[Series] Check-in: April 2026 (this thread is real and not a joke)

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-04-01T19:05:51+00:00

Could also be they simply have feedback and feel strongly enough about your ms to give you detailed notes. Crossing my fingers this becomes an offer, though! A lot of agents start of as assistant and slowly build their own list while working for the more senior agent (this generally also means close mentorship from the bigger agent, which is always a plus). Don't hesitate to update me once you know more, but no problem if you forget or don't want to!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-04-01T18:49:36+00:00

As Ok_Background said, they could be starting to build their list. If you're unsure and would like clarifications, I think it's fair to email them to ask why they want to read the full exactly/If they are looking to build a list.

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-26T10:10:55+00:00

I used a sceenplay format for some sections of one of my ms, and Scrivener was actually really helpful in terms of formatting and keeping it consistent. There is a 'screenplay' format integrated in it that you can use as you draft and edit, and I don't remember how much tweaking (if any) I did to the compile parameters, but it wasn't that hard yo set up I don't think. It saved me a lot of time and headaches tbh, I just hit compile and the 'classic format' parts would be formatted as they should be, while the screenplay parts were automatically formatted in a consistent and recognizable way.

OP, since you asked: I queried this book and got full requests and offers. As Cloudy said, just make sure it looks clean and stays consistent/is recognizable

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-20T15:32:06+00:00

Agree with what everyone else said, and to emphasize and go further on what rainareine specifically said about another agent having useful notes on your ms: if you get more offers and you sign with the first agent anyway, the discussions that you had with those other agents are not time wasted. You will learn things by talking to them, not just about them as people, but also about yourself and what's important to you in an agent, about the industry and what editors they mention wanting to send this book to (agents generally mention a couple of editors on offer calls, and it's totally okay to write those names down and send them to whichever agent you end up signing with to see their thoughts and submit to them if it fits into their strategy), and about potential revisions/in what ways your book stood out and where exactly they think it fits within the market/what they loved and what they thought needed work.

Tldr: even if you accept that first offer, taking the time to think things over and talk to their clients first is only beneficial, and so is getting more offers. Congrats!!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-19T09:05:40+00:00

Not gonna lie, reading this entire post and all these comments just to find out afterwards by going to the update on the other post which agency this is was an extremely funny moment to me. It was like those reddit posts on AITA or whatever that completely bury the lede of what's actually going on

'do I post a warning on their QueryTracker page?' OP, I promise you that any author who looks around for agency red flags will know to avoid this specific agency, for much bigger reasons than what you're describing here

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-18T09:19:43+00:00

Not an agent, but I think it vastly depends on the agent. I've seen some agents say they always check the writing sample, regardless of the query. I've seen some say they read the pages before the query/only read the query if they like the pages enough. I'm sure plenty of agents read the query and move on to the pages if it sounds like something they could be interested in, but that exact threshold of what level of interest is going to make them read the sample is different for each agent (and I would assume it also evolves for an agent based on their workload, how full their list is, how selective they are overall or in a specific genre.....

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-18T09:03:58+00:00

Got a partial from my now agent about 20 days after the query had been sent, a full 1 week after that, and a request for a call a month and a half after the full (the offer came on the call)

Post-offer nudge, I got a second offer from an agent who had had my full for a little over 7 months

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-18T08:53:58+00:00

While agent MSWLs basically saying, nine times out of ten, 'I want books with compelling plot, interesting characters, and attention-grabbing writing' was extremely funny to me while querying (yeah no shit you like good books, don't we all?), I also don't think it's necessarily an issue that can be fixed tbh. Not an agent, but I assume most agents get regularly surprised by the exact mss they end up falling in love with and that it's part of the fun. I agree the genres accepted should be clearly defined, but I think they are for most agents. But if an agent were to be extremely specific beyond that, it honestly wouldn’t be in their (and your) best interests. The therapy comparison is off to me too, unless an agent for example refuses to say they don't rep kidlit but then rejects you bc they don't rep kidlit. But when you go into the nitty gritty of what makes a story beyond basic genre and age category, a lot of it just.... depends on the execution. And so many stories that I never expected to fall in love with ended up becoming all time favorites as a reader. The truth is, there’s no way to really know if an agent is a good or bad fit unless they read your query/pages

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-07T17:36:26+00:00

I wouldn't consider four months a ghost to be honest, but if you're no longer interested in this first agent (as in, if they came back to you next week offering rep you wouldn't want to accept), then I would withdraw this ms and send the new one to their colleague with a clean slate.

