Ever wonder how a book gets its cover? A few talented folks over at Random House share the thought process that goes into deciding what a book should look like.
Business
Levels of “No,” or Why I Reject Manuscripts
A few weeks back, I asked you all for input on what you’d like to hear more about here on the blog in coming months, and received a number of lovely suggestions. Among them was a question from Jacquelyn Ayres regarding manuscript rejection, and if I’d ever taken on a project for a writer after having rejected a previous manuscript. The short answer is yes, I have, but the actual response is more complicated, so today I’m going to chat a bit about rejections in general, and all the reasons that might lurk behind any given negative response.
As an agent, I generally consider projects at two levels: partial manuscript and full manuscript. Queries go through the agency and get screened there, and when I request material at a conference, I mostly ask for at least a partial. So when I sit down to consider material, I’m starting off with the first three chapters.
What Do I Look for in a Partial?
Partial manuscripts need to pull me in, hold my attention, and leave me anxious to read more. I’m already interested in the premise, or I never would have gotten to the partial stage, so at this point I’m looking to get wowed by the execution. I want a vivid voice, good characterization, a strong opening paragraph, steady build of tension, a nice blend of action and narrative with an emphasis on showing vs. telling, and a high level of general mechanics — word choice, rhythm, grammar, etc.
And I’m looking for an excuse to stop reading.
That may sound harsh, but the reality is that I have an in-box full of manuscripts waiting for my attention, so any serious flaw in the first three chapters — which have ostensibly been written and rewritten and polished and critiqued — will lose me. If the first three chapters don’t hold up, I have little hope for the complete manuscript and so I will pass.
Please keep in mind, that’s a pass for the project, not the author. I’m always happy to take a look at another project down the line. Writers get better at their craft, so the potential of one project rarely has much to do with the potential of the next one.
What about Complete Manuscripts?
Things get tricky when we get to the full manuscript because the longer the material, the more places there are for me to say no. I go in looking for a continuation of the promise I saw in the partial — all the same qualities, plus the addition of excellent pacing that keeps up through the end of the manuscript, a lack of plot holes, a strong climax, and a satisfying resolution. I also want to lose myself in the story; in essence, I want to forget I’m reading an unpublished work and feel like I’m reading something I picked up at my local bookstore. The closer I can get to that feeling, the more excited I get about a project.
But the reality is that I still reject most full-length manuscripts, for many reasons, but 98% of the time, those reasons can be boiled down to “I don’t feel like I can sell this.”
At the end of the day, publishing is a business, so there is a difference between not liking a book and not thinking you can sell a book. I need to have both to take on a project — enthusiasm for the story and the writing and the author on a personal level, as a reader, and also a gut feeling that I can sell the work. If I love a project but don’t think I can sell it, well, there’s not a lot of point in my taking it on.
Most manuscripts I reject are not ready for publication. Most writers send out work that still needs to be edited and revised. Many unpublished writers who are submitting material are still in the early stages of learning their craft and acquiring the skills they need to be successful writers, and in these instances it’s likely that they will write one or two (or more) additional projects before they break out and publish something. In other cases the writer is close, but the project itself has major flaws — issues with motivation, believability, plot holes. Sometimes a project is well written but too predictable or too similar to what’s already in the market, while lacking a spark of originality to set it apart. Other projects have poor or non-existent resolutions.
If I love a project and believe that I could sell it if only one or two issues are resolved, I will let a writer know that I’d consider revisiting the manuscript if they make certain edits. The ball is entirely in their court; they don’t need to take my advice if they disagree with my suggestions, or if they decide to keep looking for an agent willing to take the project on as is. But on occasion those writers do consider my comments and come back with a revised submission — and I have been known to sign clients as a result.
But Do I Ever Just Not Like Something?
Very rarely do I read a full manuscript and just dislike it. I’d say that’s only happened one or two times since I’ve become an agent. And that’s not because I’m easy to please, but because I generally rule out projects that aren’t to my taste long before I reach the full-length manuscript stage. So while I’ve rejected projects from a writer only to sign them on for a later work, I’ve always had some level of interest and enjoyment in the earlier manuscripts. When I pass because I don’t “love something enough,” it’s not because I don’t love it at all, but because it’s not where it needs to be or because it isn’t something I believe I can sell.
