Queries, Qualms, & Quirks
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks
Sarah Nicolas
Queries, Qualms, & Quirks asks published authors to share their successful query letter and discuss their journey from first spark to day of publication. Author Sarah Nicolas interviews authors of all genres about how they got started writing, their writing process, getting their book deal, and their experiences with publication.
Young Adult Author Angeline Boulley and a Decades-Long Journey
Young Adult Author Angeline Boulley joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss waiting 28 years to write the book, the most illuminating question to ask offering agents, prioritizing Native talent when negotiating her film rights, ensuring her craft was worthy of the story she wanted to tell, and the single most helpful thing she did for her writing. ✦  Angeline Boulley is a #1 New York Times bestselling author who writes about her Ojibway community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, is a Reese’s Book Club selection and received the inaugural Barnes & Noble Young Adult Book Award. It’s being developed for a Netflix series by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions. ✦  Angeline: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Bookshop | Libro.fm | Amazon | Indiebound ✦  Questions to Ask a Prospective Agent from Jim McCarthy ✦  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦  If the links aren't clickable, find them at: http://bit.ly/qqqangeline
Jun 24, 2021
38 min
Literary Fiction Author Catherine Adel West and There Is No Morning Dew (Yet)
Literary Fiction Author Catherine Adel West  joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the dangers of pitching your book before it’s complete, the advantages of virtual book tours, the need for publishing to reflect the world around it, advocating for yourself, and letting go of bitterness. ✦   Catherine Adel West was born and raised in Chicago, IL where she currently resides. Her debut Saving Ruby King was published in 2020. Catherine's short story “Orion’s Star” is featured in the body positive anthology Every Body Shines. Her sophomore novel Becoming Sara King is slated for release in 2022. ✦   Catherine: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | LibroFM | Bookshop | IndieBound ✦   Every Body Shines: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound ✦   QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon  ✦  If the links aren't clickable, find them at: http://bit.ly/qqqcawest
Jun 17, 2021
39 min
Cozy Mystery Author Mia P. Manansala and a Candle for the Ancestors
Cozy Mystery Author Mia P. Manansala joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss how a one-day writing workshop change everything, the pressure to represent your community well, the importance of a writing support network, being jealous of writing friends, and choosing the right agent for you, even if they’re not the biggest agent that offers. ✦  Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer and certified book coach from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture. Her debut novel, ARSENIC AND ADOBO, is out now! ✦  Mia: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop | LibroFM  ✦  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon  ✦  If the links aren't clickable, find them at: http://bit.ly/qqqmiapm
Jun 10, 2021
48 min
Romance Author Mary Ann Marlowe and the Relief of Going Hybrid
Romance novelist Mary Ann Marlowe joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss getting into Pitch Wars but not getting an agent, finally finding and losing an agent, the importance of loving the writing first, imposter syndrome, and the relief in being a hybrid author. ✦ Mary Ann lives in central Virginia where she works as a computer programmer/DBA. She spent ten years as a university-level French professor, and her resume includes stints as an au pair in Calais, a hotel intern in Paris, a German tutor, a college radio disc jockey, and a webmaster for several online musician fandoms. She has lived in twelve states and three countries and loves to travel. ✦ Mary Ann: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop: Dating by the Book | Kind of a Big Deal | Some Kind of Magic | Libro FM: Some Kind of Magic | A Crazy Kind of Love ✦ QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦ If the links aren't clickable, find them at: http://bit.ly/qqqmaryann ✦
Jun 3, 2021
37 min
Middle Grade Author Alyson Gerber and Taking Up Space
Middle Grade author Alyson Gerber joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss separating the art from the business, gaining confidence as a writer, writing to understand your own truth, being waitlisted for your dream, and the importance of persistence. ✦  Alyson Gerber is the author of the critically acclaimed, own-voices novels Braced and Focused published by Scholastic. Her third novel Taking Up Space released on May 18, 2021. She has an MFA from The New School in Writing for Children and lives in New York City with her family. ✦  Alyson: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop: Taking Up Space -- Braced | Audiobooks: Taking Up Space -- Braced ✦  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦  If links aren't clickable, find them here: http://bit.ly/qqqalyson
