Hi Michelle! At a conference, an editor suggested I use mixed media in my MG time travel ms. So now I have rulebook snippets, instruction manual, the MC's school tests... I formatted it with frames or a different font. How do I get that across in Query Manager? Thanks!

Mention it in the query. Excited to share my genre, title, complete at word count, featuring time loops and mixed media.

Thank you! Though what I meant was what to do about the sample pages which contain one or two instances of mixed media. Could I add one page as a pdf file to show the idea while copy-pasting the requested number of pages as regular text in the query field of the QM form?

Could you use art notes like in a PB?

Or include a link in your query to online samples? I say this because not every agent allows something to be downloaded in their query manager unless they request pages.

Those are good ideas, thank you so much!

I've had two rejections where the agent said or implied that my SF heist with romance subplot could be a difficult sell in 2025 while it might not have been a few years ago. Is an NB narrator, female love interest, and mostly queer characters really that controversial even in this political climate?

No. They probably meant the Scifi part. Scifi is hard.

That makes a lot of sense--particularly when you see how many agents are repping it these days! Thanks. :)

Hi Michelle- another question I wanted to ask. Do chapters have to be consistent in length in a novel? Thank you for doing this q and a!!

It depends. Sometimes authors create really short chapters for impact. I'd try and keep them mostly the same length and not super long.

Thank you!!

Can American writers query agents in the UK?

Yes but I would check the agent's guidelines for more info. I certainly sell stories to the UK and UK agents sell stories here.

I see contemporary romance defined as romance that takes place 1945-now. But on the shelves, i see a something much more specific. ie dual pov,present tense, super tight premise, conversational narration style. is this what publishers are looking for in contemp romance? Or is this a sub-subgenre?

I don't rep contemporary romance in adult but I do in YA and it doesn't mean 1960 or 1980 or any historical time. It means now. And it doesn't have to be dual pov or present tense for YA.

But that's just YA. I'm not an expert in adult.

Gotcha. Thanks, Michelle!

Ok - here’s an odd one. What famous/popular/blockbuster books would not be picked up if they were queried in 2025? I’ve been reading some old bestsellers and its exposition hell 👎

And head hopping too! All the old classics are 3rd person omni. Books that start out with pages of world building. Books with no diversity.

Can you speak about what you’re seeing in your inbox right now? What’s a new trend that’s caught your attention? A new idea you’re hoping for?

I'm still looking for a SFF mystery.

Hoping you find a few of those when you open back up!

There's nothing in my inbox right now but I feel like dark romance and romantasy is popular. Horror. I expected more cozy vibes but editors seem to want dark.