Editorial Anonymous

My First App

2011-04-08T06:16:00.000-04:00

I have a dilemma regarding ebook publishing. I am a seasoned graphic designer/illustrator trying to break into the kidlit industry with an author/illustrator picture book.

I'd just begun sending out dummies of my book to potential agents when I was contacted by a publishing company specializing exclusively in ebook apps for the iPad. They had seen my work at a regional SCBWI event and wanted me to submit any manuscripts/dummies I happened to have for their review and possible acceptance. They went on, in that initial conversation, to say that if the app sold large numbers, it would make it potentially appealing to traditional publishers.

That's probably true. But what are the chances of it selling in large numbers? That's the question.

I'm a total noob at this (a key reason I was seeking an agent!) and don't want to miss the chance of my book being something really wonderful. Although I'm not afraid to embrace new technologies, I believe traditional publishing is better for many reasons. I know a good editor is worth her weight in gold and can do to a good MS what a good Art Director can do with a bunch of disparate pieces of art and copy.

Here's the question. If I submit to this app publisher, and they accept and publish my PB, will that completely shoot down any chances of it getting published as a traditional, printed book? Should I just stick it out and see what turns up with my submissions to agents?

If you think that your book is going to change significantly in the editing and design process, then you probably don't want to publish it as an app first.

If you do decide to publish your book as an app, don't hand over your creative property to someone unless they can show you an app they've done before that you think is cool. Lots and lots of people are trying to make apps. Some of them suck at it. Be warned.

A Sail to Every Wind

2011-04-06T06:32:00.000-04:00

I know that this is outside your field, and you may not be able to comment on publisher policies, but I'm dying to hear your reaction to the decision by HarperCollins to limit ebooks licensed to libraries to 26 checkouts over the life of the book. As an aspiring writer and a librarian struggling to try to get as many books as I can for my kids on my tiny budget, I can see both sides, but us librarians...we feel a little bit picked on. Would love to hear your thoughts!

I, too, see both sides. The system they have set up in much of the British Commonwealth seems like what this country is going to have to move towards eventually... or maybe there's some other system that will work better.

The real answer, I think, is that whatever Harper is doing now, they will probably not be doing two years from now. The entire publishing industry is in flux. We are trying to figure out ebooks, and there's truly no way to know for sure how they will end up being sold, checked out, borrowed, etc. We are in the exciting and extremely frustrating period between publishing models, when the only thing to do is experiment.

Mulligan!

2011-04-04T06:19:00.000-04:00

Thank you for your informative blog which, you wouldn’t be able to tell from my last behavior, I have read in full. Of course, just when I should be able to follow your advice to the ‘T’, I had a bit of a brain freeze, I guess. I sent off my submission, synopsis, and all to an agent and editor and forgot most of what I learned. No excuse, really. I don’t know what I was thinking.

#1- I sent an early version that had only one difference, but it was big. A paragraph from Chapter 4 had not been moved to Chapter 1. This paragraph sets up the suspense for the book in an earlier time frame. Since I only sent chapter 1-3, that is kind of big.

#2- I sent my outline instead of my synopsis. This will be obvious since it tells the whole story, and not too imaginatively either. Yikes!

#3 – Then, when I got home from the post office, I saw the SASE I meant to include, sitting on the kitchen table where I left it.

Now, I’m not really an idiot, although it sounds like it. And, OK, I feel like one. I’m wondering if I should just let it go. I have the urge to resubmit, because I made a mistake, and oh well, that happens. I do want to put my best foot forward, however, and I think I have a really good book. I also don’t want the people I sent the book to, to waste their time trying to figure out ‘what the heck?’ Right? Then, again, I wonder, geesh…is sending it again another dumb move?

Do you think I should resubmit, or does this kind of stuff happen. Are agents and editors very understanding of an author’s bad day, I guess?

Go ahead and try resubmitting. If you can make the explanation in your cover letter sound like you sound here--ie, human, humble, and with a sense of humor--and not like someone who might be perennially scattered of mind and disorganized, then you stand a fair chance of being forgiven.

Planning For the Future, Ha Ha

2011-04-02T06:07:00.000-04:00

Say an author has reached that happy place where multiple editors are interested in purchasing her debut novel. Would it be viewed as peculiar if the author wanted to interview each editor to find "the best fit" -- dollar signs aside?

Not at all. This doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough. And the editors involved are usually really pleased when it does--it says you value our part in this process as well as the check we'll cut you.

Also, if, for instance, the debut novel were a Middle Grade and the author has hopes to one day move into the YA market, is it best to find an editor who handles both? Or is it enough to go with an editor whose publishing house handles both?

Publishing being what it is today, it's more important to give this one book the best publication it can have than what will happen after. Success has a way of sorting itself out--and the market (and your publisher) may be different when you start in YA than it is now; things are so volatile in publishing. Do the best you can for this book. When (if) you write a YA novel, do what makes most sense for THAT book THEN.

Sitting On Your Hands Is Never Part of Your Job

2011-03-31T06:35:00.000-04:00

I submitted some work to a major U.S. publisher almost a year ago. A few months later, I received a personalized, lengthy, warm email from an editor who indicated she liked my work but that she wasn't ready to take on the project at that point. She did suggest some changes and invited me to send it back to her. I revised and re-submitted. A few months went by and I emailed her again to check the status. She replied that she hadn't yet had a chance to get to it. A few months later, I emailed again. She wrote back: "I need more time to review this submission." And it's been a while since then...How do I interpret this? Is my story just collecting dust under her desk when I could be actively sending my work elsewhere?

YES.

Or might this mean that there may be some genuine interest and that I should just be patient?

YES.

I don't know how many times I've gotten variations on this question. DO be patient. And DO keep submitting elsewhere. The changes that she asked for should be exclusive to her... for maybe six months, to be generous. Until then, keep submitting the previous draft elsewhere. After that, submit the revision (assuming you think it's stronger) elsewhere.

Editors can take a goddamn long time to just LOOK at something, at which point they may be very excited about it. An interminable wait may not mean that nothing's ever going to happen. But you should NOT be waiting for that day (if it ever comes) to KEEP SUBMITTING.

KEEP SUBMITTING.

The Sound of Failure Calls Her Name

2011-03-29T06:10:00.002-04:00

One prevailing sentiment among writing forums is to hold off submitting until your book represents the best that it can be.
But what does that mean when there is no objective standard by which to measure your book?

1. TIME
Set the damn thing aside for awhile. It is SO easy to be SO excited about something you've just finished, or SO tired of working on it that you just want to start submitting. Give it a little time in the cask to age, and then look at it and see if it's still exciting... or still tiresome. Most likely, you'll notice a few things that need tweaking, and then it'll be ready.

2. CRITIQUE
A crit group--a good one--lets you see your manuscript the way your reader will. A crit group will point out that an important bit was unclear in chapter 1, and you'll be able to avoid the confusion that might make an editor give up on your book too soon. A crit group will tell you your spelling isn't terribly consistent. A crit group will nudge you to develop your characters more, or to cut the chapter in which nothing happens. A good crit group saves the editor the large and time-consuming broad-strokes editing that may make the difference between something she can commit to and something that is just too rough.

3. SELF KNOWLEDGE
Is your spelling crap? Do you tend to confuse homophones? If you can't trust yourself to clean the manuscript up, get someone else to do it who can. Lots of little mistakes like that make you seem kind of illiterate, when in fact you may simply be dyslexic. Unless you sometimes lose your hairbrush in your hair, you know that first impressions make a difference. The best writers to work with are the ones who know their weaknesses and their strengths, and work to ameliorate the one as much as they work to showcase the other.

Once you have checked these things off, it is time to remind yourself that:

4. POSITIVITY and ACTION
It's time to try the book out on people and submit it. Maybe it's not PERFECT. So what. Keep working on other things, and keep learning. If you let yourself be the kind of person to fuss over one manuscript for ages without working on anything else or submitting anything, (a) editors are going to hate you, and (b) you're going to hate yourself. Failure to be published is not nearly as soul-crushing as failure to even try.

The Rough Draft Is In Swedish

2011-03-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

I'm an American author whose book is set in a foreign country. I've received an offer from a publisher in that country. They want to translate the book, and publish it there. This is great news, but the market is very small. I also want to publish in the US, not just because it is a bigger market but also because it is my home. Should I hold off on accepting the foreign offer until (if!) I can work something out with a US publisher? If I do go ahead and publish abroad, then can I revise the MS for a US publisher or is it set in stone and unrevisable once published?

If it's a very small market, your US publisher may not mind your having sold the rights already. And more and more, agents seem to be going after foreign sales for their clients, so publishers are a bit more accustomed to not having a lot of foreign rights for novels. So that's unlikely to be an issue.

As for revision, every translation fiddles with the exact phrasing of the text--if it doesn't then the translation won't sound natural to native speakers. So some differences between the English and other language editions are expected.

So if there were some way for you to be sure you weren't going to do very much revision (for instance if you've decided already that you're going to be inflexible and hard to work with--which I assume is not the case), then there would be no problem. But imagine your US editor has a bunch of suggestions that get you really excited and that (for instance) change the ending completely.

There probably still wouldn't be a problem with copyright between the two editions, but how would you feel about that scenario? Would you want two very different versions of your story out there--when one of them might end up feeling to you like a beta version and not the story you most want to share with readers?

Do I Need an Agent?

2011-03-11T08:50:00.000-05:00

Do you have any preference with working agented or unagented authors / illustrators, or does it all depend on the actual personalities involved?

It's about the personalities, and the skill sets.

If you're the kind of person who has little hissy fits throughout the bookmaking process--hissy fits you feel you must share with your colleagues (as opposed to the more recommended sharing with your friends/family), you need an agent. Agents can offer you a sympathetic ear if your process involves venting before finding a way to compromise. Your publisher will get tired of you quickly if THEY have to babysit.

If you're the kind of person who is always, always behind deadline, you need an agent. An agent can keep reminding you, cajoling you, nagging you, whatever you need. Again, this is just part of some people's process. But your publisher doesn't have the time to do this, and so your book will be late, and the publisher will be unhappy.

If you're the kind of person who thinks you're just going to show the contract to your husband, who is a lawyer, you need an agent. There are as many different kinds of lawyers as there are doctors. Bringing a publishing contract to a tax or estate or criminal lawyer is akin to taking your foot problem to a cardiologist. YOU'RE GOING TO GET BAD ADVICE. The frustration this will cause your publisher is not worth it... to the publisher.

If you are the kind of person who doesn't know how to negotiate, and ends up agreeing to a crappy first offer, or alternatively thinks you're going to negotiate a $10,000 advance up to $100,000, you need an agent. An agent knows how to negotiate and what's reasonable to expect in the market.

If you want to be published at any of the houses that don't accept unagented submissions, or even at many of the ones that do, you need an agent. An agent knows not only the publishers, she knows the individual editors and which ones will respond best to your manuscript.

And let's not forget that if you want a guide through the booby-trapped and pathless jungles of a publishing career, you need an agent.

However, if you are an intrepid explorer yourself, of a patient and workmanlike nature; if you enjoy the research involved in plotting your own path through publishing, and are flexible about learning more as you go along, then you may not need an agent.

Open Thread

2011-03-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

Comment moderation is temporarily turned off-- so ask your questions, start discussions... talk to me, and talk to each other!

Big Fish, Small Pond? Or Big Fish, Wrong Pond?

2011-03-05T06:21:00.000-05:00

So, the last time I emailed you, I had the hype but not the trophies. Now I’ve got both. Why is it that American editors ignore writers from New Zealand who aren’t Margaret Mahy or Joy Cowley. Down under, our buyers (readers) are piranhas. But, unfortunately for NZ authors, they are tiny piranhas.

I also review the YA books which that come out of the US and the UK and most of it, which, yeah, I know, sells, is actually formulaic which my students (I’m a high school teacher) turn their noses at – preferring to read ADULT literature.

Is this a ‘mam, this is a gentlemen’s club…’ kind of thing? Cos it sure does feel like it.

If you mean actual 'gentlemen', then no. The majority of publisher staff is female.

If you mean 'we just don't like New Zealanders', then no. We're seeing a lot of very talented and very profitable novels coming from the southern hemisphere, and there's no prejudice that I'm aware of, unless it's a prejudice for Australia/New Zealand, not against. (And while I realize that Australians and New Zealanders do not see themselves as in the same category, to US publishers, you are.)

