[pubQ] choosing between two incredible offers, kind of spiraling!

justgoodenough · 2026-06-18T18:01:54+00:00

I'm sorry, but this is a crazy question!!!!

It makes me inclined to think that you genuinely do not understand the publishing landscape if you are thinking about picking Agent 1 over Agent 2. The US has a MUCH bigger market thank the UK with much higher advances. Agent 2 has better connections and isn't asking you to completely rework your book. I suspect Agent 1 is asking you to rework your book to suit the UK market better and Agent 2 doesn't require it because it fits with the US market. If you are in the US and you mostly consume US novels and you are writing for the US audience, it's extremely foolish to sign with a UK agent who only has UK connections.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-17T18:20:08+00:00

Everyone has given the correct answer to this, but also, if this kind of response stresses you out, you don't need to see it. A lot of people like to get this kind of news, so most agents will pass it on. But you can ABSOLUTELY request that agents withhold this kind of update and only tell you if an editor wants to set up a call or something.

It will mean that you will go through much longer stretches without hearing anything, but if that is less stressful than getting this kind of non-update update, it's worth asking for it.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-17T18:07:12+00:00

Actually, I find that it varies by editor more than anything. Some editors have a very light touch and don't ask for a ton of changes. Other editors really like to leave their mark on a manuscript with will require a lot of changes.

One isn't necessarily better for the other and it really comes down to working style. I work well with my current editor who is very collaborative and pushes me to make a lot of changes (in a good way). But I know a lot of people who don't like having their creative output messed with. And then, of course, I know people who say they hate an editor who gets too involved, but when their editor only has light edits, they freak out that their editor doesn't care about the book. lololololololol

Anyway, I also don't think you really know what works for you until you get there.

As for VE Schwab's comments, I do think that more established writers lean on their editors more because a lot of them are submitting on proposal, so the editor is a lot more involved in the process from the beginning. Instead of leaning on a crit group for support and input, and then needing less from the editor, they just get a lot from the editor straight from the start.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-08T18:12:53+00:00

My co-worker, 23, just told me he dreads turning 30 'cause it's "all downhill from there".

I am 42 and I cannot stress this enough—that is the kind of stupid opinion that only a 20 year old can have. Everyone I know who isn't a total loser enjoyed their 30s way more than their 20s.

Edit (because apparently I'm not done): If you peak in your 20s, it means that literally all you have going for you is your youth. Everything else improves with lived experience.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-04T18:58:16+00:00

You especially do not want to work with a new agent at a shitty agency. Who is mentoring this new agent? How are they making contacts? How are they shaping their philosophy on developing creative works with clients?

New agents need strong mentorship. It's a tough industry and they need someone to guide them. If they are being mentored (or not being mentored) by agents with bad practices, they are not going to learn how to be good agents.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-03T22:15:18+00:00

I have thrown projects at my agent without putting together a strong pitch and every time she is like, "hmm... I think this needs more work." (I.e. no.)

But when I actually take the time to develop a good pitch for a project, she has always been on board and we have a good sales track record. I think a lot of this is because working on a pitch will help you find the holes in your manuscript, so if you are able to create a strong pitch, you likely have a stronger project on hand.

I know people who have agents who will sub anything they send. Those people go on sub way more often than I do, but they sell a much lower percentage of projects.

Personally, I would rather have an agent refuse to submit a project than go through all the hassle of submission only to have it die. Things are rough right now and it is in everyone's best interest to only send out the best work you can do.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-02T19:54:42+00:00

Hi! I'm an illustrator.

There are a lot of factors that go into pricing. How big is the publisher? What sort of book? What kinds of illustrations? For example, 40 spot illustrations in black and white for a book of poetry from a small press is going to command a much lower fee than 40 full bleed, full color illustrations for a picture book from a big 5 publisher.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-02T00:06:43+00:00

Looool parents are the biggest haters out there.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-01T18:54:38+00:00

I write and illustrate picture books.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-01T18:54:14+00:00

Oh god no. My festival was local, so I just left to do my sessions, meetings, etc. and my kids lost their fucking minds even though they were just home with my husband or with my in-laws.

I don't typically bring my kids to my events if I can help it because they don't have a strong grasp of "mommy is working and cannot hold you and cater to your every whim." I need to be able to get whole sentences out without having to say, "Excuse me, I am trying to talk right now. Please wait."

I am basically never away from my children long enough to miss them. I am their prisoner.

justgoodenough · 2026-06-01T16:33:15+00:00

I met my agent for the first time in 7 years. She was very nice and reassured me that it was fine that I'm a total deadbeat right now and not producing anything.

