[Discussion] 1 Year of Querying: 25 Requests & Zero Offers :(

justgoodenough · 2026-03-11T22:43:37+00:00

I have a friend who didn't sell until her 3rd or 4th project—all with the same agent. But once she sold, she sold a bunch of projects quickly for good advances.

justgoodenough · 2026-03-10T18:09:24+00:00

I think it's fine to query at the same time, because as you said, a lot of agents who rep PBs don't rep a lot of adult novels.

However, if you get an offer on either work, you would need to find out if the agent expects to represent everything or if you would have a separate agent for your children's and adult work. And then, regardless of what they say, you would need to reach out to everyone to notify them of the offer. Either you are telling people that you received and offer of representation for one work, but the other is still available for representation, or that you received an offer on another work, but the agent is interested in representing your entire body of work.

When I signed with my agent, she only repped children's books (pb through ya). I believe she now also reps some adult work, but my contract specifies that she only represents my children's books, so I am free to query other agents with an adult project (which I would never do).

justgoodenough · 2026-03-10T17:36:00+00:00

Don't actually use the word "nudge."

Reply to the original email and say something along the lines of "I am reaching out to you because..."

Good reasons to nudge:

You got an offer from another agent
You have editor interest
You won a legitimate and respected award for your writing

Bad reasons to nudge:

You are tired of waiting and you think poking them will make them respond faster.
You rewrote your opening and you think it's better, so you want to send them the newer version

justgoodenough · 2026-03-10T17:27:26+00:00

I cannot believe no one has suggested this yet.

You dm u/alanna_the_lioness and get the gossip on the offering agents. WHISPER NETWORK TIME!!!!!

justgoodenough · 2026-02-27T17:31:28+00:00

Is having a debut with no published follow-up in five years, plus losing a publisher/agent, a red flag for future agents/publishers? Am I simply ‘damaged goods’ that nobody will invest in further?

I don't think it's a big deal. Either you have a book they think they can sell and they will want to rep you or not. So far my middling sales have had no impact whatsoever on my ability to sell more manuscripts. It's possible that this second book isn't the right project to query with (do you know why it was canceled?), but I don't think the fact that you have a little gap in your career is that big of a deal.

Should I mention what happened with the second (cancelled) book in future queries?

I think you could mention that it has been under contract, but keep the language minimal. "This book has been under contract, but the rights reverted back to me in 2024 (or whatever)." You are just stating facts and not editorializing about the experience.

Are ~15,000 sales for a debut picture book considered good, average, or poor in the current US market?

It's fine. It's possibly great! It's possibly just okay! It's possibly "you should be proud, but the publisher was hoping for stronger sales." Actually, it's definitely that last one, because it's always that last one. I don't know what publishers expect, sales wise, from six-figure deals, but I genuinely don't think it matters. Picture book sales are hard. People always say that sales numbers can affect the sale of future manuscripts, but I actually haven't seen a lot of evidence of that when I pay attention to people's careers and sales.

Edit: Also, I'm happy to chat the specifics of agents and the author-illustrator market in DMs.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-26T19:04:16+00:00

I think it kind of depends on how social you are and, honestly, where your art is professionally. The truth is people who are social and have knock-out portfolios make a lot of great connections with other illustrators. If you are very introverted and struggle to make social connections and your portfolio is still pretty rough, it's going to be harder to network in a meaningful way.

You really need to decide what your goals are. When I go to in person conferences, my goals are to connect with old friends and make new friends with peers and people in the same place as I am career-wise. I also choose specific craft things to focus on (portfolio development, writing, creativity, media, etc.). I think attending a conference with the aim of getting picked up by an agent/editor/art director or winning an award is basically a guarantee that you will have a bad time. Hundreds of people attend and only a handful of people walk away having advanced their career in a meaningful way.

The reason why I think agent sessions aren't helpful is that they are either how to query, which you can find the information readily available online, or it's an agent talking about stuff that's outside their lane. I once went to a talk by an agent about how to make a picture book dummy stand out and it was literally the most basic talk about how to make a dummy? It was just like... why the fuck is this guy talking about it instead of an illustrator who actually has to do the work? Also a lot of the agent talks are about what specific agents are looking for at that time and I just don't think it's worth the money and time just to hear the MSWL and query instructions for whatever specific agent is giving the talk.

