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I'm a literary agent with FinePrint Literary Management in New York City. I specialize in crime fiction. I'll be glad to receive a query letter from you; guidelines to help you decide if I'm looking for what you write are below. There are several posts labelled "query pitfalls" and "annoy me" that may help you avoid some common mistakes when querying.
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Late yesterday afternoon as I was winding up the affairs of the day I got an email from a writer asking the status of his query.
As most of you know I keep a running count of how current I am, right here on this blog.
It looks like this:
This writer pinged me for something sent on 1/25/15 so clearly he should have heard back.
I checked my incoming queries. Sometimes I flag something for a more thoughtful reply than the form letter that goes out, and forget to adjust for that on the "current through" date.
Sometimes I have queries on hold pending something else. (Inspiration, mostly. Sometimes just wanting to give the pages a second read.)
And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, things get lost. Or misfiled. Or tossed (by mistake.)
Which is what had happened here. Even thought it came after several rounds of conversation in the Chum Bucket (which means his emails were getting through just fine) that final query was nowhere to be found. Yes it was in my gmail archives so I knew I'd received it, but nope, nowhere on the mail management program. Ooops.
I asked the writer to send again, and this time I made sure it went in the Incoming Query folder and I plan to answer it tonight...just to make sure it gets a reply.
What does this mean for you? Never assume no if the agent says they'll reply to your query. Always ping at least once. Things get lost. Things go astray. Even here at The Reef where emails are color coded and royalty statements are numbered.
Follow her/him on Twitter.
If you see a Tweet that looks like this:
@EDITORAMAZING I am a lit agent. Would like to send you a submission. May I have your email?
your editor is an utter nincompoop and you may quote me by name when saying that.
Let's unpack this, as they say on the postgame show:
1. A competent agent does NOT pitch editors on Twitter unless s/he knows them REALLY well. And even then, most competent agents will say something like "hey, I've Got That" to something an editor has said, and then phone or email the pitch.
2. A competent agent either knows the editor's email address, or how to figure it out, or knows who call to get it. At the very least a competent agent knows that an editor is NEVER going to give out her/his email address on Twitter.
When EditorAmazing shared this tweet with her coven, a few of us did some research. Turns out the "agent" in question doesn't have any background in publishing, and has no colleagues of any kind. In other words, someone who hung out a shingle and said "I'm open for business."
And even better: sent the same tweet to several editors in a row, so that all of them, while investigating who this was, could see them.
This agent is textbook nincompoop.
Any questions?
An agent recently requested pages and then called to discuss. She is the first one who provided feedback, which was very much appreciated. However, her opinion (of course, very professional and not rude) was that I should put the novel away for 6 months and then start over. She said that the character development was weak and this cannot be fixed by editing the novel. There were other items she shared as well. She said an entire re-write is in order. What does a typical writer do when one agent gives feedback and the feedback is "start over and re-write?" Granted, she did NOT ask to see if again after I re-write it. Do I follow her advice?
Well, that sure wasn't what you were expecting in that call was it? Yikes! I don't think I've ever called someone to tell them to start over. Email seems a whole lot more kind when delivering that kind of news.And frankly, I'd wait to see what happens with other agents before taking her advice. It is after all her opinion, and unless she's me and thus completely and totally right 97.125% of the time, maybe she's wrong. Every single sale I've made has had at least one rejection from an editor who failed miserably to see the amazing value of the book I'd sent them. Sometimes they are able to rebound from such abject failures, but sometimes they have to be stricken from the list cause they are Blind Blind Blind.I do think that letting a manuscript sit, and reading it aloud are two very good tools for seeing problems that are not readily apparant by reading.I'm going to bet the Comment Team has some interesting anecdotal advice for you as well.
The Publishers Lunch Weekly newsletter often reports deals made "in a pre-empt" or "at auction."
What is a pre-empt? (1)
I find the idea of an auction fascinating. Is there a formal set of rules for holding an auction, or does each agent have their own way of handling them? (2)
Does the author have to accept the highest bid? (3)
If all the offers are seriously below expectations, does the author still have to accept one of them? (4)
What if an agent holds an auction, and nobody bids? (5)
An auction seems like a big risk that could either pay off spectacularly well, or fail terribly, tainting the author, the book, and the agent.
(1) A pre-empt means an editor offers enough money to take the project off the sales block without going to auction, or taking further offers.
(2) Each agent has their own, and auction rules are sent to each editor who's in the scrum.
(3) The author does NOT have to accept the highest bid. If a project goes to auction it's very common for the editor to loop in sales and marketing to show their plans for the book, and have a conversation with the author about their editorial vision, and plans for success
(4) There's usually an established floor in an auction, but sometimes numbers come in that are seriously under what we thought. That's when the agent and the author have a very serious heart to heart.
(5) That does happen. It's A VERY unhappy day. You dust off your britches, and get back on the submission pony and send to publishers not in that previous round of submissions.An auction isn't really a risk. It's a way to handle interest from multiple editors. Nobody goes to auction if the editors are snoozing on a book.
And a "failed auction" doesn't taint a book cause no one really knows about it at other publishing houses.
I know we're all looking forward to hearing from Amy that she's ok.
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In last week's review Stacy asked about a book being profitable without earning out:
I said: A book can break even AND turn a profit for the publisher even if the advance is not earned out.
She asked: Is that because the author is receiving the agreed royalty rate while the book earns against the advance?
It's because the author is credited ONLY for royalties earned not the total amount earned.
If a book sells 10,000 copies here's the math:
10,000 books x $25.00 (retail price/book) x 60% (discount given to bookstores is 40%) = $250,000.00 GROSS
Less: 10,000 x $3.12 (royalty rate of 12.5% x cover price of $25) =$31,200.00 author earnings (applied to advance)
Less: fixed costs of producing book ($5.00/book) $50,000
Less: other costs of producing book ($2.00/book) $20,000
$250,000 GROSS
-31,200 AUTHOR SHARE
-50,000 FIXED COST
-20,000 OTHER COST
= $148,800 retained by publisher
If the author's advance is $100,000, the book hasn't earned out ($100,000 less $31,200) but the book has put money in the publisher's coffers.
These are very very broad estimates, just to demonstrate the math, and are NOT actual numbers.
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On Monday I pretty much lost my mind and ranted to a writer who had been asked to do a marketing proposal and thought it was really her agent's job.
Julie Weathers correctly pointed out:
"so am I paying 15% so that someone with connections will make phone calls?"
I think right there is where the whole thing went off the rails.
I respond poorly and at length plus volume to those who seem not to value what an agent does. In this particular case, lack of fuller explanations gave rise to some misconceptions.
I very much appreciate that lunorama was willing to take the bull by horns (or the shark by the snout) and say this:
Mainly, I am uncomfortable with this post because it makes me worried for if I ever gain an agent and need to ask a question about my or their role. Will I be chewed out or "fired on the spot" for being such a total clueless noob? It is not anyone's job to hold my hand, but I also second the person who said I do not feel like I should be "grateful" to someone with whom I have a *business arrangement.*
Agents are not doing authors a free favor. The caveat that the agent only gets paid if the book sells and that it is a "bargain" for the author struck me as weird -- agents are paid for their work and they do have other clients. It's a business, not a charity, not a "bargain." That method exists for ethical reasons, and I am glad it does. It also keeps authors and agents invested in working together until it sells.
I resent the implication that I should...I don't know...feel bad for agents? They do a LOT of work, but they do not take on projects they don't think they can sell (I assume not, anyway) and they are working under the expectation of a payoff, just like the author, so...I don't understand the claim that because they have to wait for the payoff, agents are not paid for their time. It's a quibble over semantics.
I don't want to parse this paragraph out with the things I agree/disagree with but I do want to say I agree I did seem to say being "ungrateful" was cause for firing. That's not what I intended so clearly I didn't say it very well.
I was responding to the implication that "all" agents do is a very little bit of work for a percentage of the deal. That's a real sore spot for me that comes from a lot of people not understanding what agents do.
What I should have said was that if a client really felt like s/he was not getting a valuable service, and said so, I'd part company with them.
I did NOT mean to convey that a client who asks questions will be fired on the spot or, in fact, ever.
This was a good reminder to me to think a little deeper before going off the deep end.
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On Tuesday we covered the delicate issue of writing about communities of which we are not a part.
Tom Perkins asked an interesting question
is the designation "Alaska Native" a critical part of your character(s)? I mean, I have a project where I know the qualities my character has, but specific ancestry is not one of them.
