My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a freelance book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey-whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
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Hi Alyssa, are agencies employing AI or Scanning software to feed queries through? I submitted a query letter and the first 25 pages per the agency's submission guidelines and fully expected the 8 week turn around quoted on their site. But, much to my dismay, was sent a form rejection within 48 hours. I'm certain that all of my material sent wasn't read and analyzed that fast which is why i ask. Or do some agencies read the plot paragraph of a letter and make an immediate judgement regardless if they asked for pages also? Thank you for your time and help to all us newbies!
QueryTracker is great resource & is well worth the $25 annual fee.
If you had a professional editor for your completed manuscript, would it be worthwhile to mention this in your query letter?
Beta readers and editors are important
Beta helped me to point out some issues before I give it to my editor. She then as well points out other issues before I query it to agents after I addressed these issues I think should be looked at. Sadly, still getting rejections but I also queried only a handful of agents at this stage.
Wow, You're useless.
Very interesting!
Looove this!! I have so much work to do!!
👍
My problem: I can't get an agent to look at my manuscripts. I get rejected at the querying stage. Sigh! 😞
Benny Shepherd gets beat up at school and his jacket is ripped. Because his family is poor, he goes out to the shed where the boxes of his older brother's stuff have been stacked for 10 years to look for a jacket he can wear. He finds the THE DIARY OF DANIEL SHEPHERD in a box of his brother's keepsakes and follows clues from Daniel's memoirs to solve a decade old mystery.
Somewhat related question to the POV one you just answered. My book is told exclusively from the POV of one character, except for the first chapter (1500-1800 words) that has the POV of a different character, which only appears in the first chapter, then is gone from the book. The reason is that the protagonist of the book "manipulates" people's lives behind the scenes without them realizing. What my first chapter does is, essentially, I show this second character having a really bad day with a lot of bad luck, but it seems not to be anything more than just bad luck (they try to catch a train and fail). Then, for the last 200 words or so of the chapter, there's a chapter break, then the POV switches to the protagonist, revealing that this "bad luck" was actually her doing. Does that sound okay? I keep hearing about how you shouldn't start a story with a different character's POV, and while I believe in what I did, it is starting to get to me
Developmental editing is so expensive 😢
Spot on what I wanted to know. You’re very helpful. Thank you.
Waiting for a few beta readers right now, in fact.
thanks for sharing! im in nursing school, in my last year. im so tempted to get a writing class in the winter term. im not sure about my sched though, nursing is tough and our schedules are all over the place.
Hi Alyssa, to be honest - I don't even know how to post this question to you without going into a long explanation, but here goes. I have written a book (crime with a bit of romance) and it is nearing 'completion'. The problem I have is that currently I have roughly 105k words and I still have a few chapters to finish. My question is this. I thought about splitting my book in two, but the story allows for one stand alone book. Is going beyond 110k words a 'no-go' ? I can imagine that you shave off quite a bit of word-count when you start to revise and edit? Also, is it acceptable to have 4-5 chapters, each solely focusing on the 5 characters? Starting in 2013 and ending 10years later? Each culminating at the exact point where my original book starts?
My head hurts
This is incredibly helpful. I'm in the process of querying, and the more I know about the process, and thinking about my novel, the better. Thank you!
So glad it was helpful! Best of luck with querying!
Hi, I've come up with a lot of stories. I'm right now doing children books and chapter books for a younger audience (older elementary/junior high ages). I'm hoping you may have some tips or could answer any questions I have. If not, would you know someone that might help. 1) Do you go through the same process for traditional publishing or is there any difference since its a children's book? 2) Any idea how to get an Illustrator for the chapter books for young readers? 3) is it wise to submit a whole short children's book to a publishing company? If you can help or know someone that can, I really appreciate it. Enjoy watching your videos. Get good tips and ideas before I try publishing any of my work.
Thanks so much!
Very informative video. You should look for author Stacy James Meadows. Anyway great video that is really informative. ❤
Great video, but subtitles are in (presumably poorly translated) Vietnamese!
The querying process is brutal. I’ve been sending them out for over a year now without a single nibble.
I love that smile you got when you said that querying freaking sucks, haha
This channel is hands-down the best on "Writers' KZread". Matesic's' years of breaking rocks in the mines of Big Five publishers and agencies yields gems other channels just don't have. My biggest fear now is that she'll get a dream offer from P/RH or somesuch before my MS is in good enough shape to work with her.
Thank you for the information. Do i need to copyright first? I did not see this addressed in the two videos I watched. I may have missed it.
Naive question: Could a writer in this situation (agented but book hasn't sold to publisher yet) keep working with an agent under the premise that the agent will join a new agency? Or start their own agency?
Great info. What is an average royalty %?
Thanks ✨️ 😊
First question is kind of bizarre; it's hardly occurred to me to invest anything financial into publishing my book, let alone my life's savings? With the exception of maybe an editor or unless you're self-publishing, publishing should be free (in fact, you should be paid for it).
These are really interesting (and sometimes hilarious) stories, Alyssa! It can honestly be pretty fun getting a peek behind the curtain that is your life. Thank you for sharing.
General question that I struggle to find an answer to. Most advice about embedding is about the trigger and transistion into the next scene. I have a few Flashbacks (Im writing a thriller) that show the relationship of one of the two main characters to a childhood friend that pops up later in the story as a antagonistic figure. However its not in the way like: "This Smell brought her back to the time of...." and transitions out in a "A loud noise ripped her out of her thoughts" type of way. I have the flashback (roughly 1200 words) that shows one instance from their past and I plugged it in as a seperate chapter shortly before the person resurfaces. I cant seem to find anything to how these kind of flashbacks work. Do they work? Is that bad writing? Am I allowed to just shove it in there with a "10 years earlier". (I didnt do that. I just reference that its her shortly before her 18th birthday while shes in her 30th in the main story time line.
