Come What May Giveaway Hop

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful spring. I'm totally dreaming of warmer weather and starting my vegetable garden. It's a warmer spring this year in Michigan, and I have already planted some broccoli. Today I'm going to get more vegetable plants and plant them. I'll be able to cover the warmer-weather ones if we have an occasional frost. Hopefully, I can do more succession planting this way.

Note to my IWSG followers: You can find my IWSG post by clicking here. I had to double-post today. 

Book of Your Choice or Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

I’ve got a lot of exciting newly released MG and YA book choices this month that you might like. You can also choose another book in the series by these authors or a book of your choice. You can find descriptions of these books on Goodreads. Here are your choices:

If you haven't found a book you want, you can win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.

 

Giveaway Details

To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by May 15th telling me whether you want a book, and if so, which one, or the Amazon gift card and your email address. Be sure to include your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites and/or follow me on Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway is U.S. only and the Amazon gift card giveaway is International.

 Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Today, May 1st I also have an interview with author Stacy Stokes and a giveaway of her YA speculative thriller The Darkness Rises and my IWSG post

Monday, May 6th I have an agent spotlight interview with Miriam Cortinovis and a query critique giveaway

Wednesday, May 8th I have an agent spotlight interview with Jenniea Carter and a query critique giveaway

Monday, May 13th I have a guest post by debut author Sandy Green and a giveaway of her MG novel in verse Ghost Writers: The Haunting of Lake Lucy

Wednesday, May 15th I have a guest post by Rose Atkinson-Carter, a freelance writer for Reedsy

Thursday, May 16th I'm participating in the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop 

Monday, May 20th I have an agent spotlight interview with Caroline Trussell and a query critique giveaway 

I hope to see you comment on my other post today and next Monday!

And here are the other blogs participating in this blog hop:

MamatheFox and all participating blogs are not held responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfill their prize obligations.

On Plotting Out and Marketing a Paranormal Thriller: Interview With Stacy Stokes and The Darkness Rises Giveaway and IWSG Post

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have author Stacy Stokes to share about her new YA paranormal thriller The Darkness Rises. I love thrillers and fantasy/paranormal stories set in a contemporary world like Stacy’s new book, and I am looking forward to reading it.

Here’s a blurb of Darkness Rises from Goodreads:

A gripping speculative thriller perfect for fans of Lauren Oliver and Ginny Myers Sain, about one girl with the power to see death before it happens--and the terrible consequences she faces when saving someone goes wrong.

SOMEONE WANTS REVENGE…

Whitney knows what death looks like. Since she was seven, she’s seen it hover over strangers’ heads in dark, rippling clouds. Sometimes she can save people from the darkness. Sometimes she can’t. But she’s never questioned if she should try. Until the unthinkable happens—and a person she saves becomes the perpetrator of a horrific school shooting.

Now Whitney will do anything to escape the memory of last year’s tragedy and the guilt that gnaws at her for her role in it. Even if that means quitting dance—the thing she loves most—and hiding her ability from her family and friends. But most importantly, no one can know what really happened last year.

Then Whitney finds an ominous message in her locker and realizes someone knows her secret. As the threats pile up, one thing becomes clear—someone wants payback for what she did. And if she’s going to survive the year, she must track down whoever is after her before it’s too late.

Before I get to Stacy’s interview post, I have my IWSG post.

Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts this month are: Victoria Marie Lees, Kim Lajevardi, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine!

Optional Question: How do you deal with distractions when you’re writing? Do they derail you?

Before I answer the question, I want to share some news about my job. A miracle occurred a few weeks ago and I got a raise after 10 years. I write on contract for this web marketing firm, so I know contractors don’t get raises often or at all. I’m grateful that I got one because I can make a decent hourly rate writing now. And even though it isn’t as creative as writing stories, I’ve already made over $100,000 over the years at my job where I get to write almost all of the time. The raise has made me feel a lot better about my job.

Since I live alone and work at home, I don’t really have that many distractions unless I create them. I learned long ago as a busy lawyer not to get distracted when I’m working. So it’s not really a problem for me. Once I get going on writing an article for work or work on my manuscript, I can stay pretty focused. y bigger problem is volunteering too much with the community theatre group I'm on the board of and not leaving enought time for my writing and myself. 

