This Week! Publishing! Positive style!
Thanks so much to everyone for participating in positivity week. Judging from the feedback and comments, in these tough times people definitely could use some more positivity, so consider this a humble request to go out and spread it.
It’s also why I didn’t participate in the Twitter-fest #queryfail, in which agents and editors Twittered in real-time yesterday about the queries they were rejecting. Seems like a good opportunity to remind everyone who is thinking of querying me that you do not have to fear becoming blog/Twitter fodder. Ever. Never ever. Not when you’re querying, and not when you’re a client.
First up, it seems fitting to link to an end-of-publishing-as-we-know it article, this time by former book editor Marion Maneker. Why during positivity week? Because even though he believes there are going to be major changes at the publishing houses, ultimately the digital era will be good for writers.
While we are thinking positively, you’d better start preparing yourself for success, right? Well, agent Rachelle Gardner has a post about some steps to consider as you contemplate the time commitments that come with being a writer.
In case you need proof that the mainstream publishing industry is increasingly gravitating toward celebrity books and bestsellers, HarperCollins this week launched an imprint devoted to celebrity books and bestsellers. Why is this good news for positivity week? I have another place to send book projects!! Imprints opening: good.
Reader Neil Vogler pointed me to a new e-book experiment by UK publisher Faber and author Ben Wilson, who are attempting the Radiohead “pay what you want” model. According to the article, only 38% of users paid anything for Radiohead’s album “In Rainbows” and the average among those who paid was £2.80. But hey — experimentation: positive.
As mentioned on Wednesday, Amazon entered the iPhone app fray with a Kindle-linked application, and Wired surveyed the other book app companies. The consensus: unafraid. I find all of this extremely gratifying. Anything that can get on-the-go people to buy books is going to be a major boon to the book business.
Do you have a publishing emergency? Author Lynn Viehl is (hilariously) standing by.
The new edition of MentalFloss contains a list of the 25 most influential books of the past 25 years, and the Washington Post’s Short Stack blog took issue with some of the choices. Here’s hoping your book make the next list!
And finally, we opened positivity week with Muppets and it seemed only fitting to close positivity week with Muppets. I give you: a Bert & Ernie gangsta rap mashup:
Anonymous says
See, Colleen, I knew I queried you for a reason.
Hearting Heathers=WIN.
Kimber An says
Ms. Reid, I don’t think you represent the sort of stories I write, but you just won a new blog reader!
valbrussell says
It would an interesting experiment for American writers to reach beyond their own culture when examining the publishing business. The state of the arts in other countries is closer to the truth of what being an artist is. Americans have such an obsession with money that it’s led to a state of artistic bankruptcy. It’s not good enough to support yourself with your writing, you have to be a bestseller. Postivity is fine, but it also needs to be partnered with a large dose of reality.
clindsay says
Anon-
It’s been way too long since I’ve seen it, though. I don’t remember the reference to that song.
In my high school it was Julies, not Heathers. They were scary Julies, too.
C-
(Word Verification: refork. Does that mean forking again?)
Nathan Bransford says
Yeah, I was kind of appalled to discover I didn’t have a link to Query Shark on the front page. It’s really an awesome blog.
And thanks for weighing in, Janet, lack of cursing notwithstanding.
Bane of Anubis says
Janet's biting commentary on queries is near priceless (even – or perhaps particularly – when it was directed my way – I don't think I'll forget the Bill& Ted reference :)… Jumping the shark's normally a bad thing, but if you can get over this shark on the first try, you've done a mighty fine job.
Marilyn Peake says
More great news on posivity week: Watchmen is now in theaters! I saw a movie review show the other night in which the reviewers said it was a great movie for those who read the graphic novel, that the director stayed very true to the book for the fans who love the graphic novel, so much so that the movie might be difficult to understand without having read it. They mentioned that the heavy intellectual and philosophical aspects of the novel were carried over to the movie. I cannot wait to see this movie, and am delighted that there was so much respect given to the written version, including the deeply intellectual and philosophical ideas that make that graphic novel so special it actually won a Hugo award. Woot! Woot!
Marilyn Peake says
I just now caught up with the blog comments here. As others have mentioned, I’m very impressed with Janet Reid’s comment and am going to more faithfully follow her blog. Didn’t know about Query Shark and that it only includes volunteers – an awesome idea.
