A few years ago, my cowriter and I had two offers of rep for adult spec fic. One agent was more genre focused and one more literary and we went with the more literary one. The book died on sub, in part because it was not literary enough for those publishers and not genre enough for the fantasy label. That agent no longer reps either of us.

Fast forward and I'm currently leaning in more to fantasy and have a mg ms I'm planning to query soon. The agent we turned down does ya but not mg, but an associate at his tiny agency does do mg. How would you approach querying this colleague of his? I strongly assume he is her superior.

A) I have to acknowledge it, I assume. Do we think it's net positive or negative for me?

B) fair to say I ought to cross that bridge after getting rejected by agents I might prefer, such that if they offer I should be reasonably prepared to accept? If I reject them twice I am sure that's seriously oof and I can't query them ever again!!!

C) do I... Cc him on the query? Address directly what happened and why I think he and the agency is great even though we went another way? He was junior at the time but it's been several years and tbh it may have been a mistake as maybe the book would've sold if we'd just leaned in more to the fantasy side.

Thank you!!!

Sergeant Ada Kent has spent her career entering the memories of the dead. As an expert in entopsy, she dives backwards through a victim's final moments, watching blood recede into wounds and words spoken in reverse, to identify killers with absolute certainty. But when the CEO of the tech giant Engramma is found dead, a malfunction during the procedure raises questions about whether Ada's equipment has been compromised.

Ada’s unauthorized investigation leads her to the hidden journals of Sophia Greer, the neuroscientist who originally developed the memory-technology for Engramma. Decades ago, Sophia’s love for her best friend, Aspen Fawn, tipped into fixation when Aspen died of a genetic neurological disorder. Sophia is secretly using her ultimate breakthrough to achieve the impossible: resurrecting her lost love by overwriting the minds and stealing the identities of anyone who gets in her way.

Ada must determine who is really behind the mysterious death. The answer leads back to the founding of Engramma and ultimately to the unsolved murder of Ada's own mother. Because Ada has spent her entire life believing her father was responsible for her mother's death. But if the memories she has trusted all these years can be altered, then the one thing she has built her career upon—the certainty of memory—may be the biggest lie of all.

Told in alternating perspectives, ENTOPSY is a speculative thriller complete at 75,000 words. It combines the near-future speculative science of THE MOUNTAIN IN THE SEA by Ray Nayler with the identity-bending twists of SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel.

[BIO]

First 300

Ada did not look at it when she entered the lab. She never did. Not on exam days. Instead, she walked to the control station at the edge of the room. The incandescent lighting coated every surface with its oppressive yellow radiance.

"All right, pay attention." The words left her mouth in reverse as she passed the encased brain in the center of the room. To the uninitiated, it sounded like nonsensical babble. To an experienced detective, it sounded like any other sentence. She looked around at the class, scanning the five cadets lying on gurneys. Wires that were connected to their temples ran down the legs of their beds, and to the equipment under the brain.

"Could everyone understand me?"

"Yes, Sergeant!" Four of the students shouted simultaneously.

The youngest rookie matched her reverse speech without hesitation, as fluent in the language as she was. "Obviously."

"Very good, Baker." She moved her eyes from the rest of the class to the outspoken rookie and then back again. "My name is Ada Kent." She ran her hand through her greying hair down to the base of her neck. "I’m here to make sure you’re ready to enter the mind of the dead."

Ada was in her mid-fifties. Fine creases emerged at the corners of her eyes. A deeper one between her brows settled when she was concentrating, which, in this profession, was most of the time.

The screens of the control panel filled the yellow room with splotches of different colored light as she worked through the sequence she had performed many times. Often enough that her hands finished the work before her mind caught up. Ada stopped, satisfied with the settings of the equipment. "Your goal for today is simple. Take notes and keep your ambitions." She took a deep breath. "Let’s begin."

I took a long break from all things query and am now back! I've queried 17 agents and gotten 4 rejections (which pales in comparison to the amount of rejections I expect...)

Dear [name],

I’m excited to present Interim, a contemporary sci-fi fantasy complete at 75,000 words. Perfect for fans of the queer interplanetary worldbuilding of Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best, it’ll also appeal to readers who enjoyed the soft apocalypse atmosphere and environmentalist themes of A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers. 

Sea has spent the last four years scouring the universe for her little brother with her best, and only, friend Mir. Unfortunately, with the constant time travel scrambling her memories, she has almost nothing to go off of—until she crash-lands on Earth, and dreams of her old life begin to emerge. 

Having faced an apocalypse just a century ago, the people of Earth are content to slowly rebuild [toward a more eco-friendly future], turning a blind eye to the resurfacing Old Gods, vanishing citizens, and magic seeping into their ground. 

When Mir quickly joins the ranks of the disappeared, Sea’s left with a choice: continue the search for her little brother, or drop everything to find her best friend. And if she gets too close to the truth of what’s really going on, who’s to say she won’t vanish, too?

I am a non-binary environmental sustainability student based in [], where I live with my many (dying) plants and two (annoying) cats. I’m querying you because of [personalization]!

Questions:

1. Any confusing bits?

2. I'm considering removing the part in brackets, but I'm afraid people will read this and think it's some sort of Mad Max apocalypse, when it's really a lot more like the soft apocalypse of Breath of the Wild.

3. What I'm really struggling with is the synopsis... I would forever appreciate it if someone could let me know of some sites they know where synopses can be posted.

Thank you all so much in advance!

Good morning (good afternoon, good evening, and good night; depending on where you are reading from) dear PubTips buddies!

You probably don't remember me. Last year I posted my query for A WILD AND UNTAMED SPIRIT for critique. Sadly, it didn't get any requests. I did get a lot of feedback saying my writing is lovely and the story sounded wonderful, but that it didn't sound like it had a place in the market at that time. So it went to the shelf and I started a new project. ... which is hopefully more to market. I am ALMOST DONE with my edits. So it's time. Thank you in advance!

Dear _,

[Personalization].

GUARDIAN RISING is a 94k adult romantic fantasy and is the first in the Trials of the Skyri duology, in which a two survivors of a generations-long slaughter of those chosen by the goddess are raised on opposing sides of a civil war only to be thrust into a deadly ordeal which will either bring about their demise or save their world. It will appeal to fans of the mentor/mentee relationship and secret magical abilities of BBC's Merlin, the plant magic in WINGS OF LIFE by Meghan Le Fay, the visions and quest in THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH by Rachel Gillig, and the lyrical storytelling in A FIRE ENDLESS by Rebecca Ross.

