If you’ve been staring at your query letter wondering whether it’s actually landing, this is the session to watch.
Literary agent Alyssa Jeanette of Stonesong Literary Agency joined Manuscript Academy co-founders Jessica Sinsheimer and Julie Kingsley for a Live Query & Pages Agent Panel.
Over the course of the session, the three of them worked through queries and first pages across a wide range of genres–literary fiction, middle grade, picture books, YA, crime, speculative fiction, and more. Alyssa read each piece cold, giving the kind of real-time reactions that only happen in a live setting. Some pieces she would have requested immediately. Others needed a clearer sense of stakes, or more grounding for the reader. All of it was useful.
What makes this session worth your time isn’t just the line-level feedback–it’s the bigger picture that emerges. You’ll hear agents talk about what it actually feels like to read a query in a saturated inbox. You’ll hear about what’s genuinely hard to sell right now, and why. And you’ll hear something that doesn’t get said enough: that agents are uncertain, too. They’re making their best guesses, rooting for the writers they believe in, and hoping the market agrees.
The Q&A at the end covers comps, response times, genre trends, dark romance, and what to do when your book sounds a little too close to someone else’s.
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About the Instructor
Alyssa Jennette
Alyssa Jennette joined Stonesong Literary in June 2015 after interning at Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in Illustration. As a result, she has unique insight and expertise when it comes to design-heavy or illustrated works. Alyssa is a very editorial agent; she finds a lot of joy in shaping stories alongside the author and delights in building long-term partnerships.
Alyssa represents children’s and adult fiction and picture books, and has dabbled in humor and pop culture nonfiction. She is especially drawn to diverse voices, ensemble casts, and thorough world-building, plus any book with a format that is specific to the story and gives it its own context.