This month celebrates 10 years of #MSWL— Manuscript Wish List, where agents and editors post about stories they are most interested in seeing. Co-creator Jessica Sinsheimer announced in January a redesign of ManuscriptWishList.com, which has released with new features, including enhanced searchability, hashtag aggregation across additional social networks, and the ability to save agent profiles.
This was preamble to #MSWL Day (Thursday, February 16), for “celebrating manuscripts and the agents and editors who love them.” Starting at 9AM Eastern, you can follow the hashtag for a swell of agent and editor posts about their manuscript wishlists, and at 2PM Eastern, the website will host a live event with a focus on romance, women’s fiction, and book club fiction in the spirit of Valentine’s Day (for paid members only).
More broadly, agents have posted calls for stories as they re-open to queries in 2023. One pattern: Agents want stories that will give them the same twisty mystery thrill as Knives Out in the wake of the holiday viewership surge for the sequel, Glass Onion. Another emerging trend: the use (by both authors and agents) of mood boards, playlists, and other representations to capture story aesthetic. Given #MSWL’s update to integrate use of the hashtag across more social media networks—such as visually driven Instagram—it’ll be interesting to see how this gains traction.
Some specific posts that caught our eye:
- Claire Harris seeks psychological horror, “especially anything with a remote location (‘abandoned’ anything is a major selling point for me!), a haunted house (house as character!), and/or a final girl.” She’s also seeking rom-coms: “I want emotional intelligence, tender ~steamy scenes~, and genuinely funny dialogue”; journalists “exposing unjust systems in America or shining light on an unsolved crime”; and revenge stories (“If your character is in their villain era, send it my way!”). Other interests: women’s fiction, self-help and social commentary nonfiction, cozy mysteries with younger protagonists, ghost stories, and humorous essay collections. Claire intends to add to this pinned thread with #MSWL updates throughout the year.
- Flux Books senior editor Meg Gaertner seeks “well-crafted YA fiction with engaging plots and one-of-a-kind characters,” with callouts in her thread including high-stakes YA sci-fi with strong themes as well as “out-of-the-box” YA stories that combine social commentary with a killer voice and a fresh premise. In fantasy, she’s looking for “unique magic systems that feel real and novel, stakes that haven’t been explored before in the genre.”
- Solaris’s new commissioning editor, Amanda Rutter, seeks authors writing all facets of science fiction, fantasy, and horror—including epic fantasy “with worldbuilding you can touch,” but also “gentle fantasy with hopeful outlook and characters doing the best they can.” She’s also looking for older protagonists, unusual genre mash-ups, SFF with a historic bent, heists, and more.
Calls for diverse stories and representation from agents continue. Kiki Nguyen of Donald Maass Literary Agency called for Black romance centered on an introverted or shy male and extroverted female. Naomi Davis at Bookends is on the hunt for picture book authors or illustrators who are also drag performers. Lynnette Novak at Seymour Agency is eager to hear from Indigenous authors writing romance, mystery, suspense, or thrillers for any age group.
The late 2022 publishing Twitter exodus to Hive seems to be petering out, with many in the community indicating they use Hive less or have become disenchanted with its interface. There is a rising expression of disappointment that other networks cannot emulate Twitter’s capacity to foster wide public engagement. While Twitter’s sometimes toxic dynamics and its instability under Musk’s leadership are unappealing, the unfiltered feed of Hive Trending posts, which includes significant spam, is proving at least equally off-putting. The publishing community appears to still be posting regularly on Twitter.
On TikTok, carousels were on the rise, with some authors reporting significant success. Similar to Instagram carousels (and notably a rare instance of TikTok copying Instagram features rather than the reverse), this feature allows TikTok users to share a set of still images, which compile into a slideshow on an automated rotation.
Other trends BookTok has embraced include the “Dumb ways to die” CapCut filter; hit songs like Miley Cyrus’s January release “Flowers” and Taylor Swift’s Midnights album are making the rounds as popular sound choices. The crying filter has surged in popularity—perhaps a reflection of the post-holiday high wearing off and 2023 overwhelm hitting. In a double-hit post with another trend (a clip from the song “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys), author Victoria Aveyard playfully bemoaned the challenges of full-time author life.
Regardless of participation in these efforts, many authors have noted their views are down in recent weeks, which correlates with a TikTok algorithm update at the end of 2022. TikTok also finally confirmed rumors that employees influence the “For You” feed, hand-selecting content they wish to go viral with a “heating” feature. A TikTok spokesperson told the Verge this button is used to diversify content and consists of “about .002 percent” of posts, but sources obtained by Forbes indicate this number is closer to 1–2 percent of “For You” content and is often used to incentivize brands and influencers they wish to be active on the network.
Despite this, BookTok remains a powerful force in influencing book sales, and the authors having the greatest success on TikTok continue to be those who are consistent in posting frequently (a few times a day) and who track and engage with the trends of their subgenre.
Emily Wenstrom is a freelance writer and platforming expert and writes award-winning speculative fiction for teens and adults as E. J. Wenstrom.
E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. She writes dark speculative fiction for adults and teens, including her new release, a young adult dystopian novel titled Departures (August 10, 2021). When she isn’t writing fiction, E. J. Wenstrom is a regular contributor to DIY MFA and BookRiot, and co-hosts the Fantasy+Girl Podcast. Learn more at her website.
