Agent Monday: Title Talk

Hey gang, happy Agent Monday!  More than half way through January.  We can do this!  The days are getting longer, right? Today I thought I’d talk a little bit about the way writers title their novels. And why it matters when going on the hunt for an agent. Sound good?

Okay, so one of the first things a reader encounters about a published book is the cover and the title.  Like a great cover, an on point memorable title can help with the sale of your book. Makes sense, right? Something vague that doesn’t position the work in a reader’s mind won’t prompt a reader to pick the book up.  Something that sounds kinda like something else, will be confusing. A title that is completely misleading will attract the wrong audience, who will quickly discard the book in most cases, once that audience sees it’s not what they were hoping for.

So, let’s face facts. A title is a marketing hook for your book. Writers, ya gotta accept that. Yes, your book is art, but it is also a product to be sold. So while you artfully create your title, remember that you want it to be sold and read. You want an agent? Then a great title that represents your book well is a solid start.

Think of it this way… Nail that title, making it memorable and just right for your novel, and that title will go into your query. I’ll see that title and think, ah, cool. That’s an awesome title. I’ve got the feel for what the book will be. And I know that’ll give my pitch to editors some punch, because when I get on the phone and talk about the book, I’ll say the title and the editor will light up, thinking, ah, cool!  Fast forward to that editor falling in love with the manuscript and pitching it to her acquisitions committee, which sometimes is made up of editors and sales folk. She says that great title, and the people on the committee are all AH, COOL! Already they can start to picture how they will position this title and sell it, how readers will sit up and take notice.

So title does matter.  Can the title change as it goes into production. Yup. But if you come up with a solid one, chances are pretty good it’ll stick.

Okay, so what are some title mistakes I see in submissions that stream into my inbox? Well, there are those vague titles. Things like: Time and Time Again, or Eternal Love, or Seasons of Change. That sort of stuff that feels like it could be any novel written in any century. Not exactly standouts. Then there are those not right for the readership titles. Like a cutesy one such as The Giggly Girls, which, okay, maybe for a chapter book, but for an edgy YA? Nope.  Or a title like Blessings in Disguise. What sort of book do you think that would be? Certainly not a gripping bloody thriller.  Another, less obvious title mistake? Choosing words that would send people to the dictionary to understand, and that most folks will get wrong spelling wise when they try to search for it on the computer. This isn’t time to elevate the general public.  You want to be found and talked about by readers.  If they can’t even type the words correctly, how the heck are they going to pull it up on their computer to purchase it?

Do I ever represent manuscripts that have not so great titles? Yup, when the query and the book itself overcome the handicap of a misleading or dull title. BUT, the first thing I talk about with that author in our phone chat is that title. It’s gotta change. Are they okay with that? And together we come up with the title that’ll make the book’s pitch really soar.

A title is a marketing hook. Right?

Some great titles by my clients?  FLIP-FLOP DAYS, MARSHMALLOW NIGHTS, by Miriam Glassman, a wonderful middle grade manuscript that takes place in sleep over camp. ELIZA BING IS (NOT) A BIG FAT QUITTER, by Carmella Van Vleet (which has just gone on sale!, Holiday House), a fab middle grade novel about a girl with ADHD who is determined to prove she can stick with something to the very end. FOLLOWING YOU, by Stephanie Winkelhake, a gorgeous YA manuscript about a dead ex-boyfriend who just can’t leave.  FROM ROOTS TO WINGS, a sweeping debut historical by Harmony Verna, about two orphans surviving in gritty late-1800s Australia in a difficult search for home and for love. And here’s my own recent novel’s title: DRAWN, which is a YA about a young artist who starts sketching a guy from another time, and is drawn into his world in the 1400s.

Not all of these titles started this way, but reading this list, can’t you start to grasp the tone and the sort of book it will be?  That’s what it’s all about.

*Marie is an Associate Agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City.  To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site by clicking on the “Subscribe to Marie’s site here” link located on her page on the upper left margin.

