Thanks for this outline! 😊 It was very helpful and reinforced my initial instinct to go with "genre fiction" as a blanket term and "political thriller" as a more specific niche. I'm developing a few political thriller novelettes (I'm currently brainstorming chapter 12 of 18 for my very first one, which is being released weekly here on Substack) and my ultimate goal is to write an autofiction novel down the road. Above all, I'm finally exercising my writing muscles after so many years helping others craft their messages and stories and I look forward to connecting with like-minded writers and readers to discuss the themes I'm hoping to touch on through my writing.
I write character driven genre fiction (mostly SF). I'm subbing now with my second book. 1st one I independently published. I've wanted to start a Substack, but not sure what to write about at this lull in my journey. Writing that I wrote a tousand words today and went to the gym is not all that exciting. I do plan to record teh parts of ramping up for a book launch for a trilogy if I don't get picked up by an agent in the meantime.
We are definitely reopening submissions in March. Edwina moved to Seoul to continue her work for us there. She's sells many Korean novels into English but the move is for personal reasons. She's continuing to take on UK based writers and is here regularly. Myself and Sallyanne just have a backlog to read.
I can only offer the semi-useless answer that it depends entirely on the writing. My colleague Edwina just sold a literary novel that might be thus described (no Capital letters no paragraphs) with very seductive story. If it's self-delightedly clever it ain't for us
Hi Ivan! Great post, and the detailed genre breakdowns on your website’s submission guidelines page were really helpful when I started querying last year. I submitted my historical fiction via the MMB historical fic email address in September but I see now that you’re currently closed to fiction submissions altogether, so I just wanted to ask if it would be best to mark this query as closed? Really appreciate you sharing your wisdom on here, this was one of the first newsletters I subscribed to when I joined! :)
We're really glad that the genre breakdown was useful to you (and for your kind words). At the moment, yes, our fiction submissions are closed - unfortunately it's quite impossible to get to everyone with just the three literary agents working. That being said, we appreciate you reaching out to check, and we hope you'll keep us in mind in future when we reopen fiction submissions.
I'm heavily in genre (horror) with a touch of literary because I want characters to have real journeys and not everything sprints at full speed all the time.
Posy! Thanks for your support as always. It’s our goal here to guide you through that said, thick, slightly daunting maze, trimming it down slightly so you can see the exit. Please do keep us updated with your goals in getting published!
Dear Not so secret agent. Yours is the ONLY substack that I click to open right away - it's the writing and the path and the tale you tell.
And a drum roll here please, - Harvesting History while Farming the Flats - has found a home in the US. Emerging as an Ebook on March 7th and a print book later in the month. If I can get to it while here on the farm an audio to follow shortly. Thank you for your kind support and clear guidance along the way. Muriel/Aggie/Murch
Muriel, you’ve made my Saturday! We strive to have that path and tale you love, providing a certain amount of wit but a lot of clarity. Your book sounds incredible, and we’ll definitely check back when it’s published. Keep us updated!
I'm glad there's you as evidence that my piece was useful to at least one writer. I'll let Sallyanne know. Which of our submission emails did you use? Because we ask writers to decide which genre best fits their book. I'm guessing you're saying that you had thought of it as Literary Fiction but now see it as Genre Fiction? We don't have a separate inbox for Upmarket/Reading Group Fiction. We figure writers can just choose between Literary and Genre. But you've made me think we should offer the choice between the 3 primary genres of fiction. We'll add an Upmarket Fiction inbox.
We don't have just one submission inbox for Genre on mmbcreative.com. We have separate inboxes for the genres we like most: Fantasy, Horror and SF. Though we consider other other genres sometime. I stopped looking for Crime/Thriller because those feel overpublished. But, even if that's your Genre, I'll look at yours - since you engage with my Substack. If I'm biased, it's towards writers who engage here...
We also look for Asian writers/!stories - in English on the website. Though since last year we've also become the biggest agency for Korean books in English translation in both the US and UK. All thanks to my colleague Edwina de Charnacé, who's now based in Seoul. Good luck with your writing.
Thanks for this. Yeah, you are right, I did opt for literary fiction instead of genre. It was a toss up between the two and hey, guess what I picked the other one. I can now say though that I would certainly have selected Upmarket/Reading Group so its great that it will now exist.
To get to the point of looking for an agent I researched the market and I had to dig a lot of coal to find a diamond.....which was your sub stack comment that nobody in the publishing industry would give a fuck about my book.
So I'm delighted you are going to have a look at my submission.
If it turns out you do give a fuck it will be great to hear from you.
Colin, of course we’ll pass it on. Please read our instructions on our website, we try to make it sound as easy as possible even though it seems like a complicated process.
Thanks for this outline! 😊 It was very helpful and reinforced my initial instinct to go with "genre fiction" as a blanket term and "political thriller" as a more specific niche. I'm developing a few political thriller novelettes (I'm currently brainstorming chapter 12 of 18 for my very first one, which is being released weekly here on Substack) and my ultimate goal is to write an autofiction novel down the road. Above all, I'm finally exercising my writing muscles after so many years helping others craft their messages and stories and I look forward to connecting with like-minded writers and readers to discuss the themes I'm hoping to touch on through my writing.
