Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Unrelated agent news
Yesterday morning I woke up to a real shocker. Ralph Vicinanza, a very well established agent, passed away unexpectedly this weekend. He was only 60 years old. Two members of Critical Mass (Walter Jon Williams and John Jos. Miller) were repped by him, as was my friend and former Clarion West instructor, Connie Willis. Everyone is reeling from the news and my heart goes out to his family, coworkers, and clients.
Monday, September 27, 2010
More on agents
Normally, agent querying is miserable, but I've had a few bright spots the last week. No, I am not agented, but I did correspond a couple of times with an agent who rejected me, but was willing to give me some useful advice - links to research, etc. Her main criticism (that she expressed to me, at least) of my query was what I already suspected, the book is going to be a very hard sell in this market.
Meanwhile an agent who's requested a partial of my YA fantasy was quick to reply to a status email I sent. A status email is when you check to make sure they have your materials, and you should never send one before at least two months have elapsed, some would say three. I waited two, but he fired back a response at once to let me know he had them, and I thanked him for the quick reply. Why is this good? Well, not everyone in any business replies to emails/phone calls promptly, and as a non-client, I am at the bottom of any agent's priority list. If he's this professional with me at this stage, this means he's someone who'd be good to work with. Now we'll see if he wants to rep my book. I've seen agents who don't even return their clients' phone calls, though, so this is something that anyone looking for an agent needs to be aware of.
All in all, this isn't as depressing and awful as I'd anticipated - this week at least :-) There's nothing fun about collecting a slew of rejection letters, though, and it's always sanest to expect a slew of them. There are some exceptions; someone I know sent six queries and got six partial requests, but then another friend of mine sent 42 queries before she finally got offers from two agents and then a six figure book deal. Best to prepare for the latter - minus the six figure book deal, as you don't want to get six figures in debt and then expect to make that all back from your writing.
Meanwhile an agent who's requested a partial of my YA fantasy was quick to reply to a status email I sent. A status email is when you check to make sure they have your materials, and you should never send one before at least two months have elapsed, some would say three. I waited two, but he fired back a response at once to let me know he had them, and I thanked him for the quick reply. Why is this good? Well, not everyone in any business replies to emails/phone calls promptly, and as a non-client, I am at the bottom of any agent's priority list. If he's this professional with me at this stage, this means he's someone who'd be good to work with. Now we'll see if he wants to rep my book. I've seen agents who don't even return their clients' phone calls, though, so this is something that anyone looking for an agent needs to be aware of.
All in all, this isn't as depressing and awful as I'd anticipated - this week at least :-) There's nothing fun about collecting a slew of rejection letters, though, and it's always sanest to expect a slew of them. There are some exceptions; someone I know sent six queries and got six partial requests, but then another friend of mine sent 42 queries before she finally got offers from two agents and then a six figure book deal. Best to prepare for the latter - minus the six figure book deal, as you don't want to get six figures in debt and then expect to make that all back from your writing.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Submission, meh
When I was at an event with my friend, Walter Jon Williams, someone commented to him about how humble and down to earth he is, which he is. His response was, "We writers spend a lot of our time doing something called 'submission'." This, to me, is the most depressing part of the job, which doesn't make me unique at all :-). I'm working hard to get my submissions to agents out there, but the time it takes to research each agent and tailor the query package is significant. That's what I'm doing every afternoon while my son naps, and there's nothing more frustrating than to spend three hours on one query only to get a form rejection (which has only happened once so far, so there will be other writer's reading this who want to punch me.)
The advantage I have this time is that my husband is helping me out. We're researching agents together and he's proofing all my queries and helping me draft all the different kinds of synopsis that agents request. Some seem to like a couple of paragraphs outlining the story. Some want only one. A few want it down to a sentence. But at least when rejections roll in, I have someone to show them to, and he's starting to realize just how competitive this market is. He's admitted to me that if applying for school or a job was this hard, he'd go insane.
My biggest obstacle is that both the YA fantasy market and the contemporary romance market are very hard to sell to these days. I feel like I have room to go in another direction in my speculative fiction. It'll just take a few months of brainstorming and plotting. I have zero interest in doing any other kind of romance other than contemporary. When I'm down, or really bursting to say something, that's what I write. So that's what I'll stick with, and it may mean querying a ton of agents.
Things I've learned this time around: 1) Many top agencies are actually better at responding than lesser known ones. They aren't so big and cool that they don't feel like you deserve the time of day. There's a good reason they're at the top of the field. 2) AbsoluteWrite.com forums are a goldmine of information about what to expect from different agencies. I find them much more useful than QueryTracker or even AgentQuery.com - which is a great way to get the names of agents, but only the beginning. An agent's profile there might be a year old, and hence their preferences are likely to have changed. 3) Queries, like anything else, get easier with practice. It's a bit like learning to write essays in high school; at the time they were agonizing, but looking back they're so straightforward and easy it's a wonder I ever stressed about them.
