Finding a ‘good’ critique group is challenging esp when it’s populated by unpublished authors. Some are shred fests that undermine confidence, some are cheerleading squads that don’t help the authors to grow. So important to remember that once the objective criteria have been satisfied that publishing had a huge subjective component.
As someone that’s been rejected by you and others, I appreciate this. I am working on something new, but I’m also agonizing over every word in my query. Will work more on new book to keep my sanity 😊
Queries for my historical mystery got quick results, but an odd thing happened. Some said they don't handle mysteries, others who read the manuscript said it's not a mystery. The agent who took me on said I had pitched it wrong. It's more upmarket, which can mean many things. At least he took the novel on and loves it.
I’m traditionally published multiple times so I know I’m a good enough novelist to be published. But for the life of me I cannot write a query. It’s maddening.
They're definitely tough to write! When agents write pitches to editors, they face the same troubles of trying to boil a great story down to a few paragraphs!
Love you guys. I abandoned my first ms after watching your vids. Worked out the actual genre of my current wip watching your vids. Now working on changes to my wip requested by an agent before sending it back. Please keep making these. They're really motivating.
After beginning the publishing journey as a green writer, I've finally put all the pieces together! With my manuscripts, I've written to market while not compromising what I originally desired to write! It's a win-win! BTW, I'm shocked about the shuttering of Anchor! I feel like they've been a fixture of traditional publishing having always been in my reading world!😮
Traditional publishing is great and I like to think of every no is a stepping stone to a future yes. that said, occasionally a book will slip past agents and publishers and end up a best seller when self published. There are lots of self published books that got rejected by agents and publishers but ended up being award winning best sellers. The sad truth is that sometimes traditional publishing drops the ball. a professional editor can usually help.
This is true! Things slip through the cracks often. Which is all the more reason to know that a rejection does not mean that your book is bad, it just means that the agents or editors weren't ready to pick it up at that time!
This is so true. It would be a pity if someone continued to write only to continue to get rejections and not take the leap to self publish. Like, instead of taking the time to write a query and a synopsis ( which literally takes so much time) I could take that time and research self publishing and get my novel out that way. There absolutely has to be another way.
I'm in a similar situation as the person who asked this question. I'm querying the 5th book I've written. It seems like the most commercially viable manuscript I've ever written. I had overwhelmingly positive feedback from a traditionally published author, as well as paid and unpaid beta readers alike (aside from one who said 1st person is for amateurs). And yet, nothing but form rejection letters. It's so hard to know if the issue is something about the way I'm positioning/representing the story, or the story/writing isn't actually up to par (despite other feedback), or the current market/not querying the right agent yet.
Same here. I've written several books, but this is the first one I've tried to publish. I did everything right and followed all the conventional advice - spent a year writing and polishing the manuscript, hired a professional editor, had multiple beta readers who were not friends/family, had a pretty good query letter, etc. Nothing but rejections so far. I'm wondering if the issue is because I'm writing in a saturated genre, and if commercial potential is the problem. IDK 🤷♀
Just as a sculptor abandons a slab of marble worked for ten years because it lacked allure, a determined author follows their words to a new destination -- searching for that serendipitous moment of traditional publishing.
Thank you for this and other videos. I find your videos very helpful. Could you consider a video on genre or classifications in genres? Like what is commercial? or Family Saga, Middle Grade, etc.. There are lists here and there, but it would be nice to have your positions on it too. Thank you.
Marketability is an important factor. I had two agents tell me they couldn't take my novel on because they wouldn't be able to sell it. That was two out of fifteen I sent it to. You rejected it, too, but that wasn't why. But your letter was encouraging..
I got three book reader friends to give me honest feedback for my novel and they said my book is just as good and well written as others they've read by well known authors.
I LOVE watching videos from Jessica and James -- but their excellent advice can leave me discouraged about my efforts to secure literary representation. Even if my query is perfect and my book well-written -- how can I know that it's marketable?
We're glad you've been enjoying our videos, but sorry to hear that you sometimes find them discouraging! Truthfully, marketability and salability can be a bit of a mystery even to agents. Agents might have an instinct that some books could definitely sell, but they take on plenty of books that they believe in but might not end up getting purchased. However, I think the key points to consider for marketability for fiction are comp titles, recent sales, and genre conventions. Are your comp titles from the last 5 years? Are they books that had decent sales (or at least cult followings)? Your book shouldn't be exactly like the comp titles, but they should be able to hold their ground in the same market, side by side with them on the shelves. Have there been recent deals for books that sound like they would reach the same audience as your own? If so, that would indicate that there are editors out there really looking to buy books like yours. And are you following genre conventions? Does your book clearly fit into one genre (it can be cross-genre, but it has to feel focused, like it can fit somewhere in a bookstore)? Are you providing a happily ever after in your romance, or magic in your fantasy, or ghosts in your paranormal horror? Will a reader know, to some degree, what to expect when cracking open your book? As for nonfiction, the biggest reason we hear for rejections is platform. If you're writing nonfiction, you almost ALWAYS have to have an established platform-not necessarily on social media, but you should have some level of authority in your field. These are questions you can use to assess marketability!
