January's Brain Pick: Chat with Indie Bookseller, Christina Rosso-Schneider

Hey friends!

In the Before Times, I used to get a bundle of folks together at Indy Hall (thank you Alex and Adam!), for free, in-person brain pick sessions with industry professionals. It was my way of trying to make publishing a bit more accessible, here in Philadelphia. I even did a few of these for my book tour for Don’t Read the Comments, meeting writing groups at cafes before events.

I really miss them. So, it’s time to bring them back.

If you weren’t around for when they were going on, here’s the basic concept. I have a quick, informal conversation with an industry professional on a specific topic, while introducing who they are and what they do, and then… we do a pick-my-brain session for an hour and half.

This is your chance to get those wildly specific questions about your projects answered. Query letter concerns? Industry questions? It’s all on the table, at least, as much as it can be.

This month’s first brain pick session, on January 28th at 8PM EST, is with my good pal (and former classmate) Christina Rosso-Schneider. You can register for the Zoom here.

You might know Christina from her amazing indie bookstore, A Novel Idea, located here in Philadelphia. She’s also a wildly brilliant poet and storyteller, with some astonishing books out in there. Please look up Creole Conjure and She is a Beast, both of which are out now.

Our opening topic?

Talking to Indie Booksellers.

I see it on Twitter all the time. Authors who are a little anxious about chatting with their local bookseller about their book. About hosting an event. About running a preorder campaign. It happens to ME all the time. You walk in, start sweating, whisper something over a copy of your book, and run right out.

In our opening, Christina and I will talk about how to go about working with your local indie bookseller… and why you shouldn’t be afraid.

Afterwards, we’ll open it up to questions. They can be about working with your local bookseller, of course. But it’s also a space to ask those querying, publishing, agenting, writing, etc. concerns. Christina is an amazing resource for not just working with bookstores, but for learning about publishing short fiction and creative essays!

This will be completely free, but I’ll have my tip jar available, with this month’s funds going towards Blue Stoop, a non-profit literary organization here in Philadelphia me and Christina both love.

See you at the end of the month!

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January Brain Pick with Christina Ross-Schneider

Friday, January 28th, 8PM (EST)

Zoom Link Here!

Manuscript Wishlist: What I'm Looking for in 2022!

Well, it’s that time. The search begins. Again.

I’m back open to queries at P.S. Literary, and here’s what I’m hoping to find in 2022. My big specific wishlist items are the same as they were last year:

• Stories that celebrate neurodiversity, from authors who are themselves neurodivergent, both in fiction and non-fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult.

• Joyful novels and powerful memoirs about the adoptee experience, written by adoptees. I can’t stress that enough.

• Unique, genre-blending romance novels. For example, I wish I had worked on The Plus One by Sarah Archer or any of Roselle Lim’s breathtaking romantic contemporary fantasy novels. Give me an adult rom-com in space, or with magic. Let’s get weird.

• In-verse kid-lit projects! I have one MG verse novel coming out in 2023, and I really want to work on more in the Middle Grade and Young Adult space. Especially if it’s something genre-blendy. My kingdom for a sci-fi in-verse novel, my goodness.

These were my favorite novels that I read in 2021, which will totally give you an idea of what my taste is like. And of course, the books I’ve worked on in my agent life, which you can check out here.

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Genre Blending Literary & Adult Commercial Fiction

I'm looking for genre-blending fiction... books that pull a bit of genre into the literary. Some of my favorites in that space include Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and The Last One by Alexandra Olivia.

Great examples in my agent life include Mike Chen and Alison Stine’s stunning genre-blending literary novels, which dig into time travel, secret societies, cults, superheroes, climate disasters, and more, while tackling heavy themes around family and relationships. Make me cry, while surprising me chapter after chapter.

• Here and Now and Then

• A Beginning at the End

• We Could Be Heroes

• Light Years From Home

• Road Out of Winter

• Trashlands

I also really love literary fiction that takes you into small worlds and communities where I'm an outsider. A glimpse inside a complex family, or a workplace. Like my client Erica Boyce’s novels (The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green and Lost at Sea).