If you mean 'Americans are just stupid and you can't sell anything smart to them', well, I can't say for sure, can I? We certainly can't match you for sheep jokes.

With an award under your belt and great reviews, I would start to wonder if your agent is sending the book to the right people. Authors over here sometimes have to leave their agents because things just aren't working out. You may be in that position, too.

At the same time, sometimes a book that can make a big splash in a smaller publishing market would be in danger of disappearing in a larger one. Without having read your book, I can't hypothesize, but good luck.

At Least It's Not My Beautiful Mommy

2011-03-03T06:10:00.000-05:00

Anonymous, you’ve put so much effort into warning about the perils of self publishing. Why bother? Considering none of them would even make it through into the real world of publishing anyway (therefore not affecting you)why are you so passionate about the subject?

I feel bad for people who are taken in by vanity presses and who end up repaid for their money and effort only in frustration.

Wouldn’t trashy self published books actually make what you do look better?

Most of my books look awesome whatever you put them next to.
You don't actually need the horribly bad contestants on American Idol to make the honestly talented contestants shine.

I agree most people should not attempt to self publish, but publishing companies have also put out some pretty crap books.

Well, that's the truth. But at least no one was deliberately swindled over those books.

I know because my daughter has devoured many thousands of books since the age of two (she was a very early reader), some of which have either bored her to tears or she has found mistakes not picked up by professional editors. In fact over time she has found quite a few and from the age of three she refused to read any books which had mistakes. At age ten she has over a thousand books (yes, one is a self published book that she refuses to part with.) Strangely enough it is the only book with mistakes she wants to keep because she said “at least it’s interesting”. The content would never be endorsed by a mainstream publishing company but this piqued the interest of child who tends to think outside the box. So to each his own.

I absolutely agree. Everyone is welcome to make as many mistakes as they like. But for those who would rather not make a mistake, a word to the wise is a simple kindness.

There's a Signpost Up Ahead

2011-03-01T05:59:00.000-05:00

A well-known agent sent out my novel to 9 publishers 3 months ago and says she has not heard a peep since. How long does this process normally take?

1. There is no "normal".
2. Forever. Or at least it seems like it. If your agent is well-known, then he/she should be able to tell you what's normal for the editors he/she submitted to.

I know things things vary, but realistically, wouldn’t I have had at least 1 rejection by now?

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "Publishing".

'Nonfiction' Is Like Reality TV Shows, Right? And 'Creative Nonfiction' Is Like Fox News

2011-02-27T05:41:00.000-05:00

(1) How is publishing different for nonfiction children's books? (For example, a science topic for middle grades)

It's SO different! It's furrier, for one thing, and sometimes it's purple!
Ok, so I didn't really understand the question. There aren't a lot of differences, aside from submission (see below) and the need for fact-checking. Were you thinking of something else?

(2) I know for adult nonfiction, authors are not expected to write the whole book before submitting. Is that true of children's books as well or do editors expect the complete manuscript?

If it's chapter-length nonfiction, then yes, usually those are sold based on sample chapters and an outline.

(3) Are nonfiction titles a harder sell to publishers/bookstores?

They certainly can be. Some nonfiction sells great---The Dangerous Book for Boys, for example. But a lot of nonfiction (especially chapter-length nonfiction) only does well if it's very well supported by teachers and librarians, and as you may have heard in the news, they have NO MONEY TO SPEND ON BOOKS right now. But that's ok, because we didn't want those kids educated anyway. Who cares if they'll be old enough to vote soon? Most adult Americans NOW don't know what "nonfiction" means, and everything's just fine, right?

She Introduced Me to OkCupid, and It Was Love At 539th Sight!

2011-02-25T05:33:00.000-05:00

There’s a new service designed to help you find qualified authors at no cost to you.
Their books are properly packaged so you can review their project in 3 seconds or less.
It’s been called the “eHarmony” for Agents & Authors It is the step between the author’s computer at home and the agenting world. I’m a Literary Agent Matchmaker and I’m here to help you. I invite you to take a quick peek at my website where you'll find a dedicated page for Agents like you. Be sure to sign up for our fre.e Hot List to get notified about projects from qualified authors in your genres.

I'm confused. Is this an agent to help you find an agent?

So, you pay this person $1,000 to suggest agents to you (but no guarantees), and then the agent helps you get a publisher? How many middle men do we need?

Isn't this like paying a matchmaker to recommend an internet dating service?

There are so many things that I don't understand.

That's Not a Stranger in the Bushes. That's Santa!

2011-02-23T05:19:00.000-05:00

I am a French author. I work with a dozen publishers in France and some of my books are translated into Spanish, Chinese, Korean, etc.. But not in English! I just moved to Ireland and I would like to see my books here. How do I do? Do I find an agent to translate and publish my books? In France the agents do not exist, I contacted the publishers directly and they deal themself for the foreign rights ...

The question is really: whose rights are these?

If the foreign language rights belong to your French publisher, how did your French publisher show your books to Spanish, Korean, and Chinese publishers without having shown them to US and UK publishers? That seems extremely unlikely to me; it seems far more likely that the US and UK publishers simply weren't interested. Some books, whether because of art style or topic or treatment, just don't translate to certain other book markets. For every Everyone Poops, there's a Santa Through the Window.

If the foreign rights are yours, then you could get an agent to represent the foreign rights. Readers, any agent suggestions?

Once Upon a Time, a Chipmunk and a Penguin Went to a Motel Room

2011-02-21T04:53:00.000-05:00

I'm finishing an illustration-only book. It was intended for children, but it's suitable for all ages.

Please refer to this post.

So would it be considered a children's picture book because it meets the page-count criteria, or could it be stretched to the novelty category and submitted to agents that don't accept children's fiction? It seems to me that novelty can be a tough sell, but aren't consumers more likely to purchase a novelty/gift book than, say, a fifteen-dollar picture book? I ask that realizing your answer most likely is that it depends on the pictures, but feel free to surprise me here.

It depends on the pictures---and the topic.

There is a core audience for your book. I'm guessing, from your question, that the topic or treatment is somewhat adult, and the only reason you think it might be a children's book is the format. I don't suppose you've seen Baby, Mix Me a Drink? Or Furverts? Those are both board book formats, a format associated with infants and toddlers. Does the format make them for that audience? OH HELL NO.

Of course, there are some picture books published every year by children's imprints for which the audience is really adults. The ones who skate that line in an acceptable way are usually light-hearted life advice, like: "if you love someone, set them free." They are bought as graduation gifts (see Walk On or Oh The Places You'll Go). The ones that don't are usually dreadful and sometimes psychotic life advice, like: "if you love someone, let them chop you down to a stump."

But graduation gifts is a difficult niche to publish into---more difficult than adult novelty books.

Figure out who your audience is. Good luck!

How to Give a Gift

2011-02-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

My question is about etiquette. I don't know how often it comes up, but you're the only person I can think of to ask.
I've known Editor X since I was very young. He was a long-time friend of one of my parents before my parent passed away, a few years back. He is absolutely enormous in the New York publishing world.
I've wanted to be a fiction author professionally since I was a child, and it has nothing to do with the connection. I didn't even register how well-known Editor X is until recently, when I Googled his name to find contact info. I've been grieving quite badly over my parent and have been keeping myself to myself, but it was time to reach out. As a result of my Googling, Editor X and I have re-kindled our friendship.
To my good fortune, I signed a contract with an independent publisher last year and the novel will be released in a small run some time in the 3rd quarter of this year.
I know I am extremely lucky in both regards and wouldn't change any of it for any amount of money.
Is it appropriate to send Editor X an advance copy of my novel as a gesture of friendship? How do I make it clear that I sent it because he loves books, not because he has connections? My friendship with him is very important to me, and I want to make it on my own, so perhaps I shouldn't send it at all. But maybe he'll be offended that I didn't think of him when gifting copies...! What do I do?

You're probably over-thinking this. Editor X will not expect you to send him a free copy of your book; if you decide not to, he won't be offended. All editors know how many friends authors have, and know you can't possibly give all your friends free copies. (Also, would it kill them to support their friend and BUY the book?)

If you do want to send him a copy of the book, I would suggest carefully wording the note you send with it to communicate that you don't expect him to read the book; that you understand how many books and manuscripts are always waiting in line for attention from people in the book business. (Both books we need to read for our jobs, and ones we just want to read, when we get the chance. My when-I-get-the-chance pile must be around 30 books high right now.) Reference your friendship as the motivation for sending it, and that will be enough.

Then: be a good gift-giver and never ask him if he got around to reading it. I know, some people have a tremendously difficult time giving gifts without also giving the obligation to enjoy the gift and report back on that enjoyment. As well-meaning as those people are, and as much as I love them, I don't want another "gift" from them ever again. These are alligator presents. True generosity comes without obligation.

Quick Answers: Freelance Editors, Trends, and Overthinking

2011-02-17T06:34:00.000-05:00

When an agent or editor asks for a synopsis or the first ten pages to be pasted in the email, should I double space as if it's a hard copy, or is there a preferred method for email formatting?

This is another case of overthinking submissions. Do whatever makes it easily readable, and leave it at that.

I’ve heard that publishers are currently looking for vampire and action manuscripts. I’m not interested in placating a fickle trend, but I am curious as to whether or not you think the recent downturn in the publishing industry might be leading to a significant (long-term) shift in what sells.

Let me congratulate you on not writing to trend. But the answer to your question is no.

I have written a novel (fiction/semi-romantic). I would like to find someone professional who would read it and tell me how to proceed from this point. If you have any specific advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Some people do hire freelance developmental editors, but I think you could probably get as much help from a good critique group. Readers, do you have thoughts? Or recommendations of freelance editors?

Welcome to the Booby Hatch

2011-02-15T06:37:00.000-05:00

I'm a Picture Book Illustrator but this past Spring a story began to form in my brain (sounds painful right and it was:)
I began by sketching it out in storyboard fashion. I thought I had a vision of how the story would go, how many pages it might take to tell it, the type of art (sketchy b/w) I would need, the limited wording I wanted to use.
Well, after a while I realized I had far too many sketches for any pic book I have ever seen. I stopped, thinking perhaps it best to put down the words on paper that were going through my head as I drew.
That made it worse, because my vision for the book was completely thrown by the amount of writing I was doing. This was NOT what I had planned. It was suppose to be simple, few words, perhaps a speech bubble here and there, thought bubbles for the dog character. Now, words were flowing to match the number of images and I found myself panicking.
Now, I really don't know what I have here. Is it the quirky sort of pic book I had planned, no. Is it a story book, no. Is it a graphic novel, maybe but how do I tell. Is it a mid grade novel, can't be, I'm not a writer!!!

This is the time for a good critique group. They will help you sort out which things are working best about the project, and you'll be in a better place to decide its shape from there.

How do writers sort this out and is it normal or at least common for a writer to begin a work and then have it take over? Do Authors always know what sort of manuscript they will end up with or is it sometimes a surprise even to them?

Of course it's a surprise sometimes. These are creative endeavors; they are supposed to have some life of their own.

Lastly, when the story starts talking back to you and you to the story, is it time for the jacket and wagon?

If that's your definition of crazy, every SCBWI conference is a looney bin. You have a LOT of company.

Quick Answers: Cold Medicine, Reincarnation, and Newspaper Copyright

2011-02-13T06:26:00.000-05:00

What genre would reincarnation fall into?

Fantasy.

Under the influence of cold medicine, I cranked out what I think is a cute picture book (text only, no art, but I'm still taking cold medicine so watch out). I am not new to writing, but am new to writing for kids. Specifically, I would like to learn more about rhyme, verse and poetry in picture books.

I've found a lot of references to how bad most writers are at it, but not a lot of ideas/advice on how to evaluate or improve.

Do you have any thoughts? I would like to figure out a) how bad my verse is and b) how to fix it. (I do assume it must be awful because I am high on drugs.)

Readers, to the comments! I'm sure you have some great resources.

I'm interested in knowing if I can legally use feature stories I wrote that were already published by a community newspaper I work for. I understand that after 90 days, the stories legally belong to me and that I can rework them and sell them to magazines, trade journals, etc. for additional publication.
Does this sound correct?

Who do you understand this from? The newspaper? Because if it's not the newspaper (or more specifically the contract you signed with them), it doesn't mean a thing.

Unrealistic Expectations? Unrealistic Expectations, Party of Four?

