Live Pitching vs. Cold Querying: Insights from Author and Agent Amy Nielsen

Querying is hard. Sending email after email, waiting for months (or forever) for a response—it’s enough to make any writer scream. But what if you could skip the inbox slush pile and pitch your book directly to an agent?

That’s precisely what Amy Neilsen—author, literary agent, and freelance editor—joins me to talk about in this episode. Amy has been on both sides of the process, and she’s here to break down the differences between live pitching and cold querying so you can decide which approach is right for you.

Episode Breakdown

00:00 – Meet Amy Neilsen, A librarian-turned-literary agent
00:34 – Amy’s unexpected journey to publishing Worth It
06:52 – The highs and lows of getting published
10:17 – Why having a writing community matters
12:37 – Live pitching vs. cold querying—how do you choose?
 21:24 – How to overcome pitch nerves (without spiraling)
 22:03 – How to make your live pitch count (and what not to do)
23:20 – Why agent feedback is gold (even when it stings)
25:56 – Must-have comp resources for querying writers
28:02 – How to make real industry connections
37:14 – The power of a solid writing community
38:13 – Where to connect with Amy

To Connect with Amy: 

website - www.amynielsenauthor.com

Manuscript Wish List  - www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/amy-nielsen/

Query Manager - www.querytracker.net/agent/16163

Twitter/X - @AmyNielsen06

IG: @author_amy.nielsen

Other Links and Resources discussed on the show:

Writing Day Workshops

Live Pitch Template

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Podcast Website

How to Find Compelling Comp Titles for Your Book by Star Wuerdemann on the Jane Friedman blog

Thriller 101 Podcast

Thriller storyteller’s society 

Transcript

Amy Nielsen: [00:00:00] be prepared to be nervous and that's okay. It's very vulnerable to be in front of someone and to pitch your book baby to them and agents know that. So I always tell Authors that are pitching to me, feel free to read your pitch. You don't have to have it memorized. You're not being judged on your ability to memorize your pitch.

Welcome to the Write it Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write it Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories.

The one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability and the often Subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative Holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that Successfully.

[00:01:00] Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write it Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in.

Hi, writer. Welcome back to another episode of the Write It Scared podcast.

I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, and my voice is back, and I don't sound like a squeaky squirrel, so I'm excited to be here with you today to share this amazing interview. If you are a writer who is thinking about pursuing traditional publication, Then you have likely heard, or perhaps you personally know, that querying is hard.

You send email after email, submission after submission, and you wait for a response, and sometimes you get nothing but radio silence. Um, but what if there was a better way that is what my next guest, Amy Nielsen, author and literary agent with the Purcell [00:02:00] agency is going to talk to us about. Amy and I sat down to discuss the pros and cons of live pitching versus cold querying.

And you are going to hear some pretty mind blowing statistics as well as some interesting information about how to choose your comp titles. Amy has some pretty fabulous resources to share as well.   

And she is so generous in talking about her experience of writing her debut novel Worth It, and I can't wait for you to hear that. So grab a pen, dig in and enjoy. And also remember all the links to the resources that we mentioned will be posted in the show notes.

So with that, let me give you Amy's bio, and then we'll jump into the interview. Amy Nielsen spent 20 years as a youth librarian sharing her love of books with young readers. She is the author of the Picture book, Goldilocks and the Three Bears Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder. And it takes a village, how to build a support system for [00:03:00] your exceptional needs family. Her young adult novel worth it debuted in 2024.

She's also co-editor for Uncensored Ink, a band book inspired anthology. Amy is also a literary agent and freelance editor when not writing or reading, Amy and her family can be found boating on the waters of Tampa Bay with a canine co captain in a mermaid life vest.

Stacy Frazer: . Amy. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and being a guest. I'm excited to talk to you today. How are you doing?

Amy Nielsen: I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me. It's, I'm quite cold actually. It's in the 40s here in Florida, which, you know, us Floridians aren't used to having to wear sweaters.