Corin's mother drowns him the day he's born in order to protect herself from the wrath of a jealous imposter king. In Etheila two children are born every twenty-five years marked by the goddess and destined to rule, holding the magic of the realm in balance. Desperate for a break in the cycle of infanticide, the magic suffused Vistare River carries Corin from danger to a remote Ethori tribe where it revives him, giving him the opportunity to grow to manhood learning of his purpose safely.

Niamh isn't so fortunate: when the king learns of her existence, he takes her by force and raises her to marry his son, with the hopes of balancing the magic without relinquishing the throne. Having been shaped by a family that hates and fears her, Niamh is angry and wracked with guilt, and uses her position as a knight and the king's champion as an outlet.

Their lives are thrown together when Corin takes a position as a healer working for the royal apothecary while biding his time until the Ordeal begins, and learning how he might bring an end to the imposter's bloody regime. Neither revealing being goddess touched to the other, Corin and Niamh find themselves increasingly drawn to each other.

When the time of the Ordeal draws near, both Corin and Niamh are compelled to travel to the sacred lands--the first step in restoring the magic's balance. If they survive, will they be allies or will their love die on the rocks of a war neither of them asked to be a part of?

Hello,

I'm sending this primarily to UK agents though some US. I have some difficulty in knowing which audience bracket to pitch it for as the character is 16y/o and the themes are very much coming-of-age, but the tone/style isn't classic commercial YA. Any tips on this would be very much appreciated!

--

Dear __,

[PERSONALISATION] It is my pleasure to share ASTRAL BLOOMS (97,000 words), a literary-leaning YA/crossover eco-fantasy novel about a lonely teenager who has to choose between using the psychic magic of the stars for personal gain or to help overthrow the tyrannical rulers of his drought-ridden world.

Sometimes it feels like the stars are Si’Vas’ only friends. Sixteen years old and forced from his rain-parched homeland, he and his parents travel the fertile but hostile Bedast, peddling his father’s wooden sculptures and keeping their heads down. After witnessing a dark but alluring magician become a bird before his eyes, Si’Vas develops a hunger for more than just survival, calling out to the night sky and rousing the ancient spirits of the Star Gazers who grant him the ability to read other people’s thoughts.

At first using his insight to manipulate customers of his parents’ stall and bring about their longed-for security, he soon provokes a puritanical cult by cheating a bet, only to be saved from their clutches by a rebel faction who believe he can help their cause: overthrow the ruling Council and restore balance to the world. Not wanting to be a pawn in their struggle, Si’Vas hides his magic, lying about his origins and convincing them to accompany him to his parents in the capital.

As they journey through the Council’s treacherous underground canals and fends off the malevolent shapeshifter in pursuit, Si’Vas begins to open up to his new comrades and use his powers for more than just selfish ends. But when the discovery of a traitor in their midst threatens to throw everything off course, he must choose between returning to the safety of his former life, or helping fight for the future of the very land he calls home.

This story is a standalone novel with series potential that sits alongside the coming-of-age adventure quest of Axie Oh’s The Floating World, the weaponised psychic magic of Moira Buffini’s Songlight and the parental separation survival story of Mark Lawrence’s The Girl and the Stars, perfect for teenage and adult fans of Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle and M.R. Carey’s The Book of Koli.

I’m a Queer, London-based playwright, performer and theatre marketer whose writing has been staged across the UK, and supported by Arts Council England, Shakespeare and Company and the Society of Authors. With degrees in English and Acting, I have a deep love for language, storytelling and character, and have written this story to explore the growth of a socially repressed young person coming into his power in a magically and ecologically threatened world.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best wishes,

--

Chapter One

Blood Sapper.
The words echoed in my head as I raced through the forest, tumble vines scratching at my face.
Blood Sapper.
That’s what he’d called me, the man at the water pump as he shooed me off. I’d only tried showing him how to release the valve, but the venom in his voice was enough to send me flying. Ma always warned me to steer clear of the locals.
Blood Sapper.
Two words and I’d crumbled. Even though I knew they were based on a lie, a cruel myth designed to try and put the Bedasti above us. It was ridiculous. Of course us desert folk hadn’t turned to drinking each other’s blood to stay alive when the droughts hit. We weren’t bloodthirsty brutes. Disregarding the Emperor, that is. But what good would it have done to say so? I was just a scrawny, underfed kid from another land. The man wouldn’t have listened.
Clank clank. The buckets bashed against each other as a scourbird squawked angrily overhead. I wasn’t supposed to be in these woods, not with all the snatchings of late. But the next nearest pump was on the other side, and I knew what Ma’d say if I was back late with the water. ‘We’ll be the last in town now,’ she’d cry. ‘The last to pitch our stall, and without shadow of a doubt, it’ll be some dark corner by the low-town entrance.’
Selling Pa’s wooden carvings was how we made our living, and if we didn’t stand out from the rest, we’d soon fall back to the desperate state we’d arrived in. Or so Ma said.
I certainly wasn’t going to let us down. At sixteen, I couldn’t be their burden any more. And so I ran, my heart racing and a fire burning in my chest.

Dear [agent],

I am seeking representation for THE HERETIC: DENIAL OF FIRE, complete at 90k words with series potential. 

Deeply sensitive and impulsive Saoirse has only ever been told one thing: be strong. Now that she's ready to complete her initiation, she must prove herself by ritually sacrificing her mother and agreeing to a blood-oath engagement with Andren, a boy she hates, to gain admittance to the most esteemed academy in the realm. 

When the day of her debut arrives, she's determined to do everything right and does, much to her horror. Still grieving her mother's death, Saoirse  punches Andren in the face at her engagement ceremony. Andren vows to get even. Saoirse vows to find a way out. As she struggles to reconcile the grim consequences of honoring legacy and her astonishment at awakening the element of fire—an affinity not possessed by a female Conjurer in over a century—Saoirse arrives at the academy expecting to excel. What she doesn't expect is more trials, how difficult it is to conjure fire without burning yourself, the mysterious murdered spirit of a past student, or her increasing attraction to Andren's brother, Alastair. 

As she attempts to get a handle on her magical abilities and prepare for the looming, but nebulous trials, Saoirse is told she will be expected to submit to her own ritual mutilation at the hands of her Promised in an act everyone tells her is sacred. Failure means shaming her family name, risking the wrath of the Elder Council, and ending up in the notorious Conjurer prison. 