Interview With Stacy Stokes

Hi Stacy! Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

First, thank you so much for having me! I’ve been a longtime follower of your blog and am thrilled to be here. Your agent spotlights were such a tremendous help to me when I was querying—thank you.

As for me, I grew up in a house full of readers. My mom was never without a book (she used to carry paperbacks in her purse) and as a kid much of my summer was spent inside the library. I started writing stories when I was six, and when I was in sixth grade tried my hand at writing my first novel. It was terrible and I don’t think I made it past a few chapters, but it was the beginning of a lifelong quest to write and publish books.

My mom’s favorite author was Stephen King and I was waaaaaay to young the first time I poked my head inside the book IT after finding a dog-eared copy on the coffee table. It scared the crap out of me, but it also sparked an interest in thrillers and stories with paranormal bends. When I discovered the YA shelf at the bookstore it was like I’d come home—I read every single Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine book I could get my hands on, so it’s probably not a huge surprise that my preferred genre is speculative and paranormal thrillers.

After starting and stopping many an unfinished manuscript over the decades, in 2010 I finally completed one that I thought had publishing potential and made my first dive into the query trenches. It ultimately wasn’t the book that landed me my agent, but it was the book that taught me about revising and the importance of having good beta readers. From there, I joined a critique group and kept at it, and finally in the spring of 2021 my debut Remember Me Gone released with Penguin Random House. The Darkness Rises is my sophomore book with them.

2. I’m so glad to hear that Literary Rambles helped you in your agent search. Where did you get the idea for The Darkness Rises?

The initial idea for The Darkness Rises came when I was cleaning my apartment. Out of nowhere a line popped into my head: I was seven the first time I saw the darkness.

I knew immediately that I wanted to write a story about a girl who saw death before it happened in the form of a rippling black cloud, warning of danger. But beyond that initial nugget-of-an-idea, I had no idea how Whitney’s story would take shape.

Around the same time I was drafting the concept, news of another tragic school shooting broke. It was horrible, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It started to creep into my story and made me wonder about Whitney and her gift. What would have happened if she had been at that school the day of the shooting? Could she have saved her classmates? What if she knew the shooter? From there, the rest of the story started to fall into place.

Your Writing Process and How You Plot Out a Paranormal Thriller

3. It’s awesome that a random thought was the spark of inspiration for your story. I love that you’re combining two genres—thriller and paranormal. How did you decide on the paranormal elements to add to your story?

I usually start with the concept for a story first, and for my paranormal stories that always involves a vision for the primary magical element. I knew that Whitney’s power would involve seeing black clouds hovering over people’s heads, warning of danger, before I had anything else figured out. Once I had that initial idea, I started to think about interesting situations to put Whitney in that would test her ability and make her question her worldview.

4. How did you plot out Darkness Rises? Would you make any changes to your plotting process? If so, why?

I’ve historically been a panster, so there wasn’t much plotting in the first draft. I usually have a few key scenes that I know I’m writing towards, but beyond that I let the book find me versus spending time outlining.

That process has generally worked for me…until this book. It took me many, many, MANY drafts before I had a fully fleshed out story that worked. If I had to go back in time, I would have spent more time plotting the main beats before drafting. It would have saved me from a lot of floundering. I’m happy to share that with more recent projects I have become an outliner as a result.

5. I’m moving to being more of an outliner too. Thrillers have to be well-plot out, have surprising twists, and be a page-turner. I haven’t really found many resources on how to write one. Share some of your tips for writing a thriller and any helpful resources for learning how to write one.

My first piece of advice is to read as many thrillers as you can get your hands on as if they are textbooks—what works? What doesn’t? This will help you get a sense for pacing and the primary plot beats that work best for the genre.

Where a mystery focuses on a crime that’s already happened, a thriller spends most of the book focused on a crime or threat that hasn’t yet occurred. That means the primary ingredient for any thriller is a sense of impending doom. As the writer, you want the danger to feel ever present, or at least lurking just beyond the boundaries of the page.

A great way to do this is to add some form of a ticking clock. In The Darkness Rises, this happens when Whitney is told to confess by the anniversary of her school’s tragedy, which only gives her a week to figure out who’s threatening her before her secret gets outted to the world. From that point on, both Whitney and the reader feel the creeping sense of urgency as time passes without a clear resolution.