Agent Monday: Got Media? (Social Media, That is…)

Happy sunny Agent Monday to you all!  Get a bunch of writers together and the talk quickly turns to…social media? Yup, that’s right. I find this is on plenty of writers’ minds these days. At conferences, Q&A’s quickly turn to this subject.  At the Writer’s Coffeehouse I ran yesterday at the Willow Grove Barnes & Noble, it dominated our talk. And rightly so. So today I’m going to chat a bit about the big question editors and agents will be asking if they are interested in your writing: Got Media? (Social media, that is…)

You may think why bother with that? The novel’s the thing, right? Social media takes time. It’s not your thing. You are a writer not a promoter after all. Etc. etc. etc. BUT here’s a sobering thought… The other weekend at the Lucky 13 Conference hosted by the MD-DE-WV branch of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, fab Bloomsbury Children’s Books editor Laura Whitaker told everyone an important truth: If you as an author don’t have any online presence at all, that hurts your book’s chances when she takes it to an acquisitions meeting.

Wow, right? An editor can love your manuscript enough to take it to an acquisitions meeting, and the fact that the author has no social media presence at all can make your book harder to sell to the publisher.  If that doesn’t make you serious about getting yourself out there online, I don’t know what will.

But this shouldn’t come as a shock to you by now. Authors must now take on some responsibility for their own book’s promotion. When I find a manuscript that I’m interested in, before I make “the call” to offer them representation I google that person to see if they have any online presence and if it is a positive one (cuz a negative presence where you are bashing writers, editors or agents on line is not going to help you appear professional…).  And when I do make “the call,” one of the very first things I then ask the writer is if they understand that they must be willing to help market their work and that this includes online stuff.  It’s a critical piece of the puzzle that makes up a successful author and book.

Trust me, Bloomsbury is not an anomaly – all publishers are looking for this from their potential authors.

So what does this mean?  It means that first of all you should google yourself and see what pops up. Do you exist “out there”?  Is what you find positive? At the minimum, you should have a website under your author name (not your book title, cuz titles can change and you’ll have more than one book in you in the future, true?), a facebook page that keeps things professional, and a twitter page.  Think of these as your online business cards and present yourself accordingly.

Don’t be intimidated by all this if it’s all new to you. Hey, got a teen in your life?  They’ll set you up in a matter of seconds on facebook and twitter. And websites aren’t the expensive scary things they used to be. The one you are looking at right now? I set it up free on wordpress, and I purchased my marielamba.com domain, setting it up so that when folks key it in, they are redirected here. Easy peasy.

So help yourself be seen, help you as an author be viewed as someone plugged in and ready to market your work. Take it one step at a time. We’ll all be glad you did.

 

*Marie is an Associate Agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York City.  To keep up with all her posts, subscribe to her site by clicking on the “Subscribe to Marie’s site here” link located on her page on the upper left margin.

 

Why Writers Win III: Four Things Writers Can Do RIGHT NOW!

If you’ve been following this blog, then you know I believe the Age of the Author is upon us. Are you taking advantage of all the positive changes? In this post I’ll delineate four things I believe all writers should do right now to advance their writing careers and benefit from the current publishing revolution…

This is the last post in my 3-part series on WHY WRITERS WIN.  In this series, which is taken from a talk I gave at the Write Stuff Conference, I look at the current industry changes through both my author and my associate agent (at Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency) spectacles, and I like much of what I see.

In my first post, I talked about the publishing revolution and the scary changes it is stirring up for writers, plus the many positive opportunities these changes are bringing to us creative folk. My second post delved into the great opportunities that self-publishing is presenting to us authors, as well as the many terrific changes big publishers are now making to improve their relationships and partnerships with authors.

So here are four things you should do to make this YOUR Age of the Author.

1. Get writing!

Simply put: write the best book you can, and work your butt off to learn your craft and perfect your writing.  Sounds simple, but it is the most complex of the four recommendations.  Don’t lose sight of this goal. No matter what changes are afoot, this is still the most important thing for you to focus on in your career.