2011-02-11T06:08:00.000-05:00

I am a working writer (film) and director.
I have written a children's book. People seem to really like it,

"People"? You mean like your neighbors and friends and plumber and stuff? They don't know anything about children's books.

and of course I want a good illustrator and want it published.
I was thinking of getting an pro illustrator myself and presenting it to editors in it's completed form--is this crazy?

Yes.

I imagine editors want to be part of that process, but also fear a hack artist getting assigned to it.

Well, get a good editor.

Also, isn't writing children's books like opening a restaurant--something that everyone wants to do but almost nobody really succeeds at?

No, no. It's worse than that.

Writing children's books is like singing-- something EVERYONE, even the ones who don't know how to cook, think they can do acceptably. I swear to god, if you started stopping people on the street and asking them if they had an idea for a children's book, 99% of them would say yes. This is why editors don't generally admit to what they do when speaking to strangers.

For restaurants, there are three categories: people playing with the idea of opening a restaurant, people trying to run a restaurant, and people running a successful restaurant.

For children's books, there are four categories: people playing with the idea of writing a children's book, people trying to get a children's book published, people who have gotten a children's book published, and people publishing successful children's books. As much failure as there is in restaurants, there is much, much more in books.

However: there are many things you can do to lessen your chances of failure, and among them are writing a great deal, reading a lot of children's books, and finding out as much as you can about the business.

I mean, who is more likely to run a successful restaurant-- the person who has pipe dreams of serving his grandmother's recipes to other people, or the person who has practiced running a restaurant, investigated how other restaurants are run, and educated themselves about the business of running a restaurant?

Poetry? There's an Ointment for That.

2011-02-09T06:49:00.054-05:00

I've been wondering: I've written a picture book text in unrhymed verse, although the format is in verse, due to the rhythm. How to I query on this? And what would be the format of the text? In regular paragraph form? Or in verse form? Can you advise me on that?

I love poetry. I browse the children's poetry section at bookstores, and I read poetry in my spare time.

I'm not the only one, either. Plenty of editors enjoy good poetry. And it is for this very reason that most editors HATE poetry in query letters.

I'm not implying that your poetry isn't good. I just want to bring across what you're up against.

The mild bludgeoning the English language gets in prose when in the hands of some writers becomes a cheerful disemboweling when the same people attempt poetry. Every editor has seen a great quantity of this sort of thing. It's terrible to watch the language we love be dressed up in quaint and merry bells and then flayed alive.

So seeing 'poetry' or 'verse' in a query letter, especially when what's being pitched to me is a picture book, not a poetry book (and thus not something that absolutely must be poetry), has, after much experience, come to give me the feeling of incipient hives. It is often the precursor of a manuscript that cares more about being poetry than about having a sales hook or any compelling content, and indeed often fails at all three.

In consideration of this justifiable prejudice among editors, and because your verse is not rhyming, I would strongly suggest that you not mention that your book is in verse when you query it. If it works to format it in paragraph form, go ahead and do that, too. And once you've taken the lyricism of your writing out of the query letter's equation, if you can't think what makes your book good competition for the many other picture books out there, then that's when you know you've got a problem.

Good luck!

The Waiting Is Not the Hardest Part

2011-02-07T06:51:00.000-05:00

An editor at a conference asked me to send my YA manuscript for consideration, which I did. My original plan was to start with queries to agents, beginning with someone who expressed interest. However, I am waiting on that since I would really like to work with this editor and don't want to throw up any roadblocks. What I am wondering is: How long should I give the editor before I start my query process to agents?

Zero time. Start now. You don't want to send out your manuscript to a bunch of editors while you are sending it to agents, because that's your future agent's job. But sending the manuscript to one editor who you made contact with at a conference and who requested it is not going to ruffle any agent's feathers. And if the editor expresses interest and by that time you have an agent, the editor will not be unduly annoyed.

Quick Answers: Poetry vs Picture Book, Chapter Book vs Novel

2011-02-05T06:39:00.000-05:00

Thanks for sharing all your comments and tips with us. I have just begun the process of trying to find an agent to represent my work - picture books written in rhyme. I have heard that some agents and editors will not even manuscripts for rhyming picture books, perhaps partly because they are overdone and partly because often they are not done well. I assume all I can do as an aspiring writer is to send my manuscripts to those who don't include "rhyming picture books" in their lists of what they are NOT looking for. But what if they specify that they aren't looking for "Poetry"? This is what I need clarified for me. Does "Poetry" mean an actual book of poems (Whitman, Silverstein, etc.) or does my rhyming picture book fall into this category as well?

Well, it shouldn't mean that. Probably in some cases it does actually mean that, but I think you have to take them at their word and submit it as a picture book.

I was wondering if the query letter is any different for a chapter book vs. a regular novel. I know that with picture books, you are supposed to include the complete text of your entire manuscript in your query, but would you do that for a chapter book that is around 7,500 words (if you were intending it to have a lot of pictures)? Or would I follow regular query standards for this type of chapter book?
I haven't seen this question directly addressed on any industry blogs, perhaps because there really is no difference so people don't make mention of it. I appreciate everything you do with your blog and I hope everything is going well at your agency.

A. I am not an agent. See the "editorial" at the top?

B. Do not include the complete text of your picture book manuscript unless that's what the publisher's/agent's submission guidelines ask for. There are no industry-wide rules. Wishfully thinking that there are is just going to get you into trouble.

C. A chapter book is a short novel for short people. Treat it like that.

Quick Answers: Blurbs, Library Credits, and Print Runs

2011-02-03T06:54:00.002-05:00

If I'm shopping a fiction manuscript to an editor (or agent), how helpful would it be, really, to include a quote from a multi-published, bestselling queen/king/first lady/high priest of the genre? Assuming the writing is solid but you're on the fence about, say, content and marketability, would having a cover blurb in hand for a non-contracted novel sway you in any way? Can a blurb sell a book to the industry pros?
And if that bestselling author has had a policy of not providing blurbs for a while but is making an exception, should that bit of information be included in the query or would it come across sounding too hard-sell and desperate?

If you've got a blurb from one of the big writers in the genre, yes, that carries weight. It still might not sell the book to an editor who just doesn't like it, but it might really make a difference to an editor who's on the fence.

The other day, someone told me that authors get some sort of credit that translates into a payout when readers check out their books from the library. I've tried to do a google search but was unable to find anything useful (at least in regards to the US). Do you know if this is true and how this works?

This may be true for digital books; I'm not very familiar with how that works at libraries. But regular books? That's RIDICULOUS. Libraries buy books the same way everybody else does: they pay for THAT COPY and that copy only.

UPDATE: As many many of my readers have informed me (who knew I had such an international audience?), there IS a way for libraries in Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK (and maybe other places) to pay royalties to authors. The system (which you can learn more about in the comments) sounds so common-sensical that I can't believe we don't do it in THIS country.
Thank you, my readers, for the enlightenment!

What is a good-sized print run on average? I've been given a very rough figure of 15,500. Is this a good figure?

That's just fine. Bear in mind, though, that until the figure stops being "rough" it's essentially hypothetical.

Is Your Work Worth Money?

2011-02-01T06:24:00.001-05:00

I've been sent a proposition and have been pulling my hair out for a couple of days deciding what to do. A friend directed me to your website and I knew you'd be the right person to ask!

I am a professional illustrator, although currently unpublished. I've sent in portfolios to publishers and had reasonably positive feedback so far - many of my submissions have been kept on record for future use. However, I've recently been contacted directly by someone looking for an artist to illustrate their poetry (it's fun and quirky in style and I believe I could compliment it well with my art). I'm not quite sure whether they intend to self-publish or submit the "final work" to an actual publishing house...either way, though, I've read time and time again that author/illustrator duos will NOT be accepted by publishers, regardless. Is this always the case? Even if the art is of a very high quality? I'm feeling a little out of my depth as this situation is all new to me and I'm not aware of the standard expectations of the illustrator either through a publishing house or in a self-publishing situation. Any information you can enlighten me with would be very, very welcome!!

If it's going to be self-published, sure, go for it. Be sure you get paid in advance.

If it's for submission to a publisher, DON'T DO IT. Publishers want to choose the illustrator.

Yes, if the art is of very high quality, the publisher may accept something already illustrated. THAT'S NOT YOU. I'm talking about Jerry Pinkney or Kadir Nelson or Marla Frazee or somebody whose art is exemplary and in high demand.

I don't mean to be unkind. The fact that your samples have been put on file means they are better than the average art submission, and you may have a wonderful career ahead of you. It does not mean, however, that your art is of very high quality. You are an unproven artist in a competitive field. Do everything you can to project professionalism-- including not giving your art away. And that's what you would be doing if someone convinced you to illustrate their manuscript on spec. Chances are high that it would be wasted effort.

The Minnetonka Salty Pickle Award Strikes Again

2011-01-31T06:30:00.003-05:00

I know you've said it before: if it's self published, don't mention it. Self publishing is imaginary publishing. But what if that imaginary-published book won a not-imaginary award? Can you mention it then? If so, do you mention that it's self-published or do you just say something along the lines of "My book, TITLE, won the 2010 Real Award,"?

Yes, that would be fine. Congratulations! But before you skip off to put that in your query letter, are you sure the award isn't imaginary?

Does the Gold Medalist in Swimming Need to Know Gymnastics?

2011-01-29T06:10:00.001-05:00

Do you think editors and agents have different (lower) standards for writing that's submitted by an author-illustrator as opposed to someone who's "just" an author?
As you can imagine, I am a writer who can't draw a cube.
Some of the feedback I get from my agent has really challenged me to reach for something a lot higher with my writing. Then I see some books that are being published, and it's like they got some kind of pass. I feel like if I sent my agent a story like that, he'd send it right back to me and wouldn't even consider showing it to publishers.
Are the standards different for an author-illustrator if the art is good enough to sell an otherwise lackluster story?

If a submission wins me over partly with writing and partly with art, should I think less of it than the submission that won me over solely with writing? Both verbal storytelling and visual storytelling are talents, and both are strengths in a book.

So the answer to your question is yes, in some cases it's ok that the writing isn't as wonderful as in other manuscripts since there's such strength in the art.

It's not ok to feel these people got a pass-- they still had to submit something powerful. Just like you do. If you sent me a manuscript whose development of setting was non-existent but whose plot-development and characters were wonderful and made the manuscript worthwhile all by themselves, it would be ridiculous for me to reject it, right? Just because your strengths aren't what some other people's strengths are?

Don't think of yourself as being in the same race with author-artists-- think of yourself as being in the same Olympics. If you both end up on the winners' stand, it will be for different skills, but your accomplishments will both be worthy of the honor.

Query Clinic: The Amaranth Guardian

2011-01-27T06:47:00.000-05:00

I started querying about a month ago and I've gotten seven rejections so far. I've only been querying agents who I thought suited the genre, but I feel discouraged now that only one agent was willing to request sample pages. Before I send out any more queries, I was hoping you could dissect my letter, publicly and harshly if you so wish. I wonder if agents are discouraged by my saying it's the first of a series....

Dear X,
Kai Kirin is just like any other student at the Academy, a school from a parallel universe that trains lost and abandoned children in the ancient art of cylo. Like the others, Kai has been sheltered from the tribal warfare that has devastated his world since the fall of the last Demon Empress, Ubella. But unlike the others, Kai has been sent on an unusual assignment that will bring him to our world to find Kanna Burke, a young girl who possesses the legendary power to undo all of Ubella's black magic. Kai must retrieve Kanna and her family, to protect them from those who would use Kanna as a weapon. However, Kai will soon find that Kanna Burke is very reluctant to come under his protection.

Ok. So this is what people are talking about when they use "fantasy" like it's a bad word. Some fantasies do the hard word of world-building in a way that invites the reader in and gives them action and character development to keep them interested while the many ways in which this world is different are revealed, gradually, at a pace that makes sense to the reader.

And other fantasies drop a half-ton of unfamiliar details on the reader like a piano onto a cartoon coyote. I have a suspicion this may be one of those fantasies.

Also, I would ask you to consider whether it's really, truly important that the main character come from another dimension. Because if she could just come from another area of that dimension, you wouldn't need the idea of parallel dimensions in a story that's already heavy on unfamiliar ideas.

