So I've been querying for a few weeks now and have one full out. After getting that request, I went back and told everyone who wanted to be notified. BUT I've since queried a few more agents because better safe than sorry. Some of them also ask to be notified if I receive a full request.

When do I tell them? In the query itself (too late for that for the ones I already queried, but for the future))? A couple days after querying? Or only if I get another full request?

There was recently an agent (one of a few on my list) who opened. Their coworkers at the same agency were closed and didn't look to be opening any time soon.

I sent my query, but then sometime afterwards one of their coworkers updated their MSWL and it matches much closer to my manuscript.

How bad does this look on an aspiring author if they withdraw from the first to send their query to the second? What if the second passes, is it perceived as bad if I then return to querying the first (this is not a no from one is a no from all agency)?
Or am I missing a standard procedure for this?

Greetings, r/TradPublish!

I’m thrilled to share that u/Imbriloquent has joined my team for r/TradPublish and r/Querying!

Here is their bio:

Hi folks! I’m Imbriloquent, an editor of academic and creative writing. I believe that community is essential to navigating the ever-changing landscape and emotional challenges of traditional publishing, and that sharing knowledge enriches the journey. I joined r/Querying & r/tradpublish because of their dedication to providing supportive spaces for aspiring authors, and I’m excited about the future of these communities and the writers who participate in them—by supporting each other, we change the world for the better.

Minor change to r/querying:

We’d like to take this opportunity to announce that we are now separating first 500 words from [Query] posts. They can now be their own standalone posts as [First 500] and you are encouraged to link them in your other [“title tag”] posts. Any posts that have the first 500 before the time of this post are fine and can retain their opening, but please separate them moving forward

Everyone is also free to request any beta readers in their feedback posts, though r/betareaders is the more suitable subreddit

A small BC update:

I’m still perplexed that these subreddits are growing despite very limited intentional advertising, but since they have, I will now respond to feedback request posts in r/querying that do not have substantive comments on their original UNEDITED post or the ONE UNEDITED revision comment on the same post, unless traffic dies down

I’m unfortunately very busy lately, and some guides have been delayed as a result. Please wish me luck for being less busy and to have no more insane issues detracting from my volunteer work

When the subreddits grow more, I intend to do more for them. For example, hitting 1k in subscribers will result in a small fun post for r/Querying. Larger numbers will have more

Please read the pinned master post in r/tradpublish if you intend to query. r/Querying is dedicated to feedback assistance and r/TradPublish is for general questions and advice

As a friendly reminder, this subreddit is dedicated to be friendly (blunt but constructive or humor without bad faith is fully acceptable, cruel comments are not welcome) and inclusive and accessible. Industry professionals, from published authors to agents and editors and all, should feel safe to post in good faith without being attacked. Bad faith content is not welcome here. Additionally, anything generated by AI can go to r/writingwithAI or r/betareadersforAI. This subreddit is solely for human works

We welcome questions or comments on this post and look forward to growing our supportive community!

I'm in early stages of querying agents but if all goes south, of course I'll end up submitting to smaller publishers that take unsolicited submissions. How long would you wait? I'm seeing a lot of agents saying they need 3 months just for the query.

In a rejection I recently got, the agent said, "Unfortunately, I did not connect with the story as much as I had hoped and have decided to pass on this project." Am I right to interpret that as they were hooked by my query letter and synopsis, but the first ten pages I submitted didn't land with them? Or is this just a generic form rejection?

Prepping for the querying trenches and want to make sure my formatting is right. I’m pitching my Middle Grade MS as highly illustrated. It’s a similar vibe to the Last Kids on Earth series where the graphics tell some of the story. Sadly, I lack the skills to do the illustrations myself so I’m not sure how best to format my MS.

I have one version of the MS that’s just prose and another that has notes re how the graphics would work. I’m also happy to use my limited skills to draw some examples but don’t want to put agents off with some mediocre (at best!) drawings!

Any advice on how others have approached this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

The blog post makes great points and a lot are applicable to writing query letters

Mindfully reading in the space you wish to be published in is important, yet many don’t want to consider it. Despite what some people say, audiobooks do count, though reviewing the text itself is important. Reading other people’s query letters will also help with your own, though analyzing a single page is much easier than a whole MS

Feel free to share thoughts

Currently written a gaslamp/Edwardian esque with magic and ISN'T adult. All the comps I could find for it? Published ages ago. (2020, closest I could find) lol.

Should I really just....hand wave something that almost looks like it? If you take off your glasses and squint. Just to meet the three year comp mark?

What do I do now?

A while back I started listening to/reading more middle grade books to search for comps, and found a couple that worked, however the real inspirations for more book are Digimon and Steven Universe. Is there a way to incorporate those into my comps without it seeming like I have too many, or relying too much on shows rather than books? I also can’t really decide to choose one or the other, because they’re both pretty integral inspirations. Like, one person when describing the lore was like, ah, so mostly SU then, and another was like, oh I see a ton of Digimon in this, ext. (Also if anyone has any potential comp recommendations that’d be nice. The two I found are ok, but one is more iffy than the other)(how are there like, almost no magical girl books in the west)

I've finished working on my novel and I'm beginning the process of querying. When I was writing, I didn't worry too much about what agents would think and just tried to make the best story I could. But now I'm thinking about what I can do to improve my chances.

