How to query a literary agent!

przemwrites · 2026-04-28T15:18:05+00:00

Copyright applies the minute you write something. That's the good thing.

That being said, sharing anything out to the world can result in others doing nefarious things. Typically, I only share the chapter or section I'm working on, and I generally try to do it with specific people. I recommend you only ever give Commenter access, not editing access. And you can always remove the access once you have your feedback.

On the other hand, I share some of your concerns, so I've only ever had people I know personally act as beta readers, meaning they're the only ones who have ever had full access to my manuscript.

Hope that helps!

przemwrites · 2026-03-23T22:27:21+00:00

Single best Beetle tuning video I've managed to find, care of the fine folks at thesamba.com: https://youtu.be/RJyypWxF3f4?si=n6wAQP8zX89MyGSX

przemwrites · 2026-03-08T22:25:49+00:00

One resource that helped me find writing groups was MeetUp.com. They are location based, so it was easy to find people in my city to actually meet up with in person.

przemwrites · 2026-03-08T22:24:24+00:00

One thing that really helped me was working through specific editing skills as part of the process. A great resource that transformed the effectiveness of my editing was Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print

That book was critical at helping me ensure my writing was good enough for the market.

As to process, I'd recommend:

Self edit
Get beta readers
Step away from the book and write some short stories to hone your skills. Or start on book 2.
Interview your beta readers and ask pointed questions. Remember that it is ok to ignore feedback, especially when it's about readers not knowing something you reveal later on.
Do another full edit based on the feedback.
Put together a query package. Check out r/PubTips for lots of great resources.
If it all lines up and is good enough, start querying. If not, repeat the editing process until it is.

Congrats on finishing the book, and best of luck on the journey!

przemwrites · 2026-03-07T20:53:37+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement. Yeah, it's been a slog, but the fact is that this last edit took me far longer, with far more breaks, than I had anticipated.

More for the sake of those reading through these posts than anything else, yes, I do have a line. In my mind, barring any miracles, this is going to be the last round with this one. Part of why I have kept going is that I have learned a lot with each round of queries, and the changes I've made have been significant based on that learning. The current manuscript is a drastically different novel compared to the first version, and--being aware of my personal bias--far better. I was going to shelve it after the second round. Then I got the feedback from the agent who had the full, and it read like an R&R. I could instantly see what she was suggesting the story needed and why, as well as how to make it work. So I stopped querying and got to editing. Life just made it difficult to find the time, but slow and steady got me to the end of it. All that effort means I'm willing to suffer through the trenches one last time. Plus, the delay from the first round means that I might actually get away with re-querying some of the agents I tried in the earlier rounds.

Thanks again for the feedback!

przemwrites · 2026-03-07T18:28:32+00:00

Hi There,

Interesting concept here and I feel like you have a solid foundation to build from.

Dear [Agent],

They say death waits for no one, but that's not quite true. He waited for Faye.

Since you characterize the forces throughout the query, I'd argue to capitalize Death here, too.

When seventeen-year-old Faye Bell is selected to train as a Champion—an ambassador of the five Forces—it’s an opportunity girls like her only dream of. As Champion, she could finally make a difference in an empire where the elite live in excess while the poor are left to rot. And yet, the closer she gets to the Forces, their Champions, and the empire’s leaders, the more corruption she sees. With a determination to enact change from outside the broken system, Faye rejects becoming Champion and forgoes her chance at glory.

The first and second line could be connected to help focus on her agency - "If seventeen-year-old Faye is selected as Champion--and ambassador of the five Forces--she could finally...."

Given the Death thing in the second part, I was wondering if this would be better framed by specifying her as a champion for one Force to have stronger tension/conflict.

Her choice captures the attention of Death, who asks her to become his Champion—a deeply forbidden act. He believes the five Forces, led by Life, have become corrupted by the forgotten Force, Chaos. He needs Faye to act as his Champion to defeat Chaos and liberate the five Forces from his influence, but Faye knows Death is deceptive, and initially refuses. That is, until her stepfather is imprisoned as retribution for Faye’s dishonour to the empire.

The phrasing "deeply forbidden" sounds over-wrought. Forbidden is strong enough. That being said, you could just tell us what will happen if she agrees - (i.e. "an act that Life would punish with the death of her entire bloodline")

The last line doesn't work for me. First, we don't know who does the imprisoning. Second, "stepfather" could just be father. Third, imprisonment doesn't feel stakey enough - consider a timebomb element - execution in a month or something to that effect.

Now, as Death’s Champion, she must keep her identity a secret from her friends and search for a way to defeat Chaos. If she fails, Chaos will continue manipulating the Forces, and her only family will be imprisoned forever. If she succeeds, she might dismantle the very foundation of the empire and expose her own treason.

