Chapter Break

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

For most of my publishing journey, I’ve been working outrageous hours, first as an internal medicine resident, then as a cardiology fellow, and later as a full-time cardiologist (I’m part-time now, thank god.)

All this to say that life has never not been busy for me. I protect that time because I prioritize it. I tell myself that I’m going to get a certain part of a story done by a certain time, then put aside time to sit in front of my computer and get as close to that part as possible!

What IS "upmarket" fiction? 🤔

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:45:57 GMT

Agents want “upmarket fiction.” But what is it?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video about the genres literary agents are requesting most right now, based on QueryTracker’s most-requested genres list.

The standout was upmarket fiction: it’s number three on the most-requested list, but it doesn’t even crack the top ten of what writers are submitting.

If you missed it, here’s the full video:

So what does this mean for the current publishing landscape? As I said in the video, I don’t think it means writers aren’t writing upmarket fiction — they just don’t know they are, because it’s an industry term rather than a section you’ll find in a bookstore.

I summarized Carly Watters’ helpful article that attempts to define upmarket fiction.

And, well, viewers of the video had thoughts.

They’re not wrong. Upmarket can be hazy to define.

But I don’t think the answer is to throw the term out altogether. Commercial, literary, and upmarket can be helpful in describing how a book is written and who it’ll be sold to. There are commercial thrillers, literary thrillers, and upmarket thrillers — but the way they sound on the page will be very different, and the readers who will gravitate toward each one will have vastly different preferences.

None is inherently “better” than the other; the author is just prioritizing different elements of their storytelling.

If you’re querying, it’s helpful to know where your book sits on this spectrum, since it’ll help agents understand if your manuscript fits their list and where it might be placed in the market.

I wrote a book for querying authors…

Get all of my tips and see stats from 4 million real queries

Order your copy!

But because these terms can be difficult to explain in the abstract, I think we should look at some actual examples of prose — which is where the difference actually lives.

So I pulled the opening paragraphs of three published novels: one commercial, one literary, and one upmarket. Let’s analyze the writing and pinpoint what exactly puts them into their respective categories.

Example 1: Commercial

Here’s the opening excerpt from Harlan Coben’s I Will Find You, a commercial thriller:

I am serving the fifth year of a life sentence for murdering my own child.

Do "real" writers write full-time? ✍️

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:50:53 GMT

Being a writer doesn’t mean quitting your day job.

Somewhere along the way, a lot of aspiring authors picked up the idea that “real” writers write full-time — that if you’re serious about your craft, you should be doing it as your day job. But that’s not how most published authors actually live.

The vast majority are working other jobs, raising kids, and writing whenever they find a moment to spare.

Reframe writing as a practice, not a profession.

When you stop chasing the fantasy of writing as your only work, you start building sustainable habits. You protect the hours you do have. You give yourself the mental space to create.

Most books aren’t written in perfect conditions, but in a bunch of in-between moments added up.

In today’s interview, author Rowan Beaird shares the publishing myth she wishes every aspiring author understood, how she protects sacred writing time in a busy life, and the low-tech writing tool that changed her creative process.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Rowan Beaird

Author

Her latest novel, Tenderness, is available now!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

I think a lot of people assume that most writers’ full-time jobs are, well, writing. That is so rarely the case! Even the extraordinarily successful writers I know are also teachers, booksellers, editors, lawyers—the list goes on and on.

When I talk to aspiring writers, I encourage them to think about writing not as a profession, but as a practice. It will almost always be an art you do in concert with something else, and so you need to think about what work can support your writing, giving you both the time and mental space to pursue it as best you can.

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

I always write early in the morning, before the day begins and gets away from me. I have a full-time job, a daughter and husband, family, and friends, and so life always feels hectic, but when I wake up early, when it feels like most of my world is still asleep, there are no interruptions and no excuses. That time is really sacred to me.

I wrote a book for querying authors…

Get all of my tips and see stats from 4 million real queries

Order your copy!

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

I took a workshop with Lauren Groff—a writer who can do no wrong, in my opinion—and she recommended writing by hand. As a result, I wrote the entirety of Tenderness in a notebook.

There are so many studies that reinforce how writing by hand sparks more brain activity; it connects deeper to memory and stimulates more complex thinking. I believe all of that is true, but for me, it’s meaningful because of what it shuts out. There’s no internet, no text notifications, and no music. It allows me to be wholly immersed in the story I’m trying to tell.

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

In an interview, Ian McEwan shared that he doesn’t believe in writer’s block, but he does experience creative hesitation. I like that choice of language, because a block feels out of my control—something solid, impenetrable in my path—but hesitation means that there’s something in the work giving me pause.

I’m choosing to take a breath. In those moments, I like to take detours. Jump to another point in the narrative, or even write a paragraph about a moment in a character’s past that you’re not sure makes any sense to include in the book. You just want to find some place where there’s heat, to remind yourself what that feels like.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“After I revised my book with your great feedback, I obtained multiple offers of rep very quickly, within the first few weeks, even though I was extremely selective and only queried 16 agents in total! We are currently out on submission!”

—Cindy R. X. He, author of Perfect Little Monsters and This Is Where We Die

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

I remind myself that trends change and that there is no formula for success.

Publishing is a business, so people will always be speculating about what genres are dead, whether anyone will read a short story collection, and if a book over 100,000 words will sell.

But books take a long time, so the idea of capitalizing on any zeitgeist is absurd to me! The only thing you can control as a writer is whether you love what you’re working on, and if you do, that will never be time wasted.

ICYMI… last week on YouTube, I share what “upmarket fiction” really is, and how to tell if you’re writing it.

Why this bestselling author doesn't care about the market 😯

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:43:21 GMT

Are you genuinely excited about your story?