For her own good, Kai forces the obstinate girl back across the portal into his world along with her father and stepbrother. But when the remote to bring him home snaps in half, he finds himself not at the Academy, but in a dangerous territory far to the south. The small group of unhappy travelers must make their way north through warring states and cursed territories, avoiding dangerous militias, assassins, and the dreaded creatures known as Changelings. The long journey back to the Academy will soon change everything he believes.
Amaranth Guardian is a character-driven fantasy adventure novel centered on a group of teenagers who must put aside their differences and collaborate in order to survive in a world of chaos. Each character is an unlikely hero, full of fear and cockiness but also full of power that they don't yet understand. Kai, in particular, lives with the knowledge that he himself may be part Demon.

a. "Fantasy adventure novel" is about two words too long.
b. You know there was a recent YA fantasy published called The Amaranth Enchantment, right?
c. Move or cut that last sentence.

The story does not talk down to teens, but rather reflects their unique experiences: the feeling of suspended identity, the fear of responsibility, and the exciting sense of discovery that are central to the transition to adulthood.
Amaranth Guardian is complete at 142,700 words and I am now seeking representation for it. It is the first in a series and I am currently in the process of writing its sequel, Amaranth Prison. In addition to the above synopsis, I have included the first two chapters of my manuscript in the body of this e-mail. If you would like to request further materials, please e-mail me back. Thank you for your time!

This query is giving the impression that your manuscript may be overly dense and difficult to follow, and written with a great deal more tell than show. If you know how to fix that in the query, then your manuscript is probably ok.

If you're not sure how your query is giving those impressions, though, I would recommend taking a hard look at your manuscript for revisions, too.

The Heroism of Revision

2011-01-25T09:26:00.004-05:00

I am an author with a wonderful agent but I have a question that would be better answered by an editor, and I'd like your input.

My debut novel has been on submission since the beginning of the year. In our first round of submissions the first 'no' came with a very thoughtful, detailed email from the editor that made a number of suggestions about revisions and a request to see the ms again if I made them. At the time, my agent and I felt that since there were other editors reading we should just put those thoughts aside. However, more rejections came in, including some that brought up some of the same issues that first editor had discussed. Two more of the editors who said no said also they would look at the book again, if revised.

So I did the revisions. Not every single thing, mind you, but the major ones. And after some back and forth about them with my agent, she came up with a new list of editors to submit too, including the three who had been willing to see the revised ms.

Here's my question: as an editor, how do you generally feel about an ms. that has been revised this way? Is it something you're more likely to like, now that some of the problems you had with it are fixed, or if you really didn't love it at first then you'll never really love it? The second one is my big fear -- that if these editors really loved the book, they would have bought it first, and then had me make changes. But I don't know if I'm just being negative.

You're just being negative. You know what editors love? Great manuscripts. You know what editors ADORE? Great revisers. Oh dear god, how I adore great revisers.

Also, I've gotten a surprising amount of flak (mainly from non-writer friends) about my willingness to do this kind of overhaul. As a journalist by trade, I'm used to rewriting things based on other people's input (and, honestly, sometimes having them change it to something unrecognizable without telling me, which thankfully doesn't seem to happen in the fiction world). I figured I don't have to make any changes I don't like, but they don't have to publish it, either. What's your response to people who think someone who revises for editors is somehow debasing their work? Because people really do seem to think that.

Morons everywhere think they have a right to an opinion. You tell them that if they think listening to the advice of professionals (advice that you, the author, agree with) is debasing your Art, then they must be under the impression that everyone who picks up a pencil is a Great Artist from that moment on. You know what? When you're Maurice Sendak or Pablo Picasso or are otherwise making a ton of money just to exhibit your work, not sell it, then you are a Great Artist. Until then, you have something to learn. And if you don't think so, then you are never, never going to get beyond being anything but a Great Pain in My Ass.

(Ok, sure, you can be a pain in the ass and crazy and impossible to work with and maybe still a great artist, like Van Gogh. But do you really want your Art to wait to be appreciated until after you're dead? No, I didn't think so. We learn to play nicely with others in kindergarten, and some of us remember that lesson.)

Quick Answers!

2011-01-23T09:04:00.000-05:00

I have a fantastic story and concept for a series of childrens picture books. I have several books in rough draft and one completed. Do you recommend that I complete the other books and consider them all a single transcript or just submit the first picture book (20 page) with a reference to the series?

First book only. Please see the tag 'series and sequels' in my sidebar.

I was hoping you could answer my question as I've searched around and haven't been able to find an answer. I submitted my story to a few online critique groups in hopes of getting it polished up for submission. I've been a bit paranoid about submitting since I found
all these publishing and agent blogs online. But after getting my critiques back, no one could agree, on anything. And it was pretty split down the middle on who liked and didn't like it as a whole. I'm just curious, that if I'm getting such a wide range of comments, could it mean that this story is lost cause? Or do I need to seek out some other readers?

Well, here's the helpful thing about the people you meet in critique groups: They're showing you what they're writing. That means you can tell if some of them are really not such great writers, and so possibly not fantastic judges of writing, or if they have a lot of opinions about picture books but don't write / read picture books themselves. Maybe you should try some more crit partners before you decide one way or another.

I had part of a ms critiqued at a conference recently. The editor liked it and asked to see the full. Between the time I submitted this ms for critique and the actual meeting (about 4 months) I decided to revise the story. I explained that to the editor at the critique session and she said she was looking forward to seeing it when it was done. Within a month’s time of the critique meeting I submitted the revised ms to my agent for review. He made some good suggestions which I followed. I resubmitted a few weeks later and now agent has told me he doesn’t have time to reread it again for several months. What do you think of that, and should I be concerned that if I wait too long to get the ms back to interested editor that that interest will wane?

Several months? Um, yeah. Send that to the editor now.

What Is This Publishers Marketplace You Speak Of?

2011-01-21T08:26:00.000-05:00

I am currently searching the 'net for agents in the children's books (picture book genre). A few terms I've noticed in particular begs to be further defined. When an agent specifies "Picture Books (by an author/illustrator)" or "picture books by author/artists" are they saying they want the author to also be the illustrator?

Yes. This is because there's very little money to be made, usually, for picture book authors. Agents get a small percentage of that little money, and many of them just feel it isn't enough.

Or would I be okay just sending in the query as the author minus the art skills?

Not to those agents. But there are others who rep picture book authors.

Also, when an agent (that accepts picture books) explains their submission requirements for a variety of genres (ie novelists send in first ten pages) but leaves out the details for picture books, what should one do? Send in the picture book manuscript?

One should look up that agent's sales in Publishers Marketplace and see whether they represent picture books at all.

Out of Print, But Still Fighting

2011-01-19T08:13:00.000-05:00

I had a picture book published in 2006 which is now out of print and the rights have been returned to me. Is it okay to submit this to other publishers, and if yes, then when is it okay to do this? And if I can submit this do I mention its previous publication? Thanks for your help.

Yes, you mention its previous publication. The editor will find out anyway when she does her acquisition research, and she will be pissed if you've failed to tell her this yourself.

Here's the thing about books that have gone out of print: most of them are out of print for a very, very good reason. It may be a painful reason, and it may be a reason that makes no sense to you, but it is still a GOOD reason: NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE WERE WILLING TO BUY IT.

If this is the reason that your book is out of print, then no publisher is going to bring it back into print within a couple of decades of its original publication. If this is not the reason your book is out of print, then be very clear in your submission to other publishers about what you think the real reason is. Be clear, and be convincing, because you're fighting a counter argument from the market, and publishers listen to the market.

Foreign Rights: Not for the Faint of Heart

2011-01-17T07:55:00.000-05:00

In 2006 I had a mid-grade novel accepted for publication and the publisher and I agreed a sequel would be a good idea so I got onto writing that and submitted this at the beginning of 2008. The first book came out late 2008 and the sequel was scheduled for 2009. Then the recession hit and the publisher reduced their list and pulled the plug on the sequel. I get regular queries from readers about when the second book is coming. This year I discussed the possibility of getting both books published overseas and the publisher returned international rights to me while retaining local regional rights to the first book. Now I want to query both books to the US and UK but I’m not quite sure how to go about this. Do I send/query the first book in its final form or as a manuscript?

Depends on whether you think its published Australian form does the book proud in the US market. Some Aussie publications do, and some don't. Sometimes I see books published in foreign countries and the cover style is so far off from what would work for us here that it inspires a strongly negative reaction even though I know that this reaction is irrational and unfair to the book. If you don't think its published presentation is stunning, send it as a manuscript and include a page with its Aussie cover and publishing info. Be prepared to answer the question "Why didn't the Australian publisher submit this to us for foreign rights?" In fact, do you know that the Australian publisher didn't? Generally we don't like being sent the same thing we said 'no' to a year ago by someone else.

If they were interested would publishers keep it in its first published form?

Unlikely, but possible.

Am I doomed? Is there hope? I would greatly appreciate any advice you could give me on this non-run-of-the-mill problem.

With the economy in the state it is, there's a little more doom running around than there used to be, but no, you're not out of the race yet. Still, this is going to be tough going, so be sure you want to spend this effort on this book, rather than investing it in writing a new book.

The Unsolicited Recycling Bin

2011-01-15T08:35:00.000-05:00

Are editors reading unsolicited picture books anymore? I used to get those rejected mss. back in my thoughtfully provided SASE. If I'd put a hair between pages 2 and 3, I at least knew (if the hair was missing) that someone had shuffled the paper. Now editors are responding "only if interested." My question is--are most editors simply unloading all these unsolicited mss. right into the circular file?
I realize you can only tell me for sure what's happening at your house. But you do communicate with other members of the editorial species. Have you heard anything? Say, for example, "Yahoo! I don't have to read manuscripts about Willimena the Wave anymore."
I'm a well-published pb author who doesn't want to give a piece of my paltry advance to an agent. But if my suspicion is true, I'm thinking I'm going to have to--just to get a pair of eyes to glance at the first paragraph or so of my mss.
Please tell me that this is just one of those paranoid thoughts that afflicts insomniac authors, and that someone (the janitor?) is reading those piles of unsolicted pbs.

The houses and editors who say they take unsolicited submissions are still reading them. There's really not a reason in the world for them to lie about that. There are fewer and fewer of them these days, so an agent really isn't a bad idea. But processing slush is a lot of work, and we aren't doing it just for the upper-body exercise.

Skippyjon Jones and the Audience Participation

2011-01-13T07:23:00.000-05:00

I'm delighted but baffled by the success of the Skippyjon Jones books. The rollicking plots and language seem to barely sit still on the pages. I speak both English and Spanish yet I still need to read the books several times to get a handle on reading them aloud to my kids. I could be wrong but I imagine that this is the case for most people the first time they read one of these stories. I searched your blog for your thoughts on it but I'm just not quite satisfied. Why do you think people are attracted to the writing in the Skippyjon Jones books? Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

THIS is a case for the COMMENTS! Readers, chip in.

The Past Is Not Dead. It's Not Even OMG, Justin Beiber!!!

2011-01-11T06:56:00.002-05:00

I have a question about using famous names and brands in works of fiction.
If a character is a huge fan of, say, Rod Stewart, or the specific show The Twilight Zone or the Detroit Lions football team, is it legal to namecheck the real band/show/organization?

Yes.

I wouldn't make Rod Stewart a character, but he would be the object of a character's fandom. (Maybe not the most marketable example, I just realized. Anyhow.). Could I quote his lyrics?

Bits of them.

Or quote from a real movie or tv show?

Short quotes.

It feels kind of cheesy to me when writers make up a fake famous person but now that the issue has come up in my own writing (which I hope to publish) I wonder if it's done for legal reasons.

Sometimes, but more likely (as in your Rod Stewart example) it's for the reason that you're writing for people to whom the 1990s are history. The past may not be dead, but the present has a really short attention span. Why date your book to its detriment?

Still, unless your plot hinges on the use of a particular artist / song / movie / tv show, this is not the sort of thing that will stop your manuscript being acquired. You may need to have a conversation with your editor (and maybe the publisher's legal department) about this, though.

Credit Management

2011-01-09T06:45:00.002-05:00

I have two questions related to an article I read recently. The article, which can be found at www.write4kids.com/nonceleb.pdf, suggested that new children's book writers spend time getting published in "magazines, e-zines, websites, community parenting publications..." in order to build credits that will "speak to my professionalism". Let me illuminate my background a bit before detailing my questions.

