SlushWire Weekly #17 – April 21, 2026

[discussion] is it true that Junior agents will pass on queries that have too many requests?

Comments: 109, Upvotes: 64

I saw a post from a literary agent that reads: Gonna gently tell yall that announcing agent interest/# of requests can scare young agents away from wanting to look. Its not doing what you think it’s doing. Baby agents may get intimidated and think “oh if other agents are interested I wont get it an…

Stupid Question: What really is a manuscript? And what is it for?

Comments: 11, Upvotes: 2

I googled it, and it said it was an unpublished draft, but I see it used it so many ways. Is it supposed to be a first draft, a series bible, a summary of what’s happening? An example would be nice.

I lived in KSA and Venezuela. Do agents care? Or is word count everything?

Comments: 3, Upvotes: 1

Hey all! Working on my second thriller. Cutting it down. Right now it’s at 144,000 words but can get to 120,000. Is that still too long? (First books was self published). I lived in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and have real world experience—would agents care about that or just word count?

[QCrit] WORLD’S END VALKYRIE, adult science fantasy psychological horror, 115K words (3rd Attempt)

Comments: 13, Upvotes: 3

Dear Agent, I’m seeking representation for my novel as \[Insert personalization here\]. WORLD’S END VALKYRIE (115,000 words) is an Adult science fantasy with psychological horror elements. The story combines the outlaw-on-a-quest story of Hannah Kaner’s *Godkiller* with the dark atmosphere, mix of…

[QCrit] BETWEENPIE MOUNTAINS, Literary/speculative, 64k words. (3rd attempt)

Comments: 6, Upvotes: 4

Dear \[Agent\], If you could talk to your teenage self, what would you say? How would it change you? BETWEENPIE MOUNTAINS is a 64,000 word literary speculative novel about a high school teacher’s botched suicide attempt that transforms into a darkly comic time warp story about meeting his younger …

[QCrit] Heirbound (adult LitRPG/romantasy hybrid, 110K words) 1st Attempt

Comments: 6, Upvotes: 3

Any feedback is greatly appreciated! \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Dear \[agent\]: ***The only thing more dangerous than climbing the Crownvault Spire is what they feel on the way up.*** I am seeking representation for HEIRBOUND, a 100,000-word epic romantasy with LitRPG progression element…

[QCrit] YA fantasy, SPELLTHIEF, 81k, 1st Attempt

Comments: 4, Upvotes: 4

Newbie here. This is definitely long I’m most interested in what I can cut without losing much. My other concern is SPELLTHIEF follows Alice from age twelve to fifteen. While the protagonist ages into YA territory, the early chapters sit at the upper end of MG age-wise. I feel the novel itself is …

Required word counts: How to know for sure if you’ve got the right word count for each agent.

Comments: 6 | Upvotes: 15

Step one: Go to Query Tracker. It’s a website that authors use to, well, track their queries. It also takes each author’s querying data and compiles it into lots of neat reports. Step two: Click on the profile for the agent you want to query. Step three: Click on the Reports tab. Step four: Se…

[pubq] If you’ve gotten and R&R, how extensive where the revisions they asked for?

Comments: 14 | Upvotes: 3

I know it varies greatly per book but I got a message from an agent who wants to set up a time to talk soon and previously they said (by email) that they think I could use a revision but wanted to finish first. I just want to see what the general trend it. A major re work, changing POV, change o…

do people reply to rejection emails??

Comments: 10 | Upvotes: 5

So I’ve been submitting a bunch of my short stories to lit magazines for publication, and even though all of them are rejected, I sometimes get personalized notes on my work. I REALLY love them (it’s free & real criticism!) and I was wondering if I should reply to the email, saying thank you and…

[QCrit] EscapeGhost, Middle Grade 46K V1

Comments: 7 | Upvotes: 8

Twelve-year-old Nirvana Stark has been to so many schools, she’s stopped bothering to make friends. Why get attached when she’ll just have to leave again? This year, she plans to keep her head down and get through, unnoticed as a ghost. But Steermont Middle School has a ghost of its own, an actual o…

[QCrit] THE TALE OF GREEN: THE BUCK WITH NO ANTLERS, middle grade animal fantasy, 74,400 words. First Attempt

Comments: 9 | Upvotes: 4

Hi all, first time posting. This is my first draft of my query letter– so I know it is not perfect! I am hoping to get feedback on if this is a set of good bones to work off of or if I need to totally start from scratch. Dear (Agent), THE TALE OF GREEN: THE BUCK WITH NO ANTLERS is a middle g…

[QCrit] adult fantasy, GODTAKER (106K, First Attempt)

Comments: 4 | Upvotes: 3

Hey, would love to hear feedback on how this query lands. GODTAKER is an adult fantasy complete at 106,000 words. The immersive prose shares themes of redemption, found family, and otherness with Hannah Kaner’s *Godkiller* and Rachel Gillig’s *The Knight and the Moth* combined with the morally gra…

[QCrit] Contemporary YA, THE LARK AND THE NIGHTINGALE, 86k (First Attempt) + First 300 Words.

Comments: 5 | Upvotes: 2

CW: The main character is a suicide survivor, six months removed from the experience. She briefly reflects on the event within the first 300 words. ~ Hello PubTips! Given the subject matter, I’m open to all the help I can get. Does anything in the query or first 300 words read “off” or insensitiv…