I have a few hours to kill on a train journey today so I'll be around for a spontaneous #askagent session if anyone has any burning #publishing or #querying questions they'd like answered! #booksky 🫶
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Thanks for doing this! Do you have any thoughts on querying a novel with multiple POV characters? I sometimes wonder if that could become too complicated to fit into a query package, and maybe it would be better to focus on more streamlined stories at the querying stage?
nope, happens all the time! as long as you can communicate the multiple POVs effectively in the synopsis and query letter, it's totally fine and very common.
Thank you for this! My question is, if an agent doesn't respond to my query (even if they use QM) does that mean they've rejected my query or that it fell through the cracks and I should require them after a year or so?
it will depend on every agency – for example, with my agency (Bell Lomax Moreton), no response *is* the response, as we simply don't have the time nor manpower to reply to every query. but if you've done significant edits then certainly re-querying, or querying another agent, would be a valid option
Is there any market at all for a 30,000- to 40,000-word illness memoir? I am a published author and seasoned journalist who recently underwent stem-cell replacement. I'm well into the memoir, called "First They Kill You," but just wonder if there could be a place for such a thing.
I'm not the best-placed to answer this as I don't typically work with memoir. that said, 30-40k is probably too short for any publisher to take a serious look at – I'd aim for around 70k. other than that, memoir usually (though not always) requires platform. so – possible, but tricky.
So many questions! Curious about what publishers are looking for. Are there current trends? (Or none!?) Are time travel/time loops/alternate realities waxing or waning? Retold fairytales?
trends and market preferences will always wax and wane but I'm seeing a real boom in horror at the minute. time travel is a perennial but editors are always looking for a fresh, different-feeling take, same with retellings (ie: non-Western folklore, more obscure fairytales, etc).
Thanks for this! Do you think publishers look for magical realism books these days, and if so, what is used up in this genre and what would they or you like to see more of?
this is hard to define, especially as I think magical realism is very broad and allows for far more flexibility in its use of tropes and genre "conventions" than other genres might. more literary magical realism/speculative fiction has been doing v well recently though
strangely, I've had a few editors encouraging higher word counts; I recently closed a deal where the editor actually encouraged the word count to go all the way up to 130k. but a lot of imprints are bearing paper costs in mind. it swings both ways – certainly higher wcs are harder for debuts
in the weeks running up to the fair a lot of my time is spent building rights guides (basically a presentation portfolio of all available titles) for myself and the senior agents; scheduling meetings; figuring out which titles to showcase; etc. during the fair I am totally OOO for day-to-day tasks.
nope, not at all – given globalisation, and especially since the pandemic, authors from all over the world can be represented by agents all over the world. we (a UK-based agency) have a number of American and even some Canadian clients.
if the rights are available, there's no reason not to try! though if the book has been published and available for a while then there may be less interest, but it's certainly not a non-starter
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Does it matter if I query US agents if I’m a Canadian author?