Some tough facts there. I have been rejected countless times for years with pretty much every book I queried. Certainly have learned more with each book, but also my letter has been rewritten and most of all, the blurb. How I hate blurbs. No matter how many opinions you get, it's never good. I have rewritten the letter and blurb and also rewritten my book too. Added new chapters and made general changes to the whole occurrences. Because not getting any proper feedback as to why the book is being rejected besides the usual "it's not for me" response, it makes it really hard to know where you did go wrong so you can fix it asap.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thanks. Hope so to. There are a few I hope the world can read one day. Sadly as of writing this, I got another rejection. I did query Emily, as mine is a YA fantasy. Will see what she thinks of it.
Thank you so much for this! All of your videos are life savers. Do you have any tips for what to do when you're in the query trenches and an editor expresses interest in seeing your manuscript through social media? I have some fulls out but a big 5 editor who wants to see my work. (I definitely wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for your writing and general tips, so thank you!)
So glad you've found our content helpful! If you have fulls out already, you can nudge them to let them know that a Big 5 editor has shown interest in the work-you could even mention which editor. This will hopefully speed up the process and get agents to read faster, and hopefully pull in offers so that you can coordinate with the editor via an agent. We typically recommend having an agent before working with publishers, because an agent has your best interest in mind while an editor is working in the company's best interest. However, if you aren't getting bites from agents, technically you can see if you can get an offer from a publisher and tell them that you need time to find an agent before you will continue with negotiations. This more commonly happens with smaller indie publishers (since they're more likely to take unagented submissions than Big 5), but I believe the same rules would apply. We would NOT recommend negotiating with a publisher without an agent in most cases.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thank you so so much! What would you recommend telling the editor if I want to hold off on sending them the full manuscript until I hear back from agents?
Every completed novel is a success. You accomplished something. Olympians train for four years and most fail, but they dont give up. ❤ It takes a year 😊to write a novel -- thats four novels for an Olympian.
A question, I’m noticing a lot of self -published authors get picked up from kindle unlimited… is it a trend for agents to pick from the successful self-published pile over even perhaps the slush pile of queries 🤔?
So what does make a marketable book? I hear agents say "it's about marketability" all the time but they don't say what marketability is. It's almost like they don't actually know.
@@coreyh1956 Well, yes but 1) Agents and publishers are supposed to be able to say specifically what makes a book appealing; and 2) Plenty of successful books either don't appear to have mass appeal (Pillars of the Earth!), plus there are whole genres that cater to niche audiences. Fantasy, for instance, wasn't a matter of mass appeal until the last 20 years or so. The books in that genre were still worth publishing.
They know but it's dependent on the specific book they're talking about, in this case they can't be specific because they know nothing about the story, not even the genre so how are they supposed to answer? There's no recipe for marketability, it depends on the story and also the timing because the market changes all the time, a story that's marketable this year might not be in two years or vice versa. Sometimes a story isn't marketable because another writer came up with basically the same one and it's getting released in six months for example.
Thanks a lot for yet amazing and insightful video. My dilemma: I've been querying since January. Thanks to about 80 beta-readers (fellow authors I never met or know otherwise) who critiqued my query package, I've not only revised the hell out of my first 3 chapters but also am on my 119th version of the query. I've reached the point where I feel the feedback has been saturated (running in circles) in that if people say I should do A instead of B, the next version of my query that does A instead of B gets the feedback that I should do B instead of A. With zero personalized feedback from agents, I doubt I can improve at this point. I've done my research all over the internet & every blog. The next step would be paying an agent to fix my query. But I'm broke. Like many authors in my position, I'm desperate and really need your professional opinion: Should someone in my position scrape together the money to pay an agent for pro help with the query packager? Thanks a lot for your help. [I've heard many fellow debut authors having this dilemma. They all would really appreciate your feedback.]
