Dao is one syllable. It rhymes with “how.” Pronouncing it to rhyme with “mayo” is incorrect.

I have three young adult books published by Philomel, an imprint of Penguin Random House: FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS (published October 10, 2017), KINGDOM OF THE BLAZING PHOENIX (published November 6, 2018), and SONG OF THE CRIMSON FLOWER (published November 5, 2019). I have one young adult book with Disney Hyperion: BROKEN WISH (published October 6, 2020). I have three middle-grade books that will be published by FSG, an imprint of Macmillan, starting with TEAM CHU AND THE BATTLE OF BLACKWOOD ARENA (the book’s new title! Out July 26, 2022).

I am happy to sign your purchased copy, but please don’t ask me to give you something free of charge that I have worked so hard on. If you want to see more books from me, buying my work will show my publisher there’s interest and help keep me in business. I understand that books can be expensive, so you can also help by requesting my book at your local library, leaving reviews on retail sites like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, and/or spreading the word to friends you think might enjoy the read. And please never, never, NEVER pirate books. This is not only illegal, but hurts the authors you love.

Thank you for asking! Please visit the Books page on my website for buy links to each of my works.

At this time, I prefer not to share my query letter for the manuscript with which Tamar and I signed. I will post it on my blog if/when it becomes a real book one day! In the meantime, you can check out successful query letters on QueryTracker’s Success Stories.

When I first started out, I researched and read everything I could get my hands on. I did extensive research on each and every agent. I looked for people who represented the category I write (YA, MG, adult, etc) and the genre (paranormal, contemporary, etc.). I bookmarked the ones who asked for exactly the kind of story I wrote via Manuscript Wish List. That was step #1. Then I looked up their interviews, Googled them, checked out their blogs, Facebook, whatever, to get a sense of what kind of a person they are. What is their style? Could I see myself working with them? Are they nice? Are they communicative? There is a certain sense of not knowing exactly what a person is like until you sign the contract. Kind of like not knowing what a person is really like until you date them/live with them — you can kind of have to jump in headfirst. But by researching them, you can get a good sense of who they are. If you’re serious about writing, and if you want this to be your career more than anything, you just have to put in the time and grunt work.

It took me eight years and many, many rejection letters before I found an agent to represent me. During that time, I wrote over half a dozen manuscripts, worked hard on perfecting my query letters, and did copious research on agents and publishing houses, ending up with two agent offers in 2015. Getting an agent took a lot of hard work, hope, and determination, and there are no shortcuts or magic formulas to the process. Strap in for the long haul and keep writing!

I’ll be honest: I did consider self-publishing. More than once. But I continued pursuing the traditional path because I want to write. I want my job to be all about the writing. And when you self-publish, you’ll need to put on many other different hats and market for yourself, find an editor to clean up your manuscript, find a cover designer, etc. In the end, I decided that I wanted to stick to writing and let professionals take care of the rest. It is a deeply personal preference. There is no one method of publishing that is superior to the others; it is whatever works best for you.

Replies always vary from agent to agent. The fastest full request I got happened under five minutes, and the slowest rejection took over a year to come. Check out QueryTracker (I recommend making a free account) and Absolute Write, as people often post how long it took for specific agents to respond.

The hardest part of the querying process for me was definitely the waiting. The waiting and waiting and waiting. And it doesn’t end after you get an agent, because then you wait and wait and wait for editors. But that’s why they always say to write the next book. Focusing on a new project helps you forget you’re waiting!

Signing with an agent is a BIG step, but it is still not a guarantee you’ll get published. You can have the most amazing agent in the business and a solid, well-written manuscript and STILL not get a book deal. That’s where luck comes in: being in the right place at the right time with the right story. The thing about traditional publishing is it doesn’t just take one “yes,” like with your agent. It takes a whole lot of “yeses” to get that elusive deal. Even if an editor falls in love with your book, he or she will have to convince an entire team of people to buy it. And they will decide based on your book’s marketability, what readers may want in the future, whether it will compete with other titles at their house or others… basically everything is out of your control at this point. I really, truly believe that hard work pays off eventually. Of course, there are never any guarantees when it comes to publishing, but I strongly believe that the more you keep working at something, the more chances you have to succeed. That’s why I’ve been so persistent with no reward in sight!