I’m also really hungry to find some great rom-coms. A few of my clients are working on them, and I’d just love to find some unique, genre-blending romances, like I said above.

So… give me literary fiction that genre blends, commercial fiction that takes me somewhere unknown, and rom-coms that make me laugh and swoon.

Select Science Fiction & Fantasy

I'm a bit picky when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy novels. I love them. I read a ton of them. But they have to be accessible. What does that mean? It means that readers who don't traditionally pick up much sci-fi or fantasy, can pick up one of these novels, and enjoy it.

Some of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy reads include The Book of M by Peng Shepherd and Good Morning Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. I also love anything Chuck Wendig, Kat Howard, Fran Wilde, and Delilah S. Dawson writes.

Select Non-Fiction

I’m a little all over the place in non-fiction, but specifically I’m trying to find more memoirs, essay collections, pop history, and wellness books. Please note, I’m not really looking for cookbooks anymore.

With memoir, I’m best suited for projects that read like a collection of essays. James Tate Hill’s Blind Man’s Bluff is a great example of a project I worked on in that space.

When it comes to wellness, I’m looking for platformed writers who are experts in their respective topics, writing books in that space. For example, the projects I’ve done with Sophie Saint Thomas, circulating around sexuality, witchcraft, and cannabis.

Young Adult Fiction + Non-Fiction

I'm always hungry to find bright new voices in YA.

As for what I'm specifically looking for, that's a hard thing to pin down. I read widely in YA, and enjoy just about every genre in it. I love moving contemporary reads, thrilling sci-fi, and lush fantasy. I love diverse and inclusive Young Adult novels that reflect the world, and what the world could be.

To get a sense of my taste in YA, my favorite Young Adult novels released in 2021 were It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story by Lauren Morrill, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp, In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner, The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman, You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao, It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi, and One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite.

My favorite YA novel of all time is a toss up between Hero by Perry Moore and The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness.

When it comes to my favorite YA authors, I've read every book by Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera, Nova Ren Suma, Mindy McGinnis, Jeff Zentner, Zoraida Cordova, Meg Medina, Bryan Bliss, Nic Stone, Ashley Poston, and Nina LaCour.

I'd also love to see more YA non-fiction hit my inbox. Memoir, essay collections, you name it. My client Mary Kenney’s Game Changers, a collection of essays on overlooked women in the video game industry, is a good example of what I like.

Middle Grade Fiction + Nonfiction

Last year I opened up to MG and there are a few really lovely projects incoming. To give you an idea of what I’m looking for, some of my favorite recent MG titles were Claribel Ortega’s Ghost Squad, The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert, Clean Getaway by Nic Stone, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, and New Kid by Jerry Craft.

I’ve loved all the Middle Grade novels by Preeti Chhibber, Victoria Schwab, Roshani Choskhi, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Ashley Herring-Blake.

What I'm Not Looking For

And now, a quick rundown of what I'm not looking for, to save everyone's time. This isn’t meant to be harsh, just a list of what I don’t really enjoy, and would be a bad fit for.

• Picture Books (pitch my colleague Maria!)

• Angel & demon love stories, Heaven / Hell stories.

• Adult epic fantasy or sci-fi. I’m not right for doorstoppers.

• Cookbooks (not anymore, sorry!)

• Military sci-fi.

• Douglas-Adams-esque sci-fi.

• Non-fiction about sports or politics.

• Novels about suicide.

• Your thriller about some white guy fighting terrorists. It’s bad. I’m gonna hate it.

• Portals.

• Main character is Death.

• Novellas.

• Main character is a bigot and learns a lesson at the expense of marginalized people.

• Redemptive story arcs for abusers. Nope.

• New Adult books.

• Anything comped as "Lovecraftian" (he was racist, not interested)

• Anything comped to Orson Scott Card (if I have to explain this, we can't work together)

• Commercial fiction about sports (exceptions made for sports YA, I love sports YA!)

And that’s about it!

I hope this breakdown was helpful, and I wish you best of luck in your querying. Hopefully I’m a good fit!

My Favorite Reads in 2021

Hey, remember once upon a time when I wrote for a bunch of bookish places? Sadly most of them are gone, and one thing I miss terribly is talking about my favorite books of the year somewhere. Anywhere! On a spot that isn’t just Twitter.