Another important element to thrillers is to have a red herring. I like to do this in two ways. First, I always have an annoyingly obvious red herring—someone who’s so obviously the primary suspect that the reader knows they can’t be the actual villain. Second, I try to make every character just a little bit suspicious.

Having an annoyingly obvious red herring does a few things. First, it gives the protagonist a place to focus their energy so they can start to piece together clues. Second, it can serve as a diversion tactic once the clues start to take shape. There’s always a point in the story when the reader starts to home in on other suspects, including the real villain. This is the moment when you want to point the reader’s attention back to the annoyingly obvious red herring. Drop a clue that puts them center stage as the primary suspect once again. It’s a fantastic “look over here, look over here!” misdirection tactic.

As for making everyone a suspect, it doesn’t take much—all you need is the slight hint of a motive and the readers will fill in the rest themselves. Perhaps the best friend is mad because the main character keeps blowing them off.  Maybe the parent keeps disappearing without explanation, or the beloved dad leaves his bank statement out revealing his money troubles. And why does that favorite teacher show up at the farmer’s market around the same time something sinister happens? Ask yourself: how can you create a moment where each character acts a little sus, thereby making them a potential suspect to the reader? The more suspects you have, the more readers will flip pages trying to piece together the clues before the big reveal.

6. These are great tips. Darkness Rises also deals with issues of gun violence and school shootings. How did you weave these issues into your story without becoming preachy?

I think the first-person narrative helped, because it put the story in Whitney’s voice and forced me to explore her experiences vs. my own opinions about gun violence.  Whitney, at her core, is a brave girl who suffered a terribly tragedy and now must face her worst fears. Except she doesn’t realize how brave she is. She doesn’t understand that she’s recovering from trauma, and that she doesn’t have to suffer alone. It takes her most of the book to finally understand these things, and to realize that she’s forcing herself to suffer by letting her past become a prison. Leaning into her journey is what I think helps the story avoid preachy territory.

I’m also fortunate to have had two amazing editors in Kelsey Murphy and Want Chyi. They saw what this book could be and pushed me to dig deeper and write a story that was both a page-turning speculative thriller and an emotional resonate narrative exploring the impact of gun violence on communities. I’m so proud of this book, and it’s all thanks to their tireless commitment to make it the best story it could possibly be.

Your Journey to Publication

7. Joanna MacKenzie is your agent. Share how she became your agent and your road to getting your first book, Remember Me Gone and The Darkness Rises, published.

I actually queried The Darkness Rises many years before Remember Me Gone. It was a much different book back then and was no where near ready for publication, let alone an agent, but of course I didn’t realize it until the rejections started to pile up. I decided to put that version of The Darkness Rises in a drawer for a while to focus on writing Remember Me Gone.

When Remember Me Gone was ready to query, the first thing I did was pull up the list of agents I had queried with The Darkness Rises since I planned to revise that dusty manuscript. Joanna was on that list, and I remembered that she had sent me a nice, personalized rejection. I also saw from her manuscript wish list that one of her favorite books was Bone Gap, which was a comp title for Remember Me Gone. I sent my first batch of queries to her and eight other agents. She got back to me with an offer two weeks later. After a round of revisions, we went on sub. My editor offered a two book preempt a few weeks after that.

The way it’s written makes it sounds like everything happened over night, but it’s worth noting that I have a pile of unfinished manuscripts, queried two other books and racked up heaps of rejections before signing with Joanna. This business takes hard work and patience—I don’t know any authors who haven’t gotten bumps and bruises in the trenches. For anyone reading this currently slogging through queries and submissions, hang in there. Keep writing. The only way to ensure your dream comes true is to keep going.

8. It’s not always easy to get a second publishing contract and grow your career after your debut book. What do you think helped you publish a second book? What advice do you have for debut authors on growing their career as an author?

I was fortunate that my debut deal included a second book. When my editor offered on my debut, Remember Me Gone, she asked to see a pitch and first pages for any other speculative fiction projects I had available. At the time, I was revising The Darkness Rises, so I polished up my pitch and first two chapters. Thankfully my editor loved the concept, and my debut book deal became a two-book offer with a pre-approved premise for the second book.