Sometimes the submissions process can be magical. A writer submits a project, I love it, and I offer representation. But mostly it’s a process, where I might read a partial for a project and reject, then get to a full manuscript with that writer’s next project, and perhaps sign them on a third. The journey varies from writer to writer, and project to project, as does every aspect of the writer’s career.
The Autumn Agenda
Welcome to a new week! I hope you all had a lovely weekend. As promised last week, I’m here to make a few announcements regarding business in general and this blog in particular. Today is just the beginning, so be sure to keep dropping by for all the updates.
First and foremost, and I suspect most anticipated, I will be reopening to submissions as of next Monday, September 23, 2013. Please note that standard submissions guidelines will apply, so if you’re interested in submitting materials to me, please do head over to the agency site and read over the rules carefully before you send anything. Submissions that fail to follow guidelines are routinely deleted or relegated to the circular file. You’ve been warned.
In addition, I’ve got some giveaways coming up. The first one will be announced tomorrow and run through this week. In the past, all of my giveaways have been open internationally, but going forward I’m going to be making announcements on a case-by-case basis. I’d love to be able to open them to everyone every single time, but the cost of postage and the time it takes to deal with customs forms is making that less than practical. So please be sure to read the giveaway announcements in full, and I’ll do my best to make sure there’s fun stuff available for everyone from time to time.
Finally, those of you who participate in NaNoWriMo know that November is suddenly on the horizon. With that in mind, I plan to look at different ways you can prep ahead of time if you’re disinclined to just fly by the seat of your pants. So keep your eyes open in October for some discussions of plotting, characterization, and other building blocks for your NaNo-novel.
Regular, informative posts will be resuming, and Friday Links will continue as always. I’m looking forward to a great autumn season of writing and book chatter, so I hope you join me!
End-of-Summer Push
It’s probably going to be a bit quiet around here for the next week or two, not because I’ve planned a fabulous end-of-summer vacation, but because I’m going to ground to get through an enormous pile of work reading so I can reopen to submissions soon. Friday Links will be up per usual, but otherwise I’m going to be keeping my head down for the most part.
However, I do have a question for all of you. Once fall hits, I’d like to get back to some more serious, content-driven blog posts. Call it the back-to-school syndrome; all those years of academic training have me twitching for books and school supplies and essay writing come September. And while I have a few things planned, I’d love to know what you’d all like to hear more about here on the blog. I’m not looking for questions, precisely — this isn’t a Q&A sort of situation — but subjects that interest you.
Do you want more posts on submissions? On marketing? On what an agent does? Let me know in the comments section below what has you curious, and I’ll use them as a jumping off point for some of my upcoming blog entries.
More Than Sorta Social
John Hughes’s iconic 1985 teen-angst film The Breakfast Club follows five very different high school students over the course of a day-long Saturday detention, during which time the audience gets a run down of their home and school lives and finds out what led to their spending part of their weekend confined, at least in theory, to the school library. At one point, they discuss their extracurricular activities, and Anthony Michael Hall’s geeky character volunteers that he’s a member of the math and physics clubs where they get together and discuss properties of math and physics. Molly Ringwald’s character is quick to point out those are “academic clubs,” therefore quite different from the groups she and her friends would join, but Jud Nelson’s character declares them to be “…sorta social. Demented and sad, but social.”
The world of social media is, in some respects, far more egalitarian than your average high school. Blogger, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook… you can join any or all of them. But just because you’re invited to all the parties, doesn’t make them all the same. And when it comes time to market yourself and your writing, only you can determine which parties will serve you best, and where your time is most wisely spent. Not all writers are comfortable with all formats; one person might find 140 characters far too few to get a thought across, while another balks at blogging twice a week. So how do you make the most of the social media platforms?
Master one or two forms of social media at a time – Don’t rush in and try to juggle every available social media format at once. Pick a couple and get started. Learn how they work, how you can make them work for you, and be consistent in your usage and participation. If you allow comments on your blog, respond to them; start up conversations with people on Twitter; determine if you have sufficient visual content to keep your Tumblr page fresh and interesting. And don’t forget to leave some time for real life in addition to your online social life.
