![]() In retrospect, I remember someone telling me at the time I tweeted it that because of Gretchen McNeil’s novel TEN, which was a contemporary adaptation of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, I would have a hard time finding and selling something else that also comped to it. Sometimes I just think, “I said that? That DOES sound like something I want!” That’s pretty much what happened here! But there’s this wonderful charm about receiving manuscripts based on tweets. ![]() When I receive queries that cite my link on the website, I tend to remember what I said I was looking for. I have a pretty thorough MSWL page, but I also tend to throw out tweets every so often when I see something I think could be a novel or something pops into my head. But the following week, my jaw was back on the floor when I received a voicemail from a mysterious 212 number, and it was Jim asking me to call him back… ( Sidenote : After finding this tweet, I realized I should also search for shortlist agents’ Twitter handle + #MSWL, because they might tweet off-the-cuff wishlist items not included on their MSWL bio page.)Ī few weeks later, I got my first offer of representation from a different agent (who was another #MSWL match, by the way… this site really does work). He asked to read the full manuscript right away. Not only was this an exact match, but look how enthusiastic he was here! I mentioned this MSWL match in the subject line of my query to Jim, as well as in a personalized paragraph at the top of the query. When I searched for “#MSWL And Then There Were None” my jaw literally dropped (and I do mean literally), because this popped up:Įach profile has this great button! Click to see that agent or editor's #MSWL tweets. Genre/subgenre - YA, YA thriller, YA suspense.Plot elements - locked-room mystery, murder mystery.Comp titles - And Then There Were None, Dangerous Girls, We Were Liars.Here are some of the ways I refined my search, with examples of what I searched for: Next it was time to find some more agents! I searched Twitter for #MSWL + terms relevant to my book. For example, on Jim’s MSWL page, I noted that he was looking for “a super fun mystery” and that one of his favorite movies is Clue, which is much funnier than The Last Hour, but is another fantastic locked-room murder mystery (and is also one of my favorite movies, so, you know, fate and stuff). I started with the agents on my shortlist, and scoured each of their MSWL pages to (1) ensure their interests matched my project and (2) take notes for the query letter. I already had a shortlist of “dream agents” (including Jim) based on sales and reputation, but also wanted to find more agents with relevant interests whom I hadn’t thought of yet. Agents get dozens of query letters each day, so I wanted to make mine stand out by showing why I thought they’d be interested in reading my book. The first stop on my researching mission was MSWL - it consistently has more information on agents’ interests than the bio/about pages on their websites. I already knew Jim McCarthy was one of my dreams agents based on his stellar sales record, and also because his clients are super happy working with him, including one of my good friends. Ideally they’d also have a some great sales under their belt. That meant I had a lot of research ahead of me - I wanted to find agents whose interests closely aligned with The Last Hour. After all, excitement is contagious, and I hoped that a stoked agent could get editors fired up to read. This time around, my top priority was to sign with an agent who was truly excited about my project. Traditional publishing had been my dream forever, and if this book was my best shot, I wanted to take it. But after some cajoling from friends and CPs, I did some soul-searching, and decided to try for agent #3. So I was really proud of it, and my CPs thought it was very marketable! However, I’d been planning to indie-publish - my traditional publishing journey had been fraught with dead-ends, and I was eager to get my books into readers’ hands. It was the most challenging book I’ve written - it’s dual timeline, with alternating flashback chapters dropping clues about whodunit and who the victim will be, and there are twists and turns aplenty. ![]() It’s a cross between to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and Abigail Haas’s Dangerous Girls - nine teens get locked in a room and must choose someone to kill within an hour, or else they’ll all die. ![]() By Diana Urban, author and Jim McCarthy, agentĪ couple of months ago, I finished edits on a YA thriller called The Last Hour.
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