Mary C. Moore's Blog: On Publishing and Writing

Despite the best laid plans, I was unable to open to submissions this winter. As much as I would love to sign new clients, current clients take priority, so I’m remaining closed to submissions until my schedule opens up again. My goal is to respond to pending submissions and re-open by this summer, maybe a bit earlier. To the handful of people who are waiting for a response to their submission, I thank you for your patience. Know that your submission is still under consideration.

For those o...

The mornings are getting chillier, and as the popular meme says the “let’s circle back after the holidays” season has begun. I am closing to queries until the new year to catch up. For those of you who enjoy the wonking out stats, I received over 1000 queries since opening in mid-Oct. From the earlier batch this past spring, I am currently considering 16 fulls, which I hope to respond to by the end of the year, before I request more fulls from the newer pile. I wish my response times were faster...

It’s the Season of the Witch, and pumpkins abound. As do, unfortunately, book bans. Penguin Random House has created a wonderful resource for anyone interested in joining the resistance to these bans, click here.

For those of you following my submission stats, I’ve officially narrowed the inbox down to full requests. I opened to submissions for three months this past spring and had 1,850 submissions. I ended up requesting 19 full manuscripts and so far have made 3 offers of representation.

One of my favorite independent publishers is hosting an auction. Levine Querido is doing amazing work in the kidlit publishing space, so I’m happy to support them with a donation of two query letter + five page critique. To bid on one of my critiques click here! (If I have already reviewed a submission of yours, you can still bid.)

Or check out the rest of their amazing offerings at the auction here.

This summer has flown by, but is mellowing as the baked California earth and fattened wildlife slows to a simmering laziness around me. School has started, putting the family back on a consistent schedule and the baby is now officially toddling. We picked ten pounds of blueberries to catch the last sweetness of the season, but are still waiting on the tomatoes and dahlias, due to a chilly June.

Speaking of waiting, thank you to all you authors who have been patiently waiting for a respon...

I will be closing to submissions at the end of the month to catch up. For those of you who like to wonk out on #querystats (thank you Patrick for the easy to access stats on QueryManager), this post is for you.

I opened at the end of March and have already received nearly 1500 queries. Although the largest amount came in on the first few days of opening, it’s since averaged out to about 20 a day. If the trend continues, when I shut down my query box on May 31, I will have received over 2,000 ...

I quietly opened to queries ten days ago for the first time in over two years. I was closed for so long mainly because my clients were turning in multiple manuscripts regularly. It was averaging 30 manuscripts a year, which meant there was no time nor room in my head for deep-reading fulls in my submission pile. And the idea of opening up to queries was daunting, I’d been hearing from others how there’s been a surge in submissions since lockdown. But a few things aligned that pushed me forward. ...

I’ll be hanging out with my client Alex Temblador, discussing her publishing path, her book Half Outlaw, and doing a Q&A afterward. Come join us! (Sign up via this link)

Pre-order Half Outlaw from Interabang Books (via this link) and be put in a drawing to win a #HalfOutlaw gift bag full of goodies. Half Outlaw was named a Most Anticipated Crime Book of 2022 by Crime Reads and part of LitHub’s 35 Novels You Need to Read This Summer. And it’s just a badass book with a fierce protagonist. ...

My client Emi Watanabe Cohen’s adorable and poignant middle grade novel The Lost Ryū releases soon on June 7th! The wonderful Literary Rambles hosted us for a conversation about publishing and how it’s changed since the time I signed Emi as a client. Check it out and enter the giveaway for a query critique from me and/or a copy of The Lost Ryū. Meanwhile I will be over here admiring this lovely cover.

2021 was quite the year, but I don’t have to tell y’all that. I didn’t get as many posts up as I wanted, nor did I get as much reading done as I had planned. I only made one offer of representation, which I lost to another agent. But the year was not quiet for me. I was swamped for the best reason. My clients have been super prolific and successful, and it has been a chaotic whirlwind of joy to partner with them. And although I had planned on re-opening to queries at this time, that has changed ...