9 Agents Seeking Memoirs
Where to query this week (10.02.24)
Welcome to Sub Club’s Where to query this week! As you might have noticed, some changes are afoot. Don’t worry, everything you love about this newsletter will still be here, we’re just adding more exciting awesome things!
First off, starting next week, I’ll be passing this newsletter over to the one and only
. I’ll let her introduce herself in her own words:Hi! If you have been part of Sub Club for awhile, you’ve probably seen my name around here from time to time. But if you are new, hello! My name is
and I’m the founder/editor-in-chief of Write or Die Magazine.I’m also a writer— a newly agented one!— and I’m very excited to take over this column. I plan to provide a look into my own querying journey with insights into how I landed my agent. (If you want a little preview, I wrote a piece about querying my novel in my newsletter here).
I will also be collaborating with agents, authors, and industry professionals so we can dig into the many facets of the querying process, and the agent-writer relationship, as well as go behind the scenes of what it takes to get published. Plus lists of agents who are looking for your work!If there is anything you hope we cover, please let us know in the comments! Next week, I will be talking about genre and comps (yikes!) so I hope you will join me!
See you next week!
Next week onwards, we’ll feature indie press openings and closings once a month and have themed agent round-ups on a weekly basis along with cool essays and interviews (these will be free to all subscribers).
Additionally, we’ll be moving our Query Hotline over to Substack’s Chat feature for subscribers.
You’ll still be able to submit questions through the form or you can just pop questions into the chat directly and we’ll be answering them throughout the week. This is available only to paid subscribers. Once in a while we might unlock some cool Q&A for all subscribers. :)
As for this week, we’re reshaping some things. We have one open indie press closing for submissions this week below. But we also have 11 agents who want to read your memoirs open for queries right now!
As always, any indie press featured is open for submissions at the time we share them. Info includes all details on fees, payment, and submission guidelines.
Our five featured agents will include:
Where they work and what they’re looking for
Recently represented authors
Details on how to query
Favorite books/authors where we could find them
Please Note: We do our best to ensure that our data and details are correct; however, both presses and agents can often not update their portals or update them at random. For this reason, please make sure to double and triple-check on your own end prior to making any submissions. Also, please check for eligibility requirements before submitting.
This week from our Query Hotline:
Thank you for answering our questions! I’m wondering, if I’ve just started querying a manuscript, but I’m very interested/open in going the small press route, at what point in the “query timeline” do you suggest submitting to editors at small presses? I’d like to give my project a fair chance in the traditional world with agents, but finding fulfillment with a publishing house is the most important thing to me. I’m not sure whether to pitch my manuscript to small presses now, after a few rounds of queries, or when I’ve run out my list. Do you have any words of wisdom on how to approach this? Thank you!
» : Here is my opinion: if you want to give your manuscript a fair chance in the traditional world, I would wait it out a little longer. I’m not sure how long you have been querying or how many agents you have pitched, but if you have already put all the work in to querying traditionally, I would stick it out. Perhaps you should stop pitching any new agents and wait to hear back from some of the ones you already queried. You won’t hear back from all of them; that’s just how it goes, unfortunately. Then, if you haven’t received any full requests or offers, try the small press route. I think it just a matter of seeing each process though to the end!
I found an agent listed in Writers' Digest who said she was interested in medical mystery novels, which I write. I tried getting hold of her in every way possible but just ended up with a blank. Do you think she went out of business or changed her contacts? Or was trying to contact her not the right thing to do (I'm sort of new at this.
» Unfortunately, sometimes agents change points of contact and it can be pretty hard to trace them out, even in the age of the interest. Speaking of, have you tried a thorough Google? If you still come up with nothing, then it’s likely just time to start looking for others. Often, you’ll find that even if agents haven’t officially noted they are looking for exactly the kind of novel you’re writing, they still might be very interested in your work!
Hello, I love Sub Club, I’ve learned so much from you lot, thanks. I’m just finishing up editing my first novel which is literary, is braided, and involves ghosts (so a bit of a genre mash-up!), and am getting ready to query it. I live in the UK and I’m wondering if it is worth querying agents in the US, which I think is a much more vibrant market than the UK, and more open to less conventional fiction? I know a lot of publishing houses expect authors to share the marketing work. Obviously, I wouldn’t be able to do in-person readings or publicity from ‘across the pond,’ but due to chronic health conditions, I wouldn’t be able to do that even if the book were published in the UK. Do you think agents would read my query, or dismiss it because of where I am? Look forward to hearing your advice. Ali
» : I don’t believe agents consider location when accepting new clients. I think you should absolutely query broadly to as many agencies and agents as you can! I’m in the US and I queried several agents from both the UK and Canada and location never seemed to be a consideration when reading my work. Go for it!
An agent I met with at a pitching conference a couple of months ago requested the first couple of chapters, but I have yet to hear back (~140 days). Should I only follow up with them if I have an offer, or since I met them in person and paid for the live pitch, is it unreasonable to check in just because? Querying has been a very taxing, drawn-out process for me, and I'm thinking about doing a big revision. But as long as this (and other) queries sit unanswered, I don't feel like I should start revising quite yet. Thank you for this amazing resource.
» : Congrats on getting this request! I think a professional nudge after 140 days is definitely okay. I totally understand the feeling of being in limbo until this one is answered so I think you should go for it.
» » If want to ask a question in our Query Hotline, fill out the form here with any questions you might have about querying, whether that’s around agents, indie presses, book contests, formatting, genres, or if you just need someone to tell you you’re doing just fine. (Submit your question here) « «
NEW! Paid subscribers can now use our chat to ask for help any time. A whole community of writers at your fingertips along with a few admins who sorta know what we’re doing. If you’re a paid subscriber, come join us here.
Indie Presses Closing This Week
The Ohio State University Press (Deadline: October 7)
The Journal / Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize: Each year, manuscripts by emerging and established poets are screened, in accordance with CLMP guidelines, by volunteer readers associated with The Journal and The Ohio State University English Department. Aimee Nezhukumatathil will select one full-length manuscript for publication by Mad Creek Books, the trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press. In addition to publication under a standard book contract, the winning author receives the Charles B. Wheeler prize of $2,500.
Fee: $23 | $11.50 BIPOC | Pay: $2500
Entries of at least 48 typed pages of original poetry must be submitted electronically during the month of September. The submitter’s name or other identifying information should appear only on a separate cover page and not within the document. All manuscripts will be read and judged anonymously.
Manuscripts must be previously unpublished. Some or all of the poems in the collection may have appeared in periodicals, chapbooks, or anthologies, but these must be identified in an acknowledgments page.
A nonrefundable handling fee of $23.00 or $11.50 for BIPOC poets will be charged for each entry. All entrants receive a one-year subscription to The Journal.
If it is a hardship to meet the submission fee, please contact our editor to discuss options for a fee waiver at prize@thejournalmag.org
9 Literary Agents Open to Queries for Memoirs
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