JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Industry Life, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 26 - 50 of 84
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Industry Life in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Erin Bowman wrote a great post about the steps in the editing process here, but I wanted to dedicate an entire post to pass pages.
Full confession—despite the fact that I’ve been around writers for years and heard a lot about “pass pages,” I didn’t fully understand what they were until I was about to receive my own! So chances are, if you’re reading this post and you’re not already a traditionally published author, you probably aren’t one hundred percent sure what they are either. No worries! Today I’m going to talk about what pass pages are and the purpose they serve in the process. I’m also going to share my personal experience with them, because I didn’t know what a big impact they were going to have on me until that big envelope came in the mail!
The basics of pass pages…
Pass pages are the actual pages of your book, laid out as they will appear when the book is bound. They are created from the text after copyedits are done. As the author, you’ll receive these pages for your review, which means this is one more time you will be expected to read your own book (after having read it and re-read it for several rounds of revisions, line edits, and copyedits,) but it’s also one final chance to catch mistakes and make any (small) last minute changes.
I first learned about this stage of the process when I confessed to my editor that I was terrified about the prospect of finalizing the text and knowing the book could no longer be “fixed.” (I’m that person who dreads finishing something, because as long as it isn’t finished, it can always get better.) My editor assured me that even after line edits—even after copyedits—I could still make small changes. Because the final opportunity to make those changes didn’t come until I got my pass pages.
When you receive your pass pages, you will be able to review the book as it will appear in the bound copies. It gives you a chance to not only review one last time for typos or errors, but it also gives you the chance to see if the layout caused any unforeseen issues, like a word left alone by itself at the top of a page. You’ll read the text, but a copyeditor will also read it. You write your changes or notes directly on the page (in a color other than black so it stands out!) and send it back by your deadline. While you read through it, a proofreader reads though it as well, so after you return your pages, you may still receive questions from the proofreader, if there are any issues they spotted that may have been missed before.
Also, it’s interesting to note that the changes made at this stage will be incorporated into the final book, but not into the ARCs, since your ARCs will be at the printer by the time you are reviewing your pass pages. (This is why ARCs have that note on the front that says “Uncorrected Proof.”) Also, if you have an issue with the appearance of the text on the page, this is the time to say something, since changes can still be made. One author I know didn’t like the font that was used on sections of her book that were meant to look like handwriting. Pass pages gives an author the chance to discover these issues and have them addressed.
So that’s the mechanics of pass pages. But there’s more to it than that.
The emotional side of pass pages…
For me, seeing these pages for the first time was the most emotional experience of the publishing process so far. When I pulled the stack of pages from the envelope and saw my words laid out like a real book… I cried.
The first page I saw was the title page. I’m not sure why holding the title page felt more real to me than seeing the cover—after all, it’s the same information on both!—but I think it was the tactile experience of holding it in my hands. It’s on paper, just like a real book! Also, I saw for the first time the details created by Erin Fitzsimmons, the wonderfully talented designer who not only designed my cover (which will be revealed on Thursday!) but also the interior of the book. The title page, chapter headings, and page number details were all perfectly suited to the world of the story, and I knew they would support the reader’s experience. This all felt so right, and pretty overwhelming.
The pictures I’ve included here were among many I snapped as soon as I opened the envelope, so I could share the look of the book with my family. I needed to share this “real book” moment! That’s the emotional side of pass pages—the part no one really warns you about.
So that’s it! What do you think? Have you gone through this process yourself? What was your experience like? If you haven’t gone through the pass pages process, do you think you would enjoy it, or do you dread the thought of reading your own book one… more… time… ? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
Hey guys! Hannah here. Last month, I posted some tips on little ways to take your query out of the blah zone. JJ and Kelly also posted an awesome podcast on the query process.
When giving query advice, a lot of us take for granted that you’ll know what we mean when we tell you a query must have a short synopsis of your story. We also take for granted that you’ll figure out how to do this in 300 words or fewer. I’d like to talk a bit more about what goes into creating a good, cohesive summary that will entice an agent to read more in just a few paragraphs.
You’ve probably seen a lot of advice that tells you a good query is comprised of a hook followed by a summary of your story, ending with a bio and a few sentences on why you chose the agent you are querying. Structurally, this is sound. But when you have a sprawling epic with many perspectives, or even a quietly complex contemporary, it can be tough to know how best to distill your story into a summary that makes sense.
What I usually see in the slush is this: a summary that goes over many of the big points in the plot but rushes through due to lack of page space and direction. The agent reading might miss key plot points, or have no idea what that made-up word is. Maybe the summary began too deep into the story, and the agent is confused by the list of events. These questions are distracting for a query reader, and can bring them out of a query quick.
So how do you summarize your novel and do it well? We have a tendency to think we must somehow shove the entire plot into this tiny space. But that isn’t actually the case. The best summaries (even the sprawling, epic ones) contain these: your inciting incident, your main conflict, the plan, and the stakes.
Before we get into the summary, let’s talk about the hook. There are two reasons why your hook is so important. Number one: It’s the hook! Okay, that one is obvious. It’s designed to give agents a peak into your character that entices them into reading more. Number two: if done well, it should help you cut huge swaths of fluff from your summary.
A good hook tells us about the character and the conflict in one go. I’m taking this example of a hook from Erin Bowman’s post Querying: The Do’s and Don’ts (thanks, Erin!), to show you what I mean:
Gray Weathersby is counting down the days until his eighteenth birthday with dread, for in the primitive and isolated town of Claysoot, a boy’s eighteenth is marked not by celebration, but by his disappearance.
We know who the main character is, we know something personal about him when the book opens, and we know what his conflict is going to be. I’m intrigued to keep reading.
Next: What is an inciting incident? This is that moment when the status quo is no more, and the character is forced to take action. This is a step I often see skipped in queries, resulting in a strangely disjointed summary.
Figure out what the inciting moment is for your character, and tell us about it. For example, a precious jewel is stolen from a museum—this is the catalyst for the Private Eye to enter the picture and solve the mystery. Or, your protagonists loses her job and instead of applying elsewhere, chooses to fulfill a dream and travel the world. Tell me about the moment when everything your character thought she knew is turned on its head.
Now that your character has been called to action, tell us what needs to be accomplished. This is where you flesh out your conflict. We don’t need each and every detail; just enough to show us what the protagonist must overcome. The P.I. must now solve the mystery of the stolen diamond—but a nefarious gang will stop at nothing, including murder, to prevent it from happening. And, the more the P.I. digs, the more he unearths about a political conspiracy (give some detail on that conspiracy) attached to the diamond theft. The World Traveler has all of her money stolen in a foreign country. The hostel where she was staying burns down with all of her worldly possessions. Maybe she, too, stumbles into a political conflict she knows nothing about.
So what are your characters going to do about it? They have decisions to make. These decisions are informed by the stakes. For a lowly P.I., getting in the middle of a nefarious gang AND a political conspiracy might not be worth it. So tell me why he gets involved anyway. Is he blackmailed? Does he have a personal tie to a person or plan within the gang or the conspiracy? Tell us why he MUST solve the murder, and what is at stake for him if he doesn’t. For the World Traveler who has lost everything, tell us how she plans to get home, what she must sacrifice to do it, and what happens if she fails. Is her father dying back home? Is her sister getting married? Is her house set for demolition? Why is it important for her to overcome this conflict?
A note on fantasy: it’s very tempting to try and give all the backstory about the world, its magical systems, its government, or its religion. These are things you’ve worked hard on – your story is not the same without these elements. But if character IS story (and it is), then the most important thing is to make us understand your character’s struggle at the most basic level. Leave the made-up words and the complicated hierarchies out of the query.
When you look at the summary in this way, you can see that even sprawling epics can be broken down into short summaries. These components make up the heart of the story, and that’s what an agent wants to see in a query.
I hope this has been useful! If anyone is interested in a Part Three, let me know below!
This week Kelly and JJ talk about CONTRACTS. Yes, contracts. No, it’s not boring, we promise. Also, how Ernest Hemingway can help you write middle grade and how everything is still Hamilton. EVERYTHING WILL ALWAYS BE HAMILTON.
Subscribe to us on iTunes, or use this feed to subscribe through your podcast service of choice!
Show Notes
We haven’t written a ton on the subject of contracts here at PubCrawl, but here is a post by alumni Joanna Volpe and Jordan Hamessley-London:
TL;DR (or TL;DL for Too Long, Didn’t Listen), the three most important clauses to which you should pay attention in your contract are:
Rights of Termination
Delivery
Option/Non-Compete
Creative Endeavors
JJ is still working on her middle grade novel and is reading Ernest Hemingway for research. Not because her middle grade is about bullfighting and notions of masculinity, but because from a craft perspective, no one does spare yet emotionally resonant better than Hemingway.
That’s it for this week! Next week, we will be talking about how to take a story FROM BRAIN TO BOOK: A Look Into the Behind-the-Scenes Publishing Process. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
This week JJ and Kelly discuss submission and acquisition, and give a little insight into the reasons behind why an editor might reject a manuscript. Also, Hamilton. We’ll explain that later.
This week both Kelly and JJ have the same recommendation: HAMILTON.
For those who aren’t plugged into musical theatre buzz, Hamilton is a hip-hop musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Wait, what?
YES. The score, lyrics, and book are by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning composer of In the Heights, based on a biography of Alexander Hamilton written by Ron Chernow. The story goes that when Miranda was on vacation from In the Heights, he picked up Chernow’s book at the airport and was so inspired by the life of Hamilton as “the ultimate hip-hop/immigrant story”,1 he started writing the musical.
In 2009, he performed the opening number (then a workshopped piece of poetry/rap/spoken word) at the White House for President Obama:
Words can’t describe how transformative and (not to be punny) revolutionary this musical is. The majority of the cast is made up of people of color, and in fact, all the principal characters are not white (except, appropriately, King George III). Miranda has said it’s the story of America, and it looks like America now.
The album is available for digital download (and is currently streaming on Spotify), but if you’d like the physical album with booklet, it will be available on October 16. Rumor has it that it will also be released on vinyl, and JJ may need to buy herself a record player now.
We’re not shills for the musical, we promise. But if the creators see our enthusiasm and want to fund our respective trips back to NYC as well as tickets, we would certainly not turn that down.