2. Get smart

Plug into what’s really going on now.  You’ll discover even more opportunities, ways to take advantage of trends and avoid career missteps as this revolution rolls along.  To do this, you simply must attend writers conferences and workshops, and connect with fellow writers and editors and agents to learn from their experiences. I got my first book deal with Random House for my novel What I Meant… by making contact with editors and agents entirely through conferences.  You can see how I used these conferences to make it all happen by checking out my article Why Conferences: Or How I Got My Agent and Editor.

Also, please DO consider subscribing to Publishersmarketplace.com.  You can share the subscription with other writers, you can subscribe for only a month or two at a time, whatever works for you.  It’s a phenomenal resource.  There’s a free daily newsletter you can get without a subscription, but it’s nothing compared to the site. Thinking about writing a novel about serfs during the end of the dark ages? Before you dip your toe into years of research and toil, type in some key words into Publishersmarketplace and you’ll quickly know all the major books on your topic that have come out in the past 10 years, you’ll know what overlapping books have recently been purchased but not yet come out on the same subject, and you’ll be able to craft your novel to be unique.  You’ll also know all the publishers, editors and agents who dealt with those books…perfect info for submissions.  So why aren’t you subscribing to this again???

Another way to stay plugged in is to subscribe to the relevant free newsletters that publishersweekly.com emails out.  I always get their general PWDaily newsletter along with their Children’s Bookshelf newsletter, but there are others related to religious books, cook books and comics.  Subscribe to whatever you want here.

Also, you simply must join and participate in writing organizations relevant to what you write in order to make important connections and learn! Organizations like The Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators, Romance Writers of America, etc. not only focus on an area that interests you, but also offer phenomenal local conferences, workshops and meetings bringing editors and agents and writers together in an accessible environment.  They also have wonderful online communities where you can ask questions, and share your concerns with others in the know. Search for the organizations that encompass your writing interests, and dig deeper to find your fit.

I know, I know.  It all sounds like SO MUCH WORK AND TIME.  But you will actually be saving time in the long run.  You can use all the info you glean to focus your queries, to write books that are best placed for your market, and to move yourself ahead in your career while becoming part of a supportive community.  I’d like you to take on the challenge to get plugged in to your business side, and I’d like you to look back five years from now…even one year from now…and see a huge difference in your knowledge and your connections!

Finally, if you are looking for an agent, find one who is right for YOU, and who will keep abreast on all the shifts in the business, in rights, and in the best options for your future career.  You want an agent that will represent your CAREER, not just your book.  In these shifting times, you need someone with vision, who will also have eyes wide open to all the opportunities the changing publishing landscape presents.

3. Get Found!

Yeah, this is about all that online “stuff.” At the minimum, you should buy a domain in your name (not in your book’s name…titles get changed…you’ll write more than one book…etc.), and set up a webpage that will represent you.  I have a paid domain, but this website is free (wordpress.com) and I easily handle all the layout and content myself.  No dominatrix webmistress required, and I have complete control, which means I can update whenever I like.

Make creating your website a priority. Think of it as your virtual business card.  Yes, you need one even if you haven’t published yet.  Here’s what it can include: 1. What sort of writing you do.  2. Your bio and author pic. 3. Brief excerpt of your work (very brief). 4. Later on you can add links to buy your works, and appropriate listings of appearances, etc. 5. Book trailers, videos/vlogs are all fun and cheap to do if right for you and your work.  So, with your virtual business card (a.k.a. your website) in place, you can link back to it in posts elsewhere, in your email signature line, etc.

You also want to create a facebook page, and point it back to your website, plus a Twitter account that has a profile which points back to your website, and a LinkedIn page that…oh, you get the idea.  And go to goodreads.com to create a profile as a reader.  If you’ve pubbed a book, then get that author account, and use it!

