Business
First, a little animated video I made on the subject.
Secondly, I’ve never been rejected
My submissions to agents and publishers have never been rejected. There have, however, been a few hundred times when they declined the opportunity to represent me or publish my stuff. You see, in my records, I never use the word “rejection.” Nope. My note says “declined.” Much better, don’t you think?
I think that when your writing and storytelling reaches a professional level it truly is not about rejection. It’s about fit–I think agents mean it when they say they just didn’t love it enough to take it on, and I think that’s valid.
After seeing more than 400 opening chapters submitted for critiques on my blog, Flogging the Quill, and having seen only a handful that I thought were immediately publishable (although many more did reach the level of a narrative that was compelling enough to turn the page), I have great empathy for agents who see hundreds upon hundreds of submissions.
When an agent sends a submission to a publisher, they’re putting their reputations on the line. Each submission can impact the willingness of an acquisition editor to look at the next submission from that agent. Enough submissions that totally miss the mark or lack the quality needed to be publishable and I’ll bet that agent’s submissions are pretty much ignored. An agent can’t afford to send out anything less that what she or he figures is not only the best-written material possible, but material that fits a publisher’s list. They have to love it.
On form rejections
Read MorePlease welcome author Lynne Griffin to WU. Lynne’s second novel, Sea Escape, about a woman’s journey to healing her family through old love letters between her parents (and based on Lynne’s real-life family history) releases today. Already the reviews have been resoundingly positive, and Sea Escape has been chosen as an Indie Next List Notable book. We’re so glad she’s here with us today to share her insights into what it takes to make it in the book business. Take it away, Lynne.
The Art of Balance
By Lynne Griffin
You wait for your characters to reveal the heart of their stories to you. You read and reread your novel, begging it to sing so you’ll know you’re done. You wait for an agent to read your manuscript, then an editor to make an offer. Rejection slips come in the forms of radio silence and impersonal no-thank-yous; and while some are dotted with blatant encouragement—just as a kiss is still a kiss, a no is still a no.
The job description for writer should include a line in bold letters: Impatient pessimists need not apply.
Certainly leading up to the publication of my second novel, I’ve had my share of gloomy moments and faithless days, otherwise known as pre-pub jitters, but I’ve got a much stronger handle on how to manage expectations this time around. The trick for me, when it comes to persevering in the face of the obstacles to successful publishing today, is to sprinkle my hopes with a dash of reality and a pinch of practicality.
Though it may seem counterintuitive, the first step is to dream big. If you don’t believe—to your core—that great things are just around the corner, why would you keep on keeping on? Who will have faith in you, if you don’t have faith in yourself?
Read MoreLast week I blogged about my three tidbits of advice for writers. The first bit was to listen to your gut, not the market.
“Now I’m not saying ignore market trends or the industry. Novelists have to be business people too, and this IS a business as well as a vocation. But if you, for example, really want to write a simple story about two country teens who fall in love when the market is screaming for gritty urban fantasy, you should do that. You’ll give that story your best effort, the magic will come. If you try to wrestle your simple love story into a hot market segment when it doesn’t belong there, the reader will know.”
I’ve thought a lot about this since, and it isn’t entirely true. Yes, writers should listen to their hearts, always. But those who wish to become published must write a story that is saleable for their target genre.
I don’t mean to chase the trends. But I do mean to write smart. And that means keeping an eye on the market and putting yourself in the place of the editor or agent. If you chase a trend, chances are it’s already gone by the time you’re finished with your project and shopping it around. But each segment of genre fiction has different needs. Sending your murder mystery to a SFF editor is like serving a vegetarian a steak for dinner.
Designer Michael Kors tells aspiring designers on Project Runway to “know their girl.” Writers need to “know their girl” (target consumer) and appeal to them, even if “their girl” is themselves.
Read MoreI was chatting with a friend recently who was lamenting that she felt like her agent wasn’t the right fit for her, that she felt like she (my writer friend) was manning her ship on her own, and that she really needed guidance when her agent wasn’t offering any. She asked me if her solitary writing life – ie, without the constant support of her agent – was normal, and if not, what she should do. Is leaving an agent who isn’t the best fit for you a smart move when we all know how difficult it can be to get an agent in the first place?
I hesitated to advise her about specific direct action because, well, those big career leaps of faith are best left to each individual alone, but one thing that I could tell her was that from my experience, your agent needs to be your best, most supportive and loudest ally. And I know of what I speak: I’ve been fortunate enough to have found just that in my own agent, though this wasn’t always this case. In fact, before she and I found each other, I had signed with someone else, and the differences were (and are) startling.
