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How exactly are novels classified for children or adult readers? In George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books several protagonists are children but these are definitely not middle grade or young adult books! Same with many classics, like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, which can be read by young readers but aren't really children's books (are they?).

I always thought, at least when it comes to children’s books, that the protagonist is 3-5 years older than target audience. Especially with middle grade/ ya those kids often want to read about kids older than them. It’s possible that’s its different in different genres or communities but in my experience that seems to be the case.

Really hope to not sound creepy. I haven't watched your videos in a while. I now got the impression that your hair and make up are a little different. They look great!

Great video, I really appreciate all the work you put in. Thanks a million Alyssa!

Just sent out my query and I love it even more after watching this.

Hi Alyssa and the group. I am preparing a submission to chronicle but I can't find any information about which editor or employee I should address a it to. Could anybody please help me out here? (MG commercial high/portal-fantasy)

Hi Alyssa 👋 Talking about publishing houses, which will you recommend when it comes to publishing African based stories.

Hey Alyssa! Big fan of your work and I find the channel very helpful--I signed up for your website and didn't get my story assessment, can you help?

Is there a list of reputable midsize publishers?

God that is such a mood for feeling increased sympathy for my villian!! I tried thinking of him as the hero and now that I'm editing I'm like "he's pretty badass tbh, maybe he IS right" mf got me rethinking the whole ass theme of the story

Do comps have to be books or can they be other forms of media aswell?

Agent: "What's a comp title to your book?" Me: XYZ by So And So. Agent: How does their story differ? Me: They're published and I'm not?

I've tried to subscribe to the newsletter but I can't find the self assessment for the story guide. someone help please :(

For reference- Midlist publishers where you aren't required to have an agent: Kensington & Chronicle. Indie presses where you aren't required to have an agent: Crooked Lane

Another fantastic video. This one caught my eye because I literally published with Collective Ink a smaller house with imprints based in London that accepts unagented submissions. Always fantastic, real info, thanks Alyssa.

About surviving villain. I once had a story idea where the villain appeared to have been defeated, but at the end monitored the heroes and congratulated himself to that his plan had worked perfectly, now he just needed to wait. The master manipulator with extreme strategical thinking seems to me a bit unrealistic, but the idea that the villain pretended defeat as part of a plan could be used to keep the villain alive.

Again, THANK YOU! Finding comparable books has been a nightmare; however, now I know how to approach the Query Letter.

Thank you so much for the awesome video! If someone is totally lost, another tip for finding comp titles that I really like is to ask a librarian. They're magicians!

@5:43 There are a lot of stories like that, but they're older works. The closest suggestion I can come to off the top of my head is anything by Grace Livingston Hill. Still, that's a different genre, Romance instead of Adventure. On the plus side, she's still popular. If you can use movies, I'd suggest "The Spiral Road" or "The Nun's Story." Still, I have a feeling those are too old to matter.

This video got me thinking about authors who set the bar for their prose. In the sci-fi/fantasy genres, there are plenty of writers whom I admire for their brilliant *ideas*. Far fewer with a unique writing style that I recognize after reading one paragraph: Bradbury, Vonnegut, Gibson, Tolkien come to mind.

About that missionary memoir, you will have a hard time selling this to mainstream publishers. A memoir from the point-of-view of a white Christian missionary in Africa, at this day and age, does not look good. It carries a heavy coloniser vibe - a Westerner on a mission to convert natives to a foreign religion, thus erasing the natives' own culture and spirituality. You will have a better chance of selling it to faith-based publishers though.

Can I use anime, manga or video games as comp titles?

Thanks for the answer to my question, much appreciated! Ant

What if you write posts online that you want to potentially turn into a connected story later - would this be considered self-publishing?

Hello! I’ve subscribed to you on your website and on app but I can’t receive the worksheet gift how to check my novel 😞 could you help me please?

Why do I get a low-key Madeline Kahn vibe from her? Voice? Face? Both?

Wasn't expecting a Shogun reference!

As a reader, not a writer, I was 50+ years old before I figured out what the missing quote at the end of a paragraph meant. I must have been asleep in class that day in grade school.

Great food for thought.

Three things that I've done that have helped me find comps 1) Using r/suggestmeabook 2) Using ChaptGPT 3) Following debut authors and look out for any who write the same genre as me.

I hesitate to call what’s at the beginning of my drafts a prologue. It’s more of a monologue from the main character that lasts a few paragraphs. It’s only a page at most, then I just straight into the story. I guess it would kinda be like a soliloquy in a play almost.