May 27, 2021
36 min
YA Author Jenn P. Nguyen and the Publishing Hail Mary
YA Author Jenn P. Nguyen joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss fanfiction as a gateway drug, querying by mail, starting over after separating with your agent, trying for a publishing hail mary (and getting it!), and trying to like coffee. ✦  Jenn P. Nguyen is the author of THE WAY TO GAME THE WALK OF SHAME and FAKE IT TILL YOU BREAK IT. She was born in Mississippi, raised in New Orleans, LA (Go Saints!), where she currently lives with her husband and high school sweetheart along with their two wonderful although slightly crazy kids. ✦  Jenn fell in love with books in third grade and spent the rest of her school years reading through lunchtime and giving up recess to organize the school library. Partially because the weather in New Orleans was always scorching, but mainly because she loved to be surrounded by books. Now Jenn get to spend my days reading, dreaming up YA romances, and binge watching addicting Korean dramas all in the name of ‘research’. ✦  Jenn: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Amazon | Bookshop: Walk of Shame -- Fake It Till You Break It ✦  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦  If the links aren't clickable, find them at: http://bit.ly/qqqjenn
May 20, 2021
37 min
Fantasy Author Rebecca Enzor and the Publishing Plot Twist
Editor and fantasy author Rebecca Enzor joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss unlearning passive voice, writing nine books before finding success, the importance of critique partners, and the surprising ending to her publishing career. ✦ Rebecca Enzor is an analytical chemist in Vancouver, WA, where she lives with her husband, two dogs, two cats, and sometimes chickens. Her articles on writing science in science fiction can be found in Writer’s Digest “Putting the Science in Fiction”. Obsessed with everything ocean, she studied fisheries biology in college and electrocuted herself collecting fish in a river, which inspired several key scenes in her debut novel, Speak The Ocean, out now with Reuts Publishing.  ✦ Rebecca: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop ✦ QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦ If links aren’t clickable, find them here: http://bit.ly/qqqrebecca
May 13, 2021
34 min
Mystery Author Abby L. Vandiver and the Accidental Hybrid Author
Mystery novelist Abby L. Vandiver (aka Abby Collette) joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss the differences in self-publishing and traditional, being a hybrid author, acknowledging you can’t edit yourself, and learning from other authors. ✦ Wall Street Journal and USA Today best selling author, Abby L. Vandiver also writing as Abby Collette, has penned more than thirty novels and short stories. She is a hybrid author, being traditionally and self-published. Abby writes cozy mysteries and has a women's fiction book, Where Wild Peaches Grow, coming in August 2022. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio. ✦ Abby: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Abby Vandiver Amazon | Abby Collette Amazon | Bookshop: Secrets, Lies, & Crawfish Pies | A Deadly Inside Scoop | Libro.fm ✦ QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦ If links aren't clickable, find them here: http://bit.ly/qqqabby
May 6, 2021
43 min
Middle Grade Author Waka T. Brown and the Hidden Power of Networking
Middle Grade author Waka T. Brown joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss transitioning from screenwriting to book writing, how a single hurtful rejection can almost derail your writing, finding inspiration on runs, and the importance of writing community. ✦  Waka T. Brown is graduate of Stanford University and the first American born in her family. Her debut memoir While I Was Away was published in January 2021, and her second novel Dream, Annie, Dream will be released in 2022, both through HarperCollins / Quill Tree Books. ✦  Waka: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro.fm  ✦  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon  ✦  If links aren't clickable, find them here: http://bit.ly/qqqwakatbrown
Apr 29, 2021
36 min
Romance Author Denise Williams and Comparison Being the Thief of Joy
Romance novelist Denise Williams joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss waiting for it to be your turn, debuting during a pandemic, your worst fears coming true (and it being okay), not reading your reviews, and no trade review ever being as harsh as her young son’s feedback.  ✦ Denise: Query Text | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop: How to Fail at Flirting | The Fastest Way to Fall | Libro.fm  ✦ QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon ✦ If the links aren't clickable, find them here along with the transcript: http://bit.ly/QQQdenisewilliams
Apr 22, 2021
40 min
Load more