Once you've finished your Great American Novel, how do you go about getting published? You can either shop it out to various publishing houses or get an agent to do that for you. Unless you go the small press, e-pub, or self-publishing route, you'll find that most editors don't accept unsolicited work and won't work with unrepresented authors. Agents have the connections you need to get your manuscript to just the right editor and keep your work out of their K-2 of a slush pile. They will also advocate for you to get a publishing contract that is fair. I'm not going to belabor the Why any further, since there are plenty of blog posts about that. This post is about the How.
Step 1: Finish Your Book
Nonfiction can sell on proposal alone, but with fiction, your agent wants to make sure the book they're representing isn't going to be just another drawer novel (you know, that novel you gave up on after page 50 and have stashed away with your other 50-page magnum opuses).
Make sure your manuscript is polished, and I mean POLISHED! Don't just run spellcheck and call it a day. Your plot and subplots need to hang together in a believable manner. Your characters should feel fully developed and not be cardboard cutouts. Make sure your sentences absolutely sing! I've heard too many horror stories of writers who do Nanowrimo (which is a great way of forcing you to get that first draft on paper, by the way), rush to shop out their 50,000 words, then gripe about the rejection letters that roll in.
Repeat after me: Polish that mutha first!
Step 2: Write Your Query Letter and Synopsis
I find these things intimidating myself. Agent Query and Query Shark have great tips on writing query letters. The query letter is your sales tool, a teaser, the first impression an agent gets of your work. Sometimes it's the only thing they want you to submit before they'll look at a single page, so it has to redefine the word "awesome." To put it on a bumpersticker, you give the book title, word count and genre; then you give a paragraph to summarize the plot (think book jacket blurb) and a tell little about yourself if you've got relevant credentials.
The synopsis summarizes your novel and gives the agent an idea of whether or not you can plot a story efficiently. Condensing your 400-page manuscript into less than five can feel about as pleasant as tearing off your eyelids with a potato peeler; just Google "the dreaded synopsis" and you'll come up with a bazillionty hits. The key is to introduce your main characters, put in the key plot points and leave out the extras like subplots and minor characters.
Agents usually ask for something in the 2-3 page (double-spaced) realm, but you also should have a copy you've condensed to one single-spaced page just in case they ask for the short version. Once in awhile you'll get asked for an outline, which is basically a chapter-by-chapter synopsis (you'll devote about a paragraph for each chapter). It's rare that you'll get that request, but do it anyway. If you don't have it, Murphy's Law dictates that they'll ask for one.
Step 3: Do Your Research
First, make sure the agent you're seeking represents your book genre. It sounds like common sense, but according to a lot of agent interviews, they get so many queries for genres they don't represent. Go to Agent Query, Query Tracker and the Writer's Market to start. Select your genre and get a list of appropriate agents. Cross reference their submission requirements with the requirements on the website.
Follow their submission requirements. Some want only e-queries and others prefer snail mail. Some agents want just the query letter, others want a query and synopsis, and still others want both the above plus some sample pages or chapters. When they ask for sample chapters, they mean chapter one up until whatever specified page or chapter number. Don't get cute and give them something from the middle; you've gotta hook them from the first page. If the agent doesn't specify what to send, you can either send just the query, or send the query, a short synopsis (1-2 pages), and your first 5-10 pages.
Before you do any of that, make sure the agent is legit. If an agent is seeking you out, run. This person probably charges reading fees and sends you off to the book doctor who gives them kickbacks. Legitimate agents have more clients banging on their door than they can handle. Also, a legitimate agent makes their money strictly by commission (15% domestic is the standard). A fee-charging scam artist makes their money in reading fees and kickbacks, so they're not going to shop your manuscript out to publishers. Remember: Money is supposed to flow to the writer.