For a moment, put your readers aside. Don’t think about what’s on the top of bestseller charts. Forget about the publishing industry entirely.

With all of that stripped away, does your story still call to you? Do you feel excited about it independent of everything else?

Write the book you want to read.

When you write for yourself first, the process stays fun, playful, and surprising — and that energy will show on the page.

Readers can feel the difference between a book written for the love of the story and a book written in an attempt to engage them.

In today’s interview, Sunday Times bestselling author and former CIA analyst David McCloskey shares why writing for yourself is the only strategy that lasts, the “less is more” mantra from his longtime editor, and the daily longhand ritual that keeps his mind clear enough to write.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

David McCloskey

Sunday Times bestselling author and former CIA analyst

His new novel, London Station, is available for pre-order now and where all books are sold on September 29th.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

I write for myself, not for readers, not for an audience, not for a market. I write stories that I want on my bedside table.

I find that reminding myself of this throughout the process helps keep it fun and playful and surprising. And I think (hope?) that is reflected in what becomes the final story.

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

Less is more. One of the first lessons from Star Lawrence, who became my longtime editor at W.W. Norton.

More words, more complexity, more description, more...stuff in the book. These are not usually good things. Stories are more effective when they are stripped down to the bare bones of what matters.

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

The second draft. By then I’ve usually found the basic arc of the story and the main characters. The grueling digging is done, and now I can start to play around and begin making the brushstrokes that the reader eventually sees in the final product.

Are you querying this year?

We wrote this book to make the process easier…

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

I write three pages, longhand in a notebook, at the start of the day. This can be a list of things I need to do, or my reflections on the story, or on an argument I’ve had with my kid.

It doesn’t have to be linked to the novel I’m working on, and quite often it is totally separate. I find this helps me declutter my mind, and then I can use that free space to dip back into the story.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

I’m fortunate to be able to treat writing as a 9-5 job. When life gets busy for someone who’s got a “normal” job, that doesn’t give them license to stop going to the office. It’s the same for me when I’m writing.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share why I disagree with Freida McFadden’s advice to aspiring authors.

The hard part of publishing most authors don't expect 😔

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:45:46 GMT

Publishing your debut isn’t the end of the story.

Every aspiring author spends years imagining that moment — the book deal, the launch day, the finished copy in their hands. But few realize that the emotional dip after the debut can be one of the hardest parts of the whole journey.

Because when the goal you’ve been chasing finally happens, there’s a strange quiet on the other side of it.

The best cure? Fall in love with the next book.

The authors who last don’t wait for their debut to define them. They keep writing. They stay focused on what they can control — their craft — instead of the parts of publishing that are out of their hands.

That mindset shift is the difference between a one-book career and a lifelong one.

In today’s interview, senior literary agent Mary C. Moore shares the emotional letdown most debut authors don’t see coming, the mindset that helps writers weather publishing’s ups and downs, and the eye-opening reality of how many queries actually lead to representation.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Mary C. Moore

Senior Literary Agent at Aevitas

Really keen for layered book club fiction, light speculative/genre elements welcome!

Submission guidelines on her website, marycmoore.com.

What’s one challenge most debut authors don’t see coming, and how do you help them navigate it?

The debut “come-down.” Typically up to the point of debuting, all of an author’s focus and energy has gone into one concept, to publish a book. They’ve spent months/years honing their craft and searching for a literary agent. They’ve spent months/years on submission to editors. They’ve endured rejection and questioned if it was all worth it.

Then they get the book deal, and the surge of excitement and anticipation carries them through the pre-publication ups and downs and post-publication high. But most debut results don’t live up to the expectations of the author, and even those that do, there comes a moment of let down, when the author realizes that part is done and now the milepost has moved.

Hopefully at this point I’ve done a good job of both prepping them for that moment as well as steered their focus and attention on to their next project so that we are deeply invested in the next thing.

What is one piece of advice you would give to a writer who aspires to be published?

If possible, always look towards your next project. Have your focus be on what you can control, your writing. Once your book is on submission, you will have to let go quite a bit, as it’s in the hands of others. And once it’s published, it’s then in the hands of readers. You can’t predict how people will react to your work, but if you are already working on your next, you can tune out a lot of that noise.

Are you querying this year?
Check out my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

ORDER NOW!

What’s one thing querying writers worry about too much, and one thing they’re not thinking about enough?

I could be wrong, but it seems to me querying writers worry too much about small errors in their submission material, instead of thinking about the bigger picture, i.e. who their target audience is and how their book fits the market.

Approximately how many queries do you receive per year, and how many of those result in an offer of representation?

When I’m open to queries, I get almost a thousand a month. I have to shut down to queries often just to keep up. And I only sign around 3-5 new clients a year. I sometimes track the data on my blog, breaking it down further.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

Can you share a client success story or a motivating anecdote for writers who feel may discouraged about publishing?

I once signed a client after their manuscript was sitting in my submissions for almost a year. And now their debut is coming out! I try not to make a habit of sitting on manuscripts (as well as check in with the idling submission), but sometimes it really is a matter of finding the space to not only read a manuscript but to visualize what is needed to sell it.

We get so many queries that if a submission doesn’t jump out right away as something we are confident we can sell, but it also tickles our intuition as having potential, then it might take more time for us to make a decision on it.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share line-by-line critiques of real subscriber query letters with my co-author, Patrick McDonald of QueryTracker.

Authors always overthink this part of the query 😵‍💫

Alyssa Matesic — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:39:27 GMT

Hi authors,

This week has genuinely been the highlight of my career, and I’m so grateful to every one of you who has ordered The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents or simply followed along with these lessons.

It’s the final day of Query Prep Week, and today we’re covering the last piece of your query letter — and the one authors tend to get the most (unnecessarily) anxious about:

Your bio.