Not sure any of this is worth your time?  I’m crossing my arms and sending you my most severe scowl right now (which, considering I’m only 5’2″, isn’t all that intimidating, but still…)  Google your name in quotes right now and see what comes up.  Now Google “Marie Lamba” and check out what pops up.  Much of what you’ll see stems from me taking the above steps to “get found.”  And when I get submissions from authors and I’m interested in them, guess what I do?  Yup. I Google em.  Wouldn’t you love for what pops up to be something positive and professional?

I know, I KNOW!  Oh the TIME involved in this.  Time that should be SPENT WRITING.  But it is a business too.  Think of all this as free advertising.  Think of just how many thousands of dollars you would have had to spend on ads just 20 years ago to reach even a fraction of the people who you could with all this new cool FREE stuff.  And once you set it all up, you can just spend 15 minutes per day checking in and updating if needed, or commenting.  But remember that whatever you put out there is getting found by a future reader, or editor, or agent, and act accordingly.

4. Get Read

Take advantage of digital and self publishing options to boost your readership for existing and to-be-released novels, and boost your success as a writer! I touched on this a little bit in the second post in this series. I must remind you of two important caveats. Caveat 1: only put out your very best work that is as good as anything that a big NYC publisher would print. Caveat 2: be aware of pre-existing contracts and rights that you are involved in, and keep your editor and agent in the loop.

So…how can self-publishing (let’s call it by its hipper name “indie publishing”) be used as a career building/reader building tool?

Well, you can, of course, release a book yourself to begin to build your fan base.  This can work well with genre writing, especially with a series.  You can write short stories related to your book, and release these in ebook free or cheap, with a link to your full novel (which will, of course, be at a higher price). You can offer through your website extras like downloadable outtakes from your novel. If you have a niche market, you can indie publish your title and reach the right folk.

So, with the groundswell of change going on, indie publishing is now a cool way to reach readers, which is kinda the reason why we write in the first place. BUT don’t indie-publish a book expecting to get an agent to then take it on and sell it to a big publisher. You need huge sales to do this (we’re talking in the 10,000 range), and you still need to make the agent and then a publisher fall in love with that book.  Your rights on that book will be muddied. HOWEVER, say you have an indie pubbed novel that is praised and doing fairly well.  Then you approach an agent with a different novel.  Well, it can show you have been well-received and have already begun building an audience.  I see that as a definite plus.

Determined to go 100% traditional publishing? Cool.  But why not have a few related short stories on hand in reserve to help with your traditional book’s promotion? Or some other extras you can offer online as bonus material.  Very cool, right?  Big publishers are already seeing the wisdom of this, doing stuff like offering 99 cent prequels, 99 cent short stories with a 45 page preview of a related book included…and they are doing these in advance of print releases.  It’s advertising, baby.

So open your mind to the possibilities…possibilities to reach readers that we never had before. In the olden days, a print ARC (advance reader copy) cost big bucks to print and mail to advance readers in order to generate buzz.  Today? Ebooks cost next to nothing.  One FLUX author Linda Joy Singleton gave away close to 70,000 ebooks of a first novel in a series of 5.  The rest of her series sold HUGE since so many readers were invested in finding out what happened next.

What can we writers learn from this? Would a free novella ebook be the right way to build your audience?  Every author/book is different, but it is worth considering the options. Options that are now at our fingertips.

Yup, boundaries between traditional and indie, between writer and reader are blurring all around us.  I see it as a good thing.  I want my authors to succeed, to be read.  Today there are more ways to publish, to promote…more opportunities to reach readers and communicate with fans, too.  Now we can each create books that will come alive for readers, and never ever die.

In wrapping up this 3-part WHY WRITERS WIN series, I want you to fully understand what all of this means.  This means you as a writer will never again have to have a brilliant manuscript sitting on your bookshelf never to be seen by readers. People who say that the reason a book isn’t accepted by big publishers is because it isn’t good enough are not 100% correct.  Many books are passed over because of the marketplace, because of past sales figures, because they are too niche for a big press, etc. etc. etc. Some of these rejected books are actually fabulous.