Also, make sure your agent has the industry experience and contacts they need to get your book to the right editors. If the agent is new, they should have made their bones apprenticing at a reputable agency or working for a legitimate publisher so they can get the aforementioned contacts. You don't want you new agent to have just woken up out of the blue, decided to be an agent and hung out a shingle. That person might not be a scam artist, but they won't be able to get your manuscript out of the editor's slush pile. Check out sites like Preditors and Editors, and go to the Absolute Write Water Cooler forum and check out any agent you have questions on.
It also helps to do a spreadsheet as you go. That way you can put in notes like how long they take to respond, the date you queried, whether you're allowed to query multiple agents in the same agency. Don't blow your wad all at once, either. Query 5-10 at a time and wait about a month to 6 weeks to hear back. Then query 5-10 more. That way you can keep track of who you queried and when. Also, this helps you to see if the query letter you're sending out now is actually working or if you need to tweak it.
In the meantime, keep writing your next book because it's all about the wait now. You will get rejected too. I'm not saying this to be discouraging, I'm just saying this as a fact. Everyone gets rejected, even the greats did at some point.
So finish your book, do your research and start developing that callus on your entire epidermis, because you're gonna need it.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Critique Partners From Hades
Just like with any other social situation, you'll deal with all kinds of people when you join a critique group. If you're in the right group, the differences and diversity should be an asset, because things would get dull if everyone were of one hive mind. That said, if you find any of these types in your midst do what you can to get rid of them:
While they may seem different on the surface (one tends to lean to the right and the other to the left), they both have something in common: censoring and sanitizing your work. They're the ones who wring their hands every time a character lights up a cigarette ("Can't you have a subplot where she's trying to quit?"), takes a drink or lets a cuss word escape her lips. They're the ones who clutch their pearls if your character doesn't recycle, has a single shallow thought in the entire manuscript, or *gasp!* wants to get married and have a baby. Both these people tend to forget that you're writing a story and not a pamphlet on their version of perfection.
The occasional drink, smoke or swear word isn't going to turn your character into a glue-huffing porno queen, but be careful that you're not using those things in an attempt to be subversive. Vices and swearing haven't been edgy since the Lenny Bruce era. Having a character that wants to get married and have babies isn't going to make you the second coming of Phyllis Schlafly, but make sure that character is a fully fledged human being and not a caricature of every biological clock routine in hack comedy.
You just have to be true to your story and to your character. You can't sanitize and PC your book to death, because no matter what you write, somebody somewhere is going to get offended anyway.
Also known as The Shredder, The Hater, or as this article states, The Carb-Free Poop Sandwich Peddler (her post inspired me to write mine, so credit where credit's due). This person only tells you what didn't work in your manuscript and is so stingy with the compliments you wonder if there's a worldwide shortage. You know you've run into one when your Inner Critic starts taking on their form.
Some in this category are so completely in the editing zone that they forget to point out the goods; if this is the case, you can ask them to point out what did work in addition to what didn't to make it a more balanced critique. They're not haters so much as oblivious, and those with good intentions tend to mend their ways (and feel free to correct them when they backslide).
Others in this category are not so oblivious as much as malicious. They're the ones who look at you with narrowed eyes and pinched lips as they tick off everything they hate and equate compliments with coddling. They get personally offended when your first draft doesn't read like a bestseller and accuse you of wasting their time. Ironically, that same person gets mysteriously thin-skinned when forced to taste their own medicine. Remember, their feelings are a precious natural resource while everyone else's are a silly little afterthought.
Their opinions are facts, their word is law, and their narcissism knows no bounds. Some of them are legalists and so hung up on technical correctness the first sign of a bent or broken rule (even if it's done for good reason) sends The Know-it-All scurrying for their red pen. Some of them have an outdated version of the rules and insist that your (correct!) formatting is going to land you in the slush pile. Your manuscript can be cleaner than an operating room, but they will still find something to pick at, even if it's something as innocuous as a typo and belabor that sucker to death, because nothing escapes his notice. Nothing.
Do not confuse this person with The Researcher or The Fact-Checker. Those people know a lot about a lot and will keep your manuscript from looking like a case of Author Research Fail. If they don't know that answer themselves, they know where you might find it. The Know-it-All, on the other hand, merely inflates her knowledge. She gives advice, not to help, but to show you just how much more she knows than you do.
