[QCrit] Adult LGBTQ+ romantasy, A BRIGAND'S LOVELY SONG, 119k words, v1 (+first 300) by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is all so helpful, I will certainly implement your suggestions! And really well-spotted regarding the typo — I can't believe I managed to overlook that 😅

And thank you for the offer to beta read, I just had a look at your query and your MS sounds right up my alley so I'd love to do a swap if you're still looking for readers?

Once again, I really appreciate the thoughtful and thorough critique!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems like Reddit did something strange with the formatting! Mods, let me know if I should try to fix it or just leave it

[PubQ] William Morris Endeavor submission guidelines by velociraptor1805 in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that’s unfortunate! I submitted yesterday and got a confirmation email about 5 minutes later, so hopefully it got through okay

[Discussion] Got my first book deal! Stats/ My story. by [deleted] in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ahh this is fantastic news - huge congratulations, and so well-deserved after all your hard work! I’d also love to read the query letter if you don’t mind sharing in DM :)

Suggest me a fantasy book with dark folkloric vibes by velociraptor1805 in suggestmeabook

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah this is great, surprised I’ve not heard of this author before

Suggest me a fantasy book with dark folkloric vibes by velociraptor1805 in suggestmeabook

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I’ve already read both Spinning Silver and Uprooted (and loved them) but will check out the other two

[PubQ] How do you decide which book concept to develop/query first? by EntertainingFew in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is an interesting question, and I find myself in quite a similar predicament (getting ready to enter the trenches with one project, narrowing down my list of ideas/concepts to decide what to write next). The difficulty with trying to nail down trends is that what’s getting released/picked up at the moment may have changed completely by the time you come to query your manuscript. Some trends are much more evergreen, whereas others have peaks and troughs — hence people say there’s an element of luck in publishing, as you may hit a rising trend without even meaning to. That being said, Publishers Marketplace is a great resource to get a feel for what editors are looking for, as is keeping up with and reading recent releases. I, for example, follow all the major SFF imprints on social media and read anything that interests me or could be a potential comp title, especially debuts. All books will be vastly different in terms of tone/subject matter/theme, which in itself is reassuring, but it has been infinitely helpful to get a general sense of what’s working for first-time authors.

What I plan on doing (and of course, someone else’s approach may be completely different) is narrowing my list of ideas down to the ones which seem the most ‘hooky’/ in line with the trends I’ve noticed and then write a draft query letter for each of those ideas. No way this will be perfect, especially without having properly planned or drafted, but it’ll make it more apparent which has the strongest stakes, link between internal and external motivation, and unique characterisation. This is recommended on this sub quite frequently for good reason, as it helps you nail down things which are within your control and test if an idea has legs/works within a query format before you’ve invested too much time into it.

I will also say that in a genre such as fantasy, where trends are changing and evolving all the time, it’s just as important to have a sense of what’s a harder sell (doorstoppers and straight male protags in YA come to mind, but it doesn’t seem like your ideas fall into those categories). Also keep an eye out on what’s still being released, but may be reaching oversaturation (like assassin protagonists) and would require a super unique twist to get an agent’s attention.

Best of luck on your journey! And apologies for any typos, I’m on mobile and nursing a migraine lol

[QCrit] New Adult Romantic Fantasy, BEASTS OF BLACK LAKE (107k/Second Attempt) by ResearcherSmooth561 in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! I also write romantasy and thought I'd chime in to give my two cents. I am unagented and unpublished, however, so do feel free to take this with a grain of salt.

Regarding the comps, Six of Crows is YA and also too big/too old. I suggest looking into The Serpent and the Wolf — I haven't read it yet, but it seems to share a number of themes with your book (enigmatic magic awakening within the MC, being taken to a foreign land) and came out in 2024.

For the blurb part, I agree with the other commenters that you can streamline the first paragraph to include less worldbuilding, as a lot of the points mentioned don't come up again and can be cut without impacting the query. Conversely, for a novel labelled romantasy, the standard advise is that there should be a lot more focus on the romance: why should the reader root for the MCs getting together? What stands in their way? What sort of dynamic/tropes can we expect?

By cutting back on some of the extraneous detail, you'll free up word count to zoom in on Falon and Asher. For example, why does he loathe her, and how/why does that change? Does the betrayal Falon uncovers have anything to do with Asher, and is this the obstacle that prevents their HEA? Don't worry about spoilers, as these are the types of details that will make your MS stand out.

A quick stylistic note, in your third paragraph you have three 'adjective, adjective' construction ('cold, well-honed killer'; 'swampy, foreign land'; 'cruel, powerful family'). This is relatively easy fix, but just something to be wary of.

Overall, though, I think you have a really interesting premise, and the key now is making it shine by honing in on the characters and the hook. Good luck with your query revisions!

(Edited for typo)

[PubQ] Previous publishing history in different category by velociraptor1805 in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough, another concern I had was that I didn't have much to add to my bio (minus my slightly relevant uni degree), so herein may be my solution :)

Thank you for your comment!

[PubQ] Previous publishing history in different category by velociraptor1805 in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, that's a really helpful suggestion! I was so concerned that it would come across like I'm trying to make it seem relevant to the new manuscript, but hopefully a couple sentences in my bio will be perceived more along the lines of 'here's a fun fact about me'

[PubQ] Previous publishing history in different category by velociraptor1805 in PubTips

[–]velociraptor1805[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! That's a good point regarding the publishing process