We're sorry to hear your querying journey has been so difficult! If you don't have the money to pay for an editor or for an agent consultation, we wouldn't recommend straining yourself to do so. We know it can be very tempting, but truthfully, even an agent is just a subjective party at the end of the day. Their opinion won't really hold more weight than the 80 other opinions you've gotten; the industry is subjective, and you could very well still go on without getting bites even after an agent has reworked your package, because they're only reworking it the way THEY would like to see it; other agents might still not be interested. If you have extra money and want to pay for these services, you certainly can, and it might help! But if you've already gotten lots of feedback from various sources, it might just be that your book doesn't seem marketable at this point, and your time (and resources) are best utilized on your next project.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thanks a lot for your response. [ I know you said we can't be objective about judging the marketability of our work, but this book can actually sell well. I don't want to bore or bother you with why that is an objective and not subjective assessment. The dilemma isn't marketability anyway, and I'm asking this not just for myself and my book.] What is very helpful and important is your point that paying an agent to fix the query package doesn't drastically improve the chances of getting more requests (as obviously that paid agent can't rep the book due to the conflict of interest). But is there any other way for authors like me to get better feedback than just asking people on different platforms? I assume no, right?
I'm probably not going to like the answer having looked around at this, but what about people lke me who only have the one key idea I've been working on for years? If I was told to dump my series idea, devastation doesn't quite cover how I'd feel, especially with nothing else unconnected ready and waiting in the wings
Everybody's journey will be different, but we usually do recommend being willing to set a project aside if you've been working on it a few years and it hasn't gotten you the results that you want. It's good practice for if you do become a career author, because doing so would mean having to produce books relatively frequently, especially since there's a chance even once you're agented that not every book will sell, so you want to be able to switch gears. However, if it takes you a few years to write a book, but when you start querying it has good results, that's fine! Some people's writing processes are just longer than others
Hi Jessica and James! I have a question about the querying process for a historical fiction picture book. I’m working on a project right now and would love to add in a section at the end with additional (nonfiction) information for kids and adults who are interested in learning more about the topic. Should I have this section written and included in my submission or is this something that should be addressed later down the line? I’d appreciate your insight! Ps, thank you so much for all the work you do on this channel! I’ve been making my way through literally all of your content (slowly but surely 😅) and learning a TON. Really cannot thank you enough!
So glad our channel has been helpful! To answer your question: that's a personal choice! If your book stands up on its own without the additional content, then you don't have to feel like you have to include extra stuff. You can always talk through what you want to include and how to do it once you find an agent. But if the back matter adds to your story, then it might be best to include it in the query so that the agents don't feel like something is missing!
I have a manuscript where the main character is a child from Nigeria. I am not Nigerian, but I do wonder should I have a sensitivity reader see it before I continue to send queries? I haven't gotten a rejection related to that matter, but it hasn't been offered representation either.
Hi! If you're worried that the character isn't being received well or that you may not be doing the character justice, you're certainly welcome to get a sensitivity reader (it is pretty standard to pay sensitivity readers, though, so it might be worth taking that into consideration when making your decision)
Who can you show it to who is immersed in publishing prior to submitting it to agents or small publishing houses? Where are these appropriate and valid resources to be found and are they costly?
There are lots of online communities and writer's groups that you can often join for free! Also, you can look into resources in your area-some public libraries host author groups for people who are trying to get published to help each other with their projects.
*Potential topic idea* Killing your darlings and who you think should "win" should the author and agent or editor disagree. Hypothetical: I have a poem I want in. I love it. My editor and / or agent hates it. We both feel we are right. Now what? How far should either push their position? As well as any other great thoughts you have on the subject of Killing Your Farlings at large, in relation to how it affects the author, agent, and editor process. Thanks. 👍
What about if it’s a book with the wrong opening scene? I’m in a similar situation with my adult portal fantasy except my query has been vetted by agents and I’ve shown my novel to quite a few writers who’ve loved it, but I’ve not gotten a single full or partial request in 40 queries. Might the problem be that my first scene is perfect to people of one type of background but maybe a bit odd to people from a very different background?
There's a chance that the sample pages are throwing off your query! We have a video called "6 Ways to Know Your Book Starts in the Wrong Place" that you might find helpful in answering this question!
It's interesting to think about the querys you guys passed on quickly, that went on to do great things. Inevitably, for any reason, it will happen to every agent in this feild. Just gotta hope it aint the next Brandon Sanderson or Neil G.
All of our agents have that story of "the one that got away" and went on to sell big 😅 in this subjective industry, you just never know what could happen!
I don't recommend anyone invest in a traditional publishing house. The process of pursuing a literary agent, hoping for an offer and contract, and waiting years for publication is both dreadfully cumbersome and fantastically dated. Amazon is responsible for over 50% of sales from the Big Five publishers and controls between 50% and 80% of book distribution in the U.S. Amazon sells at least 300 million print books every year and reportedly controls at least 40% of the print book sales in the U.S. Unless the Big Five companies start following Amazon's business model they'll find themselves...well...gone. You heard it here first, folks.