Every writer has probably heard the piece of advice that the best thing you can do when querying or on sub is to write the next book. That advice could not be truer, and it’s because I kept writing while in the query and submission trenches that I had a second book to put on the table. So as cliché as it is, I have to repeat the same advice—keep writing. It’s the only way you can set yourself up for a long-haul writing career.

Promoting Your Book

9. What did you do to promote your debut book? How have your marketing plans changed for The Darkness Rises? Why did you make those changes?

For my debut, I joined forces with some of my fellow 22debuts to do group promotion and outreach. By combining efforts we were able to pool our resources and have a broader reach. We also cobbled together a list of libraries, bookstores and book influencers from around the country and reached out to them collectively. We were able to generate early reviews and some good word of mouth that way.

For The Darkness Rises, I decided to partner with a PR team to help with outreach. In addition to writing, I have a toddler and a demanding day job, so I knew that it wouldn’t be possible to do the level of promotion I did with Remember Me Gone without getting some outside help.

10. You also have a career in marketing. How has that helped you develop your social media platform and promote your books?

In truth, my day job and book marketing are very different. That said, there is one universal truth—if people don’t know about your product, they can’t buy it.

With this in mind, I shameless use my personal social accounts to make sure friends and acquaintances are aware of my launches and lean on friends to help post and amplify my messages. I also invested significant time into my website and newsletter as a way to collect emails from interested parties that want to hear about future projects.

The outreach I did for my debut has also turned out to be an effective way to market The Darkness Rises—I’ve been able to follow up to folks who responded to my debut outreach with news of my upcoming release, which will (hopefully) result in some early interest and good word of mouth.

11. What are you working on now?

My current work in process is a middle grade horror book about a murderous shadow and the girl it wants as a playmate. As a kid, I loved scary stories and I’ve always wanted to try my hand at writing something that would have kept ten-year-old Stacy awake into the wee hours of the morning. I’m having a ton of fun trying something new!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Stacy. You can find Stacy at stacystokes.com and on IG @stacyastokes.

Giveaway Details

Stacy and her publisher are generously offering a hardback of Darkness Rises for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by May 11th. If your email is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter or Stacy on her social media sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is U.S.

 Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Today, May 1st I’m also participating in Come What May Giveaway Hop. My post will be live today at 9:00 am.  

Monday, May 6th I have an agent spotlight interview with Miriam Cortinovis and a query critique giveaway

Wednesday, May 8th I have an agent spotlight interview with Jenniea Carter and a query critique giveaway

Monday, May 13th I have a guest post by debut author Sandy Green and a giveaway of her MG novel in verse Ghost Writers: The Haunting of Lake Lucy

Wednesday, May 15th I have a guest post by Rose Atkinson-Carter, a freelance writer for Reedsy

Thursday, May 16th I'm participating in the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop 

Monday, May 20th I have an agent spotlight interview with Caroline Trussell and a query critique giveaway 

I hope to see you comment on my other post today and on next Monday!

Literary Agent Interview: Hillary Fazzari Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Hillary Fazzari here. She’s a literary agent at Bradford Literary Agency.

Status: Hillary anticipates opening to YA and adult queries on May 1st. Please check the agency website to find out when she reopens to these submissions.

Hi­ Hillary! Thanks so much for joining us.

About Hillary:

1. Tell us how you became an agent, how long you’ve been one, and what you’ve been doing as an agent.

Hi Natalie, thank you so much for having me! I started agenting in fall of 2023 but have been in the publishing world for a lot longer than that.  I actually started out working at Scholastic before moving into the agenting side of publishing where, starting in 2018, I begun working as a reader and editor at several literary agencies before moving into being Laura Bradford’s assistant and editor at Bradford Literary, which has been a great home for me and a great place for me to start my own list!