Now you have many tools to shape your career. Now you can promote your writing for next to nothing. Now you can write what you LOVE and know that readers will get a chance to see it.  So take these four steps.  And CELEBRATE folks, for THE AGE OF THE AUTHOR is here.

Happy writing,
Marie 

Drawn from my Art Background

Sketch from Marie's England journal

In some way or other, aspects of my own life seep into my novels. And in my new paranormal YA novel Drawn you will find it’s the artist in me.  Like in these lines from the novel:

“I sit on a wooden pew in the back row, flip open my pad and lose myself in my sketch.

Things make sense when I draw. Everything is angles and texture and relationships.”

Like Michelle in this novel, I’m a very visual person. I notice the slant of an eyebrow, the curl of someone’s hair along their neck, the slightest twist at the corner of a mouth. In college I double-majored in English and in Literary Art, which was a major I created that blended creative writing and fine art.  My plan was to become a writer/illustrator, but since then I’ve been all writer.  The artist side of me has always been within me, though, lurking.

As an artist, I tend to unconsciously sketch the lines of things I see. You might find the pointer finger of my left hand (southpaw, here) tracing the lines of what I see onto my lap or on a tabletop.  And as a writer, this “mental sketching” naturally filters into my writing. I’m always making connections about what things look like.  It filters into my scenery, like in this part of my novel when Michelle is describing a graveyard she’s walking through:

I like St. Paul’s because you enter its yard through a little wooden gateway with a peaked roof. The roof leans to the left and the gate makes a horror-movie squeak when you open it. Best of all, the graveyard is filled with stones in varying stages of decay. Tall ones lean forward or backward like giant levers that have been pushed or pulled. And full-sized carved stone images of knights in armor on top of marble slabs look like they’d laid down for a nap and froze into place for a few hundred years. Closest to the tiny church are the oldest graves. Words washed away by time. Stones cracked and crumbling. My favorite stones are the ones that look like giant gingerbread noblemen resting on the ground. Their arms and legs are separated from their bodies as if they’d been soaked in milk for too long.

And it shapes my character descriptions, too:

He rubs his chin. “Yet there is something, indeed. And you wield some power over me. I feel it.”

I shake my head but I think there is something about him. Christopher has this rugged appeal that makes even William Wallingford ordinary in comparison. I can’t seem to look away. It’s as if I’m studying him for a portrait. I notice he tends to raise his chin. The very corners of his mouth curve up, making him seem slightly arrogant. And his eyes. Their light color gives them endless depth. Yet they seem so full of…of what?

Longing.

I glance away, surprised.

Of course the fun here is that Michelle actually is an artist too. This means I can use her powers of observation to shape what the reader sees, and her drawing skills are integral to the plot.  Through her drawings she starts to channel what is either a ghost or a delusion. And her ability to notice details ultimately helps her to put together the pieces in an ancient mystery.  It also presents a great opportunity for me as the writer to create some beautiful images, especially of the guy Michelle is so drawn to:

I take a deep breath and open the door. The flickering fire in the small stone hearth casts a shadowy light. Christopher is in his bed asleep. I close the door and press my back against it. My eyes fill with grateful tears. I’m not too late.

He is bare-chested, a sheet covering him just below his arms. His one arm is flung over his head and his chin is turned toward the fire. The coin he took from me hangs on a chain around his neck, a silvery orb resting in the hollow of his throat. I quietly set my bag beside the door, peel off my sweater and crouch beside the bed, wincing from my sore knees. But what do sore knees matter? He’s here and he’s real and he’s safe and he’s even more beautiful than I’d remembered. I’m glad he’s asleep so I can look closely at him without embarrassment. The pout of his lips. The curl of his dark lashes. His flexed bicep. I long to touch him but can’t bear to wake him.

I’ll draw him.

I’ll draw him…  With Drawn, it’s as close as I’ve come to being the writer/illustrator I’d once envisioned I’d become.  I did draw the book’s cover myself, which is a pencil sketch painted with India ink. I guess in a way I am a writer/illustrator and always have been. Just painting images with words.