My writing experience thus far comes from my profession as a full-time Youth Director. I have written an article for our church newsletter every month for the last four and a half years. I also write and deliver sermons four to five times a year. I have consistently received rave reviews over my writing, have often heard that people forward my articles/sermons on to others and have been told countless times that I am able to make complicated theological matters understandable (and enjoyable!) to the very young. I often write in allegories or use everyday objects or situations to explain difficult concepts. It is my community's passionate reaction to my writing style accompanied by my love of learning and children's literature which has prompted me to research the idea of writing books for children.

That background having been established, my two questions are as follows: One, would my writing experience thus far equate to the credit building that the article mentioned above recommends? And two, if it does not, how does one write children's stories for magazines, e-zines, newsletters etc. effectively without even an illustrator?

1. No. It's better than "my grandchildren love my stories," but not a lot better. A magazine editor has to find material that is not just better than the average free sermon-- she has to find material that people want to PAY for. That's what your credentials are supposed to bring across: a history of creating work that people will pay for, on the deadlines of the people who publish such work.

2. Well, how would you write a children's story for a book without an illustrator? If you do not know the answer to this question, I would strongly suggest that you do not know how to write a picture book yet. Please find your local SCBWI and take some classes.

Choose-Your-Own-Illustrator! or Don't. No, Really, Don't.

2011-01-07T07:54:00.000-05:00

I'm wondering about the order of events editors go through when acquiring a picture book manuscript. Do they talk to illustrators before they acquire the text?

Very occasionally.

Is identifying possible illustrators part of the acquisitions package they present to the powers that be, or does all of that come after the manuscript is acquired?

Sometimes.

What do editors think about as they try to make a good match between the text and pictures?

Audience, first. This might be a consideration along the lines of 'this manuscript is going to appeal to baby shower gift-givers, so the art had better be soft and sweet' or 'nobody knows who this author is, so let's get someone with a name to illustrate.'

Then you think about the stand-out qualities of the manuscript and try to find good visual translations for them. Some texts have a lot of leeway in the way they're interpreted by the artist--they could be a match for a number of different art styles. But a historical topic probably won't be a good match for a very modern artist. A book about watching the incremental changes in nature will support lovely but static art, whereas a book about dance asks for art that is dynamic and has a sense of drama. As many different kinds of manuscripts as there are, there are that many different ways for art to partner text.

Do they consult with the art director?

Depends on the editor and the house.

How do they approach illustrators? Do they show them the manuscript and ask for an few sketches before committing?

Mostly we just show them the manuscript. We can tell from the artist's online portfolio that they could do a fine job. If we happen not to be sure, we may ask artists for a sample piece, for a small fee.

It seems like an exciting, yet really difficult process to come up with the perfect combination. But maybe that is why you guys are the editors, and why the writer, in general, should just stay out of the way.

Without putting too fine a point on it, yeah. If you go to a publishing house that does its design work well, then you're going to people who have more experience than you do in determining what the strongest parts of your manuscript are, how to articulate those qualities, and how to find the artists who will make those qualities stronger still--who will make the book shine.

This is an understanding lacking in the many people who send us manuscripts illustrated by themselves or their close friends or neighbors. Some people in possession of an uncut diamond would take it to a jeweler, and some would take it to the first person they can think of who owns a hammer.

These are people who think that art is no more than the clothes a story wears, and since they happen to have the literary equivalent of a supermodel on their hands, this book will look good in anything, even if the illustration they can manage is the artistic equivalent of a shag carpet muumuu.

To Be Continued (We Hope)

2011-01-05T09:43:00.003-05:00

I promise this is not a query. I need advice on how to split a long, continuous story up into more than one book!
I recently completed a middle grade novel that took on a life of its own and decided to segue directly into a second book. In the sequel, the kids in the fist book must travel to King Arthur’s England to find a spell book and stone to break a spell cast by Merlin’s son in the first book. At the end of the first book, the main characters have resolved some things and are safe, so it sort of ends that “chapter” of the story, but they are in hot pursuit of another character and don’t have time to stop and celebrate.
Is it OK to have the book end at the beginning of the next story (they all arrive safely and are sitting by the sea in England) or does there have to be some more concrete ending to the first book (they are all ready to travel on to the next adventure, but sit around smiling and patting each other on the back before they go?)
It is too long to be one book (41,500 words.)

Surely you have read some books / series that do this? More than a couple, one hopes?

I just want to pause and remind everyone that my advice all alone is not useful to you. If you haven't familiarized yourself enough with children's books and with the craft of writing to have some good sense of your own, no matter how good my advice is (and I do my best), you won't be able to avoid misapplying it.

Good, now that that's out of the way: before you go rushing off to work on book 2 or 3 or 17, put all your effort into making book 1 as awesome and polished and whole as you can do. How to do this varies per book, so you have to use your own good sense in making this story the best it can be before your characters set off into a sequel.

If you can't get an editor excited about book 1, the ending to your series is going to come even sooner than you thought.

Amazon Gives Bookscan to Authors

2011-01-04T08:40:00.000-05:00

Well, that's interesting. But before you go thinking this will answer all your questions and make your life perfect, let's remember what we know about Bookscan, ok?

50 Ways Not To Leave Your Agent ... or, How To Have a Bad Breakup

2011-01-03T08:13:00.002-05:00

Slip out the back, Jack
Under-communicate. Don't talk to her about any concerns you have; instead, the breakup should come as a total surprise to her. If you have luck on your side, you may let her know on the same day that she gets an offer for your manuscript from a publisher. For the coup de grace, hire another agent before you fire her.

Make a new plan, Stan
Over-communicate. Send the agent partial first drafts so that she can see your writing before it puts on its makeup in the morning. Send threats, rants, and complaints directly to your publisher, without telling your agent first, so that you look like an unstable mess and she looks like she has no idea what her authors are up to.

You don't need to be coy, Roy
Have little concept of personal boundaries. Call her on her cell phone, crying, in the middle of the night. Talk to her about every problem you've ever had. Let her know how dysfunctional your family relationships are, and then tell her she's like a sister to you.

Hop on the bus, Gus
Once she's sold several books for you, fire her. After all, now you know the editors, so what do you need an agent for? Alternatively, while she's still your agent, go behind her back and sell books without her, and without ever talking to her about it. She's just a stepping stone, so step on her.

Just drop off the key, Lee
After she's fired, ask that her name be removed from your finalized contract so that she won't get her share of the royalties. (It won't work, but go ahead and try it. She won't be upset at all.) Then go on discussion boards and say nasty things about her. A classy agent can't and won't do this in return, so you're safe saying pretty much anything.

I know my readers are too smart and too kind to do any of these things. But it's still useful to know that they happen; that these are the treacherous seas that agents have to navigate. As true as it is that there are not-so-good agents who serve their clients poorly, there are plenty of wonderful agents who get bitten badly for their trouble. I know the publishing industry can seem brutal, callous, and cruel. Just remember that you don't have to be.

How to Leave Your Agent

2011-01-03T08:04:00.000-05:00

I have decided to move on to another agency. Long story short: I have lots of agents who were chomping at the bit to work with my book proposal. I went with one, it didn't work out, a year later I have decided to move on and go with another agent. One agent told me she would need a list of the submissions and responses. I'd like to have that list too, just for my own records.
My current agent told me she'd work on getting that list and it's been 2 months now and still no list. I am sending her one last email requesting it, but I don't know what else I can do! Is this normal? It doesn't seem very professional.

I hope that the first thing you did was to have a conversation with your agent about what is bothering you, to give her a chance to address the problem.

Assuming you did, and things have not gotten better, then it is time to politely tell her that you think there should be a parting of ways. Look at your agency agreement to see if this needs to be done in writing, and in what sort of time frame. Agency agreements can vary quite a bit, so be sure you're following the terms in yours.

Next, stop flirting with other agents until after your current agent knows she's history. You may not be able to see it, but it's still very possible that she is working on your behalf even as you are making plans to break up with her. That's not cool. As soon as you were sure you wanted out, you should have informed your agent.

Regarding the submission info, perhaps there's been some miscommunication? Ask again, insistently but nicely. If she steadfastly refuses to give you any information about submissions, then... I'm sorry. You can't make her give it to you. Perhaps she never sent it out at all. But perhaps if she understood that you want that info because you are leaving her, she would understand why you need it, now.

If not, that is a shame. Sometimes as hard as you try to be friendly and professional and to act with grace and courtesy, others will not. Your next agent will just have to be willing to pick up the pieces.

Trend Watch: Persephone Is the New Zombies/Vampires

2011-01-03T07:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I certainly wouldn't have predicted this one. We're seeing a lot of YA Persephone retellings. Maybe this is in part due to the greek myth renaissance effected by Mr. Riordan? I don't know. Maybe it's the appeal of the underworld? I just hope it's not some nasty subconscious preference for kidnapping/rape stories. Whatever it is, between the undead, the walking dead, and the actually dead, there's a hell of a lot of dead going around. Makes me a little wistful for the wizards and pirates.

How to Respond to Copyeditors' Marks

2011-01-01T07:44:00.002-05:00

What prissy, manual-of-style-snorting psycho with an OED up her butt made all these marks on my manuscript? With the exception of a few typos, those quote-unquote errors are in fact my quote-unquote writing style, dammit. Has the copyeditor ever heard of colloquial speech? If not, I'd be happy to introduce her to some choice examples. Just give me her phone number.
*$#@*!,
Your author

This is a common and understandable reaction to copyediting. It is not the correct reaction. But perhaps your editor, overburdened as she is with titles and bureaucratic hoo-ha, has forgotten to let you know what your response to the copyediting process is supposed to be.

When the copyeditor marks everything that could conceivably be called an error and questions the niggliest little things, she is doing her job.

She does this so that author and editor can be sure that any non-standard choices that were made in the writing of the manuscript were made deliberately, for the right reasons. Your role is to stet every instance in which the copyeditor thought maybe this might have been a mistake... but in fact you know it wasn't. Of course your role is also to ask yourself if occasionally your non-standard choices are getting in the way of your writing's clarity, and to agree to the changes to the actual mistakes that are inevitably in your manuscript somewhere.

In this way, you and your editor can go forward with publication in the sure and certain knowledge that when readers gripe about your bad grammar on page 57, or the egregious typo on page 104 (as they will, regardless of the perfection of your manuscript, trust me), it will be the complaining reader who has screwed up, not you. Isn't that reassuring knowledge? And it's because the copyeditor is such an obsessive-compulsive pain in the ass.

So when you get a manuscript back full of little red or blue marks and comments that you find persnickety and annoying, remember the peace of mind the copyeditor is offering you. You don't have to agree with everything she marks (even she may not). You just have to take a little time and check.

IT IS A DARK TIME FOR EDITORIAL.

2011-01-01T07:25:00.001-05:00

ALTHOUGH CHILDREN'S BOOK IMPRINTS HAVE FINALLY PROVEN THEIR MIGHT AS THE BOOK MARKET FALTERS IN OTHER CATEGORIES, IMPERIAL TROOPS HAVE DRIVEN TITLE COUNT PER EDITOR TO EPIC HEIGHTS, AND RELENTLESSLY PURSUED GROSS MARGIN ACROSS THE GALAXY.

In other words, I'm still here.
But I don't have the plentiful half-seconds of free time I used to have. Once upon a time I did things other than work and thought of my publishing house as the place I visited, and my apartment as the place I lived. But that was back in Episode IV.

The rebellion, however, is not dead.

New Books Above

2010-12-29T12:57:00.002-05:00

Posts will resume January 1.
Thanks for all the concern and well-wishing.
Happy New Year!

Countdown: a Conversation with Deborah Wiles

2010-07-12T05:50:00.001-04:00

Perhaps you know Deborah Wiles from her moving picture books Freedom Summer and One Wide Sky, or her utterly charming novels Love Ruby Lavender, Each Little Bird That Sings, and The Aurora County All-Stars. (Some of my personal favorites.) Or maybe you've just noticed all the shiny awards stickers obscuring the covers of her books. Each of her books is a wonderful example of voice, character, and human nature, so I'm just one of the many people who are thrilled to their toes that she has a new book out: Countdown.

Countdown is worth picking up just for the exemplary design of the book, from jacket to cover to endpapers to the way the many, many period images are treated. Even the details on the page edges! But most exciting of all is the way Deborah's historical fiction combines a fresh, involving story with images and quotes from the 60s that make a compelling experience for those who never experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Deborah very kindly agreed to this interview.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: It's exciting to see something so ambitious (and historical) in today's sometimes overwhelmingly conservative (and paranormal) market. You call this a documentary novel. Could you explain for my readers what that is, and what inspired you to write one?

