Advice from the Experts

A popular post from March 2008

by Heather Moore

This past weekend I attended the LDStorymakers Writers Conference. The name may be deceiving because national publishing was discussed even more than LDS publishing. We had two special guests I'd like to highlight.

Jamie Weiss Chilton: Agent with Andrea Brown Literary. Since I was her "host" I had a lot of time to pick her brain. Probably one of the most significant things she told me was that she doesn't read queries/cover letters first. She doesn't think an author should spend hours and hours working on the perfect cover letter--because it will be your story that sells her. When she receives a submission she sets the cover/query aside and starts reading the first pages of the book. If she falls in love with the story and the writing, then she'll finally read the cover letter to find out more about the author.

Timothy Travaglini: Senior Editor at G.P. Putnam & Sons. He said that his publisher is one of the few big publishers that accept unagented submissions. He said that one of the most important things that we can do is read a lot and know our craft. Also, it's important to submit to the right editor or the right imprint. There are so many imprints under one publishing house that it saves you time and the editor time to research and know which one accepts your type of work. He also recommended approaching a junior editor over a senior editor--the junior editors are actively seeking new clients. He recommended (for childrens writers) to attend the one-on-one conference: Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature At this conference each attendee is assigned to a junior editor for mentoring purposes. Mr. Travaglini also said to spell his name right.

In the next weeks, I'll continue to blog about more tidbits learned from the great presenters at the conference.

Who Am I Writing To?

A popular post from August 2009

by Annette Lyon

At a writing conference probably ten or more years ago, I heard Orson Scott Card say that if you write a love letter and it's received the way you intended it to be, then you have written well for your audience.

He was right. I'd never write a romantic letter to my husband the same way I'd write a letter to one of my children, and writing a letter to my parents would be different still. Even if I'm expressing love in every case, the tone and word choice would be different. The desired effect would be different.

You have the same job in your fiction. Who is your audience? Do you know? If you don't, then you're going to run into two big problems.

1) You won't create the best effect possible.

Knowing the age group and genre are both critical.

For the age group alone, the vocabulary, sentence structure, tone, voice, and complexity of storyline and even topics and the way you'll approach them will be largely determined by the age of your audience.

A story told one way will touch a thirty-year-old man differently than the same one told to a thirteen-year-old. Which one is better? Neither. But one will react in a stronger way--and that's the one that's geared toward the right audience.

If you're looking to write for a young audience, for example, read book geared toward young people. LOTS of them. Learn the difference between early chapter books, middle grade, and young adult. Learn how long those types of books are. Know where your book would be shelved in the book store AND why.

On the opposite end, if your book is clearly for adults, read a lot from the proper section of the bookstore where your book would fit. You'll learn the tones, voices, themes, and so on. Reading your own genre is some of the best education you can do to learn how to write in your own genre.

2) You can't sell it if you don't know what it is.

The hardest part about publishing isn't writing the book, although that can be brutal all by itself. The hardest part can be actually selling it.

First you have to get an agent to fall in love with you and your work and be convinced they can sell it. That means they know exactly how they'll pitch it to editors and publishers.

And that means they need to know from the very first time you contact them in a query where your book belongs in a bookstore. Is it in the middle grade section? In the adult horror section? Is it a women's literary piece? A young adult fantasy? A paranormal romance? They need to know right off the bat.

If they don't know, they can't take you on as a client, and then they can't sell it to an editor. And then the editor can't sell it to the committee.

Let's pretend for a moment that somehow you managed to write a book without knowing who your audience was and that you managed to get an agent and then a contract.

Guess what? The marketing department will have NO IDEA what to do with your book. How can they advertise it? To whom? How can they put out their salesmen to bookstores or make ads in catalogs and write copy to sell it? They don't know who to target their sales copy for.

For that matter, how will the graphic design department know how to design a cover to attract . . . what kind of reader? A twelve-year-old girl will be attracted to a very different cover than a forty-year-old woman.

Bottom line: Figure out who you're writing for. If you don't know the answer right this very second, that's okay. You might figure it out as you write, as the plot solidifies and your get your writing feet under yourself and the picture becomes clearer.

When things have come into focus, go back and do revisions, with a better view of what the real story is and who you're telling your story to.

Because in the end, if you just want your family to read it, that's great. They can be your sole audience.

But if you want to sell it and have a bigger audience, you'll need to know who they are before you ever submit.

What Counts as a Publishing Credit?

A popular post from May 2009

Reader question:

When agents/publishers ask about previous publishing credits, they don't consider self-publishing a "real" credit, do they? If you have that in your background--and you're sending an electronic query--should you remove the sig line? 

You're right; self-publishing isn't considered a "real" credit during the query process.

Here's why: when an agent or publisher asks for publishing credits, what they're really wanting to know is whether you've been through the acceptance and rejection process. Has someone else in the industry evaluated your work and deemed it worthy of publication instead of rejection?

Technically, blogs are "published" online, but you wouldn't include that as a credit, would you? Of course not, because blog posts haven't been vetted through the quality machine. 

Similarly, anyone can self-publish a novel. Granted, there are a lot of very good self-published books around (I've read two excellent ones in the last year, and Writer's Digest has their own self-published book awards). 

That said, anyone can self-publish, even someone who can't tell a period from a comma. Self-publishing is particularly easy with modern print-on-demand technology. 

The upshot is that self-publishing won't tell an editor that you can write.

Now, if your self-published book won a prestigious award (such as the Writer's Digest contest), then it would be worth mentioning.

I don't know whether it would hurt to have a self-published book listed in your e-mail sig line (that might be a question for an agent to answer), but I definitely wouldn't mention it in the body of the query.

