Member Lounge: Help Desk with Taj McCoy

Join our new Member Lounge feature: Agent Help Desk, where you can interpret rejections, plan your querying strategy, and ask agents the un-Google-able.

Like all of our faculty, our agents are here to support you. This is a judgment-free zone. If you sent out your query with a typo, we can help you pivot; if your work is 300,000 words, we can help with that, too.

Members: Look for the link in your email just before the event, or login and head to https://manuscriptacademy.com/event-space and click on the event to join.

No homework. Please add your questions to the text chat during the event.

Oakland-born law grad, Taj McCoy, is committed to writing stories championing Black and biracial women of color, plus-sized protagonists, Black love, Black joy, and characters with a strong sense of sisterhood and familial bonds.

Taj started writing as a small child, enjoying the success of her first publications in elementary school. Since then, her dream has always been to become a professional writer. As a law student, she attempted her first novels and joined the Twitter writing community. Though Taj has spent more than ten years working in higher education administration, she continued to pursue her goal and ultimately finished her first novel in 2018, securing her agent in 2019. Her Adult Fiction is published through Mira/HQN.

Taj trained as an agent under Fuse Literary, having previously served as Pitch Wars mentor and co-program manager for Diverse Voices, Inc.’s DVdebut program before joining Rees Literary Agency in 2022. Taj aims to widen the entryway for marginalized authors into the publishing industry and to normalize Black joy, fat joy, celebrations of culture, and love without limitations. She represents Adult Fiction (contemporary, romance, romcoms, women’s fiction, mystery/thriller), Adult Non-Fiction (memoirs, narratives, cookbooks, satire, empowerment), Children’s Fiction (MG and YA contemporary, mystery, romance, thriller, fantasy), Children’s Non-Fiction (historical narratives, picture books).

When she’s not writing or agenting, Taj may be on Twitter boosting other marginalized writers, trying to zen out in yoga, sharing recipes on her website, binge-watching her favorite reality tv, or cooking private supper club meals for close friends. Catch her producing and co-hosting the Fat Like Me Podcast, which celebrates body diversity in publishing and entertainment, or watch her join forces with several writer friends on Sundays for the Better Than Brunch video podcast.