Good news: this is the easiest section to write, and it carries far less weight than you think.

Your fifth lesson: keep your bio simple

Yesterday, you figured out how to pick appropriate comp titles. (Here's the link if you missed it.)

Now, it’s time to close out your query letter with some information about you.

The fear I hear constantly is some version of: “I’ve never published anything, so I have nothing to put in my bio. Won’t an agent immediately reject me for that?”

No. Agents sign debut authors with no writing publications or credentials ALL the time.

In fact, in our survey of agents we conducted for our book, 60% said the average new author they sign has “no formal writing experience or credentials.”

So don’t worry, agents don’t ask for a bio because they want to see a list of literary achievements. If you have experience, great! But if you’re a newbie, no sweat, and you’re in great company.

You simply want to tell the agent who you are in a few sentences and highlight anything that makes you especially suited to have written this particular book.

That’s it.

Your Day 5 assignment

Write your bio in 2-3 sentences. Here’s what belongs in it, in order of what I would mention first:

✅ Prior publications (if you have them). Short fiction, essays, journalism, anthologies, other books (even if in a different genre). If you don’t have any, skip this entirely. No problem.

✅ Writing credentials (if you have them). An MFA, a notable workshop or residency, an award. Only if it’s substantive — a general creative writing course anyone can take doesn’t necessarily need a mention. Again, skip if you don’t have any.

✅ What you do/did for work. This helps the agent understand how creative writing fits into your life and what background you bring to your story. It’s interesting for an agent to know, for example, if you’re an ER nurse writing a medical drama, a lawyer writing legal thrillers, or you spent a decade working in the region your novel is set in!

✅ Where you’re based. Agents will eventually need to know this if you engage in a professional relationship, and it’s helpful to know since they’re hearing from people all around the world.

And here’s what to leave out:

❌ Your age, or how long you’ve been working on the book

❌ Unrelated jobs or hobbies with no relevance to the book

❌ Your educational background unless relevant to what you’re writing

❌ Your plans for future books (you can discuss this with any interested agent on “the call”)

You now have a complete query letter!

Look at everything you’ve built this week:

A manuscript you’ve confirmed is genuinely ready
A killer description that makes agents want to read it
Accurate genre, age category, and word count information
Comp titles that prove there’s a market for your book
A bio that contains what agents actually want to know

Everything else you need to know — including how to build an agent list, how to strategically send your queries, and how to interpret the replies — is in our book.

Thank you for making launch week so special. Now go forth and query with confidence!

Alyssa

Comp titles aren't as hard as you think (I promise) 🙌

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:35:19 GMT

Hi authors,

Wow. Your messages and posts this week have been absolutely incredible. I’ve never felt so supported, and it means everything to me!

The best part has been seeing photos of The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents on your desks, in your cars, with you on your off days — that’s exactly what Patrick and I hoped for.

I know many of you are gearing up to query (or send out a fresh batch of queries) after Labor Day, so let’s make sure your letter is top-notch.

It’s Day 4 of Query Prep Week, and today we’re tackling the part of the query letter authors dread most:

Comp titles.

I promise, they’re not as difficult as you think!

Your fourth lesson: avoiding common comp pitfalls

I’ll often hear authors bemoan that there are simply no comp titles for their book because “nothing like this has ever been published before.”

They think this is a good thing, that it means their book is incredibly unique and special.

But it’s actually missing the point.

Comps are meant to illustrate to an agent — and your eventual publisher — that there is market and reader demand for your book.

So if you’re saying there are no comp titles, you’re saying there is no market for it. That’s not what someone looking to invest in your book wants to hear.

Agents need to picture the reader who will pick up your novel, the shelf it sits on, and the editor they’d send it to. Good comps are how you paint them that picture.

Yes, this means you will probably need to research (and read) recently published books in your genre if you’re not already familiar with them. But this will be time well-spent, because you’ll be learning about the publishing segment that you’re looking to enter.

Your Day 4 assignment

I want you to identify five potential comp titles — you aren’t going to use all five (I recommend 2-3 max), but you want to widen your options in case some don’t end up being a good fit.

Now run each one against the following criteria:

✅ Published in the last five years. You want comp titles to reflect the current book market and reader demand. Recency is one of the most important comp qualifications — and too-old comps are something an agent will immediately spot. That means do not use classic novels as comps!

✅ In your genre and age category. If you’re writing an adult thriller, don’t comp to a YA thriller or an adult fantasy novel (unless you have very good and clear justification). Comp to other adult thrillers — there should be plenty of novels in your genre for you to explore.

✅ Traditionally published. You’re querying literary agents because you want to be traditionally published, so the comps you use also should be traditionally published rather than self-published. If you’re unsure, check the publisher’s name listed on Amazon.

✅ Successful, but not a phenomenon. Skip all mega-bestsellers. Gone Girl and The Hunger Games aren’t realistic comps (plus they’re too old at this point), and highlighting them in your query letter may suggest that you don’t know any books beyond the huge mainstream hits.

For the comps that meet all of these criteria, the next step is to figure out what exactly your book shares with each one.

Read (or at least read a substantial portion of) each finalist and ask: What about this is similar to my book? What common ground would a reader notice across both stories?

It might be the structure, the tone, the setting, the voice, a character, or the theme. Make sure to mention that specific element in the query letter so the agent understands why you chose that comp. (If you can’t find any shared elements or it feels like a stretch, take that comp out of the running.)

Check out our never-before-seen querying data

Our book gives you an insider look into what actually works when querying:

📈 What percentage of successful query letters contained comp titles

📈 How many new clients agents sign on average per year

📈 Real data on agents’ average response times from millions of queries

📈 How many queries authors sent before getting an offer of representation

Tomorrow is the final day of Query Prep Week — where we’ll put together the final missing piece of your query letter so you’re ready to send it out!