DEBORAH WILES: Thank you! So glad you think it's ambitious and different -- so do I, and I have good partners to thank for helping me make that happen. Scholastic ran the bases with me, all the way, full out, and said, "let's do it," when I presented them with this idea.

As I wrote Franny's story, I collected all kinds of photographs, newspaper stories and clippings, songs, advertisements, cartoons, recipes, quotes, and more, from the late fifties and early sixties to help me tell the story. At first, they were just for me, to help me sink into that time frame and remember, but quickly it became apparent to me that they were an integral part of the storytelling.

So I created what I started calling scrapbooks. I wanted to explore how history is really biography (as Emerson said), it's more than just dates and names and events, and I wanted to explore how each decision we make has rippling waves that affect others.

For instance, Harry Truman's decision not to answer Ho Chi Minh's 1947 letters had far-reaching consequences that may have led to our involvement in Vietnam, so I write about that in Countdown, in the larger, historical context. JFK loving the musical Camelot led to his presidency being called Camelot, thanks to a well-placed quote from Jackie Kennedy. His decision to send more advisors into Vietnam left us with an escalating war during the Johnson administration -- something I'll get into in book two.

But just as there are huge, overarching historical events in our collective history, that history is lived out on the personal stage of each individual person. So, Uncle Otts in Countdown is a living legacy of the horrors of World War I (where he fought in the same battle that Harry Truman fought in, in the Argonne). Franny being afraid that those Russian missiles might be launched from Cuba and hit the United States is a real, personal response to the horror of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Franny's decision to help (or not help) her friend changes the course of her history, and her friend's.

Early on, I began to carefully assemble each scrapbook section in a way that told the larger, overarching history of the early sixties, while Franny and the other characters in Countdown tell us the personal story of that time. I knew it had never been done before, but I very much wanted to work with this form of storytelling. I think of these scrapbooks as having been assembled by Franny -- so she is telling us her story, both the bigger picture, and the smaller, personal one within that bigger picture. I thought of the biographies as being written by the adult Franny, with a more grown-up sensibility, but still her story, her opinions, in her voice.

The term "documentary novel" actually came from my editor, David Levithan. We were tossing around what to call this brand new thing we had created... "What is it?" we asked ourselves... well, it's like a documentary, but it's not. It's a novel, first and foremost -- that was important to me, to tell a great story.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I found your main character very compelling--and very immediate. I understand from the backmatter that the book draws somewhat from your own childhood, but there's no sense of nostalgia, no sense of an adult looking back. So I'm curious-- how much does Franny's experience of that October in 1962 draw from your own experience?

DEBORAH WILES: I draw from my life in every story I write, and this one is no different... and it may be closer to my life than the others, actually. The story -- the plot -- is completely fiction, but I did live outside Andrews Air Force Base, my dad was chief of safety for the 89th, my mother hosted bridge parties, we had a pink kitchen, my brother was perfect (still is - ha!), we had a dog (a French poodle, though, not a Lassie dog like Jack), I attended Camp Springs Elementary School, was in glee club, loved French, and had a friend who grew up way faster than I did, just like Margie does in Countdown. I used all these connections as the outside trappings of my story -- I wanted to be authentic to the time period, and using my own life to do it... well, it's what I know.

I did duck and cover under my desk, and I did compose letters to JFK and Khrushchev at night, as I lay in bed, but the actual story I spin from all these facts is fiction. However, the inside story -- what it felt like to be betrayed by a friend, to be in love with the boy across the street, to feel invisible at home and at school, to want to understand the world -- in that way, Franny is exactly like I was at ten. I remember clearly what it was like to be ten years old in the world. I can bring that feeling back to me as if it were yesterday. I often say that I write for ten-year-old me, and maybe I do.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: The book does a great job of bringing across how big and scary and yet essentially unfathomable the idea of nuclear war is, and was for the country at the time. Can you speak to how you approach foreshadowing and tension-building in your writing?

DEBORAH WILES: Gaaaa! You know, that's a good question. Most of the time, foreshadowing and tension-building grow up in revision. Actually *so much* that I do is a task of revision. My first draft(s) are so lousy, really. I have to think and rethink. The first draft is like a bloodletting for me -- I can't see the shape, I don't know the direction, I'm grasping for plot, I'm gasping for air, and I'm sure I can't pull it off.

I have to MAKE myself get an entire first draft, just so I can believe that I can do it and am not a total failure (and so I can sleep again and take off twenty pounds) and so I can have something to revise. Revision is hard hard hard, but it is such a pleasure, too, as it holds such great rewards (as opposed to the first draft, which I suppose should feel rewarding, but instead feels like I've been fifteen rounds with the lions in Gladiator).

In revision I throw out great wads of the plot (usually the entire second half), but as I do that, the light begins to dawn, I begin to understand who my characters are and what their motivations are, which inform their actions and reactions, and as these things begin coming clear, I go back and layer in foreshadowing and tension.

I love working with foreshadowing. I like to see how oblique I can be while not cheating -- you know? How can I give you what you need to know, so that you are not hit out of left field by the reveal (and so it is a sweet release or surprise), and yet how can I not hit you over the head with it too heavily or too many times so that you're waiting for it and say "DUH!" when it comes. I change up my references and methods to what I'm foreshadowing so you don't recognize it as such, and this is fun for me, like a puzzle... but all this work must feel seamless to the reader, and that's a challenge.

Same with creating tension. I try to remember that every action has a reaction -- so show that -- and that every emotion is connected to an action: Drew tugs at his eyebrow, Franny's heart runs away with her fear, Uncle Otts digs and digs and digs that hole in front yard -- until he keels over! -- and Franny's mother lights another cigarette... there's so much that can be shown, in creating tension. I try to remember that. And again, it's a task of revision, for me.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: You mention in the book that you started this as a picture book. What did your editor say that made you realize it was really the beginning of a novel?

DEBORAH WILES: I realized it myself, early on. I say early because this book had such a long gestation. I started it as a picture book 1996, a story about a brother and sister and a "war" they have -- a balloon fight with one kid in a sycamore tree and another on his bike below. The title was Lemon Yellow Day, and started out:

"It's a lemon yellow day. A lemon pie day. I sit in the vee of the mighty sycamore, safe inside my treehouse. I pat my supply of water balloons. "All right, Mr. TakeBeforeAsking," I say "I'm ready." And here he comes, wobbling up the street on MY bicycle: my enemy, my brother, my friend."

It was full of duck and cover, atomic bomb, Cold War language, and it didn't really go anywhere, except that my (now grown) kids and I still say, "Sorry-sorry-sorry, Mr. Thornberg!" to one another, and know what that means.

This story and others had been rejected for years. Then I met an agent at an SCBWI event in Washington, D.C. and struck up a friendship with her, and asked her if I could send her my stuff. She was very encouraging; I'd send her a story and she'd send it back a few weeks later (all of this on snail mail), telling me what wasn't working, but she refused to take me on as a client. About Lemon Yellow Day she wrote, "Get rid of that day and tell me a story."

I didn't know how to do that. I was still largely writing my memories. I had been so deeply influenced by books such as When I Was Young in the Mountains and Honey I Love and When I Am Old With You, that I was still trying to tell a slice-of-life story. I couldn't figure out how to write those stories, but I was developing my voice through ten years of rejections and studying and reading picture books.

So I put the story aside and went on to others, and eventually found my way to Love, Ruby Lavender and Freedom Summer, both of which were picture books when I started them. I didn't know I could or wanted to write a novel. But Liz Van Doren at Harcourt was interested in Ruby (which started out as a slice-of-life story). She said it had voice. She assured me I could learn the rest. And she took on the gargantuan task of teaching me.

So we started working together. The story got longer and longer. As it turned into a novel, and as I turned into a novelist (a long, slow process), I began to understand that this Cuban Missile Crisis story was bigger than the argument between a brother and sister, and I began to explore it.

I'd drag it out and look at it, play with it, put it back, until one day as I stuck with it, other characters appeared. There was always a mother and an older sister, but now they had backstories -- wow. Who knew? Then there was a father. I didn't know him at all. The brother and sister got names: Franny and Drew. They took on lives that went way beyond their picture book argument. Suddenly they weren't enemies anymore, and up popped a friend for Franny, someone who could take the enemy's place eventually.

And then -- lo and behold -- Uncle Otts appeared. When he came on the scene, in all his bulldoze-the-front-yard-glory (for he had a bulldozer in his first incarnation)... well! Now I had a full-fledged family with a rich history, and I needed to know their stories. And I knew then, I had a novel on my hands. This was probably 1998.

It would take me another ten years to figure out how to write it.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Thank you--so much!-- for bringing across how hard great writers work to be great. Finally, do you have any advice for those attempting historical fiction? Any lessons you've learned in the process?

DEBORAH WILES: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to think and talk about these things!

I'm not good with advice, as I'm still learning how I work with historical fiction, even though my first book, Freedom Summer (which is historical fiction, albeit a picture book), is almost ten years old.

There is an over-arching line of history that humans live through, a sort of collective history, if you will. Then there is each person's individual story within that history. When I wrote Freedom Summer, I knew that the book was about the passage of the Civil Rights Act and yet, at its heart, Freedom Summer is a book about friendship and fairness -- and choice -- between two boys, one black, one white, who decide they want to go swimming together at the town pool, the day it opens to "everyone under the sun no matter what color." It was always about that.

With Countdown, I tried to remember that Franny's heart and her story were paramount. Her life -- her choices -- would pull the reader through, and I wanted to place the reader firmly in Franny's world. So the personal story comes first, and somehow, as personal as it is, it also needs to be universal.

That's a key for me, I think. Where are the inner places we are connected as fellow travelers on this earth? What are our universal hopes and fears as human beings young, old, rich, poor, black, white, city, country, and every shade and persuasion?

At one particular low point in the long writing of Countdown, I despaired of young readers ever being able to connect to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. And then, two planes flew into two twin towers and one flew into the Pentagon. And as the world reacted, as I reacted, it dawned on me that we are living this history together; this grief, this joy, this fear, this confusion, this beauty, this life. We beat with one heart. And that's when I knew I could hold that heart in my hand, and tell this story.

A Phoenix Will Rise from Its Own Ashes

2010-07-07T15:55:00.007-04:00

Curiously, like racism! Except racism is more like the ugly, stupid, festering toad that you just can't squash no matter how many times you hit it with a shovel.

This charming book has a new cover! Look:And here's the sequel:
A further explanation here.

You might start thinking that publishers simply aren't listening to the strong reactions that recent instances of whitewashing have elicited from the community of readers / bloggers. You might even think that perhaps they're hoping that eventually we'll get tired of complaining about this, and they'll help us get tired by giving us some more instances.

But I don't think that's really what's going on. I think what publishers and chain bookstore buyers are really thinking to themselves is this:

"We're not racists; teenagers are racists."

Now, whether or not there are book-buying teens who are racist and will not buy this book because there is a Chinese girl on the cover, and whether or not there are enough of them to justify such a statement or make a meaningful difference to sales, letting someone else's perceived racism influence your behavior in the interest of making more money means:

You are racists. And you're whores.

Was that clear enough?

I Loved Your Wedding Ceremony; the Decorations Were Gorgeous! Want to Read My Manuscript?

2010-07-03T21:00:00.004-04:00

I have finished a novel and think it's ready to go out to some agents. My question may not pertain to a lot of your readers, but I value your opinion (and straight-shooting style). One of the agents I'd like to send it to is someone I used to be acquainted with in a past career (I worked with her husband, and was at their wedding), but I'm not certain she would remember me right off the bat. I haven't been in contact with her or her husband for several years. I don't want to come across like "Remember me? Wanna be my agent?" but I also think it would be silly/stupid not to remind her of my connection. After all, the novel deals with said past career, and the content is solidly within the lines of the things she represents (meaning I would submit to her regardless of a connection or not). She's a pretty big agent, and I want to remain professional. How would you recommend handling this?

It's tricky to remind someone that you know them without making it sound like you're asking her to treat you as a friend rather than as a hopeful client.

First, be sure that's not what you really want. If it is, go ahead and make that plain, so that the agent knows better than to sign you as a client. People who enter a relationship with the idea that they deserve special treatment because they're a friend end up expecting special treatment all the way through the relationship, and that's unreasonable and untenable for the agent-client relationship. An agent ought to be doing her best for all her clients, so being treated like any of the rest of them in every way shouldn't bother you.

