Janet Reid, Literary Agent

"Never miss a chance to do good"--David Stanley

Friday, May 20, 2022

Not dead, not fled!

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 Janet! You have not posted anything since your wallet came home, and since stolen wallets can lead to kidnapping, I'm worried about you...
8 comments:
Thursday, April 14, 2022

Wallet Came Home!

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 I left my wallet in the local bodega on Monday. Didn't realize until Tuesday. Promptly retraced my steps, asked the cashier, searched m...
19 comments:
Wednesday, April 13, 2022

When World Events Intrude on Your Plot

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I guess timing can be everything. I am at the querying stage for a historical fiction manuscript. Unfortunately, recent events have stopped ...
8 comments:
Tuesday, April 12, 2022

More on personalization

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Hello Madam Shark, I binge-read your blog and Query Shark over the holidays, and I feel tons more educated about publishing and querying. Th...
18 comments:
Friday, April 08, 2022

Cookies!

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  Do you subscribe to Ron Charles' newsletter?   Err, I mean Ron Charles' newsletter! I love his writing, and what he has to say!
10 comments:
Wednesday, April 06, 2022

Yo Sharque, I have some reservations about your phraseology!**

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  Hi Janet, I'm a long time reader and fan of your blog. You even answered one of my questions about maps in books a few years back. You...
21 comments:
Monday, April 04, 2022

The Code

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    Season 2 The Wire Former Homicide cop Jimmy McNulty has been detailed to The Boat (marine unit) for his transgr...
11 comments:
Saturday, April 02, 2022

Recent query stats

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    These stats are drawn from the last week or so of queries.   The number one reason for a pass was the quer...
16 comments:
Friday, April 01, 2022

New submission guidelines

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I'm no longer accepting email queries.   All queries need to come on paper.   Personalized of course. The sal...
24 comments:
Thursday, March 31, 2022

What's the benefit of an initial hardcover publication?

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One question that's been bouncing around in my head - why publishers put out debut novels in hardcover.   I think profit margins a...
8 comments:
Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Why you need an author website

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The question I hear most often from new writers is what the heck am I going to put on a website; I haven't published anything.   If ...
10 comments:
Monday, March 28, 2022

Malady Monday

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 I'd intended to have a blog post prepared for today but this past week I've been felled by a brutal cold.  I was so relieved it was...
9 comments:
Friday, March 25, 2022

Reader warnings

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I read a blog post of yours from 2017 about trigger warnings. I am writing a YA mystery/thriller and want to add a note to readers that the...
11 comments:
Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Back at the starting gate

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    Just before Covid hit, I had three agent offers for my novel. Talk about a tough choice I never thought I'd be m...
15 comments:
Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Texts from Mittens

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 Next blog post scheduled for 3/23/22.
12 comments:
Monday, March 21, 2022

My agent wants more revisions

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  Two years ago I accepted an offer of representation for my novel. After signing, I did a few major rounds of edits, but ...
11 comments:
Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Reading for comps

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  I've been reading a lot these past few weeks, cause I'm looking for good comps for a book I'm sending out on...
23 comments:
Monday, February 14, 2022

Query widely!

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I'm a new author living in Australia, I wonder whether it is appropriate to submit a story set in the UK, and in a fantasy location as w...
19 comments:
Friday, February 11, 2022

Book titles!

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  I guess Jeff Somers isn't the only one who has a hard time finding good titles!
23 comments:
Thursday, February 10, 2022

Cover choices

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 Which one would you buy? The price was almost identical.
34 comments:
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The 411

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NYC, United States
I'm a literary agent in NYC. I specialize in crime fiction and narrative non-fiction (history and biography.) I'll be glad to receive a query letter from you; guidelines to help you decide if I'm looking for what you write are below. There are several posts labelled "query pitfalls" and "annoy me" that may help you avoid some common mistakes when querying.
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