The Big Five could collapse. If that happened, I believe Amazon's self-publishing market would suffer, and advertising would cater to books of higher quality. Presently, poorly written books can be published on Amazon. I'm sure that would halt soon after the Big Five disbanded and flooded Amazon's bookshelves.
The truth hurts. Successful authors continue writing. Stephen King was rejected countless times. Cry on the shoulders of other deniers, or start a new novel. I hope to be published, but I won't cry my life away if it doesn't happen. 😂❤
I'm laughing because no, we are not showing books to people who are reading a lot and are immersed in publishing. Because they are unreachable. They are impossible to hire. Impossible to ask. Impossible to contact. Authors show what they can to those around them since those are the only people they have access to. You, in NYC, giggling about someone doing that in Holler Hill, WV, shows a painfully stark disconnect from reality and how people are living right now. CPs are great but they're still just the general public.
I think it was meant to be less "you should have access to people immersed in publishing" and more "if your mum says it's excellent take it with a grain of salt". But that's just my take.
This is a valid point; some people definitely have more access to reliable resources in the industry than others, which is a huge issue in the industry. But as the other commenter has replied, we meant it less as a way of saying that you should only listen to other authors and more to say that friends and family aren't always the most reliable in truly gauging the market (and they also usually want to fully support you and may hold back on critiques), which should be taken into your calculations when assessing your book's marketability. This is why we recommend finding reputable writing groups online which are largely accessible (for example, James often talks about 12x12 for picture book authors), or forming your own small writing groups with others online, preferably at various stages of their journeys so that you can get insight from a variety of sources. Even forming groups with other readers of your genre-who may seem more approachable than other writers-can be helpful, since they're ultimately your audience! If you use Goodreads or any social media, you can see if fans of some of your favorite books are interested in participating in a group with you. And even then, they might not always be right; the industry is so subjective, there's no one true opinion that's more correct than others.
@@BookEndsLiterary With all due respect, you of all people should know that if you mean something else then that is how you should say it. CPs are great. CP groups are also great. Yet they are also often just groups of friends or fandoms and usually have little to do with the publishing industry. I'm glad you're taking constructive criticism since that is certainly the BEL that I've always known.
Interesting video, and with a different perspective of what one hears in writing communities. There's one piece of wisdom that's common in online communities, that one should always send queries in batches. Send between 5 to 15, and if you have 2 or 3 agents asking for your full, then the query works. If you only get form rejections, then the query is bad and you should improve it before the next batch. Does this batch system make sense with what you said in the video? If the writer knows the query is decent to good, wouldn't it make more sense to send it to the whole agent list and figure out if it's a marketable story or not?
Hi! It will never hurt to send in batches instead of all at once, if for no other reason than at least if you are only getting form rejections, there is still something you can attempt to do to change the responses you're getting by changing the query. Maybe you'll find the query was fine and wasn't the problem, but at least you're giving yourself a second chance! And if you still keep getting form rejections, you might be able to surmise that the premise of the book is what's not selling it, rather than the query.
@@BookEndsLiterary Hi, thanks for replying! TH-cam didn't send me a notification of it, yet it sent one for the single like the comment got. And it makes sense, it gives writers one last variable they can control and time to hopefully learn something new about queries. The added perspective of the video gives me some relief at least. After spending so much time on querying forums I developed this fear that I would doom my projects if I didn't manage a perfect query. Looking forward to the next video!
Lol this really sounds like "Your query didn’t ruin your chances. Your book did." Thanks for the tough love 😅❤
Honestly forces us to rise up and reach for the stars. Keep writing. 😊👍
Finding a ‘good’ critique group is challenging esp when it’s populated by unpublished authors. Some are shred fests that undermine confidence, some are cheerleading squads that don’t help the authors to grow. So important to remember that once the objective criteria have been satisfied that publishing had a huge subjective component.
Yes, all good points!!
As someone that’s been rejected by you and others, I appreciate this. I am working on something new, but I’m also agonizing over every word in my query. Will work more on new book to keep my sanity 😊
Write and worry later. 😊👍
Queries for my historical mystery got quick results, but an odd thing happened. Some said they don't handle mysteries, others who read the manuscript said it's not a mystery. The agent who took me on said I had pitched it wrong. It's more upmarket, which can mean many things. At least he took the novel on and loves it.
Congratulations 😊
I’m traditionally published multiple times so I know I’m a good enough novelist to be published. But for the life of me I cannot write a query. It’s maddening.
They're definitely tough to write! When agents write pitches to editors, they face the same troubles of trying to boil a great story down to a few paragraphs!