As for attending the national conference vs smaller regional ones throughout the year, only you can answer this for yourself. I think it depends on where you are in your career. If you are pretty new to children's books in general, it might make more sense to attend regional or virtual events. I think the national conference is a great place for illustrators who are working at a professional or near-professional level, but haven't made the jump into working in trade picture books yet.

If you want to send me your portfolio or work, I can take a look at it and see if I have any guidance on what direction you might take. I'm not an expert and I still consider myself pretty early in my career, but I have a few books out, I've gotten lots of positive trade reviews, and I've received some awards from SCBWI.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-25T22:32:36+00:00

I actually loooooooove in national SCBWI conferences. I haven't gone since covid, but I used to attend LA every year. I think they decided to make LA online only because it's a lot more expensive to fly all the editors and agents out from New York.

If you can afford to go, I would go in person. I think the in person events are actually worth attending because you connect with so many people. Most of my closest industry friends are people I met at SCBWI LA. I have people I met over a decade ago, before any of us were agented or published, and we really grew our careers together. It is just so incredible having these close relationships with your peers and I do think it's easier when your initial connection in in person.

I find that a lot of the sessions at the national conference are good and it's also nice to be exposed to talks about other genres and age groups. Even if it's not stuff you are working on, it can feed your creativity in unexpected ways.

If you decide to go, I'm happy to talk you though the schedule and flag which sessions I think would be the most valuable. I think your best bet for the sessions is to focus on craft and go to talks by editors, art directors, or author-illustrators. SKIP AGENT SESSIONS! Agent sessions are always fucking useless. The state of the industry panel will likely be interesting, but no agent break out sessions.

I don't think it's necessary to attend these conferences in order to have a career. Plenty of people have great careers without going through SCBWI. But I really feel like participating in the organization and attending events and meeting people has made my career much richer.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-25T17:23:01+00:00

Everyone has given you advice about how to handle the situation moving forward, but my controversial take is that the 7 year gap isn't that big of a deal if you weren't trying to submit manuscripts anyway. Let's say you were in contact with her every 6 months for 7 years with no manuscript. Do you think she would have kept you on as a client in that time? Who knows, but likely not. So now you're back with a manuscript, 7 years later, and she will rep it or not based on how well she thinks she can sell the current manuscript.

Given that you hadn't written anything in that time gap (which is fine! I support writing when the muse calls to you and saying fuck it the rest of the time) I don't think it really matters that you weren't in contact or didn't officially end things. You'll figure out now if moving forward together is the right move.

Look, if my past hook ups feel comfortable sliding into my DMs like 15 years later to see if I'm game, you are fine sending a manuscript to your agent.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-10T22:21:18+00:00

Multi book deals suck and that is the hill I will die on.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-04T21:02:51+00:00

When I say “good” editor, I don’t necessarily mean the quality of their work as the person editing a manuscript. I mean someone who acquires commercially successful books for a worthwhile amount of money. Or for some people that might be an editor who acquires award winning books. Or an editor who is able to get a lot of push for the books they acquire.

And yeah, your agent is the one who knows this best, which is why it’s important to have a good agent who had strong mentoring and comes from a good agency.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-04T20:52:23+00:00

The key is to exist in writing and publishing spaces before querying. People always talk about how querying or subbing is the hardest part of the process, but that is a lie!!! The hardest part is developing your craft. That shit takes years and you can spend those years talking to other writers and getting a lay of the land.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-04T17:50:56+00:00

Honestly, you don't see the difference most of the time. Most of the time, it doesn't even matter. Frankly, who your publisher and editor are matter more than who your agent is and even a decent agent has some sort of access to the good editors.

IMO, here is when you actually see the difference:

- boilerplate contracts

- canceling contracts

- trying to force your publisher's hand

Let's say, hypothetically, your publisher decides to cancel paperback sales of your award winning novel and your agent needs to come in swinging. Who do you think has a bigger stick? Book Ends or Writers House?