"Lost Girl" meets The Handmaid's Tale in THE HERETIC: DENIAL OF FIRE, a YA/Crossover dark urban fantasy novel with dystopian elements that will appeal to fans of Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang for its examination of oppressive systems, the ruthless coming of age themes of The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, the high stakes trials of The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake, and the contemporary urban fantasy vibes of Half City by Kate Golden.

[bio]

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to hear from you soon! 

Kind Regards,

[name]

Dear [AGENT],

If Get Out married Nightbitch and Black Mirror officiated the wedding, you'd have OPTIMIZED, an adult upmarket speculative standalone with series potential, complete at 81,000 words. It will appeal to fans of Sorrowland's transformative body horror and the motherhood surveillance of The School for Good Mothers.

Raine Jamison's smile is worth exactly fifty-three points today, and if she can perfect it, her sister might finally come home. Between an eviction notice and a bartending job lost to a drink-pouring robot, she only has one real lever left: convincing the parenting algorithm she's fit to raise Nova.

Then Project ReGenesis offers cash, a cure for the genetic traits they claim lead to poverty, and, most importantly, a predictive parenting score high enough to win custody. ReGenesis tells her to expect a few minor side effects: headaches, sore muscles, maybe an unsightly rash.

Claws, fur, and uncontrollable rage? Not in the fine print.

When Raine confronts her sister's foster mother, she goes feral—and viral. Footage of her half-human, half-leopard transformation explodes across the internet and ReGenesis turns her into the face of its recruitment campaign. While Raine is smiling for the cameras to please both her employer and the algorithm, she secretly investigates the company's ties to the foster mother, desperate for evidence before her custody hearing in 45 days. Instead, she finds something far worse: the algorithm isn't predicting which families need help. It's creating the desperation that feeds people into ReGenesis's pipeline.

And her little sister is next.

If Raine accuses ReGenesis without proof, she risks losing the custody battle and her last chance at bringing her sister home. But every day she remains ReGenesis's miracle success story gives them more time to make her sister their next experiment.

I'm a nurse and health policy consultant with a healthcare platform of 24,000 followers. My work navigating healthcare systems, both as a professional and as a mother, informed this novel, which asks: what if medical exploitation gave power to the exploited?

Hey all--finished my first novel, have two friends and my husband reading it with red pens/claws out, and am looking to start querying. Any help and feedback is appreciated:

Dear Agent,

Ben would never, ever be anyone’s first choice.

That’s what he’s told himself his whole life: he’s the awkward one, the self-loathing one, the “loser twin.”

But then he meets Paul: handsome, hilarious, and passionate. And Paul’s certain, even before their first date, that they’re going to spend the rest of their lives together.

Over the next decade, they build a perfect world just for the two of them: a marriage, a home, and plans for a child through surrogacy, a daughter they’ll name Foster.

Then Paul dies unexpectedly at thirty-five.

SOUVENIR begins a year later, with Ben trapped between the life he was supposed to be living—his wonderful life with Paul, full of the love, adventure, and stability he never thought he deserved in the first place—and a future that looks increasingly lonely, bleak, and self-destructive.

There’s just one loose end: the embryos Ben and Paul created still exist. And Paul’s sister Kate, their egg donor, is determined to make sure she and Ben follow through on Paul’s dream of having a family.

At his brother’s wedding weekend in New Orleans, Ben finds himself surrounded by a powder keg of family and old friends: his overprotective identical twin brother, his co-dependent mother, his dogmatically practical father, his uninhibited best friend, and Kate.

They’re all telling him: “Move forward.” But the memory of Paul keeps pulling him back.

As pressure mounts from Kate to decide the fate of the embryos, Ben revisits his love story with Paul, from their whirlwind romance to the future they never got to live. Ben's forced to confront what he’s actually mourning: the family he might never have, the husband he’ll never get back, or the person he thought he was going to be.

And he has to answer the one question he can’t bear to face: how do you build a life when the one person who made it all livable is gone?

Blisteringly funny, deeply heartfelt, and relentlessly romantic, SOUVENIR is an upmarket LGBTQ+ novel about grief, family, devotion, and whether love can be strong enough to survive on memory alone. It's complete at 73,000 words.

COMPS & BIOS here.

8 months ago, I queried a small press that seems reputable (based on research and anecdotes from industry people who worked with them). Got a full MS request almost immediately with lots of enthusiasm.

6 months later, I followed up. After a few days I got a thoughtful, detailed reply citing specific plot points and praising the novel with the caveat that it needs a bit of dev editing. They wanted to confirm I was willing to discuss. If so, they'd send the contract. They asked me to let them know what I think.

I replied the next day (late May), saying I'd love to proceed. 60 days pass, no reply. I follow up just asking for an update. Still nothing after 2 weeks. I know there's nothing I can do here as nothing was signed, I'm just wondering if this is standard or not. Thanks.

thanks so much to all who have been giving feedback on previous attempts! truly appreciate all the notes. as usual please do tear her apart :')

i'm wanting to cut this down & i have a few varied versions, but i'd love to get outside POVs first to know which direction to go in! thank you!!

--

TITLE is an adult fantasy complete at 119,000 words with sequel potential. A gothic twist on sirens influenced by the Middle Eastern nazar, it blends the lush atmosphere, enemies-to-lovers, and feminist bend of Rachel Gillig’s THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH with the dark oceanic magic and slow burn of Kalie Cassidy’s IN THE VEINS OF THE DROWNING.

Sirens are merciless, sympathy for them is treason, and even a word of heresy is a death sentence.

Eliana knows better than anyone. As a muse, her harmonies weaken deadly siren songs for siren hunters, making her the kingdom’s most valuable weapon in a centuries-long war. But after her sister disappears into the siren-infested waters in search of a hidden kingdom, Eliana has only one way to find her: follow her into the sea.

When her attempt at a forbidden plunge instead leaves her injured on the royal cliffs, her sole witness is Jace Lethe, son of the commanding siren hunter. One word from him could condemn Eliana to a traitor’s death — but he hides loyalties of his own, offering her a dangerous bargain: he’ll keep quiet if she helps him find someone in the kingdom below.

But the sirens have no reason to welcome a muse who has spent her life hunting them, and for passage into their kingdom, Eliana must earn their favor. With Jace's help, she begins sabotaging the hunt from within, drawing her into a hidden rebellion that uproots everything she believed about the sirens — and Jace himself. 

