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PaperclipPerfector  9d ago (text post)   1782 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 4, 2026

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So I'm trying to get my book published, and part of that process is trying to find someone to agent my [science fiction/fantasy] book by advertising it with a query letter. If the query letter gets an agent interested, the next step is for them to request my full manuscript-- but so far, I haven't had any luck getting agents to bite. Is anyone willing to read over my query letter and give me feedback? I'd love to get advice from anyone already involved in the publishing industry, but honestly if you've ever read the inside flap of a book before deciding whether to read it you have all the experience required to give me actionable advice

(I'll send the query letter via DM if anyone expresses interest. I don't want to post it publicly because my book is hopefully going to be associated with my real name and I don't want to link it with an account that reveals my power level lol.)

My buddy tried this and ended up publishing his own work. Both sci fi. He went at it from every angle possible - thinks it’s impossible for a white straight guy to be published but you know, he is jaded from the experience.

Excited to read / buy your book - love sci fi

I would agree with your buddy that the publishing world is structurally biased against men but would disagree that it's particularly biased against white men. The main causal mechanism is that the vast majority of newer agents (i.e., the ones actively looking for debut authors) and acquisition editors are women (or gay men), and naturally they're going to prefer books that speak to their interests and experiences. That selects against the kind of content men want to read and right write. However, excluding a few niche ethnicity-specific genres, a white male should have as much success as a pakistani woman if they're both writing romantasy targeted towards white woman... and as little success if they're both writing hard sci-fi targeted towards guys.

(And then there's the knock-on effect that mostly publishing stuff women would be interested in reading makes men less interested in reading and male-targeted books less likely to sell, which makes agents and editors even less likely to pick up that kind of book.)

All that being said, I wouldn't underestimate the potentially of the literary world to change suddenly and violently. There's a small but relevant number of agents on MSWL citing specifically that they want the next Dungeon Crawler Carl, or that authors shouldn't be afraid to submit "boy books" to them. Aethon books also seems to be fairly successful, and I heard the author of the percy jackson series is starting a new imprint to focus on books that appeal to the same audience his does. None of that is going to help me publish my book because I suspect my book is unmarketable in ways completely orthogonal to the anti-male-content bias, but it is heartening to see.

If it's for a novel, I'd be happy to. Please DM me. I might even ask you to return the favour!

Absolutely! DMing now.

Might want to clarify if it’s a fictional or non-fictional book. The processes can be quite different.

Sounds like it’s fictional, given the potential of a full manuscript request instead of just a sample chapter or sample chapters.

How many agents have you tried? It’s like online dating (for men) or job-searching, radio silence is the norm. It’s entirely possible your query letter is fine.

It is fiction, will clarify in the OP. I submitted to 20 agents and got 15 form rejections. (The other 5 have been out for 100+ days so I'm not holding out hope.) I did deliberately submit to a lot of agents with high response rates, low response times, and concurrently low full request probabilities-- but surveying the querytracker statistics I still should have expected 2-3 full requests if my query was merely "average." Since I can't expect to get published unless I'm well above average, that's a pretty telling sign that I need to fix my shit.

Have you considered implying that your identity is trendier than it actually is? Any native American ancestors? Maybe use a neopronoun? You can stop using it later and if anyone objects, tell them you're fluid and they're a bigot.

TBH my ethnic identity is fairly trendy and also relevant to the book so I do mention it, but... I knowingly and deliberately wrote a book that catered to my interests at the expense of probable market reach. Within the constraints of having written something visibly created by a neoliberal catholic furry I'm still going to do my best to get published, but I don't think exploiting my ethnic identity is going to have much of an impact one way or the other.

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