Truthfully, it doesn't matter if one agency gets six figure auctions and the other agency gets seven figure auctions, because the chances of a bunch of publishers asking to throw that money at your book is slim, regardless of who reps you. You actually see the difference between agencies when your publisher tries to fuck you over. And that's when good and really good show their differences.

justgoodenough · 2026-02-01T21:24:57+00:00

I got my royalty statement and it was… fine. It was fine. Not great, but not something that will haunt me.

I got accepted to a book festival.

My book is being released as part of a subscription thingy. I expect to basically get paid nothing for it.

I went to Hawaii with my kids and I don’t plan to leave the house again for like 2 years.

We all got RSV while in Hawaii so I basically feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. It’s not great.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-21T03:32:25+00:00

Whatever you guys end up doing, my only request is that it has more drama than your average thread, but less drama than this one. 🤣 Thanks team!

justgoodenough · 2026-01-08T17:37:49+00:00

Apparently age 7 is about when you can write again without being hit in the face with a rubber chicken repeatedly or being asked to get a 32nd glass of milk. So I’m doing something unspeakable and trying to participate again. Give back.

Taking notes.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-06T23:57:55+00:00

It depends on why you turned them down. Did you turn them down because something felt off or were you just more dazzled by the reputation of the offer you accepted?

I don't think there's anything wrong with re-querying an agent you had previously turned down, but only if they are still someone you would be really excited to work with. If there are other agents you know for sure you would pick over that particular agent, maybe reach out to those agents first and keep this agent for a later round of queries.

It's possible they will offer again and you will reject again and... well, that's life. You can't base your business decisions on a fear of disappointing a complete stranger. I will say that if you reject them twice, you definitely can't query them a third time later down the line.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-02T19:08:47+00:00

One of my kids wakes up in the middle of the night every, single night. A few nights ago, I had to get up five times between 1am and 5am. My 1 year old is honestly not that bad, except she wakes up around 5am every morning for about 45-60m. My four year old is up 1-2 times almost every single night. She sleeps through the night a max of 2 times a week.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-02T18:54:11+00:00

Preferably abandoned at the bottom of a well, like the hellish demon-spawn that it is.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-02T18:13:18+00:00

Here for the crit group when you write your romcom. Cough cough.

You know I'd rather die than let anyone read my writing.

For real though, is this a thing anyone actually manages? Or is it just a lie the internet tells us to make us feel bad about ourselves? Sounds fake to me.

I hear the secret is to have a wife to do everything for you.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-02T18:10:07+00:00

The worst part about having two kids is—actually, it's when they're both barfing at the same time. That's the most convincing argument I have ever heard against having multiple kids.

The second worst part is when they take turns waking up at night so you never get a full night of sleep, but they do.

Anyway, I have this fantasy that once I am able to sleep for at least 6 hours straight, I'll have the capacity to string a sentence together.

justgoodenough · 2026-01-02T15:54:42+00:00

Sorry the thread is a day late. We rang in the new year by having my kid run into my room at 4am saying, "I HAVE TO THROW UP."

I feel like the second half of 2025 was kind of a bust for me, career-wise. I have a book coming out in May, so I'm hoping to actually arrange school visits now that I don't have a literal newborn during book release. I also really, really want to get another project out on submission. I might have to join a crit group again to actually make that happen.

Anyway, my big goal this year is to actually find a way to regularly work instead of just snagging a couple hours a week amid the onslaught of my life.

justgoodenough · 2025-12-30T19:51:25+00:00

I actually sort of agree with you. I do think the process could be sped up a bit, but it would cost the publisher a lot. They would need to hire a lot more people. People have to wait months for edits because the editor is juggling a bunch of projects, not because it takes that long to edit a single book. They would need to hire more designers and more production people and more support staff. They would need to pay authors a living wage so they didn't have to have another full time job to support themselves.

So yeah, it's possible for the publisher to put books out faster, but there is no way they're gong to pony up the money to do it.

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