The Manuscript Academy

More than 1,500 of you voted for memoir, so we brought you three agents for one of our first single-genre MSWL Live panels! Taj McCoy (Laura Dail Literary Agency), Katharine Sands (Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency), and Stephanie Winter (KO Media Management) share what’s working in memoir right now, what agents really mean by “platform” (hint: it’s about community, not follower counts), and what a strong nonfiction book proposal needs.

Katharine reads the query that made her say yes to Kara Kavensky’s Tell Me About Joy and breaks down why it works. The book is out now from Sourcebooks: https://bookshop.org/p/books/tell-me-about-joy-a-true-story-of-love-regret-and-second-chances-kara-kavensky/4d73f52fa61b15a9?ean=9781464266454

Then Stephanie gives a live critique of a writer’s memoir query, Overcooked.

It’s an episode full of encouragement for anyone with a true story to tell.

For a full, unabridged recording of this event, go to https://manuscriptacademy.com/mswl-live-agent-panel-memoir

In this episode

****Why the best memoirs show not just what happened, but what it meant

****Platform without panic: community, connection, and being findable

****The “audience on the wall” exercise that can change how you write

****What goes in a nonfiction book proposal, and why you don’t need a finished manuscript

****Place, person, pivot: a simple formula for your memoir pitch

****Agents on how ready most submissions really are

****A live query critique, plus tips for writing under a pseudonym

Chapters

01:03 Meet Taj McCoy, Katharine Sands, and Stephanie Winter

03:35 What’s working in memoir right now

05:06 Platform: what agents actually expect

08:18 Each agent’s number one tip for memoir writers

10:30 Taj McCoy on nonfiction book proposals

14:21 Katharine Sands on her ideal memoir client

17:32 Stephanie Winter’s live query critique: Overcooked

19:23 How many submissions are truly ready?

20:06 Writing memoir under a pseudonym

We’re celebrating 10 years! See what’s planned at anniversary.manuscriptacademy.com. For one-on-one consultations with agents and editors, mini classes, and a writing community that cheers you on, visit manuscriptacademy.com. You can watch video versions on YouTube at @manuscriptacademy.

Out of the 200 stories that land in an agent’s inbox, why should yours be the one she reads? Agent Fiona Kenshole of Transatlantic Agency joins us from our Presentation Party to share what she looks for in a query, and why there are really no hard rules, only what works.

Before agenting, Fiona was a publisher in the UK (think Mary Poppins, Paddington Bear, and The Giver) and made films like Coraline and The Boxtrolls. Now she’s on the hunt for animal books, funny picture books, and stories she can’t wait to share with every editor she knows.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

****The three questions every query should answer: why read this book, why read it now, and why only you can write it

****Why you should keep a Post-it note of your original “light bulb” idea and use it as the jumping-off point for your pitch

****How to find your book’s story question (with examples from Where the Wild Things Are and Pride and Prejudice)

****The bowling pin rule: how much of your plot to reveal, and why most queries only cover the first 25% of the story

****Why your bookseller and librarian are your best sources for recent comps

****How to let your voice shine (without opening with “Hey, dude”)

****What belongs in your bio, and how much platform really matters for fiction and picture books

****How to avoid the generic, cliché pitch that could describe any fantasy novel

****Why you only need one agent to love your book

Writing your pitch can even reveal something new about your story. If your query is pulling in lots of directions, Fiona suggests checking whether your main story question is running all the way through.

Celebrate with us: It’s our 10th anniversary season! See what we’re up to at anniversary.manuscriptacademy.com.

Watch more: Video versions of the podcast, mini classes, events, and agent interviews are on our YouTube channel, @manuscriptacademy.

Get one-on-one time with agents: Book a consultation and join our amazing community of writers at manuscriptacademy.com. And get on our mailing list for an invite to the next Presentation Party!

Julia Alexandra knows rejection. After querying in high school and again in graduate school, she hit a wall of passes on a book she now admits wasn't ready. Worse, she spent years self-rejecting, holding back books that were probably ready long before she sent them.