If you don't mind her treating you in a solely professional manner, then make that clear in your letter to her by letting her know that while you remember her and her husband, you certainly don't expect her to remember you. Then go on to be very specific and convincing about why you're querying her with this manuscript-- reasons that have to do with the manuscript and with her taste and specialties as an agent, not with who either of you are as people.

Make your letter friendly, but very professional. That will tell her she would be working with a pro who won't expect more of her than what she can actually give.

Come to think of it, that's good advice for everyone.
Good luck!

You Want to Acquire? Wonderful! Here's the Other Half of the Submission!

2010-07-03T20:49:00.004-04:00

I am an aspiring author illustrator. My question is: for a first timer, how finished does the dummy have to be? I would expect more than thumbnails, but how close to the finished product does it have to be? Also, is it ever acceptable to send the manuscript alone and mention the illustration aspect only after a publisher expresses interest? Thanks.

Certainly it would be fine to send the manuscript alone-- if you're willing for the publisher to choose a different illustrator.

You cannot count on the publisher expressing interest before the editor has done the work of acquiring the manuscript, which often involves discussing a possible illustration style. If you're unwilling to have anyone else illustrate, the editor will be very irked indeed to discover it at this stage.

The dummy should have complete sketches and at least a couple pieces of finished art--all of which you would expect to adapt with feedback from your publisher.

Dropping the Namedropping

2010-07-03T20:25:00.002-04:00

I have one of those etiquette questions for you.

Let’s say I have a beta reader who is a published author. If I submit to their agent/editor in the course of trying to sell the book, is it bad form to mention that this author was a beta-reader? Does this add any weight to the submission?

Should I ask the author for permission before doing this? My fear with that is the author will think I am looking for them to pitch the book for me. All I would be trying to do is give the agent/editor the ability to access someone’s POV that has read the whole thing.

Writing this out makes it all sound so passive-aggressive. So I figure I know the answer to all of this already.

It doesn't sound passive-aggressive to me, but your reasoning doesn't make any sense to me, either-- no agent I know would take on a manuscript because someone else has read and liked it. ...Unless that other person has a HUGE fan base and is willing to blurb your book.

When you're choosing who you think you can work with, and whose work you think you can sell, nobody's POV means anything but your own.

Re-Vamp!

2010-06-22T17:03:00.002-04:00

Adam Rex and his friends are... what's the word? Maybe there should be a new word for this.

The Future: It's What's for Dinner.

2010-06-21T08:45:00.003-04:00

I was shown a Dr. Seuss book on the iPad and had to wonder at the possibilities. As an illustrator I'm attempting to prepare for this brave new world by learning some animation techniques. As things become more digital do you think that this will be,
A) Incredibly useful
B) Kinda handy
C) A waste of time, static images will still be the norm

(A), and sooner than anyone thinks.

The future is not just ahead of us, it's sitting on top of us. It's sneaking up behind us. It's the milk in your cereal and the monster under your bed. The future is here, but soon you will not be here! The future leaves no survivors! All your worst nightmares are about to come true! The future is here for your SOULS!

High Ho, Sparkles! Away!

2010-06-20T14:55:00.002-04:00

The question that I have is about query letters. I know that you need to put in any published work that you have. My question is, what really counts as a published work. My first novel "Redacted" was published by PublishAmerica. I have know come to realize that I got caught up in a trap. So should i mention that in my letters to agents. Or should I just not mention it? It is hard enough trying to get a foot in the door, I don't want to do anything to hurt my chances farther.

Look, you wouldn't put your career as a unicorn trainer on your resume, would you? Even if the High Unicorn Shaman had conferred the title on you? Even if you'd paid a lot for the harness and horn polish?

Self publishing is imaginary publishing. It's as much a career credit as that time you traded your cow for those "magic" "beans".

Don't mention it.

Your Manuscript is Too Appropriate. I Hate Appropriate!

2010-06-20T10:22:00.002-04:00

If I've written a YA novel over 100,000 words, will agents/publishers reject it right out simply because of word length before even reading my query? Or if my query is only so-so (which it probably is), could the word count tip the scales for tossing it?

Don't be silly. The Amulet of Samarkand? The Hunger Games? These ring any bells?

...Unless by "over 100,000 words" you mean "200,000 words". If you're going to get into Deathly Hallows / Breaking Dawn territory, you better be J K Rowling or Stephenie Meyer, and I think I would have noticed that in your email address.

Also Included: Photos of the Design I Shaved into My Cat's Fur

2010-06-19T15:21:00.001-04:00

I am an aspiring illustrator I am currently putting together a portfolio. Over the past few years I have painted a a few murals in childrens' rooms and for some elementary schools. Would it be inappropriate of me to include pictures of these (original artwork, of course) if I feel that they showcase my talents as an illustrator? Or is it best to stick with book specific artwork? Thanks in advance for your help. Great blog btw.

I suppose if you could manage very good quality images of the murals, that might be ok . . . but if you want illustration work, don't you think you should show us examples of the media we'd be getting from you?

Black Holes: Powerful, Attractive, and Non-Responsive

2010-06-19T10:18:00.001-04:00

What are your expectations toward agents who have submitted a manuscript to you? I didn’t have one for my country because authors approach the publishing houses directly but I now have an agent from an established firm. This agent is keen and enthusiastic for my work and always gives good advice. My agent works well with my editor here but, despite the book having received two award nominations, the response is quiet from America. Do you have agents contacting you for follow up or does that bug you. I trust my agent but I am curious cos if it were me, I’d be picking up the phone and going: have you read it yet? Look at this book – it’s fantastic!

Of course agents follow up to see whether I've read it yet.

But there are plenty of editors who simply ignore such proddings (the most well-known and highest-ranking editors are often among them).

Even the most talented agents can't make an editor respond if the editor just doesn't want to. Your agent ought to be able to tell you if she's sent your manuscript to one of the usual suspects, though.

Can I Submit Now? Ok, How About Now? Or Now?

2010-06-19T00:14:00.002-04:00

I have submitted an unsolicited picture-book manuscript to a house that accepts these (with a policy of no reply unless there is interest). What do you think would be an acceptable waiting period before submitting a second manuscript?

Just long enough so that they don't clip the two manuscripts together (in which case probably only the manuscript on top would get read). Give it a week to be safe.

Where To Begin?

2010-06-18T10:05:00.003-04:00

ok, so im really confused i dont know how to become a professional writer and yes i know my spelling isnt the best, or my grammer but i think i have some great ideas and i hardly understand any of the crap that is on the internet about it. So please can u explain in a simple way how do i get something published or become a known writer, i wanna know now so that im prepared for the future.

I sympathize about there being a great deal of information and advice (sometimes conflicting advice) available about the craft of writing and about the publishing industry. However, there isn't a single best path to published authorship, and the advice you need could fill several blogs-- it's not something I can give you in one blog post. You could certainly start by reading Harold Underdown's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books.
Good luck!

Is Quirky a Good Thing?

2010-06-17T09:32:00.002-04:00

Is it ever worthwhile to de-quirk a novel?

My book has one seriously odd character: a home-schooled narrator. The consensus among replying agents, however, is that the voice is just too "quirky". Fair enough, but now what?

Is a complete re-write in order? And a re-query to follow?

Or should I trash the manuscript, hit the bottle, and move on?

Yes, sometimes it is worthwhile to revise this sort of thing.

Quirky can be great-- it can mean charming, funny, unique. But "too quirky"... If you're getting a lot of this feedback, I would start to wonder if what the agents really mean is weird and distancing.

The right amount of quirky reminds people of themselves, their own uniquenesses. Too much, though, and you can lose your audience, especially among kids, who can be pretty judgemental about weirdness in others.

Still there are good examples of very unusual behaviors and world views that absolutely work for the book they're in... Because the author has taken the trouble to make them make sense for that character-- to show us why they have these quirks.

I would suggest that you ask yourself which of your character's quirks are serving the character development enough that it's worth going to the trouble of showing the reader why the character has those quirks... and which quirks you maybe just added for "flavor"-- as a shorthand for character development. I have a hunch that some of those quirks just aren't earning their keep in your story.

Laying Blame Where It Belongs

2010-06-16T09:47:00.002-04:00

Just once, I would like to see a reviewer say, "This book was a worthy effort by the author and designer, but was ruined by the publisher's inept design and production decisions."
Is that distinction asking too much? Apparently so; I have never seen it, though it would be accurate in a number of cases.

I'm not certain to what degree reviewers are aware of design and production quality-- one imagines it's somewhere between the public's vast ignorance and the industry professional's close scrutiny. But what books would you posit as examples of such a charge?

Fat Vampire: a Conversation with Adam Rex

2010-06-07T07:21:00.002-04:00

You may know Adam Rex from his alien-invasion novel The True Meaning of Smekday (which wins for most hilarious alien). Or from his bestselling poetry collections Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake (which win for best running jokes). Or from his very entertaining blog. Now Fat Vampire is about to come out, which wins for Best (Comic) Relief from the Vampire Craze.

To find out more about his newest book, I put on my trenchcoat and met him in a darkened parking garage.

ADAM REX: You're Editorial Anonymous?

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Yeah. Why?

ADAM REX: I dunno, I expected someone older, I guess. Isn't this a school night?

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I'm often mistaken for younger than I am. If you guess my age, you'll be wrong.

ADAM REX: 42.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Shit.

(awkward silence)

...So thanks for agreeing to this interview. I'm guessing that you saw and/or read a bit of the Twilight oeuvre, and reflected (of Edward Cullen), "What a douchebag!" And perhaps at about the same time you attended a ComicCon and witnessed one or more of the attendees being called douchebags... And you were inspired to write about the true nature of douchebaginess. Am I close?

ADAM REX: No, not even. I haven't seen either of the movies, and I haven't finished any of the books. When a bookstore-worker friend heard I was writing a YA vampire story back in 2007 she insisted I take home a copy of Twilight, and I got about 100 pages in before I decided it wasn't for me and bailed out.

No, I'm just the sorry SOB who decided to start a vampire manuscript a few years ago with no idea what vampires were about to mean to the literary world. I mean, I was aware of Twilight and at least a half-dozen other vampire books/series at the time, but there you are–there are ALWAYS vampire stories, why not another? Now I'm watching the clock and hoping vampires don't entirely wear out their welcome before July, or that they wear out their welcome just enough for people to be ready for my kind of book.

But since you mention it, I did sort of write a treatise on douchebaggery.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I enjoyed the treatise. And I think the time is in fact ripe for a vampire spoof. Fat Vampire made me wonder how many people, if stuck with vampiredom, would really find it made them all brooding and romantically tortured? And how many would just find it to be an enormous pain in the ass?

ADAM REX: That's the gist of what got me started. A big part of the fantasy of vampirism, of course, is the wish-fulfillment of being frozen at the peak of your existence. At the moment we seem to have agreed as a culture that everyone should want to be a teenager again. But, while being a teen had its charms, I actually think I'm a lot happier now. I'm certainly a better person now than I was in high school.

I have to say the impetus for this book actually came when I misread a banner ad. I was in the middle of my morning web-crawl when I saw an ad for some manga or webcomic or something called My Dork Embrace. And I thought, That's great. I bet it's a story about the kind of awkward guy who's never supposed to become a vampire. And a minute later my brain wouldn't let go of it because the art and tenor of the ad didn't really jive with the assumption I'd made, so I scrolled back to have another look at it. And I discovered it's really just My Dark Embrace. I'd misread it. But then I got excited because that meant I could write My Dork Embrace myself, and it would be a good framework to work out some thoughts I'd been having about high school.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: My god, I remember that banner ad-- I misread it the same way! And I was so disappointed when it wasn't My Dork Embrace. The lowercase 'a' in that typeface wasn't very clearly formed.

ADAM REX: Oh, that's funny. It's nice to have corroboration, because I've since searched for that title and I can't seem to determine just what it was the ad was advertising.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: So what about writing this book was a pain in the ass? And what was fun?

ADAM REX: I always enjoy writing dialogue, and I'd do it all day and all night if I'm not careful. Sometimes I have to accept that NOTHING'S HAPPENING and the story will never go anywhere if I can't get my characters to stop exchanging breezy banter.

I also think one of the larger challenges of this book was writing my main female character, Sejal. She becomes something of an Indian Exchange Student Goth Kid–a combination I thought was funny, what with the Goth predilection for pale skin and pseudo-medieval-romantic European sensibilities, but which probably only underscores how little I really know about the subculture. There are probably Goths of all stripes.