Materials I've put together to be able to tailor queries to specific agents: 1) a one page synopsis of the book - stick to the main plotline and characters and try to make it a good read 2) a 3 paragraph summary of the book, for longer query letters 3) a one paragraph summary of the book, for shorter query letters 4) a log line, a one sentence summary of the book. Put this at the top of nearly all your query letters, unless the agent lays out a different preference on their site or in an interview. 5) a paragraph synopsis of my writing history - be aware that if you're querying outside of science fiction and fantasy, there can be a strong bias against these fields. They're the nerdy, friendless genres of the publishing world.
As with the last book, I will not be posting all the rejections I get on this blog. This is in part because if there are a lot (which there aren't at the moment, but I'd hate to get started only to have them pile up and up), that's not a good thing to have out there. Say an agent does finally pick it up and pass the book on to the editor, and said editor is a blogger who finds my blog detailing 97 rejections or some odd. That 1) doesn't look good and 2) tips them off to the fact that I might be a little desperate for any offer. Definitely weakens my position.
But, for what it's worth, I've read some fantastic books that piled up a doorstop of rejections and some awful ones that got in the first round. Finding an agent is a bit like finding a spouse. It isn't just about having your own act together, it's about finding a good relationship with someone who believes in you.
So glad I never did internet dating or personal ads. I'm guessing this is what they'd have felt like.
The advantage I have this time is that my husband is helping me out. We're researching agents together and he's proofing all my queries and helping me draft all the different kinds of synopsis that agents request. Some seem to like a couple of paragraphs outlining the story. Some want only one. A few want it down to a sentence. But at least when rejections roll in, I have someone to show them to, and he's starting to realize just how competitive this market is. He's admitted to me that if applying for school or a job was this hard, he'd go insane.
My biggest obstacle is that both the YA fantasy market and the contemporary romance market are very hard to sell to these days. I feel like I have room to go in another direction in my speculative fiction. It'll just take a few months of brainstorming and plotting. I have zero interest in doing any other kind of romance other than contemporary. When I'm down, or really bursting to say something, that's what I write. So that's what I'll stick with, and it may mean querying a ton of agents.
Things I've learned this time around: 1) Many top agencies are actually better at responding than lesser known ones. They aren't so big and cool that they don't feel like you deserve the time of day. There's a good reason they're at the top of the field. 2) AbsoluteWrite.com forums are a goldmine of information about what to expect from different agencies. I find them much more useful than QueryTracker or even AgentQuery.com - which is a great way to get the names of agents, but only the beginning. An agent's profile there might be a year old, and hence their preferences are likely to have changed. 3) Queries, like anything else, get easier with practice. It's a bit like learning to write essays in high school; at the time they were agonizing, but looking back they're so straightforward and easy it's a wonder I ever stressed about them.
Materials I've put together to be able to tailor queries to specific agents: 1) a one page synopsis of the book - stick to the main plotline and characters and try to make it a good read 2) a 3 paragraph summary of the book, for longer query letters 3) a one paragraph summary of the book, for shorter query letters 4) a log line, a one sentence summary of the book. Put this at the top of nearly all your query letters, unless the agent lays out a different preference on their site or in an interview. 5) a paragraph synopsis of my writing history - be aware that if you're querying outside of science fiction and fantasy, there can be a strong bias against these fields. They're the nerdy, friendless genres of the publishing world.
As with the last book, I will not be posting all the rejections I get on this blog. This is in part because if there are a lot (which there aren't at the moment, but I'd hate to get started only to have them pile up and up), that's not a good thing to have out there. Say an agent does finally pick it up and pass the book on to the editor, and said editor is a blogger who finds my blog detailing 97 rejections or some odd. That 1) doesn't look good and 2) tips them off to the fact that I might be a little desperate for any offer. Definitely weakens my position.
But, for what it's worth, I've read some fantastic books that piled up a doorstop of rejections and some awful ones that got in the first round. Finding an agent is a bit like finding a spouse. It isn't just about having your own act together, it's about finding a good relationship with someone who believes in you.
So glad I never did internet dating or personal ads. I'm guessing this is what they'd have felt like.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Home for real
We had a wonderful time in Spain. 2 days we went sightseeing, around Malaga and then to the Alhambra in Granada, and two days we just lazed around on the beach. Now we're home and Trevor's back at work.
And I'm working on more agent submissions. I've got the romance novel out to three agents so far, and am slooowly working my way through the research for others. Trevor helped me with the query letter, which I really appreciate.
Deseret Book, or Shadow Mountain, to be more precise, is looking at my YA fantasy novel. I'm curious to hear their response, as it is vampires (yes, I know the market is saturated with vampires - hence I wrote another novel right on its heels) and they pulled the Twilight books off their shelves. I looked over their website and they don't seem to have any vampire properties, which either means they have a policy of not stocking them (though I'd have expected an immediate rejection if that were the case) or they could be looking for a vampire book to try to capture a tiny corner of the Twilight market. My book isn't very Twilight. I read the first book in that series and thought it was a little silly, then read the second and... yeah... that was a slog. I don't get it, and I don't care that I don't get it. And no, I won't be reading books 3 and 4 unless I think they're useful research for something or other. There are too many other good books out there I could read instead. I think vampires are bloodsucking demons, and the ones that don't feed on humans are only slightly less evil bloodsucking demons. You gotta do more than that to be good in my book :-) There's team Edward and team Jacob and I'm on team Bella, honey, get yourself a life and stop being such a self centered, childish bore.