That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll be discussing CONTRACTS. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
Hamilton was an orphaned, illegitimate child born in the Caribbean who immigrated to New York City and worked his way up from poverty by working his butt off. He had fiery, tempestuous personality, and his cutting words were the death of him, much like Tupac Shakur. ↩
This week JJ and Kelly discuss submission and acquisition, and give a little insight into the reasons behind why an editor might reject a manuscript. Also, Hamilton. We’ll explain that later.
This week both Kelly and JJ have the same recommendation: HAMILTON.
For those who aren’t plugged into musical theatre buzz, Hamilton is a hip-hop musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton.
Wait, what?
YES. The score, lyrics, and book are by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony Award-winning composer of In the Heights, based on a biography of Alexander Hamilton written by Ron Chernow. The story goes that when Miranda was on vacation from In the Heights, he picked up Chernow’s book at the airport and was so inspired by the life of Hamilton as “the ultimate hip-hop/immigrant story”,1 he started writing the musical.
In 2009, he performed the opening number (then a workshopped piece of poetry/rap/spoken word) at the White House for President Obama:
Words can’t describe how transformative and (not to be punny) revolutionary this musical is. The majority of the cast is made up of people of color, and in fact, all the principal characters are not white (except, appropriately, King George III). Miranda has said it’s the story of America, and it looks like America now.
The album is available for digital download (and is currently streaming on Spotify), but if you’d like the physical album with booklet, it will be available on October 16. Rumor has it that it will also be released on vinyl, and JJ may need to buy herself a record player now.
We’re not shills for the musical, we promise. But if the creators see our enthusiasm and want to fund our respective trips back to NYC as well as tickets, we would certainly not turn that down.
That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll be discussing CONTRACTS. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
Hamilton was an orphaned, illegitimate child born in the Caribbean who immigrated to New York City and worked his way up from poverty by working his butt off. He had fiery, tempestuous personality, and his cutting words were the death of him, much like Tupac Shakur. ↩
Hey all! JJ here. Here at PubCrawl we’re super excited to introduce some new and awesome developments that have been brewing for a while, the chiefest of which is a PODCAST. That’s right, we are getting to the podcasting game, mostly because Kelly and I are podcast junkies with Lots of Opinions. Anyway, enjoy our inaugural episode and please don’t judge too harshly!
Apologies for some audio issues. Apparently JJ needs to wear tight-fitting clothes so the sound of cloth rubbing against the desk doesn’t get picked up by her fancy-schmancy mic. This is a work in progress.
It’s TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART sung by Vicomte de Chagny and an ingenue named Sarah as a VAMPIRE LOVE DUET. I mean, c’mon.
It’s All Coming Back to Me Now (as performed by Jeremy Jordan)
That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll be discussing SUBMISSIONS AND ACQUISITIONS. As always, if you have any questions or comments, sound off in the comments, or ask us on Tumblr!
We are working on getting a feed up to iTunes, so bear with us! We promise we’re on it; it’s just that the technical aspects of all this is somewhat new to us. :)
DO NOT LOOK UP THE BROADWAY VERSION. Despite having Michael Crawford and Rene Auberjonois, it was…terrible. ↩
Happy Friday, everyone! To go along with Stacey’s post about submissions, this is a repost from my blog, a silly little song filk I hope some of you—especially those submerged in the submission swamp—might enjoy.
Last summer, when I was on submission with my novel to publishers, I remember being in complete and utter agony with the not knowing and not being in control. There’s a lot written about the query trenches throughout the blogosphere, but not a lot of space is given over to being on submission.
Part of that is because unlike querying, the experience of being on submission varies widely from individual to individual, so it’s hard to generalize. Another part is that being of sub is pretty much entirely out of your hands. Once your manuscript is on the desk of an editor, there is literally NOTHING you can do to influence the outcome. It doesn’t make for easy, digestible blog posts. Query tips are relatively easy to give, but there is no advice you can give to someone on sub, save Patience, young Skywalker.
And that advice sucks.
Being on sub is a bit like being the awkward middle schooler at a junior high school dance. Pick me, pick me! Sometimes you’re the first on the dance floor. Sometimes you’re left the self-conscious wallflower. Junior high—and publishing—can sometimes be cold and capricious.
I find the best thing to do in these sorts of situations is laugh them off. It’s either laugh, or cry, right? I’d rather a good chuckle than anguished sobs, so in order to distract myself, I rewrote the lyrics to “Agony” from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.1
If you aren’t familiar with the song:
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Did I confuse them
With my rabid, insane,
Genius profundity?
Don’t I amuse them
With my witty, urbane,
Pretentious absurdity?
Agony!
Beyond power of speech!
When the contract you want
Is the only thing out of your reach.
DESPERATE WRITER
Here in my tower,
I sit by the hour
Awaiting the Call.
The one that will save me
And soon validate me
In the eyes of them all:
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Agony!
All those agents are jerks!
Low esteem, insecurity
Are affecting my work!
BOTH
Agony!
Oh the torment, the stress!
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Why can’t they just buy me—
DESPERATE WRITER
How could they deny me—
BOTH
They don’t know what is best!
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Am I not lyrical,
Luminous,
Radiant,
Brilliant,
Passionate,
Observant,
Upmarket commercial,
Ahead of my time?
DESPERATE WRITER
I am everything agents could wish for!
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Then why no—
DESPERATE WRITER
Then why no—
DELUSIONAL WRITER
They all must be mad!
DESPERATE WRITER
You know nothing of madness
Till you’re tearing your hair.
As you open email,
Yes, refreshing it,
Always refreshing it,
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah—
BOTH
Agony!
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Misery!
DESPERATE WRITER
Woe!
BOTH
Though it’s different for each.
DELUSIONAL WRITER
Always ten trends behind—
DESPERATE WRITER
Always telling you no—
BOTH
And the dream is just out of your reach.
Agony!
Publishing’s appeal!
I must have a book deal!
Okay, so I went ahead and decide to record the cover for funsies. Apologies for inflicting my voice on y’all. This song is not in my range.
At the point I had written this, the Disney movie version hadn’t come out yet. I have…Thoughts about it, but the “Agony” scene with Billy Magnussen and Chris Pine is definitely the best—and maybe the only worthwhile—scene in the entire film. ↩
Hi everyone! Stacey here today, with fellow pub-crawler, Stephanie Garber, talking about the most painful exciting part of publishing, submission!
With the arrival of fall, and the end of summer Friday’s in publishing, it’s time to talk about submissions.
You can tell a writer who is on “sub” by the long face they wear, the nails chewed to the quick, the scuffled toes of their shoes where they’ve tripped as they’ve paced waiting for a response from editors. We know how it feels, and we’re here to tell you that you will survive. Let’s stop refreshing our inbox for a moment, and take a deep, cleansing breath. Yikes, what have you been eating? Cookies? Okay, good for you. But you know what’s even better for you while you’re on sub? Take a walk.
We’re serious. It’ll clear some brain space. And when you come back, you can read on, and we’ll all be in a better place.
Hi again, now read on for our tips on how to survive SUBMISSION.
1. Recognize it might happen tomorrow, or it might happen a year from now.
We’ve all heard stories about books that sell lightning fast. But if you’re going on submission for the first time, for the sake of your sanity, be aware that selling a book in less than two weeks is the expectation, not the standard.
Stephanie: I’ve been on submission twice. When Hearts Made of Black sold, it actually happened on the quick side of things. But before that I went on submission with another book, a sci-fi about space pirates. My first agent warned me that this book would not be a fast or easy sell. And she was right. We were on submission for a year and a half, and it didn’t sell. The closest we came was an R&R from an editor who ended up leaving her publisher shortly after I finished the revisions.
Stacey: It took nine months for Under a Painted Sky to sell. My agent told me historical fiction is a tough sell in YA, but at the same time, it is one of the staples that never quite goes out of trend. We were rejected by 26 publishers before the last one asked me for a revision. It took three months to revise, and it was a major revision. Those of you who have read my book will know it is about a friendship. Well, it used to be a torrid bodice-ripper! (Sort of kidding.)
For both of us, going on submission that first time was far from easy, but it helped that we both had agents who set realistic expectations.
2. Recognize it might not happen, ever.
This one is important, because the sooner you accept this, the more prepared you will be when it doesn’t happen (and we’re not saying it won’t happen!!!). Bear with us. The statistics are depressing. It’s a proven fact that the odds of being published are less than being eaten by a polar bear wearing moon boots.
Take another walk if you need it and meet us back here.
Chubby Hubby has a buddy, American Dream. Is there irony in this ice creaming pairing?
Prepared people know it is not the end of the world if it doesn’t sell. Prepared people keep their survival kits close at hand (Chubby Hubby, family, Nordstrom gift cards, friends, not necessarily in that order) in case disaster strikes (e.g., my manuscript doesn’t sell).
PLENTY of authors who you think are big deals have had to shelve manuscripts that didn’t sell (like PubCrawl distinguished faculty Marie Lu and Jodi Meadows). Prepared people are already thinking about their next stories—and writing them. It’s like dating, the quickest way to get over one guy/gal is to meet someone new.
3.We’d like to point out that Submission rhymes with Suspicion
Why is this important? This is important because NOT EVERY GOOD BOOK GETS PUBLISHED, and here’s the kicker, NOT EVERY BOOK THAT GETS PUBLISHED IS GOOD. We know this isn’t how the world should be. There should be a little bell that goes ding! every time a great book (e.g., yours) arrives in an editor’s inbox so the editors know which ones should be published. Unfortunately, the rules of “what is publishable” remain rather opaque. It is a hazy box that sometimes is not even a box but more shaped like a big iron shoe. In other words, if you get a rejection, it is not necessarily because your book is unworthy.
4. If you can find a trend in your rejections, rewrite to fix it.
Agents have different methods for submission, and not every agent uses the same approach with each submission. They might sub to a smaller set of editors for something more “controversial” where feedback would be helpful, or in the case where they’ve pinpointed editors who would just love your book.
Stacey: In the case of my first book, my agent subbed to a big list all at once, as she considered my manuscript tight and clean (this is where all that vetting you do with agents comes in handy; if you’ve picked a good one, you can probably trust their advice on this). The rejections confirmed that she had taken the right approach. There was no consistency to the rejections. We got everything from “we don’t think there’s a market for westerns” to “we don’t like cross-dressing girls.”