Happy querying!

Alyssa

Your word count might be hurting your query 👀

Alyssa Matesic — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 12:45:47 GMT

Hi authors,

This week has been a dream come true. It warms my heart to see so many of you finally receiving The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents! (If you preordered it, keep checking your mailbox — it should be there any day now!)

We’re onto Day 3 of Query Prep Week, so let’s talk about some critical pieces of your query letter that don’t get nearly enough attention:

Your book’s “metadata” (genre, age category, and length).

Your third lesson: understanding what the heck you wrote

Yesterday, you drafted an irresistible description that will make agents dive into your pages. (Here’s the link if you missed it.)

But many agents will check three basic facts about your book before even diving into your description:

Your genre
Your age category
Your word count

These feel like formalities — and some authors leave them out of the query letter altogether. Don’t do that! Agents need to have this information upfront.

Not all agents represent all genres and age categories, so getting those wrong means querying agents who were never going to say yes, no matter how good your pages are.

And a word count far outside the industry norm can hurt your odds: in our survey of agents, 11% cited problematic length as their most common reason for rejecting a query.

Your Day 3 assignment (from the book)

Let’s audit your book’s metadata together to make sure you’re presenting it accurately.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Identify your age category. Who is your target reader? Don’t say “everyone!” While your book very well may appeal to people across ages, you need to know who the bulk of your readers will be.

Here are the four age categories typically used in traditional publishing for fiction:

Picture Book (ages 4–8)
Middle Grade (ages 8–12)
Young Adult (ages 12–18)
Adult (ages 18+)
Note: New Adult (ages 18–25) is sometimes considered its own category, and sometimes treated as part of Adult.

📚 Nail down your genre. Our book contains an exhaustive list of all the genres available in QueryTracker.

The best way to confirm you chose the right one: read recent books in the genre you think you’re writing in. Would yours appeal to the same readers? Authors regularly discover their book actually belongs somewhere else — and that changes your entire agent list.

Many authors blend elements from multiple genres, which is great, but for querying purposes, you’ll want to identify the primary genre. For example, if you have a novel set in a historical period that also has a romance subplot, it’s probably still historical fiction rather than romance.

📊 Check your word count. Manuscripts that are way over or way under the standard length for your age category and genre are more likely to be rejected. Here are some general guidelines (yes, there are always exceptions, but try to keep within these if possible):

Picture Book: 500–1,000 words
Middle Grade: 20,000–50,000 words
Young Adult: 50,000–90,000 words
Adult: 60,000–100,000 words

Put them all together at the beginning of your query:

TITLE is an [AGE CATEGORY] [GENRE] novel complete at [WORD COUNT] words.

We know querying is riddled with questions…

These tips are just the start. Our book answers all the questions you’re losing sleep over, like:

❓ How long will agents actually take to respond to my query?

❓ What are the top reasons agents reject queries?

❓ How many queries does the average author send before signing?

❓ How much writing experience are agents looking for in new authors?

❓ What are my real odds of getting an offer of representation?

I’ll be back tomorrow for Day 4’s lesson — where we’ll cover the most dreaded aspect of the query letter.

Happy querying!

Alyssa

How to make your book sound irresistible 🤩

Alyssa Matesic — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:34:38 GMT

Hi authors,

I can’t believe it: The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents is OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED! 🎉

And it’s a #1 New Release! 🤯

I’m so excited for you to get your hands on it and dig into all the data and statistics we’ve gathered, which have never before been available to querying authors.

We won’t sugarcoat it: querying is extremely challenging (read the book to learn exactly how many offers of representation are extended every year), but the more you know about what to expect, the better equipped you’ll be to navigate it.

It’s officially Day 2 of Query Prep Week, so let’s get to work on what’s arguably the most important part of your query letter.

Your second lesson: write an irresistible blurb

Yesterday, you confirmed your manuscript is ready to query. (Here’s the link if you missed it.)

Today we’re tackling the heart of the query letter — and the part agents look at most closely:

The description. This should be the longest section of your query letter, and it’s where you describe your book’s plot (for fiction) or contents (for nonfiction).

The best way to think about it is as a movie trailer for your book. A trailer has one job: to make the viewer desperate to know what happens next.

And that’s exactly what your description needs to do to an agent, so they scroll into your sample pages and then request the full manuscript.

So how do you do that?

Your Day 2 assignment (from the book)

It can feel impossible to distill your story into a two- or three-paragraph description. But remember that the point isn’t to summarize your entire book — you simply won’t have room to mention every secondary character or subplot.

Instead, write down your answers to these 3 key questions, and craft your description around them:

📝 Who is your protagonist, what’s their life currently like, and what makes them interesting? Establish all this at the beginning of your description.

📝 What’s the inciting incident that turns their world upside down? This is where you describe the turning point that sets the plot in motion.

📝 What is their objective, why does it matter, and what problems stand in their way of achieving it? This is the main conflict that your story follows. Be specific, but don’t give away any of your story’s twists or reveals.

That’s really all your description needs — executed well, you’ll give the agent no choice but to read your pages.

There’s WAY more in the book!

Every day this week, we’re sending you one of our key querying lessons for free, but our book includes so much more:

✅ Average response times and offer rates based on MILLIONS of queries

✅ Insights from 140+ agents on why they reject queries

✅ Real successful query letters that landed agents

✅ Nitty-gritty formatting, research, and etiquette guidelines

✅ A step-by-step guide taking you from "am I ready?" to signing an offer

See you tomorrow for Day 3 — where we’ll cover the query letter elements that seem simple but stump so many authors.

Happy querying!

Alyssa

The #1 querying mistake isn't what you think 😮

Alyssa Matesic — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:49:03 GMT

Hi authors,

Tomorrow’s the day I’ve been waiting for for nearly two years: The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents is officially out on the shelves!