Other types of publishing credits are worth mentioning: magazine articles, short stories in anthologies, essays, and so on. Basically, any place where there's an acceptance/rejection system in place. And of course, the bigger the clout and audience of the place that accepted you, the better.

Don't Rush It

A popular post from December 2009

by Annette Lyon

'Tis the season for many a writer to query and submit.

Many reasons about for this sudden rash of submissions, and some of them are great. I'm referring specifically to fiction here, not to non-fiction proposals, which are a different animal.

If you have done all of the following, submit away. If you have not, back away from the "send" key. You must have:

• written an entire novel. Not 50 pages. Not 100 or 150. An entire book, start to finish. You've reached the end.
• revised that novel.
• revised it again.
• let other people (who are not you mother or your best friend but people with writing and critiquing experience) read the manuscript and tear it apart, showing you its strengths and weaknesses.
• not ignored those people's advice.
• weighed that advice, decided what to apply, and have done more revisions.
• possibly done several more revisions.
• possibly given the manuscript out to even more readers.
• done another round of revisions based on those suggestions.
• researched agents.
• taken your time writing an amazing query letter.
• revised that query letter.
• revised it again.
• taken that query letter to similar readers as above to get feedback on it.
• revised it again.

At this point and only at this point are you ready to query.

From what I've read on agent blogs, they experience a huge influx of queries this time of year, and most of them are, to put it gently, um, not ready to be accepted.

Some of that is a result of what happened last month. Remember that big event so many writers were part of? I'm talking about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer's Month), something thousands of writers participate in annually.

It's a tremendous accomplishment to have pounded out 50,000 words in 30 days (especially when Thanksgiving lands during those days).

But the point of NaNo isn't to produce a polished, publishable novel. It's not even to necessarily reach the end of your story. It's to produce a lot of words in a short period, to show that you can break through writer's block and get the words down.

Submitting what you wrote last month is a really, really BAAAAD idea. (Apparently, not everyone thinks so, based on how many agents get queries based on NaNo projects.)

Submitting anything that hasn't had time to sit, gather mental dust, and go through the peer review and revision process is a bad idea.

There's also the fact that New York pretty much shuts down the second half of December, so really, what's the point of querying then? You might as well spend that time working on those revisions, getting those peer reviews, and getting that query ready.

All of the same agents and editors will still be ready for you come January. (Or February. Or March. Or later, whenever it is your manuscript is ready.)

Just don't rush the process. The cleaner the manuscript you hand over, the better your chances of getting that golden contract.

Remember: you want the agent or editor to see the brilliance of your writing and your story. Anything that pulls them from that experience is to your detriment, and creating such a clean manuscript can't be rushed.

It takes time. But it's worth the wait.

My Book's Kinda Like...but not Really

A popular post from February 2010. 

By Josi S. Kilpack

Do you write JUST like Dan Brown? Is your next book the NEXT Harry Potter? If so, my condolences. We already have Dan Brown and Harry Potter, and no one needs a replacement. However, when you get the phase of querying agents/editors you need to help them identify who you are and what you write, which is where comparisons come in. But there is a right way and a wrong way to make those comparisons.

Wrong:

• I write exactly like Shannon Hale.
• My book is better than Lovely Bones.
• My book will outsell Twilight.
• Have you ever wished you'd published John Grisham's first novel? Well here's your chance to do even better!

Saying things like that sounds a little like Vincini in Princess Bride, and we all know how that ended:

"Have You Ever Heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Morons!"

But agents/editors DO want comparisons, they need to know how you measure yourself against other books, and the books you choose says a lot about what you write, who your target audience is, and whether or not you are paying attention to your competition. Which brings us to the other Wrong way of facilitating comparisons:

• My book is like nothing you've ever read before.
• My book is a fresh new genre.
• There's nothing like this on the market

Now, there are some books that really are unlike anything else out there, now and then someone does make up a new genre--but even THEY have something to compare to. Twilight was new to many of us, but vampire books have been around for a long time. The Firm was also unique, but there had been other books that used law as the backdrop to the story. Shannon Hale's adapted fairy tales were new and different, but they are based on fairy tales which have been around for a very long time.

Never mind that when you say you're "As good as...", or "The next..." you come across as arrogant and, probably, deluded. You are NOT Stephenie Meyer. You might write as well she does, and you might tell a similar story, but you are NOT her because you haven't sold 18 million books.

Is that horse dead, yet? Good, then we can continue.

In Real Estate, appraisers use other homes around you to estimate the value of your home when they work up an appraisal. Your home might be worth two million dollars...in Beverly Hills, but it's not in Beverly Hills. If homes similar to yours are selling for $300K, asking for 2 million will not get you the result you're looking for. Book comparisons are similar; you are pointing out the 'value' and 'market' and 'genre' of your book by comparing it to other books in the neighborhood.

The other benefit of comparisons is that it reflects your market saavy. You need to know the market you want to publish in, which is why when writers say "There's nothing like this in the market" industry people roll their eyes. There probably is something out there, similar in some way, you just haven't done your research. Agents/editors want to know that YOU know your market and your potential competition--comparisons show them that you understand this.

So, how do you compare the right way. Understanding why comparisons are important is the first step. Knowing your overall market is the next. The third step is finding the right comparisons. People (including me in this post) tend to go with very popular books most people are familiar with. This isn't bad thing, but keep in mind the people you are querying know that John Grisham isn't the only legal thriller writer out there, and Harry isn't the only kid with a wand. As you learn your market, look for books that might not be on the NY Times Bestseller list but have really good reviews. Look for books that might not have caught the spotlight in America, but sold well in foreign markets. Not only does this set you apart in that you're not the 39th writer that week comparing yourself to Angels and Demons, but it shows that you have really learned your market and that selling 400 million copies isn't your only goal; you also appreciate the power of good writing, and good reviews. Agents/editors know about the mid-list books out there, so you'll impress them in that fact that you're paying attention on a deeper level than most. And it's often in these mid-list layers where you'll find the best comparisons to your book anyway, better helping the agent/editor get a feel for what your book is about. NEVER say your book is "Just like" any other book, because if it's "Just like" another book, then why would they want to publish another one?