O.K., my Word Verification is “ledbut” – not kidding!
ryan field says
I’m glad I read more about queryfail in these comments. As Colleen Lindsay said, I got the wrong impression at first, and I didn’t have the facts.
I usually block everyone who isn’t directly invovled in my own personal network on Twitter, and the two queryfail tweets I saw clearly didn’t represent the entire concept.
Thanks for explaining.
Anonymous says
OK,we realize these queries were the EXTREME version of bad, but what about those of us who follow all the directions, play by the rules and we don’t even get a form response? I’ve gotten enough requests for partials and fulls to know I’m doing something right, but this lack of courtesy from agents is annoying. Hey, we’re busy too!
Anonymous says
Of course agents are stressed these days, of course they need to blow off steam, and of course they are pestered by ill-conceived, inconsiderate writers who haven’t done their background research. But none of these are excuses for forgetting their primary role when in public: that of author advocate.
This would be somewhat akin to a group of doctors twittering about their day, and expressing their cynicism, anger and feelings of helplessness by subtly mocking their patients.
Kudos to you, Nathan, for understanding the slippery slope this experiment engendered.
Anonymous says
And so, we have come to the end of positivity week. From one dare to hundreds and hundreds of comments later, I’d call the week a success.
I hope that with this week came the realization of what real power you have for aspiring writers, and that one blog (for better or worse) can and does really make all the difference.
I would imagine that many have taken your lead and are spreading their own forms of positivity. NBC’s Brian Williams, to name one. https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29556042/?GT1=43001
Well done.
Rick Daley says
I find great value in reading reading Query Shark, Evil Editor, Nathan’s blog, and other agent / editor blogs. The comments can be just as entertaining and informative as the posts.
Even though you can’t learn to play Mozart watching the toddler bang on the keys, sometimes learning what not to do is a valuable lesson. The critiques of the queries at the bottom of the barrel help to prove points that might be too subtle for everyone to comprehend when the query is fairly well written, just barely missing the mark.
I recently got a rejection from one of the agents posting in this thread. It was for a query I submitted last Novemeber. I scrolled down on the thread and shuddered when I read the query, it was so bad.
But I’m learning, and a query I submitted in February responded in a partial request. Ok, so the partial was rejected, but I’ve learned to improve my query, and now I’ve learned some critical lessons to improve my manuscript.
Having thick skin is a small part of it. What we (the aspiring novelists) need to do is learn from each experience, and leverage that learning to improve our overall writing.
Anonymous says
clindsay –
Only one agency had multiple agents Tweeting, and that very reputable agency has been around since 1996.
The agency I’m referring to has only been around for two years, although it’s run by agents who have worked at other reputable agencies, only has a handful of book deals listed on their site, and most of those deals are with one particular subsidiary that has been hit by so many financial difficulties, it’s been reported in business news as a huge drain on its parent company. Enough to make any group of agents feel particularly snarky and sick of dealing with mountains of query letters? Maybe those agents have finally reached the point that many writers reached a long time ago – – tired of being thick-skinned, tired of being polite, tired of facing mountains of work in a business where their financial futures are uncertain. I noticed that another literary agent who is being polite and restrained at queryfail recently negotiated a long list of very good book and movie deals for her clients.
Anonymous says
What about the legal aspect of #queryfail? Publishing book ideas you don’t own the rights to? Could that be construed as copyright infringement, thereby opening the agent posters up to lawsuits? I know I wouldn’t want my book ideas published on the web without my permission.
Anonymous says
Re: queryfail –
Is poking fun at books about teenage suicide ever really a good idea? Is even just commenting publicly about those queries without permission a good idea? Teenage suicide rates are alarmingly high right now, and it’s possible that some of those books were written by fragile teenagers contemplating suicide. Maybe some types of query letters should never be mentioned at queryfail? Just a thought. Could you ever imagine psychiatrists or suicide prevention hotline workers blowing off steam in a public forum that way?
Julie Weathers says
I’ve gotten enough requests for partials and fulls to know I’m doing something right, but this lack of courtesy from agents is annoying. Hey, we’re busy too!–
Several agents have listened to what bothers writers. Many are making attempts to at least send a form rejection. However, others are simply swamped with numbers and don’t have the manpower or time to respond to each query. I was surprised to hear the number of agents who try to be polite and send rejections only to be met with harassment and bullying techniques for saying no.
