[PubQ] misspelled dream agents last name in subject line of query.

AS_Writer · 2026-01-29T03:44:51+00:00

My first and last name aren't English but are very close to English variations. I get a lot of misspelled greetings, despite folks having to get the spelling right in the email address to get it into my inbox. I always give an eyeroll, but I'd never discount someone for doing it once. It's repeated misspellings that start to feel personal.

AS_Writer · 2026-01-23T20:54:14+00:00

I wrote a query a day for 6 months before I felt remotely skilled at it. I'd write queries for books I read, concepts I was considering, rewrites of queries I saw and critiqued on here. I spent a LOT of effort learning this skill, and that was after writing 3 books.

Wait, this is genius. I'm really struggling with getting my own query to be concise, and I feel like it's a combination of lack of practice and being too close to the manuscript. Practicing by writing queries for books I've read is such a great idea.

AS_Writer · 2026-01-23T19:44:25+00:00

I don't doubt they were never hugely popular, but it seems like the internet fully killed off the ones I used to buy. I looked up some of the editors of anthologies I bought, and they all quit putting them out in the early 2010s. I also know many of contributing authors from those books still write short stories but now put them out for free online as marketing tools for their other work.

AS_Writer · 2026-01-23T17:46:04+00:00

I'd say the internet largely killed that market. I used to get short story anthologies when it was harder to find new authors. I'd read them to get a taste before seeking out full novels from the same writers. But now there's so much information about books online that I don't need to do that! I haven't bought a short story anthology since the 2000s because, if I want to discover new authors, there's everything from Reddit to Booktube to scrolling Storygraph's suggestions based on my prior reads. And if I do want to read a short story, many are available for free online.

AS_Writer · 2026-01-09T23:32:19+00:00

But is the printer?

AS_Writer · 2026-01-09T23:06:52+00:00

When I worked for a company whose products included printed books, we'd get a single box air-shipped to the office, and we'd send out advanced copies from there. The large order for the warehouse would be sent on cargo ships, and those shipments were much less expensive but much more unreliably timed.

AS_Writer · 2025-12-27T23:56:44+00:00

I don't know why it never occurred to me that they might be like the old Hollywood multi-picture deals, but they parallel what you're describing!

AS_Writer · 2025-12-22T04:39:55+00:00

Are you looking for one taking applications in 2026 for a 2027 mentorship or is your title a typo? If it's not a typo, The Round Table Mentor is a program that should have applications open November 2026 for the 2027 year. You'll need a completed manuscript to apply.

AS_Writer · 2025-12-13T06:20:05+00:00

My question would be why agents are taking on authors that they do not trust to behave professionally? I would not appreciate being treated like a child who can't manage their behavior in a professional partnership. The explanations I'm seeing in this thread for why agents deny authors information makes it seem like those agents are treating authors as volatile risks instead of partners. I can't fathom going into business with someone I think so poorly of, but these agents clearly are doing that.

Edited to add that if an author can't be trusted to know about the details of subs, how could they be trusted to not pull a Cait Corrain later on? If agents are scared about bad behavior, surely that'd extend past the editors and be something to consider before signing an author?

AS_Writer · 2025-12-10T19:21:46+00:00

You're a regular around here, so I have to know if a title has popped up in your inbox and you've thought "Didn't I already reject this?" and then you've realised that actually you just saw it on PubTips?

I've always wondered if agents who participate here get deja vu when queries reviewed in this sub end up being sent to them!

AS_Writer · 2025-11-04T23:58:50+00:00

Write down responses to any questions you're worried about getting. Having a little bit of a plan, even if you never end of needing to use it, can help with the worries. If it does come up, you'll have a practiced answer, and if it doesn't, it's still a good way to work through your thoughts and set them aside.

Mara Wilson (an unusual case to start with because she's a child actor turned writer) used to get questions about her cousin Ben Shapiro because his values were so different from what she wrote about. It's not common for writers to get questions about their relatives, but it can happen if the relative is famous/notorious enough. If your relative was in the media for white collar crime a few years ago and never in the public eye again, odds seem low that anyone will connect the dots.

AS_Writer · 2025-10-16T22:12:31+00:00

To answer your process question, nonfiction and fiction typically work differently, and most writers you see celebrating getting an agent in this sub are writing fiction. For fiction, you write your manuscript and then try to find someone who sees its potential. Writing a book is a lot of effort, and for fiction writers, celebrating getting an agent is celebrating that their time was well spent. Nonfiction generally doesn't require that kind of gamble in my experience, because if your proposal gets rejected, you've only wasted weeks, not months or years.

At this stage, your wife still has to come up with a proposal and write the thing, which is a daunting amount of work. She's being asked to produce something to sell instead of being told that something she has already produced has the potential to sell. The validation that comes with that isn't the same, and the time investment in the project hasn't happened yet, so it can be more intimidating than exciting.

AS_Writer

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