To find comparisons go to Amazon.com or your local library and peruse books by genre, ask a librarian, check out reader lists, or even google "Middle grade apocalyptic fantasy novel" and see what comes up. Be sure to read the books you choose to compare yours to. It would not do well for you to say your book was similar to a book is had nothing in common with. But don't overwhelm yourself. You should be able to find a couple books or writers that will work well for you--you don't want more than a few comparisons anyway because YOUR book is the focus.

In summary, the key to comparisons are:

• "My book is similar to...
• "but different in that...
• Read the books you are comparing yourself to.
• Be professional.
• Be humble yet confident.

Happy writing!

Monday Mania--Query Letter

Two of our readers submitted query letters for critique. Feel free to make comments, but please keep them constructive.

Query #1
Critique Archive 0033:

Dear ______________

I’m seeking representation for my completed, 65,000 word, middle-grade fantasy entitled, Little Pig, Little Pig.

When Eli, a 1950’s farm boy, receives a pair of magical, mind-reading piglets from an anonymous sender, he thinks it’s the beginning of something wonderful. What the boy doesn’t realize is that the pigs have been delivered because of his habit of telling tall tales. The more Eli lies, the faster the pigs grow and the hungrier they become. When his pigs take to secretly raiding neighboring feed supplies and even harming other animals and people, Eli’s impoverished farming community is in danger of financial ruin and even serious injury. Eli must stop the pigs before they hurt anyone else but the pigs have multiplied and the boy discovers they intend to force him to mail their offspring to other deceitful children. Can Eli defeat the products of his own dishonesty before they destroy other families and towns? Or is it too late to tell the truth and make up for what he has done?

I would appreciate the opportunity to send you a few chapters, or the entire manuscript of Little Pig, Little Pig at your request. Feel free to contact me via phone, email, or the enclosed SASE. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

AUTHOR


Query #2
Critique Archive 0034:

Dear _______

Michael Anderson has never set foot on Earth, but it haunts him as much as the fear that he will never live up to the legacy of his astrophysicist parents. So when his parents construct mankind’s first artificial, traversable wormhole, he sets out on the mission to explore the source of a mysterious signal coming from the other side—a signal originating from an eerily Earth-like world.

Twenty light years from home, an ancient alien ghost ship materializes in mid-space and starts to chase them down. To make matters worse, Terra, Michael’s mission partner, begins acting strangely, avoiding him and refusing to share her work. As the ghost ship draws nearer, Michael must answer: what do the aliens want? Why won’t they respond to his transmissions? What caused the alien civilization on the surface of the world to disappear? And is Terra the one going insane—or is it him?

Genesis Earth is a 73,000 word science fiction novel. While it stands on its own as a complete story, it has potential for at least two sequels. I have one short story published in the January 2010 issue of The Leading Edge (Brigham Young University’s science fiction & fantasy magazine), and in past years I have won first and second place in the annual Mayhew short story contest at BYU.

Thank you very much for your consideration. As noted in your submission guidelines, I have enclosed ______.

Cordially,


AUTHOR

Top Ten Query Letter Mistakes

By Julie Wright

I went to lunch with one of my favorite authors last week, J. Scott Savage. Going to lunch with him is like being put on a battery charger. I always leave him feeling better about myself and the things I want to accomplish in my life. He made a comment that bears repeating:

If you succeed at everything you do, you probably aren't trying challenging enough things.

I concede the point, Mr. Savage. And this should feel like good news to those of us who are consistently tackling mountains. At least we know we aren't complacent.

Writer's Digest did a top ten list on query letter mistakes. I read through the list and got a few chuckles from it, wiped my brow in relief that I never have made any of those mistakes, and then wondered if they got the list right. While they are dead on with some of them, there were other mistakes that weren't mentioned that certainly deserve mentioning. So I made my own list. I borrowed a couple from theirs which I will note with a asterisk so you know where I blatantly plagiarized.

1. Beauty is only skin deep: you wrote your query but have a coffee cup stain on the paper, or you printed it out on paper that smells like day old soup. Or if you sent an e-query, your formatting gets lost on the way to the agent's computer and now looks like a jumbled mess, or your signature line has a cheesy picture of your cat in it. Remember the importance of first impressions. The moment they look at your query, you want their first impression to be good. You don't want them remembering you as the author whose query smells like soup.

2. Thy humble servant: I know it seems like it a good idea to confess your lack of experience but agents and editors don't want to know that you have no idea what you're doing even if you do think humility might win you brownie points. If you have no publishing credits, fine, but don't write things like, "This is my first book ever and though I don't have any publishing credits, I'm really hoping you'll give me a chance." Be confident. You wrote a book! You should feel accomplished.

3. Cut the cheese: I'm not talking about passing gas here, I'm talking about literally cutting the cheesy stuff out of your query letters. Don't spray your pink query letter paper with perfume. Refrain from cutesy statements, but let your personality shine. I know that seems contrary, but it is a balancing act and can be done successfully if you are careful not to put in too much information. Don't be chummy, don't be cutesy, don't be cheesy.

4. Say it isn't so: If you have a friend who's an author who might endorse your book, but who hasn't actually agreed to endorse your book, don't mention it in your query letter. If you are querying an agent and mention that an editor from some big publishing house has expressed an interest in the manuscript, you had better be telling the truth. The publishing industry is small and you'd be surprised at how everyone seems to know everyone else. Don't fib to make yourself look better.