Lisa Bodenheim had a good answer for it too:
In response to your question about letting the reader assign whatever mental picture they lean towards. White people will (generally) always assign white to the characters. It's the nature of the culture we live within.
There's a blog post about it here.
I think it's essential that characters be described so they are not all in the image a reader brings to the reading experience. After all, one of the many benefits of reading widely is meeting new kinds of people.
One of my favorite books by Harlan Coben used the reader's assumptions about race as a plot twist. I love that trick.
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On Wednesday we discussed revising and expanding a previously published memoir but the comments took a turn into weather as we discovered Amy is right there in the middle of Tropical Cyclone Pam.
We're all keeping our fingers and fins crossed that the boat is safe!
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On Thursday we turned to how to use fan fiction numbers in a query.
I liked what Kathryn Clark contributed to the discussion:
A lot of the appeal of fanfic is that the readers already love the characters - no need to win anyone over. (Not to mention that I've found it easier to play with other people's characters than to create my own.) In most (though not all) cases, there's no exposition needed beyond "this takes place in episode three" or "alternate universe where Harry Potter isn't a wizard".
I hadn't really considered that writing fanfic is essentially like coming in to a fully developed story line, so much of the heavy lifting has been done already.
Jen brought up a point worth clarifying about fan fiction:
Something to consider: according to my agent, once your work is accepted by a publishing company, your contract will probably say something to the effect of "This work has never fully nor partial been available in electronic format, on public forum, available for download, etc."
So, when I suggested using a site like Wattpad to build a following for a paranormal I was brainstorming, he basically said I would be taking a big risk: if you get a million fans, the Big Five will pay attention. If you don't, you forfeit getting it traditionally published.
This info is absolutely wrong. I hate to flat out contradict an agent, particularly when this is second hand, but this kind of info can get scattered around and taken as gospel.
For starters: yes, many contracts for publication DO have a version of the "never before published" clause BUT BUT BUT if your work has been published before, this is something your agent will TELL your editor during the submission process, and this line of the contract will be struck out.
Contracts are NEGOTIATED, not handed down on stone tablets. I've had to clarify MANY things in various contracts depending on the specific situation of the author.
Second, if you publish on Wattpad, the problem is not that it's published but that Wattpad holds the rights to it. They essentially become a co-owner of the work. I do NOT know if that can be negotiated because I've never been involved with a work that was originally published on Wattpad. However, I do have editor friends who have acquired Wattpad works, and they tell me Wattpad gets a chunk of the dough.
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Friday's question about #PitMad was very illuminating for me.
S.E.Dee said, and E.Maree echoed
"It's a big target for exploitation by predator publishers and unsavory agents so you need to keep your wits about you. It's also a big, fast-moving sea of tweets and there's no guarantee the agents you like are even seeing yours."
I have seen some of the #PitMad scroll and the retweets drove me crazy, but I had NOT realized it was being targeted by the predatory and unsavory. That's really sad news.
Janet Rundquist mentioned why she liked #PitMad:
I like the Twitter pitches because it forces you to distill your story into a single sentence and from there, you can sometimes get a feel for whether it has enough to entice someone to read after all. I *definitely* like the twitter contests better than blog-hosted contests. Far less painful and public if you have not received requests/favorites etc. Also, the twitter pitches still require you to query, so it doesn't replace anything, just gives you a new angle.
as did Liz Mallory:
always considered PitMad a good exercise at least. It forces me to write pitches - 20 or so of them! - and it also helps me see the selling points of the book by what people retweet or what makes me retweet someone else. PitMad is what showed me comps were so important.
But this time I got 3 favorites, and I can't deny that was really exciting. Even if nothing comes from it, it was encouraging.
And Rena has a very nice success with #PitMad:
That said, I found my agent during #Pitmad last September. It was someone I'd never heard of, but when I did my research, I was very excited. We may never have connected without Pitmad. She has been an amazing friend and partner, and she sold my book less than two weeks after going on submission, so I would say I'm a fan of the pitch party that brought us together.
And Jenny Chou's benefits were interesting as well
I REALLY enjoy Twitter pitching and contests. Because I've had lots of favorites and many big publishers are now fighting over my book? No. Because I've made lots of very supportive writer friends from all over the world. I've exchanged chapters for critiques and found a CP. Many of these people were kind enough to re-tweet my tweets. I've seen a lot of really great writing in contests and look forward to Tweeting about some of these books when they are eventually published- and I'm sure some will be. I've also offered my two-cents on some not-so-great writing and I hope I've helped a few people out.
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As it turns out, my blog stats are sadly mistaken that I have no extra terrestrial readers because Christina Seine gave us her coordinates here:
This is Christina Seine here, coming to you live from the exclusive Bean de Lima resort on the sandy shores of the Pit of Carkoon
And it turns out she's not alone:
The weather is gorgeous here, although I have to say there is rather an overabundance of woodland creatures taking up space at the bar. There is much excited talk of the Second Annual Bucket of Chum Writer’s Conference set to be held here in the Fall – should be quite interesting.
Craig is on his way to Carkoon (something about prologues?)
Colin's report shows a few more people heading that way:
It's been a busy morning here at Carkoon setting up the branch office. My typewriter arrived, and Christine is just setting up the fax machine (though I think she's having trouble finding the phone line. I'll have Kitty put a call in to AT&T... assuming we have cell phone service).
I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that we here at FPLM-Carkoon (that's Fine Print Literary Management-Carkoon Division--though the way my typewriter's behaving at the moment, Fuzzy Print would be more appropriate) are embracing the philosophy of our mentor and founder, and accepting any and all queries, proposals, spirits, and former US Army Military Police Corps Majors. So please send your queries this way. I'm particularly interested in historical suspense thrillers, lima bean mysteries, and kale memoirs, and LynnRodz is reading Dino Porn (but we'll find something useful for her to do).
Address your queries along with a suitable denomination of the currency of your choice to:
FPLM-Carkoon
Third Cave Past the Waterhole
Carkoon
although it turns out Colin may be confused about where he is cause on Monday he told Julie Weathers:
Well, we're looking at hiring in the South Pacific. I hear you're particularly good with Aussies...? :)
LynnRodz updated the submission guidelines for the Carkoon satellite office:
Attention: Writers thinking of querying FPLM-CD, no more Dino Porn queries! It's an automatic rejection unless donuts and/or cookies are sent as well and none of this prepackaged or boxed crap either. A little imagination will go a long way so chocolate chip, peanut butter, and Oreo cookies will be thrown back into the slush pile.
Our head honcho here in Carkoon is a vegetarian health nut, so only fresh ingredients are allowed.
Automatic partials will be requested when accompanied with: Mexican Wedding Cookies, aka Russian Tea Cakes, macarons, and tassies.
Fulls will be requested with: Spitzbuben, Kalacky and Rugelach.
Don't worry about me Colin, I'll be the taste tester and I'll even make the tea. (Yep, I've got the sweetest job in Carkoon!)
*******
best typo of the week, and which should really BE a word: DLM's "vommenting"
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The Sleepy One recommended Blue Start doughnuts in addition to Voodoo Donuts here in Portlandia, and oh my gastric juices…. YUM!!! Fabulous Bill Cameron, Pirate Heidi Schulz and Publicist to the Stars Dana Kaye and I took a field trip there and it was to DIE for!
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I'm just stupidly behind on reading and everything else because I've been out here in Portland at Left Coast Crime, and yes it is FUN!
I'm really confused on this whole nudging concept as it seems different for every agent. I queried Awesome Agent -- a top agent at a top agency, very popular and seemingly, well, awesome -- and his/her agency's website says to nudge after 30 days on a query (but says nothing about submissions). So after 30+ days on my initial query, I politely nudged. Nothing. Then a short time later, AA requested a partial in a Twitter contest for the same MS. I sent it and noted that I'd recently nudged on a query, in case AA wondered why I was in their inbox twice. Crickets.
Now it's been 50+ days since I sent the requested partial, and still nothing. Others have reported that AA has been silent on their nudges regarding offers of rep from other agents. AA has also not replied to anyone in quite awhile, according to Query Tracker.
I've done Advanced Searches on Twitter to make sure I'm not missing updates about where AA is in his/her submissions, but there's nothing barring one very vague reply to someone, referencing how some agents are behind.
