hoping to go the traditional publishing route, and I've tried to go this route before, so I know the ropes a little now!

writing a novel is, well. it's writing a novel. it takes a long time and a lot of skill and the odds it'll be decent at the end of draft one are slim, so it also takes a lot of editing skills. you already know writing a novel is difficult so I won't labour that point.

summarising that novel you've spent months (or even years!) working on is VERY difficult. you're so close to the story by that point that half the time when you sit down to summarise it, you feel like it's impossible. every part of that thing is deliberately chosen, specifically crafted, expertly arranged. summarising feels almost unholy!

but it's actually secretly a great excercise in getting to know the story you've been telling, too. I always write a draft summary of the novels I'm working on after I reach the end of draft one, because I find it can be super helpful to understand the story's top-down structure when I go into my re-draft. if the summary needs rewriting, that's okay!

the third part is very tricksy indeed. the cover letter. it sounds so straightforward, but it isn't. the cover letter is the face you and your book are presenting to the world; you want to make sure you're making a good impression!

luckily, there's a pretty standard format for writing a cover letter for literary agents which makes things more straightforward for both you and the agents you're querying. still, it takes a huge amount of skill to get them right.

roughly, a cover letter to a literary agent will tell them the basics of your book (it's title, word count, and genre); have a VERY short blurb for the book (unlike the summary I discussed earlier this one shouldn't spoil the ending); list any writing experience and qualifications you have.

your cover letter should also be personalised to the agent you're sending it to. ideally speaking, you'll have a specific reason you're sending your novel to each agent you are getting in contact with. those reasons can range in significance from having met and chatted with them at a conference, to simply finding their bio on their agency website intriguing, to simply liking the ethos of the agency they work at. all of these are valid reason to reach out, but you SHOULD have a specific reason for every agent you contact, and you should tell them what that reason is in your cover letter.

so, actually, this does expose a secret, fourth thing you need to have ready before you start querying, which is a list of all the agents you'd like to reach out to. but compiling that is its own kettle of fish! If you'd like to hear about it, let me know!

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Still think the funniest literary agent rejection I ever received was the one that can from a no-reply email address. Like idk if that’s common or not but it was the only one I got like that and I saw the address as soon as I got the notification so there wasn’t any tension opening it lmao I knew what it said

[catchdacraze]

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