Queries, Qualms, & Quirks show

Queries, Qualms, & Quirks

Summary: 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.

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Podcasts:

 YA Author Allison L. Bitz and the Character as Client | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:30:30

YA Author Allison L. Bitz joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss her journey to publication. Allison L. Bitz hails from Lincoln, NE, where she lives with her spouse, two kids, and various rescue pets. When she’s not writing a novel or a song, Dr. Bitz is helping clients in her private counseling practice, planning some form of political action, or trying to track down a pastry to enjoy with her coffee. If you can’t find her at a party, check the floor—she’s probably hanging with the dogs. Allison: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqbitz  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Picture Book Author Janelle Harper and the Vague Abyss of Publishing | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:21:19

Picture Book Author Janelle Harper joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss her journey to publication. Janelle Harper is a Bronx native who enjoys storytelling through dance and ballpoint pens. She finds inspiration for children’s stories in city living and the diverse experiences of the African Diaspora. Janelle is passionate about creating stories that reflect the faces she sees in her classroom and neighborhood. Janelle: Query | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqjanelle  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Horror Author Nora Fussner and It Taking as Long as It Takes | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:17:37

Horror Author Nora Fussner joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss her journey to publication. Nora Fussner has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from CUNY Brooklyn College. Her debut novel, The Invisible World, was published by Vintage in September 2023. Other work has appeared in Longleaf Review, Brooklyn Review, and Electric Literature. She lives in Pittsburgh. Nora: Query | Website | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqnfussner  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 MG Author Kate Fussner and Sculpting Poems One Page at a Time | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:44:57

MG Author Kate Fussner joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss her journey to publication. Kate Fussner is a novelist, teacher, and accidental poet living in Massachusetts with her wife and dramatic dog. When not reading or writing, Kate can be found baking, spending time with her family, or singing her favorite musicals. Kate believes in the power of a good laugh and a good cry, and hopes her stories will provide readers with both. Her debut novel, The Song of Us, was published with HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books in May 2023. Kate: Query | Website | Blue Sky | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqkfussner  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Fantasy Author Rose Black and Slamming Into a Brick Wall | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:16:38

Fantasy Author Rose Black joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss her journey to publication. Rose Black is a combination of anxiety and dyslexia in a hoodie, bi, a professional computer wrangler, and mother to the world’s wiggliest child. She’s lucky enough to live in the historic city of Bath and is capable of eating her weight in sushi. Rose: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqroseblack

 Season 4 is Coming Soon! | File Type: audio/x-m4a | Duration: 00:00:55

QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the Transcript

 Magical Realist Author Angel Di Zhang and Pajamas in the Recording Studio | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:25:07

Magical Realist Author Angel Di Zhang joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss recording her own audiobook, having an editor who gets your vision, Pitch Wars, writing books that you don't want, the joy in writing a perfect sentence, querying too early, the two sentence critique that led to a rewrite, and getting sidetracked by the wrong feedback. Angel Di Zhang was born in northeast China, and raised in China, England, Canada and the United States. She was educated in the joint BA-MIA program at Columbia University, and is a painter and an internationally exhibited fine art photographer. Angel lives in a secret garden near Toronto. Angel: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Indigo | US Purchase QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqangeldz  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Cookbook Author Jules Sherred and A New Way to Write Recipes | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:56:47

Cookbook Author Jules Sherred joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss query tracker, a fortuitous agent connection, the two-year overnight project, selling out on Amazon on pub day, breaking the rules, ripping out readers' guts, getting in trouble for his writing, and the problem with a quick publication schedule. Jules Sherred works as a commercial food photographer and stylist, writer and recipe developer, journalist, and outspoken advocate for disability and trans rights. His website Disabled Kitchen and Garden and his cookbook CRIP UP THE KITCHEN were born out of the need to include disabled people in the conversation around food. Jules: Query | Website | Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqjules  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show

 Romance Author Romi Moondi and A Book Launch in Paris | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:32:03

Romance Author Romi Moondi joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss zigzags and backtracks, amassing over a hundred rejections, signing with the wrong agent, self-publishing, the tyranny of best of lists, feeling responsible for representing your entire community, the one soundtrack she has to listen to for every book, and the friends who’ve been with her through it all. Romi Moondi is a Canadian author whose 2022 diverse contemporary romance, 24 Hours in Paris, received a Publishers Weekly starred review and was the Publishers Weekly 2022 #1 Summer Romance Read. 24 Hours in Italy, the follow up to 24 Hours in Paris, also received a Publishers Weekly starred review and will be released on July 18th, 2023. Romi: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqromi  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 MG Author Sarah Kapit and Following Her Editor | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:22:06