One person on queryfail mentioned being called 16 times by an irate author who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Yes, I would rather have at least a form rejection to know, but sometimes others shape the world we have to live in.
Kelly Maher says
To Anonymous 1:00 PM 3/7, ideas are not copyrightable the same way titles are not copyrightable. The way in which you interpret the idea and create an original work out of the idea *is* copyrightable. As evidence: the suit against Dan Brown by 2 of the 3 authors of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” for using the idea of there being descendants of Jesus via Mary Magdalene. The case was tried in Britain because Britain has even stricter definitions of copyright infringement than the US does, and the British courts found in favor of Brown.
Cheers!
(word verification – oriessed, is that anything like the R.O.U.S.’s?)
Mags says
(word verification – oriessed, is that anything like the R.O.U.S.’s?)
Rodents of unusual size? I don’t think they exist.
Anonymous says
A cowardly anon weighing in…
First, I loved your warm fuzzy week, Nathan. As others have said, you are a class act and your blog posts are always fun and educational.
I’m glad to see Janet Reid adding her two cents to this queryfail debate. Her “Query Shark’ blog is done properly and because of this, it is enjoyable to read. Anyone submitting a query to Janet on her blog KNOWS what to expect. Sometimes her comments aren’t pretty, but you know its a possibility going in.
Anyone needing to learn about query writing should take a look there and also at Jessica Faust’s Christmas time blog entries, Nathan’s FAQs, and Agent Kristen’s blog. Unfortunately, the people who need this information the most are not hooked in to these sources yet nor will they benefit from the ‘helpful’ comments on Twitter because they may not know to look there. For most of the writer’s who provided fodder for query fail, it is probably a matter of not knowing what you don’t know. No one is born knowing how to write a query letter or understanding how publishing works. We all had to start somewhere.
Jen says
First, Heathers is awesome. Just awesome. What’s your damage Heather?
Second, Janet Reid is also awesome. Always my second stop on the Agent blog trail!
Third, I am amazed at how extreme reactions to #queryfail have been. I didn’t think it would be that much of a big deal!
Mira says
I’d like to add my praise to Janet Reid for her comments. I thought you made some extremely good points. Well spoken!
Okay, so now my list goes like this:
Favorite agent #1 – Nathan
Favorite agent #2 – Janet
Colleen, I get that you feel strongly that you did something helpful. But if you’ll acknowledge that maybe you inadvertantly stepped on some people’s toes, and you’re sorry because you meant no disrespect, I would be so impressed by your graciousness, that you could be my favorite agent #3.
Anonymous says
I must confess that I’m a bit appalled that this thread has devolved into a de facto excuse to slam a few agents who were trying to do something that most writers on Twitter found to be quite helpful.
And I’m disturbed that much of this thread seems to have become a personal attack on one agent in particular. I would have thought that Nathan would have stepped in at some point to stop this ridiculousness.
Writing is a business, and the kind of query advice that those agents and editors gave during the whole Query Fail thread was invaluable. If something like that can traumatize you to the point where you no longer wish to become a published writer, then most certainly you should consider another career.
Even a cursory read through the blogs of several other well-known blogging agents turns up plenty of instances where portions of bad queries were used as a part of a blog post illustrating how not to write a query, which is the entire reason that most of us frequent these blogs – including Nathan’s – in the first place.
In fact, on Janet Reid’s personal blog – not the Query Shark blog – she has on several occasions posted the contents of entire emails that she’s received and deemed to be mock-worthy.
So perhaps we can all stop pointing fingers at one another and get back to the original theme of Nathan’s post, which was about being positive.
My two and a half cents,
Sara Fenwick
Nathan Bransford says
Sara-
I did step in when I thought the comments were personal, disrespectful, and/or nonconstructive. Ultimately I think you’ll see from this thread that I’ve left the vast majority of posts stand, both pro and con, because I hope that this is a space where people can state their opinion, whatever it happens to be, provided it’s done in a respectful fashion.
Obviously there are some strong feelings all around on this issue, and with that comes some stridency. But overall I think people on both sides have handled this in a dignified fashion.