I think you should write whatever you want to write. Some stories are better standing alone, while others can be expanded. If you’re looking to get published, and you have a series in mind, I’d probably just write Book 1. You don’t want to spend all your time writing Books 2 and 3 if the first book doesn’t get an agent/publisher. You could spend that time writing Book 1 of a different series, or a different standalone.

There may be different definitions out there, but this is my understanding of these terms. A CP, or critique partner, is someone with whom you exchange manuscripts. You often become close and get used to each other’s unique style of writing and of critiquing. It’s an equal partnership and frequently begins in the earlier drafts of writing your book. A beta reader is someone who reads your book for you and gives you an opinion. Typically, you ask for a beta when your manuscript is close to being done with revisions.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time and my current CPs must come first!

I love to help other writers whenever I can, but I just don’t have the time to personally coach everyone along! Nobody gave me shortcuts or held my hand when I was first starting out. I Googled and researched and did the grunt work by myself. That’s how I learned what I know, and I’m still learning stuff that way. There are excellent resources available, a few of which I’ve mentioned on this page.

Unfortunately not! I lack the expertise and familiarity with the market that a publishing professional has, so I don’t feel comfortable recommending someone’s manuscript in that capacity. Also, to the best of my knowledge, my editor only reads agented submissions. I recommend researching the agents and editors you’re interested in. I get questions about what Tamar is looking for right now in MG and YA, and whether she’d like someone’s specific manuscript. Honestly, I’m not sure because I haven’t had to research her in a couple of years. Wish lists can change a lot, so you will need to keep tabs on the people you are considering to get the most current info. Check out MSWL if you haven’t already.

Writing a query is all about making the agent want to read your book. Give enough information about your story to describe how it stands out and why someone who gets thousands of queries a day should request your manuscript. Look for examples of successful queries on Google. If you have a free afternoon, go to your favorite bookstore and walk around the section you could see your book in. Pick up as many covers as possible and read the jacket copy. Which books do you want to read? Which books are you “meh, I don’t need it” about? Find out what about the jacket copy turned you off or intrigued you. THAT’S what you need to do with your query. Obviously it’s very subjective because what you liked about one book, someone else could hate. But it’s a good way to train yourself to hooks — how a book jacket makes you want to read the book, and why. Is it an intriguing premise? Is it a complex character you want to know more about? It also helps you learn rhythm and cadence. Figure out turns of phrase that are interesting, language choices that give you a feel for the book itself: creepy words for a horror novel, beautiful ones for a literary. You have only so much space on a book jacket to hook someone and make them buy/read; likewise, you have only so much space in a query to hook an agent.

If you find out, let me know 😉 Just write the book you want to write. Write your book, and then worry about publishing. I think it can be easy to focus on business stuff when our #1 priority as writers, first and foremost, is to write a good book. Don’t think about agents, don’t think about book contracts. Write something, get a lot of CPs and beta readers to hack it apart, and then worry about the next steps. Also, please note that non-bestselling books can sell far better than bestsellers over their lifetime. The New York Times list, in particular, captures sales in a very small amount of time and from what I understand, it is also not purely based on numbers. I strongly advise you not to make the bestseller list your goal. It’s a nice dream and aspiration, but even if you don’t get on it, you can still be an extremely successful author.

