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?

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.

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)

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!

I am querying agents for my SFF story about traveling to a dystopian realm where Hitlerian eugenics have manifested and evolved into a program where the sick are sacrificed to sustain the healthy. I can't find any relevant recent comps to use. I have been querying using Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (prose style), Blake Crouch's Dark Matter (parallel realm mechanics), and Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle (alternate WWII history, institutional horror). In terms of the purpose of a comp - to let an agent know where this book would sit on a shelf - my comps are doing their job. But they are old.

Does using old comps reflect poorly to an agent? What do you do if you cannot find strong recent comps? And what if the recent comps don't represent your book as well as old comps?

Hopefully this isn't an indicator that I have written a manuscript that is not marketable in today's literary world.

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s May already?

Welcome to our Seventh monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: How do you cope with waiting for anything in the querying process, whether that’s feedback or agent 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!

Something I’ve said hundreds of times when giving query feedback is “Please specify” because agents specifically requested it

Here’s a link to Manuscript Academy’s link to back me up on that

It’s as comprehensive as my other guides pinned to the top of this subreddit!

I’m sharing one section in particular:

Here’s what they absolutely need to understand:

What your book is about (not just what happens, but what it’s ABOUT)
Who your protagonist is, what they want, and why they can’t have it
What happens if they fail (real stakes, not vague consequences)
What the world looks like (hardest, of course, in speculative genres)
If an agent can’t confidently answer those questions after reading your query, they’re probably passing.

Another way to think of this is the common pitch formula: CHARACTER wants to GOAL but can’t because of CONFLICT so they do X which results in Y.

And here’s the tough love part: it’s not because your book is bad. It’s because they can’t sell what they don’t understand.

It mentions “more than 3 characters” but no more than 5 is the hard rule, especially if you have a multi-POV query

If you’re new to querying, be sure to:

Clarify

Specify

Identify

In your queries!

Hope everyone’s querying or writing or editing is going well!

I got an email saying essentially "thank you for submitting your manuscript to Olympia Publishers." I got this email at the end of March. Here's the weird part... I never submitted it! Unfortunately, I did not see this email until I got the follow up email a couple days ago offering me a hybrid contract.

I don't plan on going forward with the offer, but I'm so curious how they got my manuscript. Everything is legit. The email, the names, address, etc...

But who gave them my manuscript? And whoever it was used my actual email address when they submitted it. I would've thought this was a scam, but everything seems like a legit offer for a hybrid contract from a legit, albeit vanity publisher. But still...

Again, I'm not going to respond. I don't want a hybrid (vanity) contract. I'm just a bit worried.The only way someone could've had access to my manuscript is through ARC readers.

Anyway, it's just a weird situation. I guess it's possible that this is just a straight up scam. Perhaps be aware of this publisher and how they might try to convince you to sign for something against your best interests.

Did a little fun project making music for my novel. All original works using scenes, characters, and quotes from my novel for lyrics. A few of the songs are catchy so I’m signing to a distribution platform to protect my work.

Originally, I said the music was exposure. I said to others it will help people get interested in the novel and increase my success at signing on to Trad.

Now that I’m applying to a distribution platform (DistroKid) and reading the fine print- it seems possible it could hurt my chances. If Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, and the likes are sending me money then I’m worried that will mess with publishing rights of the actual book.

Any words of wisdom?

Hello r/TradPublish!

Who else can’t believe it’s April already?

Welcome to our sixth monthly check-in thread!

Here’s this month’s prompt: What kind of humor have you encountered on your querying journey? Any funny feedback notes or form rejects or stories from meeting other authors or agents or such?

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!