Anonymous says
There are many misguided writers. There are also many misguided agents. I had coffee with three very successful authors a few days ago, and all three of them are on their second or third agents. For all three of them, leaving their bad agents (including one of the agents that participated in queryfail) was the thing that took their careers to a new level. I’ve heard in private about so many boneheaded things that agents do, but I’ve fortunately never seen a group effort by writers to trash agents. I find the concept and execution of queryfail undignified, immature, mean-spirited, and just plain dumb.
Anonymous says
Nathan, I love the blog. But I’d like to know what the typical advance payment is for an average novel. Secondly, what do the royalties following usually look like?
Kimber An says
To put a positive spin on the Twitter Queryfail Fiasco, try looking at it as an opportunity to research which publishing professionals are most compatible with your style. What are your priorities?
I can recommend my favorite resources for creating query letters.
nathanbransford.blogspot.com
pubrants.blogspot.com
bookendslitagency.blogspot.com
Mr. Bransford and Pub Rants both have their query writing instructions linked on the sidebar. Can’t remember if BookEnds does, but you can always write ‘query’ in the search function at the top, left had side of the of the page. Also do a search on ‘query’ at the other two blogs and glean as much wisdom as you can. Read those posts, memorize them, put a lot of time and hard work into perfecting your query letter and researching who you send it to and how they want to receive it. That’s the best advice I can give with my own limited experience.
And don’t forget about Query Shark. That’s a new one to me and I’ll be keeping an eye on it.
Anonymous says
Nathan –
Thanks for the reply. I suppose that what upsets me most is that you actually (if perhaps unintentionally) set the tone for the Query Fail bashing with a somewhat disingenuous statement about your queries never becoming “blog fodder”. The truth is that you and all the agents who query use your queries in this manner. Every “what not to do” post is comprised of examples that you pull from the queries that exasperate you most. And as a writer, I’m grateful for the examples. Just as I was grateful for the examples on the much maligned Query Fail.
Sara
Anonymous says
This would be somewhat akin to a group of doctors twittering about their day, and expressing their cynicism, anger and feelings of helplessness by subtly mocking their patients.
The person who wrote this has obviously never worked in the medical profession.
Anonymous says
“This would be somewhat akin to a group of doctors twittering about their day, and expressing their cynicism, anger and feelings of helplessness by subtly mocking their patients.
The person who wrote this has obviously never worked in the medical profession.”
Actually, on this point you would be 100% completely wrong.
Anonymous says
I think the discussion here on Nathan’s blog has been very civil, mature and professional. Quite a few of the agents on queryfail said that it felt so good to “vent” — hardly the same as “teaching”. One agent on queryfail said that he takes home the “doozies” among his query letters to read outloud to his family over dinner — How exactly does that teach anything to writers??? There are also quite a few derogatory statements at queryfail claiming that writers who have complained about queryfail are probably too technically ignorant to even find queryfail or Twitter. Ummmm, I’m not sure how they commented about posts they read on queryfail then. Another rumor being thrown around on queryfail is that the writers who are complaining are probably those who write so badly, they got rejections. Actually, some of the appalled writers are those who are successful, reach out to new writers on a regular basis, and can’t imagine having been mocked when they were starting out. To each his own, I guess. It is, after all, hip and cool to be rude these days — It’s how so much of our modern public discourse is conducted. Thank goodness there are other places, including Nathan’s blog, where discussion is much more analytical.
Nathan Bransford says
sara-
What I meant is that I never quote from or reference individual queries, unless they specifically volunteered themselves for the blog. Yes, I try and offer generalized advice and sometimes discuss specific problems that I have seen, but I intentionally try and keep a threshold of privacy so that no one would be able to identify their individual queries from the advice.
courtney summers says
I think all the discussion queryfail has inspired is great and I can see both sides of the issue. No, QueryFail wasn’t perfect, but ultimately, I think it has the potential to be incredibly helpful (and from what I’m hearing from lots of people, it was). Given what I know of the agents who participated, I’m sure the points raised here–how the queries were quoted, etc–and in other places will be taken into consideration when QueryFail 2: Queries Never Die etc goes down. Colleen is really generous with her time and has gone out of her way on her own blog and other forums to help writers who are preparing to submit their work and I did–and still do–see QueryFail as an extension of that and I am looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
(Also what is great about QueryFail is it’s spawned fantastic offshoot discussions about professionalism in agents and writers, how to constructively critique someone, where the lines are, what to expect when you’re expecting… these are good topics to discuss.)
