Hi, I'm Alyssa Matesic
I've spent my career immersed in the publishing world. I started as an editorial assistant at Macmillan, then moved to Penguin Random House, where I worked with bestselling and debut authors alike. I later joined The Book Group, a boutique literary agency, where I saw firsthand what makes a query letter stand out — and what gets it rejected.
After years on the inside, I founded my own developmental editing company to work directly with aspiring authors. To date, I've worked with 950+ writers on their manuscripts, query letters, and publishing strategies.
I started sharing query letter advice on YouTube and was amazed by the response. What began as a few videos grew into a community of 76,000+ subscribers — all aspiring authors hungry for real, actionable publishing advice. My weekly newsletter, Chapter Break, now has 32,000+ subscribers on Substack — writing advice and book publishing insights from industry leaders and established authors.
After receiving countless emails from authors asking for help getting out of the querying trenches, I made it my mission to demystify this part of the traditional publishing process. QueryAcademy is the result: a dedicated platform with free courses, templates, agent updates, and professional reviews — all designed to give you the best possible shot at landing a literary agent.
Our Mission
Traditional publishing can feel opaque and intimidating. QueryAcademy exists to demystify the querying process and give every author — regardless of background or connections — the tools and knowledge to write a query letter that gets results.