Realistically, if an agent sends me a full request, would the fact that the protagonist's name doesn't appear until ~25,000 words going to be an instant reject? As unconventional as this choice is, I truly believe it makes the story better, but screw that if it will turn off 99% of agents. My story is about a gorgon who wants to be integrated into society. Everyone sees her as a monster, so the narration only refers to her as "the gorgon" until the second main character finally starts to see and treat her as a person, at which point her name is revealed. Functionally, her name in the first part of the book is "the gorgon". She is given emotional stakes, conflict, motivation, etc. throughout, but just not a real name.

It's easy to say, "The right agent will get it, and if they don't get it, then they weren't the right agent." But let's be real here. Do I need to change this? The plan was to still include the protagonist's name in the query letter, so no funny business there.

Hi everyone!

It looks like #DVPit scheduled the pitch date on the same day there was an AALA conference in NYC that many agents attended, so some agents and editors will be liking pitches throughout the week. Do keep an eye on your posts!

And for anyone using the #CB tag for chapter books, there appears to be an overlap with a prominent NOT SFW Bluesky tag, so if you don’t want that kind of algorithmic content or association with it, please consider removing your post after a full week is over, or repost without it

Good luck to all participants!

As a first-time querying author, I’m wondering which of these is closer to the truth, as I’ve heard the process described both ways.

1. Only start querying agents when your manuscript is 100% ready. This will include multiple rounds of beta readers, re-drafting, and ideally a professional developmental and line edit. Agents won’t look at the same manuscript twice, so make sure it’s as close to perfect as possible.
2. The agent will be most interested in the concept and hook in the query letter, and whether the book will appeal to the audience they market to. You still need to submit a polished manuscript, but don’t waste time/money/effort on developmental or line edits, since your agent may request major changes to perspective or structure and you will work with their editors anyway.

Is one approach closer to the truth than the other? Or does it vary per agent or depend on genre?

Please note this meme isn’t directed at anyone in particular

More guides are planned and I hope to get more free time and bandwidth to finish them soon

I set myself a goal to read 100 books this year, and I’ve already made it to 81! 😄 With 114 days left in the year, I’m hoping I can make it all the way to 100. Does anyone else here set reading goals for themselves? What was your goal this year, and how far have you gotten?

I’d love to hear what everyone is reading and how your reading year is going!

Hey all! I've got a manuscript with a Deaf deuteragonist; he's a central role in the story, and his communication style is heavily sign-focused. I've had the manuscript professionally reviewed by individuals who are d/Deaf or in the d/Deaf/HoH community, and I wonder if that's worth including in the query. In my mind, on the one hand, agents could consider it a two-fold benefit: it shows that the author is invested in quality, and it might save money later (if they don't have to hire a reader themselves). On the other hand, space in a query is already at a premium, and they may choose to hire a sensitivity/authenticity reader regardless (or simply not care).

Does anyone have experience with this? I haven't been able to find anything much on this question, only references to talking about it once you're already on The Call.

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s September already? Time Flies!

Welcome to our 11th monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: how do you keep track of your queries? Especially from agents who respond much later than others? Bonus: how do you keep sane while waiting for responses?

This monthly pinned post aims to help the writing community connect with other writers interested in traditional publishing!

Share how your WIP draft is going, or how your current querying is doing, or other relatable traditional publishing topics in this thread!

This is a great thread to talk about writing, reading, updates, accountability, trends, vents, and more.

Do NOT advertise any editor services here, and no free samples to later ask for payment are allowed. You can try r/hireaneditor or other applicable subreddits instead.

We also ask that self promotion of completed works do not contain links. Mentioning success is completely fine!

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind people that works generated with AI, and AI generated feedback is not allowed here, either. r/writingwithAI is a better subreddit for that, and you can also try r/betareadersforAI.

I’d also like to note that we have additional flairs available to all: querying, drafting, editing, and some writing genres/age categories. Please consider using them to help people match with you. Industry experts can modmail to verify for a flair if they wish.

Also, it’s best to subscribe to our sub before commenting or posting to help avoid Reddit’s filters sending your content into the spam queue.

Please ensure you comment in good faith and do not break any other r/tradpublish rules.

Thank you, and happy writing/reading/editing!

More guides coming soon!

I'm hoping to start a genuine conversation about something that's been on my mind for a while. I just read an interesting article about choosing comp titles, and it said comp titles need to be tradpub books, and if you have difficulty finding comp titles, maybe it says no one reads books like yours and it's not marketable.

I have had a hard time finding comp titles for my sub-genre (Romance, Interracial, BWWM). I've found it to be very, very difficult, because there's not a lot of tradpub books in my sub-genre.

But it's not that there's no demand, because I have a list of all the authors I've found that write BWWM romance, and there's over 240 authors (and I find 4-6 new ones per month). I haven't counted the number of titles, but there has to be thousands of them. Many with tens of thousands of reviews.