So, here I am, rambling on my website. In a blog post that I’ll share. On Twitter.

This year, I mostly read books to be comforted and to inform my writing, and sometimes, I’m lucky enough to pick up a book that does both.

So! Here are those comforting and powerful reads that taught me something this year. And might teach you something too.

Young Adult Novels:

• You’ve Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

• Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zae Kemp

• It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story by Lauren Morrill:

• Fresh by Margot Wood

• Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler

• The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

• Vampires, Hearts, & Other Dead Things by Margie Fuston

• Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn

• The Jasmine Project by Meredith Ireland

• Into the Bloodred Woods by Martha Brockenbrough

• In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

• It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi

• Everything Within and In Between by Nikki Barthelmess

• Journey to the Heart of the Abyss by London Shah

• Blackout by Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, Ashley Woodfolk, Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Nic Stone

Adult Novels:

• The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

• Shipped by Angie Hockman

• The Love Hypothesis By Ali Hazelwood

• The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

• Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

• Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

• Float Plan by Trish Doller

• Hot Copy by Ruby Barrett

• Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor (Short Stories)

• Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper

• Sword Stone Table by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington (Anthology)

• For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

When it comes to other categories, I really didn’t read as much Middle Grade as I would have liked to, but. absolutely inhaled Alex London’s first installment in the Battle Dragons series the day it came out. And every Preeti Chhibber project is an auto-buy for me, so I loved The Sinister Substitute, the latest in her Marvel Avengers series.

And in the graphic novel space, I devoured Wendy Xu’s latest, Tidesong and Whitney Gardner’s Long Distance. Both of those authors are insta-buys for me, and these books were wonderful.

Treat yourself to these titles. They were all wonderful.

Book News: Jagged Little Pill, the Novel, Publishing with Amulet!

Well. The news is finally out.

I've spent a good bit of this year, working on an adaptation of the Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, with Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard. The cover reveal for Jagged Little Pill: The Novel is over on Rolling Stone, where you can learn more about the book.

It'll be in bookstores everywhere in April with Abrams / Amulet. You can preorder it here!

From the time I was actually in a Broadway musical as a child (hi there, A Christmas Carol alum!) to my days as a theater major in college, theater and musicals have always had a massive piece of my heart. And getting to work on the adaptation of a major Broadway musical is such a wild dream come true.

You can read more about the book here, over on Rolling Stone.

Book Deals: Mike Chen Writing Star Wars Brotherhood!

Now that’s a wild blog banner.

By now, you’ve likely heard the news. Mike Chen is writing a Star Wars novel. BROTHERHOOD will explore the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Here are the details from the Star Wars website:

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must stem the tide of the raging Clone Wars and forge a new bond as Jedi Knights.

The Clone Wars have begun. Battle lines are being drawn throughout the galaxy. With every world that joins the Separatists, the peace guarded by the Jedi Order is slipping through their fingers. 

After an explosion devastates Cato Neimoidia, the jewel of the Trade Federation, the Republic is blamed and the fragile neutrality of the planet is threatened. The Jedi dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the Order’s most gifted diplomatic minds, to investigate the crime and maintain the balance that has begun to dangerously shift. As Obi-Wan investigates with the help of a heroic Neimoidian guard, he finds himself working against the Separatists who hope to draw the planet into their conspiracy–and senses the sinister hand of Asajj Ventress in the mists that cloak the planet.

Amid the brewing chaos, Anakin Skywalker rises to the rank of Jedi Knight. Despite the mandate that Obi-Wan travel alone–and his former master’s insistence that he listen this time–Anakin’s headstrong determination means nothing can stop him from crashing the party, and bringing along a promising but conflicted youngling.

Once a Padawan to Obi-Wan, Anakin now finds himself on equal–but uncertain–footing with the man who raised him. The lingering friction between them increases the danger for everyone around them.  The two knights must learn a new way to work together—and they must learn quickly, to save Cato Neimoidia and its people from the fires of war. To overcome the threat they face they must grow beyond master and apprentice. They must stand together as brothers.