The Special Snowflake
This person can overlap with the above CP's from Hades, or they can be their own special brand of hell. If it's a large group and everyone is given an allotted amount of time to speak, The Special Snowflake feels entitled to keep going once the timer goes off, and also sees nothing wrong with talking over another member's turn. They sometimes neglect critiquing your work or give you the bare minimum of effort, yet they will e-mail a submission well past the deadline and expect you to do a thorough job with it. The Special Snowflake will have an excuse ready as to why the rules of writing and critiquing don't apply to them but if you have a minor infraction, they're ready to read you the riot act. In other words, this person's face needs to meet a tube sock full of nickels.
These CP's are few and far between, and I thank every deity out there for that. If there's only one or two in the group, you and the rest of the members will have to talk to them about their behavior, and if they don't shape up, kick them out. It's hard to do, but grow some ovaries and get it done. If you have a whole group of these types, you're better off finding a new one. Critique groups are supposed to be supportive without coddling you, honest while still being diplomatic, and most of all, they're supposed to keep you wanting to write.
The Moralizer and the PC Police
While they may seem different on the surface (one tends to lean to the right and the other to the left), they both have something in common: censoring and sanitizing your work. They're the ones who wring their hands every time a character lights up a cigarette ("Can't you have a subplot where she's trying to quit?"), takes a drink or lets a cuss word escape her lips. They're the ones who clutch their pearls if your character doesn't recycle, has a single shallow thought in the entire manuscript, or *gasp!* wants to get married and have a baby. Both these people tend to forget that you're writing a story and not a pamphlet on their version of perfection.
The occasional drink, smoke or swear word isn't going to turn your character into a glue-huffing porno queen, but be careful that you're not using those things in an attempt to be subversive. Vices and swearing haven't been edgy since the Lenny Bruce era. Having a character that wants to get married and have babies isn't going to make you the second coming of Phyllis Schlafly, but make sure that character is a fully fledged human being and not a caricature of every biological clock routine in hack comedy.
You just have to be true to your story and to your character. You can't sanitize and PC your book to death, because no matter what you write, somebody somewhere is going to get offended anyway.
The Annihilator
Also known as The Shredder, The Hater, or as this article states, The Carb-Free Poop Sandwich Peddler (her post inspired me to write mine, so credit where credit's due). This person only tells you what didn't work in your manuscript and is so stingy with the compliments you wonder if there's a worldwide shortage. You know you've run into one when your Inner Critic starts taking on their form.
Some in this category are so completely in the editing zone that they forget to point out the goods; if this is the case, you can ask them to point out what did work in addition to what didn't to make it a more balanced critique. They're not haters so much as oblivious, and those with good intentions tend to mend their ways (and feel free to correct them when they backslide).
Others in this category are not so oblivious as much as malicious. They're the ones who look at you with narrowed eyes and pinched lips as they tick off everything they hate and equate compliments with coddling. They get personally offended when your first draft doesn't read like a bestseller and accuse you of wasting their time. Ironically, that same person gets mysteriously thin-skinned when forced to taste their own medicine. Remember, their feelings are a precious natural resource while everyone else's are a silly little afterthought.
The Know-it-All
Their opinions are facts, their word is law, and their narcissism knows no bounds. Some of them are legalists and so hung up on technical correctness the first sign of a bent or broken rule (even if it's done for good reason) sends The Know-it-All scurrying for their red pen. Some of them have an outdated version of the rules and insist that your (correct!) formatting is going to land you in the slush pile. Your manuscript can be cleaner than an operating room, but they will still find something to pick at, even if it's something as innocuous as a typo and belabor that sucker to death, because nothing escapes his notice. Nothing.