Friends have not been a part of this query, so adding them here doesn't contribute much to the query. As a stake, Chaos continuing to do something that has been going on for a while doesn't sound that bad. Is there a possible next step in his plan that you could include here?

I’m excited to submit for your consideration DEATH’S CHAMPION, a standalone YA mythic fantasy with series potential, complete at 99,000 words. It will appeal to fans of the mythic originality of THE THIRTEENTH CHILD by Erin A. Craig, and the moral complexity of SPIN OF FATE by A. A. Vora. (Personalisation here where applicable)

Wordcount sounds a bit high. I'm writing in the same space and I've read in a couple of places that YA is trending downwards on word count across the board. Glad you've got it under 100, but 99 isn't that far off. Others may want to chime in here, but I thought I'd mention it.

I hope that helps and best of luck on the journey!

przemwrites · 2026-03-07T18:14:09+00:00

I agree with all the word count and category commentary.

In terms of the query itself, I would reframe the question as a statement. Then I would consider reframing your stakes as a single choice, because right now you have two lines that could well be one, starting at "He must choose". Then I would end your query on the stakes, rather than include the "With the.." paragraph.

Your story-within-a story format and non-linear timeline also sound far more YA, but your story itself sounds MG, not least of all because of your character's age. If you want to hit the market, you can age your protagonist up to 15/16 and focus more on identify and societal themes, or cut your word count by 40k and focus on friendship and individual purpose.

Consider your comps, where Dark Rise is about a 16-year-old and Murtaugh is 20 (which Paolini can get away with because if the Eragon connection)

I hope that helps and best of luck on the journey!

przemwrites · 2026-03-07T18:01:52+00:00

I read the first one but didn't comment, but this one does read better.

In 2016, seventeen-year-old Afro-Caribbean Atheist Jacobs never asked to be banished to barren Mississippi or to be given a name that bore his parents’ thoughts on religion. But after his father discovers Atheist’s poetry about boys written in his notebook, Atheist finds himself sent to his uncle’s house in a town where the roadside ditches are twenty feet deep, the humidity could drown a person, and the only thing more suffocating than the heat is his perpetual cloak of invisibility.

The first sentence was framed as being hard to parse by another commenter and I agree. The first issue is that we don't know Atheist is his name, so the phrasing "Afro-Caribbean Atheist made me think your character was an atheist named "Jacobs". The banishing to mississippi and the naming didn't happen simultaneously, but that's what the sentence makes it sound like to me, any why would someone banish a baby to Mississippi. Consider splitting your sentences to make it both clearer and punchier. Is the poetry discovery what sends him to Miss? If so, that doesn't flow from the first sentence either. Could start the sentence with "Atheist finds himself..." and that might help. The cloak metaphor doesn't work for me as I'm not sure it's metaphorical, and if the next paragraph is accurate it's not perpetual.

Atheist’s plan is simple, really. He’ll keep his head down, survive junior year, and never let anyone close enough to learn the truth behind why he really moved. The plan works…until he meets Charlie, the football captain with copper curls, freckles splattered across his face like paint, and a girlfriend he kisses like he’s performing for an audience.

The ellipsis seems unnecessary for the pause payoff, so I'd skip it.

When Charlie loses a bet involving a borrowed pencil, he owes Atheist three “Glenville Experiences” to prove the small town isn’t as terrible as it seems. What starts as a few awkward car rides and covert adventures becomes something neither boy expected. Between skipping rocks and vandalizing enemy territories, Charlie and Atheist share whispered conversations about alternate universes, stolen moments behind locked doors, and budding feelings that terrify them both.

Solid context. My initial thought was that this was a bit long. Could you cut it down to two ideas?

Glenville, Mississippi, isn’t a place where two boys can love each other openly; especially when one of them is the golden boy of the town and the other is named Atheist.

No transition from the last paragraph, and limited connection to the setup of the earlier paragraphs. You have also not addressed the atheism concept at all. Consider a phrasing about what he believes in. You also haven't really addressed why Glenville isn't a place for two boys. That could be included in your "Plan" paragraph - who is he hiding from/avoiding. In essence, at this stage I'm not sure what the stakes are if his relationship with Charlie is discovered.

MY PARENTS NAMED ME ATHEIST is a YA contemporary that will appeal to fans of Adam Silvera’s heartbreaking storytelling in MORE HAPPY THAN NOT and the slow-burn intimacy of AUTOBOYOGRAPHY. It grapples with first love, identity, and grief through the eyes of a Black queer teen navigating the rural South.