I realize partials take longer than queries, but given AA never replied to my initial query and isn't replying to people with offers of rep, I'm tempted to query another agent at the agency, as there are others who I think would be good fits as well. I've got numerous fulls and other partials out right now, but I was really hoping to hear what AA thought. But now I just don't know.
Is it just me, or isn't this a little unprofessional? I understand agents are incredibly busy, but AA hasn't closed for queries, or even made an official mention of being behind, or time frames, or anything public I can track down. I want to give this person more leeway, as, after all, they are AA. But I don't want to be the person who nudges their way to a big fat form rejection.
Your thoughts would be appreciated!
Well, my thoughts would probably set something on fire so stand back: This kind of Radio Silence is Not Ok.
And by Not Ok, I mean bad news.
Agents are no more busy than the rest of the world. That we are somehow exempt from 1. common courtesy 2. sound business practices or 3. karma is delusional on our part. I've been on panels where agents busily recount the number of queries in their inbox or how they have to work on the weekend to keep up, and I want to say "take care of small children and then get back to me on busy." We're ALL busy.
The difference is that agents are running a damn business here. How you conduct your business tells people something. If you can't be bothered to reply to people that you've asked to send work, that says something.
That said, people get behind. *I* get behind. Just this week I had to meaculpa a client on letting her emails back up too long. It happens. The difference is: you don't let it go 50 days, and you start out with "I'm sorry." And it's NOT the norm.
Yes there's a difference between clients and queriers. But the standard is the same: if someone asks about a project, a quick reply within a reasonable amount of time is NOT too much to expect.
So, what to do here?
You'll want to keep querying of course.
You'll have to hold off querying other agents at Agent (NotSo) Awesome's agency till you either hear from her or withdraw the ms.
And you'll want to think carefully about what to do if Agent Awesome comes out from under her rock and is excited about your ms. Bad communication doesn't end at the query queue. It starts there.
I have received a PitMad favorite, but I've already queried this agent. Do I, should I mention the previous query. My previous query was in late January, so the agent may not have reached it yet.
Yes. Just a quick note at the bottom of the query with the pages you're sending for #PitMad will suffice. "I also queried you for this project on 1/29/15"Congrats on the favorite!And now, how's the #PitMad going? Do you like it? Does it seem to work better than queries? The attraction of this eludes me but it's probably cause I'm a fuddy duddy set in my ways.
I know fanfiction isn't a "publication credit," but how do you feel about it in a query letter? I started writing it about a year ago just for some stress relief, and now I've got a few thousand subscribers (people who signed up to get an email every time I post something) and I'm closing in on 1.5 million reads. Several of those readers have specifically said they'd love to read my books if I ever publish something. I know a lot of people look down on fanfiction (for various reasons), but those kind of numbers sound to me like they could translate into a good readership! The book I'm gearing up to start querying soon is erotic romance and is original, not a rework of anything fan-related, but I'm really hoping some of my fanfic readers would be interested.
I don't really have anything else to count as publication credit - I'm in RWA and that's about it - so it would be nice to include this if it would be seen as a positive. I'm worried about agents seeing the word "fanfiction" and immediately writing me off as a crackpot, though. What do you think?
The problem here is that people read fan fiction because they're already fans of the thing you're writing about: Star Trek/Star Wars/Shark Filled Query Queues. Will they follow you OUT of that world? No one really knows. We do know that huge numbers of blog readers does not always translate to huge number of book sales. What people read for free, and what people are willing to part with $25 or $12.99 for are VERY different numbers.
Having several thousand people wanting to read your work though, that's gotta be a good thing. Even if only a few teleport over to your new work, that's better than none.
I also don't think agents and editors think of fan fiction writers as crackpots either. Some of the writing on fan fic sites is to the left of gruesomely terribly bad, but that's not you of course.
As far as I know I have but one client who wrote/writes fan fiction. S/he does it under a pseudonym and we did NOT mention it in the pitch for the novel.
But, since it's not a pub credit, and it's not an awesome number of people who want to buy your book (you said several) I'm going to vote for leaving it out only so that if I'm wrong about the crackpot thing, you won't find out the hard way.
I wrote a memoir about my childhood based on what I remember and what I was told. I didn't know anything much about my past, how to write a book, or research that goes with it. I was adopted. So, without the research I just rushed through with writing and self publishing the book. Since then I've located my biological parents and did research. I have all the research documents and people to back me up. How can I used what I have to rewrite my memoir? How so I explain the rewrite? Can I use a different title for my book?
You can do anything you want since this is your book, and your story. "Revised editions" or second editions of books are much more common with textbooks than memoir, but there are lots of people who write more than one memoir of their life. The late great Leonard Nimoy is a case in point. I AM NOT SPOCK was published in 1975. I AM SPOCK was published in 1995.You might think about writing a completely different book rather than revising. That will solve the biggest problem you face which is reader confusion.You don't want readers to think they've already read the book if you want them to buy the revised and expanded version. Also, you don't want people to think it's a different book and be angry cause they'd readthe first version.You can use a different title, but that makes it a new book.You can call it an updated, revised, expanded version and use the same title but you MUST put "parts of this book originally appeared in an edition published in X" OR "this edition is a revised, expanded version of TITLE published in X"Nothing gets a reader annoyed like thinking they've been hoodwinked by old books being sold as new. And you might address the issue of the revision/expansion/update by writing a preface to this new book, saying what you said here: you've got more info and more story.The rule here is to be transparant with your readers and buyers.
My current WIP features a young Alaska Native man, and while he’s not the MC, he has a very prominent supporting role (he is actually one of my favorite characters), and there are several other minor characters who are also Alaska Native. Since the book takes place in Alaska, this is appropriate, I believe. I am not an Alaska Native, but I have lived in Alaska for 26 years and I have many very dear friends who are. So while I don’t have personal experience being IN this culture, I hope that my associations with it (and extensive research) will create a voice that rings respectful and true. I also have zero experience being a man, but while that’s a whole different can of worms (no pun intended), for some reason don’t see that as big of an issue.
My question is this: I am hearing a lot of call for diversity in novels, which is awesome, but I am also hearing criticism about writers appropriating a culture for their own means. Obviously, writers must write outside their own reality (otherwise, what’s the point?), but when does writing about a race or culture outside your own become appropriation? We’ve discussed this a bit in our writing group, but I’d really love to hear your perspective on this. Thanks!
This is a tough but interesting question. It's very much akin to getting things "right" when simply by being a visitor to the culture, you can't know what's "right" down to the last detail. You will always see the culture through the prism of outsider.
That does not mean however that you can't write fully developed and interesting characters from that culture. The key is like that of all good writing: make it feel authentic, but not just to you, to the people from that culture.
Appropriation is a loaded word for writers, whose job it is to steal everything they can and write about it. When does it cross the line? Everyone is going to have a different view on this, but the thing to pay attention to are people in that culture.
I didn't understand that The Help wasn't a fun book
until I read the comments about it written by Roxanne Gay. While it's not about appropriating culture, it does seem to say that stories are given a wider audience only when those in power agree to tell them.
I'm not sure there's a real answer to your question. I think by asking it, by being aware of the problem, you're on your way to steering clear of it.
Agent Lovely wants a marketing proposal and I'm confused.
I wrote the book--memoir--already, and that's what Agent Lovely is representing. She's asked me to create basically an entire book proposal minus the chapter summaries and sample chapters. (Thankya Jesus I've spent the last few years building "platform").
But it feels weird. Isn't any of this Agent Lovely's job, or her intern's job? (1) I'm currently in a residency with Famous Best-Selling Memoirist, and when I asked her(2), FBSM said that sounded weird, that marketing proposals are for when you haven't written the book yet and want to sell based on a sample and platform. FBSM's position is that agents make phone calls and pitch the book based on the writing. (3)
I made the proposal, subtitling it "Let's Market, Bitches," which may be slightly passive-aggressive on my part but also reflects the voice of the manuscript. While making it, I realized it's probably better I did, because I have enough experience writing PR to do a very good job.
Now I'm wondering: I have radio appearances and social media and TV appearances and I write a mean press release, and I'm compiling all of this myself…so am I paying 15% so that someone with connections will make phone calls? (4)
How much of my own work should I be doing here? I was already planning to market as much as I can after (hopefully) selling, do I have to do a big chunk of the selling part, too? Am I just being ungrateful here? Is this all part of the strange new world of No-One-Actually-Knows-What-Sells-Books-Anymore? (5)
Let's start at the beginning.(1) Is writing a marketing statement your agent's (or sweet mother of god, what the hell are you thinking?) her intern's job? No, it isn't. It's your job. You spent a year building platform (good!) and you know which people know about you and how to reach them.. You as much as said so in the next sentence.