Do not confuse this person with The Researcher or The Fact-Checker. Those people know a lot about a lot and will keep your manuscript from looking like a case of Author Research Fail. If they don't know that answer themselves, they know where you might find it. The Know-it-All, on the other hand, merely inflates her knowledge. She gives advice, not to help, but to show you just how much more she knows than you do.
The Special Snowflake
This person can overlap with the above CP's from Hades, or they can be their own special brand of hell. If it's a large group and everyone is given an allotted amount of time to speak, The Special Snowflake feels entitled to keep going once the timer goes off, and also sees nothing wrong with talking over another member's turn. They sometimes neglect critiquing your work or give you the bare minimum of effort, yet they will e-mail a submission well past the deadline and expect you to do a thorough job with it. The Special Snowflake will have an excuse ready as to why the rules of writing and critiquing don't apply to them but if you have a minor infraction, they're ready to read you the riot act. In other words, this person's face needs to meet a tube sock full of nickels.
These CP's are few and far between, and I thank every deity out there for that. If there's only one or two in the group, you and the rest of the members will have to talk to them about their behavior, and if they don't shape up, kick them out. It's hard to do, but grow some ovaries and get it done. If you have a whole group of these types, you're better off finding a new one. Critique groups are supposed to be supportive without coddling you, honest while still being diplomatic, and most of all, they're supposed to keep you wanting to write.
So You Want to Join a Critique Group
We've all been there. Sometimes when you write, you're so close to your work that it's hard to see if the story on paper matches the story in your head. Give it to a friend or a family member and all they tell you is, "It was good," without elaboration; or if you have the friends and family from hell, they'll tell you to burn it, bury it and declare its grave site the illegitimate child of Three Mile Island. This is where a critique group comes in handy.
With anything, there are naysayers. Some oppose these groups, especially if they're mostly made up of unpublished writers, because it's a case of the blind leading the blind. That can be true if you're not careful in choosing your critique partners, and this is why it's a good idea to audition a group for a couple of sessions before you submit your own work.
Others oppose critique groups because they think the stories that make it out of there sound like they've been written by a committee, and that can be the case if you blindly implement every bit of feedback you get.
In the worst-case scenario (and mind you, I'm just generalizing and broad-stroking it here), you'll get the sci-fi guy who thinks your women's fiction novel is too touchy-feely, you'll get the book-club junkie who wants to turn your breezy subway read into an Oprah-approved weepie, you'll get the thriller writer who wants more action in your literary piece, the literary writer who bleeds ink all over your mystery because plots are for the great unwashed, you'll get the erotica writer who wants to turn your chaste-and-sweet Regency into something X-rated, the glamor-lit novelist who hates all that science-type stuff in your technothriller, and the Christian romance author who blacks out every swear word in your Chuck Palahniuk-inspired novel. Now that I've offended everyone and used up my comma-splice allowance for the day, let's move on.
You will want to find the right group for you, whether it's online or in person. Online groups are handy if there's a shortage of writers in your area. If a group is open to the public, you will come across every kind of writing you can think of and have to ask yourself if you're okay with critiquing styles and genres outside your comfort level. Private groups tend to be more focused (prose-only, fiction-only, genre-specific, etc.) and members tend to be more serious about the craft.
Are you trying to get published? If so, it's best to find a group of members with that same goal, because they'll likely be better versed in the writing craft (one would hope, anyway) than someone who scribbles for funsies. There's no right or wrong group to join, just the right or wrong group for you.
It also helps that you have your first draft finished before you start submitting, because it's harder for other members to influence the direction of your story at this point. If you're like me and need a deadline to get you to write that draft in the first place, then at least have a good idea of where you want your story to go.
When receiving feedback, don't feel obligated to use everything that comes your way, especially since you're bound to get conflicting advice. You need to weigh the critiques and pick which ones fit with your vision of your story. Of course, if the majority of the group has the same issue with a particular scene, you need to take note, because they probably have a point (assuming they're not lobotomized or just plain old clueless about certain genre conventions). As my beta reader told me, take what you need and shit-can the rest.