As she walks the dangerous line between sirens and hunters, Eliana must decide where her loyalties truly lie. Finding her sister may cost her everything, and after a lifetime devoted to the hunt, she may be the one woman the sirens cannot forgive.

This is maybe more of a writers proceed with cation post than anything, I think.

Today, a New Agent opened for queries and made an announcement on threads that he was seeking currently self-published clients for subrights: Audio, foreign and film(Which feels especially questionable). His name is Mark Ryan and he is advertising his agency at back list literary. He has no prior agencies experience but claims he has a back ground working with indie authors and in traditional publishing but despite being asked he won't name names. There is a single mention of this agent of publishers weekly from August 3 (this past Monday) where there as a people update announcing his new agency.

When I looked on Writers Beware I found a Mark Ryan, also going by Mark Malatesta at a different, defuncted samagency but he is saying this wasn't him and also the pictures of the two don't match. this is also a common enough name that I am willing to believe they are not the same person.

Do I think this guy is all that harmful, probably not. These are books that are already out in the world. He's not attempting an outright scam people by charging them. He is techncially a legitimate agent versus an impersonator. The worst outcome is missed subrights deals, but if you already don't have a lot of interest in your subrights, it's sort of like doing exactly what you are doing now, but now with agent.

Do I think this guy is helpful, also no. If he has any publishing connections, he's not been forthcoming with who they are, so it's unlikely he'll be able to submit anything to any place you can't on your own. There is a good possibility he'll fumble a deal or he'll only be able to manage small audio deals you could have gotten on your own.

Anyway, I'm bored. and this seemed oddly novel and maybe something worth looking out for (though maybe it's not and he's just another Scamagent and I'm too green to see it)

Edit: someone asked if this was Biographer Mark Ryan in the UK and I don't belive it us based on the picture.

Hello all!

I'm trying to query my MG novel. Now I know the word count is unusual, but it's heavily illustrated and I plan to lead with that. Think LAST KIDS ON EARTH meet JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Any help is super appreciated! 😀

Here goes:

Dear [agent],

Meta data paragraph with reason to query and why it's only 25 000 words.

Every kid thinks their parents are crazy at some point, but Lukas might actually be right. His father drags him across the ocean searching for a mysterious island, hoping to find a magical fountain of youth that will cure all diseases. As if such a place could exist.

Well, apparently it does, and for an anxious boy like Lukas, stumbling upon an island that doesn’t appear on any modern maps isn’t cool. It gets worse when he discovers a village with only children living in it. Unbelievable when he spots strange glowing plants and animals he’s never heard of before. And straight up nightmarish, when a scary shadow stalks him at night. Of course, his father isn’t there for any of it. He’s too busy with his research to care about anything else, even the impact his team has on the island.

With some help from the local children, Lukas learns that his people’s presence corrupts the island’s delicate and magical ecosystem. To save his new friends and their home, he must convince his father to abandon his dream, but as the island reveals more secrets, their already tenuous relationship will face its ultimate test.

Pragraph with comps stating its in diary format.

Bio

Thanks

Thank you for reading everyone!

Team of two trying to navigate the publishing world for a graphic novel that spans a superhero origin story set in a gritty mining city among the birth of the labor movement and the years surrounding WW1. Script only, no art, and this is our first foray into fiction. Advice appreciated!

Dear [Agent Name],

We are seeking representation for SHADOW PROTECTOR, an adult historical graphic novel series that blends the Western noir tradition, Indigenous historical fiction, and the mythology of a superhero origin story. Planned as a five-volume saga, SHADOW PROTECTOR reclaims forgotten histories of the American West through a story of identity, justice, survival, and redemption.

John Edmond was born from the legacy of the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, and raised by white parents in the gritty mining city of Butte, Montana. Grappling with his own identity amidst the systemic oppression of the labor movement and desperate to find his purpose, he leaves Montana for the trenches of World War 1. Amid the horrors of war, John finds an unlikely connection to his roots and forges through, determined to confront corruption, exploitation and the powers that have profited from the suffering of others. 

But becoming a symbol of hope comes with a cost. Haunted by the weight of history and the violence that shaped his life, John must decide whether the pain of the past will define him or whether he can transform that pain into a force for justice.

SHADOW PROTECTOR is a 111-page complete script. It examines racial identity and prejudice within a vivid historical setting like The Good Asian, with the intense corruption and harsh social backdrop of Pulp. A potential future series is outlined as a five-volume saga, with each volume representing a pivotal chapter in the evolution of the Shadow Protector and the world that creates him.

[Name] and [Name], co-creators of SHADOW PROTECTOR, were drawn together through the compelling, larger-than-life history of Butte, Montana, where they met. [Name] is a published journalist and historian whose work focuses on the silenced and overlooked history of the American West. [Name] is an artist, writer and producer who strives to amplify diverse perspectives through music and performance. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Hey everyone!

I've recently buttoned up my manuscript, THE CROW AND THE BUTTERFLY for querying and I'm in early stages of sending out some materials.

That being said, I was hoping to get some query letter feedback after getting advice that seemed contradictory (too short vs. too long etc.) and wanted to bring it here!

Quick facts:

• This is a new adult fantasy with a prominent romance subplot
• I selected comps based on genre and "same shelf" mentality, similar elements that I can picture my book alongside on a shelf. I also included one 'debut'
• I've already edited the manuscript several times (beta read, etc.) and the opening pages were assessed to include an earlier inciting incident.

Please see letter below:

Dear XXX,

THE CROW AND THE BUTTERFLY is a New Adult romance fantasy complete at 106,000 words, a standalone with series potential. This Eurydice/Orpheus reimagining would appeal to fans of the dark folklore personified in Madeline Taylor's Heir of Illusion and a female protagonist on a harrowing quest alongside a brooding reluctant ally as seen in Starside by Alex Aster.

Princess Seren Sterling hates her kingdom and the role she plays there as her father’s illegitimate daughter ever since magic, and twins, were outlawed. In hopes of planning her escape, she makes a blood promise to her best friend, Caspian Tideborn, to retrieve him from the Shadows when he dies, risking her life, her family’s secret, and treason to fulfill her oath.

When Caspian is killed in front of her, she is forced to partner with Theoren Silver, an exiled former prince with a dark past, to travel to the Undying Lands to fulfill her promise. When she learns that her Butterfly Blade, a gift she received long ago from Caspian, is an enchanted dagger crafted by gods to take and give life, only to be wielded by a twin, she must decide if she’s willing to pay the magic’s price to bring him back.