Your publisher will know how to reach general book buyers, but if you've got niche interest readers for your book, you'll be the one to know about this.
Your agent's job is to sell the book. Your job is to write it. Marketing plans are an essential part of the non-fiction pitch even though memoir is sold like a novel (ie finished when pitched)
(2) There are few things that drive me crazier than people asking for advice from folks who are not suited to offer it by virtue of their experience being limited or out of date. Famous Best Selling Memoirist doesn't need a marketing plan because she is 1. Famous 2. Bestselling. And if her first book was sold more than five years ago, her experience doesn't apply to you.
Nothing has changed more in the last ten years than how books are sold to the general public. Thank you Amazon, thank you meta data, thank you social media. FINDING your reader is an enormous challenge. Famous Best Selling has already found her readers.
And the fact that she didn't tell you to talk to your agent chaps my fin. But then we all love to be asked for advice it's true.
(3) Famous is an idiot if she thinks that's what agents do. Maybe that's what her agent does. If that's true, she has a bad agent. A competent agent is going to do a lot more than make phone calls to sell your work. And that's just the start of things. Negotiate the contract, make sure the editor gets an editorial letter to you on time, monitor the production schedule so you're not looking at the cover six days AFTER it went to the printer. Audit the royalty statements. Explain the royalty statements to you. And that's just the stuff I did Friday.
The fact that often times we DO write the proposal, or pieces of it, does not mean it's our job. It means we're willing to help you do yours.
(4) You're not paying anything yet. Let's all remember that your agent doesn't see a dime until you do. If you honestly feel like your agent isn't going to be worth the money, do yourself a favor and split now. There is nothing worse than a client who does not value the service provided. It's like dating someone who thinks going out with you is marginally better than staying home alone and watching Friends on NetFlix.(5) Yes you are. And you should knock it off. Let's review:1. Your agent will be working with you for your entire career, or the very least the sale and publication of your book. Generally you are NOT going to pay her for the value of her time. You're going to get a bargain by giving her a percentage of what you earn, and only AFTER you see money too.2. Don't ask for advice or take advice from people who have outdated experience, or a wildly different experience on how things "should be going."3. Talk to your agent. If you seriously think she should be writing your book proposal tell her so. If you think you can save money by pitching directly, go right ahead.
If one of my clients had written this question, I'd fire them on the spot. I can't stand working with people who don't value the service I provide, and life is too short to do that any longer than it takes to write a termination letter. There are a LOT of people out there with terrific projects. If you don't think I'm worth it, they sure as hell do.
I think Julie Weathers really summed up my thoughts on the comment community here when she said this on last week's WIR: "I love hanging out with y'all. No matter how bad the day is, I can' count on you to pick me up. What a great crew."
Turns out that if want to be kissed all we have to do is eat jam, and Poor Dead Jed will step up to the task:
"I hate both vegemite and marmite. Horrible evil stuff. Did date someone in my early twenties who always had it on her toast for breakfast, and then expected me to kiss her goodbye when we left for work. Heck, no. Eat jam instead, and then I'll kiss you."
On Monday the topic was money, and the various forms of shenanigans that contracts can have.
Doranna was quite correct that the lag between when payments are slated and due, and when they are actually received can be a brutal wake up call. I spend entirely too much time tracking down money my authors are owed.
Sara inquired if it was wise to set up an LLC and get an employer identification number to use as your tax ID rather than a social security number. I think it's very smart to do that. Keeping your income and expenses separate from your personal finances is a smart business move. And this is a business.
Sunliner asked about royalties. "If a book sells, for example, $20, how much of that reaches the author's pocket?"
It depends on your contract. If you're paid a royalty based on the cover price, say 10%, then for every book sold you're credited $2.00.
Remember that books can be returned, so that number can change over several royalty statements.
Often royalties are based on net amount received by the publisher: Books are sold to bookstores at a 40% discount, so a bookstore pays the publisher 60% of the cover price ($12.00) for each book, and your royalty is calculated on that amount.
There are a MYRIAD of ways to set up royalty percentages. All of them are listed in you publication contract. Make SURE you understand that contract before you sign. I've seen publisher boilerplates with some pretty awful royalty clauses, but I've negotiated them out.
french sojourn asked why I hadn't included film money in the post. Most books don't get optioned, and most options don't get picked up. If a film deal comes along, it's gravy.
It took wildly bestselling Lee Child YEARS to get Jack Reacher on the screen. His books had all been optioned for years, but the film business makes book publishing look like a kid's lemonade stand.
Film money is paid out differently than books: you get a lump sum for the option and the option runs for a specific amount of time. Once the option expires, it can be renewed or shopped again.
The percentages kick in when the film is actually getting made. And those percentages are negotiated at the option stage, by the kick ass books to film agent I hope you have.
I have one of the best guys in the country right now (he did the deals for DIVERGENT and THE DUFF) and he's made LOTS of deals for my guys, but none of it is on the screen…yet.
As for how does a two-book deal translate: when you option books for film,you option rights to the characters. Thus you're locking up all the characters in a series with a film deal. So, there's no difference between one or a dozen books if they all feature Felix Buttonweezer, Kale Chef to the Stars.
S.D. King asked "If an author does not earn out the advance, is that person blackballed in the industry?"
Not even close. A book can break even AND turn a profit for the publisher even if the advance is not earned out. I like to have my books earn out because it means the book is selling well, but I'll take that hefty advance check too thank you very much!
On Tuesday we revisited the tar pit of comp titles.
Susan Bonifant rightly pointed out that "how a title does in the marketplace" is something to consider. Since most of you don't have access to that kind of data, the thing to focus on is what M.B. Owen said ""tell the agent what the experience of reading the book will be like."
And Colin is permanently living in Carkoon now. Send sunscreen. LynnRodz, Kitty, and Janet Rundquist, not to mention Christine Seine, are hellbent on joining him. We'll need a branch office there soon.
Wednesday we shot the moon on traffic. The topic was being controversial in your blog postings. As usual your comments and insights helped me refine and revise my opinion on this.
Kitty pointed out what can happen when commenters go feral:
I used to read another really good lit blog but quit when the blogger tip-toed into politics one day and all hell broke loose in the comments. She didn't say anything offensive, but it generated an ugly civil war amongst her readers. By the end of the day, she deleted the whole post and promised never to inject her personal political views again. I kept checking her blog periodically, but finally quit because that one incident had soured the blog, like a rotten apple in the bin.
I will say that this is the bloggers dereliction of duty. I believe that the blog keeper has a responsibility to wrangle the comments. Commenters can be crazy, off-topic, lima bean lovers, but they CAN NOT insult or belittle the other commenters. I delete those comments as soon as I find them. I delete the ones that are intentional, and the ones that aren't. We may be wild and crazy here, but by godiva, we will be civil.
Which is exactly Colin's point here
"truly amazes me what people come out with on Twitter sometimes. I've "unfollowed" well-known writers not because I disagreed with their views, but because they expressed their views so disagreeably."
Susan Bonifant has the best summation of this ever "People can fall so deeply in love with being seen, and lose all awareness of how they are being viewed."
Thursday we talked about sales rates.
Joan Kane Nichols's agent story made my blood boil:
"Several years ago, I had an agent who was sending around a children's middle-grade novel I had written. He sent it to six editors. It got some nicely written rejections, but still rejections. The agent then sent me an email saying, basically, we're through. Sorry, couldn't sell the book, you're no longer my client. Needless to say, I was devastated.'
I saw a very similar thing happen this summer with an author pal of mine I met through the ChumBucket. I was appalled when his agent pulled the plug after one round of what seemed to be half-hearted submissions. This is the kind of info that should be shared publicly on places like AbsoluteWrite and QueryTracker etc. If an agent chooses to conduct business like this, authors should know. Also, this is something an author should ASK about ahead of time.
Christina Seine's hiking story makes me think she'll like the nice rolling desert out at Carkoon.
Amy Shaefer (logging in from Paradise) summed this all up very nicely:
I think this falls under the heading of Bad Math. Selling books is not a random draw; we don't all have an equal chance of being published (or repped, for that matter). Whether a book sells or not depends on so many things: its quality, persistence on the part of the author to get it to agents, persistence on the part of the agent to get it to editors, publishing climate, subject matter, genre, current trends, and plain old good timing, to name a few. Yes, you can calculate what percentage of writers actually sell their first book, but don't expect it to be meaningful information. In the end, it is just another pointless thing to fret about. Go forth and write something fantastic.
