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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Vicky Weber - Agent, Author, Educator 📚 @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social · 8d

You can’t control when trends hit. The only thing you can control is finishing the book.

Reposted by Kira Bruner

Victoria L. Bilstein @victoriabilstein.bsky.social · Sep 13

A STRANGER KIND OF MORTUARY SCIENCE ✨elements include:

🍄 Found family
🌲 cozy, atmospheric small town
🍂 Spooky, whimsical vibes
🗡️ If I touch her, she could die
🪦 funeral parlor & embalming room settings
🧪 FMC is a woman in STEM
🌈 queer MCs
🧡 Characters in their 30s & 40s

Soon to be on sub!

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · Sep 10

As a public figure himself, Kirk did not restrict himself to politeness. He was incredibly crude and cruel about the deaths of other people. Reflecting on his life should reflect the truth.

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Holl🌞 @willows-song.bsky.social · Sep 10

This explains it better than I can

Dave Portnoy tweet saying ‘absolutely disgusting and disturbing video from Charlie Kirk shooting today. Hoping for the best for him and his family. Anybody who is happy about this is a disgusting human.’

Pop Crave Tweet: ‘Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy says he hopes a missile hits Greta Thunberg’s boat as she sails away with aid: “I hope they hit a f*cking, like, a missile on her boat. Knock that boat down. Greta or whatever her name is”

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Sep 9

Yes! I also love, during editing, when I re-read a chapter I haven't touched in a while and discover a favorite line I forgot I wrote. Did this recently with my WIP.

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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Vicky Weber - Agent, Author, Educator 📚 @vickyweberbooks.bsky.social · Sep 9

www.linkedin.com/posts/jasper...

Please share widely: Britain's biggest crime prize. Submit today! This year’s Joffe Books Prize judging panel includes award-winning crime writer Vaseem Khan; Ayo Onatade – award-winning freelanc...

Please share widely: Britain's biggest crime prize. Submit today! This year’s Joffe Books Prize judging panel includes award-winning crime writer Vaseem Khan; Ayo Onatade – award-winning freelance cr...

www.linkedin.com

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Sep 8

Waiting for agents to open this fall like 👀 because my MG manuscript will be best read in October 🖤🕸️🕷️🕯️🖇️🖋️🗝️

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Sep 1

Would appreciate any and all love that anyone has to give this post 🖤

Nora and the Nightmare King

The first two chapters of my middle grade manuscript

open.substack.com

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Sep 1

Two of my friends are going on submission soon and I'm 🥹 @victoriabilstein.bsky.social @annametz.bsky.social

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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Anna Metz @annametz.bsky.social · Sep 1

Opening line of VIGILANTES ANONYMOUS, my 76k adult spicy dark rom-com that blends the all-consuming, boundary-pushing spice of LIGHTS OUT, with the dark humor and murderous thrill of BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD 🔪🖤
#editors #bookpitch #darkromcom #darkromance #romcom #onsubsoon #onsubmissionsoon

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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Victoria L. Bilstein @victoriabilstein.bsky.social · Sep 1

I’m thrilled to introduce my manuscript soon to be on submission, A STRANGER KIND OF MORTUARY SCIENCE, a cozy, adult fantasy novel 🌈⚰️🍄🧚‍♀️💀🪦✨

#editors, I’m represented by the wonderful Ciara Smith at Spencerhill Associates!
#editorsguide #cozyfantasy #bookpitch #amagented #soontobeonsubmission

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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Anna Metz @annametz.bsky.social · Aug 11

An #editorsguide to VIGILANTES ANONYMOUS, my high heat adult dark rom-com on submission to editors soon! 🔪🖤💋

#editors if you're ready to experience the chaos that is Lana and Nic, feel free to interact or reach out to Aurora Fernandez at Trident Media Group

#amagented #writingcommunity #pitch

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Aug 10

I love this!