5. Flattery will get you everywhere: It seems like a great idea to flatter, butter up, or schmooze an agent or editor, but there is a wrong and right way to go about connecting with the person you're writing to. Know their real names and their real genders. Don't assume an agent named Chris is a guy. Chris could be short for Christine. If you want to impress them, then prove you did your homework by knowing their name, their client list, the things they are specifically looking for right now. That is far more flattering than saying, "I think you are totally awesome and know we will be the very best of friends!" Editors and agents aren't looking for a BFF. They are looking for writers.

6. You aren't the only fish in the sea: Do not tell an agent that you have also queried twenty other agents. Don't send them snarky replies if they send you a rejection. Chances are good they know the twenty other agents and they will all go to lunch and swap horror stories. Be professional and respectful. These are real people with real memories--real long memories.

7. This is my first novel and it's 150,000 words: I know you feel pretty cool having written that much. And it IS cool that you wrote that much, but for a first time author, no publisher wants to commit resources to print that many words. Most adult commercial fiction is between 75,000 and 100,000, and YA is between 60,000 and 80,000words. Try hard to edit your manuscript down to fit into those parameters. It stinks to edit out words that you feel are brilliant, but far better to edit out a few so the rest can actually be read.

8. Typos: check, recheck, and check again. do not send off a query letter with a typo in it. It's only a page. It's imperative that this one page is completely clean. I know manuscripts will inevitably have a few typos, but it is your job to make the editor's job easier. Don't give them reasons to say no. *

9. This is Oprah's next favorite!: Don't tell the agent/editor that you are the next Twilight, Harry Potter, Oprah pick, or that you will definitely sell a million books because you are so brilliant. I said earlier to be confident, but that doesn't mean be cocky.

10. Boring: If you query letter is boring and reads like a third grade book report, then what is the agent/editor supposed to expect from your actual manuscript? Don't have one long paragraph for your story synopsis in the query letter, but break it up into three to four line paragraphs. That helps make it less daunting visually. And remember to keep it interesting. Think of what kind of book jacket blurb would attract you and compel you to make a book purchase. You want your query letter to hold that same sort of excitement.

Does this stuff ever happen to anyone else????

By Julie Wright

I sent off several queries to agents for a new national book I have. This is a good thing. It's great to write books, but if those books never leave your computer and venture out in the world on their own, what good are they?

So I did the practice-what-you-preach thing and sent off my queries. That night, my website got jacked by some actress in LA. Her website is pink. I am not exactly a pink kind of human being. I respect all those who love pink and respectfully decline to join them. I threw a fit at my poor webmaster. He promised me he would get it fixed.

I awoke the next morning to an acupuncturist on my website. At least it wasn't pink. I worried about it a little, thinking about those queries I'd sent off and wondering if agents genuinely looked at the websites listed amongst the author information.

"Nah!" I told myself. Agents are busy and the chances of one actually going to my site were slimmer than the jeans I wore as a teenager.

Or not.

I got an email later that afternoon that began with, "I liked your query and went to look at your other publications. They look adorable." The heavens opened and the angels sang. As I kept reading, that singing I was hearing turned to raucous laughter. The agent had gone to my site and then got "stuck" there due to the neat-o flaws of my website's hosting servers. In this modern day of scams, spam, and viruses, and since the agent's computer shares a network with everyone in the agency, the agent felt a little apprehensive.

It seemed like an elaborate hoax to the agent and they weren't all that appreciative. And the email that began with praise ended with a scolding.

I screamed enough my voice went hoarse. I wrote the agent back the most insane email I've ever written. And I hit send. Yeah.

Seriously am I cursed? Does this sort of thing ever happen to anyone else? I totally don't blame the agent for feeling irritated. I certainly felt irritation! I wanted to weep. So I did what I always do in a crisis of literary nature. I called Josi. She laughed and helped me to see the humor. Another author to share such misery is a vital thing. While I lamented to my dear friend (whose book, Her Good Name, is simply a must read) another email popped up on my screen from the agent.

It was a very friendly, upbeat letter of understanding and commiseration over my internet woes. It was also a request for the full manuscript. And also a request for the manuscript to be sent snail mail . . . just in case. That last request struck me as really funny and made me like this agent as a human being, whether they take me into their agency or not, I will always have good things to say about them.

The moral of this story:

• Never include anything in your query letter that you don't want your agent or editor seeing. If you include a website, your website needs to be active and professional. Granted, my situation was a result of bad timing and psychosis, but it's good to know they actually do pay attention to what information you include.
• Agents are people too, with worries and a sense of humor.
• Get yourself a good writer buddy. A phone call with a writer buddy is better than a pound of chocolate, cheaper than therapy, and more effective than drinking.
• Even after four published books, *those* days still happen.

Warning: I do NOT suggest this as a way to woo agents.

Happy Writing My Friends!

BEFORE you submit

by Heather Moore

In follow-up to Annette's submission advice yesterday, I'd like to share a few things that I've done BEFORE submitting.

When I research an agent or publisher, these are the steps I take:
1. I contact a few of the authors and ask how their experience was. I can usually find email addresses or websites by googling their names and books.
2. I see if the company has a viable website with proper contact information.
3. I check their ratings on Preditors and Editors and Writers Beware
4. If they are a small press, I ask them about their wholesale company or distributor.
5. I ask for a list of their recent books published (or recent books "sold" if it's an agent). I contact a few of those authors.

I learned this the hard way. Several years ago, I received a publishing contract from Harris Literary. I was so excited! I signed it and was ready to mail it back. Then something nagged at the back of my mind and I decided to do a little research--more than I had before. I contacted some of their authors and all of the ones that wrote back gave me the same feedback. Do NOT go with this publisher. One was even in a lawsuit situation with them.