And just cause my ego requires me to add to Amy's second comment about speedy sales: the fastest time from submission to offer I've ever had was five hours. It was a helluva day let me tell you.
And then the comments veered right off into cookies, not the data kind, which meant I spent the rest of the time reading and laughing. And thinking of baking cookies.
Friday the topic turned to referrals within agencies.
Jenz asked
So when you reply with "Agent X here at FPLM might be a better fit," I may then query that agent and personalize with "JR suggested you may be a good fit"?
I had something like this happen at a conference, an agent just suggesting a few names. I know that's not a referral, but I was never sure if I should include that in the query, or how to word it if I did.
The best way to word is use the exact or closest possible words the first agent uses. Thus if I say "Agent X might be a better fit" you say "I queried Janet Reid for Nostrums of Carkoon" and she suggested you might be a better fit.
Or "Janet Reid suggested I try you when I met her at the Conference on Carkoon Exiled Writers last Tuesday.
Julie Weather's paper eating horse story is yet another small delightful story. And did you notice the names of those beasts?
Eileen made me reach for the smelling salts when she mentioned she'd be querying with Fifty Shade of T-Rex. But at least it's not "plane porn" an idea so weird I'm glad Stephanie mentioned it.
Saturday the discussion was resubmitting after extensive revision.
Dena Pawling told us
"last week I sent my primary CP an email. “It's ready! Yay let's celebrate, it's finished and it's ready! So now I'm procrastinating lol”
My CP gave me the pep talk. It's a wonderful story, she said. You need to send it out, she said.
Last week, instead of working on individualized query emails to the agents on my A-list, I made some changes to my blog.
My CPs and my freelance editor say it doesn't, but my main fear is whether it starts too slow.
I think we need to collectively encourage Dena to get this puppy in the mail THIS WEEK. She should report next Sunday on how many agents she queried. And just to get her properly motivated she should be required to query ME as well.
After all, to quote the Poor Dead Jed
"There can never be enough tweaking in the world to convince a writer that their novel is truly finished and completely perfect. But at some point you have to stop and say, "enough is enough, this is ready to send." And then send it."
and then GingerMollyMarilyn mentioned apple fritters and man oh man, I started thinking about my upcoming trip to Portland and Voodoo Donuts.
Which means next week's blog posts could be a bit less organized and on-topic than normal. I'll be there for Left Coast Crime which means a lot of meetings, a lot of time in the bar, and a lot of slinking around in the book room looking for new stuff to read.
It was 66 in Portland yesterday, and I've still got snow on my fire escape here in New York. Tuesday can't come soon enough.
I started a couple of really good books this week but mostly I'm back to reading full manuscripts. I know that's good news for those of you who've been waiting awhile.
Daylight Savings Times sucketh.
A year ago, I queried for a manuscript and got several full requests. They were all rejected with the primary reason being the opening was too slow, and various other style quirks as well (1), but most of these agents did request to see future projects (2). I've spent the past year revising the novel and it turned into a completely different novel, with the exceptions of character names and some character personalities, as well as a specific setting and half the title (3). Altogether, the plot is 90% new (and I did rewrite the entire thing), but in a query, there would be parts that would ring bells for agents who have already received a query on the previous version of this work.
I know in one of your recent blog posts you said that no means no. But since a few of these agents did love the premise & writing style, can I still query them with the new, different version of this project? And if I do, should I mention that I've queried a different version of this previously?
No.See above.Now, here's why I said no.First, look up where I marked (1). You got rejections saying "the opening was too slow" etc. That is NOT a complete list of why they didn't pounce on your novel with all four fins.It's what they told you. It's not necessarily the COMPLETE reason.What they did say clearly is FUTURE projects. (2)That means something not-this.You've painted and plastered, and replaced the fixtures, but this house is still at the same address.(3)I know you want to start with the agents who expressed interest in your work, but you're better off shopping this to fresh eyes.I've gotten a couple of these refurbished fulls, and I don't think I've ever said yes on the second go-round. If you elect to ignore this advice, you should mention that you queried before, took their advice to heart and rewrote the novel completely. The part about taking their advice is the key here.
Is it unreasonable to expect intra-agency referrals when one agent rejects a query or passes on a partial or full MS but thinks an associate may be interested? I believe that the rejecting agent would not be burdened with much extra time, and could possibly earn valuable extra credit points for a comfy (rumored) afterlife existence.
Yes.
It's not reasonable to expect anything other than a reply to a query. Anything else is a bonus.
Very rarely will I reply to a query with "Agent X here at FPLM might be a better fit." When I do, it's NOT a referral, it's a redirection. Agent X handles dinosaur porn, I do not. I have not read your pages of dinosuar porn, and even if I had, I have no way to judge their merit.
And what you think is not "extra much time" isn't. Inevitably there is a back and forth with Agent X so s/he can know how much I've read, and if there are any special circumstances ie it's my mom querying the dinosaur porn so X has to be polite etc.
And I'm not depending on earning afterlife points in my query queue. I earn those when I negotiate contracts.
I've been reading a small debate on a writing forum. Someone stated that only 50-60% of first novels (represented by an agent) actually get picked up by a publisher. Their source is an agent's blog post. Another person questioned whether that agent's estimates are accurate. I'm sure some agents have different rates, this is supposed to be a rough average.
Is it true that even if someone signs with an agent, their odds of successfully getting a publisher for that book are only 50-60%? At first glance, that seemed a low figure. I'm afraid it really is accurate. But I'm curious about your thoughts on this. I want to recall a post by you about this (though maybe it didn't give actual figures?), but I can't find it again now.
You're missing two key pieces of information: time period, and number of books.
First, if an agent hasn't sold a novel within a day of signing the client, that's not a problem. A month isn't a problem either. Six months either, particularly in this acquisition climate. I've got several novels I've had on submission for longer than six months right now. There are a couple strategic reasons, and a couple just have editors who are backlogged as hell right now.
So it's entirely possible that I won't sell half my novels on submission within six months.
However.
I have sold books that I've had on my list for nine years.
And let's all remember that Philip Spitzer, an agent I revere, had a James Lee Burke novel on submission for something like seventeen years before selling it.
The amount of time is hugely important for assessing something like this.
And here's the other factor: if I can't sell the novel I signed a client for, generally s/he's going to write a second or a third. We'll hit on one of them, we hope, eventually, but it makes the stats look bad if you're only considering the first novel an author writes.
But, more important here, your question tells me you're having doubts. Stop it.
As a writer, you must be determined to be the exception to any statistic that says you will fail. You must be willing to see that bleak truth, and refuse to let it apply to you. There's a lot to be said for vision and tenacity as keys to success.
Don't focus on statistics right now. Focus on your writing.
In a recent post, you offered as an aside that a writer whose platform involved speaking out on the issues of the day might not be a good fit for you. Can you expand on why a polemicist or controversialist, however well known, might not be right for you, and why such a platform might be counterproductive in the realm of fiction writing.
I make my living selling books to publishers and then helping authors have successful careers. By and large this means selling Many Many copies of this book, then the next book, and so on. Rinse, remainder, repeat.An author who is busy writing blog posts on why Felix Buttonweezer is a scamp are 1. alienating all Felix Buttonweezer fans; and 2. getting known as a Felix-basher, not novel writer.I'm not saying don't do it, I'm saying do it in moderation. A blog that's all Felix, all the time isn't a blog that general readers are going to follow, or check in with to find out there's a new book coming.What many writers realize only after the book is published is the author persona is an entity that may not be a clone of the writer.May I use myself as an example here? I've been known to rant about certain political things once or twice. Most often it's in response to a query.
Sometimes I really bring out the big guns and start quoting Scripture.Most of my blog readers are willing to let me do this because I don't do it often, and I'm generally not going to delete their comments if they disagree with me.This blog is known for dispensing information, advice and rants to writers. That's my goal. The other blog posts are just cause I get riled up sometimes as we all do.When you're planning your social media, ask yourself what your goal is. Is it to make friends who will buy your book and support your career? Is it to convert people to your political agenda, or show them the error of their ways in thinking differently than you do?Those are mutually exclusive goals, and if you don't know it, I do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's blog post brought to you by The Tao and The Bard by Phillip dePoy.