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Aug 1

I want to read this, agents, please

Anna is editing gothic horror 💌 @annahirsch.bsky.social · Aug 1

❤️‍🔥Introducing DON'T KEEN FOR ME, a 70,000 word gothic horror about the black sheep of a 14th-century Irish family & his doomed love story with the banshee who's haunted his estate for generations. Querying this fall! #agentsguide #H #A

An Agent’s Guide to
DON’T KEEN FOR ME
70,000 word gothic horror by Anna Hirsch

TROPES/COMPS:
He’s human, she’s immortal / Only one grave / Byronic hero protagonist / Uncovering lost memories / Medieval Irish setting / Tragic ending

For fans of the folkloric love story of Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid, the death-touched love of Nosferatu (2024), the family trauma of the Haunting of Hill House, the Catholic guilt of The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas

PITCH:
Northern Ireland, 1348: When Ciarán Murtagh hears the cry of his family’s banshee for the first time in a decade, he knows one of his own must die. But they don’t believe his warnings—why would they, when the last time Ciarán heard the banshee he didn’t tell a soul until after his cousin’s tragic death?
Desperate to prove himself in his family’s eyes, Ciarán hunts down the banshee in search of answers. She’s equal parts frightening and beautiful—and in his struggle to capture her, he inadvertently triggers the banshee’s memories. Memories of when she was a servant of his family, generations ago, named Deirdre.
Realizing that Ciarán’s physical touch brings Deirdre’s memories back, they meet covertly in attempts to learn how she became a banshee and prove whose death she foretold. But as a devastating bubonic plague befalls the Murtagh household, and Ciarán grapples with his deepening attraction to Deirdre, he must choose whether to keep fighting for his toxic family or embrace the seduction of death.

EXCERPT:
Her head tipped back, her voice turning ragged at the edges. Finally I reached her, took her hands. The terrible noise did not cease, but she turned her head towards me mid-cry, staring with sightless eyes.
My hands were on hers, no cloth between, and I feared that instead of bringing her back, I was sending her someplace worse. But the keening did not stop. I pinched the flesh of her palms between my forefinger and thumb. Hard enough to hurt—but this was the good kind of pain, the kind that makes you human, instead of taking you further away from it.

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jul 25

Readers definitely judge books by their covers. When you're looking at books on the shelf at the store, or online, the cover is the first thing you see and it acts as an ad for the book itself.

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jul 24

As a writer who also works as a designer / in marketing, I would invest in your website, your cover, and getting your book in the hands of readers that can make a difference (whether that is sending PR boxes to content creators who would be a good fit or attending book events in your area).

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jul 21

Just coming on here to say, if you can afford to hire an illustrator to bring your manuscript to life, it’s a magical experience.This one is for my MG project, NORA AND THE NIGHTMARE KING. And do not, please do not, use AI. Support human beings 💕 Illustration by Savannah Lazo! (Savannahlazo.com)

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jul 21

Full rejections hurt. ❤️‍🩹

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Reposted by Kira Bruner

Linda Holmes @lindaholmes.bsky.social · Jun 30

Do not ever do this under any circumstances. You will be held to the actual contract, not the AI summary, and the AI summary has no way of knowing which terms you might personally care about or have questions about. Dooooo notttttt dooooo thissssss.

KJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · Jun 30

I just received a contract on Docusign for review and signing, and it offered to give me an AI-generated summary that I could read instead to save time.

That's AN AI-GENERATED SUMMARY ***OF A CONTRACT***, in case you need to let that sink in.

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 20

In this post, I talk about what I did differently this time around and share some of the feedback, rejections, and positive comments I received throughout this process.

Writing & Querying My Second Manuscript

Part Three of How I Got Here

substack.com

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 11

Including the query letter I sent out and my query stats 🫣

Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 11

My second Substack post is up: Writing & Querying My First Manuscript open.substack.com/pub/kirabrun...

Writing & Querying My First Manuscript

Part Two of How I Got Here

open.substack.com

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 6

I currently have so many books that I want to read bad enough that I've considered just reading them all simultaneously. It's an incredible and also stressful position to be in. Is this how agents and editors feel all the time?

Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 4

Hmm… I'm gonna go with plot epiphany for my new WIP. There are a couple chapters that could use some love and I haven't decided how I want them to play out yet.

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Kira Bruner @kirabruner.bsky.social · Jun 1

My first ever Substack Post is live! In my next post, I'll talk about writing and querying my first manuscript, including the query I sent to agents, what I did wrong, and querying stats. Let me know if there's anything specific you guys would love to know about!

How I Got Here

Part One

substack.com

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