To celebrate, my co-author Patrick McDonald (of QueryTracker) and I are officially declaring this Query Prep Week.

Every day this week, you’ll get one of our key querying tips, along with a mini assignment to get you query-ready. By Friday, you’ll be ready to draft a query letter that gets requests.

Your first querying lesson

Today, we’re starting with one of the most difficult, but critical questions querying authors ask us:

“How do I know if I’m ready to query?”

Because the most common querying mistake isn’t…

❌ Querying at the wrong time of year (it really doesn’t matter as much as you think)

❌ Misspelling an agent’s name (try not to, but it happens!)

❌ Choosing the wrong title (agents know titles often change)

❌ Not having publications in your bio

…it’s querying too soon. Before your book is actually ready.

Your Day 1 assignment (from the book)

Check whether your manuscript is truly query-ready by honestly answering:

✅ Is your manuscript (or nonfiction proposal) complete?

✅ Is it an appropriate length for the genre?

✅ Have you gotten constructive feedback?

✅ Have you revised substantially?

✅ Are you confident in the strength of this draft?

You typically only get one shot to pitch an agent your book, which means you need to put the best possible version in front of them. But as an editor, I’ve seen countless writers get hung up on their comp titles, their title, or other relatively small details, when what will really make the difference is working more on their draft.

Don’t query too soon. It’s always worth it to put in extra time to ensure your manuscript is the strongest you can make it.

Last chance to grab your freebies!

If you order your copy of The Modern Guide to Querying Literary Agents TODAY, you’ll get my exclusive fiction and nonfiction query letter templates.

Once you’ve ordered, submit the details here to claim your freebies.

I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow for Query Prep Week Day 2 — where we’ll talk about how to make your book sound irresistible.

Happy querying!

Alyssa

The most misunderstood writing advice 🚫

Alyssa Matesic — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:35:54 GMT

I was on a call with an editing client this week, walking her through my feedback on the latest draft of her novel — a psychological thriller about a woman who returns to her coastal hometown after her estranged sister goes missing.

There was one pivotal scene in the middle of the book where the protagonist confronts her mother for the first time in a decade. This was supposed to be a huge emotional turning point, and the entire novel had been leading up to it.

But on the page, it fell flat.

The scene was nearly all dialogue, and while the characters were articulating their emotions, we didn’t feel the weight of them.

I told my client that she needed to incorporate more of the narrator’s interiority throughout that scene. How do her mother’s comments strike her? What memories pass through her mind as she’s face-to-face with her again?

The author paused, then said hesitantly, “But wouldn’t that be telling the reader stuff instead of showing it to them? I was trying to avoid that…”

I hear some version of this from clients all the time. Because “show, don’t tell” has been drilled so deeply into every writer’s head that they fear any line of narrative interiority will be flagged as “telling” and therefore read as amateurish.

But here’s what’s fundamentally misunderstood about this common advice:

Showing isn’t always better than telling. In fact, sometimes telling is exactly what your story needs.

So I’m on a mission to reframe “show don’t tell” as “show and tell.” Your story needs both, and your job is to figure out how to balance the two effectively.

Let’s talk about how to do just that.

Where “show, don’t tell” comes from

The principle is often attributed to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, who famously said:

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Boiled down, the advice is meant to encourage writers to use sensory detail and action to convey elements of the story, rather than relying on bland, straightforward descriptions.

Showing immerses us in the character’s environment and experience, allowing us to infer things for ourselves. Telling, by contrast, is where the narrator informs us about something rather than putting us inside of it.

For example, we can be told a character is angry. Or, you can show us how that anger manifests: what it actually looks and feels like in their body.

But here’s where writers get tripped up: the advice has been so aggressively drummed into us that it’s often misapplied or taken to extremes. It does not mean you can never tell the reader something.

In fact, without any telling, your story will likely be missing key contextual details, character intent, and emotional depth, like in my client’s manuscript.

But how do you know when to show and when to tell?

Last chance: preorder my book by Tuesday to get my FREE query letter templates!

Order now for freebies!

Why "good" isn't enough to get published 😬

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:40:27 GMT

Traditional publishing isn’t a meritocracy.

Every writer wants to believe that if their book is good enough, it will sell. I wish that were the case. But traditional publishing isn’t a meritocracy; it’s a business.

Every day, strong manuscripts and talented writers get rejected. When your book gets passed on, it doesn’t mean it’s not good. It means an agent or publisher didn’t see a clear path to sell it right now, in this market, to this moment’s readers.

If you can’t beat the market, try to understand it.

Once you separate craft from business, rejection stops feeling so personal. And you can begin to better understand how to position your story for success.

In today’s interview, literary agent and author Jennifer Michelle Herrera shares the tough genre pivot behind her career, why market awareness matters more than most writers realize, and the common opening-pages mistake that causes preventable rejections.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Jennifer Michelle Herrera

Author and Literary Agent

Her new novel SIREN SAYS, available for pre-order now!

Open to queries via QueryTracker from the 1st to the 14th of every month (currently closed to catch up)

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

If you want your book to be traditionally published, then the decision of whether a house will buy your book will ultimately be a market decision. In the same way that music goes through shifts in popular tastes, so too do books. You have to be aware of which books are selling right now in order to sell your own book.

Success is not just about how “good” your book is. It’s also about market trends. Knowing this can help take the sting out of rejection.

What’s something you wish more writers knew about rejection?

Just because your book doesn’t get picked up by a lit agent does not mean it is not good. Our jobs are not to determine whether or not a book is “good.” It’s to determine whether we can sell it.