Hi Alyssa, I subscribed to you months ago as I enjoy your content, and the way you help answer questions about the industry for the next generation of inspiring authors. I myself am trying to publish my stories, and recently a couple questions have come up that I'm hoping you can help me with-but I feel like I should give you some context before asking them. I've written a total of four manuscripts that as a whole fall into Urban Fantasy, as it involves magic, demons, and common day witches and warlocks. I'm in the querying stages of the first novel (at 95k words), which involves protagonists fresh out of high school and unsure what their future holds, who end up clashing with our Enchanted antagonists (who range in their late 20s and early 30s). The narrative is written in 3rd Person Objective, and of my first round of rejections, one agent had provided a snippet of feedback: she liked my skill of writing but found it difficult to connect with my characters. So, rather than submitting the manuscript to more agents, I've decided to take the feedback, do some revisions, and re-query the same agent. Rather than leaving the manuscript in 3rd Person Objective, I'm reworking it to Third Person Limited. This is bringing up the word count so I've decided to cut out a few chapters that I didn't really need. I'm a third of the way through revisions and up by 5k words. Seeing the word count climb-after cutting out a ton from my first draft last year already-is upsetting, as I know as a debut author, the higher the word count, the harder a manuscript is to market. Now I'm struggling with the idea of potentially splitting my first manuscript in two, which if I do that, it won't fall into the guidelines for the Urban Fantasy genre. Additionally, I have the manuscript elude to (and end on) the aftermath of a climactic battle, which is chapters after the inciting incident has come to a close. Question 1: if I decide to split the story in 2, would it be acceptable to end my debut novel on a cliffhanger, as long as the inciting incident has been resolved, then draw out the second half in a follow-up manuscript that uses my intended ending? Question 2: if I end up splitting the story and the final word count falls beneath Urban Fantasy guidelines, given my character's ages and the themes of self-discovery, should I change my genre to YA, knowing that the story progressively gets darker, and in the following manuscripts, more horrifying?

Alyssa, I need help. I have been contacted by a firm calling itself The Literary Firm telling me my self-published book is scoring very high and is being considered for a traditional contract. Being self-published they are telling me I need to get my book licensed in my name. They are not asking for any money up front. My fear is the final selection of books to be published will be released on June 22, 2024. So, I could go through the process of getting it licensed and then not published. They are giving me a score of my book of 92.4 out of 98.0. Do you have any knowledge in this area. Thank you.

Alyssa, How can you find comparable titles to a memoir? Especially since memoirs are unique to each individual. No two life experiences are the same.

Thanks for the answer for the last question. I was asking myself for a WIP.

Ms. Matesic, I know this would be out in left field compared to your regular content; but how about a Google Doc submission of Comp Titles, to do a Comp Title review? Possibly have people post like they do a Twitter pitch for context, but really only to review their comp titles and make possible suggestions if you have any?

I like your channel. Can you define 'High Concept'? Thanks.

What was the last book you read for yourself? What did you like about it?

Happy Wednesday Aly! 🙌

As a Canadian, how should I break into the American publishing industries? Also should I mention my location when querying? Thanks again Alyssa.

My ms is based in Newfoundland. I've queried NYC agents and received no replies. Nodda. Nothin'. Are USA agents stuck on Americans? Thanks, AM.

It's like you knew I needed this! I swear you're a mind reader. Thanks Alyssa! :)

I fed my manuscript into AI and asked it to suggest comps. I picked the most likely two candidates, and bought them and read them. Not only did I really enjoy them but they will make great comps. The other suggestions I could tell would not be ideal, but still I was impressed with the two suggestions that were solid and I hadn't already heard of, so it turned out to be very helpful!

How likely would a short story collection be picked up? I write horror mostly and I find it hard to find a story that can be dragged fully into a novel.

So I have a question: me and a friend have floated around the idea of us becoming an author duo and collaborating on stories and I’m wondering how would we go about the querying/publishing process should we decide to go down this route. I am willing to volunteer as tribute and deal with publishing stuff for us if necessary, but I also wanna know how involved in the process both of us would need to be. Right now, it just seems like we’d be doing fiction writing together, stuff like novels or comics. We would both likely be doing writing, but my friend is the better illustrator of the two of us. Keep up the good work! Have a cookie🍪

Hi Alyssa, thanks for the upload very informative. I have subscribed and will check out your other uploads. I self published 8 books all cookery and specialising in pastry subjects. I am not going to do this any further as the print quality is nowhere near the quality I am looking for, also the print costs make this untenable for making decent money so I now want to go through a traditional publishing house. I have a high skill level and profile in my field but if I understand your point about self publishing what I should now do is declare i have self published these books and I should not try and use anything in these books i have already published but only use new material. Have I got that right? Kind regards Tim

That would be a great series!

@alyssamatesic Thank you for your great videos! I have a question. You suggested that if one agent expresses an interest, let other agents know about it to increase their interest. Should you let them know the agent's identity who expressed an interest so they know you aren't making it up? Or should you keep the identity of the agent in question anonymous? Thank you in advance if you can let me know.

Unrelated, but you're glowing ❤

I have published my debut novel with a small publisher here in Canada. Since the day the publisher planned the edits and then the launch and up to today I have been on a roller coaster. The editing part was fantastic. They matched my novel with a fabulos editor. So that part went well. During proofreading they publicly announced they have financial issues and they let go of their staff including sales. But my book launched in November as planned. No party or even acknowledgement about it. It's ok. I did my launch and hired a publicist. The publisher was and is good distributing the book for me to bookstores who agree with an event. Anyway thanks to my publicist i got good reviews, interviews, inluding TV and radio. And suddenly another announcement came that they are closing by March but they are looking for a publisher to buy the baccklist from them. How are they going to do that i don't know. Will I still go with a small publisher for my next book? Yes, because if they are not financially in trouble, it's just the same process. Some of them have really good publicist and marketing team as well. Good luck everyone. Please wish me luck too with my situation because I surely need it.