A look at agent and editor tweets using the #MSWL hashtag, with spring and COVID-19 in bloom
Like other major events, a global health crisis has a way of getting the publishing world’s attention. In this, our fourth round-up of calls from agents and editors using the Twitter hashtag #MSWL (aggregated at the site mswishlist.com), we focus on manuscript solicitations through a pandemic lens. We also take stock of the changes (or not) in use of different genre tags since we started watching MS WishList about nine months ago.
Reactions among literary agents and editors to the pandemic ranged from negative to positive to none. As stay-at-home orders further reduced US travel, agents and editors reported being stuck at home with little to do but read. Literary agent Danielle Burby announced on March 12, “I’m holed up in my office doing lots of reading” and that she was looking for MG, women’s fiction, YA, LGBT voices, and BIPOC authors.
Others took advantage of the time to update and re-broadcast wishlists on Twitter threads and home pages. On March 13, literary agent Rachel Mann declared, “While we’re all locked up reading and writing / glued to social media, I thought I might do a thread about the kinds of submissions I’m looking for,” which include “#OwnVoices stories from under-represented writers and characters, including neuroatypical protagonists [also mentioned by literary agent Eric Smith]; characters with visible and invisible disabilities, stories involving unpaid carers and young carers; the broadest definition of queer love / sex stories.”
For the first week of pandemic status, editors and agents affected by the crisis echoed a need to escape its darkness. While sharing her submission guidelines on March 13, editor Genevieve Gagne-Hawes professed, “Right about now we all need to get lost in a story that’s positive, escapist, and fun. Ideally with strong women at its center. Be it a romp, a romance, a literary thriller—send books that will carry us away.” Editor Brian Geffen also rolled out the welcome mat on March 17: “Agents: We need YA and kidlit and wonderfully distracting creativity more than ever right now! My inbox is wide open. #MSWL contemporary realistic & fantasy MG, YA, and GNs! Let’s make some books!”
Confirming trends we see on #MSWL, Publishers Weekly reports that dystopian fiction has lost its luster for editors. On March 18, literary agent Mackenzie Brady Watson told writers, “If you’ve written a hopeful book, send it my way! I’m sure I’m not the only one who could use some levity and joy right now.” Several other literary agents followed suit that same day. For one, Samantha S. Fabien called for “upmarket women’s fiction, contemporary romances, thrillers, and contemporary fantasies (+1 if it’s queer, +1 if it’s diverse and #ownvoices).” Retweeting an anecdote about musicians connecting across balconies during lockdown, literary agent Eva Scalzo attached #MSWL to it, then added, “It doesn’t have to be bc of quarantine, tbh I prefer it not be.”
Others, noting the darkened mood, embraced our times and challenges with creativity. Suggestions popped up, ranging from dealing with being trapped in a locked-door murder mystery to a larger, more apocalyptic evocation of the crisis. Literary agent Emmanuelle Morgen yearned for “a YA about being trapped with your family. Yet finding connection, solace.” Thinking other-worldly, agent Ali Herring coveted “a scifi novel about all the aliens who’ve been quietly monitoring us for years who suddenly show up all at the same time when they start getting satellite images back of our planet after it went ‘quiet’ due to coronavirus #MSWL so I want worried mothering alien overlords!” Editor Lauren Appleton quipped, “Is it time for an apocalypse journal? Could be!”
On March 15, with the retweet of an inspiring photo of Chinese first responders trudging through snow on horseback to the Altai Mountains to help contain the coronavirus, editor Sara Guan requested, “Someone write me this (SpecFic) novel.” Responding to Rachel Donadio’s March 13 tweet about the beauty of people singing together through the windows, literary agent Minju Chang wrote simply, “pb #mswl,” requesting a picture book about it. No question, publishers are acquiring virus books—and seeking books that will help readers understand and process the present moment, as well as narratives about the crisis thus far. (Alexandra Alter in The New York Times looks at recent acquisitions.)
Business carried on, too, as publishing pros continued their usual calls for preferred material. One example was editor Heather McCorkle’s March 13 solicitation for “polished standalone adult urban fantasy romance packed full of tension, excitement, and powerful women. Under 68K.” McCorkle then repeated the tweet, changing only “urban fantasy” to “paranormal romance.” From January to mid-May 2020, we found a preponderance of similar examples—highly detailed wishes bearing no obvious signs of reaction to the COVID-19 crisis.
While news stories marking milestones in the COVID-19 timeline evoked sparse reactions for #MSWL, other events that brought forth ideas included the Academy Awards, #DVpit pitch day on April 22 (#DVpit is “a Twitter event created to showcase pitches from marginalized voices that have been historically underrepresented in publishing”), the Netflix TV show Never Have I Ever, and the movie The Half of It.
When tallying up genre interest, we found the following #MSWL trends: Calls for graphic novels and upmarket fiction accelerated, as did comedy and rom-com, with comedy seeing the highest growth rate, up 31 percent between mid-January and mid-May 2020. Literary and women weren’t far behind, as they often tag with upmarket fiction. Middle grade and YA showed steady growth, but MG has consistently been demanded more often since last summer.
Bottom line: Some publishing pros have reacted strongly to the pandemic and its knock-on effects, and COVID-19 has triggered impulses to wallow, escape, take stock, hide, cheer up, and reach out. But also notable during this period is the degree to which editors and literary agents have doubled down on perennial wishes, clinging to what they love most—and, of course, the categories readers demand. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