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

The toughest moment was pivoting genres. I’d written a thriller, which was published in 2023, and I was under contract to write a sequel. However, my book sales didn’t warrant a sequel. So I was basically given a choice: did I want to switch genres and potentially reinvigorate the sales team or “publish out,” meaning that we’d publish the sequel, knowing it probably wouldn’t go anywhere?

Writing a new book in a new genre and shelving the book I’d spent 8 or 9 months on was challenging to say the least! But I find that a sense of humor gets you through just about anything.

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

People look at Goodreads and see these “terrible” books with great reviews or these “great” books with terrible reviews, and they can’t understand it. What I think they’re not grasping is that books with off-the-charts great reviews are more often than not those that have segmented their audience with some precision.

If a book “package” draws in readers who like that kind of book and is unappealing to those outside of the target demographic, it’s going to have better reviews because no one is coming to that book with “wrong” expectations. Once you get that, I think bad reviews are far less upsetting.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

What’s the most common issue you see in manuscripts that keeps you from saying yes?

Those early pages are the hardest to get right.

We need great pacing plus emotional investment in the characters plus a clear sense of motivations/stakes. I often say no when those early pages don’t have that magical combination of all the things. Either the opening is all tension between people I haven’t yet learned to care about or it’s all character development and there’s not enough tension to compel me to keep reading.

How can a writer tell when their manuscript is truly ready to query?

Writers should have writer friends who read their work and give them feedback. You aren’t ready to query until your friends are losing their minds because what you wrote is so good. Your friends are the easy crowd because they already love you. If you can’t get them on board, you’re going to be hard pressed when it comes to getting an agent excited.

What traits or qualities do you look for in a potential client?

I love someone with a good attitude who genuinely wants to put in the work to be a great author and is constantly curious about how to do their craft better. Oftentimes writers let their insecurity (or their ego) get in the way.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

I think about myself as a little kid. That little girl in rural Ohio would not have been able to imagine that I’d be where I am now. When the noise gets to be too much, I remind myself what a privilege it is to be doing this. It shifts me out of a “not enough” mindset and into a gratefulness one.

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

I don’t. At least not right now. I let my brain rest. Many creative people need fallow periods in order to be able to make something beautiful. Our brains need to heal from the Herculean effort of bringing our books into the world. And when my brain wants to rest, I let it rest. And when it doesn’t want to rest because it’s got a story simmering, then the story infiltrates everything I do, whether that means jotting down notes in random moments or just letting myself imagine constantly.

What’s one challenge most debut authors don’t see coming, and how do you help them navigate it?

I don’t think that debuts realize that they are running a small business with this writing thing. (I certainly did not understand this when I was a debut!) That advance money is mostly so you can reinvest in your business. It’s not to spend. I help writers navigate this by having candid conversations about their options for self-promotion (and how to do it in a way that feels good to them). I also draw on my own experiences as an author.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I discuss how a debut author’s $2.5 million book deal collapsed and what it means for all writers trying to get published.

How 100 rejections launched this author's career 📚

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:01:35 GMT

Sometimes rejection is really just redirection.

Getting rejected by nearly a hundred agents on your first book sounds like a writer’s nightmare. But for this author, it was actually the beginning of something much bigger.

Once she figured out the problem with her manuscript running underneath all those rejections, she launched a second career as a writing…

You can write the perfect book — and still get rejected 😬

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:40:12 GMT

There’s so much about publishing you can’t control.

You can’t control which agents just picked up a similar project. You can’t control whether the market is currently hungry for your genre.

You can’t even control whether your book — a genuinely excellent, well-crafted book — gets a single “yes.”

But there’s one thing you can control: what you write and wh…

The #1 reason writers lose their voice 🎤

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 16:41:56 GMT

Do you know what your story truly is about?

When you’re starting a new project, it’s easy to think possibility means leaving everything wide open. But sometimes the most generative thing you can do is define what your story isn’t.

Who are you writing for, truly? What conversation do you want to enter? What are you definitively not writing?

Protect your vis…

Write the story that scares you 😱

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:46:26 GMT

Readers can tell when you’ve done the work.

Readers know when a writer has truly lived inside a topic — when the emotional details are pulled from real experience, real research, real conversations.

That’s what makes a book feel alive instead of just well-written.

The deeper you go, the more readers will follow.

The themes that scare you to write about are …

This author landed a two-book deal. But then...🫤

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:31:19 GMT

Getting published once doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published again.

You can write an excellent book. You can publish with a major house. And your next manuscript can still get rejected.

Not because the writing isn’t there — you’ve already proven you’ve got the chops — but because publishing is an incredibly subjective and ever-changing business.

So fall in love with writing itself.

The authors who make it aren’t the ones chasing bestseller lists or trying to write toward whatever’s trending. They’re the ones who sit down at their desk, forget about the industry for a few hours, and remember why they started telling stories in the first place.

Because the only thing in publishing you can actually control is the words on the page.

In today’s interview, author and editor Elayne Audrey Becker shares the hardest truth she’s faced since her debut, how patience landed her four offers of representation, and the mindset shift that’s keeping her creative flame alive.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

Elayne Audrey Becker

Author and Editor

Her novels FORESTBORN and WILDBOUND are available for purchase now!

What’s been the toughest moment in your publishing journey, and how did you get through it?

After I received a contract for the Forestborn duology, a not insignificant part of me thought, “This is it. My author career has officially launched.” It wasn’t that I expected the books to become bestsellers out of the gate; having worked in publishing for so many years, I knew well how rare it was to have a debut break out and attract the attention of the masses. (I knew, too, that when a debut does “hit the list,” it is usually due to the publisher’s marketing push more so than the content or quality of the book itself.) Rather, I thought, “Okay, I’ve auditioned for this job and proven myself capable of doing it.” I thought it would be easier to secure another contract for a new book, now that my writing had passed the test.