(But I am just a big fan of discussion, what can I say.)
(YAY DISCUSSION!)
(Yay, Nathan, for letting your blog EXPLODE with it!)
clindsay says
Courtney –
What, no sparkles for Nathan? =)
~*~ sparkle! ~*~
Colleen
courtney summers says
Colleen, I didn’t want to distract everyone with the blindingness of sparkles, but wellll. Now that you have twisted my arm. And I don’t want you to sparkle alone!
~*SPARKLES*~
MaLanie says
Nathan,
Only men with integrity and b@lls make great leaders! And you definetly have both!
Query fest was a great eye opener; not at all educational, other than showing me which agents I cannot trust.
Nathan your archives are educational and thank you for not publically critizing people to educate them. I have learned more from your site than hundreds of other agent’s sites.
Writing with dyslexia is extremely hard and embarrassing at times. I have to work extra, extra hard as I don’t see the words like others do. The thought of an agent/editor posting an error I made and making fun of it is like a slap in the face. For me it is no different than making fun of someone with downsyndrome.
Nathan you truly are a great represenative! Thank you for being a stand up guy. This makes me work even harder to earn your representation.
Anonymous says
MaLanie,
I just wanted you to know, you are not the only with dyslexia trying to get published. I have it most of the way licked, but failed to learn everything properly as a child because of it. It’s wierd how we take on the biggest challenge we can find and can beat it. I sent off a couple of query letters before I was ready and frankly if I had seen them being mocked by an agent (unless I asked for them to) I am not sure what I would have done. I am sure it would have been a set back, but like others said before, in the beginning I would have never looked at queryfail. I hadn’t figured out the blog system yet, much less all of the other links. Which in case I haven’t mentioned it thank-you to all of the kind agents who understand it is far from easy to figure out what an agent wants to see. Heaven forbid if anyone had mentioned they had dyslexia on one of those letters.
Malanie, best of luck.
JO
slcard says
I shall try to do this again, and I will try hard to spell ‘response’ correctly this time.
Dear Eva Ulian,
Firstly, thank you for your response to my question regarding creation vs. interpretation; I could chat in this area for perhaps days. Before I continue I would also like to say that in the areas of pets, Pavarotti and Italian opera I’m sure we stand together arm in arm.
However, on Wednesday when I very enthusiastically agreed with your comment regarding the wisdom of writing, I unfortunately did not understand your implication. After your above comment, I fear I do not agree at all. I thought you were warning the naive away from the desperate hard work that writing well entails, but that is often disregarded in the early stages; not telling them to save themselves and the world from their stupidity. I truly believe everyone’s brilliant, some just need a little (or a lot of) polish and an appreciative eye. If writing happens to be someone’s passion, then I invite he or she to get their plastic spoon and start digging. Although if anyone new to writing reads this, please do research agents carefully.
Not to say we can’t or shouldn’t try to learn from other’s mistakes. One of my favorite quotes (and you’d think I’d remember who said it if it’s a favorite, but I don’t — perhaps Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo?) is: “Learn from the mistakes of others; you might not live long enough to make them all yourself.” However, I never think it’s a good idea to highlight another’s misfortune.
In regards to queryfail, I have no knowledge of it other than what is posted here, but I believe all business correspondence, regardless of quality, should be confidential unless it has been clearly expressed it will be otherwise.
Kind Regards,
slc
And, Mr. Bransford, thanks for Bert and Ernie.
Anonymous says
Kimber An, thanks for posting the details for Bookends and Pubrants blogs. I should have done that when I mentioned them, too.
I found the information on these blogs we’ve mentioned invaluable. After intense study and a complete rewrite of my query, I went from immediate rejection to requests for material. Following these agents’ advice my query is read and responded to within HOURS not weeks. –Sorry Nathan, you were the recipient of my old query–but I’ve never received a nicer rejection 🙂 —
The best advice the agents gave: voice is everything. It appears to be the truth.
And to the writers with dyslexia, I think you are amazing. I work with a woman with this condition and everyday I am astounded by her. Her job: a rural mail carrier who deals with letters and numbers throughout the workday–with great accuracy. She is also a writer. Impressive.
