#askagent with Laura Bradford – 05/26/11

Hello! For everyone that might have missed the #askagent that went live on Twitter just a few moments ago, I thought I’d recap the Q&A for you. I do it for myself and thought that others might appreciate it, since sometimes it’s hard to follow a twitter conversation. Hope it helps.

NOTE: I didn’t not change any of the questions or answers.

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Q: Is 108K too long for a Historical Mystery?

A: That’s long but it might NEED to be that long…I don’t know. If u can hit closer to 100k, it might appeal more, tho

Q: How much weight do you give to blogs, online pub credits, etc when evaluating a new author?

A: In fiction, I don’t weigh it at all, rly Unless you are a total lunatic online or have 10 zillion blog followers.

Q: Is it ok to resubmit to, past queried and full request, agents if a major rewrite was done. ms changed from MG to YA.

A: You can ask (unless the agent has stated they aren’t open to it). We can always say no

Q: when agent replied to my query asking for full ms, already have 3 fulls out. does agent want to know that?

A: It won’t hurt to tell them that. It might make us read it faster if we are feeling competitive, in all honesty

Q: Query letters: Should a writer compare manuscript to published titles (agent clients & not)? Or best to omit? I read this n “The First Five Pages” just ystrdy, & it said yes. As long as you know for a fact they compare.

A: It can be helpful to illustrate the market for the ms in that way. Just don’t rip on pubbed books

Q: Any advice for writers who have just signed with an agent?

A: Make sure you communicate well with your new agent. Don’t be an unprofessional wingnut

Q: Is term New Adult accepted by most agents now? Or should I avoid using it in a query?

A: Not a ton of pubs are taking on “new adult”. If you label your work that way, it might be limiting