Last year I was contacted by an agent who used an email that I don't normally query with. So I was a little surprised. Upon further investigation, I found that it was a scam artist. Here is the full story.

Also, for a list of some red flags, go here.

Please do your research, and do it thoroughly before submitting to an unknown.

Making Contact

by Annette Lyon

In response to some reader questions I've had recently, here's a basic refresher course on how to contact editors or agents about your work.

For more in-depth information, dig around. Find books and blogs about it. Lots of literary agents have great information about these things.

Literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog is worth looking at. (Be sure to check out his sidebar, which has links to posts about manuscript formatting, query letters, and much more.)

Another is the famous (and, alas, now retired) Miss Snark. Search for "query letters" or any number of other topics on her blog, and you'll find a ton of great information straight from the horse's mouth.

When communicating with editors and agents, the basic rule of thumb is simple: Know what's expected, and deliver it. In even simpler terms: be professional.

Some basic dos and don'ts:

Dos

• Use white bond paper.
• Print on one side.
• Keep your query letter to one page. Technically you can go over, but the longer it is, the less chance the whole thing will be read.
• Use the editor/agent's name and spell it correctly.
• Get others to read your letter and offer feedback.
• Make sure your personality and voice shine through. This is the editor's/agent's first introduction to you and how you write. Don't hide your voice.
• Proofread your letter.
• Proofread your letter.
• Proofread it again.
• Include whatever the particular publisher or agency requests. If they ask for three chapters, give 'em that. If they ask for a synopsis, yep. Give 'em a synopsis. Or a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope). Whatever they ask for.
• On your SASE, be sure to include stamps rather than a metered sticker, which doesn't work in all areas if it's being mailed back after the date on it.
• If your work has been requested, say so on the outside of the envelope. That way you avoid being dumped into the slush pile.
• If you met the editor/agent at a conference, feel free to mention it to help jog their memory. (Unless you were the one who spilled ketchup on them. Then jogging their memory might not be in your best interest.)
• Mention what your book is about, how long it is, and what genre it fits into.

Don't

• Use colored paper or perfume or send trinkets or do anything else "cute." Sure you'll stand out, but not in a good way.
• Flaunt the publisher/agency guidelines because you think you're special. (If they don't take e-queries, they won't take yours. If they want something between 70,000 and 100,000 words, don't send something that's 150,000.)
• Criticize or judge the publisher, agent, or the industry.
• Or offer suggestions for the same.
• Insist that your book is going to make them millions of dollars and that you're the next Brown/Rowling/Grisham/fill in the blank.
• Include biographical information that isn't relevant. Unless you're writing about pit bulls, the fact that you own one is irrelevant. If this is your first attempt, no need to mention that, either. It might work against you to say so.
• Submit something that isn't right for the publisher/agent. If you've done your homework, you'll know what kinds of things they're looking for. You may have written the best cookbook ever, but sending it to someone who works only with speculative fiction and romance is useless.

Get Ready, Get Set, QUERY!

by Heather Moore

The holiday bustle is in full swing. Everyone is checking their lists twice. Lines are already obscenely long and panic fills the eyes of many a shopper.

Slow down. Breathe. If you haven’t finished your gift shopping, what are a few more days?

NOW is the time to send out those queries. Like most of us, other writers are preparing for the holidays, planning vacations, sending out cards to everyone they’ve known since a toddler.

But the agents are still in their offices, putting in full days . . . reading queries, requesting partials. Yet, the writers aren’t submitting at their usual pace.

Right now, agents are in the “zone” or the “evil dry spell” as referred to by Kristen Nelson, of Nelson Literary Agency:

Ms. Nelson says, “For unrepresented writers, this is actually a good thing because that means we are looking furiously for something new to take on because in the dry spell, we start reading our queries faster. We ask for more sample pages then we might ordinarily. We’ll take a chance on reading full manuscript of a work that maybe didn’t win us over entirely initially in the sample pages but because it’s so dry, we’re more lenient and will request a full.”

Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown Literary calls it the “December Publishing Coma”

He says, “This is a time when agents and editors alike catch up on their reading and try and get things in order for submissions in the new year. So if you are polishing off a query, go ahead and send it now (but I'd avoid the week around Christmas and New Years).”

So get busy. Put off that shopping and work on your queries!

What Agents Want

by Annette Lyon

This last weekend I attended a writing conference, where literary agent Christina Hogrebe of the Jane Rotrosen Agency spoke.

Among other things, she addressed the dreaded query letter and what she personally likes to see in one.

When she reads queries, she's not expecting the first line to be a catchy hook that draws her into what the book is about. In fact, when she described her ideal query, the description of the book was nowhere near the first couple of paragraphs. In her workshop, she read several queries that worked, meaning that the authors later became her clients.

Not one of those letters had a catchy hook in the first line.

What did they have? Here's what Ms. Hogrebe herself said, according to my notes, about what she likes to see in a query:

1) Show that you've done your research.
Right off the bat, explain how you found this agent and why you think this agency is right for you.

First and foremost, this means not using the same query letter for each agency you're trying to woo. Yes, that means extra work on your part (you'll have to research the agency and find out what they've sold), but agents appreciate the effort and like knowing that they aren't one of eighteen people cc:ed on your query e-mail.

Mention it if you met the agent at a conference, were referred by another client, found them on a website, or found their name elsewhere.

Also explain why you and the agency are a match. "I know you represent author XYZ, whose work is in the same genre and style as mine, so I believe we'd be a good fit," can get your foot in the door. Note that you don't say it's just like XYZ's work or (worse) that yours is better.

2) If you've had another agent before, say so.
Also explain why the relationship ended.

