tips for querying! (from a literary agent intern) 

Great video! Definitely do more of this kind

This was really useful. The tips you gave came from the real world of how queries are actually seen.They are very practical. Now I will know that I should first aim to impress the intern and make their job easier. Persuading the intern to get to the agent is clearly as important persuading the agent to get to the publisher. (And those examples you gave have convinced me to send any query e-mail to myself first. What you said about some queries coming in with one letter to a line got me scared.)

Very helpful. Thanks so much for doing this. Subscribed.

This is an excellent video, people need to understand how the industry operates, whether they like it or not. At the end of the day, all authors need to put on their sales hats when submitting a letter. Instead of being turned off by the preferences of literary agents, think of it as insider information that set your submission apart from the rest. I've been passively working on a project for years to the point where it's time to start sending off letters. For something I spent years working on, I definitely want to do everything right and have all the advantages I can so I'm not wasting time/opportunities. Also a few questions: Do you recall ever receiving multiple submissions from the same person or a re-submit and how is that viewed in the industry? Can you share some examples of queries and manuscripts that you would give to an agent? Thanks again!

Thank you, that was nice.

Dude this helped so much

This is good advice, thank you! Also you are stunningly pretty. :)

thanks for this info! out of curiosity, what percentage of queries would you say make it past the 'screening' stage done by the intern?

8:39 - the MANUSCRIPT can’t be in courier? I use Highland as a word processor and courier is the default. I hope I can change it? Interesting how screenplays have the same rule BUT in reverse. “Use courier only, nothing else. No weird fonts like calibri!”

When I submit the first 10 pages of my manuscript should I omit words such as "prologue" and "Chapter One" at the beginning?

Amazing thank you 😊

I have a finished manuscript. Would you please consider reading my first chapter to see if it's strong enough? If so, how much would you charge?

Is Specral okay? I am currently using Spectral-Light font

If you make a mistake in the process of typing a query...say your fingers jump and it gets sent incomplete, how do you handle this embarrassment that was unintentional?

Thanks! 🙏

I'm an editor for a literary journal. We post guidelines, but we also understand that we are merely one of potentially many places they are submitting. I give folks lots of grace. And expecting folks to personalize a query just for your agency? Oi. I know agencies expect it, but man that is a lot of hubris right there. The relationship hasn't been established at all. All those courtesies can happen after interest is shown.

I am only half joking: it is completely inevitable that these observations evolve into a critique of everything that's wrong with the _"literary agent system"._

Hello

I don't think I'd send anything to a Literary Agent who discards letters just because of the font!

My story is totally original. True story about an event in the lottery that's never happened before in the world before, along with countless other things that don't sound true either, but are. Craziest true story there'll be. Who wants to help get my story known?

So. It's all about the font.

You prevent yourself well. Thank you for sharing this information.

I am waiting for _season two,_ when this show turns into the most cynical, world-weary condemnation of the publishing industry imaginable, from the perspective of *a former intern.* And I'm subscribing for that reason.

Updated because, I'm coming across as rude. Really, my intention is to express my frustration as the manual, twitchy, process that hurts the industry. I.e. I can't fix it, this content is good and helpful, but... And I vent. My original comment: Agents. Go into your email settings and switch to non-HTML. That will solve your font issues. This is more of an agent problem than a submitter problem. Goodness. Learn your tools. And don't accept manuscripts pasted into the email. What the heck! That's asking for issues. This agency seems very back alley.

Five minutes in all I'm hearing is how you're going to be giving your advice.

If you 'check out' when you see Courier font then you are too petty to be seen as any kind of professional.

Sharing your experience as a person who actually read and screened thousands of queries was helpful. But here's a tip for you from a video producer: don't shoot your videos with your bed in the background. Not very professional.