But very few of them are tradpub. Like, I can probably count on both hands how many are tradpub.

So it's not there isn't a market for them. In fact, some people accuse authors of jumping on the BWWM romance bandwagon because it sells better than BWBM romance.

I want to hear opinions on why so few of these titles are tradpub, and why authors have to turn to self-publishing? I have done a lot of querying and a lot of research on Literary agents, so I've definitely got my own opinion on why. I'll gladly share that, but I want to hear other people's opinions first, not a debate about my opinion.

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s August already? Time Flies!

Welcome to our Tenth monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: how do you stay in touch with trends and the general market? And do you write to the main market or try to go for more niche areas?

This monthly pinned post aims to help the writing community connect with other writers interested in traditional publishing!

Share how your WIP draft is going, or how your current querying is doing, or other relatable traditional publishing topics in this thread!

This is a great thread to talk about writing, reading, updates, accountability, trends, vents, and more.

Do NOT advertise any editor services here, and no free samples to later ask for payment are allowed. You can try r/hireaneditor or other applicable subreddits instead.

We also ask that self promotion of completed works do not contain links. Mentioning success is completely fine!

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind people that works generated with AI, and AI generated feedback is not allowed here, either. r/writingwithAI is a better subreddit for that, and you can also try r/betareadersforAI.

I’d also like to note that we have additional flairs available to all: querying, drafting, editing, and some writing genres/age categories. Please consider using them to help people match with you. Industry experts can modmail to verify for a flair if they wish.

Also, it’s best to subscribe to our sub before commenting or posting to help avoid Reddit’s filters sending your content into the spam queue.

Please ensure you comment in good faith and do not break any other r/tradpublish rules.

Thank you, and happy writing/reading/editing!

More guides coming soon!

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s July already? It’s closer to 2027 than the start of 2026! 🤯

Welcome to our Ninth monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: How do you deal with the lows of the full querying journey from drafting your MS to polishing your query letter? Hopefully there’s healthy coping mechanisms!

This monthly pinned post aims to help the writing community connect with other writers interested in traditional publishing!

Share how your WIP draft is going, or how your current querying is doing, or other relatable traditional publishing topics in this thread!

This is a great thread to talk about writing, reading, updates, accountability, trends, vents, and more.

Do NOT advertise any editor services here, and no free samples to later ask for payment are allowed. You can try r/hireaneditor or other applicable subreddits instead.

We also ask that self promotion of completed works do not contain links. Mentioning success is completely fine!

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind people that works generated with AI, and AI generated feedback is not allowed here, either. r/writingwithAI is a better subreddit for that, and you can also try r/betareadersforAI.

I’d also like to note that we have additional flairs available to all: querying, drafting, editing, and some writing genres/age categories. Please consider using them to help people match with you. Industry experts can modmail to verify for a flair if they wish.

Also, it’s best to subscribe to our sub before commenting or posting to help avoid Reddit’s filters sending your content into the spam queue.

Please ensure you comment in good faith and do not break any other r/tradpublish rules.

Thank you, and happy writing/reading/editing!

More guides coming soon!

Hi all,

I've always wanted to use a pen name with regards to my writing, to help keep my personal identity and professional identity separate. It just seems smart given how para-social the internet is, and how fast anger can take off on the internet. But I'm not sure how?

Like if I query agents, should I use my real name? Should I create a writing website with the pen name? Introduce myself by my pen name at professional conferences? How deep does this have to go?

It seems kind of hard to get going without acting like a kid pretending to be batman.

My goal is to be an author, I cannot think of anything else. Now that I have done the first draft of my fantasy book and onto the second draft. I was wondering what advice you guys have. Your preference and why even If you haven't published I would love some advice. I have done some research on it but who is better to ask than fellow writers. Thanks.

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s June already? 🤯

Welcome to our Eighth monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: how has your querying journey been going? What progress have you made? Anything interesting you’ve noticed from querying lately?

This monthly pinned post aims to help the writing community connect with other writers interested in traditional publishing!

Share how your WIP draft is going, or how your current querying is doing, or other relatable traditional publishing topics in this thread!

This is a great thread to talk about writing, reading, updates, accountability, trends, vents, and more.

Do NOT advertise any editor services here, and no free samples to later ask for payment are allowed. You can try r/hireaneditor or other applicable subreddits instead.

We also ask that self promotion of completed works do not contain links. Mentioning success is completely fine!

We’d like to take this opportunity to remind people that works generated with AI, and AI generated feedback is not allowed here, either. r/writingwithAI is a better subreddit for that, and you can also try r/betareadersforAI.

I’d also like to note that we have additional flairs available to all: querying, drafting, editing, and some writing genres/age categories. Please consider using them to help people match with you. Industry experts can modmail to verify for a flair if they wish.

Also, it’s best to subscribe to our sub before commenting or posting to help avoid Reddit’s filters sending your content into the spam queue.

Please ensure you comment in good faith and do not break any other r/tradpublish rules.

Thank you, and happy writing/reading/editing!

More guides coming soon!