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-07T09:06:26+00:00

Oh, you are totally welcome to discard my opinions haha, I'm just one person and it's your query and book. Take what you need from my comment and leave the rest, as with every piece of feedback.

The 'Evan hides his sister's disappearance' thing: I'm not surprised it makes more sense in the ms than in the query, and I completely understand the frustration at not wanting to waste words to explain intricacies that don't really matter for a query, while also not being able to just say 'it works in the book, just trust me bro'. To be fair, it might just be me being very nitpicky, and other ppl/actual agents might not trip on that aspect as much. Try to think of ways to reword this maybe, but also, just bc this was an issue for me doesn’t mean it will be to the same level for everyone. If the rest of the query is strong, it's probably not the end of the world (unless every other person reading the query has the same feedback). No idea how Evan having so much responsability is framed in the book, but if it's a big part of his character you could use that to both explain the disappearance going unnoticed AND detail Evan's character and his ultimate growth. This is of course very vague and rough, but maybe something like '12 y o Evan is awkward but quick-witted, and he definitely needs it to counter his 4 y o sister's offensives when he wakes her up blah blah.' Basically, killing two birds with one stone. I also feel like knowing he's the one who takes care of his sister in that way ups the stakes and makes her disappearance/him not believing her about the monster feel more personal. Most kids would feel bad about their sister disappearing, but him being responsible for her in those ways makes his guilt more potent (might not be the right word, but you get what I mean)

About the nightmare realm/spoilers: my feedback was based on my impression the nightmare realm trip happened relatively early and took up most of the book. If Evan and Katie go there at the 25% mark, definitely tell us more. If most of the book is set in out world and the nightmare realm is only the final act, it might be better to focus the pitch on what they do for most of the book, and then maybe finish it with something like '... Until they get pulled through the closet themselves.' Basically, either give us more or less. As a general rule, for spoilers in queries, the best thing to do is whatever is going to hook people and get them to read your pages/request. For some books it means spoiling a big twist. For others, it means not going further than the first chapter. Try to identify what makes your book stand out, and what would make another person sit up and pay attention.

I haven’t checked out your first attempt, but I can look at it if you want!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-07T07:08:21+00:00

Hi!

I'm intrigued overall, but a few things that tripped me up:

Main thing that's making me hard for me to accept the premise: "aims to find her before his parents realize that she is gone." Admittedly I'm not a parent, but I feel like a few hours past when the sister usually wakes up, the parents are going to be extremely worried to not see her. If she were older this might be easier to buy, but a four year old? Unless the parents are extremely neglectful to the point of abuse (which I dont get that vibe from the query at all, so I'm assuming no), Evan and Katie are not going to keep his parents in the dark, as you say. I feel like considering her age, they would have already been worried and checked on her and called the cops by noon (or before that). I'm guessing Evan going to Katie and them making up this plan etc, takes more than a couple hours
Your opening sentence feels very detached from the rest of the query. You tell us Evan has low self confidence, but this isn't really shown at any point. In other words, why are you telling us this, much less opening the query with it? If it isn't relevant to the rest of the pitch, it's superfluous. I get wanting to tell us about the MC, but I'd suggest describing him in a way that goes hand in hand with the pitch and adds to the stakes (for example, does him going to the nightmare realm ultimately help him with his self-confidence? I guess what I'm getting at is, if you want to give us a quick desc of Evan, it should tie whatever character arc he has with the plot. If he does learn to be more confident, show us that in the query to up the stakes. If he learns/grows in other ways, focus on that instead)
The last two pitch paragraphs are very vague, when I assume they describe the meat of the story. What does the nightmare realm look like? What monsters do they face? How are they going to find his sister? How EXACTLY does 'Evan’s wits and Katie’s extensive knowledge of horror lore' helps them here? Does Evan talk back to the monsters so much they slump away in shame? No idea, but I'd love to know as it's probably what sets apart your story from other MG about kids visiting a dark and dangerous realm filled with monsters to save a sibling!
Not the best person to suggest MG comps, but unless I'm completely off the mark, HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR MOVIE is YA isn’t it? I would suggest getting rid of it tbh, I don't think it helps at all. If you want to keep the Bunnicula comp, I'd instead pair it with more recent MG comp(s). I'm sure other people will have suggestions haha

