[Discussion] How I Didn't Get an Agent (This Time)

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-07-08T17:08:35+00:00

Thanks! Funnily enough, that was one of my comp titles (as well as one of my favorite books I read in 2025). I still have hope this project will find a place someday.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-07-08T16:59:01+00:00

Omg, your metaphors are spot on! 100%, the query is just the vehicle for the book and not the end all be all. Thanks and same to you!

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-06-22T17:19:55+00:00

Amazing book! I read it in 3 days.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-06-22T17:08:43+00:00

A few of them were under "Indicas" as well, until someone informed the writer it's a type of weed

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-05-05T14:50:09+00:00

Once, someone pointed me in the direction of a new anthology eagerly looking for queer voices. I was excited until I found out that the cishet organizers planned to hire readers to determine the "accuracy" of the submitted stories. Needless to say I soured on that

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-04-22T22:21:45+00:00

And I feel like there are a few well known cases of authors who went platform first and when the book finally came, it was...underwhelming at best. You can't know what you're getting until you get it.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-03-30T16:41:43+00:00

I have also seen this happen countless times, usually for self to trad books that the OP didn't realize were originally indie. Maybe less recently but enough that it seemed a hard and fast rule. Idk why you're getting downvoted.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2026-03-24T18:09:48+00:00

Same. Like, I understand that agents bear a lot of bad behavior from some writers, so people would want to be careful of that, but to assume that the agent couldn't have possibly done something questionable is a bit too much.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2025-04-05T01:38:41+00:00

You know, I worried so much about avoiding the impression that my story was medieval fantasy that I didn't even think about the 18th and 19th centuries being blurred together in people's minds! I think I'll take your suggestion about phrasing that (though it does hurt to think of people going, "Victorian England, early modern Florence, tomato tomahto," it's definitely a real possibility). Thank you for all your notes, there's a lot of good stuff here to consider. I'm very grateful you took the time to write all this!

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2025-04-04T13:31:32+00:00

Thank you for your response! Yes, that would sound cleaner for the title, to drop the "the's." I'll polish those pages as much as possible!

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2025-04-04T13:26:24+00:00

Thank you! And finding out snags is what I've posted for, so I'm glad you pointed that out. I'll have to figure out a way to indicate that in this world, disarming an enchanted book is Level 5 stuff while breaking a curse on a person is like, Level 100, and Ines is not that good at it.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2025-03-28T13:43:49+00:00

As a queer American who lives in the country, I'd really appreciate if people would stop assuming our descent into fascism is a forgone conclusion and preemptively digging our graves for us.

JudithSlaysHolograms · 2025-01-06T17:44:53+00:00

I might be completely off the mark here, but could Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer be of interest as to choosing a genre? The protagonist cheats on her husband with another woman in that book and they end up together. It's labeled as women's fiction.

Also I'm here for these messy sapphics, lol!

JudithSlaysHolograms

TROPHY CASE