3) Explain your publishing history, if you have one.
No, published letters to the editor of your local paper don't count. Mention any "real" publishing credits (by that she meant something published with a press where there is a selection/rejection process for quality). This will not only lift you in the agent's estimation, but it will also help when trying to sell your work to editors (and then to their marketing departments) down the road.

4) Write a brief (one paragraph) blurb about your book.
Make sure it's, in her words, "great copy," and mentions any selling points. In other words, what will make your book sell?

5) Share your knowledge of the market.
Do this not by saying you're the next Tom Clancy, but by making a gentler comparison: "Fans of Tom Clancy will appreciate this book."


One solid reminder: Writers slave over their manuscripts, then often dash off a quick letter to sell the thing they've invested so much into. Don't make that mistake. Write a solid letter. Have others read it. Proof it (several times). And then send it in.

Have heart: while it's tough to break out of the query slush pile, it does happen. When Hogrebe read several of her clients' queries, she dispelled the myth that no one gets an agent that way.

The competition is stiff, but climbing out of that slush pile can be done. Stand out from the crowd by including those things agents really want to see.

Hook, Line, and Stinker?

I'm currently in the process of creating submission packets of my recently completed novel. The stuff one needs to prepare before considering submitting anything to agents and/or editors is:

• A query letter
• A synopsis (usually one page, but have several different lengths on the ready, such as the two page, the seven page and the fifteen page)
• the first three chapters or first fifty pages of the manuscript.

That's it. That's your entire arsenal against the slushpiles of doom.

And yet, how many people really spend enough time on that part of the writing process? Most of the time, the query letter is the first thing any agent or editor will see. The query letter doesn't show them your brilliance with analogies, or the your immense battle scene in chapter thirty-nine. The query letter has a hard time showing off your tear jerker ending. And if the query letter sucks muddy rocks, then the editor/agent will never see anything else.

It is just as important to workshop your query letter to several sets of eyes as it is to workshop your actual book. I sent my new query letter to six of my most trusted author friends who I count on to play it straight with me.

I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I didn't spend time editing and rewriting that most pivotal piece of paper. Your query is your hook. If you bait it right, you'll cast out and reel in a request for the first three chapters.

The first paragraphs of those three chapters are your hook. If you bait it right, you'll cast out and reel in a request for the full manuscript.

I spent months and months writing this novel. I will take the time to make sure my query is worthy of a partial request. I will take time to make sure my partial is worthy of a full manuscript request.

Jeff Savage (aka Scott Savage) asks this question, "Does your first sentence earn you the right to a second one?"

Hoops

By Josi S. Kilpack

I was recently talking to another writer who had a lot of questions about how to submit to an agent or publisher. I answered it with some version of the following:

Research the agent/publisher and find out what they want in a submission, determine whether it's e-submission or snail mail, write a query letter, cover letter, prepare whatever writing sample they may want with the query, or what they might request after they decide they like your query. Keep a log of what you send, to whom. Make absolutely certain before you send anything that you have the name, company, address and submission criteria exactly as it appears in Writer's Market or on their website.

As I spoke I could see the person's face falling. By the time I finished they had gotten past the denial phase "It can't be THAT hard", and were full fledged in the anger stage of grieving we all go through when we figure out that we just didn't understand how something worked. And they said. "Sounds like a bunch of hoops to me."

Well, yeah. What's wrong with hoops?

Consider this; let's say you hold a best pie contest, and you're giving away a million dollars as the first place prize AND they will be crowned as best pie-maker in the country. How many people do you think will want to enter your contest? Two million? Three? A lot, right? In fact, so many that there is NO way you can review them all, much less actually bake them to see if they really work. What do you do?

Well, how about you set up some rules that will automatically weed out the crackpots that have never cooked a day in their life. So you make the rule that entries have to mailed, not e-mailed. Perfect, you just cut down your contests by about 2/3. Why? Because people that aren't serious, or don't really have a good pie recipe, aren't going to go through the trouble of sending it in. However, you've still got about 600,000 recipes. Too many.

So, you decide that the recipe has to be typed. You just cut down your qualifying submissions again. What if you insisted it was typed on an index card instead of a regular sheet of paper. You just cut your submissions in half again--BUT you have kept the most serious pie makers.

So, you're down to about 100,000 pie bakers now. You still want the best pie makers, but you can't handle 100,000 recipes. How about they have to send a photo. How about you have them put the photo on the back of the index card they wrote the recipe on. How about you insist it's a color photo--after all, you need to see that it looks good enough to eat. Then, let's say you insist they send it in a white envelope--no other color will do. Very good, you've come up with a lot of entries. So you post the rules and wait for submissions. This is no longer just about finding the best pie. You are only human, and can not go over 100,000 entries. There has to be a way to narrow down.

You get 25,000 submissions. But 10,000 are in envelopes that are not white. Another 10,000 didn't do the photo. Another 3,000 aren't typed. 500 didn't include their contact information, 400 were actually recipes for cobbler instead of pie, 300 are for pizza, 200 are for homemade baby wipes (to help clean up after you eat the pie) and of those millions and millions of people that were originally interested in entering your contest, you are left with 600 people that are not only good pie-bakers, but they can follow instructions. They are the type that can proudly wear the pie maker crown.

Did perhaps the BEST pie baker not follow through? Perhaps. But that's just it, it's not JUST about baking pies. It's about being someone other people can work with, someone that can learn the rules AND execute them.

It's the exact same thing with getting published. Yes, there are millions of people that want it, but mere wanting is not what publishers are looking for. They want to see commitment, they want proof that you respect what they can do for you. Is it frustrating? Absolutely. We are pie makers, we make pie and don't want to deal with this stuff. Which is fine, unless we want the crown.

So, yes, there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and yet, why not jump? If that's the only way to get there, then start hoppin!

Introducing Our New Critique Forum: MONDAY MANIA

The editors at Precision Editing Group are pleased to announce our new on-line critique forum.