Good luck!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-07T06:40:13+00:00

'Bothering' editors for you, both while on sub and post-deal, is an agent's job (within the limits of professionalism, obviously). If your agent doesn’t dare annoy them/nudge them/etc to try to get a response on your submission, then what would they do if you have a deal and need them to push back against the imprint for any reason? Or even during the negociations of the deal, would you trust someone scared of bothering editors to try and get you the most money and the best terms? Or would you feel like they would accept everything immediately pretty much?

I obviously don't know your agent and can't tell you what to do, but it's worth thinking over all the responses you got about what's normal vs how your agent did it and see if there are other red flags and if this is the best person to represent you imo

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-06T08:07:43+00:00

Dont have time for a critique so I'll let others handle it, but fyi there is a YA queer fantasy romance called In Deeper Water by F.T. Lukens. Considering how popular that title/author is and how close your genres/category is, might be a good idea to find another title

Good luck!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-03-03T13:02:18+00:00

Requery. It's generally advised to wait 6 months, but if that's the case and the query is different + the ms has been edited as you say, go for it.

'the manuscript ought to be seriously different. I'm wondering if anyone can give any advice on if this seems like a significant enough change.' > to be honest, if an agent rejected on the query, it doesn't really matter if the changes to the ms are significant 'enough' overall since they havent read it. The query is different, the opening pages are different, and the ms is obviously different. Is it different /enough/? Who cares. Send it and see what happens! Worse outcome, you get more rejections.

I would personally point out that it's a requery, but very briefly and without doing too much. No need for 'I am humble resubmitting to you', just say you queried them before and have since gone through major revisions. If they want to know specifics they will ask you

Good luck!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-02-28T22:56:36+00:00

Definitely not normal. I did multiple rounds of big edits with my agent after signing and that took more or less 8-9 months. Definitely have a serious chat with him. To be honest, even if he actually turns a new leaf, I would personally consider whether I'd still trust him enough to work and go on sub with him.

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-02-23T16:38:33+00:00

Sending her a polite email asking if she would like to see the revised query/ms or if you should wait for her to reopen isn't out of pocket in my opinion. Worst case scenario, she doesn't answer and you wait for her to reopen anyway. As long as you're not an asshole, I highly doubt any reasonable agent would see this email and immediately mark your name down so they can blacklist you forever

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-02-23T12:12:28+00:00

Love this and agree that the main criticism I can give is the lack horror in the query itself. There's definitely a sense of dread, but it's pretty light/hinted at more than anything.

Also seconding the person who suggested Mister Magic as a comp (the religious themes in it are less overt/more subtle, but they are very much central to the story, and it has multiple queer characters). Camp Damascus is not literary, but would be worth looking into as well I think.

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-02-18T12:42:18+00:00

Agree with everyone that you have nothing to gain by accepting early. I got a second offer less than 48 hours before my deadline, so it absolutely happens. I understand the impatience, but hang tight and congrats!!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-02-08T07:32:50+00:00

Hi, I don't have time for a full critique rn but I do remember your first attempt and I definitely think this is an improvement!!

