Comp Titles That Make Agents Go...Hmm
The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra
4.8 • 842 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week’s Books with Hooks gets real. The hosts dissect two query letters — one with a jaw-dropping horror premise and another that sparks big conversations about comps, pacing, and giving away too much too soon. From believable character choices to the difference between strong writing vs strong storytelling, this episode is packed with blunt, actionable feedback emerging writers need to hear. If you’re querying, revising, or obsessing over your first pages — don’t miss this one.
Trigger Warning: This episode contains adult language and discussions of mature themes. Listener discretion is advised.
Note: CeCe Lyra is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates. If you’d like to query CeCe, please refer to the submission guidelines at www.wsherman.com. Carly Watters is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, but her work on this podcast is not affiliated with the agency, and the views expressed by Carly on this podcast are solely that of her as a podcast co-host and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of P.S. Literary Agency.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone, I'm going to keep this short because I know how busy you are. |
| 0:04.3 | I just wanted to let you know that the next beta reader matchup is almost upon us. |
| 0:09.2 | Submit your 3,000 words by 12 p.m. Eastern Time on the 1st of April |
| 0:14.4 | and you will get your beta reader matchup emails on the 2nd of April. |
| 0:19.7 | For more information and to register, go to Bianca |
| 0:23.0 | Moray.com. |
| 0:28.6 | Hi there and welcome to our show. The ship no one tells you about writing. I'm bestselling author Bianca Murray, |
| 0:39.0 | and I'm joined by Cece Leera of Wendy Sherman Associates |
| 0:42.5 | and Carly Waters of PS Literary. |
| 0:46.5 | Hi everyone, and welcome back to another Books with Hooks. |
| 0:50.9 | As per usual, we are going to dive straight in. |
| 0:54.4 | Cece, how about you kick us off with your query letter? |
| 0:58.2 | Let's do this. |
| 0:59.3 | Dear Cece, Our Wives Under the Sea meets Love Lies Bleeding, when Billy Zoo finds her girlfriend |
| 1:07.2 | eating someone they both loved. |
| 1:10.0 | Nothing But Skin is an adult horror novel complete at |
| 1:13.3 | 72,000 works. It blends the rural cannibalism of Lucy Roses the Lamb with Julia Armfield's |
| 1:21.0 | Safek exploration of grieving a partner who's still alive but will never be the same in our wives under the sea. |
| 1:29.6 | Billy, an ex-convict working at a lesbian bar in Idaho, would do anything for her girlfriend |
| 1:35.1 | Jasmine. So when the cops say Jasmine's sister is missing, Billy drops everything to search. |
| 1:41.2 | It doesn't take Billy long to find the body. The part she's unclear on, whether |
| 1:46.0 | Jasmine killed her. The bloody knife nearby is Jasmine's, but Billy won't risk sending the woman |
... |
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