And you won't even have to go anywhere. Right here, on our Writing on the Wall blog, we'll post YOUR queries or first page of your book [about 350 words]. You'll receive same-day feedback on your query or first page from our editors AND readers.

How it will work:

1. Each Monday, hereby called MONDAY MANIA, we'll post 1-3 queries and/or first pages on the blog. As a reader, you'll be able to read the queries and post your own comments. Please keep your comments constructive and in good taste. We want to set ourselves apart from other blogs and stay helpful and professional. Our editors will also be reading the submissions and posting comments as well.

2. Email your query or first page to: editor@precisioneditinggroup.com If we receive it by the Friday before, we'll post your submission the following Monday by 12:00 noon, MST. You are welcome to request that your post be shown anonymously. Please remove any highly-personal information.

3. You can email us your submissions any time. If there is a backlog, it may take longer to be listed on the Monday Mania blog. Keep checking each Monday for your submission. Meanwhile, feel free to comment on queries and first pages submitted by other writers.

We hope this will prove to be a constructive way to earn immediate feedback from two of the most challenging writing processes. When you submit to an agent or publisher, your query and your first page has only seconds to capture attention. We want your submissions to rise above the slush pile.

Pushing the Envelope

by Lu Ann Staheli

So many want-to-be writers have the same roadblock stopping them from success—they don’t send enough submissions.

For some, the fear of rejection stops them from actually sending their work out to editors. For others, they are so busy worrying about the arbitrary rules set down by publishers—no multiple submissions, agented submissions only, wait 6-10 months for a response, etc.—that they either wait months at a time for a rejection that is sure to come or they fail to send their submission to a house or publication that might be waiting for just what they have written.

All too often, today’s publishers do not even respond to submissions, SASE or not. The author who follows the rules might wait for a long time, never having the nerve to send the same submission to another house, always in hopes that the one place they’ve sent it will come through in the very end. I hate to break your bubble, but that scenario isn’t likely to happen.

So, if you want to increase your chances of publication, you have to break the cycle of follow-the-rules, then sit and wait. Here are a few tips to help you get around those roadblocks and into the fast lane toward publication, even if it means more rejection.

First, let me assure you, a fast rejection is not a bad thing. The quicker you find out who doesn’t want your manuscript, the better chance you have to find the right house or publication for your work. A quick rejection will help you cull the list of potential markets for all of your work, saving you the trouble of submitting again and again to an editor or house who isn’t a good match for your style.

Next, remember that multiple queries and multiple submissions are two separate things. There is absolutely no reason why you can’t send several queries out for a single project at the same time. The likelihood of more than one publisher wanting to grab it up is slim, and even if they did, what a great place to find yourself. That is how bidding wars that drive up an author’s advance and the final contract percentage happen with books. I know one writer who had two houses buy the same non-fiction book from the same query. The author took the same information and wrote one book from a humorous slant while the second was for the more serious sportsman. Two advance checks and royalties for the same work, all because he sent multiple queries for a project he believed in.

As for those editors who say they only accept submissions from an agent, this may not be entirely true. Some editors will accept queries from anyone, agent or not. Others will accept queries and submissions from people they have met (interpret this to include spoken-in-front-of) at a writer’s workshop or conference. If you’ve attended a conference, or if you belong to SCBWI, it doesn’t hurt to add a label on the outside of your submission envelope stating this.

Even a rejection of a particular manuscript or idea does not mean the editor has rejected you altogether. Pay attention to any notes or comments you might receive that encourages you to submit something else to the same editor. I use a self-addressed postcard with check-off options in my submissions. Many times editors will choose the option that states: “Although this manuscript does not meet my current needs, please feel free to query me on another project.” I always take advantage of that invitation, and so should you.

Editors can’t buy your work if they don’t know you’re out there, so, if you’re sitting around waiting for that response from a single editor, wait no more. Get busy and send your query out to additional places who buy the same kind of pieces. Every time a rejection comes back, send the query out to another house. Keep track of where and when you are sending, then be ready to smile when the request for a completed manuscript a contract offer comes through.

Queries Queries Queries

You have a great manuscript that you've taken through the proper channels of editing. You start sending out queries and slowly the rejections start to trickle in. Now what?

John Wood, author of How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover letters, said: “If you’re still stuck at ground level in your writing career, take a hard look at the engine—at the correspondence you’re sending out. Most likely, that’s where the smoke’s coming from.”

Wood also said that your query letter should be as personal, as passionate, and as professional as possible.

But do you really have a chance? Agents receive thousands of queries a year. Not only do you have to impress their assistant, you have to impress them to receive a “call-back”—meaning a request for a partial (i.e. sample chapters).

First of all, it's essential to understand the purpose of a query letter. They are sent to gain the interest of an editor or agent. The all-in-one-submission package should include a Query, a one-page Synopsis, and a sample page of writing—sent at the same time.

This is fine as long as you read the submission guidelines. If the agent’s website says: accepts queries only. Then only send a one-page query. Nothing else.

A good query has these components:

1. Keep tone appropriate: don’t be cheesy or silly

2. Use high quality paper (25 lb bright white)

3. Address query to correct editor or agent: Some agents will throw out a submission if their name is spelled incorrectly

4. First paragraph: Hook sentence and story (see other blogs about writing Hooks)

5. Second Paragraph: Why you are submitting to this publisher—do your homework. Read their blogs, articles, and interviews

6. Third Paragraph: Your Writing Credentials—-if you haven’t been published, you need to have a PLATFORM. Why are you the expert in this subject? OR why is this novel important?