The Tao Te Ching or Book of the Way of Virtue is a touchstone of Eastern philosophy and mysticism. It has been called the wisest book ever written, and its author, Lao Tzu, is known as the Great Archivist.
Shakespeare, the Bard, was the West’s greatest writer and even invented human nature, according to some.
The Tao and the Bard is the delightful conversation between these two unlikely spokesmen, who take part in a free exchange of views in its pages.
My question regards comp titles. You've spoken many times about the need to know what's selling in your genre right now, and to showcase this knowledge in your queries by naming successful comp titles. You've also said that if we can't find appropriate comp titles we're not doing the right research.
I write high concept YA, of which there are many, many on the market right now. My main character is also a lesbian. The number of YA novels featuring f/f romances is on the rise, but everything I've seen is exclusively contemporary or science fiction/fantasy (m/m romances are a different story). I've scoured Goodreads, Absolute Write, and many other forums, but the recommendations I get there tend to be obscure. Titles that receive more than a couple thousand reviews on Goodreads are rare. The most mainstream I've found are Malinda Lo's books, which were published by Little, Brown and have sold reasonably well. They are also fantasy novels. The lack of representation motivates me to finish my novel, but at the same time discourages me from ever hoping to be published by a large company.
My question is: Am I focusing on on the wrong aspects of my work when looking for comp title, i.e., should I list titles that are similar in concept and tone but with straight MCs?
Yes. What you're missing here is the unique selling point for your novel: your character is a lesbian. AFTER you've done research and found few titles, then you know that you've got something that is probably fresh and new. That's a GOOD thing.You're on the right side of "there's nothing quite like mine" because you've found books that are similar to yours but without the main character being a lesbian. Comp titles aren't the same as clone or twin titles. Lee Child writes very different books than those of John Sanford. I love both authors and their books. Both are generally called crime novels. They appeal to the same readers. They're not similar books in plot, tone or character. You've also not mentioned utilizing one of the best resources available to you: your local library. Librarians live for this kind of question. Give them a shout.And while we're at it: writers, support your local library. Join Friends of the Library and volunteer to work at the annual book sale. Kick in some money to the fundraiser. Writer letters of support to the government body that funds the library. Libraries, like writers, are the foundation of democracy and we all need to make sure both stay strong. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's blog post brought to you by The Tao and The Bard by Phillip dePoy.The Tao Te Ching or Book of the Way of Virtue is a touchstone of Eastern philosophy and mysticism. It has been called the wisest book ever written, and its author, Lao Tzu, is known as the Great Archivist.
Shakespeare, the Bard, was the West’s greatest writer and even invented human nature, according to some.
The Tao and the Bard is the delightful conversation between these two unlikely spokesmen, who take part in a free exchange of views in its pages.
A recent comment on an earlier blog post about how money flows to writers prompted this blog post. This is a refresher course in how that "big book deal" actually translates to your finances.
For the ease of discussion, I'm going to use ball park, round numbers as the advance amount.
When your brilliant and sharkly agent sells your book she calls you up and you both whoop with joy. Then you get down to brass tacks on how much that offer is for:
$10,000 per book for a two book deal. That means the offer is for $20,000 (2 books x $10k each)
When the contract is negotiated and signed, you'll get a check for a partial amount of that. Depending on how the payout is structured on the contract it could be:
1. 1/2 on signing, 1/2 on delivery
2. 1/2 on signing, 1/2 on publication
3. 1/3 on signing, 1/3 on delivery, 1/3 on publication
4. 1/4 on signing, 1/4 on delivery, 1/4 on publication, 1/4 on paperback pub.
The HIGHER the advance amount for each book, the more splits you're likely to have.
Using our $10K book, here are the numbers:
1. If it's half on signing, half on something else:
$10,000 divided by two payments =$5,000 for the on signing payment.
Less: 15% for your brilliant, sharkly agent is minus $750.
Total to you for for Book One on signing is $5000 minus $750 which is $4250.
BUT, there's more! You ALSO receive the on-singing payment for Book#2.
Thus the check you get for on signing is $8500. ($4250 for each of two books!)
Wheee!
The next payment you see is $4250 (Book 1, less commission) either on delivery or on pub
depending how your contract payout is set up.
The next payment is on delivery or on pub of Book 2, and that's another $4250. And this is where things get tight. If D&A is delayed, or publication is moved, you might go a year between these payments.
I've seen all those things, and other calamities as well, happen.
Here are some other things that can muck up the works:
You sign a three book deal, but you can't deliver the third book for some reason.
In this case, you have to return that on-signing payment you got for Book#3, way back when you signed the contract.
And here's the kicker: we don't return the commission. You're on the hook for the entire amount.
Generally we can negotiate with the publisher about this, but this is something to remember when you're planning your finances. Don't spend the money received on a book you haven't written. Better to drop that in a savings account or a interest bearing instrument until you know for sure you get to keep it.
Obviously this is more important for big ass deals of $100K/book than it is for $10K/book.
This also applies to translation and audio deals.
(Generally, you don't have to give the money back if the publisher cancels the book.)
Here's another thing to remember: the advance money may be the only money you see on a book. The higher the advance, the more that has to be earned before royalties are paid. Royalties are paid to the author ONLY when the book has earned back the money paid out on the advance. I rep books that have never earned out, and some that earned out within weeks. You might guess that the lower advance ones earned out faster--that's not always the case.
The next thing to remember is that the money from the publisher is all taxable. When you start your writing career, you're esssentially starting a small business. You'll need to file a Schedule C with your income tax forms, showing how much you earned and how much you spent. It's entirely possible you'll spend more than you earned. That's one (of many!) reasons you keep very good records and don't get cutesy with your deductions. The IRS looks askance at people who deduct their living room couch as "home office" even if that's where you do your writing. Also deducting trips to France as "research"is a really good way to get a second set of eyeballs on your tax return. You want to be careful, and follow the law scrupulously here. A good tax preparer is essential.
And you'll pay tax on the money as you receive it, so that first big chunk o'advance: you'll pay tax on all of that, even though it's income on a book that isn't written yet.
Very few writers are living on what they make publishing books.
Any questions? Fire away in the comments column.
At the end of last week (and the post on speculative fiction) Amy Schaefer (who really should be dead to us living here in the cold frozen island that used to be Manhattan, since she lives in Paradise!) commented
"I also find it funny, Janet, that you think your category post amounted to: "why I don't rep spec fic", whereas all I got out of it was: "send me everything." I'll bet you a wheelbarrow full of nuts that I wasn't alone."
You'll be perplexed to discover that the number of queries neither rose nor fell but held quite steady at about 100 a week. Later in the week I had an opportunity to compare query stats with other agents. Some of my pals are getting upwards of 200/week. Interesting. Unexplained, but interesting.
Also in the WIR, Kitty linked to a good article by Cheryl Strayed on how the money flows in publishing. This prompted me to write a blog post for this coming Monday about money, specifically how advances work.
Yup that's Joanna Volpe now of New Leaf Literary, the agent for Divergent and The Duff. She's the only one who sort of liked it. Given Joanna's great professional success, maybe we should all be eating more vegemite!
On Monday, the discussion turned to a writer who asked about having gotten a lot of help on her query, only to discover when agents read her pages, she was getting almost universal rejections.
No one picked up on Julie Weathers mentioning she'd entered hog calling contests. I think we need to fund a pool to pay Julie for video of that fine event. I'm in for $100.
There was some question about whether you needed a finished manuscript to send a query to the QueryShark.
Here's a list of the various ways to interact with me, and what you need:
QueryShark: a completed query letter that you think is ready for submission to agents. Whether the novel is done is less important.
Chum Bucket: a query and a finished novel. If you query on Chum Bucket and your novel isn't ready, I will not respond well. ChumBucket is querying for real, and you do NOT query unless your novel is ready to go out the door, that very day.
Query Questions: a question, hopefully succinct, sent to my email address with Query Question in the subject line.
Blog comments: just post away and I'll read.
And Julie also gave us the Mrs. Chicken story. Sometime soon we're going to have a book-length work of Julie Weathers hilarity, and wouldn't it be hilarious if THAT was her first published work?
MeganV told us of her experiences querying as a 12year old writer. Turns out her MamaBear wrote the query. This was very illuminating. I do get mail from writers who tell me they are 12 but the tone and syntax of the letter is very clearly adult. It had actually never crossed my mind that MamaBear was writing the query.