And hoping you, as the reader, are seeing what I see.

Happy reads,

Marie

Resolution: Put Writing First

Happy 2010 all!  Confession: New Year’s is my least favorite holiday.  If it were up to me, I’d just go to bed at 10 and wake up the next morning around 10 and have a nice brunch. I know, exciting, right? Fact is that as a fiction author I’m all too often plotting in my head the what ifs. What if we, or someone we know is driving home from a party, and some drunken jerk is on the road. Shiver…

But there is something I do love about New Year’s: the fresh start.  Here’s where the fiction writer in me can plot eagerly. What will come in the next year? What do I want to change? What do I look forward to?  Naturally, I’m really into the whole resolution thing.  And I love to hear what other people’s resolutions are, too.  But every single person I’ve hung out with in the past few days has had no resolution. Or, worse, a resolution to never make resolutions.  Bummer.  And just this morning on the news they said just having a resolution makes you 10 times more likely to accomplish your goal. So feel smug resolution holders! (They also said that telling people your resolution and putting it in writing, keeps you more on target and keeps that goal from just fading away. If you want to add your resolution in a comment after this post, go for it, dude.)

I, of course, DO have a resolution: Put Writing First.

I’m a full-time writer, and I do spend plenty of time on my computer, but just how much of that time is devoted to fiction? Hm, definitely not as much as I’d like.  Like most authors these days I spend a huge amount of my time doing promotion. Setting up signings, getting in touch with press, doing interviews, organizing and running workshops. It’s fun and rewarding, but time consuming. (If you’d like to see what promotion you can do for your own writing, visit my post on it by clicking here.) Yet promotion is something we authors just can’t walk away from, not if we want our books to get into the hands of our readers. Gone are the days when writers wore tweed and cat glasses and squirreled themselves away into a room for months on end, only emerging briefly, blinking from the shock of daylight, to deliver a manuscript. Gone are the days when promotion was up to the publisher.  We writers today must be experts in every phase of a book’s life.  Writing is less and less a part of an author’s everyday ritual. Phooey.

A typical day for me involves checking my emails on various accounts and following up on what’s there. Next I stop by facebook, twitter, wordpress, verlakay’s blueboards. Sometimes I’m updating folks on appearances I’m doing, sometimes I’m promoting a fellow author’s accomplishments, and sometimes I’m just giving folks a glimpse of my life. Then I read the free newsletters sent to me: Publisher’s Lunch, and Shelf Awareness. This keeps me current with what’s going on in the industry. And that’s just for starters.

If I have a busy appearance schedule, I’m doing back and forth correspondence with organizers, I’m writing features and press releases about the events, I’m sending out this press. This can eat up DAYS. And if I’m actually making an appearance, there is time spent preparing for it, printing up promo material to bring, plus the time spent getting there, and being there. More days gone. And still no writing.

In addition to all this, there’s junk that I do. I confess that before I get down to really writing something, I get nervous. Especially if it’s a dicey bit of a novel. A complicated scene or a section that I’m unsure of. Then I hit the games on my computer. Huge confession: I’ve played so much spider solitaire that I’ve developed carpal tunnel syndrome. Luckily I’m not one to waste time watching t.v. (and luckily daytime t.v. sucks), and I actually have a fairly serious work ethic, but still…

Then there’s the other stuff I’m involved in. I’m in two different writing groups. One involves lengthy and rewarding critiques, the other involves lots of promotion. Since I am technically the stay-at-home-mom in this family, I’m the one who cleans the house and buys the food and cooks the meals. (My wild fantasy is that someday I will be able to afford a maid. Ooooo!) I’m also the one who ferries the kids to lessons, sports, etc. etc.  Plus I’m a scout leader.  As a writer, I’m an organizer.  I love to envision stuff and pull it all together. I like to think big. My scout troop is going to London this year, and guess who is planning the bulk of it…

