Love this breakdown — clear, actionable, and kind without sugarcoating. Querying feels like shouting into the void, but posts like this remind me there’s a real human (and sometimes even a full-manuscript binge!) on the other side.
Thank you for such a generous insight into the submission package from the agent’s side of the table. I do love that Substack is a place for writers to find agents, such as you, who offer these pearls of wisdom. Being in the trenches can be a daunting place to hang out!
This was such a helpful post, especially the information about the synopsis. I know many writers who struggle with it, so it's reassuring to have that reminder that it's a technical document and needs to convey the entire story. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, there's so much confusing advice out there about the synopsis, but a synopsis is the whole story, start to finish – not a pitch for the book! (The latter can go in your covering letter.)
I hope to finish this (hopefully final) draft of my WIP and start querying in the next few months, so this was super helpful! Thank you for everything you do 🫶
Thank you so much for sharing this, Abigail! It’s so helpful to learn from the insight and wisdom of someone who is familiar with the industry, and I really appreciate you making this available to everyone. I hope all is going well with your move into acquisitions!
All your posts are useful, but this one is top notch - it answers so many of the questions I have about submissions, thank you 😊
There was a minor brouhaha on notes the other day about some agent who admitted she ignores the query letter and synopsis and only reads the first couple of pages of the manuscript. People seemed upset about that, but considering how busy agents get, it is understandable. You sound like a conscientious and professional agent, and any writer would be lucky to have you.
btw, that is NOT poor parenting at all! That's being efficient and I'd even argue modelling good habits - reading, especially when something grips you. I've done the same with my daughter plenty of times, we don't judge 😉
I'm curious, when you say you've written many synopses, is that for your own books you're writing? Or on behalf of clients?
I might pop into chat at some point and ask some questions, also to see if any other subscribers care to chime in, maybe share some feedback.
I'll briefly share what's on my mind - I'm writing a post about this right now and trying to clarify my thinking process. I wrote my novel as a personal thing, with no intention of trying to get it published. I love writing and hate all the other stuff, the marketing, etc and I am bursting with ideas and I had the idea, once I realised how much fun I had writing my novel, to churn these out on a regular basis. I can already envisage the sequels, spin-offs...I'm getting ahead of myself. My ambitions and expectations are modest. I'm not trying to produce high-brow works of literary art, just some whimsical, fun, light-hearted, escapist material. The plan was to write the draft, tidy it up a bit with some editing here and there, serialise it, and just write, write, write.
Now? I'm curious about whether there's more potential am considering submitting it somewhere. A few people have told me to go for it, but...it needs much more work, and to be brutally honest, time and money are tight and I don't think a proper developmental edit is a possibility right now. Luckily, I have a few eager beta/ARC readers who promise to look over it with a discerning eye, and the self-editing craft books I've read have been super helpful.
Here's my main question (sorry about my rambling yet again ☹️) - can agents look at a handful of sample pages or be familiar with the story idea and the writer's style and say something like 'yeah, there's potential here, go for it, someone might like it, but it's not for me' or, conversely 'honestly, don't bother, stick to self-publishing, I'm sure there are a few less discerning readers who might go for this, as odd as it is, good luck to you!' In other words, a blunt assessment of how 'publishable' an author is, no matter how much it might hurt.
Glad it was helpful to you! I missed the notes brouhaha, so I don't know the ins and outs of why people were upset – surely the manuscript is the most important thing? – but I do think there is some prioritising needed. You just can't read all of everything, or represent everybody, but I do think you learn to identify quite quickly what is a book for you and what isn't. Many agents get 500+ subs a month, and even reading a couple of pages of each of those is 1000 pages of reading, on top of existing clients.
On synopses these are not for my own books, of which I have written zero. But when I worked in-house often a synopsis was needed (for marketing, sales, award entries etc.) and I sometimes wrote those. I also do quite a lot of query-package reviews for authors and rework or rewrite their synopses if they aren't right yet.
