What does a literary agent actually notice in the first few lines of your query? In this live critique, Bridget Smith of JAbberwocky Literary Agency joins Manuscript Academy co-founders Jessica Sinsheimer and Julie Kingsley to read real submissions from our members and give honest, kind, specific feedback.
The works cover a wonderful breadth of topics: a big-law cancer memoir, a paranormal romance, a picture book about fishing with Grandma, a literary novel narrated by an ancient force, a middle grade mortuary mystery, YA contemporary, epic fantasy rooted in Greek and Scythian myth, a garment-district private eye, a time-bending sci-fi thriller, and a memoir opening that left all three panelists a little breathless.
Along the way, you’ll learn why agents want to “get an A on the pop quiz” of your book, how to pitch a dual POV story in three paragraphs, the difference between romantasy and fantasy with romantic elements, and why drafting your fantasy pitch as a contemporary can unlock its emotional core. Bridget also shares the Game of Thrones example that shows what a truly great prologue can do.
In the Q&A, Bridget tackles the questions writers ask most: what makes a query stand out in a crowded inbox, what “confident writing” really means, whether you can comp TV shows and movies, whether great pages can save a so-so query, and whether genre blending makes a book harder to sell.
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About the Instructor
Bridget Smith
Bridget Smith has been an agent at JABberwocky Literary Agency since 2019. She grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Brown University with a BA in anthropology in 2010. After graduation, she interned at Don Congdon Associates, worked at a secondhand bookstore, and read submissions for Tor.com. In 2011, she started as an assistant at Dunham Literary, and she remained there as an agent until moving over to JABberwocky.
Bridget represents both YA and adult fiction. In YA she handles all genres but has a soft spot for emotion-driven contemporary (books about teenage girls having feelings) and smart, sophisticated fantasy. In adult, her main focus is SFF, particularly historical fantasy, epic fantasy, space opera, and romantic SFF, but she also loves literary historical fiction, contemporary fiction with genre elements, and smart funny rom-coms.