About the Agency:

2. Share a bit about your agency and what it offers to its authors.

The Bradford Literary Agency is a boutique agency that offers a full range of representation services to both published and pre-published authors. Our mission is to form true partnerships with our clients and build long-term relationships that extend from the first draft through the length of an author’s career.  And we’re really well established in the industry.  Our agency was founded by Laura in 2001 and has repped many, many authors since, including bestsellers, award winners, and more! In addition, we’re a very editorially focused agency, which we find to be one of the best ways to help authors build strong, sustainable careers. In the current market, having an editorially focused agency is often SUPER helpful!  The market is swamped with great, potential material right now, pretty much in all of the areas I work, so having an agent in your corner who’s not just about making sales but is also about helping you with the rest of the writing/editing process can be pretty major.  And we at Bradford as a whole believe that the best author-agent relationships *should* extend beyond sales, so we’re also partners, advisors, careful listeners, troubleshooters, editors, and advocates of our clients.

 What She’s Looking For:

3. What age groups do you represent—picture books, MG, and/or YA? What genres do you represent and what are you looking for in submissions for these genres?

I represent MG, YA, and adult material, though in adult at the moment I’m only looking for rom-coms (and rom-com adjacent stuff), romantasy, and SFF with a heavy romantic bend.

In MG and YA, I am open to all genres.  I love commercial voices, big ideas, and standout premises that make you go “Whoa, that is cool!”  But most of all, I’m looking for stories that are written to showcase a protagonist’s agenda.  Which is not to say that other types of stories can’t be fabulous, but since I work with the commercial market, there are often parameters outside of my control limiting what I can sell into it, and at this point (usually) in order for me to feel that I have a strong enough chance of selling a project, what I need to see is a protagonist who enters the first chapter with a goal that will ultimately cause the rest of the plotline to happen.

Strong romantic plots or subplots in YA in particular but also in MG are a good way to hook me, as are unique settings and consumable ideas.  I love flashy premises:  contemporary stories set in glittering worlds (both domestically and abroad), political intrigue, embassy stories, spies, assassins, heists, well-built but accessible magic systems, genre mixing, adventure, excitement, and of course lots of feel-good romance and other types of important relationships. I 100% adore squad goal friendships and I’m always here for stories featuring family dynamics in voice-y, important, or charming ways.

Some books that are very indicative of my taste are:

Anything by Rick Riordan or the Rick Riordan Presents line

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

The Chronicles of Egg by Geoff Rodkey

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

The Embassy Row series by Ally Carter

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

You can find out more about my tastes at my Manuscript Wishlist page: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/hillary-fazzari

4.  Is there anything you would be especially excited to see in the genres you are interested in?

Absolutely!! Middle-grade is really rough right now from a market perspective, but I’d still love to see a big, incredibly accessible new middle-grade series that can do the same thing for this current generation of kids that the Percy Jackson series did a decade ago (and that Harry Potter did a decade before that): aka create a world and a fandom that can really make kids feel seen and full of agency, and that’s just fun, full of high stakes, and/or magical things.  Essentially, I’m looking for something that’s not derivative of the other two but can be a whole new world that has the same level of accessibility and makes kids really, really want to be a part of it—a world that showcases how diverse our own world is and has a setting and characters that just cling onto the imagination and can become part of the cultural resonance surrounding a whole generation of readers.

I’d also love to see some romantasy with crisp worldbuilding that feels accessible, can draw on key trope-y, fun elements of the subgenre, but is still different from what I’ve seen before:  essentially what Divine Rivals was when it came out—this fresh take on a big romance set against a well-developed but new-feeling, highly accessible fantasy world.  And I’m really, really eager to see more romantasy set in non-Western worlds starring BIPOC characters and all BIPOC casts (which, incidentally, is something I’d love to see in all other genres as well!)

I’m always on the lookout for high stakes, glitzy romance that feels fresh.  I’d love to rep a story starring a tennis player and a book that includes martial arts, especially, again, if it’s glitzy, fun, and high octane.  And of course, simply winning a tournament or big match doesn’t have to be the character’s main goal:  they could be the daughter of the president, caught up in an adventure (and also playing tennis) or a fantasy spy who just happens to be really good at martial arts.

Black joy books are something I’m *always* looking for!  And queer, disabled, LGBTIA+, and neurodivergent voices are all very, very welcome!!

Overall, I’d say I prefer fun books to issues books; though at the same time I do also want books with strong character arcs and emotional depth, so I’m looking for substance that is embedded in fun—for emotion that’s part of something that overall feels cathartic.  And I want books with concise, easy to conceptualize pitches that feel fresh, fun, and timely (and usually easy to sum up in one-sentence since that tends to be what works well right now on the commercial market).