Love you guys. I abandoned my first ms after watching your vids. Worked out the actual genre of my current wip watching your vids. Now working on changes to my wip requested by an agent before sending it back. Please keep making these. They're really motivating.
Well... I'm currently at that stage. Not giving up, of course. Sometimes, it feels like a roller coaster ride.
If you follow plot structure, work your craft, and forge forward relentlessly, you will get published. 😊👍
Rejections are so hard. You guys are so kind with your feedback.x
After beginning the publishing journey as a green writer, I've finally put all the pieces together! With my manuscripts, I've written to market while not compromising what I originally desired to write! It's a win-win! BTW, I'm shocked about the shuttering of Anchor! I feel like they've been a fixture of traditional publishing having always been in my reading world!😮
Traditional publishing is great and I like to think of every no is a stepping stone to a future yes. that said, occasionally a book will slip past agents and publishers and end up a best seller when self published. There are lots of self published books that got rejected by agents and publishers but ended up being award winning best sellers. The sad truth is that sometimes traditional publishing drops the ball. a professional editor can usually help.
I agree. Great books can slip through the cracks. Only the strong perceive rejection as a muse to success.
This is true! Things slip through the cracks often. Which is all the more reason to know that a rejection does not mean that your book is bad, it just means that the agents or editors weren't ready to pick it up at that time!
That makes sense. Ty.😊
Agreed. Stephen King was rejected countless times. 😊
This is so true. It would be a pity if someone continued to write only to continue to get rejections and not take the leap to self publish. Like, instead of taking the time to write a query and a synopsis ( which literally takes so much time) I could take that time and research self publishing and get my novel out that way. There absolutely has to be another way.
I'm in a similar situation as the person who asked this question. I'm querying the 5th book I've written. It seems like the most commercially viable manuscript I've ever written. I had overwhelmingly positive feedback from a traditionally published author, as well as paid and unpaid beta readers alike (aside from one who said 1st person is for amateurs). And yet, nothing but form rejection letters. It's so hard to know if the issue is something about the way I'm positioning/representing the story, or the story/writing isn't actually up to par (despite other feedback), or the current market/not querying the right agent yet.
Keep writing. Never give up. Corey 😊👍
Same here. I've written several books, but this is the first one I've tried to publish. I did everything right and followed all the conventional advice - spent a year writing and polishing the manuscript, hired a professional editor, had multiple beta readers who were not friends/family, had a pretty good query letter, etc. Nothing but rejections so far. I'm wondering if the issue is because I'm writing in a saturated genre, and if commercial potential is the problem. IDK 🤷♀
@@christyaustin904 what genre?
Just as a sculptor abandons a slab of marble worked for ten years because it lacked allure, a determined author follows their words to a new destination -- searching for that serendipitous moment of traditional publishing.
@@enderchadwick6349 near-future sci-fi / political thriller - think "Jack Ryan" in space.
Thank you for this and other videos. I find your videos very helpful. Could you consider a video on genre or classifications in genres? Like what is commercial? or Family Saga, Middle Grade, etc.. There are lists here and there, but it would be nice to have your positions on it too. Thank you.
Marketability is an important factor. I had two agents tell me they couldn't take my novel on because they wouldn't be able to sell it. That was two out of fifteen I sent it to. You rejected it, too, but that wasn't why. But your letter was encouraging..
If a book is good, you don't need all these different angles to try to get it to be a success. An agent can tell very quickly.😊
I hope your words paint a wonderful story. Good luck to everyone. 😊👍
I got three book reader friends to give me honest feedback for my novel and they said my book is just as good and well written as others they've read by well known authors.
I LOVE watching videos from Jessica and James -- but their excellent advice can leave me discouraged about my efforts to secure literary representation. Even if my query is perfect and my book well-written -- how can I know that it's marketable?
GREAT question for Jessica to handle in a video!
We're glad you've been enjoying our videos, but sorry to hear that you sometimes find them discouraging! Truthfully, marketability and salability can be a bit of a mystery even to agents. Agents might have an instinct that some books could definitely sell, but they take on plenty of books that they believe in but might not end up getting purchased. However, I think the key points to consider for marketability for fiction are comp titles, recent sales, and genre conventions.
Are your comp titles from the last 5 years? Are they books that had decent sales (or at least cult followings)? Your book shouldn't be exactly like the comp titles, but they should be able to hold their ground in the same market, side by side with them on the shelves.
Have there been recent deals for books that sound like they would reach the same audience as your own? If so, that would indicate that there are editors out there really looking to buy books like yours.