I didn’t rewrite anything in the middle of submission, but I did take the one R&R offered to me; I felt like I owed it to my book. And once I got over the shock of having to do MORE work, I threw myself into feet first. For me, I felt I had nothing to lose except a bit of time, and everything to gain.
Stephanie: But remember, just because you revise or receive an R&R doesn’t mean your book will sell. When I went on submission with my first book, I also received an R&R, which did not end in an offer. But, I don’t regret taking the time do it. I learned a lot, and I think my writing became stronger as a result. But, for the sake of your heart and your sanity (see a theme emerging), if you do an R&R, do it because you owe it to your book, not because you believe that if you do this, a publisher will owe you a contract.
5) Do not compare yourself to others.
Seriously, this is as bad as checking reviews on Goodreads.
Learn from other people, but don’t compare your submission experience with someone else’s. Nothing good comes from comparing—either you imagine you are better than everyone else and get a grossly inflated ego, or you imagine the opposite and feel like crap, or you come out neither feeling nor worse, but have just sunk a lot of time that you could’ve spent writing something new.
We don’t know who said it first, but there’s a great quote that goes like this:
Yes, sometimes other people’s grass is greener, but you don’t know how much manure that had to go through to get it there.
6. Remind yourself, no matter what, the fact that you are on submission means you have done two things that most people have not.
You have written a book and you have found an agent, neither of which should be easy things, so pat yourself on the back and take another walk (or eat another cookie, we approve of both).
In the comments, tell us how long you’ve been “on sub.” What do you do to stay sane?
Amie here first: Hello! Before I left Pub(lishing) Crawl back in July, I asked Melanie Crowder (who you may remember from such earlier hits as the Parched cover reveal) to write us a post, and she’s obliged with a heap of wisdom. Today, she’s talking about the difference between going on submission with a proposal vs a full manuscript. Read on!
Ask most writers what kind of sale they’d like next, and they’ll answer: any kind. The sold kind. The I have another book coming out kind.
But the different kinds of sales play out very…well, differently.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of both options.
The Proposal: Pros
You don’t have to write the whole book before making a sale!
The money comes in while you’re working on the book. Fantastic!
You can write without the stress of wondering if the book you’re working on will ever turn into an actual book.
The Proposal: Cons
You don’t have to write the whole book before making a sale.
Why, exactly, is this a bad thing? (cue pesky inner voices…) What if I run out of inspiration halfway through? What if the plot, which seemed like it would work perfectly in outline form, stops working? What if it isn’t any good?
Stress. Doubt. Angst. Not the best environment for creative work.
Also? Synopses and summaries and pitches are really tough to get right.
Hmmmmm. Let’s have a look at the other option.
The Full Manuscript: Pros
You have time to run the story by your beta readers.
You have time to get everything working thematically and structurally before an editor ever sees it.
By the time it’s good enough to send to your editor, you’re probably at least halfway done!
You get the chance to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your story without looming deadlines.
The Full Manuscript: Cons
You may work for months or even years on a story that isn’t what your editor is looking for.
You may write a story that you love, and your editor loves, but that can’t make it past the acquisition process.
It’s tricky knowing when to send a manuscript to your editor. You don’t want to hold on to it too long and overwork the poor thing. But you also don’t want to send it in before it’s really ready, before it’s the quality of book a whole team can get behind.
So if I had my choice, which would I pick?
Well, my first two books, Parched and Audacity were sold as full manuscripts. I loved being able to shape each story into a book I was really proud of before anyone ever laid eyes on it. But I’ll admit, there were some anxiety-filled moments while we were waiting for a sale!
My 3rd book, A Nearer Moon, and my 5th book, an untitled Middle Grade, were both submitted via proposal. That vote of confidence from your publishing house from the start of a project is really great. But there’s some stress there too. You can’t ever really get away from it, you just learn how to tune it out while you’re working.
I suppose the submission sweet spot for me came with my 4th book, a super-secret project I’m not yet divulging the details of. It was the second part of Audacity’s two book deal. It sold as an unspecified YA, with a far-away deadline that gave me security and freedom, motivation and time. Yep, if the literary gods let us pick, that would be my choice.
What about you? What are you hoping for, or what have you discovered works best for you? Whatever your preference, here’s to many submission success stories in your future!
MELANIE CROWDER holds an MFA from VCFA and is the author of three books for children and teens: Parched, Audacity, and A Nearer Moon. Her books have received honors such as Junior Library Guild selection, Parent’s Choice Silver Medal, Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year and a collective eight starred reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, PW, BCCB, and SLC. She lives in beautiful Colorado; catch up with her online at Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or her website.
Hi, gang, JJ here. Today I am very, very excited to be introducing our newest contributor, Kelly Van Sant. Kelly and I go way, way, way back—she is my former roommate, critique partner, book enabler, and publishing mentor. She taught me everything I know about writing and editing, and I’m over the moon she’s willing to share her wisdom with all of you!
Kelly & JJ
How did you get your start in publishing?
The old-fashioned way: networking. And by accident.
I had been writing and reading for as long as I could remember, but never thought much about the process by which a book is made. I mostly imagined them springing onto my bookshelves fully formed, a la Athena from the head of Zeus. After graduating college I emptied my bank account, stuffed a red Jansport backpack with as many clothes as it could hold, and ran away to New York City to find my fortune. There may also have been a handsome guy waiting for me at Grand Central Station—most of the questionable decisions I’ve made in my life involve a handsome guy. Although I had no apartment of my own I got a job in a restaurant on the Upper East side that same day and spent the next few months couch surfing and loving life, as only a 22 year old girl could do. But I knew I didn’t want to wait tables forever.
At the time a friend was doing reader reports for a literary scouting agency. When she got a full-time job at a big publisher, she recommended me to the agency and I took up the task.. After a few months another friend introduced me to the head of the internship program at a prestigious literary agency and encouraged me to apply. I almost didn’t. Things had ended terribly with the handsome guy and I was content to spend the rest of my life in my pajamas waiting for the next disk of Buffy to arrive from Netflix (this was back in the olden days, before streaming). But allure of all those shining, possible books was too much to resist. I was granted an internship and upon completion of the program I was hired on as an assistant. Things took off from there, and nearly a decade later I’m still working in this industry and love it as fiercely as ever.
We both love archetypes, so I have to ask: Which member of the Babysitters Club are you?
I’m Mary Anne. I’ll own it. With maybe a smidge of Dawn.
For years and years and years, I resisted being labeled Claudia because I didn’t want to be identified with the only Asian girl in the group. (C’mon, too obvious!) Also Claudia wasn’t a good student, which offended my straight-A sensibilities. However, I have finally come around to admitting that, yes, I am Claudia Kishi, and I’m okay with it.
JJ and Kelly, at a bar on the Lower East Side with a bunch of other publishing people, back when they both lived in NYC. Also, check out the couple visibly making out on the street behind us.
We go out and suddenly it’s no longer a PubCrawl but a Pub BRAWL! What weapon are you wielding?
Hermione Granger’s wand. Boss witch.
If you could craft the perfect “literary cocktail”, what would it contain?
Friendship, adventure, a generous sprinkling of humor, deft and wonderful prose, riveting conflict, and a touch of believable romance. Magic often helps.
KELLY VAN SANT is a Publishing Gal Friday with nearly a decade of experience in the industry. Currently she handles contracts for Quarto Publishing Group and provides a variety of services through Pen & Parsley Editorial.
Guys. Queries are hard. This is an undisputed fact of the agent-acquiring process. These days a lot of agents ask for the first 5-30 pages of your manuscript when you query, because it’s so much easier to tell if a story is good by reading, well, the actual story. But the query is the hook—the bait that gets the agent past that first page and into your story.
I read queries on the daily. A lot of them. As a literary assistant, it’s one of my many responsibilities. I need to be able to tell, just from that one page, if your book is something the agent and I will want to read. I need to see just how I would pitch it to an editor. And I need to see that you know your stuff. Have you done your research? Or did you scribble off a quick note and hit SEND ALL?
The queries that stand out are either very good, or very bad. But there are a lot of queries that get stuck in the middle—that strange wasteland of almost-there, but just not quite. Chances are, a lot of you are in that boat. Most of us, even those who have agents, have written blah query letters. And I know PubCrawlers are smart. You have done your research, much of it on this very website. I don’t need to tell you not to send attachments, or not to write your bio in the third person. I don’t need to tell you not to call your manuscript a future bestseller, the most unique piece of fiction ever written, a story that will apply to all of the audiences that ever existed!
So I’m not going to talk about the basics. You guys KNOW the basics. I’m going to talk about those little things that maybe don’t seem problematic at first glance. But fixing these can go a long way toward helping the viability of your query overall
1. Don’t start your letter with all the details about how you came to write this book.
Writing is exciting. How you came to be a writer is exciting. The fact that it’s your first, or second, or millionth novel ever is exciting. But they are most exciting to you—in a query, these things clog up your first paragraph and waste valuable space. Before he or she has ever met you or read your work, an agent doesn’t care how you got started writing. As much as it matters to you (and it does matter!), it’s best to leave it out. It will not change how he or she feels about your story.
2. Be careful creating “atmosphere” before launching into your hook.
It can feel gimmicky. Unless your setting is basically a character itself, it’s best to stay away from this method. For example:
Castle Pelimere is deep and dark, inhabited by angry spirits and on the verge of certain doom. For a hundred years it has stood, and now, thanks to the Everlasting Nothing that has circled its walls for centuries, it is all about to come crashing down.
Jody Brody is a teenage pickpocket with no other skills and no other prospects. When Castle Pelimere needs a hero, Jody steps up to the plate.
I know, I know—this is a very obvious example. But it serves the point—character is story, and when I’m scanning through queries, I’m more interested in Jody Brody the pickpocket than the plight of Castle Pelimere.
3. Don’t relate two unrelated ideas in your hook.
You would be shocked how often I see this. Shocked, I tell you. An example:
Marty Schmarty is not your typical jock—he’s been taking ballet since before he could walk, and he’s better than half the girls in his class. But when he’s offered a football scholarship to his dream school, he learns what it really means to be part of a team.
Again, another extreme example. But writing a good hook is a huge part of the battle when it comes to queries. A good hook can make me perk up and pay attention. In this case, the writer has written something that “sounds hooky” and “adds character”. It makes me pay attention—then has no pay-off. Marty’s a pro at ballet, and this is set up as a key quality—then is not mentioned again.