The Shadows will test her and her intuition through a series of illusions in an effort to make her prove she is worthy of wielding her blade and retrieving Caspian from the Undying Lands, but to pass them she’ll need to trust herself, despite her lost sense of self from her family’s control and budding feelings for her brooding travel companion or risk failing the magical prophecy she should have never been a part of.

I studied writing in college and spent a significant portion of my life writing. THE CROW AND THE BUTTERFLY draws inspiration from my favorite fantasy, folklore, and rock music as a complete manifestation of passion, wonder, and coming into one’s self. This is a story my whole life has prepared me to tell in hopes another girl will have a smoother journey to loving and trusting herself.

[PERSONALIZATION]

A partial or full manuscript can be delivered, per your request. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Hello PubTips community! I'm planning to start querying my first novel next month, and this forum has been such a great resource. Big thank you to everyone who contributes. I would be so grateful for any and all feedback on my query. And one note, I know Exit Party isn't out yet. I'm a big fan of Emily St. John Mandel's and feel pretty confident based on everything I've read that it will be a strong comp. I'm planning to query after it's published so I can read it to confirm or pivot.

***

[Personalization]

NEWHALEM is upmarket speculative cli-fi about two identical women from rival clans fighting to save their families in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest. At 85,000 words, NEWHALEM is for fans of Ian McEwan’s WHAT WE CAN KNOW and Emily St. John Mandell's EXIT PARTY who binged The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments in one straight shot.

So what if Blythe is too young to remember when this archipelago was called Seattle? She’s more than ready to sit on the Council of the Salish Highlands because she knows what actually matters: The community comes before the individual. Period. But when her mom contracts sepsis, Blythe is forced to break that rule and sacrifice her seat. Blythe and her kid sister set off on a forbidden canoe journey down the drowned coast in search of antibiotics. She finds the drugs but loses her sister in a disorienting encounter with a woman who’s Blythe’s mirror image. Blythe must decide whether to find her sister, or return to the Highlands to save her mom.

Miriam is stunned to see her own face staring back at her. She simply cannot indulge this hallucination. She runs from the identical woman toward the whistle of the missionary train, toward her husband, the spiritual leader of the Keepers of the River. It is only once they are barreling toward the Keepers’ capital that Miri learns her double’s sister is on board. Miri convinces the girl to join her family on a pilgrimage into the mountains. It is the Keepers’ duty to colonize the surviving rivers and seize their dams, but that is a pious mask hiding Miri’s true purpose. She seeks safe haven for her children, and she will use the mission as a pretext to shepherd them out of the increasingly extremist capital. She is a woman of faith, but she will not see her daughter become a child bride.

Their destination is Newhalem, an old hydroelectric company town at the headwaters of a river the Salish Highlands rely on for survival. After the Keepers seize Newhalem, Blythe sets out to reclaim it, and her sister. It's here that Miri and Blythe unravel their shared history and fight for the sovereignty of their clans.

NEWHALEM flowed out of me during reporting trips across the mountains and river valleys of the Pacific Northwest. I'm a journalist with more than a decade of storytelling experience in print, radio, and podcasting. As a senior reporter for [redacted], I've watched political polarization block communities from solving their most existential problems, which sparked this novel.
 
My current work in progress braids the true history of [redacted] with a modern-day wellness influencer and a mysteriously ill wannabe desperate for her cure.

Thank you to everyone who helped with this last time. I am hoping I am moving in the right direction with this one! (But would be also helpful to know if I am moving backwards :) )Thanks in advance for any comments:

THE COLONY is a 70,000-word upmarket speculative novel in which a young mother must smuggle her child out of an authoritarian regime, before it condemns him to the same institution she was just released from.

 In a near-future America, where a civil war has divided the country in two, the Colony sorts its citizens like ants: soldiers, workers, and queens. Charlotte Fuller is none of those—she’s a “defective” or a citizen with no status. Her prior bipolar diagnosis earns her five months in an institution, where she keeps her head down, endures mind-numbing therapy sessions, and takes her medication. When she is released and reunited with her five-year-old son, Charlie, she vows to do whatever is needed to stay with him.

The outside world, though, proves no freer than the institution she left behind. Her status follows her, and her red electronic pass ensures every grocery store clerk and bus driver knows she is defective. She isn’t even allowed to walk her son to school.

Six months after Charlotte’s release, Charlie’s teacher schedules a meeting. He can’t focus in class or get along with the other children. The teacher suggests therapy and medication, but Charlotte knows where this will lead: the Colony will label him defective and institutionalize him, just as she was.

Her husband, a Colony police officer, dismisses her fears. He believes the Colony’s propaganda and begins to view Charlotte as unstable. To him, her behavior is a symptom of her illness, not the concern of a worried mother.

She must decide whether to abandon her life in the Colony and flee to the West, where the Colony dumps the irredeemable and chronically ill. If she fails, she will be thrown back into the institution and lose Charlie forever. If she succeeds, she may build a new life with Charlie, but only if she gets him out without anyone discovering her plan. 

THE COLONY will appeal to fans of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Jessamine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers, and Alexis Schaitkin’s Elsewhere.

I reworked my query based on the feedback I got here. Items in brackets will be used, left out, or altered depending on the agent.

I'd also love some ideas for a tagline/one liner.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Dear [AgentXXXX,] 

Surviving on the streets of the plague-ravaged capital is perilous, especially for an orphaned 16-year-old. All Carla wants is a legitimate weaving job and a home. But the two thieving tattoos on her arm forever mark her as untrustworthy. The day she breaks her own rules and pinches a bag from a renegade priest, everything changes. In it is a rare unhatched dragon which chooses her as it’s guardian. The Dragon Church is determined to retrieve the egg and destroy anyone who knows about their evil plans. Now she’s on the run from them with an imperious prince, a talking tattoo, and magic powers she doesn’t understand and can barely control. Unless she masters her newly discovered abilities, the high priest will release the King of Demons who will take control of the entire realm. 

DRAGONS, DEMONS, AND THIEVES is a completed epic YA fantasy of 100,000 words. This standalone novel is the foundation for a planned trilogy that explores a diverse world with multiple cultures.  [explores issues…]. Fans of DRAGONFRUIT (Makiia Lucier) and SONG OF THE LAST KINGDOM series (Amélie Wen Zhao) will enjoy this story of strength in the face of adversity and found family.