I write character driven genre fiction (mostly SF). I'm subbing now with my second book. 1st one I independently published. I've wanted to start a Substack, but not sure what to write about at this lull in my journey. Writing that I wrote a tousand words today and went to the gym is not all that exciting. I do plan to record teh parts of ramping up for a book launch for a trilogy if I don't get picked up by an agent in the meantime.
Thank you for the post! Genre here. Science fiction, speculative fiction, a smidge of horror, fantasy.
Heroic fantasy writer here. Enjoy the world building, magic systems, and the original creatures and objects I can create. Usually quite action-heavy.
Helpful! Thank you!
We are definitely reopening submissions in March. Edwina moved to Seoul to continue her work for us there. She's sells many Korean novels into English but the move is for personal reasons. She's continuing to take on UK based writers and is here regularly. Myself and Sallyanne just have a backlog to read.
Don’t tell me “The Vegetarian” is one of them😀!
I can only offer the semi-useless answer that it depends entirely on the writing. My colleague Edwina just sold a literary novel that might be thus described (no Capital letters no paragraphs) with very seductive story. If it's self-delightedly clever it ain't for us
.
What about experimental fiction with a grounded narrative?
Hi Ivan! Great post, and the detailed genre breakdowns on your website’s submission guidelines page were really helpful when I started querying last year. I submitted my historical fiction via the MMB historical fic email address in September but I see now that you’re currently closed to fiction submissions altogether, so I just wanted to ask if it would be best to mark this query as closed? Really appreciate you sharing your wisdom on here, this was one of the first newsletters I subscribed to when I joined! :)
Hi Karyn,
We're really glad that the genre breakdown was useful to you (and for your kind words). At the moment, yes, our fiction submissions are closed - unfortunately it's quite impossible to get to everyone with just the three literary agents working. That being said, we appreciate you reaching out to check, and we hope you'll keep us in mind in future when we reopen fiction submissions.
I'm heavily in genre (horror) with a touch of literary because I want characters to have real journeys and not everything sprints at full speed all the time.
Sounds like a good genre to be interested in, Mata. Full speed ahead isn’t always the way, and we try to provide all genres and interests here.
Thank you Ivan for shining a torch in the maze of things I need to know, and have ready, before seeking to get published.
Posy! Thanks for your support as always. It’s our goal here to guide you through that said, thick, slightly daunting maze, trimming it down slightly so you can see the exit. Please do keep us updated with your goals in getting published!
Lookout! I might just do that
Dear Not so secret agent. Yours is the ONLY substack that I click to open right away - it's the writing and the path and the tale you tell.
And a drum roll here please, - Harvesting History while Farming the Flats - has found a home in the US. Emerging as an Ebook on March 7th and a print book later in the month. If I can get to it while here on the farm an audio to follow shortly. Thank you for your kind support and clear guidance along the way. Muriel/Aggie/Murch
Muriel, you’ve made my Saturday! We strive to have that path and tale you love, providing a certain amount of wit but a lot of clarity. Your book sounds incredible, and we’ll definitely check back when it’s published. Keep us updated!
Colin
BTW
I'm glad there's you as evidence that my piece was useful to at least one writer. I'll let Sallyanne know. Which of our submission emails did you use? Because we ask writers to decide which genre best fits their book. I'm guessing you're saying that you had thought of it as Literary Fiction but now see it as Genre Fiction? We don't have a separate inbox for Upmarket/Reading Group Fiction. We figure writers can just choose between Literary and Genre. But you've made me think we should offer the choice between the 3 primary genres of fiction. We'll add an Upmarket Fiction inbox.
We don't have just one submission inbox for Genre on mmbcreative.com. We have separate inboxes for the genres we like most: Fantasy, Horror and SF. Though we consider other other genres sometime. I stopped looking for Crime/Thriller because those feel overpublished. But, even if that's your Genre, I'll look at yours - since you engage with my Substack. If I'm biased, it's towards writers who engage here...
We also look for Asian writers/!stories - in English on the website. Though since last year we've also become the biggest agency for Korean books in English translation in both the US and UK. All thanks to my colleague Edwina de Charnacé, who's now based in Seoul. Good luck with your writing.
Where can we check out the Korean titles? We worked for some titles from Korean —> Chinese but limited in SF.
Hi Ivan,
Thanks for this. Yeah, you are right, I did opt for literary fiction instead of genre. It was a toss up between the two and hey, guess what I picked the other one. I can now say though that I would certainly have selected Upmarket/Reading Group so its great that it will now exist.
To get to the point of looking for an agent I researched the market and I had to dig a lot of coal to find a diamond.....which was your sub stack comment that nobody in the publishing industry would give a fuck about my book.
So I'm delighted you are going to have a look at my submission.
If it turns out you do give a fuck it will be great to hear from you.
All the best,
Colin.
Colin, of course we’ll pass it on. Please read our instructions on our website, we try to make it sound as easy as possible even though it seems like a complicated process.