4. Be confident…to a point.
There is nothing wrong with being proud of the story you wrote. It takes a huge amount of confidence to query a book (we’re all writers here, we can admit this). But it’s not up to you to decide whether your writing is of the same caliber as authors you have emulated or been inspired by, or if it’s beautifully lyrical or powerful and gritty—that is for your readers, and that includes any agents you are querying, to decide.
5. Be wary of the false choice.
Technically, a false choice refers to a situation where two choices are given as the only possible option—even though more choices may be viable. In this case, I’m using to describe it as a situation given in a query, wherein a character has what appear to be two choices—but only one of those choices is actually viable. Still with me?
Okay, so you’ve laid out your hook, given a short synopsis, and now it’s time to present the dramatic question. Your character must do x or y. But when you present a false choice, it becomes clear right away which path your character will and must choose. At first glance, it isn’t always clear you’ve presented a false choice. For example:
Jake must choose between saving the woman he loves from the mob and escaping to the Bahamas, or turning himself in and confessing to his crimes, even if it means her death.
Maybe turning himself in might be the right thing to do, but unless this is a morality play, the choice here is not actually black and white. When questions like this are presented at the end of a query, I can’t help but roll my eyes—I know what Jake is going to do. He’s going to choose the Bahamas. And if he doesn’t, then you need to do a fantastic job of setting up the why within your query. Again, the above is extreme example, but I encourage you to take a look at the stakes in your own query and find out whether what you’ve presented is a real dilemma, or a false choice. I want the questions you present to make me go, “MUST READ AND FIND OUT THE ANSWER!”
So the gist of these suggestions comes out to: Make me want to read your book. Seriously, give me no other option. You wrote a whole book. You know how to put words together on a page—this is just a different kind of writing. One that forces you to think about how to condense what you’ve written, and lay it out in a way that is tight and enticing. I promise you—it is doable. It’s hard, it’s often confusing, and sometimes it can take multiple drafts to get right. But it can be done!
I hope this is useful, and I wish everyone who is currently writing their query, Good Luck!
The development of our moral compasses begin when we are children. We are taught to understand the difference between right and wrong, and to make choices that are deemed to be morally acceptable. Tell the truth and do the right thing. But- as much as we know that this is what we “should do”, sometimes the “right” thing isn’t clear, and even when it is, sometimes, for a whole host of reasons, we don’t step up and do it.
This got me thinking about moral ambiguity in YA novels, and whether or not good/bad behaviour should be rewarded/punished. In fiction written for middle grade, there is always a moral lesson. Whether it’s subtle or hit-you-over-the-head clear, the good guy ultimately figures out the morally correct choice and is rewarded and learns a lesson.
In YA, morality is much more ambiguous, and it isn’t as simple as good wins, evil loses. Characters also become much more morally ambiguous. Supposedly good characters do wrong things (and often pay for it) and other characters repeatedly do bad things, but have redeeming qualities, making the line between good and bad much more blurry. (Outright villains such as Voldemort or President Snow aren’t included in this as they are not meant to be forgiven or redeemed)
Take for example Cammie Mcgovern’s upcoming novel A Step Towards Falling, the two main characters witness a mentally disabled female student being attacked, and neither of them acts. Emily is bookish and believes in activism, and Lucas is a football player hoping to earn a scholarship to a good college/university. Both teens have different reasons for not acting, neither of them malicious. They both know what they should have done, and both suffer consequences for failing to do it, but, as wrong as it was, they are easy to forgive because they attempt to make up for their actions. The author paints both teens as essentially good kids who made a bad choice, but is there a difference between deliberately choosing not to do the right thing, and not knowing what it is?
On other side of the coin, take characters who are more ambiguous. Not necessarily an Anti-Hero, but someone who does not necessarily follow a hero’s path. Someone who consistently makes bad choices and have questionable morals, but isn’t an outright villain. In fact, if the author paints them well, they are the most challenging characters to categorize, because their actions don’t tell the whole story. In Chris Lynch’s groundbreaking novel Inexcuseable, told from the perspective of the accused rapist. Keir isn’t a clear-cut bad-guy, nor is he exactly good. He permanently injured another football player on the field, he’s been getting into trouble at school, and he raped his best friend. On the surface, the signs would point to him being terrible, but he’s not. The trouble at school isn’t entirely his fault, and Keifer knows that rape is terrible, but he didn’t understand that he actually committed rape. Part of what makes Inexcusable such a powerful novel is Keifer’s struggle to come to terms with what he did, and figuring out how to redeem himself.
One of my favourite quotes from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events series comes in the third book The Grimm Grotto) where he talks about good and evil. He says: “People aren’t either wicked or noble. They’re like chef’s salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.” In my mind, this is a perfect way to think about the morally ambiguity of not only YA characters, but most people. Does YA lit have a responsibility to teach a moral lesson? Maybe, but perhaps the most important thing is that in reading about these characters, we in the processes think about our own actions, and learn something about ourselves.
Have you ever wandered through the aisle of a bookstore, browsing the faced-out titles, when you spot a name on the cover that isn’t the author’s? Something that might look like this?
This is a “blurb”, or what I like to call the author’s letter of reference.
In publishing, blurbs are something of a contentious topic, as different people debate whether or not blurbs are even necessary. I will admit that as a consumer, I’ve only ever once picked up a book because of a blurb, and that was the very book for whom Neil Gaiman gave the above quote:
I will also admit to the fact that Neil Gaiman’s blurb isn’t the only reason I picked up this novel; I had already read a review of this book in Time magazine, and I remember reading somewhere that it had also won the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. And I’ll wager that most readers don’t really notice the laudatory praise on book covers, or if they do, it will only push them over the line from “Undecided” to “Will Certainly Buy.”
But for a debut novelist, blurbs can be something of a stressful thing. As an unproven author with no history or sales track behind you, the best way to get the attention of your publisher’s sales and marketing force is to come into launch1 with some hefty endorsements. Ideally from writers who have a proven track record, who also write books in a similar vein to yours.
Did you think that putting yourself out there and finding rejection would end once you get a book deal? Oh no, my friends; this party never ends! I kid, I kid, but to be honest, be prepared to be pitching you and your book for the rest of your life: to agents, to editors, to authors way higher up the food chain than you, to booksellers, to readers, etc. Once a manuscript begins the process of moving from a story in your head shared with you and your editor to a tangible product, that’s when blurbs come in. That’s when you and your editor pitch your book to other authors and ask if they would be interested in reading with an eye toward blurbing.
The matter of which authors to approach for blurbs is partially political, partially personal, and partially mercenary. This is where having a community of writer-friends (like PubCrawl!) can be incredibly beneficial; friends who have already published are usually more than willing to put their name behind yours.
This is also where comps can come in useful. If you know that your fantasy novel is similar in tone and scope to another author, then you can pitch said author and ask if they would blurb your book. (Or your editor will do this, if she has the contacts. But everyone is generally pitching in for contacts at this point, including your agent. This is also when asking for blurbs can start to feel a little bit like a popularity contest.)
Do blurbs matter in the long run? I don’t think they do, or at least, not on the consumer end. But for a publisher’s sales and marketing team, blurbs are a fantastic tool. Sales reps at publishers have a number of accounts into which they sell their titles. Because it’s not likely they’ve read every book coming out that season, they’ll see a book with a blurb by X Author and Y Author, and know just how to pitch it. “Oh, this book will appeal to fans of Stephen King and Joe Abercrombie.” The bookseller hears this, and then knows where to shelve the book in the bookstore, and to gauge how many copies they should buy for their store, based on their customer metrics.
The ideal blurb should look like this. It should:
Come from an author whose work is similar in tone, scope, style, and genre as yours.
Ideally come from author whose name carries some weight (this is where things can get political).
Be positive! (Duh.)
Sometimes, at the end of the day, you may not end up with any blurbs. And that’s okay. Blurbs are mostly just a marketing gimmick, another tool in your arsenal. Not getting a blurb won’t kill your book. As I always say, your story is what matters most, and if the story is strong, the readers will find you.
That’s it! If you guys have any more questions about blurbs, or any other part of the publishing process, feel free to leave them in the comments!
I promise to write a post about the launch process at some point in the future. Based on reader feedback, I will try and elucidate some of the “behind-the-scenes” stuff with posts like I wrote for what it means when an editor takes your book to acquisitions. ↩
Hi, JJ here! I’m so excited to be introducing our newest contributor, Hannah Fergesen! Hannah is a former lit agency and small press intern and current literary assistant. And now, without further ado, the interview!
What made you interested in publishing as a career?
I have always loved books. I love writing them, I loved dissecting them, I loved researching how they’re made and how they work. Books like Harry Potter, Sabriel by Garth Nix, and The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay informed my own writing and my curiosity about books from a young age, and continue to do so. I’ve always been interested in how books speak to people, how prose can enhance or take away from plot and characters, how genre can inform how we view the world from a young age.
But for some reason I always thought of Publishing as this far-away place I could never go. I never actually thought I would find a way into that world.
How did you get your start in publishing?
My degree is in writing and directing for film and TV, and I was so sure I was going to head to LA to fight for an opportunity to write for TV. When my boyfriend got a call from a New York production company, everything changed. Suddenly, publishing didn’t seem so far away. I started scoping out agents on twitter, and when some of them starting tweeting about remote internships, I sent out some resumes and managed to snag a remote internship with a great agent. It was a start, and I was a go for New York.
Once I got here, with the help of said agent I managed to impress Adam Silvera enough to recommend me for a job at Books of Wonder, a fantastic children’s bookstore in the city. An internship at Soho Press followed that, and finally I ended up as a full-time literary assistant.
What is the most surprising thing about publishing that you’ve learned thus far?
The publishing world is very small. Much, much smaller than I ever thought possible. This is partially because so much of the industry is in Manhattan – the offices of the Big Five publishers are all just a train-ride away from one another. Literary agencies have a bit more flexibility when it comes to location, especially thanks to social media. But the industry was built on the creation of close relationships, and that still holds true today.
What are 3 of your favorite books from this past year and why?
Marie Rutkoski’s WINNER’S CURSE series. It’s beautifully written, incredibly well researched, with smoldering characters who are intelligent and terribly flawed. These are considered fantasy because they take place in a world Marie created – but there is no magic. They feel very much like a time in our own history. This is, in a way, true, because these books are based on historical empires. Also, there is angsty romance galore.