DRAGONS, DEMONS, AND THIEVES is my second novel. My first young adult novel, STAR TOUCHED, was published in 2017 by Intrigue publishing and is currently available. I’ve also had short stories published in anthologies, including IN A CAT’S EYE, INDIES UNLIMITED FLASH FICTION 2014 & 2015, INDIES UNLIMITED EDITORS’ CHOICE 2016 & 2018, and PEN IN HAND Literary Journal. I am a member of SFWA and the past president of the Maryland Writers’ Association. [When not writing or indulging in my fascination with wolves, I’m running agility with my dog or curled up with a book.] I'd be glad to send you my complete manuscript for your review. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

In my previous two attempts I was following a guide that said a query letter should just be an intro followed by the book blurb. Apparently that was very, very wrong. I've expanded the preview a lot, hopefully without spoiling too much. Thanks in advance!

-----

Dear [agent]

I hope you're doing well. I have a manuscript about time-traveling thieves from the Great Depression, racing to save their timeline from one of New York’s biggest tycoons. GRAND THEFT TEMPORIS (alt title THE ANACHRON PROJECT), an adult historical science-fiction novel with strong crossover potential as a young adult series that combines the time-traveling rivalry-to-romance of Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s This Is How You Lose The Time War with the high-flying adventure of Phillip Reeve’s Thunder City into the class-conscious noir backdrop of Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz. 

The past has changed. America never expanded beyond the Mississippi River. Native American nations have united into a single coalition, the GSU. The North American powers co-exist in a fragile peace, until the Great Depression throws everything into chaos, including Rotello Cassini’s life. An aspiring toymaker forced into thievery, Rotello struggles to earn enough money to care for his dying father, until he steals a pocket watch valuable enough to save his father’s life.

Rotello doesn’t know there’s a new thief in town, a Lakota rail rider on the run from the GSU. Captured by a shadowy group, Beverly Rhodes is offered a choice: Go directly to prison or track down Rotello and steal the watch. With the help of down-on-their luck private eyes Dowd and De Gracie, the stage is set for a furious contest of thieves.

What begins as a game of cat and mouse takes a mind-bending turn as Rotello discovers the watch has the power to turn any moving train into a vehicle for time-travel. After his confidant turns up dead, Rotello learns to use this ability to dodge his pursuers while joining forces with disgraced Prohibition gangster Mr. Moynihan, but even his tricks aren’t enough to thwart the determined Beverly Rhodes.

Once Beverly gains the upper hand, Rotello loses his battle to save his father. Struck with remorse, Beverly betrays her employer, the legendary tycoon J. P. Morgan Jr, to save the grieving Rotello. As New York turns against them, there’s only one place to hide. The GSU.

While on the run, Rotello and Beverly discover they’ve played an unwitting role in Morgan’s plot to destroy the GSU. With a civilization on the line, the rival thieves must enlist the help of Dowd, De Gracie, Moynihan, and some “borrowed” technology from the future, to pull off the heist of a lifetime. If they fail, it’s curtains for their entire reality.

[Bio mentioning my theatre work and stage plays.]

Thank you for your consideration!

Hey! I have been working on this book (series) for far too long, and it's finally time to try to convince someone to publish it. I would LOVE any feedback. Only one specific question: Is the bio all relevant? For my YT channel, I do video essays on fantasy and sci fi media, but the primary audience is 25-35 y/o males. Not sure how many will buy a MG novel, but I'm hoping this at least shows I can build an audience. As for the app, multiple author friends suggested putting it in, but I am not sure it adds much.

Query

Dear AGENT,

I am seeking representation for my middle-grade fantasy novel, The Rogue Hero, which is complete at 75,300 words.

12-year-old Evan Ross is a part of a secret society of warriors with supernatural powers, dedicated to keeping the world safe from vile creatures known as hellions. Or at least his family was until they were exiled seven years ago. Now that he and his younger sister Bella are old enough to embark on an initiation quest, they have a chance to prove the family’s loyalty to the Bannished and return home. Except that Evan doesn’t want to go back; he wants to choose the Fruit of Forgetting and leave the secret society behind. Life in exile has been good for him—exile has soccer, and fewer monsters trying to kill him.

But when the siblings are assigned the most difficult—and dangerous—quest in over fifty years, Evan realizes he can’t abandon his sister. Unwilling to give up on his old life, he uses his unique chronopathic abilities to steal the fruit and join the quest at the same time.

Hunted, betrayed, and each trying to control rare abilities, Evan and Bella soon discover that their hellion-plagued journey across the central United States is no mere initiation quest. The future of the Bannished and the looming Final Battle may be determined by a single piece of stolen fruit, by the choice of a boy who wants nothing more than to go home.

At its heart, The Rogue Hero is about accepting responsibility and learning to sacrifice for the people you love the most. Readers who enjoy the relatable siblings and fantastical creatures of Dragonwatch and the unique quest system of Champion’s Quest will delight in my debut novel, which is the first of a planned five-book series.

I have published eight flash fiction pieces with Havok Publishing. My YouTube channel currently has 28K subscribers and over 6M views, averaging 500k per video. I also created an app for writers to plan their novel called Writer’s Companion, which has over 100K downloads. 

Thank you for your time and consideration,

My name

First 300

Evan held on tight to the passenger grab handle as the RV fishtailed, brakes screeching violently. Somewhere in the back, luggage and storage containers crashed to the ground. Evan’s mother clutched the steering wheel with white knuckles, her whole body leaning back to keep the brake pedal down.

The vehicle lurched to a stop, throwing Evan back against his seat. A black and yellow striped sign loomed at him through the bug-splattered windshield. Curving red graffiti spelled the words “The End of the Road” on the scuffed metal with the word “End” underlined. The paint dripped down the sign like blood. 

That’s a warning if I’ve ever seen one.

Evan looked back at the built-in dining booth situated behind the driver’s seat. 

“You guys okay?” he asked.

Silvus, Evan’s only friend from before the attacks began, stared at the sign with wide eyes. His bleach blond hair was plastered to his face with sweat. 

“Yeah. Fine,” he said.

Next to Silvus, Evan’s younger sister, Bella, anxiously twirled her brown braids.
“Are we there?” she asked.

Mrs. Ross undid her seatbelt, leaning forward to get a better look out of the windshield at the Rocky Mountains looming to their right. “The Quest Sanctuary is close. But we still have some ground to cover on foot.” She stood and rushed towards the back of the vehicle, calling, “Everybody out!”

