Zabé Ellor
SFF author / lit agent / latest: NO BETTER THAN BEASTS / opinions mine
- And don’t be afraid to use these sessions to ask questions! Not every agent at a pitch session will be a perfect fit for you, but they can give feedback on the pitch
- There MUST be a lost Veep episode where Jonah kills the pope. Dan: Jonah, your approval numbers with Catholics are plummeting. Jonah: I can fix this. Get me a press conference with the pope’s wife. Wait, sorry. Widow.
- It’s absolutely wild to hear people say “the liberal elite don’t respect rural America’s way of life” when I, a transgender media professional living in LA, am friends with people who raise, hunt, and butcher their own meat, collect guns, and enjoy football. The thing is, they’re not bigots.
- Reminder: if you are pitching your book, please do not use AI art in your pitch.
- Periodic reminder that NO BETTER THAN BEASTS is an important book about fighting oligarchy and facism, how they grow out of patriarchy, and also, gay kissing: bookshop.org/p/books/no-b...
- Reposted by Zabé EllorAs an ace person, some of my favorite ace rep is by Claire Kann! Shout-outs also to Acting the Part by @zrellor.bsky.social for the ace love interest and the Murderbot Diaries series by @marthawells.com for the extremely aroace-coded protagonist!
- Reposted by Zabé EllorPlease tell me what a nonbinary person is supposed to look like.
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor“But they don’t look nonbinary” listen to yourself.
- Reposted by Zabé Ellornew idea: books for dogs. we'll figure out how they learn to read later. this changes EVERYTHING.
- As someone who’s worked in the industry for (yikes) eight years now, I can’t count the number of times venture capitalists have poured millions into a scheme to “revolutionize” publishing only to fail miserably
- Meet the startup, backed by big Silicon Valley investors, Macmillan's owner, and former HarperCollins and Penguin execs, that wants authors to "just spitball a few bullet points" to get AI to write books — "and then suddenly each author is writing 1,000 books." 👀 www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
- Reposted by Zabé Ellorpiggybacking off this: the most powerful sales technique in the world, for pretty much all of human history, has been word of mouth. If you like something someone made, TELL YOUR FRIENDS. Tell everyone. Leave reviews. Repost. Talk about it. Link to it and link to the artist. We depend on YOU.
- I don’t regret writing MTBMW but I do regret *debuting* with it. I should have debuted in fantasy. Contemporary fiction is not something I usually write or an area where I have much interest in career-building.
- I really do strongly caution authors against debuting with a book they’re not passionate about. Your debut is the title where you will get the most attention and community support. It will establish you in a lane. It should put you somewhere you want to be
- Reposted by Zabé EllorSome days you need the dragon, powerful and protective; some days you are the dragon, fierce and full of fire
- Reposted by Zabé EllorY’all need to read @zrellor.bsky.social ‘s latest book. It has everything if you are a fan of the Nutcracker: medium.com/permanent-ne... #WriteStuff
- So proud of my representative and so grateful to live in CA42 💙💙💙
- Happy #TDOV!!! Reminder that all my books are trans books, especially SILK FIRE and NO BETTER THAN BEASTS, and a book doesn’t need to contain a “this is when I knew I was trans, these are my pronouns, here’s my dysphoria triggers” section to be a trans book
- no no no it’s not like BEASTS is a trans book it’s just about a mysterious curse that turns grumpy large dudes into much happier delicate androgynous fox people
- While I’m happy to see people reading MTBMW, please note that I have no record of the book being banned or challenged, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been and I hadn’t been informed
- When Republicans decided abortion was against their values, they spent millions of dollars and devoted decades of scheming and plotting to overturn Roe. When Democrats decided transphobia was against their values, they thought about it for fifteen minutes and said “eh nbd.”
- SCOOP: Sarah McBride and other Dems have discussed how the party must accept Ds with differing stances on trans rights to not alienate people “We have to create more space in our tent,” she told me An inside look at Dems’ reshuffling on trans issues: www.notus.org/congress/tra...
- A dirty little publishing secret is that it honestly doesn’t matter if your one page synopsis is a page and a half, so long as it’s well written. Three pages is probably too long though
- One thing I really do love about my job is when I can see an author get so much stronger in their craft from book to book. I really hate the industry emphasis on debuts and novelty. The best work requires experience and understanding of what makes books tick.
- I love NO BETTER THAN BEASTS so much, it is probably the best novel I’ve published, and my pro-union, anti-authoritarian book deserves its chance to shine. It’s not in many bookstores but it should be in all of them.
- Reposted by Zabé EllorThis was such a good book !!
- Reminder that NO BETTER THAN BEASTS is eligible for the Norton Award—if you’re a SFWA member, I would be so honored if you would consider nominating my YA fantasy retelling of the Nutcracker! bookshop.org/p/books/no-b...
- Reminder that NO BETTER THAN BEASTS is eligible for the Norton Award—if you’re a SFWA member, I would be so honored if you would consider nominating my YA fantasy retelling of the Nutcracker! bookshop.org/p/books/no-b...
- Hello, #YouDeservePit! If I like your tweet, please send your query letter and your full MS (as a word doc attachment) to zrellor.books at gmail Put #YouDeservePit in the subject line, along with your manuscript title and genre.
- Reposted by Zabé EllorOne of the fun parts about going over pass pages for THE CHANGELING QUEEN is seeing where I took inspiration from Shakespeare, from Dunsany, from Yeats. I had a fun time hiding those little Easter eggs. Hopefully some readers will enjoy them, too! #2025Debuts #fantasy #amediting
- Reposted by Zabé EllorNo Better Than Beasts by @zrellor.bsky.social is an amazing YA fantasy about family trauma and healing. It's a queer Nutcracker retelling set in a secondary world that's basically early industrial Russia, and it's an anti-capitalist story full of so much pain and rage and hope and love.
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor//Being treated like an enemy and a traitor because we had the temerity to survive is seemingly one of the core transmasculine experiences.// oof oooooof
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor"If they want to be men, why, you’ll treat them like men! But with a particular, angry emphasis, because you view their manhood as a betrayal! And this is not only feminist, it is trans-inclusive, because you’re treating them the same way you would any other guy! " someone finally said it
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor"Power and dominance are so integral to how the patriarchy defines 'manhood' that we literally can’t imagine a man without them." Ah. Yeah, that's it.
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor"I put a lot into being unthreatening, because one thing I have learned, as a trans person, is that if you stand up for yourself even a little, it tends to be perceived as a violent and terrifying outburst." Become ungovernable. The next line hits hard but text limit.
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
- Reposted by Zabé EllorGood morning. If you haven't read Jude's essay yet, you'd be well-served by it. While it is oriented toward cis feminists, it addresses a problem I've seen among some trans spaces too: a flattening of trans men being equivalent to cis men when power and oppression are being discussed.
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
- Reposted by Zabé Ellor"The idea that the transmasculine person is a failed feminist is deeply embedded in particular strains of feminist theory." This kept me from seeking the medical help I needed. Top surgery was life-saving and dramatically improved my quality of life, once it became available to nonbinary people.
- If I kept this in drafts until next week, I would just keep adding things until it grew to the size of the earth, so here it is: "Social constructs" and cis feminism's enduring failure to adequately reckon with transmasculinity: jude-doyle.ghost.io/terfs-trans-...
