Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michelle Witte

@michellewitte.bsky.social

3.2K followers 500 following 2.4K posts

Children’s literary agent with Mansion Street Literary (open to queries first 10 days each month, starting in June) and mental health advocate. I also write craptastic books. She/her. www.michellewitteliterary.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 2d

Even though I'm currently closed to submissions, I’ll be checking out #DVpit today. If I like your post, please use the link below to submit your query, first 10 pages of the manuscript, and sample images (for illustrated projects). Thanks!

Query Michelle Witte at Mansion Street Literary Management

QueryTracker.net

8 4 95

Reposted by Michelle Witte

Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 4h

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

16 220 480

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 5h

I seem to have caught some kind of stomach bug, which is honestly the perfect kind of bug to have for a weekend of catching up on reading manuscripts and editing. (This is what I’m telling myself now; please reading gods, let this manifest.)

1 4

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 21h

Yep. I yeeted mine this summer and they found lots of fun stuff like fibroids and polyps inside. Two months out and I’m feeling so much better already.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 21h

Gotcha. It’s been years since I read them, so maybe it’s time for a re-read. They were great, just maybe not for 11 year olds.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 22h

Even then there questionable issues with her hooking up with an adult in the later books, iirc, though it’s played as romance with an age gap. I absolutely sought out the adult book series after that, though, so it’s like they were trying to court young readers with the series set in the same world.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 22h

I mean, I loved the world of the Harper Hall books, but then I went on to other books in the series and 😬. It’s a good thing my AuDHD brain didn’t compute some of what I was reading.

Then the next year I stumbled upon Deerskin by Robin McKinley because of the beautiful cover and was traumatized.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 22h

There have been a couple of convos here on Bluesky this week that reminded me that in sixth grade we read some of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsinger book AS PART OF OUR TEXTBOOK. Like, how much more 90s can you get than introducing 11 year olds to the greater world of Pern books without warning.

3 13

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 23h

I’ve always been a bit of a chaos agent, tbh. But I am so excited for December now.

Ghostly Bree @mostlybree.kitrocha.com · 23h

whoever it was who suggested I do a fidget toy advent calendar... you have unleashed chaos. LOL

I think I figured out how to do it. 💃

1 26

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 23h

Bwahaha! My evil plan worked. My whole family loved the cheap one I found last minute on Amazon last year, but this one will be so much better.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 23h

YAAY! I’m so excited!

1 1

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

I still do it on occasion when I’m not tired, but I notice it more often when exhausted brain forgets the difference between there, their, and they’re.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

I try to keep submission guidelines current on my personal website and the Query Manager, but it’s hard on websites where I can’t go in and update myself. I’ll have to send a reminder to the person who updates the Mansion Street website though since you’re not the first person to be confused by that

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

If I favorited something from an pb author I’ll look at the manuscript. The Mansion Street website is a little out of date (if that’s where you saw about author-illustrators only).

1 1

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

There are certain editors I know that if they had a hand in working on a book I already know I’ll love it. Working in publishing is a joy sometimes.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

Absolutely.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

Yep. I read a number of pitches today where I thought, “That’s not for me, but I really hope someone else likes it because it seems great.” I have to be selective about clients I take on because of time constraints. A “no” often just means not for me right now, and isn’t a commentary on quality.

2 3

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

That’s often why I end up liking a lot of pitches but don’t request nearly as many fulls. I might love the concept, or at least see the potential, but I need to read a sample to see if I connect with the writing as well. Some people aren’t good at pitches but are great novelists and vice versa.

1 3

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

I think one publisher used to include the editor name on the Copyright page because of that. Was it Tor? I do like that the Hugos give an award to Best Editors, because they really can make a huge difference in how a book turns out.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

There are a few I’m really curious to see how the execution of the work goes because the pitches are pretty tantalizing. It’s so hard to tell just from the pitch, because for me it’s all about the writing.

1 3

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

Make that 9 likes. This is gonna be fun.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

Okay, I lied. It probably could get dicey (or at least competitive). I saw one post that had at least 8 agent likes. So, uh, let the games begin?

1 9

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

Same. Though I've got two piles: requested manuscripts and published books I want to read. I usually only touch the second one while driving (audiobooks are a lifesaver).

Emma Bolden @emmabolden.bsky.social · 1d

working on an immortality spell just to get through my to-be-read pile

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

I can always tell when I'm really tired because I start having issues with typoing homophones.

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

I don't think this one will be as fierce with the competition because not as many agents are participating as a decade ago. But it's still good to see a bunch of likes for some books. I'm sure my inbox will be a nightmare tomorrow because it's just so easy to click 💜 when I see potential.

1 6

Michelle Witte @michellewitte.bsky.social · 1d

But for certain projects, especially those with several likes/requests, the competition is likely to be swift with a flurry of activity in the next month. Others that got a couple of requests might move slower, but there's still the potential for agents to compete once the first one offers.

1 6