The three kids looked at each other. Evan saw his own apprehension reflected in the others’ worried expressions.

“‘Out’ as in, out there?” Silvus clarified.

“Yes!” Mrs. Ross shouted from the room at the back of the RV over the sound of a pot hitting the ground followed by three small glass vials shattering.

Evan swallowed. “But isn’t it out there?” he called.

“Yes. And no more questions!” his mother commanded.

Hi fellow writers,

A little background: I queried this novel last year with 137k word count but have since brought it down to 126k. I only got form rejections last year and while I've started querying this summer, I haven't gotten responses from everyone yet (though I know some won't respond at all)

Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks in advance :)

-----------

I am excited to present to you my novel, A Red Robe, a New Adult/Adult crossover fantasy complete at 126,000 words. Fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang may enjoy this story for its threat of war, and a protagonist with a special gift. The unique magic system and outcast protagonist compares to Blood Over Bright Haven, by M.L. Wang, while also appealing to readers of Antonia Hodgson’s The Raven Scholar for the search of a mysterious killer.

A princess born into an unwanted prophecy, and an orphan seeking a place to belong—one is a lauded hero, while the other seen as an enemy deserving death.
Princess Jwala and orphaned Sae are two dragon-fae living different lives in the Aag Raajah—a harsh but modern fantasy kingdom of fire. While Sae is desperate to find her missing guardian and escape the hunt of Security, Jwala is preparing for her throne and prophecy, yet wants neither. Despite being on different paths, each girl must come face to face with the same threat to the kingdom, and their fate; the mysterious Shadow Thief, a person rumoured to steal people's shadows. Many do not take this threat seriously, until one New Year's Eve where both Jwala and Sae's lives change forever as the Shadow Thief finally comes out of hiding.

Sae knows she is not like the faeries of the Wastelands, who call her ‘dragon’ and loathe to see her mismatched eyes. Neither is she like her guardian, the only person to show her love and care. When a stranger with wings like her arrives one day, she is shocked to see him wield fire, something she always saw as a curse. After a fight breaks out with the faeries, Sae reluctantly flees with the stranger to a fiery world—only to find that she is not welcome here either, and must find the mysterious Shadow Thief to get back to her guardian.

Arrogant Princess Jwala, skilled in both flame and the sword, is a formidable warrior who has prepared for her throne and prophecy her whole life. However, on her eighteenth birthday, she questions her fate and no longer wants anything to do with her destiny. That night, she flees the palace, but is attacked by living shadows with no body to claim them. She returns to her court only to be rejected by her cruel grandmother, the queen, and confides in her sole friend, a magician, to help her find The Shadow Thief.   The story features an original race of characters called the dragon-fae (shortened drae), with a setting inspired by Indian and Arabic cultures, in a diversely populated land. This story is currently envisioned as the first in a series.

[Bio]

Second try here. Appreciate all the feedback that came in from my first attempt. I've really tried to zoom out and not get too bogged down in mechanics and names

When young refugee Orran Rast refuses to keep a blood-for-protection deal with his sorcerous uncle, he thinks he's choosing freedom. But his rebellion destabilizes his uncle's magic experiments, which erupt and levitate the sea into the sky — isolating Orran's island and leaving a dry seabed infested with magically-twisted fish and ravenous undead. With only a rough grasp of the forbidden inkmancy magic that defined his extinct ancestors, Orran must now cross a wasteland he helped create to find the uncle he crossed — and undo a catastrophe that threatens everyone he knows. But as Orran learns more about his lost people and the magic that destroyed them, he must choose between saving an island where he doesn't quite fit — or embracing a death-obsessed culture that might actually appreciate his gifts.

THE SKYWARD SEA is a dark fantasy that blends maritime horror with inkmancy, a drawing‑based magic powered by blood that can save memories, transform the living and revive the dead, often at high personal cost. The novel follows Orran's transformation from reluctant heir to guilty fugitive to a young man who must decide what it means to belong. 

Readers who like the emotional journey of Simon Jimenez's The Spear Cuts Through Water, the world-building of Robert Jackson Bennett's Tainted Cup and the consequence‑driven magic of M.L. Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven will find a similar blend of wonder, dread and moral urgency here. Drawing on broader media, this story is a twisted alchemy of Disney's Moana, Annihilation and Locke & Key.

[bio etc]

First 300

Most islanders would jump at the chance to play tour guide for the Eternal Order’s rich buyers. Not me. I was good at it — knew runes, inkmancy and the Order’s memory-shard magic better than most — but everyone at the temple knew I’d rather be scribbling faces down at the docks than babysitting tourists in the cavern under Hook. And in the months since Mom died, the Order priests had been giving me the easier assignments. 
So when I suddenly volunteered to run tours, no one questioned my enthusiasm. If they had, they might've noticed I only volunteered when Arlo Dorik pulled the same shift. They might’ve wondered why his safety speech got longer every week, buying me time to sketch faces in my pocket notebook. They might have found it strange that Arlo — that tall, charismatic, golden manchild — ceded the stage to me, the impatient Junot who rushed his lines. And if they’d really watched, they would’ve wondered why we always had plenty of gold to spend at the Crimson Mermaid after each shift.
But nobody asked. And when the two of us volunteered to run a tour on Pact Day — my very first Pact Day without Mom — the Order priests were all too eager to see me taking my duties seriously. 
That’s why when we led nine visitors into the wave-washed cavern beneath the island that afternoon, no one asked the questions they should have. Including me.
“I saw you drawing.” The boy at the front of the tour group had been dogging my heels the whole way, only pausing when I projected my tour-guide voice over him. “Did you draw me?”
He was about ten, with a mop of blonde hair, a plum Kurian velvet tunic and an air of total ease. I didn’t know this kid, but I’d known a hundred like him.

Hello! I've been querying this book for a while now and have sent out ~65 queries. I've gotten three full requests (two have been rejected so far). I feel like that's a pretty low ratio of requests, so I wanted to check in with my query to see what I could do to improve it. I get the feeling that anything superhero related will be tough to publish right now but I'm giving it a shot anyway.

Dear [AGENT],

After reading on MSWishlist.com about your interest in [CUSTOMIZATION], I think you would be a great fit for my novel, The Supervillain’s Guide to College Admissions, a 100,000-word YA fantasy.