Now. Let me say clearly from the get-go that I have a unique and wonderful relationship with my agent – we’re friends, no just peers – but all of what I’m about to say applies, in my opinion, to any agent-client relationship. And that is this:
Read MorePlease welcome Anne Brown to WU. Anne was one of our finalists in the hunt for a WU Unpubbed Writer. We know you’ll love her essay on, “THE BATTLE OF THE QUERY AS TOLD BY ONE IN THE TRENCHES” as much as we did. And visiting her blog, I just learned she recently had her first creative essay published by Literary Mama! Congrats, Anne!
Enjoy.
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“My story is about a man, a woman, and two dogs. It’s a modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice, except the characters of Jane and Mr. Bingley are a tad hairier than in the original.”
Confession time. That is an honest-to-God excerpt from the first query I ever wrote. And, yes, I actually sent it out the door. Ten times.
You probably won’t be shocked to learn I received ten rejections, and you’re probably wondering why you’re reading a post on queries from someone who’s unpublished. Well, thankfully, I’ve made some progress since that abysmal beginning. Although I’m still waiting for the life-changing phone call from Dream Agent, I am finally winning the battle of the query and getting more requests than rejections. Here’s a strategy that has helped me go from public humiliation to killer query.
Step One: Pull Out Some Quirk
Most agents seem to like some degree of weird. So don’t let their first impression be déjà vu. For example, rather than introduce your main character as a middle-aged high school teacher, focus on a weird quirk or trait, such as: “Mary Olson is a middle-aged drama teacher with a paralyzing fear of heights.”
Step Two: Stir the Pot
Read MoreBefore I forget to mention this, I’ll be presenting a session on “Unboxed Platform” at Grub Street’s The Muse & The Marketplace conference in Boston this coming weekend. If you’re there, stop by and say hey. Also, WU friend Erika Liodice has posted a Q&A with me today on her site, Beyond the Gray–all about working toward goals and pushing through doubts. Swing by if you can. Finally, rumor has it that WU has made the Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list for the 4th year in a row. W00t!
Today I want to talk about covers. “Did you have any influence on your cover?” is one of the most asked questions whenever I do a presentation with book clubs or writing groups. (I’ve done ten since The Last Will of Moira Leahy was published, if you can believe it.)
The short answer is yes. But it’s way more complicated than that, so let me take you through the steps–or at least explain how it worked for me.
The Cover Concept Meeting
Almost a year before the book was released, I was told that a cover concept meeting would soon be taking place to discuss Last Will–a meeting when lots of ideas are thrown around by the editor, possibly the publisher, and others involved in the book. This is when the author’s voice may be presented to the art department. I was invited to submit any ideas I had, including any jpgs of images that I felt spoke to the work.
Of course I took them up on their offer, and submitted about a page of description about twins, the book’s water themes, and magical realism, and named some setting possibilities–Castine, Maine and Rome, Italy. I also sent 36 pictures along in a Word document, which now feels over the top, but at the time felt just right. (You know how I love a good picture.) Of those 36 shots, 24 were of twins or included water imagery, and many featured saturated colors–great for pop, to attract attention on a bookshelf. One of them even contained a picture of a woman with red hair covered in bubbly, magical looking water. I included jpgs of a few book covers I’d liked, too, including Amy MacKinnon’s Tethered and Kate Brallier’s The Boundless Deep. (Erm, you think I was subtle about what I wanted? Oh, lunacy, thy name is debut author.)
Designers Designing
Everything is shared with the cover designer–the memo and the photos–before the designer sits with all of those thoughts, digesting before the real design work begins. And then it does begin. Take a look at this great video showcasing the birth of the cover Blameless, a novel by Gail Carringer.
Read MoreAt Writer’s Digest, we host an event twice a year called the Writer’s Digest Editors’ Intensives. It is completely staff run and presented, hosted at our headquarters in Cincinnati, and offers an opportunity to get the first 50 pages of your manuscript critiqued.
Chuck Sambuchino and I usually serve as the key presenters. After a recent event, I realized—after talking to one of the attendees—that Chuck and I had delivered some starkly different advice.
Now, this in itself is not unusual. Many times you’ll find varying perspectives among editors and agents. But our disagreement was this:
Talk about a mixed message!
I recently read this blog post that also advises writers not to post their stuff online, and it’s not uncommon advice.
