I had a delightful time yesterday at ArmadilloCon, appearing on four panels, meeting many new faces and catching up with familiar ones, playing a brand-new card game, learning more about the history of Tachyon, staging an impromptu reading of Act I scene i of Much Ado About Nothing, and wishing I could make the multiverse thing work long enough to attend P. Djélì Clark’s Q&A while simultaneously moderating the Murderbot celebration panel.
I handed out and signed several copies of my chapbook, “Alignments/We Meet at the Center”. That was so much fun, and I hope people enjoy reading it!
One of the panels on which I appeared was about querying in 2025. As per usual, I couldn’t remember the name of one of the resources I mentioned, and I promised to drop it here for anyone who wanted me to follow up. While I’m here, please enjoy this a mini-roundup of worthwhile paid online resources:
- Manuscript Academy: This is the site whose name I forgot in 2024, and then I forgot it again in 2025. Maybe in 2026 I will be ingenious enough to write it down in advance! Anyway, it’s a good way to catch an agent’s ear for a reasonable fee, if you can spare the change.
- QueryTracker: The free site is good. The paid membership is worth the annual fee when you’re actively querying.
- Publisher’s Marketplace: Very useful if you’re looking for specific data that you can’t rely on QueryTracker for. I once purchased a $10 temporary membership that offered a limited number of searches, because I needed to grab a handful of agent stats quickly.
This isn’t sponsored content or anything. Just hoping to make querying a bit less awful for writers who are trying their best.
Great to see everyone, and thanks for coming out!
Elizabeth Cobbe 
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