Jandy Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN. Beautifully written (are you sensing a pattern here?) contemporary YA told from two perspectives: a brother and sister who are both artists, at two separate times in their young adult lives. It’s an incredible portrayal of art, first love, grief, and the bond family.
V.E. Schwab’s A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC. This is not considered YA though it features protagonists who are still quite young, and since Victoria also writes YA it seemed to fit. This book is dark and scary with fantastic characters and a crazy plot that made complete sense thanks to skilled storytelling.
I also have to shout out to Adam Silvera’s MORE HAPPY THAN NOT. When I read it, I had just moved to New York and it was not yet the beautiful hardcover it is now. But I loved that it proved YA can be serious, affecting, important, daring.
If you weren’t in publishing, where would you be?
I’d be elbowing my way into writing for TV, auditioning for roles in film and/or television, or just generally trying my hand at that industry. It is, after all, what I studied. But I am a storyteller first and foremost, no matter what format I’m working in. My heart will be spinning stories until I’m being spoon-fed mushy peas and dancing with my creaky walker in assisted living. Hopefully, there’ll be other old storytellers dancing with me.
Hannah Fergesen is formerly a lit agency and small press intern. Currently a literary assistant, writer, geek, and coffee-binger. The rest of the time: Tardis-dress-wearer and worshiper at the altar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Lately, I’ve been building a proposal for Cell Story, my work in progress.
Proposals are a surprising amount of work, mostly because there’s so much that I need to address that I don’t necessarily know about yet. Mine tend to be really detailed and have a lot of things others might not need, but my agent and I are on the more-is-better side of the fence when it comes to these things.
Here’s what we always include:
1. A sample of the writing.
Contracts for option projects generally say they require three chapters and a synopsis, but three chapters just isn’t enough for me. Again, I’m in the more-is-better camp, so for this project, I have about 30,000 words written and revised. That’s a third of the book. (I think. I hope only a third.) I figure, the more of the actual story I can offer them (editors and acquisitions people), the better idea they will have of the story I’m trying to tell.
And it’s not just for them. I want to make sure I’m enjoying the story enough to keep going. It’s a huge commitment, agreeing to write an entire book! I don’t want to get a few chapters in and discover it’s not a project I want to spend at least the next two years with. So I write as much as I can, because I want to be sure of it for myself, too.
2. Elevator pitch.
It’s important to be able to tell someone quickly what the book is about. When you’re doing a signing in a store and someone walks up to your table and asks what the book is about, they want a sentence, not a speech. Hook them with a short description to make them want to hear the longer version.
I try to hammer these out from the very beginning, because it’s useful to know how I’ll describe the book–and also because it’s something I can always refer back to if I lose focus.
3. Query/flap-copy description.
I usually write a query-style description of the book even before I start–it helps me get a better idea of the story I’m wanting to tell–so all I have to do for a proposal is get it polished up. (And make sure it still lines up with the story I’m going to tell. This time, it didn’t. I had to rewrite the description from scratch.)
Again, this is something I often refer back to any time I start to lose focus in the story.
4. Synopsis/es.
Synopses are one of the things most proposals will always include. Again, it’s to give the publisher people a sense that you know where you’re going with the story.
I try to have a good, detailed one for the first book. Sequels usually have something shorter and broader, closer to a query description but with an ending point, because I don’t always know how I’m going to get somewhere, but I need to know where I am going, at least.
5. Character list.
These are useful for giving a sense of the size of the cast, and simply as a reference for later. In my character lists, main characters get detailed descriptions, while minor characters get a line or two about their role in the story.
6. Location list.
Since I write fantasy, this is really useful as a reference–and for getting a quick idea of the scope of the world. Again, more important locations get longer descriptions, while minor locations get briefer descriptions. And in worlds that have a lot of moving parts and characters traveling places, this can be extremely useful for showing that there is a difference between the locations and they’re not all Generic Medieval Fantasyland.
7. Comp titles.
Comp titles are always a challenge for me, but they’re really useful for publishers when determining how to position the book and how to market it. “If you like X, then you’ll like Y!”
So there I was, buried under all these things I needed to put together when I realized how completely weird putting together proposals is. I dashed out a quick email to my agent, who responded that this needed to be a blog post. It’s a bit short for an entire post, so you get the above as a bonus. But here’s where this post began:
Proposals are kind of like announcing I’m going to decorate for Christmas.
Here’s a tree that’s decorated on one side, and I’m going to do the whole house like this! No, better than a partially decorated tree! I’ll finish decorating the tree, too, once I know what everything looks like and how the tree needs to fit in. I might have to move the tree over there. Or do you think it looks good here? I can’t tell anymore.
Scattered around are more decorations, some for the tree, but the rest for the house. It’s kind of a mess and it doesn’t look like much, but don’t worry, I have another order coming in any minute now. And a plan! This house is going to look ah-mazing. I swear. It’ll blind passersby and put all the other houses to shame. Now if only I could find the lights for the reindeer I want to put in my yard. Wait, did I order lights for that? I’ll just order some more.
Hey all! It’s Kat here with Pub Crawl guest Mary Weber. Take it away, Mary!
“It only takes one yes.”
Chances are if you’re an author (or even know an author) in search of an agent, you’ve heard those words. And I’ll be honest, after 87 agent rejections, I’ve heard that phrase more times than I ever want to again – heck, I’ve even SAID those words to other writer friends as they’ve walked their own agent-search journeys.
Except now a few years beyond those 87 rejections, with two books pubbed and a publisher I love (Harper), and having had three agenty relationships, I’ve come to the conclusion the “it only takes one yes” stance isn’t exactly true.
I mean, technically it DOES take only one yes. But the agent from whom that yes appears is infinitely more important than the yes itself. Because it comes from a person – someone with personality, feelings, opinions, and skills – and it’s an agreement to enter a partnership with you, a person who also has feelings, personality, opinions, and skills.
You’ve probably heard it said an author/agent relationship is rather like a marriage. You hope it’s long-term, compatible, and that you’ll have each other’s backs through both the hard and awesome. And in some ways, yes, it is like that. It’s also a business and a valuable career-growing game-changer, and if I’ve learned anything at all it’s that it matters more who you walk the pub adventure with than the adventure itself.
Which is where it comes down to trusting one’s gut.
Because the conclusion I’ve come to is this: There are amazing agents out there just like there are amazing authors and business partners and friends. There are agents who rep loads of New York Times bestsellers, and agents who prefer to simply keep a list of personal clients. There are agents who let you call them in the middle of the night and there are those who keep very tight office hours. There are those building their own new careers and there are agents who’ve walked the trenches for twenty years.
And THEY’RE ALL INCREDIBLE (okay, for the most part. Just like authors and random nice people are also truly wonderful for the most part). They’re passionate and focused and they know more about the pub world than half of us could ever hope to.
But that doesn’t mean they’re the right fit for you. Or for me.
When I needed to find a new agent for the third time (my first was AMAZING but sadly passed away, the second didn’t rep YA), I’ll be honest with you – I was a bit overwhelmed. Until I sat down and made a list. Not a “what an agent needs to offer me” type list, but a list about me. My quirks, my preferences, and particularly my weaknesses. It quickly became clear the type of agent I needed (and the types of agents I’d probably drive batty because I am like the chatty BFF of the pub world who’d adore nothing more than to host publisher sleepovers and pedicure parties if I could).
It also became obvious what strengths I bring to the table (hey, free pedicures, people).
With those notes in mind, and my published debut in hand, I began asking about other author’s agents (and yes I was terrified – what if I got the wrong fit?!). Just like my first go-around, it wasn’t a fast process. It took months until the conversations naturally led where I needed them to go and for my gut to be the one saying yes rather than just my flattered heart.
At that point, I chose to go with a darling, deal-maker of a lady – someone who was just as interested in building a relationship of trust and business and friendship together over the long haul as I was. Someone who saw writing as bigger than just a business on both our parts. And someone whose strengths seriously covered my weaknesses. (Also, it doesn’t hurt that she’s all about the pedicure idea too, ahem.)
And now, sitting here typing this and reflecting back over that season?
I can truly say I could not be happier with my gut decision. Or with her “yes.”
—
Mary Weber is a ridiculously uncoordinated girl plotting to take over make-believe worlds through books, handstands, and imaginary throwing knives. In her space time, she feeds unicorns, sings ‘80s songs to her three muggle children, and ogles her husband who looks strikingly like Wolverine., They live in California, which is perfect for stalking LA bands, Joss Whedon, and the ocean.
Girls love a bad boy- or at least they love reading about them. Bad boys turn up in YA lit over and over again, and readers eat them up. Some of these bad boys are simply misunderstood and have a heart of gold, brought out by their love for the girl. There is definitely something romantic about this notion, and I’ve fallen for it a few times myself. This to me is not a problem. As long as the bad boy has a degree of complexity that goes beyond the bad-boy exterior, I can take some bad behaviour. What does puzzle me, and am seeing discussed among some of my YA-loving friends is why we are o.k. with the sexual violence that is present in some of these stories. I’m not talking about rape here. That’s a completely different issue, and authors like Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)and Cheryl Rainfield (Scars) handle this extremely sensitive topic well. Chris Lynch’s Inexcusable is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and it was a groundbreaking book, dealing with date rape from the point of view of the accused boy.
These are all amazing books that need to be read and discussed in order for teens to gain a better understanding of these issues- but they are issue books and recognized as such. What I’m talking about is the 50 Shades of Gray like association of passion/hot sex and violence. Steamy scenes that end with the guy dominating a girl in some way, violent or unwelcome physical contact (such as pinching/slapping/biting), and her fear transforming into passion. This is the aspect of sexual portrayal in YA that bothers me. Teens have sex. I know that. I also recognize that in this modern day and age, sex between teenagers isn’t always about love, and sometimes it’s just a hook-up- which is also fine- if both of the parties involved consent to it and understand that it’s a hook-up. In Kody Keplinger’s The Duff, Bianca and Wesley have a friends-with-benefits relationship that isn’t seen in YA. They end up falling for each-other later on, but the sex was 100% consensual, and they knew what they were doing. Scenes where the girl is essentially forced to have sex- even when she does have feelings for the guy are not o.k. and shouldn’t be portrayed as being romantic or normal. The suggestion that violence=passion and that fear isn’t really fear, but just the girl discovering that she probably, maybe, sort-of really wants it isn’t something that should be present in YA.