And are you following genre conventions? Does your book clearly fit into one genre (it can be cross-genre, but it has to feel focused, like it can fit somewhere in a bookstore)? Are you providing a happily ever after in your romance, or magic in your fantasy, or ghosts in your paranormal horror? Will a reader know, to some degree, what to expect when cracking open your book?
As for nonfiction, the biggest reason we hear for rejections is platform. If you're writing nonfiction, you almost ALWAYS have to have an established platform-not necessarily on social media, but you should have some level of authority in your field.
These are questions you can use to assess marketability!
@@BookEndsLiterary Brilliant answer. This is a future video, I think.
Very helpful, yes. Ty!
Some tough facts there.
I have been rejected countless times for years with pretty much every book I queried. Certainly have learned more with each book, but also my letter has been rewritten and most of all, the blurb. How I hate blurbs. No matter how many opinions you get, it's never good.
I have rewritten the letter and blurb and also rewritten my book too. Added new chapters and made general changes to the whole occurrences.
Because not getting any proper feedback as to why the book is being rejected besides the usual "it's not for me" response, it makes it really hard to know where you did go wrong so you can fix it asap.
We wish you the best of luck in your querying journey-we know it's frustrating, but we hope your books find their place!
@@BookEndsLiterary Thanks. Hope so to. There are a few I hope the world can read one day.
Sadly as of writing this, I got another rejection.
I did query Emily, as mine is a YA fantasy. Will see what she thinks of it.
wonderful video once again! thanks for the info
Thank you so much for this! All of your videos are life savers. Do you have any tips for what to do when you're in the query trenches and an editor expresses interest in seeing your manuscript through social media? I have some fulls out but a big 5 editor who wants to see my work. (I definitely wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for your writing and general tips, so thank you!)
So glad you've found our content helpful! If you have fulls out already, you can nudge them to let them know that a Big 5 editor has shown interest in the work-you could even mention which editor. This will hopefully speed up the process and get agents to read faster, and hopefully pull in offers so that you can coordinate with the editor via an agent.
We typically recommend having an agent before working with publishers, because an agent has your best interest in mind while an editor is working in the company's best interest. However, if you aren't getting bites from agents, technically you can see if you can get an offer from a publisher and tell them that you need time to find an agent before you will continue with negotiations. This more commonly happens with smaller indie publishers (since they're more likely to take unagented submissions than Big 5), but I believe the same rules would apply. We would NOT recommend negotiating with a publisher without an agent in most cases.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thank you so so much! What would you recommend telling the editor if I want to hold off on sending them the full manuscript until I hear back from agents?
This is an awesome TH-cam channel
Every completed novel is a success. You accomplished something. Olympians train for four years and most fail, but they dont give up. ❤ It takes a year 😊to write a novel -- thats four novels for an Olympian.
Agree with the 'completed novel is a success'.
A question, I’m noticing a lot of self -published authors get picked up from kindle unlimited… is it a trend for agents to pick from the successful self-published pile over even perhaps the slush pile of queries 🤔?
So what does make a marketable book? I hear agents say "it's about marketability" all the time but they don't say what marketability is. It's almost like they don't actually know.
Mass appeal?
@@coreyh1956 Well, yes but
1) Agents and publishers are supposed to be able to say specifically what makes a book appealing; and
2) Plenty of successful books either don't appear to have mass appeal (Pillars of the Earth!), plus there are whole genres that cater to niche audiences. Fantasy, for instance, wasn't a matter of mass appeal until the last 20 years or so. The books in that genre were still worth publishing.
Just trying to help. 😊
@@JoelAdamson It baffles me too.
They know but it's dependent on the specific book they're talking about, in this case they can't be specific because they know nothing about the story, not even the genre so how are they supposed to answer? There's no recipe for marketability, it depends on the story and also the timing because the market changes all the time, a story that's marketable this year might not be in two years or vice versa. Sometimes a story isn't marketable because another writer came up with basically the same one and it's getting released in six months for example.
Thanks a lot for yet amazing and insightful video. My dilemma: I've been querying since January. Thanks to about 80 beta-readers (fellow authors I never met or know otherwise) who critiqued my query package, I've not only revised the hell out of my first 3 chapters but also am on my 119th version of the query. I've reached the point where I feel the feedback has been saturated (running in circles) in that if people say I should do A instead of B, the next version of my query that does A instead of B gets the feedback that I should do B instead of A. With zero personalized feedback from agents, I doubt I can improve at this point. I've done my research all over the internet & every blog. The next step would be paying an agent to fix my query. But I'm broke. Like many authors in my position, I'm desperate and really need your professional opinion: Should someone in my position scrape together the money to pay an agent for pro help with the query packager? Thanks a lot for your help. [I've heard many fellow debut authors having this dilemma. They all would really appreciate your feedback.]