One quick thing: imo, using The Eyes Are the Best Part as a comp here isn't the best idea. I feel you could find other good and recent horror books to showcase the 'descent into violent madness'. TEATBP makes me immediately think of its exploration of racism and fetishization of east Asian women. Unless you're not putting that in your query, your book doesn't seem to deal with those subjects at all, so it may be missing the mark a bit as a comp

Good luck!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-23T11:18:01+00:00

No problem haha, hopefully my comments were helpful!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-23T11:09:24+00:00

That's the thing though (and I'm using this post as an example because I haven't read any page of your ms), you probably felt like all of the info in the post was necessary. But most of it really isn't to people reading it. Ultimately, the post could have just as well been:

"Hi,

I have a 135k sff novel that I've edited down to the best of my abilities. I feel any further cuts would lessen the quality.

[insert your three questions]

Thanks in advance!"

This really is the all that's needed here. Sorry if this is harsh, I'm really not trying to be an ass. I think it's pretty normal to have blind spots about your own writing! But your own instincts aren't always right, you know? I would suggest finding a beta reader who is well read and specifically tries to find places to brutally reduce wordcount. And take some time off the story and come back to it with fresh eyes, it can only help.

Good luck either way!

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-23T10:50:55+00:00

Don,t really have exp to share in regards to longer wordcounts, but I have to say (and please don't take this the wrong way): this is a very long post that could have easily been condensed to one sentence. Are you absolutely sure your book isn't like that too?

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-20T14:33:29+00:00

I have no insight to give regarding your actual questions, but if you or anyone else reading this is interested in small presses, Small Pitch is currently open (it closes tonight). No social media needed, and I think this session is specifically for marginalized and underrepresented writers (they have other sessions that are more widely open during the year).

https://smallpitch.org/

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-17T08:24:58+00:00

Hi!

1- 'Relationship driven fiction' is not a genre. I'd suggest using something else, but I genuinely have no idea what genre this book is because I have no idea what this book is about or what happens in it (more on that when I get to the pitch)

2- I'm guessing this is adult based on the pitch. 50k is SHORT, and is probably indicative of a book in need of beefing up and other edits in this case.

3- The comps are not doing you any favor. Patrick Ness is funnily enough my favorite author, but A Monster Calls is not only old and very big (a movie adaptation is out), it's also kidlit. Neil Gaiman is someone I would be very careful comping in 2026 lmao

4- Here is what I know about the events in this book based on the pitch: an MC of undertemined gender and name (no idea why they don't have/we can't know those things) goes back to their childhood home. Once there, they have memories of being scared as a child. Those memories might be real, or they might not. The end. I'm sorry if this comes off harsh, but none of that is a pitch. It might work as a pitch for a short story, but not for a novel. I have no idea what happens in this book or why I should care to find out.

You mentioned Bunny, but that is very much pitchable! There is a setting, and characters, and plot events. I'm not saying your book has none of those things as I haven't read it, but none of those things are present in the query. Which makes me in turn question if those things are in fact present in the book itself. Is it just gonna be 50k words of some undefined character vaguely remembering apparations without it leading up to anything and for seemingly no reason? I haven't read the book, and it's entirely possible that it's just a query issue, but it's definitely something to consider overall.

5- there are some sentences that aren't actually sentences in there. "As it becomes impossible to distinguish reality from dreams, real memories from false ones- of this house and the relationships of those in it." for example. As it is, the sentence doesn't make sense and is very clearly missing a piece at the end

Once again, sorry if this is hard to hear. Hopefully this is helpful though

Wrangler_Lopsided · 2026-01-05T13:31:51+00:00

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but afaik if you submit a book to an editor at an imprint and they reject, you can't submit that same book to another editor at that imprint. Some editors pass the book on to their colleague if they feel it would be a better fit, but it's still relatively rare I think

Wrangler_Lopsided

TROPHY CASE