So, needless to say, I'm back into writing and more writing. My next project is to retune my other romance novel, but today I'm too tired to dive into that. My son seems to have a cold, so I'm looking after him too.
And I'm working on more agent submissions. I've got the romance novel out to three agents so far, and am slooowly working my way through the research for others. Trevor helped me with the query letter, which I really appreciate.
Deseret Book, or Shadow Mountain, to be more precise, is looking at my YA fantasy novel. I'm curious to hear their response, as it is vampires (yes, I know the market is saturated with vampires - hence I wrote another novel right on its heels) and they pulled the Twilight books off their shelves. I looked over their website and they don't seem to have any vampire properties, which either means they have a policy of not stocking them (though I'd have expected an immediate rejection if that were the case) or they could be looking for a vampire book to try to capture a tiny corner of the Twilight market. My book isn't very Twilight. I read the first book in that series and thought it was a little silly, then read the second and... yeah... that was a slog. I don't get it, and I don't care that I don't get it. And no, I won't be reading books 3 and 4 unless I think they're useful research for something or other. There are too many other good books out there I could read instead. I think vampires are bloodsucking demons, and the ones that don't feed on humans are only slightly less evil bloodsucking demons. You gotta do more than that to be good in my book :-) There's team Edward and team Jacob and I'm on team Bella, honey, get yourself a life and stop being such a self centered, childish bore.
So, needless to say, I'm back into writing and more writing. My next project is to retune my other romance novel, but today I'm too tired to dive into that. My son seems to have a cold, so I'm looking after him too.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Home, briefly
We just got back from Scotland, Saturday night, and fly out to Spain tomorrow. This'll be our last chance to fly with just the three of us. In a few months, there will be four!
While I was out, the rejection letters piled up in my email. Actually, I only got two. One was for my novel from Deseret Book, the other was the reply to a query from an agent (one collects a lot of those, quite often). Now I need to decide whether I keep subbing to the LDS market, or retune the novel for the national market. I am leaning towards the latter, as the LDS market is quite small and the publishing practices well out of sync with the national market. Many publishers seem used to dealing with starry eyed newbies who are so excited to get published they'll sign any contract, and while I don't have an enormous list of publishing credits, I've been at this long enough that I just don't fall into that category. And I've seen enough good publishing contracts to not have much time for bad ones.
But now I need to also prepare my chick lit novel for agent subs. My trunk of novels is getting rather full here, due to the fact that I despise writing query letters. It's an art in and of itself, and I don't feel all that good at it, so it's always a letdown after I've written a novel to have to work on selling it. At times like this, it's healthy to tell yourself all of the reasons why it might not sell, but that's depressing too!
This time around, I'm taking several weeks to work just on the query letter, and Trevor will be helping me out. We took a good long look at my writing and decided that this is the main roadblock I need to clear, right now. I could just wait for lightning to strike and an agent to pick me up with a so-so query letter, but that's not the smart way to proceed.
So, here we go...
While I was out, the rejection letters piled up in my email. Actually, I only got two. One was for my novel from Deseret Book, the other was the reply to a query from an agent (one collects a lot of those, quite often). Now I need to decide whether I keep subbing to the LDS market, or retune the novel for the national market. I am leaning towards the latter, as the LDS market is quite small and the publishing practices well out of sync with the national market. Many publishers seem used to dealing with starry eyed newbies who are so excited to get published they'll sign any contract, and while I don't have an enormous list of publishing credits, I've been at this long enough that I just don't fall into that category. And I've seen enough good publishing contracts to not have much time for bad ones.
But now I need to also prepare my chick lit novel for agent subs. My trunk of novels is getting rather full here, due to the fact that I despise writing query letters. It's an art in and of itself, and I don't feel all that good at it, so it's always a letdown after I've written a novel to have to work on selling it. At times like this, it's healthy to tell yourself all of the reasons why it might not sell, but that's depressing too!
This time around, I'm taking several weeks to work just on the query letter, and Trevor will be helping me out. We took a good long look at my writing and decided that this is the main roadblock I need to clear, right now. I could just wait for lightning to strike and an agent to pick me up with a so-so query letter, but that's not the smart way to proceed.
So, here we go...
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Facebook Ads
So, I had $25.00 free Facebook advertising that I've put towards my digital scrapbooking business on Etsy. I've set a limit of $5.00 a day and will run the ad for 5 days, and so far it's generated 16 hits. Very, very small time, I know, and only spending $5.00 a day isn't aggressive at all, but I'm just testing the system and using my free credit. If the timing were better, I'd wait until I had a full store before running the ad, but the free offer was about to expire.
But this means I am now in the sidebar as you surf Facebook, provided you've got something in your profile about being a new mother.
This is my first foray into paid advertising. Anyone else got any experience with Google or the other advertising services on the web?
But this means I am now in the sidebar as you surf Facebook, provided you've got something in your profile about being a new mother.
This is my first foray into paid advertising. Anyone else got any experience with Google or the other advertising services on the web?
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