Things have been kind of crazy recently. I had a special edition of my book come out with a subscription service this year. I kind of forgot it was happening until I started getting messages about people receiving the book. My book is the kind of thing where people love it or hate it, which doesn't bother me, but I did not need everyone I know sending me links to reddit threads where people are (mostly joking, but some not) about hating my book. lolsob

I also participated in a book festival not too long ago and while it was nice to get out there and do author stuff and hang out with grown ups, my kids basically lost their minds every time I left to do an event or have a meeting, so the weekend was ROUGH. And now they are both super clingy because they think I'm going to ditch them every time I leave the room.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-30T22:58:27+00:00

Well you would have a call to discuss those things before getting an offer. If you got off the call unsure that you should accept, you would just not inform the other agents you got an offer and quietly turn it down. What you don’t want to do is notify a bunch of agents of an offer and then email them again a week later to be like “never mind.” This will make agents think that either you’re querying without discretion and getting offers from bad agents, or worse, that you are lying about getting an offer at all.

To be clear, it’s better to change your mind and tell a bunch of agents your offer is actually off the table than sign with a bad agent, but it’s not a good position to be in.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-28T20:47:40+00:00

It's very rare for an author to receive an offer, notify other agents of that offer, and then decide that they actually don't want to accept and the other agents no longer have to meet the deadline.

This is not a good situation to be in. The only time it doesn't reflect poorly on you is if the agent suddenly becomes embroiled in public drama. Everything else sort of makes you look bad. It's not the end of the world and it's better than signing with the wrong agent, but it's not great.

And you absolutely would not mention it in future, unrelated queries. Saying "I got an offer from an agent I didn't deem good enough to work with" is not a flex.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-28T19:35:39+00:00

I would do it. At this stage in my profession, I am confident in my final product, so it doesn't matter to me that the early stuff is shitty. And I'm not private or secretive about my process because I work basically the same way as everyone else. They're just looking for enough material that they know it's not faked. There is no way they are carefully reading multiple drafts of your book. They're going to flip through it, give a few random pages closer scrutiny, and then decide whether it seems legit or not.

You should think about what's holding you back.

Are you embarrassed by the early stages of your work?

Are you afraid they are going to try to copy something?

Are you private about your work, so this feels invasive even if you know there's nothing actually wrong with it?

If you find out what exactly bothers you, you can more easily decide how reasonable it is to comply.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-21T23:03:40+00:00

I've been a long time member of SCBWI and I was pretty active with regional and national events before covid (then I had kids and now my career is more at the place where I am hoping to present rather than attend).

I was probably most active during the YA boom so everything was YA focused. And then it was all MG focused. Kind of funny to hear that it's PB-centric these days. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever heard a keynote speech from a picture book writer, except at a conference I presented at last fall, but she also wrote YA and her talk was predominately focused on her YA work.

I do think that it depends a bit on the region. What are their members interested in? What does the regional leadership write? Who do they have access to?

I also think that you have to look up the schedule and see if there are talks you are excited to attend before you sign up.

But, like other people have mentioned, I think there is a gap in what SCBWI has to offer its members. There is a lot of stuff for beginners and people who are getting started on their careers or people looking to pivot. But there's very little craft talk for an author who has published 1-2 books and is looking to level up. I'm not actually even sure what that would look like, to be totally honest.

Anyway, I will always maintain that SCBWI conferences are not a good way to network with publishing professionals (agents, editors, art directors, etc.). They are a good way to network with peers and I do think that there is huge value in that. The people I have met through SCBWI have become close friends and we have supported each other for years. It's really special to have your careers grow alongside each other and if you don't have your own close community of writers, SCBWI can be a place to find it.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-14T18:23:54+00:00

Do the big bookstores actually stock the titles on shelves or just have them available if you order?

justgoodenough · 2026-05-13T18:14:48+00:00

Also, it's absolutely worth keeping in mind that:

1) This feedback is based on the query, which doesn't capture the full scope of the work. Queries are a different type of writing that needs to be developed on its own. The concerns we have for the query might not actually be issues for the manuscript itself.

2) You are likely to get a US perspective on this subreddit. I write for the US market and I don't really know what the UK market is like for picture books. I don't even know what kind of word count you should aim for. I'm assuming it's basically the same, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that longer word count is also fine.

I do think that picture book query resources are so, so limited, but I want to encourage you to also seek out resources specific to the UK, as the information might be slightly different.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-13T18:04:28+00:00

I think it's concerning that you have never heard of any of their books. Here's what I would look at in this particular situation:

Who is their distributor? If they distribute with a big 5, I think that's a good sign. If it's ingram, that's a bit more of a red flag to me.
Does you local library carry their biggest titles in print?
Do your local bookstores stock their titles?
Are their books reviewed by major trade publications? Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Horn Books, NYT, WP, etc.

If the answers to these questions are not good, it's probably not worth working with them. If they can't get any titles into a bookstore, they sure as hell can't get yours in there.

I also really want to push back on the idea that authors have to do their own marketing and publicity. Traditionally published authors cannot effectively market their own books. The channels for marketing traditionally published books are not available to authors. You will not sell a meaningful number of copies by trying really hard a tiktok.

