Tanya McKinnon is the founder of McKinnon Literary, where she represents serious nonfiction, children’s books, and graphic novels. Several of her clients are New York Times bestsellers, and the prizes her clients have won include the National Book Award, The Pulitzer Prize, The Frederick Douglass Prize, The Whiting Award, The LA Times Award, The MacArthur, and many others. Tanya grew up abroad and in the US, she graduated from Tufts University, and holds an MA in cultural anthropology. What makes a query letter stand out to you? Clarity, voice, and brevity. If a writer can tell me exactly what their […]
Archives for May 2025
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International Booker Prize
Buzz Books Fall/Winter Season Preview: Fiction
It’s another exciting season of new books ahead. To help you sift through the many thousands of planned fall and winter titles, we’ve selected what we think are among the most noteworthy literary, commercial, and breakout titles for adults in fiction and nonfiction, separated into key categories. Today we’re featuring our fiction list. You can start sampling the asterisked titles right now in our just-released free ebook, Buzz Books 2025: Fall/Winter. And you can watch terrific conversations between the five bold-faced authors and their editors in videos from our recent Buzz Books Authors and Editors Panel. (The magnetic Clay Cane’s […]
Outlets Apologize for AI-Generated Book List
The outlets behind a widely-circulated AI-created booklist, the majority of which were fake titles, have issued statements apologizing for the piece. The Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, which both ran the “Heat Index” supplement that contained the list, noted that it was created by and syndicated from King Features, a division of Hearst. Neither paper’s newsroom staff had anything to do with it, they said. A spokesperson for King Features said in a statement, “King Features has a strict policy with our staff, cartoonists, columnists, and freelance writers against the use of AI to create content. “The Heat Index summer supplement […]
B&N To Take Over Trade Sales at Seattle Indie
Barnes & Noble will take over trade book sales at independent store University Book Store in Seattle, KUOW reports. University Book Store told the outlet that it will still handle textbook sales and that Boon Boona Coffee will still run the cafe. “The University Book Store approached us to take over the trade bookstore to support the team and community moving forwards. The store will be a B&N but continue to have the University Book Store signage and honor many of their existing partnerships,” B&N VP, stores Amy Fitzgerald said in a statement.