Three year old video about finding an agent today??? If you have a good book on Amazon and Apple, agents will find you
Thank you for these - you always give advice that you don’t see elsewhere! 🩷
Thanks for another amazing video!!!
I appreciate your input. You are a wealth of knowledge.
Tysm for this. I think my story will be a novella, and I'm gonna go ahead and query it. Even tho it's fantasy. Tho this will be after I have beta readers offer their criticisms and re edit it a few more times
Is it ok to query the same agency if it is a different book months or years later? If so, can it be the same agent at that agency?
I think she answered this in the previous video?
@Jus-X nice I totally missed/misunderstood that 1. Seems like it depends both on the guidelines and the response. Ty. I still wonder if it's better to then try a different agent or the same after the waiting period if they are open to it?
@@absolutelycitron1580 depends as well. Some agencies will say if you don't get a response, consider it a no. It's good to read all the guidelines. Me personally, I'm only considering requerying this one agent because of he feedback they gave, and the revisions I'm making.
I get my first three chapters developmentally edited since these are the main ones agents will read. Beta is all good and so, but the other still finds some issues that helps me to flesh out the story even more. Although still getting rejections, many of them have been somewhat personal that gives me more hope on getting the right agent and improve my writing too.
Thanks. I was curious about it as well when to implement multiple POV's.
I have a question for you: When querying an agent, should I tell him/her that the submission I'm sending them is the first in a series? (I've already written 5 novels featuring the same characters and situations, and I've got plot ideas for a few more. I just can't leave them alone for more than a month or so before returning to them.) Or should I wait to mention the other books until the agent requests the first manuscript?
Great question. The advice I've received on the matter is that it's okay to mention you're planning a series but to focus on the main book you're querying, as agents are more concerned with the single manuscript. After the manuscript gets published and is successful, your agent will likely ask about the next in the series.
@@Jus-X Thanks. I wonder what Alyssa would say.
@@jimgilbert9984 I think (but am not 100%, so take this with a grain of salt) I heard her mention this before??? I follow a few different content creators in the industry, so I might be wrong.
@@Jus-X OK, thanks.
Hi there - when querying, I generally suggest presenting your novel as a standalone "with series potential." I talk a bit more about this in another video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/n5Zss897fMadZbQ.html I hope that's helpful!
Hi there, I'm an elderly man and am working on my first book. Because I'm on a fixed income and need my income to be fairly steady I'm concerned that an advance might put too high a spike in my income for me to remain in the bracket that I'm currently in and then leave me in a bracket that I can't afford to be in. My question is with traditional publishing if my book is accepted is there a way to get the publisher to give me a small advance that will not push me too far from where I'm at financially right now? I would have no problem with a steady or somewhat steady increase in my income, it's just the idea of a major spike that would mess up the steadiness of my income. I suspect that this might be a strange question, but it's how things are for me.
On the trilogy question, I favor completing the first draft of the opening novel, then begin preparing the second novel while the first is percolating in your mind. Once you have a rough draft of the second novel, start revising the first novel. After that, prepare the third novel before doing initial revisions to the second volume. By now you'll probably have things that came up in the later volumes that will affect the first volume, so it's time to go back and work them in. By the time you're ready to query the first novel you'll have refined drafts of all three installments and can explain exactly what all three novels will be about.
I didn't even know I wanted to do a series. I wrote one book, went onto the second, then the third, then because of the full lore added to the 2nd and 3rd, I went back to book 1 and rewrote the entire thing from cover to cover with the lore to the other books in mind.
Hello! I do have a question that maybe you can address in a future video: do you need to complete the book before you start your query?
Starting your query while you are in the midst of writing can be helpful in keeping you on track, seeing how your work presents, and pinpointing how you can market it/make it stand out. You can always make adjustments as you go. You’ll want a completed manuscript prior to querying agents though. If they like your query you will need to have a completed manuscript and synopsis on hand to share immediately if they request it. This advice is for works of fiction. Nonfiction differs a bit, but Alyssa covers many related topics if you go into her backlog of videos.
Just discovered your very professional and to-the-point channel. Well done. Will definitely look into your editing services when my next book is completed.
Nice haircut Alyssa :)
Hey Alyssa, thanks for your tips and vids! Great production and writing 🙂 I've just finished my first novel! Yayyyyy. Completing the 3rd revision because that's just how the flow is. I'm thinking of going the self-publishing route and making it avail through Amazon and then this summer sitting out on the Venice beach boardwalk, where I live, and selling it there over the summer. Collect some data, book cover colors, etc, then full release next fall. I'm a video writer/producer ~ Dumb Owl Productions + Benjaja on KZread ~ we've won some Telly awards four scripted series web content and more cool things that show some credibility. Thank you for your video's ! They're super helpful and I look forward to watching more!
When you say you'd need to lay out the groundwork for yhe entire trilogy if that's what you're writing (at least) how exactly would a publisher want to see this outline? Would oyu need to provide a synopsis for the 2nd and 3rd books even if you haven't written much about them yet? Or submit some sort of plot-plan document outlying everythign your considering? Cause i'm about 5 chapters into book 2 while i'm putting the finishing editing touches on book 1 and i have no detailed planned-out documentation on 2 or 3, but i have both roughly planned out in a skeletal-structure manner in my head.
Hey Alyssa. I know your expertise is in prose novels but do you have any knowledge about the comic/graphic novel process? I am writting a script for one and I have so many questions but one I don’t know the answer to is do I need an editor for a comic? It’s not like the words are the final product and a lot of the story is dependent on the artist.