If you're wondering about whether to do that for your kid, DON'T! A kid who sounds like an adult gets a form rejection. A kid who sounds like a kid gets a much much different reply.
S.P. Bowers had the most succinct thought on voice: "Voice is like an accent. You never hear your own. But that doesn't mean you don't have one." I like this a great deal and plan to steal the line shamelessly.
And donnaeverhart mentioned the late, great amazing Larry Brown, with whom I had the great fortune to meet briefly in my days in the publicity trenches. Gone too soon indeed.
On Tuesday, we talked about illustrations in novels, and when to mention that you envision your work including them.
Jenz commented on the cost of a good illustrator (not cheap) and from what little I know of picture books, she's right on the money.
Adib Khorram was the first to mention THE FIVE STAGES OF ANDREW BRAWLEY as an example of a novel that included a graphic novel in it.
Then we heard from the author of FIVE STAGES, Shaun Hutchinson, and what he said was very illuminating and applicable I think to all authors who want to include things other than text in their novels.
The agent I signed with (the amazing Amy Boggs) was totally on board with the graphic novel elements, but we both knew that when we went on submission that the publishers might be less receptive since they'd have to hire and artist and such, and I prepared myself mentally to redo those sections as prose if a publisher made an offer but didn't want the added burden of doing the graphic novel.
Luckily, the editor who acquired my book was enthusiastic about the graphic novel portions of the book, and they did hire an artist to turn my script into a graphic novel.
So it can be done. But I think you need to be very clear as to what you're looking for and you need to be very sure that those graphic elements are absolutely vital to the story. If the book can exist without them, an agent or editor is probably not going to want to do them.
If you want to read my query for the book, my agent did a breakdown of it over here.
Of course I went out and bought a copy of FIVE STAGES immediately, and had a chance to start reading it on the train Friday night. It's fucking amazing. I haven't finished yet (despite letting three trains go by at West 4th cause I didn't want to stop reading--it's impossible to read in a really crowded train) but look for more on this in the coming weeks. Let me just say this now. The first line is "The boy is on fire."
On Wednesday we return to the question of query decorum: is it ok to query another agent at an agency where an agent has said no. (say that fast five times!)
My reply was Be Bold, and in fact I've updated the blog post to make that the latest in the Rules for Writers. [Rules for Writers are on the right hand side of the blog in a separate column.]
I liked how Susan Bonifantphrased it: "err on the side of possible success."
Dena Pawling gave us a hilarious bad query example, but sadly, writes too well for it to give off the true aroma of badBadBAD queries.
KrisM asked if the writer should mention the first agent query whilst querying the second.
Yes you should. Here's why: you don't know the inner workings of the agency. If someone queries me, and said they queried another agent here at FPLM, I'll know if that agent is just behind on queries, or doesn't respond to queries if not interested, or is slacking off in the south of France eating lima beans and looking at kale, thus giving me a chance to scoop this treasure from under his/her nez. The querier won't know any of that, and it's better to let the agent know than run into a problem down the road.
And after that the comments just fell right off topic into a soup pot of lima beans that ended when Colin Smith exiled himself back to Carkoon.
The fact that these comments crack me up again three days later means you all really are hilarious.
Thursday, we're back to correct form in a query. Is it ok to ask questions?
Kelsey Hutton has a nice take on this:
"I read a lot of queries on QueryShark and Evil Editor, and I find questions that boil down to "Will Jane Smith save the day??" get rather tiresome, since, after all, readers usually expect the hero to end up saving the day. There's no tension there; I already know the answer.
"How far will Jane Smith go to save the day?" is a far more interesting question to me."
Susan Bonifant (with an assist from Colin Smith) phrased it best: "One (question) rising naturally from the conflict of the character, rather than one aimed at the agent's personal curiosity seems workable to me."
Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli (a name that I just love to say aloud!) is going into the nostrum business with lima beans and kale. Felix Buttonweaver is involved (cleverly concealing his real name of Felix Buttonweezer!)
And Craig is writing lima bean thrillers, which while not as terrifying as dinosaur porn, is pretty much immediately on my This Will Not Fly list.
Christina Seine riffed on Goldilocks and questions in query which prompted Colin Smith to give us the other side of the story.
Agent Goldie Lox had only been in the program three months and already she was staking out the humble home base of the feared Bear Family. Suspecting they had hijacked the village's much-needed supply of lima beans to sell on the black market, she tears the place apart looking for evidence. However, she is seduced by Mama Bear's intoxicating porridge, and falls unconscious just as The Bears return.
Meanwhile, her hapless companion, Woodman "Woody" Cutter is investigating Lox's disappearance. But his is more than a quest of duty. He gave his heart to Lox when they were in the Academy together, though he hasn't yet revealed the truth of his feelings for her.
Does Cutter have enough courage to take on the Bears and declare his love for Agent Lox, whatever the cost?
LOX AND THE LIMA BEAN CONSPIRACY is a 70,000 word suspense fiction novel. It's truly amazing. Really.
Amazing is one word for it.
And honestly I'm getting pretty spoiled: if the comments trail doesn't have a hilarious story from Julie the world feels a little bleak. No pressure there One L.
Friday we return to query decorum: is it wise to resend after fixing what an agent said was wrong with a requested full?
Colin Smith took the shark by the teeth and wrote:
"It really would help cut down the chattering in the forest if agents would be clear and honest in their feedback to the woodland creatures. "I liked your writing, but in the end I didn't love it enough to feel I could give it the representation it deserves. If I might, let me make a couple of suggestions that I think will help you win over another agent..."
I can tell you that's never going to happen. There are a couple reason. The first and most often is that agent's live in fear of someone quoting their rejection of a novel that went on to sell a million copies. I've been in ballrooms where authors giving keynotes have done EXACTLY that. Let me tell you, it's gawdawful, even if it's not your rejection, or no names are mentioned. It's the flip side of those insanely stupid agent tweets about why a query is rejected. It may not be yours but it still makes you feel icky.
Second, unasked for advice or commentary is very seldom received well. I know this of my own experience, experience learned the hard way. You've never seen true venom and vitriol until you offer unsolicited "help" on a query that desperately needs it.
There's a reason I limit ChumBucket to people who pay attention and know the parameters: they've signed on for feedback. Same with QueryShark. I no longer reply to a regular query with specifics.
Third, what's crap for me is gold for someone else and better to have them query on, than give up because I or another agent didn't like the project. Which is exactly what Colin Smith said better here "Just because an agent rejects your novel, it doesn't mean s/he doesn't love you. Indeed, maybe the kindest thing they'll do is say NO."
Then Bill Negotiator reminded us:
I thought I was ready for rejection when I started querying five months ago. Form responses rolled off my back, and I was proud that the process hadn't gotten to me, as it had so many others. I was all doors and windows, no means yes somewhere else, this is a breeze.
But then the partial requests came in, and the fulls. The stakes felt impossibly high when I remembered where I began, twenty-something me with a whim to write chick-lit. Chick-lit? So I tried not to think about it. I obsessed over Twitter and reassured myself when agents tweeted pitfalls I didn't enter. "No More Unicorn Samurais with Cancers" #checkmywishlist, or the very Breaking Bad pleas for us to remember their names. #I'mNotDearAgent.
It's no surprise that I got a personalized rejection on a full. But what I didn't know, what nobody had told me in this rush to stay positive, was that the compliments, the glimmers of someone almost on board with my writing, would be the hardest part to swallow.
Which was a valuable reminder for me particularly since some of you who comment here have had novels on submission with me. "Almost" is really tough.
DLM's comment was salve:
Yesterday, the light in my living room was unlike I've ever seen it. It was a snow day, and the sky was clearing, and the sun came out in that peculiarly platinum-colored glare it does over a world gone highly reflective white. I saw the paint color in a way it has never appeared, and it was an almost creative experience - the pleasure we as writers can take in seeing something a new way. Literal new light.
I chose that paint color with a lifetime's taste, expectations, some wisdom, and a lot of creative hope. I'd lived in this house and had strong ideas about what would work and what I wanted to see. Yesterday, it told me (as it always has) I made the right choice.
When you are a professional in the business of choosing creativity itself for a catalog of product you can believe in and SELL - as well as you can - it takes that combination of experience, expectation, and creativity.
I'm nothing like any of the rest of you as an author. None of you is like the rest of us. Each of us has demonstrated here - we're not merely good with words, we're good storytellers. But how many of us does Janet rep? Janet, who clearly appreciates our ways with words - she says it, with highly specific examples, over and over again, and not even only in the WIR posts. She sees and supports every one of us.