But I find it an utterly archaic sentiment given where the publishing industry is headed.
Here’s why:
Read MoreToday’s post comes from guest contributor Erika Robuck. Erika, author of historical novel Receive Me Falling, was one of the finalists for the WU contributor post. Please enjoy her essay, we think it’s fantastic!
Imagine you’re heading off to your first day at a new job in sales. For the sake of argument, we’ll call you a pharmaceutical rep. Imagine stepping into the conference room at a physician’s office with a group of doctors waiting for you to pitch your drug. You’ve prepared well for this day. Close your eyes and visualize the scene.
Got it? Do you see yourself?
Are you wearing jeans? Do you have your kids with you? Did you bring a bowl of candy bars?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say, no. Your picture probably includes someone in a suit with a well polished appearance and a briefcase full of materials pertaining to the drug.
What does this have to do with you as a writer? I’ll tell you. Prepare yourself for some tough love.
Read MoreParis postcard 3
For writers at the source of the ‘food chain’ of publishing, daily life is often quiet and solitary, tapping away at the computer and mulling over scenes and characters, but it’s good to remember we are part of a vast and busy and lively industry which employs hundreds of thousands of people and is not quiet or solitary at all! And there’s nothing quite like a book fair to demonstrate that very forcefully to you.
Recently I’ve been to two big book fairs: the premier event of international children’s publishing, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and the premier French publishing event, The Salon du Livre de Paris. Two very different events but each in their own way very enjoyable and interesting, though I have to confess to finding the latter more personally satisfying, as reader and writer, for reasons I’ll outline in a moment.
The Bologna Book Fair, in the beautiful, ancient university town of Bologna in northern Italy, is a trade fair, attended by publishers, agents, printers, editors, booksellers, authors and illustrators from all over the world. The general public does not attend, but there are some author and illustrator events. Illustrators are particularly featured there, as every year there is the Bologna Ragazzi (children’s) award which picks illustrators from across the world for a special exhibition. There’s a different judging panel every year, and the choice of works exhibited often reflects the particular taste of the panel. This year’s, I thought, was graphic in influence and often minimalistic, though there was the odd exception. Illustrators are also featured on a big wall where hopefuls can post up samples of work, hoping to catch the attention of a publisher, and they are also to be seen around the halls schlepping big portfolios as they go to meet publishers and editors. I saw queues of hopefuls with their portfolios outside various stands, each person having about five minutes to present their stuff.
Authors have less opportunity to meet new publishers. Mostly it is by prearranged meetings with foreign editors (as happened with me) or occasionally on certain stands, such as the combined Australian publishers’ stand, there were signings, but as it’s a trade fair and people are focused on business—especially buying and selling rights—you don’t get the crowds of excited readers that you get at most book events, and the atmosphere is not the lively one you get at a writers’ festival, this is the trade showing to the trade, and fascinating enough in itself.
What’s really interesting is the concrete display of just how big and varied the industry is (which can also have the converse effect on you as an individual writer of feeling rather small!). But also what’s fascinating is looking at how publishers from different countries focus on different things in children’s books, which is quite fascinating. For instance,
Read MoreThe iPad is now out.
Though reviews from the early adopters are mixed, the functionality and use of the techie gadget du jour is beside the point. On April first, the e-book war between Amazon and publishers, spurred by Apple’s almost overnight rise into the e-book market, launched into phase two. Two months ago, Ben Parr noted:
Amazon’s clearly worried, which is why it’s launching an app store and used its earnings report to remind us that the Kindle is far from dead. But if publishers decide to abandon the Kindle, then Apple will have won the war by default.
That’s why Amazon decided to use its biggest weapon, Amazon.com itself, against Macmillan to send a message to every publisher: If you don’t play by its rules, then you can’t be in its store. While a publisher can likely survive without the Kindle, the same cannot be said for Amazon.com. Publishers simply cannot afford to leave the world’s largest online retailer.
The Kindle and the iPad offer different experiences. The Kindle’s battery life and e-ink are strong selling points for the device as a reader, but the iPad offers so much more. Apple’s banking on those extra features and its undeniable reach to turn the Kindle into an endangered species.
By mid-March, Amazon had suffered backlash for their hardline against Macmillan and started backpedling — somewhat. Some publishers would be able to set their own prices. But not all. Via Mashable, Christine Warren noted:
The agreements (with Amazon) that have been made with the five publishers signed to work with Apple — Macmillan, Harper Collins, Penguin, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster — will not be passed on to smaller publishers.