Get a head start – Hitting the social media scene the week your book comes out is like arriving at a new school in May and expecting to be voted prom queen. It takes time to build real social connections. No one likes a spammer, so don’t expect to show up and start talking up your book and win any popularity contests. Social media is social. You need to join in and chat with folks, share ideas and discoveries and respond to what others have to say. Make friends and network months in advance of a book release. Then when your book comes out, you can share your enthusiasm without sending everyone running away.
All things in moderation – Even your friends will get sick of you if all you do is talk about yourself. Keep the self-promotion to a minimum, especially on Twitter, where it’s tempting to retweet every great comment and review that crosses your path. Try to keep your book-promo down to under 20% of your social media interactions, and closer to 10% on Twitter. (Places like your website and blog will naturally have a much higher ratio, but these are less social and more your home on the web; visitors will expect to see book covers and links-to-buy all over the walls of your virtual living room.)
Customize your content – You wouldn’t expect the same experience at the jock’s keg party as you would at the party thrown by the brainy geek, so don’t try forcing the same information into all your social media outlets. Avoid automatic distribution features that have your exact same blog post appearing on your website, Facebook page, Goodreads page, etc. Rotate where you debut your information and expect audience overlap between your media sites. Post images where they will show to their best advantage, such as a blog or Tumblr, and avoid posting them places where they get lost in the shuffle, like Twitter.
Be consistent – Don’t join the social media bandwagon just to vanish for months at a time. If you’re going to be traveling, make a point of scheduling some blog posts and Tweets to post while you’re away, and try to check in for some real-time responses and activity even during your trip. If you know you’ll never manage to blog every week, stick to a more traditional author website, and update with other sorts of information to keep it fresh, such as release dates, cover reveals, signing or conference information, contests, giveaways, sneak peeks, etc. The only way to build an audience is to keep showing up.
Prepping for the Tax Man
While everyone’s busy playing April Fool’s pranks today, I want to talk about something serious: Writers and taxes.
No one likes thinking about their taxes, let alone actually doing them. But they are a reality of life, and if you’re self-employed, the become even more complicated than they are for the average working person. There are more calculations, more receipts to save, and kiss goodbye using any of the IRS’s simple forms.
This is why I advocate planning early. Please note here, I am not a tax professional. Most agents do not have accounting backgrounds (though likely some do), so it is important that you speak with an actual accountant when it comes down to doing your tax return. However, I can give you a heads up regarding some of the things to keep an eye out for so you have what you need to file.
Start before you publish. Yes, that’s right. Even if you’re still in the early phases of shopping your novel to agents or editors, you should already take a professional outlook when it comes to your finances. There’s no way of knowing how fast your project might sell, and if payment comes in December then suddenly you were a working writer for that year, able to write off far more things than you could when you were unpaid.
Keep everything. All those pesky receipts? Get yourself a nice little accordion file and organize them as you go. You might already be holding onto obvious receipts, like the ones for office supplies or postage, conference registration, and so on. But keep the ones you’re unsure about, also. Magazine subscriptions? Books? The lumbar pillow for your desk chair? Keep them all, and note their purpose on the back. Your accountant will be able to tell you if something is fair game.
Log your mileage. Do you drive to conferences? Or to the airport before you fly to one? To the post office to send out ARCs for review or prizes from giveaways on your blog? You can deduct a certain amount each year based on the miles you drive your car for work purposes if you are filing as a self-employed individual. Even if you use that car for personal use, too. Just pick up one of the small logs they sell at most office supply stores and keep track of your starting and ending miles, and how many of them were for work purposes. Just leave your log in the car so you remember to use it. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll end up with a few hundred dollars more to deduct by year’s end.
Keep your writing area separate. If you can possibly have your own room to designate as your office space, do so, even if it’s not much more than a closet. The rules on what can or cannot be considered a viable working space vary from year to year (and no doubt from country to country — I’m only familiar with U.S. tax laws). Check with your accountant to determine what qualifies. Not only will you be able to deduct a percentage of your rent or mortgage based on the square footage of your office, but of any other cost that goes toward the entire house, such as heat, electricity, etc. It’s worth the deduction if your home layout permits.
Find an accountant who is familiar with writers or at least works with other self-employed individuals. They will be much more in tune with what you can deduct and what to avoid because it might raise red flags with the IRS. Check with local writing groups or online writers’ forums if you need some recommendations, or simply ask local accountants how much experience they have with this area of the tax code.