Working as a novelist, however, turns out to be a role you have to audition for over and over again. In the three years since Wildbound was published, I have struggled to secure my next contract. Not because my manuscripts are bad, not because the quality of my writing isn’t there, but because publishing is, as my agent Tia Ikemoto puts it, “A moving target market based entirely on subjective opinions,” and my books have not fallen into whatever profitable trend happened to be dominating the fantasy market at the time of submission.

I won’t lie. To work on a novel for so many months—years—only to have the door shut in your face over and over is difficult. Demoralizing. Heartbreaking. But writers like myself don’t get into this business because we’re looking to make money. We write because we love it. Because we must. Because the stories taking shape in the corners of our minds demand to be told.

Reconnecting with that creative joy, nurturing its tiny flame, is my mission now. Here is what I tell myself: You can write an excellent book, and after all is said and done, it might be published. Or, you can not write the book, and then it definitely won’t be published. Always, I choose to take the option that comes with a chance. And as I continue drafting my newest novel, I don’t sit down at my desk and think about the publishing industry. I sit down and write because I love it. Because I must.

How did you get your literary agent? What was the querying process like for you?

I queried a relatively small number of agents—about twenty in total—over the course of approximately eight months. I didn’t throw spaghetti at the wall; I was very intentional in deciding to whom I’d reach out, and I didn’t rush the process, choosing instead to gauge the initial response to my manuscript and let full requests play out. The waiting was hard, as were the inevitable rejections I received along the way. But I continued to believe in the quality of my work, and I carried on.

Around the eight-month mark, I sent out a query to another agent on my list, and less than a week later, I had received an offer of representation. A dream come true! In the end, I received four offers of representation and accepted the one that felt right in my gut, and that blossomed into a wonderful partnership. Eight years later, I have since switched agents within CAA to someone who works more closely with the kind of fiction I aim to write, and I am so thrilled to be there!

What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?

Changing up my space makes an enormous difference when I’m in a writing rut. I go to my favorite coffee shop, treat myself to an oat milk latte and perhaps a pastry, and choose a table where I can feel my creativity surfacing. Often, this is enough to do the trick and kickstart productivity.

When that fails, however, I put the book down entirely and take a break. Stepping away from a manuscript for a couple of weeks can feel really counterproductive, but by now, I’ve realized the opposite is true. Doing so allows me to return to the manuscript with fresh eyes and a recharged creative battery.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?

That the quality of a book determines whether or not it sells, and that authors have a large degree of input in how their books get packaged and marketed.

In reality, authors have next to no control in the publishing process. That relinquishing of control begins as early as submitting one’s manuscript to publishers. You can and should make your book the very best it can be, but at the end of the day, market positioning and commercial appeal are two of the biggest determinants in whether or not a publisher offers on a book—and while you should be cognizant of the market in which you’re aiming to write, you cannot control what will be popular at the time your book happens to go out on sub. This can be thoroughly depressing to creatives who just want to tell good stories because they are good. But it is the reality. Publishing is a business, and its leadership wants to make money.

Then, if you manage to land a contract and a good editor, they may include you in various parts of the decision-making that happens on the 18-24 month road to publication. But even with the very best and most inclusive editors, 95% of meetings about your book will still happen in-house, outside the author’s sphere of awareness; authors do not control the cover art given to their books, the manner in which the books are typeset, the degree to which their books are pushed by the publisher. When I worked as an editor at a major publisher, I was privy to that 95%. As an author, I wasn’t, and boy was that hard at times! Our books are our babies, the characters real to us, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of properly.

Ultimately, though, the only thing in publishing that writers can control is the words on the page. So we just have to focus on making those as good as we can make them.

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?

One of the best things I’ve ever done for my writing is to learn to take feedback, period. When I was younger, I used to balk at the prospect of being told to change things about my stories. I had trouble separating the work from the person, and so took critical feedback on my work as personal insults.

Now, I love receiving critical feedback on my manuscripts. I crave it. As someone who works as both an author and an editor, I know very well how important it is to receive an outsider’s perspective on one’s novel. As writers, after picking away at a manuscript over and over and over again, at a certain point, we lose the ability to actually see what is on the page. We become blind to our books. Because of this, it’s impossible to maximize our story’s potential and make it the best it can be without gaining feedback from a trusted source.

You don’t want to make changes based on just any person’s opinion, of course. I don’t take critical feedback from “randos” on the internet who have negative things to say about my books—why would I? I know nothing about their professional background in writing or editing. I do, however, immensely value feedback from editors, my agent, and writer friends. The day I receive feedback can sting, but my books are always, always, better once I implement their notes.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

This is something I’m in the process of figuring out right now. To make a very long story short, what I keep coming back to is this reminder: “Do not write to sell. Write because you love it.”

Nowadays, when I sit down to work on my newest novel, I try to divorce thoughts of my book from thoughts of publishing as much as possible. I try, instead, to simply sink into the joy that writing and telling stories brings me. I try to lean into the fun of it all. And when I do that—when I can manage to forget about the industry and marketability and sales tracks for a brief time—my writing comes out better, and I am happier. So I will continue down this path.

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I share the signs that indicate you’re querying or self-publishing too soon (and setting yourself up to fail).

My book deal did NOT go how I expected...😳

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 28 May 2026 12:38:51 GMT

Big Five publishing is like the Ivy League. Everyone wants in, but most get rejected.

Including me.

At first, I was bummed that the big publishers passed on my book, a nonfiction guide to querying written with the creator of QueryTracker. I worked at both Macmillan and Penguin Random House (on the fiction side) and was most familiar with the big corporate publishing environment. It was where I’d hoped my own book would eventually land.

So when rejections rolled in from big house after big house, they stung. Some thought our book was too niche, others said there was too much overlap with other books they already bought.