We're sorry to hear your querying journey has been so difficult! If you don't have the money to pay for an editor or for an agent consultation, we wouldn't recommend straining yourself to do so. We know it can be very tempting, but truthfully, even an agent is just a subjective party at the end of the day. Their opinion won't really hold more weight than the 80 other opinions you've gotten; the industry is subjective, and you could very well still go on without getting bites even after an agent has reworked your package, because they're only reworking it the way THEY would like to see it; other agents might still not be interested. If you have extra money and want to pay for these services, you certainly can, and it might help! But if you've already gotten lots of feedback from various sources, it might just be that your book doesn't seem marketable at this point, and your time (and resources) are best utilized on your next project.
@@BookEndsLiterary Thanks a lot for your response. [ I know you said we can't be objective about judging the marketability of our work, but this book can actually sell well. I don't want to bore or bother you with why that is an objective and not subjective assessment. The dilemma isn't marketability anyway, and I'm asking this not just for myself and my book.] What is very helpful and important is your point that paying an agent to fix the query package doesn't drastically improve the chances of getting more requests (as obviously that paid agent can't rep the book due to the conflict of interest). But is there any other way for authors like me to get better feedback than just asking people on different platforms? I assume no, right?
@@BookEndsLiterary isn't it a conflict of interest for an agent to have a business on the side charging to fix people's query letters?
James is so sweet, trying to be diplomatic, while Jessica is a cutthroat agent 😂
😅 we all appreciate Jessica's honesty at BookEnds! 😂
@@BookEndsLiterary Yes, she doesn't mess around :D which is the exact kind of person an author needs by their side.
I'm probably not going to like the answer having looked around at this, but what about people lke me who only have the one key idea I've been working on for years? If I was told to dump my series idea, devastation doesn't quite cover how I'd feel, especially with nothing else unconnected ready and waiting in the wings
Everybody's journey will be different, but we usually do recommend being willing to set a project aside if you've been working on it a few years and it hasn't gotten you the results that you want. It's good practice for if you do become a career author, because doing so would mean having to produce books relatively frequently, especially since there's a chance even once you're agented that not every book will sell, so you want to be able to switch gears. However, if it takes you a few years to write a book, but when you start querying it has good results, that's fine! Some people's writing processes are just longer than others
Hi Jessica and James! I have a question about the querying process for a historical fiction picture book. I’m working on a project right now and would love to add in a section at the end with additional (nonfiction) information for kids and adults who are interested in learning more about the topic. Should I have this section written and included in my submission or is this something that should be addressed later down the line? I’d appreciate your insight!
Ps, thank you so much for all the work you do on this channel! I’ve been making my way through literally all of your content (slowly but surely 😅) and learning a TON. Really cannot thank you enough!
So glad our channel has been helpful! To answer your question: that's a personal choice! If your book stands up on its own without the additional content, then you don't have to feel like you have to include extra stuff. You can always talk through what you want to include and how to do it once you find an agent. But if the back matter adds to your story, then it might be best to include it in the query so that the agents don't feel like something is missing!
@@BookEndsLiterary that makes sense! Thank you so much! 😊
I have a manuscript where the main character is a child from Nigeria. I am not Nigerian, but I do wonder should I have a sensitivity reader see it before I continue to send queries? I haven't gotten a rejection related to that matter, but it hasn't been offered representation either.
Hi! If you're worried that the character isn't being received well or that you may not be doing the character justice, you're certainly welcome to get a sensitivity reader (it is pretty standard to pay sensitivity readers, though, so it might be worth taking that into consideration when making your decision)
Who can you show it to who is immersed in publishing prior to submitting it to agents or small publishing houses?
Where are these appropriate and valid resources to be found and are they costly?
There are lots of online communities and writer's groups that you can often join for free! Also, you can look into resources in your area-some public libraries host author groups for people who are trying to get published to help each other with their projects.
*Potential topic idea*
Killing your darlings and who you think should "win" should the author and agent or editor disagree.
Hypothetical: I have a poem I want in. I love it. My editor and / or agent hates it. We both feel we are right. Now what? How far should either push their position?
As well as any other great thoughts you have on the subject of Killing Your Farlings at large, in relation to how it affects the author, agent, and editor process.
Thanks. 👍
Great idea, thank you!
What about if it’s a book with the wrong opening scene? I’m in a similar situation with my adult portal fantasy except my query has been vetted by agents and I’ve shown my novel to quite a few writers who’ve loved it, but I’ve not gotten a single full or partial request in 40 queries. Might the problem be that my first scene is perfect to people of one type of background but maybe a bit odd to people from a very different background?