The news has already popped up on websites like Polygon and many other outlets. And I’m just so wildly thrilled. When Mike and I first started working together, he said he wanted to write a Star War one day, and well… here we are.

Star Wars Brotherhood will be in bookstores everywhere in May 2023, with Del Rey.

Battle of the Bands: Preorder to Get "Tickets" and Backstage Passes!

So Battle of the Bands is almost here! We’re a few month away from this wholesome collection. It’s been a real thrill putting this together and watching it work its way into the world, especially with one of my writerly BFFs.

Kirkus even gave it a star, calling it “an impressive feat impeccably pulled off.”

Usually when you see a preorder campaign, there are signed bookplates and other such things, which is kinda hard with an anthology. It’s a bit impossible to get bookplates sent to all sixteen people. Whew!

So, we came up with really cute pieces of swag that I think everyone will get a kick out of. In the spirit of music festivals and Warped Tours, the kind of events so many of the contributors grew up on, we’ve put together these fun backstage passes and VIP tickets.

And by tickets, we do mean bookmarks. That look like tickets.

As for those festival passes, designed by my friend Andres Jimenez (hire him for things!), they have the names of everyone in the book on them, and will look so good as keychains or bulletin boards where you collect your own music festival passes.

How do you get these? Easy! There are two ways:

Preorder from Your Favorite Retailer: Order a copy from the retailer of your choice, and send us proof of your purchase! Just email a screenshot or something on over to ericsmithrocks@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a pass and bookmark the week after the book comes out. International orders are okay! These are light, flat items. We can do that.

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Books A Million

• Bookshop.org

• Chapters / Indigo

• IndieBound

Request a Copy at Your Local Library: We love libraries. Obviously. A certain co-editor is a librarian. Hi Lauren. So if you request a copy from your local library, let us know! You can send us a photo or a screenshot or whatever of the request, and that’ll count for the bookmark and exclusive backstage pass! Just send it on over to ericsmithrocks@gmail.com

And that’s it!

If you’re a school, librarian, school librarian, book club, etc… let us know. We’re happy to send a few extra bookmarks if you’d like them to give away to your teen readers. Are you a bookseller who wants a bundle to giveaway? Yes, ask! Happy to share!

Thanks for supporting this book. It’s been a total blast putting it together, and we hope you all love it.

Perfect Pitch: James Tate Hill's Query for Blind Man's Bluff, A Memoir

In the years I’ve been writing these “Perfect Pitch” posts (see the entire roundup here), the one I’ve had the most requests for, is an example of a memoir.

Well, it’s that time. And you can thank James Tate Hill for that by picking up a copy of Blind Man’s Bluff, due out with Norton in August. Preorder! Or if you’re reading this post in August and I haven’t touched it up yet, buy it! It’s a powerful, moving story that’s equally hilarious and heartbreaking.

I’m so proud of it. James, I’m proud of you!

Let’s jump in, and talk about the specific things that make this such an outstanding query letter for a memoir.

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Dear Eric,

At age thirty, facing a crumbling marriage, a stalled writing career, and a growing fear of going outside, I wondered if lying about who I was for the last fifteen years might be the cause of my problems. A routine trip to the eye doctor when I was sixteen led to a diagnosis of incurable blindness. I could no longer read, but I never had been much of a reader. I couldn’t drive, but lots of people didn’t drive.

Such was the logic that allowed me, along with some fuzzy peripheral vision, to continue passing for sighted. From a trip to Tokyo for experimental treatment to the terror of literal blind dating to the publication of a novel with a blind narrator, Blind Man’s Bluff charts a winding, often humorous path from denial to acceptance. Portions of the manuscript have appeared in essays for Literary Hub, Prairie Schooner, Hobart, Waxwing, and other literary journals. One of them, “Do Audiobooks Count As Reading,” was just named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2019.

I’m a contributing editor for Literary Hub, where I write a monthly audiobooks column. My debut novel, Academy Gothic, won the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel and was published in 2015 by Southeast Missouri State University Press, receiving strong reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, among others. My fiction and nonfiction have been published in Literary Hub, Prairie Schooner, Story Quarterly, Sonora Review, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. I’m the fiction editor for the literary journal Monkeybicycle, and I teach regularly for Writing Workshops of Dallas and the Writers League of Texas. Currently I’m in the editing stage with a novel about child stars spanning the 80s and 90s.