As a young writer, it’s hard to be sure about writing. I studied medicine in college, and didn’t write for years. One day, it just hit me. I think I’d known it subconsciously all along, but it just hit me that I would be never ever be happy if I didn’t write. I was 22 when I started writing seriously again (first started at age 8). I am glad I tried something else, though, and made sure it wasn’t for me. That’s how I found out. But for some, it takes much longer — I have writer friends who started families and had jobs and are only now starting to get serious about it, in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. I know a lady in her 60s who’s just starting. Don’t rush it. If it’s meant to be, you’ll run into it at one point during your life. The wonderful thing about writing is you can always come back to it. So if you have another dream that you wanna pursue, you can do that. And you can always write on the side, too.

Your manuscript should be as close to perfect as you can get it before you even think about agents and publishing. Just having a completed book is not enough — you need to go through multiple rounds of revision and have other writers critique your work. Send the manuscript out to CPs in waves and gauge responses. (It took me almost two years to revise the book I got my agent with!)

Absolutely! This is what happened with me. I had materials out with about 15 people when I got a revise-and-resubmit (R&R), in which an agent who is serious about your work calls/emails with revision suggestions. I emailed everyone with my full or partial and said something like: “Dear Agent, I have just received a major R&R from another interested agent. The manuscript will change significantly. Would you like me to send you the new version to read when it is finished?” They appreciate this because then they won’t spend time reading an old draft. You could do a variation of that: “Dear Agent, I submitted my full/partial to you on such-and-such-a-date. Since then, I have made significant changes to the story. I’d be happy to send you the new version if you are interested.” Also, always hit “Reply” to the email thread in which you first queried the agent. This way, they’ll be able to look back and see what book was yours and all prior communication with you.

You do not pay an agent anything before you get your book deal. Don’t go for anyone who charges you a reading fee up front. Your agent does not make money until you do. It is not necessary to have an agent to publish, as a lot of reputable presses that are small or midsize often take both agented and unagented submissions. However, you DO need an agent if you want a deal with one of the bigger houses (such as Penguin Random House, Macmillan, etc.)

Should you ask the offering agent to wait? 100,000% YES. It is a courtesy to everyone still reading to give them time to decide. Sometimes people get to stuff later than they’d like, and just haven’t had a chance yet. Put yourself in an agent’s shoes. Imagine that a writer submitted a great manuscript to you, and you have just gotten around to reading the entire thing. You email the writer telling them how much you LOVE it… and then they break the news that they’ve already signed with someone else. You are a busy agent and you just wasted all that time on a manuscript that will never be yours. A legit agent who offers to you will EXPECT you to check with everyone else; they will not be turned off by it.

A form rejection is a standard, pre-written rejection that the agent sends to everyone he/she rejects. It usually starts with “Dear Author,” although some will put your name. You can tell it’s a form when it’s generic and does not refer to your specific query or book. Personalized rejections (rejections in which the agent writes feedback directly specific to you and your book) are a very good sign. Agents are extremely busy people and it’s much easier for them to send a form rejection. That doesn’t mean you should get complacent, BUT, you should know that personalized rejections are pretty rare and you should take it as encouragement that this busy agent saw something in you/your writing. If you’re getting those, your writing is on its way. It just might not be there completely, or might not be the right project for them, etc. To sum up, don’t put too much weight on personalized rejections (for queries or for requests), but DO let them push and encourage you. Not everyone gets them. Pay attention to what people are saying in their personalizations. When I was querying and collecting rejections, I had a spreadsheet where I copied all of their comments. I bet you’ll start to see a pattern sooner than later, as I did, and that could be a clue as to what to fix/what step to take next.

I’ve looked at a lot of queries in my time (from mentoring in the Pitch Wars contest and helping friends) and I sometimes see at the end: “This is a multiple submission.” I always tell folks to remove this. It won’t hurt you, but it’s redundant because agents expect that you’re submitting to others at the same time.

You should create a website and join social media whenever you want! Just make sure you pick something you enjoy and will keep up with. And also don’t think about gaining fans; think instead about making friends. You will find more genuine connections that way and it’ll be more fulfilling for you, too.