Query Sent: 11/05/2023
Query tracker auto-marked CNR after 120 days
Full Request: I'd written this off as a CNR, but received a full request today!: 07/01/2024
Full Request Sent: 07/01/2024
Nudged with a Full Request from Titan Books!: 08/27/2024
Nudged with another full request from a Big 5 publisher: 10/10/2024
Nudged with an offer to pitch from a large publisher: 11/14/2024

Literary Horror: 56k words

Query Sent - 11/13/2024

97k LGBTQ+ Adult Science Fiction Space Opera

Query sent 08/29
Form Rejection 08/31

Horror/Suspense 96k

Rooting for you, ScJMo! Cannot wait to hear where you and your book end up!

The weirdest flex of a form letter. This book came out 20 years ago and wasn’t that good. lol I mean I get you want to say that his debut book came out after 78 rejections but that market was different back then. I feel like they are fetishizing him and using a Bipoc to elevate their rejection letter. A simple no with actually checking spelling and grammar is alright by me. You can also remove the extra period before your sign off. I get where they are coming from but I would never compare my work with this person since I don’t write in their genre. Also,Jk Rowling and I believe CS. Lewis received 800 rejections before he sold his first piece of writing. So if he actually read my Sci fantasy query it would make more sense to use those as an example.

Dear x,

I hate to say this is going to be a pass as title does not sound like a fit for me at this time.

Thank you for considering The Tobias Literary Agency, and please do stay the querying course as this industry is highly subjective. After all, Marlon James's JOHN CROW'S DEVIL was rejected 78 times before being published, and now Marlon has a Man Booker Prize for A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS.
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Best of luck with your future queries,

Lane Heymont
President
The Tobias Literary Agency