But then we got enthusiastic interest from a published I’d never heard of before: Matt Holt Books (an imprint of BenBella Books), which my agent had suggested putting on our submission list.

And it turned out that not having my book published by a Big Five house might have been the best possible outcome for me and my co-author.

Let me tell you why.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my querying guide written with the creator of QueryTracker!

The publishing plot twist I didn’t see coming

BenBella is known for being an author-friendly house, which feeds into how they approach the editorial process, cover design, and marketing. Working with them turned out to be a completely different experience from what I’d been preparing for.

Working with an independent house totally reframed what I consider a “good” book deal and expanded my view of the current publishing landscape.

So today I want to share everything that has surprised me about working with an independent publisher over a Big Five house: the benefits, the downsides, and the tradeoffs nobody talks about.

Because there are so many more publishing avenues available today than ever before, and sometimes the less-obvious paths are the more rewarding ones.

1. The edits were shockingly minimal

As a developmental editor, I was 100% expecting my co-author and I to have to tear our book apart and rebuild it from scratch. After all, neither of us had written a nonfiction book before.

I’d braced myself for months of structural overhauls, painful cuts, and revision letters that ran ten pages long. That’s the kind of edit I deliver to my own clients (sorry, it’s out of love, I promise!), and it’s what I’d seen authors receive from the houses I worked at.

But here’s the email we got from our editor instead…

You can't write a great book alone 🤝

Alyssa Matesic — Thu, 21 May 2026 12:19:28 GMT

Writing might be a solo act, but improving your craft isn’t.

After countless mornings and nights spent just you, your laptop, and your story, it’s easy to feel like being a writer is isolating.

But the authors who level up are the ones who let people in. Because getting input from other people is what will actually move your craft forward. They could be critique partners, trusted editors, or fellow writers who get what you’re doing.

So share your work, even when it’s scary.

Putting your draft in front of someone you trust is how you find the gaps you can’t see on your own. It’s also what keeps you grounded when rejection inevitably knocks you.

In today’s interview, acclaimed author and creative writing teacher George Jreije shares the one technique that transformed his writing, why person-to-person connection sustains him through the harder parts of publishing, and how he stays creative when life gets impossibly busy.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…

George Jreije

Acclaimed Author and Creative Writing Teacher

Latest novel, BASHIR BOUTROS AND THE JEWEL OF THE NILE, available now!

What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?

The one technique that transformed my writing and leveled me up as an author was sharing my work with others for feedback. Without a doubt, I couldn’t have achieved the success I’ve had on my own. Not without the wonderful critique partners, editors, and of course, my wife (the first person who reads any manuscript).

Sharing my work with professionals and readers who I trust challenges me to put out the best work I can, and I’ve grown so much since I began to bake it into my process.

What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?

I most enjoy sharing my love of writing and all that I’ve learned as an author to connect with others. This might be working with clients who aspire to get to where I am now, but it also manifests in getting to visit schools and helping to motivate students to read and think like authors themselves. Without that person-to-person connection, I couldn’t sustain the harder parts of being a writer myself.

What do you do to stay true to yourself in your writing?

It’s fundamental to my writing that I’m always placing a piece of my identity in my characters or the story. For example, many of my characters are Lebanese or Lebanese-American, like I am. Some even have alopecia like I do!

Being sure to establish that very personal connection allows me to write authentically and craft characters who feel like real people.

Are you querying this year?

Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!

What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?

Rejection comes at every stage of an author’s journey. Before getting to choose from several literary agents, I amassed dozens of rejections. I wasn’t ready for the fact that, even with an agent, publishers can still pass on my work.

It’s happened with every project I’ve put out, and the first few publisher rejections were especially difficult, but I got through them by continuing to do that one thing which I knew how to do best — writing!

Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?

“I have greatly benefitted from my collaboration with Alyssa; I would not be where I am today without her! Her developmental ideas and vision for my novel taught me so much and helped to elevate my work in highly effective ways. Her editorial fingerprint is evident in the final result—a novel on bookshelves nationwide.”

—Jill Beissel, author of Glitter and Gold

When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?

Life’s always busy when you wear multiple hats, so to speak. For example, I’m fortunate to have a thriving freelance editing career helping other aspiring authors, but there’s also the business of publishing my own novels as well as my speaking engagements.

That’s why I seek out the few minutes between daily tasks, when I can whip out my laptop (or even my phone) and type up a few sentences. You’d be surprised how much those precious minutes, day after day, can add up!

ICYMI…this week on YouTube, I review three manuscripts (submitted by you!) that make the same mistake on page 1.

Watch the video

Are you making one of these plot mistakes? ❌

Alyssa Matesic — Fri, 15 May 2026 15:13:51 GMT

What’s the most common piece of feedback I give writers on their early drafts?

It’s unclear what your protagonist actually wants.

The writing might be beautiful. The setting might be vivid and immersive. But if I can’t pinpoint what’s driving the protagonist forward, the plot will feel directionless — and the story will fall apart.

That’s how important your protagonist’s objective is. It’s the foundation your entire plot is built on.

But it may not be coming through in your draft as clearly as you think.

What “plot” really boils down to

I’ve seen too many writers tie themselves in knots trying to “get the plot right.” In an attempt to make the process easier, countless resources, methodologies, and worksheets for plotting have emerged:

Save the Cat!
The Hero’s Journey
The Three-Act Structure
The 7-Point Story Structure
The Snowflake Method

The list goes on. And as helpful as they can be, in actuality, you don’t need to follow any of them to create a solid plot.

I’m going to strip the complex concept of plot down to just three core elements. That’s truly all you need to create a compelling, page-turning story.

Then, I’ll walk you through a simple exercise that will help you stress-test your novel’s plot.

Are you querying this year?
Preorder my book written with the creator of QueryTracker!