But she's not the right agent for MOST of us.
I can't wait to find out who the right agent is for me. I've had theories, some of them haven't borne out; some may still come to something. We'll just have to see. Like when the sun comes out after the snow.
On Saturday we discussed when/if a query needed to reveal previous representation. I casually mentioned that I do sniff around your websites etc if I'm interested in your work.
elisabethcrisp contributed this comment to the discussion of what kind of blog content works:
Long term planning has helped me get back up on my blog horse. Four days a week, I write topic-based posts. One day, I post a photo. One day, I post an excerpt. One day, I write a journal-type post for the past week. I keep everything under 350 words. It works for me.
I agree. When I started this blog, it was rather haphazard. Over the months and years I developed a plan and stuck to it. The results is an enormous increase in traffic and comment volume. I'm not sure if this is replicable for authors, but I know it worked for me.
Karen McCoy commented "Mostly, I try to remember that my writing comes first, because without it, my platform accounts for nil." which is an excellent thing for all of us to remember. Even me! (instead of writing, think clients!)
This week I'm reading THE FIVE STAGES OF ANDREW BRAWLEY, and just finished MURDER AT THE BRIGHTWELL, which I loved. It's an old fashioned British seaside, sprawling cast of suspects murder mystery. It's absolutely in the tradition of Agatha Christie, and I was surprised in the end by whodunit.
My favorite story of the weekis has a terrible clickbait headline, but I love the story, want to lead three cheers for the mum who understands that HOW you tell the story is really important.
Over on my Facebook page, there were two posts with cat pictures, one with a fish movie, and two slice of life scenes from the office.
Have a swimmingly great day!
My former agent and I recently parted company on good terms. Without going into details, we inherited each other when his partner left the business. and weren't really a good fit.
I am currently completing a non-fiction proposal, which was not completed at the time when we said "bonne chance and farewell" and which he did not send out. Do I mention previous representation in the query or bring it up later in the process?
You do not need to mention a former agent for a new project UNLESS you've been published before. If you have been published, you'll need to mention the earlier works, the publisher and that the agent who handled the deal for you left the business.
If you haven't been published, you don't need to mention any previous agent relationships since this project did not go out on submission.
Make sure you update your website if you have the old agent's name on it. That's one of the easiest ways for me to discover that someone has been represented/published before if they don't mention it in the query. And yes, I DO look. If I'm interested in reading your manuscript (or in this case proposal) I do some sniffing around ahead of time to see if there are any bumps in the road.
I received a few requests for my full manuscript about six months ago. One agent told me that she liked the story, but one specific part at the end seemed a bit unrealistic to the situation. I thanked her for her time, said I was sorry it couldn't work out, and went off to go weep in my keyboard. A couple of days went by, and I started to think about what she said a little more. I realized that the issue she had with the ending could have been fixed with a few added sentences of explanation, or something of the like. It really think I could have made it work. I kicked myself for not realizing it sooner, and even though I've moved on from that novel (it never worked out), I still keep thinking about it.
So my question to you is:
Would it have been out of line to email the agent back with my suggested fixes? Or is a rejection on a full manuscript considered the end of the line?
I tried to convince myself that if the agent thought the manuscript would work with a few changes she would have said something, but I can't help wondering just the same.
It's the end of the line. Absent the phrase "revise and resend" or "fix this and send it back" or "if you fix this, I'll take another look" the agent has said No, thanks. In other words, absent a specific request to get in touch after revisions, don't.Often I can point to one or two things that will help a manuscript improve and I try to give that info to writers when I'm passing on their work. The piece of information you're missing here though is this: that's not the only reason the ms is not right for me. There are a lot of good manuscripts out there that aren't right for me. A pass from me (or any agent) doesn't mean anything except it's not right for them.Expand your query search. It's really easy to focus on the agent who wrote back, but you need to look for other agents because the right one won't know about you till you query her.
is it okay to ask a question in a query?
I've just read this brief on the movie American Psycho
"Patrick Bateman is young, white, beautiful, ivy leagued, and indistinguishable from his Wall Street colleagues. Shielded by conformity, privilege, and wealth, Bateman is also the ultimate serial killer, roaming freely and fearlessly. His murderous impulses are fueled by zealous materialism and piercing envy when he discovers someone else has acquired more than he has. After a colleague presents a business card superior in ink and paper to his, Bateman's blood thirst sharpens, and he steps up his homicidal activities to a frenzied pitch. Hatchets fly, butcher knives chop, chainsaws rip, and surgical instruments mutilate-how far will Bateman go? How much can he get away with?
I began to ponder if someone could write something like this as a query, with those two questions at the end?
It's ok to ask questions in a query if it works. This works, which is not surprising since it's a pitch for a movie and people spend a lot of time and money making sure those pitches entice movie viewers.
What you want to avoid in a query are rhetorical questions: what would you do if? Have you always wanted to do X?
Things that assume a mind-set of the reader are dangerous because agents on the whole are a caustic, jaded lot and we would simply prefer you tell us about the book, and leave the other stuff on the cutting room floor.
On some agency websites, the submission guidelines state that should an agent turn down a query, the author is allowed to re-query another agent at that same agency. What happens after a full or partial manuscript is requested? If the first agent turns you down after reading your full/partial, is it still okay to query another agent at that same agency?
There's no right or wrong answer to this since it depends on the individual agent and agency involved. My advice is always to Query Widely. That means if they don't say "don't do it" then go right ahead.
I'm always looking for good projects. If one of my colleagues was short-sighted enough to miss your brilliance, well you should have queried me first, but at least query me second.
Don't be afraid of offending agents. There's no blacklist, there's no such thing as the Query Police. There are couple ways to shoot yourself in the foot by querying stupidly but you're clearly not in that category.
If you spend a lot of time fretting about doing the right thing, you're going to miss out. Be bold. Query like you have the answer to my prayers.
I have a novel that i want to be illustrated and its a YA novel but im afraid it would be considered New Adult because my character is 18. Is it wise to inform the agent in the query that you want the novel to be illustrated or do you wait to get represented by one and then tell them? (not illustrated by me)
My second question is the illustrations i want inside the novel fits more with graphic novels and by me wanting graphic novel artwork and panels inside the novel to work alongside the novel text, would i consider this a graphic novel or would it still be considered a illustrated novel?
P.S: This not a comic book but its a hybrid between comic book elements (artwork/Panels) with ordinary novel text.
First you're using graphic novel and illustrated novel almost interchangeably and they are VERY different kinds of books. Graphic novels add a layer of story with art. Illustrated novels do not. Graphic novels are very light on actual text. Illustrated novels are light on art.You need to be VERY clear what you want because what you want here is not going to be easy to get. Publishers aren't keen to do graphic novels: they don't sell like books do and they're expensive to produce. Publishers aren't keen on illustrated novels either because of the added production costs. Since you're submitting text-only queries don't include anything about illustrations in the query letter. If an agent is interested in your work, and you have a phone call to discuss your project, that's when you mention you see this as an illustrated novel.
I'm a first time novelist who is a month into the query process with limited success-- that is, I've gotten interest through my query letter and have sent out 4 full manuscripts and 3 partials (in addition to the 12 rejections I got from query alone).
So far I've gotten three rejections for the manuscripts that I've sent. I've also noticed that any time I'm asked to submit sample writing with my query, I always get rejected. That might not mean anything (and we're still very early in the game, really, only 20 responses total so far), but the other part of the situation is that I hired someone to help me craft my query letter. She took two drafts of mine and put them together while altering quite a bit of it. She did an amazing job but now I'm concerned that agents are liking her voice, which might be misrepresenting my voice.
Was it a mistake to have someone else write my query letter? I figured, hey, I'm a novelist, I can't write concisely. But now I'm wondering if it would have been best to put my best voice forward since that's the voice I'm ultimately trying to sell.
Yes, this was an understandable but boneheaded error. An agent is very interested in how well you write. Hiring someone else to do that writing is akin to hiring someone to woo your boyfriend and then popping in yourself for the wedding night. Surprise!
And don't give me that hooey about "I'm a novelist, I can't write concisely" Every single page of your book is made up of paragraphs. That's all a query letter is: three paragraphs.
And like anything else query writing is a LEARNED skill. There's an entire blog devoted to helping you acquire that skill.
Start over on the query. Write it yourself. Or better yet: work on your novel. You have prima facie evidence here that it's NOT working.
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