Stacy Frazer: Yeah, I saw that. I saw that, that even Louisiana got snow and, which is not exactly close to Florida, but it's a hell of a lot closer than where I am, which is in Northern California. So

 well, I'm so excited to have you on the show. We are going to talk about your debut novel, Worth It, but we're also gonna dig into of the things [00:04:00] that you do because you, I just don't even know how you do it. You're an author, you're a freelance editor, you're a literary agent it's Yeah, so before we dig into all of that, why don't you start with just, giving us the What do you want to call it?

Amy Nielsen: the backstory.

Stacy Frazer: give us the backstory of how you Came to being an author and a freelance editor and a literary agent

Amy Nielsen: Sure. Well, I started my adult life as a youth librarian. So I've been immersed in the world of literature my entire life. Obviously, I was a reader as a kid. As a teenager, and then became a youth librarian and absolutely loved that I did that for about 20 years. So again, immersed in literature, love the idea of getting books into the hands of eager readers and turning them into books.

Students that weren't readers into eager readers by creating a collection that fit their, their loves [00:05:00] and their desires and what they wanted to learn about. So after my fourth child was born, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, So he had very big needs at the time. So I left the library to be there for him and over the years, fortunately, his needs have gotten a little less big and I started writing and I started doing a lot of writing for magazines and wrote a picture book about autism and a guide for families early in the stages of the diagnosis.

But my passion was really A young adult novel that I had started back when I was a youth librarian, so I went back to that and through the encouragement of my critique partners, they said, you should be an agent because when they would send me their work, I would stop reading mine. So I could read what they had written and I just loved being able to help elevate their work and I remember when my first critique partner, Dana Hawkins, got her first publishing deal I literally fell to the floor [00:06:00] crying as if, you know, the best thing in the world that could have ever happened to me happened.

I was so excited. And so it was just that love of helping other authors make their publishing dreams come true, that kind of was the catapult for me wanting to become a literary agent. I applied for a couple of internships. I got one, and that was with the fabulous Kathy Hedrick Armstrong, and she was fantastic, and I learned so much from her, and when that internship ended, Tina offered me a position as a literary agent at the Purcell Agency, and so I'm still there, and I'm really enjoying working with authors over at the Purcell Agency.

Stacy Frazer: Wow, I'm nodding my head along here because as a book coach, I feel exactly the same way when that emails me like, you know that they have a meeting with an agent or that they finished their revision. I'm just like, Yeah, I just, the papers go in the air, and I'm so excited, and it's just the best feeling helping to facilitate someone getting their story out in the world, and it's not [00:07:00] surprising given, , your love of introducing people to story,

Amy Nielsen: Yes.

Stacy Frazer: and, and how powerful story is. Wow. That's amazing. Bravo. Okay.

Amy Nielsen: Thank you.

Stacy Frazer: Well, tell me about Worth It. So you started writing this book back when you were behind the circulation desk,

now it is available and in the hands of readers.

, like me, I'm starting to read it. and enjoying it. So please tell us more about this book.

Amy Nielsen: Sure. Well, Worth It came out in May of 2024. So it was crazy in all sorts of fun ways, but that story is inspired by my lived experiences.

I call it fictionalizing your past trauma which is kind of a way to take something traumatic that happened in your life and flip the narrative and tell the story the way You either wished it would have happened, or in a way that resonates with readers and they can learn something from that story.

So, I had a great life as an [00:08:00] adult. I went to college. I had a great career. My oldest daughter is 36. I was homeless and pregnant with her at 17 years old. And then ended up in a trailer park with someone that, Didn't want to do anything to help me, but only to hurt me. And so I clawed my way out of that and went to college as a single mom and that baby, as I said, is now 36 years old.

She's a board certified elder law attorney. So everything turned out great. But I started writing that as memoir and it just didn't feel right because memoir is first off very vulnerable and I applaud people that write their truth. as a memoir. For me, it wasn't working for a lot of different reasons, and once I decided to fictionalize it, the words just flew out, and it was just so much easier for me to wrap my head around this person as a character, as opposed to this person as [00:09:00] And then also, I was able to give the antagonist what he deserved and never got.

So, that felt really good. But the theme of the book for me as the writer, it may come out differently to readers, is the power of becoming your own hero. And so sometimes we victimize ourselves. And in this case, that particular character was not victimizing herself. She was placed in a situation based on poor choices from her parents, but that's the situation she was in.