While Forver by Judy Blume is around 40 years old, it’s still a model of how sex can and should be portrayed in YA. It is a realistic and honest portrayal of two teens realizing that they want to have sex with each other, and all of the complications and complexities that come with that choice. Sex is an emotionally messy thing when you’re a teenager, and YA lit should reflect this honestly and realistically. There has to be a happy medium between the notion of being swept off your feet by a tender kiss from a handsome prince and violent, rough, drag-down sex that borders on rape, because neither idea is one that will ever give a teen an idea of what normal and real actually are.
The other day, I was fortunate enough to attend a Book Summit, which was a day of discussion and education for people from all facets of the book industry in Canada. In one of the sessions, the speaker was discussing the pros and cons of Amazon and virtual book shopping, and he raised some interesting points. While online bookstores offer readers greater choice than they ever had before, they are also limiting our ability to discover books, and thus also limiting our choice.
While at first this notion may sound ludicrous, it actually makes perfect sense. The algorithms that suggest books to you on sites such as Amazon or Goodreads are designed to collect information on what authors/titles you are reading, looking at or purchasing, and then to search the database for identifiers that suggest authors/titles that are somehow considered similar. For example: On Amazon, when I entered Hunger Games, it told me that other customers had bought Divergent, Maze Runner, The Outsiders, and Twilight to name a few. It also gives me the option to search within similar categories such as Teen sci-fi, fantasy, adventure and thriller. Sounds good right? Amazon obviously believes that in looking at The Hunger Games, I must have an interest in one of those categories, because these are subject codes that have been assigned to this book, but they aren’t made on any personal knowledge of my personal or reading interests, and of the first several they recommended, I’ve already read them or didn’t want to read them, so I struck out on all counts.
Goodreads is slightly better, showing me books that other users who have read or are interested in reading the book I’m reading have also read. I won’t pretend that I haven’t scrolled through the list to see if anything catches my eye, or even that I have occasionally discovered something cool. I like to know what others are reading- especially if they seem to like something I’ve enjoyed- but it’s also very limiting. The recommendations are typically books of the same or similar genre. If they identify that I’m reading a YA fantasy, other books that are YA fantasies come up on the feed. Goodreads is a community, and there are opportunities to join groups and engage others in discussion, but that’s different. What I’m specifically talking about is the computer controlled portion of these sites.
I couldn’t even give you an exact figure of how many books are in print, but chances are, most of them are available online from Amazon. They have something around 15 million titles to purchase which is vast and a bit overwhelming, so they try to narrow your focus to something they think you’ll like. Nothing wrong with that, but it comes back to the question how do we know what we don’t know? We don’t- just as we don’t know about all the books that are out there that we might like to read but won’t unless we discover them somehow, and a computer can only go so far to help us do that.
Human interaction is still the best way to weed our way through all of the millions of books out there and find exactly the right book for ourselves or for whoever we are purchasing for. A knowledgeable bookseller/librarian knows exactly the right questions to ask you, and can find that hidden gem for you. And if you visit frequently, over time, they might even have books already in mind that they want to share with you! We hear tons about blockbuster authors & bestsellers. My Twitter feed is inundated with information about the new Harper Lee, Stephen King or James Patterson, or the surprise hit that everybody is reading for book club, but my reading tastes do not fit into a narrow little box. Just because I enjoy horror doesn’t mean that I only want to read horror. And just because I liked Gone Girl doesn’t mean I’m only interested in authors who write thrillers.
If we are indeed in a “golden age” of publishing and storytelling as experts proclaim, then the next time you’re wondering what to read next, don’t ask Amazon. Instead, try visiting your local bookstore/library and asking for a recommendation. You might just be amazed at what you end up with!
I decided to pursue publishing after a trying my hand at a couple different career paths after college. Like most 21-year-olds, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, and I was learning the hard way that the best jobs don’t come easy. At the end of every day I would drive home from whatever job (teacher’s aide, exec asst for generic company, waitressing, movie theater, B&N) to my apartment (basement of some elderly woman’s home) and turned on the radio (I didn’t have cable or internet). I would cook some mac n’ cheese (store brand) and jump on my computer to retweak my resume and personalize cover letters to mail the next day (printed on fancy resume paper—the most expensive thing I likely owned at the time aside from my cell phone). Then when the pot and plate were cleaned (no dishwasher), I would pull one of the dozens of books I owned from my shelves, plop down on my futon, and read. My boyfriend (now husband) was in law school (so he was always deep in the bowels of the law library), and though I had friends, I was tight on funds (Taco Bell and hanging in the park, anyone?). So a lot of the time it was just me and books. And I knew I would find my path soon enough. I was happy.
Fast forward to Dec 16, 2011. I’ve now found my path (already 5 years into publishing) and I’m at a publishing party. Like all publishing parties, I know some people and I don’t know many others, but I’m always comforted by the fact that we all have one thing in common: a love of books and reading. So talking to a new person at these kinds of things is easy enough for me—usually I start with something I’ve read recently that I enjoyed. That’s exactly what I did when I met Adam Silvera that night.
We hit it off, but at the time I didn’t realize that I had just met one of the most kind, supportive, passionate and die hard book people in the business. He just seemed like a nice guy that worked at a bookstore and since I used to work in a bookstore, I was all “we should hang out sometime.”
Adam Silvera is one of those brilliant people that is infectiously enthusiastic about books, particularly children’s and young adult. He reads everything he can get his hands on, and then he turns and shares those stories with others. I can’t tell you how many books this guy has put into into the hands of kids, parents and teachers with a recommendation that makes you want to read it right away. The dude is a book pusher, a literacy advocate and he has a keen eye for the really good stories. He knows what kids and teens will like. And he has helped to launch the career of many authors I know. (Does anyone remember Leigh Bardugo’s debut pre-order campaign for Shadow and Bone? Well guess who orchestrated it back before she was a bestseller….)
And all while he’s been doing a kickass job getting books into readers’ hands, Adam was working away quietly on his own story. I am honored to have read this one very early on (and again recently), and it is truly brilliant. The book is MORE HAPPY THAN NOT and it publishes today. I won’t put a review up here, because I no longer review online (and I’m pretty sure we don’t post them on pubcrawl anyway). But I do give this book a very, very enthusiastic recommendation. Aaron (the protagonist) lives in the Bronx (where Adam actually grew up). His story is both beautiful and heartbreaking, and his voice is authentic and raw. This is one of my top reads this year. Hell, it’s one of my top reads, period.
Here’s the official description:
Part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Adam Silvera’s extraordinary debut confronts race, class, and sexuality during one charged near-future summer in the Bronx.
The Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-relief procedure seems too good to be true to Aaron Soto — miracle cure-alls don’t tend to pop up in the Bronx projects. But Aaron can’t forget how he’s grown up poor or how his friends aren’t always there for him. Like after his father committed suicide in their one bedroom apartment. Aaron has the support of his patient girlfriend, if not necessarily his distant brother and overworked mother, but it’s not enough.
Then Thomas shows up. He has a sweet movie-watching setup on his roof, and he doesn’t mind Aaron’s obsession with a popular fantasy series. There are nicknames, inside jokes. Most importantly, Thomas doesn’t mind talking about Aaron’s past. But Aaron’s newfound happiness isn’t welcome on his block. Since he’s can’t stay away from Thomas or suddenly stop being gay, Aaron must turn to Leteo to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he is.
You’re probably wondering what “The Reason I Love This Business” is. And that’s easy. It’s the people in it. The ones like Adam who do it for the love of it, and who share that love with others. That is the reason I am so very happy that I finally found my path in books.
Now go check out his book already! You won’t regret it.
The last book in my Taken trilogy, Forged, released last week! (Such a bittersweet moment.) I heard from lots of readers through social media, all of whom were excited to get their hands on the final installment and see how things concluded.
I am so very grateful for all the readers who pre-ordered Forged or went out and bought a copy during that first week. Pre-orders and first week sales are hugely important for authors. The pre-orders help publishers gage interest in a book and determine first print runs. Opening week sales are a continued display of reader interest and, for best-seller hopefuls, an important sales window if the book is going to hit the list.
But as many of us know, success in the publishing world is a marathon, not a sprint. While out-of-the-gate performance is important, authors’ careers are dependent upon continued sales and steady growth in readership.
So how can you support authors beyond buying their book(s)?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and have a compiled a short list…
1. Post a review to a major retail site. I think this is one of the best things you can do after purchasing a novel. Reviews on goodreads are great, but only the super-passionate-uber-book-fans are on goodreads. Your average online book shopper is not. By leaving a review on Amazon or B&N, you are increasing a book’s chance of being seen by others. The reasoning is two-fold: Many ‘you may also like’ algorithms consider a book’s popularity when making suggestions to consumers, therefore more reviews means more potential for exposure. Additionally, a greater number of reviews has a more positive impact on shoppers. What seems more enticing to you: the book with three reviews or the book with three-hundred?
2. Tell others about the book.
Plug the book to anyone and everyone—friends, family, your followers on social media. Word-of-mouth is huge for authors and simply talking about a title you loved can have a ripple effect. A friend picks it up because you were gushing about it. They love it and recommend it to others, and another person picks it up. And so on and so forth!
3. Gift the novel.
It’s a well-known fact that books make amazing gifts. If you think a certain title would be great for your sibling/cousin/parent/friend/etc, consider buying a copy for a birthday or an upcoming holiday. Authors are grateful for every extra sale!
4. Donate a copy to your local library.
Was the book fun, but not something you plan to read again? Head to your local library and donate your copy to their collection. Loved the book so much you can’t part with it? Considering buying a second copy specifically for your library (sort of like point #3). Either way, this ensures that new readers continue to find the title!
5. Read the book in public.
This is like the silent version of #2… If you have a physical copy, flaunt that bad boy in public spaces—the coffee shop, the park, the train ride to/from work. Book lovers are always noticing what other folks are reading, and someone might pick up a copy of the book just because they saw you enjoying it.
6. Recommend the title to booksellers and librarians (when you don’t see it on the shelves) If you notice the book isn’t part of the collection, tell someone who works there! Simply knowing that readers are interested in a title will put that book on the bookseller’s and librarian’s radar. The store might order a few copies. The librarian might snag one next time he/she expand the collection. Shy? Put a hold on the title through your library’s catalog system. They’ll get a copy (one for their shelves or through ILL), and you won’t have to say a thing in person. ; )
Aaaand… that’s about it.