If you’re not ready for an accountant quite yet, be sure to read one of the many available guidebooks geared toward helping self-employed individuals determine their deductions to make sure you are holding onto all the right paperwork. Better to have too much than to be missing something vital when you’re ready to file.
Those Pesky Synopsis Things…
I’ve had several people ask me to blog about how to write a synopsis, but the reality is that it is far too complicated a subject to tackle in a blog post. Normally I do an hour-long presentation on the topic for conferences, but I realize not everyone has the time or resources to attend a conference.
So, when Writer’s Digest asked me if I’d be interested in doing a webinar for them as part of their ongoing series, I jumped at the opportunity to offer an in-depth look at synopsis writing that could be made more widely available. Conquer the Dreaded Synopsis: Construct Your Ultimate Sales Tool will take place on April 25th, 2013, at 1:00pm EDT. No — it’s not free — but it is still far cheaper than attending a writers’ conference. Registration includes attendance to the online session, access to the presentation materials for a year, and a critique of your synopsis (which I hope you will write or revise based on what you learn) following the session.
I look forward to seeing some of you in class!
Down-and-Dirty Query Letters
No one can write your query letter for you. You may be tempted to ask a friend, or to look online for some sort of query service to take the burden off your shoulders, but at the end of the day, you as the author need to suck it up and write the query yourself.
All of the things that make you nervous about writing the query are the very reasons why you need to do it. The query letter introduces you to an agent or editor, and provides them with the first idea of your writing skills and style. It sells someone on the potential of your story, sinks the hook and reels them in, making them anxious to read your manuscript. And beyond that, it can be an indicator of your professionalism and your personality, of the sort of person you are and whether the agent or editor will be able to work with you.
All of which can feel like a lot of pressure, I know. So here are a few things to keep in mind when you sit down to write your query letter.
Be sure to include:
- Your full name and contact information.
- Title, completed length, and genre of your project, for fiction; title, projected length, and subject, for nonfiction proposals.
- Pertinent personal information, which includes any links between your life and your subject matter (such as, your book is set in Cairo and you lived there for a year, or your protagonist is paramedic and you have similar training, etc.), platform for nonfiction projects (career details, blogs, lectures you’ve given, expertise, etc.), previous publications, and contest wins.
- Project pitch.
- Why you believe this project might be appropriate for this agent/editor.
- Status of your submission process, including whether any other agents have requested partials/full manuscripts.
In addition, it’s nice to add one or two stand-out personal facts that hint at who you are beyond your resume, such as what you do in your spare time, if you grew up in some interesting spot, have an intriguing day job, etc. It’s not required, but it humanizes the correspondence and you might just hit on something you have in common with the agent or editor.
Things to leave out:
- Apologies for having no previous publications/contest wins, etc. Everyone starts somewhere. If you don’t have any of these to include, just don’t mention the subject at all.
- Discussion of how you’ve dreamed of being a writer since childhood, an explanation of how many unpublished books you have in the drawer, the names and ages of your children, a dedication to your spouse for enabling you to take the time to write, etc.
- Pitches for additional projects. If you have other works completed, you can mention the fact and even the genres, but don’t pitch multiple projects in a single query letter.
- Promises that the project being queried will be the next New York Times bestseller, make a million dollars, change civilization as we know it, etc.
When it comes to writing your actual pitch, make sure to include specific details rather than providing a generic description. What makes your story different from others in your genre? Name the characters and locations, mention some of the steps leading toward the climax, and be sure to state the protagonist’s goal/journey/ambition. If you can also write using the tone of your book, do so. Pitch a comic novel with a humorous tone, fantasy with more epic language, etc. This does not mean you need to pitch it in the voice of your protagonist, just that you should keep the sound of the book — its emotions, level of formality, pacing — in mind.
Avoid mistakes that flag you as careless or unprofessional, including:
- Sending the identical query to a list of agents as a mass email, with all of their addresses listed in the cc: field, or as an obvious blind copy addressed to yourself. Take the time to personalize the query and email agents individually.
- Failing to follow submission guidelines. Make sure you check the agency’s site for how they wish to receive queries.
- Addressing the agent by the incorrect honorific. Take the time to look them up and ascertain if you should use Mr. or Ms.
- Claiming to include an SASE in an electronic query.
