Q&A Thursday

Twofer Edition

Hi friends,

We’ve got a twofer today, from the same person. I make the rules! There are no rules!

J asks: I am a marketer at a Big 5 house. I've been in the industry for 11 years after a mid-life career switch and feel dreadfully ignorant of some of the ins and outs of the editorial/acquisition side of things. When querying, is it a selling point to mention my job and company? To be clear, I work for an imprint that specializes in genre fiction. I will be querying with a novella collection of literary fiction—light years away from anything my imprint would publish. Also, can I query agents whose titles I've worked on? Do I acknowledge that I have worked with them before?

You can absolutely query agents whose titles you’ve worked on—IF they also do more