But to your main question! I just don't know if that's possible. You could look at an idea/outline and say how commercial it is – though even then there is so much subjectivity involved – but when it comes to the writing style that can change so much. I have turned down many authors/books over the years because the writing wasn't strong enough, but a few years on after more practice it's infinitely stronger. Also different authors' bars for choosing when to self-publish will be different; some might get tired of waiting after only a few months of querying, others will want to persevere for longer – and there are countless stories of authors getting a traditional publishing deal after several years or several novels trying. (Also I don't think self-publishing is necessarily the plan b after not getting a traditional deal, or that it's the route for books which aren't 'good enough' for trad publishing. Many times publishers have turned things down and then they have really taken off when self-published, and for some genres/authors (i.e. romance where the author is writing several books a year) self-publishing is a better model than traditional publishing, which is v slow and rigid.) But in terms of saying 'persevere, there's something here' or 'this is not the path for you' it feels reductive to be honest. If the current idea or the current writing isn't there yet, that doesn't mean that the next idea (or even a developed version of the current one) or the writing after the author has honed their craft some more won't be completely different. I don't think I could ever hand on heart say to anyone that they will never be good enough to be published, if they are willing to put the work in to get there (whether they have the right idea at the right time for the right publisher is another question!).
Ahh, good question! Comparison titles. So you might say your novel is 'Gone Girl meets Black Mirror' or 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for fans of Mad Max' (I made both of those up). You can comp to books or films or TV shows, and sometimes it's helpful to pull out specific elements from those comps that your novel has (the psychological complexity of Patricia Highsmith, for example), especially if you're struggling to find a really close comp. Phoebe Morgan wrote a really great post on this recently! https://honesteditor.substack.com/p/comp-titles-what-are-they-why-do
Yes, exactly! It helps agents and editors (and later sales people and readers) work out what your book is/where it sits in the market/what readers it is targeting.
Thank you for the insights. I found several points that clarify expectations. Please keep educating us.
Love this breakdown — clear, actionable, and kind without sugarcoating. Querying feels like shouting into the void, but posts like this remind me there’s a real human (and sometimes even a full-manuscript binge!) on the other side.
Yes, real humans who are so appreciative of authors sending their work and longing to find something absolutely unputdownable!!
Thank you for such a generous insight into the submission package from the agent’s side of the table. I do love that Substack is a place for writers to find agents, such as you, who offer these pearls of wisdom. Being in the trenches can be a daunting place to hang out!
This was such a helpful post, especially the information about the synopsis. I know many writers who struggle with it, so it's reassuring to have that reminder that it's a technical document and needs to convey the entire story. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, there's so much confusing advice out there about the synopsis, but a synopsis is the whole story, start to finish – not a pitch for the book! (The latter can go in your covering letter.)
I hope to finish this (hopefully final) draft of my WIP and start querying in the next few months, so this was super helpful! Thank you for everything you do 🫶
Good luck with your WIP and querying when you get there! Thank you so much for reading.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this, Abigail! It’s so helpful to learn from the insight and wisdom of someone who is familiar with the industry, and I really appreciate you making this available to everyone. I hope all is going well with your move into acquisitions!
All your posts are useful, but this one is top notch - it answers so many of the questions I have about submissions, thank you 😊
There was a minor brouhaha on notes the other day about some agent who admitted she ignores the query letter and synopsis and only reads the first couple of pages of the manuscript. People seemed upset about that, but considering how busy agents get, it is understandable. You sound like a conscientious and professional agent, and any writer would be lucky to have you.
btw, that is NOT poor parenting at all! That's being efficient and I'd even argue modelling good habits - reading, especially when something grips you. I've done the same with my daughter plenty of times, we don't judge 😉
I'm curious, when you say you've written many synopses, is that for your own books you're writing? Or on behalf of clients?
I might pop into chat at some point and ask some questions, also to see if any other subscribers care to chime in, maybe share some feedback.