Treat your query with the same care you would your actual manuscript. Take some time to write it, then set it aside for a couple of days before going back to revise. Run spell check. Try reading the query out loud to catch missing words or awkward phrasing, and have your critique partner read it over, as well. Take a professional approach to your query, remembering that while it’s an important tool in your quest for publication, it is also just another piece of writing, and writing is your job. Good luck!
Agent Q&A Day!
Usually I run these over at The Knight Agency blog, but we’re experiencing some technical difficulties over there, so I’m going to do a Q&A here instead.
For those of you unfamiliar with these, it’s very simple. Just leave your questions about publishing, writing, getting an agent, etc., here in the comments of this thread. I will return late tonight or early tomorrow morning and answer at least three of them, though I try to do more if time allows.
So, what would you all like to know? Go ahead and ask! And don’t forget to check back to read the answers, even if you don’t have a question of your own. Someone else might ask something you never realized you wanted to know.
ETA: Q&A closed for this session. All answers are posted below each of the questions. Thanks to everyone for participating!
Social but Safe
Last week literary agent Pam van Hylckama was allegedly assaulted by a writer whose work she had rejected. She initially thought the attack was a car jacking gone wrong, but police were suspicious and searched through her emails and the assailant was found at his home address — the same address he’d included on his query — sporting a bite mark on his arm from Pam’s helpful little dog. Pam, an active individual in social media, has decided to rethink the way she uses Twitter, FourSquare, and other social media outlets, very aware that it can be easy to accidentally telegraph your location to someone who is paying attention.
We live in a world where many of our activities are shared online. We post pictures of our vacations, review great new restaurants, invite others to join us for a writing session at the local library or coffee shop. And all that’s wonderful and entertaining and makes for a terrific virtual community that can spill over into real life as well.
But we need to be a little bit more careful about what we do. Especially those of us who are social online for our jobs — writers, agents, editors and so on. Reaching out and getting to know people can be a joy, but it’s important to remember that not every encounter will be positive.
As an agent, I have had some negative experiences. There’s always the disgruntled writer who reacts poorly to a rejection letter, no matter how kind it is. I’ve been called names and told to go play in traffic and a number of other unpleasant things. These reactions are certainly rare, a drop in the bucket compared to the number of normal, polite responses I receive, but they do occur and I do occasionally wonder if there’s more behind them than just a bad day and a person who is too quick to hit the send button.
Here’s the thing I want to stress, because it’s been said elsewhere but definitely bears repeating: This person who takes it to the next level, who goes beyond a rude retort, is not a crazy writer; he or she is an individual with some problems who just happens to write. There are plenty of people out there who have emotional or mental issues. These are the people who become stalkers or who react inappropriately to the least provocation or who show up somewhere and lash out and you may never know why. The key is to take reasonable precautions when it comes to letting people know who and where you are.
Keeping Safe on Social Media:
~ If you want to talk about that great new restaurant, do so after you’ve left the building. Go ahead and post photos of your wonderful meal, praise the wait staff and the atmosphere. Just make sure you’re safely out the door before you broadcast to the world.
~ The same goes for using things like FourSquare. You really want to check in at your local coffee shop, you’re moments away from becoming Mayor? Fine. But do it when you’re leaving, not when you first pull into the parking lot.
~ Avoid talking online about your routine in any specifics. If you pick up your kids from school everyday, jog at the local park, or spend every morning at your neighborhood Starbucks, never give out the location on the internet. Anyone paying attention will notice the pattern and know exactly where to find you.
~ If you work from home, put some distance between your work life and your private life. Invest in a P.O. box for work-related mail, make sure your name and address is masked by the company hosting your URL/website, and refrain from talking about your immediate neighborhood in any detail.
~ Be respectful of giving away other people’s information. Don’t assume your friends are fine with you telling everyone you know that you’re all out to dinner together or at a great concert. Likewise, ask before Tweeting photos of your buddies, especially if the location is identifiable. Not everyone is comfortable having their face on the internet.
Social media and the internet in general have made it far, far easier for us all to connect with each other. This can be fabulous when used as a marketing tool, or just as a means of widening our experiences and meeting new people. But likewise, it can make it just as simple for people to find us, whether or not we’d like them to do so. Take a few basic precautions online, and you’ll go a long way toward staying safe when you step away from your computer.