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Happy summer everyone! The season of beach reads, summer romance, escaping to another world through science fiction – and for those of us who are more Autumns, looking ahead to spooky season for horror, thriller, and dark academia. It’s a great time to think about genre.
Querying for a genre book is generally the same as querying for a realist commercial, upmarket, or literary novel – you’ll want to do research into your category, write the strongest pitch letter, and submit to agents who specialize in the kind of genre you’re pitching. (And of course – pitch an excellent book!) But there are some specifics: as we highlight in this column twice a month, some agents are looking for very particular flavors of genre, and an agent looking for horror might not be looking for fantasy (for example.) And if you’re querying nonfiction, you’ve probably heard that you need a platform; but what does that really mean?
Do I need a platform to write a nonfiction book – and what counts as a platform?
Is there still a market for literary horror?
Who do I query when agents respond that my book is too far in between genres?
Do I need a platform to write a nonfiction book – and what counts as a platform?
Do agents take romance seriously?
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