And so she had to dig into herself and find the power to become your own hero. And I think that's a great message for all of us at any point in our life, is that we do have the power. To become our own hero. Sometimes we just don't know it.   

Oh, wow, Amy, that was incredibly powerful and vulnerable. Thank you for sharing that. It's always so fascinating to understand the origin stories of [00:10:00] books that come into the world. So, how was the path to publication for you? What was that like?

Amy Nielsen: I did publish with a small press. It is a traditional publisher, but I've published with a small press. Wild Inc had a fabulous experience. And so any querying authors don't forget to include small presses and your querying process. 

Actually, the month that I signed with them, I had gotten an offer of representation from an agent, I had gotten an R& R from another small press, and then an offer of publication from Wild Ink.

Amy Nielsen: And I just knew that was the home for me. I could just tell. And that was after 44 rejections, okay? So, it didn't happen overnight. But, I do think including small presses, especially if you're a debut, because it's much harder as a debut. author to get that big five publishing deal. Not that it's impossible, but small presses are a , great way to kind of get your foot in the door into the publishing world.

Stacy Frazer: Fantastic. Thank you for sharing that.

Amy Nielsen: Yes.

Stacy Frazer: a big part of this podcast is [00:11:00] dedicated to telling the truth about why writing a novel is so hard. And exposing unhelpful internal narratives that writers hold on to that keep them from making progress. So, just looking back over the experience of bringing this debut novel Into the world, can you share a time when the writing got really hard or when self doubt really drug you down and, what you did, how you may have fought through that, and then maybe what you've learned from the process?

Amy Nielsen: Absolutely. I have the perfect example. So I started this, this novel took me, and I do not suggest any author do this, but it was about a 17 year process from when I first got the idea to write it to publication. And that's. Partially because I stopped for a very, long time when I was dealing with the diagnosis of my son and all of that, because, again, he had a lot of big needs, he's doing great now, I'm so proud of him, he's, you know, absolutely killing it in public school, so we're very [00:12:00] blessed and very happy at the success that he's had, but in the beginning it was really hard.

So, I had, I know we're going to talk about comps later, I think, but I was getting pass after pass after pass after pass for about a year. And I changed one comp, and that was the month that I got the offer of representation from the agent, the R& R from the publisher, and then the offer of publication from Wild Ink.

And so, the R& R, I got Included things that I had no idea, I didn't even know what they were. What the publisher wanted me to do. And so I was completely overwhelmed. I'm like, I don't even know what they're asking me to do. I really, if I don't understand this, how can I be a published author? And the agent that I met with wasn't the right fit either.

So, I had to do a bunch of research on the things that the publisher was asking me to do in the manuscript. And so I learned a lot, very quickly. And I wanted to get this done like within a month. And at the end of that month, I was emotionally drained [00:13:00] and I remember talking to my critique partner, Dana, and she said you're going to put this manuscript away, you are not going to look at it for another month.

I'm going to put a date in my calendar of when you can look at it again. She goes, I want you to walk away. Walk away. And I needed someone to give me permission to stop. Because I was pushing myself to do things that I did not know how to do. And so I think how that changed me is that I realized I needed a writing community.

Dana showed me that this was not something that I should or could do alone. And I think I actually hired a book coach at one point as well. And I worked on building my writing community on social media. And that really gave me the inspiration to continue and to get this done. And interesting story Stacey, during that month that Dana told me, do not look at it, is when I ended up signing with [00:14:00] Wild Ink.

So build your writing community. Writing is a solitary task. You're sitting at your computer, in a chair, by yourself, but you cannot, nor should you, try to get across that finish line without a team around you. I think it's just so very important.

Stacy Frazer: Oh, I could not agree more

you know, I, that's something near and dear to my heart that writing a novel is an inside job.

Do not do it alone.

Amy Nielsen: Mm hmm. And actually, when you finish the book, I can tell you specifically, I had A part of the story that I was so stuck on, and I listened to a book coach on a podcast Jas Rawlinson is her name, she's in Australia, and I, she actually is a book coach for Memoirist, but what she said, because my story was inspired by my real story, I ended up working with her And she and I brainstormed and figured out the thing that I couldn't figure out.