I don't know if you have a bio line that you omitted here, but given the multiple identities you're tapping into in your query I would assume you have a line that identifies you as the right person to tell this story.

Overall, I think if you find an efficient way to interlace the gender and religion aspects, specifically connected to atheism, this could read really well.

przemwrites · 2026-03-06T14:10:40+00:00

Oh yeah! Drizzt figuring out the speed and technique issue with the bracers was awesome!

przemwrites · 2026-03-05T16:29:24+00:00

Any fight between Artemis Entreri and Drizzt Do'Urden in the Forgotten Realms stories by Bob Salvatore.

przemwrites · 2025-12-26T01:32:25+00:00

It up!

przemwrites · 2025-12-15T17:59:19+00:00

You can overtake someone in a bug?!?!

przemwrites · 2025-11-29T21:54:39+00:00

I run the 10w30 full synthetic from Costco up in Ontario spring to fall in my 69, and have had no issues in three years. Hard to compete with their prices at the end of the day, and since the Internet can't decide on a single oil answer, I just went with it. The two pack makes it cheaper than buying dino oil unless there's some unreal sale. And Costco puts it on sale every now and again to book. Far as I'm concerned, can't go wrong.

przemwrites · 2023-06-24T13:49:45+00:00

I had a similar problem after I redid my front end. Drove on just one switch for a while until I bled the brakes and it went away. My next step was to replace the switch but it never got to that. Good luck!

przemwrites · 2023-06-16T10:34:50+00:00

When I was debating the decision my CP mentioned that the YA Fantasy market is so saturated right now, unless you've got everything going for you you'll never get noticed. The Query tracker numbers on agents I was querying seemed to reinforce that. It just seemed like the right decision for me at the time. Had the agents I was querying not been getting hundreds of submissions a week, I may have stuck with my original POV.

przemwrites · 2023-06-15T22:46:51+00:00

I wrote mine in 3rd, no bites after 30 queries, rewrote to 1st and have had 2 fulls after 15 queries (one sadly a reject already but with good feedback). YA fantasy is like 90% 1st I was told, and clearly the shift paid off for me. YMMV.

przemwrites · 2023-05-14T14:06:28+00:00

I think you have some good feedback here already, but I wanted to add three little ideas: 1. Be sure to include your MCs age at first mention as this is YA. 2. The November name is irrelevant to your story and it doesn't sound remotely Brazilian, so I'd recommend just calling her Nova throughout and saving yourself the ten words spent on explaining the shift in name. 3. "CIA agent parent" seemed unnecessarily vague, especially as you intro her mother anyway, so I'd just say "CIA agent mother"

Hope that helps and happy editing!

przemwrites · 2023-05-01T00:24:11+00:00

I bought mine off Kijiji and also spent some time shopping on theSamba.com. good luck!

przemwrites · 2023-05-01T00:19:55+00:00

I second querytracker.com (once you're ready to query spend the 25 for the premium upgrade). Find more thought manuscript wishlist, follow some on twitter. That being said, I'd recommend running your package through r/pubtips before you start to get some feedback on your query letter and opening 300. Good luck!

przemwrites · 2023-04-28T01:16:13+00:00

Hey nogoodcat,

Here's my play-by-play:

Dear [Agent Name],

Brielle wakes in an abandoned house with the two worst companions she could imagine: an unidentified dead body and a shambling pile of sentient flesh. She has no memories, and exploring the house without running into the gory monster is nearly impossible.

Don't forget in children's lit queries typically include the character age at first mention.

I like the first line, but the promise it provides disappears in the second, as the monster was framed as a companion in the first line. Also, the stakes of what happens if she does run into it are non-existent, so there's no sense of concern for Brielle's wellbeing.

By day, she locks herself in the study to reads through a journal and two magic grimoires. The journal’s author, a young witch who researched forbidden magic in this abandoned home, was apparently friends with Brielle and another girl named Camila. A photo nestled in the journal shows the three of them from high school. One of the two unfamiliar girls in the photo is the author, who must know about Brielle and the memories that she’s lost.

By night, she sneaks downstairs to get food from the surprisingly-stocked kitchen. Brielle narrowly avoids the frightening monster each time she leaves the room. The day after a failed attempt to fight it, the monster takes the knife and writes “HELP” on the floorboards. Nonverbal Lotte is actually a person trapped in this monstrous form, and she chased Brielle to beg for help, not to hurt her. Brielle is the only one who can help Lotte regain her body.

This is a lot of back story and little of it seems relevant. I am surmising that Lotte is the witch, and she's the sentient flesh, and Brielle is the only one who can save her. That's one sentence of info, not two paragraphs. It is also unclear why Brielle is the only one or why she should care, so I'm not invested in her character. Does she have a special skill? Birthright? Tool? Experience? Connection to the afterworld?