It seems even the agreement with the other four publishers outside of Macmillan (known as Agency Four) isn’t set in stone.
Cader also writes:
“The indications are that if the Agency Four have not finalized new digital sales agreements with Amazon prior to the launch of Apple’s iPad, they could face delisting from direct sale at Amazon, as Macmillan did.”
Translation: If those publishers don’t finalize a new digital agreement with Amazon before the launch of the iPad, they risk being removed from Amazon.com.
Amazon has reached agency deals with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette. But not Penguin:
Read MoreThere’s a persistent myth, I think, that getting published is all about who you know, that you’ll never sell a book unless you have a personal connection to someone in the publishing world. But it is a myth—I promise you, it’s a myth. If getting published was really all about who you know, I would have been published YEARS before I actually was.
I do have connections to the publishing world. Many of them, in fact. My father was an author when I was very small, and published several novels. My mother was an editor with a (now extinct) New York publishing house. And let me here and now confess that when I was 21 years old, just out of college and desperately hoping to become an author, I had no real scruples about using those connections. I tried it. My parents contacted old friends among the literary agents crowd and helped me craft query letters. But here’s the thing: it didn’t help. At best, it got my manuscripts read, led to some requests for the first 50 pages of my books. But I simply hadn’t written a publishable book yet, and the answer I always got back was a polite but regretful “no thanks.”
Read MoreFree Expressions Seminars is now welcoming applications for a full scholarship to its acclaimed Writing the Breakout Novel Weeklong Intensive, with top New York literary agent, Donald Maass.
The scholarship is available for one student who wishes to participate in the September 13-19 Writing the Breakout Novel Intensive, to be held in Charlotte, NC. It covers complete room, board, tuition and all other workshop expenses, except transportation.
The workshop offers thirty-five writers the opportunity to dig into their novels-in-progress in an intensive workshop in which they take daily classes with Don Maass and receive in-depth feedback on their work from Maass and a roster of experienced industry professionals.
Suitable for published and pre-published writers alike, the workshop’s core focus is on creating a “breakout” work, one that transcends genre to offer a rich, dramatic, and memorable experience to the reader.
“Even though this workshop regularly goes to waiting list status, we know that not every writer can afford the investment,” says workshop director, Lorin Oberweger. “We wish we could help a thousand writers, but this is one small way for us to lend a hand.”
For more information on the workshop or to download a scholarship application and information, visit: www.free-expressions.com. Or call toll-free: 866-497-4832.
Read MoreI’m seeing more queries these days where writers claim their manuscript has been professionally edited.
And it’s no surprise. People inside the industry—like myself!—are known for emphasizing the importance of submitting a flawless manuscript.
Rather than a reassurance, though, queries that mention a professional edit can leave me feeling less confident about the work. I’ve heard agents say the same thing.
This seems grossly unfair, doesn’t it?
There are 3 elements at play:
1. Most writers don’t clearly understand how an editor might improve their work (or to what extent). Writers must have a level of sophistication and knowledge about their work (or themselves!) to know where their weaknesses are, and how a professional might assist them. When writers ask me if they should hire a professional editor, it’s usually out of a vague fear their work isn’t good enough—and they think it can be “fixed.” There are many different types or levels of editing, and if you don’t know what they are—or what kind you need—then you’re not ready for a professional editor.
2.
Read MoreI hold in my hands a trade paperback titled We the Enemy. It’s the real thing—except you can’t buy it anywhere because this is the one and only copy.
This rare, one-of-a-kind book, written and designed by me, cost me all of $10.86 (including shipping). This is by way of Lulu.com. I couldn’t buy one at the bookstore for that.
This book is a “proof” copy of a novel that I’m going to make more copies of through Lulu in order to try to raise funding to actually print and market it. But maybe the process and results are something that you might want to try.
Places to make your book
There are three POD (print on demand) resources that I’m familiar with: Lulu.com, CreateSpace (Amazon’s POD company), and Lightning Source (the firm I’m using to publish The Vampire Kitty-cat Chronicles, and the one the big publishers use). I’ve only shopped CreateSpace, but haven’t used it yet because I could produce a book for less on Lulu.com.
Lulu.com
Lulu is carefully thought out and makes it easy. If you’re handy with software including Word and Photoshop, and can created PDFs of the results, you can design the book (cover and interior) any way you want. That’s what I did for this copy of We the Enemy.
But it can be much easier than that.
Read More