And so [00:15:00] I always like to shout out to her because what she helped me uncover for this story, I think, really elevated it to a level that I wouldn't have been able to figure out on my own.

Stacy Frazer: That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your experience of writing this novel and when it got hard and how you move through. And I absolutely agree that community is key and finding, you

People that will, that will tell you to stop. Take a break.

Amy Nielsen: absolutely. Because sometimes we can't do that ourselves.

Stacy Frazer: Oh,

Amy Nielsen: We're just so, you know, just want to get it done, want to get it done, want to keep tweaking and tweaking and tweaking, and sometimes you just have to stop.

Stacy Frazer: Yep, yep. Alright, well let's transition over to talking on the agent side. You recently gave, a really cool talk in the Thriller 101 community, which I'm a part of, and which is how we met and you were talking to us about, The difference between live pitching and cold pitching, which is [00:16:00] querying you know, through Query Tracker or, you know, going through, you know, just not having any personal connection.

You're just really sending your query letter out to the ether. so, I wanted to know if you could talk about why a writer should consider live pitching versus cold querying, maybe talk about the pros and cons, and definitely share some of those mind blowing statistics that you shared in the Thriller Storyteller Society.

Amy Nielsen: Yeah, I printed them out. So I have that here. I never live pitched as a querying author. My critique partner did. And I remember her coming back after the live pitch that she did. And she was so energized about her story. She was so nervous to do the live pitching, but she got so much from it that I think it just, sometimes when you're in that slump, that's kind of being face to face with someone that loves.

books as much as you do can be energizing. And I will share those statistics because they shocked [00:17:00] me too. But as an agent on the receiving end of those live pitches, they make complete sense. So I'll give the statistics and then I'll tie that to my own experience, which hopefully will help authors understand why this is so valuable and can be so incredible in their journey.

So as far as cold queries go, and that means like, yes I'm open for queries and you send me your submission through Query Tracker. The statistics that I've researched is only about 5 to 10 percent of authors get requests for materials. So that may be first 50 pages, the full whatever, 5 to 10 percent of querying authors.

And only about 1 to 3% Get an offer of representation from a cold query. And that is not meant to discourage authors. And I'm going to give you some other numbers to help you understand why that is. But just to kind of let you know, that's the statistics that you're up against in someone's query manager.

At a live pitch event, those statistics [00:18:00] change. So 20 to 30 percent of authors get requests for materials from a live pitch event, and about 5 to 10 percent get an offer of representation. So to tie that to my personal experience, when I first opened for queries the very first time, I was only open for 48 hours.

I got almost 700 submissions. 

Stacy Frazer: Oh my gosh.

Amy Nielsen: that's the part of the job that you don't get paid for to read all of those queries. And so, and I think I ended up, I have these statistics somewhere, maybe five to six offers of representation, like the statistics really worked exactly as, as I said, it was about 1.

5%, I think. I ended up signing from, and I ended up getting not just those over that same week, or same 48 hours, but I also got pitches through my email, I got from many other places. So it was completely overwhelming, and then of course you feel horrible Having to send, [00:19:00] you know, a form pass, but there's just no humanly way possible that someone can read that many books, you know, and get an answer.

As far as live pitch events go, I just did one through Thriller 101 Storyteller Society. I was pitched by nine. authors. Everyone was amazing. So hopefully when I spoke with them about live pitch events, it helped. Their pitches were amazing. And I requested the query, synopsis, and first 10 pages from every single author that pitched me.

And I gave them all specific feedback. Because when someone comes to a pitch event, Typically, they've paid to attend, and typically the agent does get paid a stipend to be there as well. So, I, as an agent at a pitch event, want to give back to that author something. Now, I haven't offered representation to anyone from that pitch event.[00:20:00] 

That perhaps could be coming. But I wanted to give every single person honest feedback. Compliments for what they've done well and and some suggestions for how to improve either their query or their opening scene or whatever. So I've done many live pitch events and when you meet that person face to face, it's different than not.