When it comes to critiquing, it helps to know where the writer is in their work. If it's a first draft, don't belabor the line edits, typos, and word choices unless they're so bad they pull you out of the story. The first draft is the time to let the writer know if the plot hangs together, if the characters are ringing true, or if there's anything that makes your eyes glaze over (or if it's so good you miss your stop on the commuter train). Resist the temptation to rewrite their story for them. It's not your book. When in doubt, ask the writer what they're looking for in a critique.
In short, choose your group carefully and don't feel obligated to stick around if it's not working for you. There's always another one you can join. I am also going to recommend you read The Writing and Critique Group Survival Guide by Becky Levine. She goes into more depth than I can in a blog post.
With anything, there are naysayers. Some oppose these groups, especially if they're mostly made up of unpublished writers, because it's a case of the blind leading the blind. That can be true if you're not careful in choosing your critique partners, and this is why it's a good idea to audition a group for a couple of sessions before you submit your own work.
Others oppose critique groups because they think the stories that make it out of there sound like they've been written by a committee, and that can be the case if you blindly implement every bit of feedback you get.
In the worst-case scenario (and mind you, I'm just generalizing and broad-stroking it here), you'll get the sci-fi guy who thinks your women's fiction novel is too touchy-feely, you'll get the book-club junkie who wants to turn your breezy subway read into an Oprah-approved weepie, you'll get the thriller writer who wants more action in your literary piece, the literary writer who bleeds ink all over your mystery because plots are for the great unwashed, you'll get the erotica writer who wants to turn your chaste-and-sweet Regency into something X-rated, the glamor-lit novelist who hates all that science-type stuff in your technothriller, and the Christian romance author who blacks out every swear word in your Chuck Palahniuk-inspired novel. Now that I've offended everyone and used up my comma-splice allowance for the day, let's move on.
You will want to find the right group for you, whether it's online or in person. Online groups are handy if there's a shortage of writers in your area. If a group is open to the public, you will come across every kind of writing you can think of and have to ask yourself if you're okay with critiquing styles and genres outside your comfort level. Private groups tend to be more focused (prose-only, fiction-only, genre-specific, etc.) and members tend to be more serious about the craft.
Are you trying to get published? If so, it's best to find a group of members with that same goal, because they'll likely be better versed in the writing craft (one would hope, anyway) than someone who scribbles for funsies. There's no right or wrong group to join, just the right or wrong group for you.
It also helps that you have your first draft finished before you start submitting, because it's harder for other members to influence the direction of your story at this point. If you're like me and need a deadline to get you to write that draft in the first place, then at least have a good idea of where you want your story to go.
When receiving feedback, don't feel obligated to use everything that comes your way, especially since you're bound to get conflicting advice. You need to weigh the critiques and pick which ones fit with your vision of your story. Of course, if the majority of the group has the same issue with a particular scene, you need to take note, because they probably have a point (assuming they're not lobotomized or just plain old clueless about certain genre conventions). As my beta reader told me, take what you need and shit-can the rest.
When it comes to critiquing, it helps to know where the writer is in their work. If it's a first draft, don't belabor the line edits, typos, and word choices unless they're so bad they pull you out of the story. The first draft is the time to let the writer know if the plot hangs together, if the characters are ringing true, or if there's anything that makes your eyes glaze over (or if it's so good you miss your stop on the commuter train). Resist the temptation to rewrite their story for them. It's not your book. When in doubt, ask the writer what they're looking for in a critique.
In short, choose your group carefully and don't feel obligated to stick around if it's not working for you. There's always another one you can join. I am also going to recommend you read The Writing and Critique Group Survival Guide by Becky Levine. She goes into more depth than I can in a blog post.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
I'm baa-aack!
Wow, that was one hell of a hiatus. I had stuff I had to do, both in the sewing and writing spheres to be specific, and I rescued a little terrier mix a year ago at the end of this month. Charlie says hi, by the way. So I'm back and trying to cultivate my web presence since I'm trying to be a serious author-type lady.
Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)