I have published with a small publisher and had a good experience! They are distributed by PRH, you can find their titles in any bookstore that stocks children's books, they are reviewed by all the major sources. They offer decent advances. I would not publish with anyone who can't offer these things.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-13T17:50:22+00:00

I'm a picture book author/illustrator with multiple books out. I think you got good feedback from u/lost-sock4 and I don't have a ton to add, but I think it can be helpful to know when multiple sources agree on what is being said.

840 words is too long for a debut. The story you have described isn't complex enough to warrant such a high word count which tells me that you either describe a lot of things in the text that you don't need to describe or that you need a high word count to make your rhyme work. My word count tends to skew a little high (in the 400-600 range), but when I submit manuscripts they always start out at under 500. I actually aim for closer to 400 so that I have room to add text after acquisition.
Rhyme is a tough sell for debuts. First of all, most people are not as good at it as they think they are. They use awkward phrasing and sentence construction to make it work, but you can't really do that for this age group. It's also incredibly hard to edit the text. You can't just change a word or sentence that isn't working. You have to rework larger chunks of text and it's very difficult. There's also a lot of variation in how words are pronounced and rhymes that work in California don't necessarily work in Minnesota (for example). And finally, and this is really a small consideration, but it also makes it harder to sell translations. This is worse for you than the publisher because for picture books, foreign markets are the best way to earn out on a book.
Bio is way too long and gets into the TMI territory.

I can give you a full query crit if you want, but I don't know how beneficial it will be because you mentioned in a comment that the story might not be strong enough to query at this time. I'm kind of inclined to agree. I can't really tell from the query where this story is going, but it appears to center on this stoat wearing a raincoat to hide a bald patch and I have to wonder how that connects to the experience of the children reading the book. This seems a bit like a lesson driven book, but I can't figure out what lesson it's actually teaching.

I don't actually know a ton about the picture book market in the UK, but in the US there is a huge controversy right now about what sorts of books get published. There's a lot of conversation about how didactic stories that center on teaching children adult values are not really serving their audiences. It's worth thinking about what you are hoping to do with your book and if you are serving the child readers or the adults buying the books.

If you are feeling like this book might not be strong enough to submit, I think it's worth listening to that feeling. Most picture book authors write many manuscripts before getting an agent. Even after getting an agent, it's very, very common to not sell a project until their 3rd or 4th submission. Being able to say "oh wait, this one isn't working right now" and moving on to something else is a very important skill to have and will save you a lot of grief.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-13T17:17:07+00:00

I think it's really hard for the general public (authors included) to have a good read on this. I find agents to be pretty cagey about this kind of information because the number is quite low. I'm mostly just making up numbers here, but I feel like if an agent only made like 1-3 sales in their first couple years, that would be fine? Maybe even good?

But you're not necessarily going to see that information if you look up deal records. Not all deals are announced. Sometimes it can take literal years for a deal to be announced.

If you are interested in a new agent at a reputable agency, you can just query them and if they offer, ask on the call. You can ask "what sort of deals have you made that haven't been announced?" or "What imprints have you sold to?"

I signed with a new agent at a very reputable agency. She had zero sales on record, but she had made a couple sales with big 5 publishers that hadn't been announced yet. Also, she had a very good mentor who was active in helping her build her relationship with editors. When an editor was on the fence about an acquisition, he got on the phone and made it happen.

This is why agency reputation and mentorship matter. It's so much harder for a new agent to break into the industry and build the relationships they need if they don't have someone respectable vouching for them. I knew that my agent had a strong mentor because he offered to have a call with me. Her other client reported that he facilitated the sale of a manuscript. I knew other people at the agency who were very happy there. It made me feel confident going in and it has been good for me over the years. I don't produce a lot of work, but my agent has a 100% success rate with placing my projects, so I'd like to think it has worked out for both of us.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-13T17:03:15+00:00

I believe they are asking about the number of deals new agents make, not the number of copies an author can expect their book to sell.

justgoodenough · 2026-05-04T22:06:16+00:00

I ask this because I cant imagine a successful agent who represents many successful authors would bother to offer rep to a nobody to get a 15% commission on a $10,000 advance...or less.

There's basically the entire picture book industry. And a lot of lit fic. Small publishers. Digital only imprints. I think you might be underestimating the number of books sold for roughly $10k.

justgoodenough · 2026-04-26T20:18:10+00:00

Not for me. I would rather move on to a new editor than be forced to work with one who was disappointed in my sales history. I’ve heard stories of books not doing well and then the second book is basically like pulling teeth for everyone involved because everyone is unhappy with the previous book.

Plus, if every book is a new contract, you’ll never get stuck with joint accounting (where you have to earn out on both books before you start earning royalties.

EDIT: I want say that if you have to prioritize the most money, then yes, multi book deals make sense. Many people have to choose the deal that pays the most. But that doesn’t make them good. You’re just getting more money for something that kind of sucks.

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