Being able to see them face to face, not that I don't read everything in my query manager with respect and honor To that author that has trusted me with their words But there's just something about an eye to eye connection that just kind of elevates your desire to want to help that person I think

Stacy Frazer: Wow. That's awesome. And I just want to compliment you. On your integrity and just like, oh, you can just tell you care. You really care. 

Amy Nielsen: I've been there. I know what it's like, you know, and I think that's sometimes Not all agents [00:21:00] have to be authors and have queried to understand some, get it regardless, but I think because I have been through that process that I know what it's like on the other end and I just want to be as helpful as possible to the authors that I interact with because they have a dream.

Their dream is to be a published author. And so if there's anything that I can do, the smallest of things to help inch them toward that direction, it's something that I really value as far as being part of the writing community.

Stacy Frazer: Hi writer, Stacey here. I'm pausing our interview really quickly to jump in and include an excellent resource for writers to find live pitch events in their community, as well as online, and that is the Writing Day Workshops hosted by Chuck Sambuchino. I will post a link in the show notes. Amy and I did mention it in our conversation, but when I listened back to the recording, it just didn't come across very well, and I wanted to make sure that you had the information.

All right, let's jump back into our interview. 

 So could you give us [00:22:00] like what to expect from, going into a pitch with an agent, a live pitch, , can you walk us through that a little bit?

Amy Nielsen: Well, be prepared to be nervous and that's okay. It's very vulnerable to be in front of someone and to pitch your book baby to them and agents know that. So I always tell Authors that are pitching to me, feel free to read your pitch. You don't have to have it memorized. You're not being judged on your ability to memorize your pitch.

And you're not being judged at all. You know, an agent's listening for what you write and if it's something that fits their wishlist. So I think that, it's important to know that it's okay to be nervous about it. And I think that also when. You know, obviously prepare in advance, do have something written, have practiced it.

I, before I got on this podcast with you, I had these questions from you and I told my husband, I'm like, I'm going to be in my closet talking to myself just because I'm going through some of the [00:23:00] answers that I want to say. And that's okay to practice so you feel comfortable. And I think being enthusiastic is something that I look for in a pitch event.

I want to see an author that is super excited about their work because that, you know, I'm going to be super excited about it. And so I love to text back and forth with my authors all the time about their work and tell them what I love. So I'm looking for that enthusiasm. And then if you get through your pitch and there's extra time you can use that time to ask the agent questions.

You're like, What is your response time if you request materials from me? What are you looking for? And also to, you know, actually give them, you know, ask them, can I send you this manuscript? And if they say that they're not looking for that, what are you looking for? And maybe you have time to pitch something else.

I had an author the other day that did a live pitch to me on one manuscript. And then I wasn't super interested in that one. And then she's like, well, I have this other thing. It's a [00:24:00] different genre. And I'm like, well, share it with me. And I'm about to finish the full. So, you know, use that opportunity because you never know.

That is your time. Use it. Don't let it go to waste. If it, if it's up early, ask questions. Maybe have a question about are they an editorial agent or are they going to send submissions immediately out? You know, I'm an editorial agent. I take projects that do need work and I'm going to do a lot of work with my authors to get their I think that's something that's really important to know.

, most all agents are going to give you some feedback before they send it out. But there are a few, and I think this is a red flag, that will not read your full and just send it on submission. And I actually the agent that offered me rep told me she would not read my full.

She was just going to send it out. I'm like, no, thank you. I know this needs more work than what I've put into it. And now that I've had authors on submission, and I've met with multiple editors. They are [00:25:00] expecting polished work, not that they're not going to still work on it because they're the editor.

They're going to have a different editorial vision than perhaps the agent did. But they're expecting work that is pretty well polished. So, you know, ask that agent, what is your background in editorial work? If they are, if you're pitching them a picture book, what's their background in that? If they're, whatever it is, you know, ask those questions so you know if this agent does.

Ask for your materials and offer you rep that you feel like they're going to be the best person to help your vision of your work come to fruition. And that they're going to be excited about it. So I think those are some important things, but mostly it's two, that's those relationships. One thing that I did have an author do that I thought was phenomenal is she had a folder for me.

