lit agent tasneem motala

same thought when i was watching the press junket with mamdani today bc what was that

2 options, personally!

1) sometimes people suck at writing pitches, so until I personally have time to take a look at the sample pages there's just No Decision

OR!!

2) it's one of those pitches that i could totally be into but i'm going thru one of those "i don't want this RIGHT NOW" phases

every time i see lisa gilroy in something im like "THAT'S MY GIRL!!!" (as a dropout addict and fellow canadian). most recently, it was in A Man on the Inside S2 and idk how she does it but no one can outdo her in the category of "insufferable white woman" and i love it.

Mel Medarda's new Winterblessed skin in League of Legends she is BEAUTIFULLLLLL

who else just saw the new mel winterblessed skin and wants to play league again?

this week we accidentally ended up streaming a "reunion" of The Good Place with:
- Nobody Wants This S2 (Kristen Bell + D'Arcy Carden)
- A Merry Little Ex-Mas (Jameela Jamil)
- A Man on the Inside (Ted Danson)

now we need to complete the crew with William Jackson Harper and Manny Jacinto!!

This is fantastic!

if livestreams aren't an option with my laptop, then maybe idk. ama's on here or reddit or smth. tbh maybe even tumblr bc at least that way the questions and advice are searchable and archived better than here and i can tag based on subject.

so maybe a 10-20 minute totally informal talk on a publishing-related subject, whether writing, editorial, processes, contracts, whatever! and then time for questions but also just chatting?

like, incredibly informal advice livestreams.

btw since im here and posting, if my laptop can handle it would anyone be interested in "office hour" streams? i did a couple early on in my agenting career but was thinking of changing up the format a bit.

adhd needs variety, and as someone who initially went into publishing with the intention of going into book and magazine design for covers and interiors, i want to use that skill. reading and editing gives me a lot of joy, but so does graphic design, so why not both!

"so hey why start a branding business and not do freelance editorial?"

bruh, my attention span is trash. i do enough editorial work for my clients as an agent and i'm good at it, but if i did it on a freelance basis i'd burn out TT__TT

anyway y'all should follow my branding business on instagram. i took a break from posting there last week and this week because i wanna know what's most valuable/helpful for y'all and what you want my advice content to focus on.

so tell me: what do you want to know?

(you can, of course, start branding and marketing as a budding and hopeful future published author if you want to do content creation as a writer and document the entire process or something, but u DON'T NEED TO)

and hey im not saying start branding and marketing out the gate -- my services are for people with a book coming out, established and new authors alike who wanna create an online presence to boost their works that doesn't feel painful and hard to do.

alternatively: there are so many people out there, including fellow agents, who do editorial, pitch, and querying services. i used to as well! but i feel like my expertise in marketing is a lot more valuable to y'all because there are very few guiding resources for marketing in comparison to editing

"plz just give it a chance, i'll be here writing my next book thanks" -- all authors in a perfect world

so when the book's out and you're officially a published author, how much do u look forward to marketing the very thing you put your heart, soul, time, and effort into to the world?

or would u rather not?

recipe for smoothie with nutrients listed: 35g protein, 50g carb, 6g fat, 382cal one cup of lactose free 2% milk one small banana half cup of frozen strawberries one scoop of protein (i use the unflavoured one of this brand but it's not listed in the app) 2 tsp of jade leaf vanilla matcha

added a matcha mix to my usual smoothie today and its banger actually.

my cat tsuki wearing sunglasses

gojo cat

i actually have many deep introspective thoughts about the finale, but let me focus on the sheer awkward teenage gayness that was ally beardsley playing as olethra and trying so hard to be chill and cool about ludmila and UTTERLY FAILING

is it too soon to talk about the cloudward, ho! finale bc i wanna just acknowledge how olethra/ludmila is a vibe

actually u know what, i think olethra from cloudward, ho! would absolutely BODY this top if they ever do a second season

i wanna see it with a super flowy off-shoulder cream top, would that not be a vibe??

Faux Leather Faux Leather Asymmetrical Neck Metal Detail Zip Through Tank Top For Daily Casual Check out this this cute Faux Leather Asymmetrical Neck Metal Detail Zip Through Tank Top featuring a Asymmetrical Buckle Button Pocket Zipper design for Daily Casual on CIDER. Free shipping available...

this leather vest top is so cool, but the way they styled it in the photos is so boring. just paired it with jeans.

this would be so interesting layered up in a steampunk or post-apocalypse look tho, right??

ciderhere.com/yBJhvO

actually u know what would be hilarious -- so i looked up alibris and they also have textbooks across subjects, so what if shein was the new place to get your uni/college class books for cheaper than they sell them in the campus stores LOL

tbh this is actually pretty cool? weird, but cool.

shein is gonna start selling books by partnering with bookseller alibris to bring their demographic (which is already full of readers) books too.

how is everyone feeling about this?

not to rattle anyone bc this is more funny than anything else and the mistake isn't something that would impact my decision at all, but...

i got a query that called me "mrs. motala"

GIRL, SINCE WHEN?? i didn't know i got married!! where the heck is my ring??

so here is how i organize them:

publisher
imprint
editor
email
date I sent the ms
a column to track their responses (confirmed receipt, bounced, rejected, ongoing)
notes on the editors (acquisitions/wishlists)
feedback (if they sent if any)

editor/email info is redacted when shared with clients

the airtable i use is a collective one that my agency Belcastro has built over time, and I cross-reference that with deal info on Publisher's Marketplace to build submission lists in Google Sheets that can be shared with my clients for full transparency.

qrp for everyone's knowledge!

so, spreadsheets/airtable/notion databases etc are how a lot of agents keep track of and regularly update all our editor contacts, wishlists, emails, and other important info!

but we also build new ones for submission lists and keep those updated as responses come in.