MG Author Sarah Kapit joins Queries, Qualms, and Quirks to discuss switching agents, using networking, a slow build over time, accepting her writing process, the highs and lows of publishing, what you deserve from an agent, and the joy when kids love your book. Sarah Kapit is the author of several books for young readers. Her novel Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! earned the Schneider Family Honor and Washington State Book Award. Sarah's most recent book, Second Chance Summer, came out from Macmillan on May 23, 2023. Sarah: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqkapit  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Kidlit and Romance Author Tanisia Moore and the One Thing You Will Have is Trouble | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:51:57

Kidlit and Romance Author Tanisia Moore joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss wanting her kids to see her have a life,  a two week deal, getting an R&R from a friend, dispelling the dream agent, switching agents, the danger of #writingcommunity twitter, rejection being part of the journey, celebrating all the parts, and how not selling a book doesn't mean your art is bad. Known affectionately as “your family’s favorite author,” Tanisia “Tee” Moore writes uplifting work for all ages. For young adult readers, her debut book with co-author Lyn Miller-Lachmann in the Women of Power series profiling women filmmakers was announced in November 2020. For adults, she is the author of After the Storm, an inspiring contemporary romance novel of redemption and restoration. Tee has been published in the Alabama News, Medium, and Readers Digest, as well as a TEDx talk on motherhood and entrepreneurship. Tanisia: Query | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop  QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqtee  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Young Adult Author Jesmeen Kaur Deo and One Rule to Finish a Book | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:42:02

Young Adult Author Jesmeen Kaur Deo joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss finding community in fanfiction, inspiration from Richelle Mead, reading Query Shark in high school, having a book die on submission and then having a quick pre-empt sale, advice from Nora Roberts, and finding balance. Jesmeen Kaur Deo grew up in northern British Columbia, where she spent most of her childhood daydreaming. She loves books that can make her laugh and tug at her heartstrings in the same paragraph. When not wrapped up in stories, she can be found biking, playing the harmonium, or struggling to open jars. TJ Powar Has Something to Prove is her debut novel. Jesmeen: Query | Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqjesmeen  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 YA & MG Author Kalyn Josephson and It's All in the Execution | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:27:00

YA & MG Author Kalyn Josephson joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss how Lani Taylor inspired her writing, Scooby Doo fanfic, three books that should have never been queried, an offer after an R&R, how no writing is ever wasted, and the subjectiveness of the industry. Kalyn Josephson is a fantasy author living in the California Bay Area. She loves books, cats, books with cats, and making up other worlds to live in for a while. THE STORM CROW duology is out now. Kalyn: Query | Website | TikTok | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqkalyn  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Young Adult Author Brian D. Kennedy and the 112th Person Saying Yes | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:28:54

Young Adult author Brian D. Kennedy joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss having three agents, the insult that led to a genre change, the Goldilocks of submission strategy, worrying you’ll never be good enough, feeling the negative ten times more, all the snacks, a ten year journey, no shortcuts,      Brian D. Kennedy lives in New York City with his husband and their miniature Schnauzer. When not writing, he can be found working at an LGBTQ nonprofit and obsessing over all things Dolly Parton. A Little Bit Country is his debut novel. Brian: Query | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqkennedy  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

 Middle Grade Author & Illustrator Derrick Chow and A Certain Amount of Quietude | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:29:40

Middle Grade Author & Illustrator Derrick Chow joins Queries, Qualms, & Quirks this week to discuss how agent referrals aren't the end all, the courage it takes to show your work to another person for the first time, how an auction isn't all about the money, the joy of meeting young readers, all the distractions that come after a contract is signed, avoiding scammy publishers, and more. Derrick Chow is an author, illustrator, and comic creator. His short stories have been featured in several comic anthologies; and his illustrations appear in newspapers, magazines, and books across North America. His debut middle-grade horror novel, RAVENOUS THINGS, from Disney-Hyperion is out now. Derrick: Query | Website | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Bookshop | Libro FM QQQ Home Base | Support on Patreon Read the full transcript. If links aren't clickable, find them here: https://bit.ly/qqqchow  This page includes affiliate links. Please use them if you’d like to support the show.

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