She was a picture book author and she had copies of all of her work in the folder. So she could hand it to me. [00:26:00] And so she was able to pitch me one or two projects in that 15, But she had everything, all of her contact information, so I thought that was a great thing to do. Now if you're writing a full length novel, you don't want to print out the manuscript, but maybe have them a hard copy of the query, the synopsis, and the first chapter.

Because guess what? We have downtime, and if they have nothing to do, they may read over your work again. So just, Something tangible, that you can hand that agent, I think, really can help have a lasting effect on them meeting you. And then, you know, following each other on social media. , if authors follow me on social media, I try to follow back.

And that's actually how I got my internship with Kathy, was I followed her on social media. We kind of built an organic relationship over like a year period. And when I messaged her and said, are you looking for an intern? She said yes. So those authentic relationships can really go a very long way.

Stacy Frazer: Okay, , thank you for those great tips and you have a really cool resource to help writers Organize [00:27:00] their thoughts and their pitch presentation.

Would you like to talk a little bit about that?

Amy Nielsen: Yeah, well, it's a 15 minute pitch template and a lot of times, you know, those times will vary and you can adjust it, but it's going to be on my website, amynilsonauthor. com, and I have six little boxes in the middle of my website, click on writer resources, and you can find it there, and it's just going to give you kind of a template that you can follow so that you don't leave anything out, as well as some suggestions on preparation, suggestions on questions that you can ask, and pretty much all of that.

And yeah, so creating resources for authors is something that I do a lot of, I just finished three Self editing guides, one on developmental editing, one on line editing, one on copy editing, and I'm in the process of creating a fourth on resources, and that's going to be resources that are books, podcasts, websites, etc.

So that one's in the process of being created, and of course, your podcast will be one of the resources on there.

Stacy Frazer: Thank you. And [00:28:00] that's right. You do freelance editing as well.

Amy Nielsen: As far as my freelance editing, I typically only do the query, synopsis, and like the opening chapter. So I'm not gonna do, I don't do fulls. But that's kind of my area of expertise, is I have a query template as well. But walking authors through making sure their submission packet shines. That the first opportunity that an agent's eyes look at your work, that it is polished and it shines.

And so I really enjoy helping authors in that beginning stage, before they go out into the query trenches as they call it.

Stacy Frazer: That's amazing. Well, I will make sure to put the post the link. To your website in the show notes, so people can find that. That

Amy Nielsen: Sure.

Stacy Frazer: Okay, I just have a couple more questions. You also gave some really amazing tips in your comp title discussion, and I was wondering if you could talk about the importance of accurate and recent comparative titles when you are querying.

Amy Nielsen: Yes, [00:29:00] so I was at a writing conference back in October in Chicago and there was an editor from Sourcebooks that spoke to us and this was a combination of authors and agents all in the room and what she said kind of shocked us all because we all know how important comps are, but she said for her to take a book to her acquisitions team she needed to have comps that were around three years old

Stacy Frazer: Yeah,

Amy Nielsen: and we,

Stacy Frazer: advice is usually five, so

Amy Nielsen: correct, so we were like, Oh, no, but and that's not all the time, but it is something to consider that you do want fresh concepts.

Something that was written 10 years ago was written prior to the TikTok age. You know, I mean, my, my adult children can't listen to a full song on a radio before they have to switch to something else. So we're dealing with, you know, shorter attention spans, writing styles have changed. So it really is important to.

To have those [00:30:00] current comps because if an editor is interested in your work, they're going to need them. And so if they're already provided to the agent, the agent can already provide them to the editor. It's just a much easier sell. But how do you find them? One of my favorite resources is the Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast, and they have on their website, they have a section where you can record a message, and you can actually give the pitch of your book and ask for comps.

And then they bring on bookseller Emily Sommer from East City Books in D. C., and she will give current comps, and she's phenomenal at that. So I tell all authors, please go. Drop your message to them and they will share comps for you. That's a great resource for finding comps. Another great resource that I found is How to Find Compelling Comps from Jane Friedman.

And she takes feedback from literary agents, from editors, from a lot of different people on their suggestions [00:31:00] and how to find good comps. So I think those are two really great resources. And when you're comping A book, and you can use a TV show or a movie, but you want to at least have one book as a comp, because you're not comping a TV show, you're comping a book.