So life is full. Life is good. But in 2010 I resolved to PUT WRITING FIRST!  One thing I know about myself is that once I start working on my fiction, I’m instantly on a roll. Four hours, six hours, ten hours. I can sit there forever and time flies. Because of things like meals and kids and sleep, I really can’t write like I want to. If it were up to me and only me, I’d write all day all night, and someone would slip great food under my door until a novel is complete. I don’t live and write in a bubble, but what if, instead of checking all those on-line sites, answering all those emails, and doing all that promotion, I simply start my fiction first? What if I didn’t play spider solitaire? Or follow up on what’s happening in the industry everyday? Or didn’t book so many appearances until I’ve finished a manuscript? Wouldn’t I have so many more manuscripts to put out there in the world? Wouldn’t I be happier?

So here’s the goal…first thing in the morning I go to the computer, forget about going on line (this is going to be a tough one), forget about playing spider solitaire-solitaire-minesweeper-hearts (this is going to be even tougher), and I will spend the next few hours writing. Just writing. Not press releases, not feature stories, not emails, just fiction. And then I can do everything else. AFTER.

Okay, I’ve officially put my resolution in writing. I’m ten times more likely to accomplish it now. I feel mighty. I feel like playing a quick game of spider solitaire. But no. I’m redoing my writing life. I can do this. I can!

To my fellow writers, be bold, be organized. Remember we do have some control over what we actually create, and we CAN make better use of our time.  2010. A new year. A fresh beginning.

May all of your writing dreams  come true.

Stranger than Fiction: Are Industry Lies Keeping You Down?

To all writers out there who are dutifully following the rules laid out in guidelines and at conferences about submitting your work: getting frustrated much? How well I know that feeling.

If you play strictly by the rules, the whole process could take so long that you just might give up before your manuscript is seriously considered by an agent or an editor.  The following article is for anyone who has a tightly edited manuscript and wants to speed up the whole submission process without completely pissing off the gate-keepers to the publishing world.  I hope it helps you get closer to your dream of publication.

Stranger than Fiction:
Are Industry Lies Keeping You Down?
by Marie Lamba

Never send simultaneous submissions. Always tell you are multiple submitting. Never email. Do this, don’t do that. Yada yada yada. Guess what? Lot’s of this advice might be actually keeping you from getting ahead! Let’s sort some of this stuff out.

The Big Lie:
Never send simultaneous submissions. If you do simultaneous submit, you must tell the editor/agent.

The Big Truth:
Never send simultaneous submissions to two editors or agents in the same company. Other than that, all is fair in love and publishing. Hey, what other business expects you to do things one at a time and wait for months to hear anything? Makes for very poor marketing. And you don’t need to tell anyone it’s simultaneous. Just don’t mention it. Do you really think you are getting two offers from two different people at the same time? Seriously?

I know that if you talk to editors on a conference panel, they’ll tell you just the opposite. Think about it. Why would they want you to flood everybody with submissions? And if you were a buyer, wouldn’t you love to avoid all chances of competition? But talk to professional authors, and they will tell you to simultaneous submit. If they didn’t, they’d still be waiting by the mailbox for a response.

Caveat: Make sure you carefully target your submission to editors and agents who actually handle your type of work, or else you’re wasting everyone’s time. Also, if an agent asks for an exclusive read and you agree, make sure it is an exclusive or be up front if it isn’t. You don’t want to start things on the wrong foot.

The Big Lie:
Be patient.

The Big Truth:
Patience is sometimes stupidity. In every submission, include a SASE postcard with a check off that they’ve received your work in good condition. If after a month the card is nowhere in sight, email the editor or get on the phone and call to track it down. Otherwise you may be waiting for 4-6 months to hear about a book that they never even received. (Been there, done that.) Of course, if you’re multiple submitting, it won’t be a huge tragedy, but still.