Charlie (cowardly anon, feeling braver)
Marilyn Peake says
Today’s Sunday, the official start of another week. I’m crossing my fingers that Nathan will have a second positivity week. And what a week this is: it’s officially Read an eBook Week.
I’m giddy with excitement because I just found out that one of my books won an EPPIE in Las Vegas this past weekend, so I will definitely being helping myself to another week of positivity.
Marilyn Peake says
Apparently I was a tad too giddy – In my last post, “being helping” should have been “be helping”. Grrrrrrrr, typos!
Marilyn Peake says
MaLanie,
I admire you deeply for pursuing your writing goals. I know an author with a learning disability who struggled to master writing, started out in small press, moved up quickly to big publishing houses and best-selling novels, and now travels around the country for book signings. There are quite a few dyslexic writers who have been very successful, and quite a few famous scientists with learning disabilities. I wish you all the best with your writing dreams!
Mira says
You know I was thinking about a previous post. Someone was upset that this discussion was primarly focused on one person involved in queryfest, Colleen.
The reason for that is that Colleen, very bravely, came here to discuss it in person. I give her definite kudos for that.
I also want to give kudos to those who pursue their dreams despite disabilities that add extra challenges. Writing is hard enough. When you add having extra troubles, that’s just blatantly unfair. You have my admiration and respect.
Lastly, way to go, Marilyn! You go, girl! Wow. Winning an award – that is sooooo validating and wonderful! I am impressed and happy for you! Congratulations!
Mira says
Hummph. Let’s see Nathan delete THAT post.
Ha.
Actually, in retrospect, I’m really grateful to you Nathan for deleting my post. Thanks.
As a reward, I won’t post the truly touching, 36 line tribute I wrote:
“Ode to My Deleted Post”
You’re welcome.
TennesseeDoe says
Hmmm. Celebrity books? I see Blago got a six figure deal to write about, get this, dirty politics. Wonder if he’ll venture into children’s fiction next?
Anonymous says
I agree with many others about the query fail – it comes off very unprofessional. I am so happy that you don’t.
I have decided I will not query any agent who participates. Agents expect writers/authors to be professional, I expect the same, since technically I would be the one hiring the agent. I highly doubt they’d like to see their rejections on a websiste like this. There is a much better way to get the word out about what works and doesn’t work in a query.
Thanks so much for your words of wisdom and positivity week!!
Anonymous says
If agents are willing to post failed queries online, I hate to think how they may mock our sample pages behind our backs.
I’m a published writer, but even that idea makes me nervous, not encouraged or inspired at all…
What’s next?
Anonymous says
I agree with Anon 4:37 —
“…If agents are willing to post failed queries online, I hate to think how they may mock our sample pages behind our backs…”
This is exactly what I was thinking. If an agent can brazenly pick bad queries and diss them online for all to see and join in, imagine the horrible attitude that must accompany the sample pages or the entire novels of their own clients!
It makes me sick thinking about it, really.
Writing is hard enough. Knowing agents are out there relishing in whatever mistake you might make — in a query or an actual MS — makes it all the harder.
Until every MS they take on becomes a bestseller, really, who are they to point fingers? We’re all in this together, aren’t we? Maybe not, considering queryfail.
I won’t query anyone who participated. I’m sure that’ll be no big loss to them, but it makes me feel better. 🙂
Anonymous says
I just want to chime in to the Anons, that these examples were EXTREMES. This wasn’t a matter of agents nitpicking a spelling error or a minor flaw. These were queries that BLATANTLY disregarded any protocol, that were simply ridiculous in their lack of research or effort. So to apply this paranoia of what agents might be saying regarding the more normal majority is unreasonable.
These cases were in line with the absurd examples given on agents’ web pages all the time, and usually accompanied by the words DON’T DO THIS. This wasn’t an attack on the everyman.
Victoria
Anonymous says
Victoria, queryfail didn’t criticize only extreme examples of bad queries; they also criticized stuff that might not sell in the current market. They repeatedly mocked someone who had queried about a 9-book series. Also, queryfail wasn’t hosted by agents alone, even though word-of-mouth suggested that it was. The official list of experts includes several indie presses, including one known for its explicit erotica line. On top of all the other problems at queryfail, some of their discussions about rejected pornography was fairly explicit, so queryfail is not a place for aspiring child authors.