So you want to have at least one book. It doesn't have to be an exact match, right? It can be, my book is, it feels like the setting of XYZ. Or my book features a female protagonist such as So kind of put, let the author or let the agent know what about that book is a comp to yours and that will give them a more clear picture.

And as I said earlier I had. When I changed one comp is when I got all of that activity after over a year of querying and I had a comp that was the perfect fit for my story. It was about a girl, a teenager, pregnancy, bad situation, but it was from a story that was like [00:32:00] 12 years old and it wasn't really That well read even though it was a great cop it didn't mean anything to an agent when they read that so i switch that for more current comp and i switch it to amber smith the way i used to be because it fit the feeling that the emotion.

Of the main character. And actually after I got my offer for publication, I emailed that author and told her, I said, I changed one comp to your book and this is what happened. And she immediately emailed me back, authors are people too, and she said this made my day. And she said I would love to read a copy of your book when it's done.

So I have sent it to her, she's recently moved, so she hasn't gotten to it yet, but. You know, letting people out there in the writing world know the kind of influence that they've had on you can really go a long way, especially if it's done in an organic, authentic way. So [00:33:00] Amber responding to me, and actually she is also a book coach, and I was About to hire her because she was a cop to my story before I got that offer of publication.

So I told her that too, I'm like, I was literally looking at all of your different packages and was going to hire you because I just felt we write so similarly and with the same type of emotional depth. And so I didn't end up because I got the deal and had great, great editors at Wild Inc. But, but yeah, so I think those are a couple different another great person to ask is librarians.

So librarians know all the latest and greatest and new titles that are coming out before they come out. I remember when I was a librarian, that was the most fun that I had when the booksellers would come to me and here's all the new stuff and then I'd have to make a decision. So your school librarians, if you're writing young adult or picture book or even your public librarians are great resources for comp titles.

So you don't have to just Google or search Amazon. There are people out there. that are willing to help you with that. Mm

Stacy Frazer: That's [00:34:00] wonderful, wonderful advice. And would you say that when you are comping,

Amy Nielsen: hmm.

Stacy Frazer: So At least one of those comps needs to be relatively recent.

Amy Nielsen: Yes.

Stacy Frazer: And by the way, I think this is actually a good thing because for anybody out there who, who, a book comes out that is very much like yours,

Amy Nielsen: Mm hmm.

Stacy Frazer: I think that's actually good news.

Amy Nielsen: That means there's a market for it.

Stacy Frazer: and there's a market for it, so yeah, I've been in that seat before where it's like, Oh no, well it's already done, so I have nothing to say. No, no, no, no, no, no,

Amy Nielsen: No.

Stacy Frazer: you have plenty to say. You have your own vibe, your own story, your own thing. So it's a good sign.

So if you're in that situation, please let that give you some peace and

Amy Nielsen: Absolutely. My youngest daughter, she is an avid romanticy reader, and she has read absolutely everything. Well, she just got the new book. Downloaded last night. The Onyx or something. I don't, I don't read

Stacy Frazer: Yeah.

Amy Nielsen: She just got that last night. So she was so, she was so excited, but she [00:35:00] had read everything Romanticy and was waiting on that book.

She's like, there's nothing else for me to read. So when you have avid readers of a certain type of genre, You can never fill their cup enough. So she ended up switching to romance, and has been reading Ashley Hearing Blake like crazy. Got me to reading one of her books. But the second that, the romance, that book came out last night, I think she was up until four in the morning reading.

So, you know, if, readers are passionate about what they like. So, if there's something out there like you've written, that is absolutely a good sign. It doesn't mean that that agent will be looking for it, because if that agent already has a look like yours, then you probably want to look for a different agent, but I still still would maybe consider.

The other thing about comps that is important is they can't be too big or too small. Meaning you want to shoot for something that is pretty well known, but not has like become the industry standard. You know, comping Harry Potter would probably not be a good idea. And like [00:36:00] me, when I comp that book that was not well read, But was a perfect comp.

It didn't pull any heavy lifting in my query because no one knew it. And so you don't want to make agents have to do any work. Okay, I gotta go look up this book title to understand what this book is, because with 660 queries in their inbox, they're probably not gonna do that. Make it super easy. The other thing before we move off of comps, that I would suggest, this can be personal preference, but for me, I want all of that metadata.