In this episode, Jessica Sinsheimer and Julie Kingsley talk with Julia about her debut YA fantasy, Midnight on the Celestial, the story of a girl with the rare power to raise spirits of the dead who fails her realm's trial and must serve aboard a magical--and dangerous--cruise ship to earn one last chance to save her magic.

Julia breaks down how just a few precise words (a color-changing lagoon, sea dragons you can ride, hallways that come alive) transformed her query, why she queried in rounds of only five to seven agents, and why a revise and resubmit turned out to be a gift. She also shares the moment she got the offer, and her advice for any writer thinking about giving up.

Connect with Julia: https://www.juliaalexandrawrites.com/about and preview her next book at https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250380241/huntthewildnight/

In this episode

****Why "a magical cruise ship" isn't specific enough, and how two or three vivid words can set your book apart

****Swapping vague stakes ("her world turned upside down") for the actual choice and the actual disaster

****How self-rejection can hold you back more than agent rejections ever will

****Small querying rounds as a strategy for protecting your energy

****What a revise and resubmit reveals about working with an agent, for both of you

****Why your demeanor and openness to feedback matter alongside your pages

****Why a temporary pause isn't giving up

Timestamps

00:00 Querying again after years of self-rejection

00:26 Meet Julia Alexandra

00:43 What Midnight on the Celestial is about

01:01 Knowing her final querying round felt different

01:46 Why specificity matters in your query

03:05 Swapping vague stakes for the real choice and the real disaster

03:18 How images in a query signal an immersive book

03:55 Get your cinematic pages into your query

04:08 Keeping your love of writing alive

04:37 Confidence, feedback, and being someone agents want to work with

05:44 Small querying rounds and why it only takes one

06:50 The story of her agent offer

07:37 Why a revise and resubmit can be a gift

08:46 The moment she got the offer

09:36 Hearing from her future editor

10:06 Advice for writers thinking about giving up

It's one of the most common questions in our inbox: what's the difference between commercial, literary, and upmarket fiction, and which one is my book?

(Video version here https://youtu.be/AMGl98NhtT4?si=mGcpIWTloL_HgMms)

This week, agent Kaitlyn Sanchez of Bradford Literary finally makes it make sense. She explains what defines each category, plays a game of "commercial, literary, or both?" with real books from picture books to adult fiction, and shares how to strengthen your manuscript once you know where it fits.

Plus, she tells us what she'd love to find in her inbox (hint: mysteries with heart).

Want to see the book covers? Watch the video version on our YouTube channel, @manuscriptacademy.

We're celebrating our 10th anniversary season! Head to anniversary.manuscriptacademy.com to see how we're celebrating, and visit manuscriptacademy.com for one-on-one consultations with agents and editors, classes, and our amazing writing community.

How does an author go from 1,000 rejections to New York Times Bestseller? Tune in to find out!

Senior editor Ruqayyah Daud (LBYR/Requited/Hachette Book Group) and her author Jordan Stephanie Gray sit down to talk about what actually happens between "I love this manuscript" and a book on shelves: what really goes on in an acquisitions meeting, why a "no" is almost never about your writing, the call that changed Jordan's career while she was at Disney World — and how an author who got 1,000 rejections ended up a New York Times bestseller.

Whether you're drafting your first manuscript or waiting on submission, this one's for you.

0:00 Meet Ruqayyah and Jordan

1:58 The call that changed everything

7:09 Inside an acquisitions meeting

9:44 The real reason most manuscripts get rejected

13:02 Do editors still edit?

14:21 How to handle reviews and get off Goodreads

16:32 Advice for every writer still in the query trenches

JORDAN STEPHANIE GRAY is the New York Times bestselling author of the young adult paranormal romantasy Bitten and the adult mermaid romantasy The Wicked Sea. When she isn't lounging by the pool and typing away at her computer, she is likely cuddling her pugs in sunny Florida. Follow her on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack @jordanstephaniegray, and visit her website jordanstephaniegray.com.