I’m always happy to look at projects that can do this and utilize settings such as international schools, music/film venues and/or training companies or production studios that aren’t American, language immersion programs, and more.  And I’m a big fan of Asian dramas (pretty much all genres, though especially historical and rom-com) and UK period pieces and would love to see some more of the flavor of some of the international shows I’m a fan of drawn into American publishing.  

What She Isn’t Looking For:

5. What types of submissions are you not interested in?

I am not able to, at this point, take on graphic novel scripts unless an artist is already attached, and I’m not the right person for anything picture book at the moment (though I’m happy to look at MG with illustrations:  stuff like the How To Train Your Dragon books for instance).  In terms of specific things that usually don’t catch me:  I’m not the right person for a story where the dog dies; I don’t often love terminal illness or cancer books; and I prefer happy endings to sad or nebulous ones.  It’s going to be hard to sell me on a book set in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or early 2000s—I usually prefer fully contemporary stories or else more deeply historical work.  And I’m never looking for stories that feel colonialist, that “fix” a character with a disability, or are centered on issues as the biggest part of the character’s journey.  Which is not to say I don’t love characters working through trauma—because I do!  It’s just a balance there for me usually.

I’m also rarely on the lookout for literary, literary-leaning, or upmarket YA or adult work, though I’m happy to look at more literary leaning material in middle-grade.

Agent Philosophy:

6. What is your philosophy as an agent both in terms of the authors you want to work with and the books you want to represent?

It’s very important for me to be an agent who uplifts and amplifies voices that have marginalized, whether I personally rep those authors or not, but in terms of my own clients, I want to be the sort of person who is a good partner, not just in editing their work and selling it but also in terms of helping them career plan and navigate the weirdness that can be the traditional book market.  I am very editorial, so I work hard with prepping stories for sub, and I’m very data driven, so I want to use that knowledge and capacity to help my clients career plan in ways that will help them reach where they want to be with their careers.  My own personal philosophy is to support not push, so I’m going to prioritize my clients’ well-beings, which means I fully acknowledge that I work for them and not the other way around.  And I don’t ever want my clients to feel weird or uncomfortable about coming to me with whatever is on their minds!

Editorial Agent:

7. Are you an editorial agent? If so, what is your process like when you’re working with your authors before submitting to editors?

Yes, I am very much an editorial agent.  I was an editor for years before I moved into agenting, so I do very substantial edits with clients as needed and am never afraid of really breaking things down into their parts to ensure a story can ultimately be its best version.  I’m also always happy to just talk ideas with my clients and am delighted at whatever point in the process they want to bring me in:  brainstorming, outlining, writing, rewriting, editing—I’m happy to be there for all of it!

Query Methods and Submission Guidelines: (Always verify before submitting)

8. How should authors query you and what do you want to see with the query letter?

I take queries through QueryManager, and you can reach my QueryManager submissions’ page here: https://querymanager.com/query/3240

In terms of what I need:  I ask for a query letter, a synopsis, and the first chapter of the project.

I’m absolutely not picky about the salutation, whether you spell my name right, or anything else!  And I’m always very open to authors updating queries after they’ve sent them to me, so if you query me and then need to update something, please, please feel free to!  I look at queries with updated pitches or updated first chapters all the time.

And I also don’t need queries to be perfect!  What I’m really looking for is whether at the heart of each project there’s a pitch that shows me I’d be a good partner for the author at this point in their career. Some projects I love but feel need more revisions than I can commit to at a given time (because even though I’m very editorial, I’m also only human), so I do sometimes ask for R&Rs, and I’m always very open to authors re-querying me if their books have undergone pretty significant revisions since the last time I’d seen them.

9.  Do you have any specific dislikes in query letters or the first pages submitted to you?

I don’t have any specific dislikes; I’m not a picky person in that sense.  Though the thing to keep in mind is that my agency (and I) usually only ask for the first chapter, so that first chapter is carrying a heavy load.  It’s really the one thing, in addition to the pitch, that needs to draw me into the story.  Though, again, it doesn’t have to be perfect!!! I usually need concept, emotion, and catchiness over just simple perfection.