There's a chance that the sample pages are throwing off your query! We have a video called "6 Ways to Know Your Book Starts in the Wrong Place" that you might find helpful in answering this question!
It's interesting to think about the querys you guys passed on quickly, that went on to do great things.
Inevitably, for any reason, it will happen to every agent in this feild.
Just gotta hope it aint the next Brandon Sanderson or Neil G.
All of our agents have that story of "the one that got away" and went on to sell big 😅 in this subjective industry, you just never know what could happen!
I don't recommend anyone invest in a traditional publishing house. The process of pursuing a literary agent, hoping for an offer and contract, and waiting years for publication is both dreadfully cumbersome and fantastically dated. Amazon is responsible for over 50% of sales from the Big Five publishers and controls between 50% and 80% of book distribution in the U.S. Amazon sells at least 300 million print books every year and reportedly controls at least 40% of the print book sales in the U.S. Unless the Big Five companies start following Amazon's business model they'll find themselves...well...gone. You heard it here first, folks.
The Big Five could collapse. If that happened, I believe Amazon's self-publishing market would suffer, and advertising would cater to books of higher quality. Presently, poorly written books can be published on Amazon. I'm sure that would halt soon after the Big Five disbanded and flooded Amazon's bookshelves.
The truth hurts. Successful authors continue writing. Stephen King was rejected countless times. Cry on the shoulders of other deniers, or start a new novel. I hope to be published, but I won't cry my life away if it doesn't happen. 😂❤
I'm laughing because no, we are not showing books to people who are reading a lot and are immersed in publishing. Because they are unreachable. They are impossible to hire. Impossible to ask. Impossible to contact. Authors show what they can to those around them since those are the only people they have access to. You, in NYC, giggling about someone doing that in Holler Hill, WV, shows a painfully stark disconnect from reality and how people are living right now.
CPs are great but they're still just the general public.
I think it was meant to be less "you should have access to people immersed in publishing" and more "if your mum says it's excellent take it with a grain of salt". But that's just my take.
This is a valid point; some people definitely have more access to reliable resources in the industry than others, which is a huge issue in the industry. But as the other commenter has replied, we meant it less as a way of saying that you should only listen to other authors and more to say that friends and family aren't always the most reliable in truly gauging the market (and they also usually want to fully support you and may hold back on critiques), which should be taken into your calculations when assessing your book's marketability.
This is why we recommend finding reputable writing groups online which are largely accessible (for example, James often talks about 12x12 for picture book authors), or forming your own small writing groups with others online, preferably at various stages of their journeys so that you can get insight from a variety of sources. Even forming groups with other readers of your genre-who may seem more approachable than other writers-can be helpful, since they're ultimately your audience! If you use Goodreads or any social media, you can see if fans of some of your favorite books are interested in participating in a group with you.
And even then, they might not always be right; the industry is so subjective, there's no one true opinion that's more correct than others.
@@BookEndsLiterary With all due respect, you of all people should know that if you mean something else then that is how you should say it.
CPs are great. CP groups are also great. Yet they are also often just groups of friends or fandoms and usually have little to do with the publishing industry.
I'm glad you're taking constructive criticism since that is certainly the BEL that I've always known.
If the letter is from Kristen, why do you call her they?
"they" can be used for quite literally anyone, virginia
Because Kristen is a gender neutral name. In Scandinavia it's even exclusively male.
Interesting video, and with a different perspective of what one hears in writing communities. There's one piece of wisdom that's common in online communities, that one should always send queries in batches. Send between 5 to 15, and if you have 2 or 3 agents asking for your full, then the query works. If you only get form rejections, then the query is bad and you should improve it before the next batch.
Does this batch system make sense with what you said in the video? If the writer knows the query is decent to good, wouldn't it make more sense to send it to the whole agent list and figure out if it's a marketable story or not?
Hi! It will never hurt to send in batches instead of all at once, if for no other reason than at least if you are only getting form rejections, there is still something you can attempt to do to change the responses you're getting by changing the query. Maybe you'll find the query was fine and wasn't the problem, but at least you're giving yourself a second chance! And if you still keep getting form rejections, you might be able to surmise that the premise of the book is what's not selling it, rather than the query.
@@BookEndsLiterary Hi, thanks for replying! TH-cam didn't send me a notification of it, yet it sent one for the single like the comment got.
And it makes sense, it gives writers one last variable they can control and time to hopefully learn something new about queries. The added perspective of the video gives me some relief at least. After spending so much time on querying forums I developed this fear that I would doom my projects if I didn't manage a perfect query.
Looking forward to the next video!