The comps, the genre, age range, all of that in the very first paragraph, yep, word count, all that in the very first paragraph, because then I know what I'm going to be reading. It sets me up emotionally, mentally, all of that for, okay, I get what, you know, Gilmore Girls meets whatever is going to be like.

And so you want to set that up at the very beginning. Sometimes people do put comps at the end, and some agents don't mind that. For me personally, though, I just, it really [00:37:00] helps me. Set my mind for what I'm going to be reading if I have that first.

Stacy Frazer: I can see that

you know, if it's not your vein and someone has queried you anyway, one, you can move that, move away from that quite quickly. So

Amy Nielsen: give that author an answer sooner.

Stacy Frazer: make, make sense, 

Amy Nielsen: when we read a query, we're being dropped into something that we're completely, we know nothing about. We're disoriented. What's on our mind is the last query we just read. So you want to quickly orient that agent into what they're about to read so they understand.

So I think those comps in the beginning are really important.

Stacy Frazer: Well, thank you so much, Amy. You have shared. Just a vast amount of information, and you do it with such a generous spirit. So, just a few quick wrap up questions. Number one, what is the best piece of writing advice you think you've ever received?

Amy Nielsen: Well, I think we talked about this earlier, and that's build a community. I think that is the most important. And that's what, you know, you've [00:38:00] joined the Storyteller Society. I just think if you don't have a community around you, this is going to be a much harder journey. And this is my additional advice to that.

And this is, I also coach parents of autistic children, especially in the early days of the diagnosis. And I tell them, and I tell any author that I work with, that you need three best friends. One person that's a little ahead of you on the journey, So that can mentor you, one person that's at the same place of the journey that you are, so you can lean on each other, and then eventually you mentor someone behind you that's coming, that's wanting to be where you are.

So I just think that building your writing community. All of those different moving people I think really help flesh you out as an author and give you the opportunity to give back.

Stacy Frazer: Yeah, and that's huge. 

Amy Nielsen: Mm hmm.

Stacy Frazer: you so much.

Amy Nielsen: You're so welcome.

Stacy Frazer: connect with you and find you?

Amy Nielsen: Well, my website is https://Amy Nielsenauthor.com/I am [00:39:00] most active on Twitter at amynilson06. However, I have joined Blue Sky. I've not made one post over there, but I'm at Amy Nielsen, and that's A M Y N I E L S E N. And Manuscript Wishlist is moving over to Blue Sky February 12th, and so I'm planning to become very active over there come February 12th.

I don't know when this is going to be. airing, but I am opening for submissions January 31st for thrillers and that will be mostly in the domestic, suspense, and psychological thriller and mystery

Stacy Frazer: Any age range that

Amy Nielsen: Any, any age range.

I'm so excited. I've been wanting a thriller for so long. Love to read thrillers and I'm super excited, especially since working with Storyteller Society and getting to know David and just, you know,

Stacy Frazer: Yeah, big

Amy Nielsen: just,

Stacy Frazer: Big shout out to David

Amy Nielsen: Oh, absolutely.

Stacy Frazer: and the

Amy Nielsen: Mm hmm.

Stacy Frazer: Society. It is a warm and [00:40:00] welcoming place. even though we write about murder and terrible

Amy Nielsen: I was actually just listening to his episode this morning about opening chapters. That was really good. So I highly encourage, yeah, shout out to David that everyone should go over there and listen. Even if you don't write thrillers, that's just great advice. about writing.

Stacy Frazer: principles

Amy Nielsen: Absolutely.

Stacy Frazer: All right, Amy, that's a wrap. Thank you so much again, and I will make sure to drop all of the links that we discussed into the show notes. That's going to be a really long show note,

Amy Nielsen: I'll make sure to send everything over too. It was wonderful to connect with you too. Thank you so much for what you do and helping support authors. I really appreciate it. And I love your podcast as well.

Stacy Frazer: Thank you. It is my pleasure.

Amy Nielsen: All right. Have a great rest of your day.

Thank you for listening to the Write it Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they [00:41:00] need to hear to continue to write their stories.

Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.