My comp titles are Heavy by Kiese Laymon and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee, and further back Autobiography of a Face. It's complete at 62,000 words.

Thanks so much for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

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There’s a ton to love here, and goodness, a lot to learn from. Thank you J.T.

Let’s dig into what makes this such a great pitch.

Platform: There’s this misconception that you need a massive social media following to sell a non-fiction book. That Twitter and Instagram and TikTok = platform. Which isn’t true. It’s a PART of your platform, sure. But that’s not the sole thing that defines platform.

Platform isn’t only about your following. It’s about where you publish. Your academic career. Your proven expertise surrounding a topic. For J.T., his platform is in where he writes and regularly publishes. He’s got essays and articles in a number of places, and a quick visit to his website showcases where he’s published short fiction and more.

For someone like me, showcasing that kind of platform, where you’re writing and how you’re a part of the non-fiction community, means way more than a big Twitter following. J.T. has a little under 7,000 followers on Twitter, for those of you worried about the “needs hundreds of thousands of followers” misconception.

If you’re worried about building that platform in publication, it’s one of the platform-building types of writing that it’s never to late to focus on. You can start pitching essays and articles right now, and build that portfolio up.

Comp Titles: One thing that I notice a LOT of memoir queries (and essay collections, for that matter) missing in query letters, are comparative titles. “Well my story isn’t like any other story out there.” Of course it isn’t. It’s your life. Your story should be unique. That’s not what a comparative title does.

A comp title gives the agent an idea of what to expect. Themes you might explore. Your voice. Is this going to be a hard hitting, soul crushing story, or am I going to laugh? Maybe both?

Stakes and a Clear Story Arc: When it comes to the reason I pass the most on memoir, is the lack of knowing what the story is. In the case of J.T.’s, he gets it across immediately. He tells us the memoir is going to take him from his teen years and diagnosis through his professional and personal ups and downs, and that he tries to hide his disability for that entire time.

What’s at stake here? Plenty. His love life! His creative life! Being able to just venture outside! And he sums this up in just two paragraphs. It’s so important to give the reader a sense of the stakes, even in a memoir. There’s a story, a narrative arc, to your life story.

After all, a lot of memoir highlights a specific period of time in your life. In the case of J.T., it’s his teen years to his early 30’s, going from denial to acceptance. There it is. In two paragraphs.

It’s Finished?!: So, in my opinion a memoir doesn’t have to be finished for me to sign it. I just need to see a proposal. Past projects I’ve represented have sold on proposal. In J.T.’s case, he’d actually finished the whole book.

This is okay. Even though a lot of memoir does sell on proposal, it’s not going to hurt if your book is finished. Not at all. More editors who I talk to these day appreciate a memoir that’s completed, though still take a proposal. So if you’re finished, don’t be afraid to pitch it as a completed book.

And there you have it.

Perfect pitch, for memoir.

Thank you for sharing this query with everyone J.T.! And if you’re reading, be sure to order a copy of his memoir as a thank you. It’s really something special.

Book Deals: Robin Stevenson's Kid Changemakers Acquired by Quirk Books!

It’s been a wonderful journey with the team at Quirk and Robin Stevenson. From Kid Activists to Kid Innovators, it’s been book after book of delightful non-fiction for kids, introducing them to icons as kids.

And she’s doing another one!

Get ready for KID CHANGEMAKERS, the latest in the Kid Legends series with Quirk Books! It’ll be in bookstores everywhere in the Fall of 2022.

Here’s a bit more about it, from Publishers Marketplace:

Stonewall honoree and author of KID ACTIVISTS and KID INNOVATORS Robin Stevenson's KID CHANGEMAKERS, the next book in the illustrated Kid Legends series, focusing on the childhood stories of a diverse group of figures who have made an undeniable impact on contemporary society by leading social movements, government reform, and cultural change.

Keep an eye out! And if you haven’t picked up Robin’s latest novel, When You Get the Chance, it’s out now!

Congrats Robin!