I'll briefly share what's on my mind - I'm writing a post about this right now and trying to clarify my thinking process. I wrote my novel as a personal thing, with no intention of trying to get it published. I love writing and hate all the other stuff, the marketing, etc and I am bursting with ideas and I had the idea, once I realised how much fun I had writing my novel, to churn these out on a regular basis. I can already envisage the sequels, spin-offs...I'm getting ahead of myself. My ambitions and expectations are modest. I'm not trying to produce high-brow works of literary art, just some whimsical, fun, light-hearted, escapist material. The plan was to write the draft, tidy it up a bit with some editing here and there, serialise it, and just write, write, write.
Now? I'm curious about whether there's more potential am considering submitting it somewhere. A few people have told me to go for it, but...it needs much more work, and to be brutally honest, time and money are tight and I don't think a proper developmental edit is a possibility right now. Luckily, I have a few eager beta/ARC readers who promise to look over it with a discerning eye, and the self-editing craft books I've read have been super helpful.
Here's my main question (sorry about my rambling yet again ☹️) - can agents look at a handful of sample pages or be familiar with the story idea and the writer's style and say something like 'yeah, there's potential here, go for it, someone might like it, but it's not for me' or, conversely 'honestly, don't bother, stick to self-publishing, I'm sure there are a few less discerning readers who might go for this, as odd as it is, good luck to you!' In other words, a blunt assessment of how 'publishable' an author is, no matter how much it might hurt.
Glad it was helpful to you! I missed the notes brouhaha, so I don't know the ins and outs of why people were upset – surely the manuscript is the most important thing? – but I do think there is some prioritising needed. You just can't read all of everything, or represent everybody, but I do think you learn to identify quite quickly what is a book for you and what isn't. Many agents get 500+ subs a month, and even reading a couple of pages of each of those is 1000 pages of reading, on top of existing clients.
On synopses these are not for my own books, of which I have written zero. But when I worked in-house often a synopsis was needed (for marketing, sales, award entries etc.) and I sometimes wrote those. I also do quite a lot of query-package reviews for authors and rework or rewrite their synopses if they aren't right yet.
But to your main question! I just don't know if that's possible. You could look at an idea/outline and say how commercial it is – though even then there is so much subjectivity involved – but when it comes to the writing style that can change so much. I have turned down many authors/books over the years because the writing wasn't strong enough, but a few years on after more practice it's infinitely stronger. Also different authors' bars for choosing when to self-publish will be different; some might get tired of waiting after only a few months of querying, others will want to persevere for longer – and there are countless stories of authors getting a traditional publishing deal after several years or several novels trying. (Also I don't think self-publishing is necessarily the plan b after not getting a traditional deal, or that it's the route for books which aren't 'good enough' for trad publishing. Many times publishers have turned things down and then they have really taken off when self-published, and for some genres/authors (i.e. romance where the author is writing several books a year) self-publishing is a better model than traditional publishing, which is v slow and rigid.) But in terms of saying 'persevere, there's something here' or 'this is not the path for you' it feels reductive to be honest. If the current idea or the current writing isn't there yet, that doesn't mean that the next idea (or even a developed version of the current one) or the writing after the author has honed their craft some more won't be completely different. I don't think I could ever hand on heart say to anyone that they will never be good enough to be published, if they are willing to put the work in to get there (whether they have the right idea at the right time for the right publisher is another question!).
Thank you so much for your thorough and detailed answer, much appreciated!
I have such happy memories of reading submissions. So many great writers out there! Carry on!!
Quick question - what are comps?
Ahh, good question! Comparison titles. So you might say your novel is 'Gone Girl meets Black Mirror' or 'Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow for fans of Mad Max' (I made both of those up). You can comp to books or films or TV shows, and sometimes it's helpful to pull out specific elements from those comps that your novel has (the psychological complexity of Patricia Highsmith, for example), especially if you're struggling to find a really close comp. Phoebe Morgan wrote a really great post on this recently! https://honesteditor.substack.com/p/comp-titles-what-are-they-why-do
That’s really helpful Abigail. I did think ‘comparison’ but you’ve gone further still with the definition. Thank you.
My understanding is that comps are other books, movies, TV shows, etc. that have a similar vibe or similar story to your manuscript.
Yes, exactly! It helps agents and editors (and later sales people and readers) work out what your book is/where it sits in the market/what readers it is targeting.