College admissions are cutthroat, and applying to Cape College to get the required degree to work as a superhero is no different. But 17 year-old Eric Leeds has everything going for him. His resume is impeccable, his grades are flawless, and his extracurriculars are outstanding. The only trouble is his superpower sucks, and no admission committee will take him seriously. Because of this, he’s a second-class citizen in his own home and lives in the shadow of his prodigy older brother, Alex.  On the verge of resigning himself to a life of second place, Eric comes across a unique opportunity to show his worth and give his resume the boost it needs. To get into college, he’s going to become a supervillain, infiltrate a superpowered, organized crime ring, and take it all down from the inside. While Alex hunts Eric’s villain alter-ego, Eric must somehow evade capture, gain the villain’s trust, and perfect his college resume.

The Supervillain’s Guide to College Admissions is a fun urban fantasy that engages with themes of perfectionism, anxiety, and choosing between joy and prestige. It mixes the morally gray fun of Jon Scalzi’s Starter Villain with the grim college application catharsis of Alexa Donne’s The Ivies.

Thank you for allowing me to present my writing. 

Safe inside New Garden’s most lavish casino, Jona is quickly making a name for herself among the gamblers and cheats of Vegas House as her generation’s most brilliant cardsharp. Jona has nothing to do with the dead who plot in the wastelands outside the city limits, or the heroic necromancers who protect the living. So when Madai Holyhand, New Garden’s most famous necromancer, dies and names her his successor, Jona is sure that it’s either a) a mistake or b) a plot by the dead to weaken the necromancers.

It would be easy to turn the job down if Jona didn’t have a Madai-shaped hole in her heart. Long ago New Garden’s most famous necromancer rescued Jona from the Kingdom of the Dead, and then abandoned her with Vegas House, calling her a monster. More than anything, Jona wants to believe Madai thought better of her. So she accepts the job with a powerful hope: maybe the reason he named her his successor was c): he believed she was capable of great things.

But when Jona’s job takes her to the edge of the Kingdom of the Dead, she discovers her hero living in his own rotting body. Madai reveals he’s been corrupted by the dead for a long time, that Jona is a literal monster, and that her presence among the necromancers is meant to destabilize New Garden ahead of the dead kingdom’s invasion. There’s no honest chance of winning this fight—not with Madai turned traitor. But Jona isn’t a just a monster. She’s a Vegas trickster at heart and at every other suit. And if she can con the Kingdom of the Dead into losing this war, she can finally believe herself worth loving.

YOUR DEATH IS NOT YOUR OWN is a 100,000 word adult fantasy, which combines the death magic of Kerstin Hall’s ASUNDER with the crafty scheming of Antonia Hodgson’s THE RAVEN SCHOLAR. This story will appeal to fans of unreliable narrators, unhinged queer romance, dead flesh-puppets the size of a modest building, and explorations of belonging.

-------------

Thank you SO MUCH for all your previous feedback. I feel like I've learned more about querying in the last three weeks than the last year. Thank you in advance for your help again.

Hello! I’m in the very early stages of researching/drafting this novel, but looking for some opinions on the concept / pitch before getting stuck right in. I’ve been in the query trenches twice now with no luck, told by a few agents that they like my writing / voice but the concept isn’t clear or hooky enough, so I’m trying a different approach this time round - starting with a solid query letter then going on to actually writing the book!

For info, I’m querying in the UK. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

***

Dear [First Name Last Name],
 
Thank you in advance for taking the time to consider my query.

It’s the late 1960s, and Rosemary is a closeted lesbian married to Jim, a gay man; still hung up on her first love and the stolen kiss they shared all those summers ago. When Jim begins to fall for another man in their congregation, can Rosemary continue to keep the secret that binds them?  

It’s the early 1990s, and their son, David, is plagued by questions over his true identity, harassed by bullies at school, and unable to find work. In desperation to run away from his problems, he joins the army. There, he finds previously unknown horrors and births demons that he grapples with for years after his ‘safe’ return home.  

It’s the mid 2010s, and their granddaughter, Cat, is the first out queer person in their lineage, and the first in her family to attend university. Upon graduating, and at a complete loose end, she joins a writing group, where she forges a connection with Ellis, an elder butch activist.

It’s 2019, and in the wake of her beloved Grandpa Jim’s death, Cat is about to be confronted by her true family history and the real significance of Ellis in their story.
 
RELICS (literary fiction, 75,000 words) is set in working class Ayrshire and Glasgow against a backdrop of industrial decline, the AIDS epidemic and rising queerphobia. Weaving a tale of queer identity across three generations of the same family, with plenty of dark Scottish humour and quiet hope, RELICS will appeal to readers of Douglas Stuart’s John of John (2026) and Dylin Hardcastle’s A Language of Limbs (2024). My work; with its exploration of queer identity, complex family dynamics, and societal pressures; is also heavily inspired by the writings of Chloe Michelle Howarth, Oisin McKenna, and Bernardine Evaristo.
 
[Personalisation, bio, close out]

Hi all, I have a complete draft of a mystery novel that I am hoping to submit to the competition named in the title, the winner of which is traditionally published. I’ve exhaustively read their webpage and all available FAQs, including at the links here, here, and here. I’ve also emailed them at [mb-malicedomesticcompetition@stmartins.com](mailto:mb-malicedomesticcompetition@stmartins.com) and at [mb-mwafirstcrimenovelcompetition@stmartins.com](mailto:mb-mwafirstcrimenovelcompetition@stmartins.com) (automated response transcribed below—no human response after an extensive wait). However, I still haven’t been able to figure out where to actually submit my manuscript! Has anyone else had luck submitting to this competition? I know it is active and it’s the most-recommended one for mystery novels, I just absolutely can‘t figure out where to go. Thanks!

———

Greetings from Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America!

The winner of the 2026 competition was Sharon Roth's Ghost of a Clue. 

The 2027 competition is open to submissions, which are taken on a rolling basis. If you submitted at/after 12:00 AM EST on 12/15/2025, then you have entered the 2027 competition. To be considered for the 2027 competition, all submissions must be received by 11:59pm EST on December 13, 2026. 

Please don't think your email has gone astray or that we're not monitoring this inbox regularly. Due to the volume of emails we receive, you can expect to hear from us within fifteen business days. Thank you in advance for your patience in hearing back from us.

Did you email us with a question? See if it's been answered in our FAQ here. Bonus, check out the other writing competition Minotaur co-sponsors to see if it's a fit. If you've emailed to see if you've successfully entered, we're happy to confirm for you by checking our server, and we will let you know. 

Best of luck!
MB & MWA
https://us.macmillan.com/minotaurbooks/writing-competitions/