Response Time:

10. What’s your response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?

I aim for responses to queries in 8-10 weeks, and I try to respond to full manuscripts I’ve requested within 8-10 weeks more, though the reality is, it can sometimes take longer.  When I’m open to queries I often get 1000-1500 a month, which when paginated out at about 10-12 pages of material per query equals a monthly query volume approximately the length of around 60 three-hundred-page books.  And I do request a fair amount of fulls at the moment, which means it can take me time to get through everything.  So if you’ve not heard from me and you think you should have, I’m never upset by a nudge!  I might not respond immediately, but I will have tabulated the nudge for sure!  And I always appreciate getting them.  QueryManager is a great system, but occasionally things can get buried in it, so a nudge might draw right back up something the system really buried for me.

Self-Published and Small Press Authors:

11.  Are you open to representing authors who have self-published or been published by smaller presses? What advice do you have for them if they want to try to find an agent to represent them?

Absolutely!! I rep both authors who have been self-published before and who have been published by smaller presses.  And I also rep hybrid authors who self-publish some books themselves and have others I sell for them traditionally.  I don’t have different advice for them, except that it is helpful to know if you’ve self-published or small press published before because this becomes part of the fabric that makes up what potential audiences, future sales, and resales can look like.  And for career planning purposes, again, just being ready to talk about your big picture ideas for your career with potential agents can also be very helpful.

Clients:

12. Who are some of the authors you represent?

Riv Begun, K. M. Watts

Interviews and Guest Posts:

13. Please share the links to any interviews, guest posts, and podcasts you think would be helpful to writers interested in querying you.

My Manuscript Wishlist page: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/hillary-fazzari

All of my #MSWL tweets in one place: https://mswishlist.com/agent/HillaryFazzari

Links and Contact Info:

14. Please share how writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.

I take queries through QueryManager at: https://querymanager.com/query/3240

Sometimes I run special query sessions usually for specific pitch events that I’m participating in on social media, and I do sometimes do these when I’m technically closed to all other types of queries, so it’s always a good idea to check my agency page and my Twitter to see if I have any special query forms pinned anywhere since sometimes the links for those are different than my main QueryManager link.

My agency page: https://bradfordlit.com/hillary-fazzari-agent

My Twitter:  https://twitter.com/hillaryfazzari

Additional Advice:

15. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?

This one gets thrown around a lot, but reading a lot and really being familiar with where your story would sit on the market can be really helpful.  I go for stuff that’s market hot and also for stuff that I just love, so it’s not like your book has to be exactly like the rest of the market.  But reading what’s newly releasing in the categories you’re writing in (or writing adjacent to) can be super helpful in terms of keeping up of with the market, even if what you decide to do is ultimately subvert or challenge some element of it.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Hillary.

Giveaway Details

­Hillary is generously offering a query critique to one lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment through May 4th. If your email is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. If you do not want to enter the contest, that’s okay. Just let me know in the comments.

If you follow me on Twitter or mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments, and I'll give you an extra entry. This is an international giveaway.

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or email me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles and interviews presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found here is subject to change.

Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts, and Blog Hops

Wednesday, May 1st I have an interview with author Stacy Stokes and a giveaway of her YA speculative thriller The Darkness Rises and my IWSG post

Monday, May 6th I have an agent spotlight interview with Miriam Cortinovis and a query critique giveaway

Wednesday, May 8th I have an agent spotlight interview with Jenniea Carter and a query critique giveaway

Monday, May 13th I have a guest post by debut author Sandy Green and a giveaway of her MG novel in verse Ghost Writers: The Haunting of Lake Lucy

Wednesday, May 15th I have a guest post by Rose Atkinson-Carter, a freelance writer for Reedsy

Thursday, May 16th I’m participating in the Moms Rock Giveaway Hop

Monday, May 20th I have an agent spotlight interview with Caroline Trussell and a query critique giveaway

Tuesday, June 1st I’m participating in the Berry Good Giveaway Hop

Wednesday, June 2nd I have an interview with author June Hur and a giveaway of her YA historical mystery A Crane Among Wolves and my IWSG post

I hope to see you on Wednesday, May 1st!