Agent News And Advice~ Mid-Month Tweets

Before we dive into mid-month agent news/advice from Twitter, please remember that you’ve got until Tuesday (July 19th) to enter Becky Wallace’s critique opportunity by pasting the meat of your query letter in the comments of THIS POST. Feedback is golden...'nuff said.

Also, there are a couple of spots left in the Agent Pitch Contest with Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst over at Yatopia (Holy bastion of amazing contests, Batman!). Don’t be fooled by the fact that there are already 50 comments on the post—some of those are not entries. Vickie is interested in YA and Adult Paranormal and Urban Fantasy (not MG).Click HERE to enter.

Aaaaaaaand, here we go:

Sarah LaPolla, Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Writers: Avoid "Have you ever wondered..." to open your query. If the answer is no (which it usually is), why will the agent keep reading?

**Kate McKean, Howard Morhaim Lit Agency**
You have until 11:59pm EST FRIDAY to send me a query! After that all queries will be deleted unread until Sept 15th! #pubtip

Sara Megibow, Nelson Literary Agency
Know what I'd love to see in a romance submit? A contemporary with hero/heroine from a big family (a la Regency, but set in modern times)

Sara Megibow
The @YA_RWA panel at #RWA11 hosted fabu editors. I heard, "hmmm...YA horror would be great" I've had 2 of those today (and asked for both!)

Meredith Barnes, Lowenstein Associates
STOP JUST THROWING "LOVE" INTO YOUR BOOKS!! Love is *not*, in fact all you need (to tell a good story). Yes, even you, YA authors!

Jenny Bent, The Bent Agency
"fictional novel" is redundant. #rookiemistake Excusable, understandable, but still a mistake to avoid.

Jenny Bent
Sometimes I get queries that quote a nice rejection from another agent. Not sure that's a good idea. What do other agents think?

Jill Corcoran, Herman Agency (in reference to Jenny's above tweet)
@jennybent really bad idea. Makes me think the agent was just being kind, not that she meant it.

Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary
Two hermit crab submissions within a few hours of each other. Forget dystopia, we're now in a hermit crab trend.

Sarah LaPolla
Memoir/Non-fiction Writers: There's a fine line between "many will relate" & "too commonplace to be book-worthy." Don't be commonplace.

Sara Megibow
oooo- lots of delicious romance submissions in the inbox. Someone read my June newsletter and paid attention (me = looking for more romance)

Sara Megibow
More slush pile reading. I love when query includes your website address. *pats head* *publishing in 2011*

Retweet by Kathleen Ortiz of Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Rep.
If you've written a book with a high word count, do not spend three paragraphs in your query explaining why. Just give the count.

Katie Grimm, Don Congdon Associates
Can someone please write me a historical YA using My Daguerreotype Boyfriend as a guide for the hunky love interest? http://bit.ly/lNHpr4

Jill Corcoran
for the many of you sending me demon & angel ms because I just sold one, I'm not looking to take on another. That ship has sailed for me

Meredith Barnes
Great diction, like the use of "ornery," makes this #query pop. Word choice is a key to getting that elusive "voice" into your query.

Sarah LaPolla
I like magical things w/ sci-fi & fantasy elements, but NOT: steampunk, vampires/werewolf/zombie/angel/gods, epic fantasy, hard sci-fi

Sarah LaPolla
That said - THINGS I LOVE AND WANT:YA: Horror, dark mystery, contemp. fiction w/ strong characters, magical realism, light fantasy, psych thrillers, witches/ghosts/monsters

And finally, in honor of the last Harry Potter movie coming out:

Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary
Tip if you are going to see HP7.2: BRING KLEENEX. (unless you are a cyborg.)

Have a great weekend!