Personally, I do #s 2 and 4 a lot, and I feel like I can safely say they have an overwhelmingly positive impact! Are there any other suggestions you’d add to this list? Share ‘em in the comments, please!
Hey guys! I’m SO excited to share this fun (and super helpful/insightful) quiz from Jackie Lindert, a literary assistant at New Leaf Literary and Media.
Jackie earned her degree in English in her home state of Wisconsin. After college, she trekked to Colorado to attend the Denver Publishing Institute, eventually landing an internship in NYC with New Leaf Literary & Media. Following the internship, she found a job with the publishing house formerly known as Penguin Group as a Subsidiary Rights assistant. One year later she finds herself back at New Leaf as an assistant handling client care, mailings, and best of all, reading manuscripts.
Have you always wanted to work in publishing? Do you already work in publishing, but aren’t sure if you’re in the right place? I’ve answered yes to both of these questions before, and now I want to share how my experiences have brought me to where I am today. If this can help others find their place within this wonderful industry, I’m thrilled to be able to help.
Do you think you’re best suited to work at a large publishing house or a boutique literary agency? If you’re trying to decide between the two, I hope you’ll find an answer by the end of this quiz. Now, in case you’re wondering, Jackie, what makes you such an expert? Let me put your skepticism to rest. I have, in fact, been employed by both.
For one year, I worked in subrights at Penguin Random House, and I currently work at New Leaf Literary & Media Inc. I’m proud to have both jobs on my resume, and I’m hoping that based on my experiences, I can help others find where they fit, too. So take my quiz and see whether you’re suited for a big publisher or a boutique agency! But please note, these answers are based on my personal experiences and in no way reflect any company’s opinions.
Publishing Quiz: Where Should You Work?
1. I like my role at work to be
A. Structured – I like a job with pre-determined guidelines and tasks in my specific department. Everyone has a role to play, and my position is well-defined.
B. Mixed – I like the opportunity to try new and different things that may not have been in the job description and help out in areas other than my own.
2. I like my work environment to feel
A.Corporate, with plenty of coworkers all working for one company.
B. Informal, with fewer employees and a smaller feel.
3. I’d like the content I work on to
A. Stick to the same genres. Having a type of book I’m known for and building a list that has a certain reputation. I like being people’s go-to for “X,Y and Z.”
B. Be varied. I don’t won’t to get burnt out on the types of books I work on, so I like to mix it up with genres and age groups.
4. I tend to prefer working on
A. Projects that are pretty well polished, if not finished, by the time they get to me.
B. Projects that might need my help but have excellent potential.
5. I like working for a company that
A. Has a recognized brand. People can point out the books my company has worked on quite easily.
B. Does a lot behind-the-scenes work. I don’t mind that my company isn’t widely recognized by general readers.
6. When it comes to authors, I like
A. Working with someone in the middle to mediate for us. They can work more closely with the content creator so I can focus on the product/book itself.
B. Working directly with them to make sure they are productive and happy.
7. When it comes to hierarchy, I prefer
A. Having a corporate ladder. I like the pecking order that exists and always knowing who I directly report to/who directly reports to me.
B. More freedom/fluidity. I like having to answer to myself more than anyone else. I prefer team efforts as opposed to a chain of command.
If you chose mostly A’s:
You’re best suited to work at a publishing house! You prefer structure, set guidelines, and familiar tasks. You dream of working for a particular imprint so you can build a list that complements that publisher’s brand. You like being but one part in a well-oiled machine. It’s so fun to see your company’s logo on the spines at bookstores and it makes you proud to be a part of such awesomeness. You give books and authors a home.
If you chose mostly B’s:
You’re best suited to work at a boutique agency! You like variety at work. You don’t thrive under rules or guidelines and like to have a hand in editorial, publicity, ideation, etc., rather than focusing on just one role. You dream of working directly with authors and being their guide to find the right editor/publishing house. You find books and authors a home.
Again, please note that some answers could potentially fit either a publisher or an agency, depending, but I’m generalizing based on my personal experience. Getting to work for both has been amazing. I wish everyone luck on their publishing path, and I hope you’ve found some of the tips in this quiz helpful. Cheers to all!
Note from Sooz: I’m DELIGHTED to introduce you all to the subrights and film/tv assistant at New Leaf Literary & Media. She has a great post today that I think will resonate with many of you just as it resonated with me. So many of us in writing and publishing got our starts working with fanfiction. But I’ll let Jess take it from here!
—
Up until a year ago, I thought I had a dirty little secret.
From the age of fourteen to thirty, I read, wrote, and beta read fanfiction. I didn’t know there was a name for it when I started (this was a world before fanfiction.net, message boards, and of course, Tumblr), but more than that, I never realized that these stories would end up changing the course of my life. I was a terrible student, but I was creative and happy, and the more I wrote, the more I honed skills I never quite knew I had. And when I ended up majoring in screenwriting, getting told by professors that my dialogue was too clunky and not realistic enough, I wrote more fanfiction. I watched more episodes (at that time it was hours upon hours of Law and Order: SVU), I listened harder, and I kept practicing. It wasn’t for a grade, there wasn’t so much pressure, and I taught myself to fix all of what was wrong. It was only months later when I started to get complimented on my dialogue and so I continued to switch back and forth between screenplays and fanfiction.
One was mandatory. The other taught me things school never did.
In the past sixteen years, I’ve spent time in three different fandoms religiously, and dabbled in a fourth. I hid it from the people in my everyday life, ashamed of a stigma that had been attached to fanfiction since it became whispered about like sin. Things like, “only people with no friends spend their time online, obsessed with a TV show”; “It’s just poorly written porn”; and any other number of insults that I’ve heard throughout the years. But in my secret online life, I started to get a reputation. I was a good writer, but more than that, I was an even better beta. I could look at someone’s work and see the bigger picture. I knew what was missing, what would make it better, but most of all, I discovered that as much as I liked writing, I loved writers more. I loved their enthusiasm and watching their work blossom and take shape and become something beautiful. The knowledge that I helped make someone else’s work stronger made me want to beta every story in every fandom, even if I had no time. I took on more than I could chew, started to write less, and fell in love with this life.
And then a year before I turned thirty, everything changed. A friend I knew through fanfic had written a novel and wanted me to beta it. I was flattered and excited, and I spent the entire weekend reading through it, making edits, and wishing deep down I could do this for a living. And instead of living a life that was no longer right for me, I left all my former dreams behind, including Los Angeles, where I had been living for the past eight years, and moved back to a city I swore I would never return to again. I took informational meetings at literary agencies and got an internship at the incredible New Leaf Literary and Media, Inc. It took less than three months until I was hired in a permanent position and where I’ve spent the last year. Every day is an adventure and every day I am grateful.
Without fanfiction, without those years of writing and editing, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I wouldn’t have discovered incredible people along the way who believed in me and made me better; I wouldn’t have gotten dialogue down to a science; and most importantly I wouldn’t have discovered what I truly love. I’ve grown up with fanfiction writers who have later become published and I’ve met people who liked the idea of writing, but didn’t discover their life dreams of it until they wrote and posted for the world to see.
I realize now, it was never something to be ashamed of. So whether it’s writing or editing, or even just learning, embrace the fanfiction. It might just change your life.
—
Before moving back to her home state of New York, Jess Dallow spent eight years working at a talent agency in Hollywood. Deciding books and cold New York winters were more her speed, she became an intern at New Leaf Literary & Media before being hired as the subrights and film/tv assistant. In her spare time, Jess can be found at either Sprinkles or Chipotle, stuffing her face with cupcakes or guacamole (thankfully, not together). You can follow her on twitter.
There’s a ton of information out there for writers on the submission process, or what happens once you’ve signed with a literary agent and it’s time to take your book out like a nice, meaty gazelle to all the editor lions. Usually when an author says their manuscript is on sub, they’re talking about a complete book.
But what if you’ve been on the sub train before and have already got a book or two published? You’ve proven that you can finish an entire book in a timely manner, and you’d love the income and stability of another publishing contract—even if you don’t have a polished, complete manuscript ready to go.
That’s when you should have an honest conversation with your agent about selling a book on proposal.
Full disclosure: My agent sold my latest book on proposal. I had just wrapped up a series for a publisher, and I’d started a new project I was really excited about. Instead of waiting until I had written the whole book, I showed my agent the first few chapters, plus a synopsis. She was even more excited than I was, and we mutually decided to submit it to a batch of editors.
Wizard that my agent is, she found an editor who was even more excited about the book than WE were, and by the end of the week, we’d accepted her offer.
The first rule of Selling on Proposal: There are no hard and fast rules.
So what is a proposal anyway? Generally, I’d say a proposal consists of, at the very minimum, five sample chapters and a detailed synopsis of the book. My proposal had seven sample chapters—about 50 pages. I’ve also read a proposal that had sold on nearly 100 pages and a very detailed synopsis.
*Here’s a good time to mention the distinction between submitting on proposal and a contracted book. If your agent sells your manuscript in a multi-book deal, and you accept, you get to write more books for your publisher. Yay! You will probably have to have your editor approve the topic of your next book based on a proposal—especially if the first book you sold is a standalone and not the beginning of a series—but lets forget about contracted books and focus on submitting on proposal.
I’d heard that only bestsellers can sell on proposal, or that proposals don’t sell for as much money as completed manuscripts. Both proved false for me, but again, there are no real rules. This is publishing!
The second rule of Selling on Proposal: That proposal has to rock!
Since you’re only showing editors a sample of your writing, it should be the best dang writing you’re capable of. A lot of writers get hives at the word “synopsis”, but the synopsis is where you have to sell all the twists and turns in your story and set it apart from other books in your genre. So while technically a proposal is an unfinished book, a proposal should never feel unfinished.
Easy, right? You’re probably thinking, “I’d rather just write the whole book at that point!” Which brings me to…
The third rule of Selling on Proposal: It’s okay if it’s not for you.
I see a lot of authors worry about selling on proposal, since it’s essentially selling an idea. The actual, finished book might not be what the editor who bought it was expecting. It’s true that delivering a book under a deadline is stressful, and some writers feel the quality of their work suffers when there’s pressure to produce.
My story ended happily: My editor and I are both very happy with how the book turned out. Now, let’s see what readers think next year!