7. Close Simply: “Thank you for considering my manuscript. I look forward to your response.” Sign the letter with “Sincerely”

Email Query

1. Put “query” in the heading so it won’t be seen as spam.
2. Keep professional.
3. Use standard opening and closing as if you were writing a letter.
4. Proofread before sending.
5. Only email a query if the agent has specific guidelines

What's the difference between a query and a cover letter? A cover letter should only be included when additional material is requested. OR sometimes it’s specifically requested with non-fiction material. John Wood says, “A cover letter is not really a letter; it’s a note whose sole purpose is to briefly introduce yourself and your submission, then get out of the way . . . it should be no more than a half page.”

Next Thursday, I'll post some examples for a cover letter.

Hooks Aren't Just For Fishing

By Heather Moore

Have you been tempted to send an agent or publisher your third chapter—because that's where your story gets really good? If there isn’t a Hook on page one of your book, the agent has no reason to read page two.

But a Hook isn’t just a one-time event. There should be essentially three Hooks in your book and four if you count your query.

1. Hook—1st sentence/page
2. Hook—why you read the next chapter
3. Hook—why you are reading to the end of the book
4. Hook—in query letter, why the agent will start reading your sample chapters

Hook One:
Read these opening Hooks:

Unsung Lullaby by Josi Kilpack
Maddie took a sip of lemonade while looking at the circle of women surrounding her. They talked and laughed, enjoying the chance to get out of their homes, away from their families, and to bask in the company of women for the evening—even if it was just a baby shower.
Maddie was not one of them.

*Do you want to know why Maddie isn’t “one of them”? I do. What sets her apart from the others? What trial is she facing or what fear is she trying to overcome?

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz
Ruth remembered drowning.
“That’s impossible,” Aunt Amanda said. “It must have been a dream.”
But Ruth maintained that she had drowned, insisted on it for years, even after she should have known better.

*This piques my interest immediately. People die when they drown. That’s what it means. So how is Ruth different? And how can she remember drowning and still be alive?

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
My mother did not tell me they were coming. Afterwards she said she did not want me to appear nervous. I was surprised, for I thought she knew me well. Strangers would think I was calm. I did not cry as a baby. Only my mother would note the tightness along my jaw, the widening of my already wide eyes.

*Something terrible is happening to the character. She refuses to cry, but we know she is afraid. I want to find out what’s going on.

Hook Two:
Does your first chapter end in a tidy bow? Or does it end in the middle of a scene—just when your character hears footsteps in the basement, or the good-looking man she was attracted to minutes before pulls out a gun?

End your chapter/s in the middle of a scene. Do not give the agent a reason to put your manuscript down.

Hook Three:
There needs to be a main Hook that carries through the entire book. If you are writing a mystery, the main hook is finding out “who dunnit”. If you are writing a romance, the main hook is how the hero and heroine finally resolve their differences and come together.

Hook Four:
Recently Fangs Fur & Fey—Urban Fantasy Novelists held a Hook contest. The writers were asked to introduce their book in 300 words or less. Over 200 hooks were submitted for judging. You can read them all on-line: http://community.livejournal.com/fangs_fur_fey/

Your query must contain a hook that introduces your book to the agent while at the same time captivates her interest. Most agents don’t have time to read your query and sample chapters. If she isn't impressed with the query, don't count on her reading your chapters.

The Query-go-round

By Julie Wright

Question: How do I keep from looking stupid when submitting queries, chapters, and full manuscripts?
Answer: By acting intelligent.

I went to the World Fantasy Convention in Madison Wisconsin a few years ago. I was new to the national market, having published three books in a very niche market, and I wanted to stretch out a little. So I contacted all the agents that were in the fantasy genre by querying them, and asked if they would be at the Con too. A few replied that they would and so I told them I looked forward to meeting them. Then I made what Miss Snark would call a nitwittery mistake. I took in a synopsis and the first three chapters of my book and hand delivered it to the agent of my choice at the Con. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that, and I still cringe when I think of the agent-who-must-not-be-named’s face. Nitwittery does indeed abound. I still wake up in the middle of the night, shuddering at my own stupidity.

Since then, I’ve done some homework. I research editors and agents before I ever submit and I read books on good behavior for starving authors. I did my homework before in that I knew the agents and their agencies, but I failed to learn the social etiquette of handing over portions of a manuscript.

I’m telling you to do your homework as well. There are thousands of manuscripts in the pile. You want yours to stand out . . . but not because the agent or editor has determined forever to hate you.

Find out what the editor/agent you are submitting to wants. Don’t submit fantasy to someone who has already declared NEVER to publish or represent fantasy. Let your story speak for itself. Be willing to work on requested changes. Learn what you can do to make the editor's job easier.

Pay attention to the following:
Do not bind or staple your manuscript. Do not use ring binders, clamp binders, comb binders, brads, string, or any other thing that cannot be easily removed. Paper clips or rubberbands are ok.

Always include a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) that is large enough and has enough postage. And remember that postage costs are going up. I wrote a top ten reasons why you should never include a SASE. It was tongue in cheek, of course, but was dang funny. I'd post it here, but fear someone would take me seriously and actually NOT include a SASE.

Do not attempt to draw attention to your manuscript by using colored paper. Do not use specialty typefaces. Do not try to save yourself on paper by using an 8 pt font. Do not put each page of the manuscript in sheet protectors. Do not write in fake blood (or real blood) if you’re manuscript is a murder mystery or a member of the horror genre. Do not try to write a "memorable" submission letter that embarrasses the editor or agent and should embarrass you. Don't be cute. Don’t be cute. Don’t be cute.

Remember that editors and agents care about the writing, not the packaging. Remember that agents and editors are people too. Remember that they have personal lives and don’t appreciate phone calls asking about your manuscript. Be personable. Be friendly. Be professional. Be literate enough to read each agency's submission instructions and take a chance on actually following them. Be intelligent.