Also, if you haven’t gotten a response to your manuscript in their promised reading time, do a follow-up by email, phone or mail to make sure you’re still in the queue and not lost in a junk pile. Be polite and no nonsense about it. Don’t waste everyone’s time chitchatting.

The Big Lie:
Never Email

The Big Truth:
Email is amazing. Email queries are fast. Agents love these. You can find most agent and editor emails by Googling “their name” plus “email.” Email is also great for a quick follow up on a return postcard that wasn’t sent, or if the manuscript is past the reading time promised. But I wouldn’t email a manuscript unless you got a go ahead for this first.

The Big Lie:
When going to a conference, leave your manuscript at home.

The Big Truth:
Okay, nothing screams AMATEUR more than hauling out that huge manuscript and foisting on an editor at a conference, but it is useful to have the manuscript tucked away just in case. When I was at a pitch slam and the editor liked what I said, he asked, “Could you quickly read me some of it?” I yanked that pile of paper out pronto and started off. Also, I like to bring to conferences a few stapled sets of my first chapter with a one-paragraph summary and contact info attached to them, just in case.

The Big Lie:
If an agent/editor doesn’t get back to you, give up.

The Big Truth:
Always hope. Agents and editors are swamped. They may say response time is 4 months, when in reality it could be 9 months to a year. They lose manuscripts, their computers fail, emails get lost in cyberspace. Always put in that SAS postcard to confirm receipt. If emailing a manuscript, ask for an email confirmation that it was received. Follow up every few months to make sure you’re in the queue and ask if you should resend. You’ll find that most feel really bad about making you wait and will be kind when you touch base with them.

The Biggest Truth of All:
If your manuscript is shoddy, nothing will work. If your manuscript is excellent, GO FOR IT! No one will turn you down, unless you are a complete jerk. So be professional and courteous. When these two qualities are mixed with an excellent work, it is the true formula for success. No lie!

Book Review: Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, by David Lubar

There are certain times in your life when you know that everything is going to change. You feel disoriented, exhausted, anxious, but also excited. In Sleeping Freshman Never Lie, author David Lubar captures this feeling perfectly.

When Scott enters his freshman year of high school, he knows things are going to be different, but still it’s a shock. He goes from being average sized in middle school to feeling like a dwarf among the high school upperclassmen. His friends go off in different directions. And the girl he was friends with in elementary school has suddenly become hot…and has forgotten him completely. This is a fantastic book with real heart and laugh out loud humor. I loved navigating the halls with Scott, and going along for the ride as he tried to figure out who his friends really were, what truly mattered to him, and if he would EVER get enough sleep ever again.

Readers of My Most Excellent Year will enjoy this book, because Lubar also creates a touching story and reminds us of just how adventurous and magical a life in constant flux truly is.

Don’t miss this one!

Website Disaster!

Frustrated. Annoyed. Oh, and a little freaked out. I created my own website with my limited abilities and a really good book, and it’s served me well for about 2 years now. Then I forgot everything I’d learned about building the website, and only mentally retained enough info to update it with author visits, book reviews, stuff like that. But last month, as I was happily doing one of my updates, something happened.

Don’t ask me what, exactly. But somehow all the formatting shifted or disappeared. Cool, right? So fine. I was too busy to deal with it, and I just didn’t. For a month. I didn’t upload the changes to my site, and the news on it just stayed the way it was…dated yes, but formatted correctly still. Now the time had come to confront this snarling monster of a problem. Two days I’ve toiled. Reading that dreaded book that once made sense but now definitely doesn’t. And I fixed it. Yeah! Then published the changes.

Here’s the really sucky thing: the site looked perfect when I previewed it online. But when I published it, total change. A total you’ve-just-wasted-two-whole-days-making-things-even-worse sort of change. Links gone. Navigation bar non-existant. Indiebound link, disappeared. Lines duplicated. Other lines gone completely.

Two terrible things here: anyone who visits my site right now is going to think I’m a whack job, AND I know that it’ll take maybe days for me to unsnarl this mess, and restore things to the way it was before.

Give me strength. And dark chocolate.