—
KARA THOMAS is the author of THE DARKEST CORNERS, coming from Penguin Random House/Delacorte Press in Spring 2016. She also wrote the Prep School Confidentialseries (St. Martin’s Press) and the pilot The Revengers for the CW under the pen name Kara Taylor. She’s represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary & Media. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or on the couch with her rescue cat, Felix.
Hey guys! I’m so excited to share this guest post with your from Danielle Barthel, a literary assistant from New Leaf Literary. She offers her own personal experience and insight for breaking into the publishing industry–which I’m sure many of you know isn’t the easiest thing to do.
—
Hello Pub-crawlers!
I’m so happy to be doing a guest post here this week!
I recently read a comment on Alex Bracken’s “You Tell Us: What Do You Want To See” post asking us to talk about hard lessons we’ve learned. For me—and I don’t think I’m alone—one of these lessons was the importance of following my passions. This was most relevant to me when I was trying to find a job in publishing.
The truth is, this is not an easy industry to crack, and there were times that I felt like it was never going to happen. What kept me going was the simple fact that I’ve wanted to work with words forever. I remember the first time I finished a full length book all by myself—one of those big hardcover Disney books that were based off the movies. Remember those? I was so proud of myself.
Books were just my thing. Growing up, I was the kid who got in trouble for reading at night by the light of my yellow American Girl flashlight-lantern (it looks a little like the one here, but I couldn’t find the exact picture).
When I reached the age that I no longer got into trouble for staying up late reading, and I still wanted to do it even though it was no longer “forbidden fruit” (and this was about as rebellious as my conscience let me get), I knew that my obsession with books wasn’t going away.
I actively realized that this was more than a passing rebellious phase, but instead a passion for something greater, when I left for college. I went to undergrad at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. It was five hours from home and the biggest leap I had ever taken outside my comfort zone. My fears about homesickness, not making friends, and being unhappy battled with my desire to learn about all things book related. Now loving books was more than just a passion—it was moving me towards a career.
I majored in English and took entire classes dedicated to Shakespeare, American lit, British lit, and young adult lit—I couldn’t believe it was a requirement to read Harry Potter in a real college class!
And it turned out that Brockport had one of the best study abroad programs around. I could wax nostalgic about my love of England, and specifically the town of York, for hours, but I’ll spare you. Instead I’ll just say I hope everyone has the opportunity to do something that scares them (like finding your own way in a foreign country without Google Maps) at least once in your life. Because it’ll bring even clearer into focus both who you are, and what you want out of life. Or at least it did for me.
Coming home, I knew with certainty—books, words, and the people who worked on them were inspiring and I wanted to be a part of it. So I went to the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute, where I spent an entire month learning more about publishing. It was eye-opening and informative, and when I returned to New York, I set up a ton of informational interviews with wonderful, willing agents and editors to learn even more, before someone I will be forever grateful to suggested that I look into internships.
Even though it might sound like things happened quickly, they didn’t. I spent a few months doing interviews, both informational and for actual jobs/internships. I had this intense Excel grid of people I had emailed for interviews, what they were for, when I met with them, if they responded…
When I got my first real job rejection (for something I had been feeling so good about), I was pretty devastated. Wasn’t I doing everything right? English degree, Denver Publishing Institute grad, interviewing up a storm. Why was I still jobless?
Something I didn’t understand until after I’d been applying for jobs left and right is not to discount things completely out of my control, like being in the right place at the right time. I applied for an internship at Writers House, one of the biggest agencies in New York, after a recommendation from an informational interview. The Writers House intern coordinator initially called me because I was a Denver grad. I got the internship because of a mix of networking and timing and because I fit what they were looking for. All those factors together jump-started my career.
I’ve now worked in the industry I love, at a company I love, for three years as of this January. And after everything that’s led me to this place, it always goes back to my love of books.
So my lesson is this: follow your passions. Do what you love just because you love it. Don’t let those terrifying “what ifs” control your life. Thrive on challenge. And be open to the fact that you don’t have all the answers. That’s okay too.
—
Following her completion of the Denver Publishing Institute after graduation, Danielle began interning at Writers House. While there, she realized she wanted to put her English degree and love of the written word to work at a literary agency. She became a full-time assistant and continues to help keep the New Leaf offices running smoothly.
In her downtime, she can be found with a cup of tea, a bar of chocolate, or really good book…sometimes all together. Follow Danielle on Twitter!
In my experience, no matter how many books an author has published, whether they’re traditionally or independently published, or what their day job is, publicity is the one area that leaves many authors in the dark. Everyone wants to be on Ellen or have a rave review in the New York Times, but how does a publicist pull that off? And if those outlets aren’t attainable (which is the case for 99% of authors), then what else can be done to garner media coverage and increase sales?
Enter the publicist.
If you’re with a traditional publisher, they will assign you an in-house publicist. But if you’re on your own, or want someone to supplement your in-house publicists’ efforts, you’ll need to find an outside publicist. When it comes to in-house publicists, you don’t have much say in the matter, but it’s important to ask plenty of questions and be informed of their plans. For finding an outside publicists, there are hundreds of us, all with different styles, philosophies, and specialties. It’s up to you to find the publicist that is the best for you and your project.
Whether you’re heading into the marketing meeting at your publisher or interviewing someone on the outside, there are several questions you should ask:
Who do you see as the intended audience for the book?
Your publicist’s primary role is to secure media coverage for you and the book, but if that media doesn’t reach your target audience, it’s not going to result in sales. You want to make sure the publicist understands the target audience and how best to reach them.
Some of this is a matter of opinion, so if they say they see your book being read by urban hipsters while you saw it as more of a book club book, hear them out. They may have valid points. And if you’re in-house publicist wants to target the urban hipsters, you can probably find an outside publicist to hit up the book-clubbers.
What is your pitching process? How do you contact and follow up with media outlets?
Some in-house publicists might be cagey about their response to this question. The fact is, most in-house publicists are over-worked and under-paid, and due to time constraints, rely on mass emailing rather than crafting tailored pitches. Sometimes, the mass emails work, but often, they get deleted, un-opened.
Outside publicists vary in their approach. There was a time where we relied on mass pitching because it gave us more bang for our buck, but as the amount of books being published is increasing and the number of outlets covering books is decreasing, we’ve moved away from mass pitching and instead, create tailored pitches for a shorter list of media outlets.
For follow ups, you want a publicist who’s going to get on the phone. Many emails slip through the cracks and many radio producers don’t even check their email. Following up via phone is an important component in ensuring your pitch gets noticed.
What is your timeline for the campaign?
It’s easy to get nervous and insecure when you don’t know when things are happening. Having a loose outline of when certain outlets are going to be pitched, when a blog tour will be launched, when you can expect to see coverage, etc. will help put you at ease.
All publicists should have a timeline for their campaigns and although that timeline may shift based on the news cycle, holidays, and other factors, it should give you an idea of what they’re doing and when.
What is your communication style?
You want to have a good working relationship with your publicist, and agreeing on a communication style is a key part of that. If your in-house publicist says s/he only emails when she gets a hit or prefers to do everything via email, then it’s best to respect that. Also, letting your in-house person know that you’re on email all day or that you’re only available for calls later in the evening, will help set the expectations so both of you can communicate more effectively.
If you’re hiring an outside publicist, you want to find someone who gels with your communication style. If they don’t do phone calls, but you are really more of a phone person, then that publicist isn’t right for you. You also want to make sure they work well with your in-house team.
Publicity is more of an art than a science and there is no formula for a successful publicity campaign. Some authors are booked on big national shows while other books only get a handful of blog reviews. Rather than focusing on what a publicist has been able to accomplish in the past, focus on what he or she sees for your book’s future.
—
Dana Kaye is the owner of Kaye Publicity, a boutique PR company specializing in publishing and entertainment. Known for her innovative ideas and knowledge of current trends, she frequently speaks on the topics of social media, branding, and publishing trends, and her commentary has been featured on websites like The Huffington Post, Little Pink Book, and NBC Chicago. For more info, visit www.KayePublicity.com.
Full confession—despite the fact that I’ve been around writers for years and heard a lot about “pass pages,” I didn’t fully understand what they were until I was about to receive my own! So chances are, if you’re reading this post and you’re not already a traditionally published author, you probably aren’t one hundred percent sure what they are either. No worries! Today I’m going to talk about what pass pages are and the purpose they serve in the process. I’m also going to share my personal experience with them, because I didn’t know what a big impact they were going to have on me until that big envelope came in the mail!
finalizing the text and knowing the book could no longer be “fixed.” (I’m that person who dreads finishing something, because as long as it isn’t finished, it can always get better.) My editor assured me that even after line edits—even after copyedits—I could still make small changes. Because the final opportunity to make those changes didn’t come until I got my pass pages.
I kid, I kid, but to be honest, be prepared to be pitching you and your book for the rest of your life: to agents, to editors, to authors way higher up the food chain than you, to booksellers, to readers, etc. Once a manuscript begins the process of moving from a story in your head shared with you and your editor to a tangible product, that’s when blurbs come in. That’s when you and your editor pitch your book to other authors and ask if they would be interested in reading with an eye toward blurbing.
“It only takes one yes.”
Hello fellow book people!
Up until a year ago, I thought I had a dirty little secret.
Hello Pub-crawlers!
The truth is, this is not an easy industry to crack, and there were times that I felt like it was never going to happen. What kept me going was the simple fact that I’ve wanted to work with words forever. I remember the first time I finished a full length book all by myself—one of those big hardcover Disney books that were based off the movies. Remember those? I was so proud of myself.
Books were just my thing. Growing up, I was the kid who got in trouble for reading at night by the light of my yellow American Girl flashlight-lantern (it looks a little like the one here, but I couldn’t find the exact picture).
I actively realized that this was more than a passing rebellious phase, but instead a passion for something greater, when I left for college. I went to undergrad at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. It was five hours from home and the biggest leap I had ever taken outside my comfort zone. My fears about homesickness, not making friends, and being unhappy battled with my desire to learn about all things book related. Now loving books was more than just a passion—it was moving me towards a career.
And it turned out that Brockport had one of the best study abroad programs around. I could wax nostalgic about my love of England, and specifically the town of York, for hours, but I’ll spare you. Instead I’ll just say I hope everyone has the opportunity to do something that scares them (like finding your own way in a foreign country without Google Maps) at least once in your life. Because it’ll bring even clearer into focus both who you are, and what you want out of life. Or at least it did for me.