RUQAYYAH DAUD is a senior editor at LBYR and Requited. She acquires everything from middle grade through New Adult. Some of her titles include the #1 New York Times bestseller Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma, the critically acclaimed As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh, and the buzzed-about romantasy Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray.

Learn more about Manuscript Academy: https://manuscriptacademy.com

Find your agent match: https://manuscriptwishlist.com

Book a 1:1 consultation with a literary agent: https://manuscriptacademy.com/consultations

Enjoyed this episode? Leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts — it helps other writers find the show.

Comp titles are second only to platform as the most feared part of a writer's journey--but they don't have to be scary.

In this episode, editor and author coach Hannah Robinson breaks comp titles down into something writers already do instinctively every day: describing an unfamiliar thing by connecting it to something familiar.

Hannah walks through her "Magic Madlib" formula — [Your Title] meets [Comp A] meets [Comp B], perfect for readers who love [detail] of [Comp C] — and explains the concept of triangulation, why your comps don't need to be exact matches to your book, and how to balance a big "category killer" comp (think Harry Potter or The Body Keeps the Score) with something more realistic to your own platform and sales track.

You'll walk away with a repeatable framework for finding comps that make agents, editors, and readers lean in — plus real examples pulled straight from published book descriptions and jacket copy.

Hannah is a freelance editor, collaborator, and author coach specializing in practical nonfiction. Before going independent, she worked in-house at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group.

IN THIS EPISODE:

— Why comp titles feel so intimidating (and why they shouldn't)

— The Magic Madlib formula for building your comp title

— Real comp examples from published books and jacket copy

— Triangulation: using comps as a known baseline, not an exact match

— The 4 basics every strong comp should hit: genre, format, sales track, and recency

— How to responsibly use a "category killer" comp

— What to do when your best comp is older than 3 years

— Listener Q&A: What exactly is a category killer?

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Manuscript Academy: https://manuscriptacademy.com

Meet Hannah: https://manuscriptacademy.com/faculty-members/hannah-robinson

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:20 The Magic Madlib formula, previewed

01:00 Warm-up: describing things using comps

04:10 Why comp titles matter

04:40 The Magic Madlib formula explained

05:00 Real comp title examples from published books

05:40 Triangulation: comps as baselines, not exact matches

06:10 The 4 basics every strong comp should hit

09:30 Make it your own: advanced comp strategies

10:10 More real comp examples

11:50 Wrap-up & Q&A: What is a "category killer"?

It's Manuscript Academy's 10th anniversary season--and to kick it off, co-founders Jessica Sinsheimer (agent, Context Literary Agency, co-founder of #MSWL, Manuscript Wish List®, and The Manuscript Academy®) and Julie Kingsley (award-winning author, media professor + co-founder of The Manuscript Academy®) are here to catch you up on everything coming this year.

Ten years ago, The Manuscript Academy officially launched in September 2016, with their very first filming day on September 17th in a rented New York theater (jackhammers, unfortunately, included).

A decade later, we're marking the milestone with a full slate of anniversary programming, including:

***A new 10-minute episode format — every episode this season, agent mini-classes, editor interviews, and author conversations on query letters, comp titles, pacing, platform, and more, all in a bite-sized format.

***Genre Celebration events, kicking off with science fiction, fantasy, speculative, and dystopian fiction --five mini classes from agents and editors, a live feedback panel, optional one-to-one pitch sessions, and dedicated query, page, and critique-partner forums. Learn more at https://genre.manuscriptacademy.com/.

***A Founding Member Reunion Month for anyone who was part of Manuscript Academy back in 2016.

***A worldwide ambassador project, with more details coming soon. Hint: You'll need a printer, a few sheets of paper, a bookstore, and a sense of mischief.

***A few things they're not confirming or denying yet — including a possible in-person event later this year.

Interested in our free offerings? Chekc out our blog library, YouTube channel, and free event replays at ManuscriptAcademy.com/free.

Need help with your query letter? Check out our 1:1 agent consultations with literary agents and editors.

Learn more about our annervsary events at anniversary.manuscriptacademy.com and our programming at ManuscriptAcademy.com.

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