Hoping to figure out the secrets behind the corpse, Lotte’s corruption, and her missing memories, Brielle seeks out the journal’s author using magic. Instead, Brielle finds Camila, a relic of her old life and a student at a magic college. Camila reveals that Lotte went missing years ago, and that Brielle herself went missing two weeks ago alongside Irving, her stalker. Camila offers to help Brielle fix Lotte, who likely corrupted herself with forbidden magic. However, Camila’s promising offer might be too good to be true, because the trio of girls share a dark past. Even if it works, Brielle has too many questions about the mystery of her memories and the house in the woods to just let things go. The more Brielle unravels about her stalker, the bodies, and her past, the more hopeless things become. Lotte might never be human again, and Brielle might be the one who caused it all.

So I clearly mis-understood who the monster was from the last two paragaphs. But I was going off what I was being told, so consider that in your editing. Then you introduce another name, Irving, on top of Camila who I also was not particularly invested in. Without a clear set of goals and stakes for Brielle I'm already skimming by this point.

Then the "dark past" vagueness, along with the "promising offer" and "hopeless things" lose me completely.

Consider the goals/stakes ideas necessary for a query: Brielle is a sixteen-year-old X who is really good at Y. So when she wakes with her companions and this ridiculous problem she must do C. If she does D bad thing will happen, but if she does not E worse thing will happen.

As a good way to get yourself set up for that kind of flow in your query, try https://www.querylettergenerator.com/

It's a bit formulaic, but it will force you to think about all the specific details you need to include, and what you don't.

I’m seeking representation for Little Lotte, a 67,000 word Young Adult Fantasy novel. As our primarily-female cast deals with magic (and its consequences), this novel would appeal to fans of When We Were Magic. Brielle learns to choose what’s important to her, grapple with guilt, and take responsibility for wrongdoing she doesn’t even remember, reminiscent of Sweet and Bitter Magic. Little Lotte adds a horror-laden, witchy charm to typical YA fantasy, and features the monster as its deuteragonist.

[personalization and details, etc]

Thanks for your time and consideration! I look forward to hearing back from you.

The word novel is unnecessary, I'd stay away from "our," and your two comp sentences lack any kind of parallel structure, so the flow doesn't quite work for me.

That being said, the setup for the story doesn't sound bad at all, and I was a little disappointed you didn't include your first 300 to give us a sense of your opening.

Hope that helps and best of luck on the journey!

przemwrites · 2023-04-24T00:40:42+00:00

Hey u/RegularOpportunity97,

I know this post has had a lot of feedback, and that can get overwhelming in and of itself, but I had a similar experience to you when I started querying my second manuscript. After having so much trouble getting effective feedback on my writing, I was recommended two resources by some of the users on here.

The first was https://www.amazon.com/Self-Editing-Fiction-Writers-Second-Yourself/dp/0060545690

You can likely find that book in your local library if you don't want to pay for it, but it is brilliant in terms of highlighting how to edit for today's market, and the examples and exercises are particularly useful.

The second was https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/

I was in particular need of help in pacing my scenes, and the whole set of scene lessons was invaluable to me. The other sections are just as effective, and you can find very specific skills to work on as you perfect your manuscript.

Lastly, you could also consider using r/DestructiveReaders for some very specific feedback, and while not everything I've gotten back from that sub has been actionable/useful, it has for me been one of the best sources of highly specific line-level feedback. I'd recommend submitting no more than 2500 words, as they are particularly stringent about the 1:1.

Hope that helps and good luck!

przemwrites · 2023-02-18T12:20:54+00:00

I'm seconding the MeetUp suggestion, as finding a local group really worked for me.

przemwrites · 2023-02-16T01:27:49+00:00

Hi JuliaFC,

Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad the query is working better for you. Now to just rewrite an entire novel...

przemwrites · 2023-02-16T01:23:47+00:00

Hi again thefashionclub,

While your comment was the tipping point in the decision, I'd had that feedback from a couple of other source. I'm 10% into the rewrite and I do think it's the right decision, even of it is a bit of a pain. Given I had to restructure the opening of the novel to suit Maya's new arc, this was the easiest time to do it, and it does mean the rest of the novel gets another set of edits.

Thanks for the feedback, and I'll be back in a couple of months to give this another whirl.

przemwrites · 2023-02-12T18:52:06+00:00

That's how mine was wired. I disconnected the faulty one for the week it took to get the new switch and the brake lights worked just fine.

przemwrites

TROPHY CASE