Anyway, writing a teenager from India was sort of terrifying–I wanted her to seem genuinely foreign but also instantly relatable to my readers, and I didn't want to appear that I was trying too hard either way, if that makes sense.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I thought she was very well developed—a stand-out character. And the comparison between Sejal and your main character, Doug, helps to underscore your point about it being our mistakes that force us to grow—she’s made hers, and is trying to overcome the aftermath; she's more grown up. Doug is still in the middle of making his (and is going at it with gusto, too, which is a happy thing for the book).
How do you approach character-building?

ADAM REX: I don't have much of a system. I'm afraid I just sort of plow into the story and then revise. Sejal's backstory changed a number of times, and each time it changed I went and rewrote some of her parts to better reflect the person I'd felt she'd become. I often use someone I know or once knew as a kind of personality anchor for a character, but I give myself leeway to go off the map here and there.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: So you do it by feel? That's about what I guessed, though it's not a lot of help to my readers, lol.

ADAM REX: No, it isn't, and yet I do think there's something encouraging in knowing that published authors are just feeling around in the dark as well. When I was a teenager and took my first real stabs at creative writing, I frequently felt like a big faker because I would just write without being entirely sure what I was writing or where it was going. My public school education had not taught me to have much faith in this approach, but the thought of mapping everything out ahead of time was too daunting. Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird saved my life because she explains that she doesn't compose outlines or flow charts or any such thing, either. She dives in and figures it out as she goes along. And she assures her readers that this is the method preferred by every author she's ever known. This was a big deal to me–knowing that, despite appearances, my own amateurish blindfolded plate-spinning might actually be a legitimate means to an end.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Do you have any method to your revision?

ADAM REX: One rule I try to stick to is that if I find myself, just twice, wondering if some passage (or dialogue, or plot contrivance, or bit of drawing) is good enough and then mollifying myself that it is, I'm wrong. I'm wrong and I have to fix it.

Frankly, revision is often what I'm doing when I want to feel like I'm working but I'm feeling shy about charting new territory. There's nothing like rereading twenty pages and changing three adjectives to give you that sickly florescent glow of accomplishment, in lieu of any actual ray of light from the heavens.

What a nice metaphor. I bet it's going to be hard for people to believe that this is the transcript of a face-to-face meeting between the two of us in a darkened parking garage and not actually some protracted email exchange.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Shh, let’s preserve the illusion. What was the editing process like for this book (if you don't mind talking about it)? Was it different at all from the process for Smekday?

ADAM REX: I had the same great editor (Donna Bray) on each, but there were differences. In Smekday Donna pointed out, quite rightly, that an entire middle section sucked and, later, that the entire second half could be tightened up quite a bit. In fact, given the clarity of hindsight, I wish I'd really done as she asked and tightened it up a bit more. According to Donna Fat Vampire was, comparatively, a cleaner manuscript. She asked me to clarify and strengthen the motivations of a couple characters but there were no big plot rewrites. I think in general she always has to nudge me in the direction of being more forthcoming, as I tend to err on the side of being a little obtuse and vague. I've already read a review of Fat Vampire online that confesses not to understand what actually happened at the end of the book. Whoops.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I followed the ending, but readers will have to pick up the book to decide what they think.
Finally, do you have any advice for budding writers? Or budding vampires? Or budding douchebags?

ADAM REX: There's a joke in there somewhere: What's the difference between a writer and a vampire? One of them leads a pallid, lonely existence, sucking dry both loved ones and strangers alike in his ghoulish quest for immortality, and the other one is a vampire. Ha ha.

I don't know if I have anything new to say to writers. As someone who not long ago was an illustrator who wanted to write and is now the author of his first major work without any illustrations whatsoever I am still in equal parts exhilarated, bewildered, and frightened by writing. I've been doing this just long enough to suspect that those feelings are not supposed to go away. But to answer your question: read as much as you can, and read critically. Live frugally. Marry someone with insurance. Find your own voice, or failing that mimic your favorite authors so blatantly and with such conviction that the costume of their style gets humid and itchy and you can't wait to be rid of it. All that, and write more.

To the aspiring douchebag I can only say, you're too late–the market has reached saturation. Buy low and sell high, man.

Why You Want the Intern to Read Your Manuscript

2010-06-04T00:06:00.002-04:00

From the intern over at Bookends Lit. She's right!

The editors and agents who are Established and Experienced and who you Really Want to Read Your Manuscript? They skim and discard the slush so fast it would make the faint-of-heart weep. An enthusiastic intern (with smart opinions) can make us actually read the whole manuscript.

How to Know What You're Doing

2010-06-03T09:56:00.003-04:00

Brenda Bowen (www.bowenpress.blogspot.com) visited us at Dreamworks studios today. She shared her brilliant insight on how to get children’s books published. One of the things she said was that most agents right now don’t want to see rhyming stories. But she also elaborated by saying that there is a difference between real poetry and simply rhyming, and the former has a better chance if you really know what you’re doing. Do you concur with her advice, or do you have any additional thoughts on the topic? Thanks dude.

I absolutely agree.

There are a lot of people who know very little about children's books and about writing poetry and who nevertheless don't see any problem with that and send us AWFUL manuscripts.

They can't remember many children's books outside of Goodnight Moon and Dr. Seuss, and so they figure most children's books are poems. But they aren't.

They don't read much poetry themselves, and so they figure the only thing that makes a poem poetry is that the last words in each line rhyme. But it isn't.

Brenda's advice can also be summarized in broader terms:

If you've done your own taxes, don't assume you're ready to work for the IRS.
If you've carved a turkey, you still really shouldn't try to perform brain surgery.
And if you don't know a damn thing about children's books, go ahead and assume that includes not knowing how to write them.

3 Questions: Following Up, Giving Up, and Saddling Up

2010-06-02T08:52:00.001-04:00

I am in the process of submitting my manuscript for my second children's picture book to agents. I got a solid referral to a high-profile agent. The referral came from one of the agent's award-winning illustrators. I sent my letter and submission but haven't heard anything back after about two weeks. Should I follow-up? If so, should I follow-up with e-mail, or snail mail?

I would like to resume submitting my ms to other agents if he's not interested, and one agent had suggested revisions, so I don't want to keep her waiting.

What should I do?

A couple weeks is a very short time for most agents, so it would be nice if you'd give him a little more time before emailing to follow up.

Unless you told him that it was an exclusive submission, though, I would not wait to continue submitting elsewhere.

I have written what I think to be the cutest little children's picture book on boogers. However I keep getting rejected. With books like Captain Underpants, I thought my rhyming book would be at least acceptable material for a picture book, kids love things funny and gross. One potential agent even said it was "cute". Should I scrap the project all together?

Wow, an agent said it was cute?

I'm sorry, sometimes the sarcasm just comes out before I can stop it. When you've gotten a few more rejections, you'll start realizing that a lot of the soft words agents and editors use to cushion the blow are about as meaningful as feathers. The flip side of this is that a lot of the hard words that deliver the blow are meaningless, too. A rejection, whatever the words used, means nothing more than "no".

I can't tell you why your particular manuscript is getting rejected. Possibly agents are worried that since picture books are bought far more often by parents than are chapter books (Captain Underpants rose to popularity on the spending habits of children), the topic is too likely to foster bad behavior and conversation no one wants at the dinner table. Still, there are examples-- David Greenberg's Slugs-- of picture books that manage to be popular and disgusting. So perhaps your rhyme is not as solid as it needs to be?

Yes, after a certain number of rejections, it's probably time to put that manuscript in a drawer somewhere... but it's a pretty big number. Good luck with it.

I have a question that I'm thinking you could answer. I have a cowboy poem that is Christmas oriented. I envision it in a children's book format, although the poem itself is equally appealing to adults. So, what I'm thinking is a few lines of the poem on a page along with an illustration. My question I guess is will this work, and if so, how do I go about submitting something like that and to whom?

I cannot tell from this whether it will work. You'll need to read a bunch of picture books, and read about picture book page counts to be sure you have enough action to carry the poem through a standard picture book length.

As for who you should submit to and how, this is research you need to do. I'm sure there are authors in my readership who have some ideas-- and authors (and agents) generally know more about publisher submission guidelines and various publisher tastes than editors do. But market research is an important learning process for new authors, so you need to do this work. Good luck, partner.

Query Critique: Knowing Your Reader

2010-06-01T08:18:00.000-04:00

I am a first-time writer and have done quite a bit of research about how to write a query letter, but without feedback I feel like I am throwing darts blindfolded. I've found your posts dissecting others' queries very helpful. Please let me know what you think of this query letter. I sacrifice it on the alter of your expertise and your readers' thirst for blood. Or education.

Ok. But what about MY thirst for blood?

Maria Black’s 2,477-day normal streak is destroyed by a song.

Intriguing first line.

She hears the latest single from rock star Sam Montgomery on the radio and begins to fantasize about him.

Um... bit of a let down? Fantasizing about rock stars is among the most normal things for teenage girls.

When Sam and Maria meet and learn that they have each been dreaming of the other,

Oh! Is that what's going on? Clearer sooner, please.

they choose to accept their extraordinary friendship. But only Sam is willing to question its meaning. If Maria lets herself believe there is a larger purpose in their seemingly fated friendship and affair,

Affair? I thought it was a friendship?

she would also have to question whether there is a reason why she has the phoenix-like ability to burst into flame and fly.

Ah... what? Is this flaming/flying before or after she breaks her "normal" streak?? Do you think you should maybe lead with this element?

And Maria is not interested in posing questions that don’t have answers.

How can she not be interested in why she is BURSTING INTO FLAME? Your readers are.

Flight is a 72,000-word novel. Readers who enjoy Paulo Coelho’s literary fabulism—grounded in the real world but seasoned with fantastical elements—will enjoy this book. As will those that like Jeanette Winterson’s playful wielding of language and strong female protagonists. This is my first novel. I am happy to send the complete manuscript upon your request.

This part is just right-- except that you're referencing adult writers! Readers who enjoy Paulo Coelho and Jeanette Winterson will NOT enjoy this book because mostly they read adult fiction. If you don't know some YA writers to compare your book to, WHY THE HELL NOT?

I am querying you because [INSERT AGENT SPECIFIC RATIONALE HERE].

Good.

Many thanks for taking the time to read my query. I look forward to hearing from you.

Bios and Nonfiction

2010-05-31T19:42:00.004-04:00

I realize that the agent reading the bio of a query wants to see relatedness between the writer and the subject about which they write, so with that in mind - can revealing help or hinder in any way what a prospective agent thinks when weighing the merits of the writer against his/her work? I know it may help if I want to write some legal thriller novels, but I am only interested in the YA and children genres.

If you're writing nonfiction, then yes, we really do want some reason to think that the nonfiction is not full of mistakes copied from Wikipedia, or "facts" revealed to you on a piece of toast by Jesus.

If you're writing fiction, there doesn't need to be any related experience with your subject.

If there is-- if you're writing a legal thriller for teenagers and you have legal experience, or have actually been to juvie yourself, that's just gravy.

If there isn't, just try not to say something weird, like about your advanced degree in grandmotherhood / cookie-baking or how you're writing about teddybears because you have the ability to hear their thoughts.

BEA

2010-05-29T11:03:00.002-04:00

Stands for Book Expo America.
Full of publishers and booksellers and authors and some people who want to be one of those things but are kidding themselves.

And when I say "full" I mean AUGH GET OFF ME I AM GOING TO START THROWING ELBOWS AND KICKING PEOPLE IN THE BACKS OF THEIR KNEES IF I DON'T GET SOME SPACE.

Everything was packed. The show floor was packed. The ABC dinner was packed. The kidlit drink night was packed. New York was packed, and I fricking hate taxi drivers. There was a line two miles long for the Children's Breakfast, and I had to pull chairs out from under other people in order to conduct the very important meetings I had scheduled with important people. By the end of the week I was communicating mostly in catlike teeth-bared hisses.

I communicated this to one of our marketing people, and she said she had had a related conversation with an author just before the show.

Author: "I want to go to BEA!"

Her: "You just think that."

All Signs Point Toward Needing to Read the Signs

2010-05-14T08:10:00.000-04:00

How should the text of signs be formatted in a fiction manuscript? I've seen it in all caps but I am not sure if this is correct. For example -They drove past the rickety WELCOME TO TULSA sign.

You are over-thinking this. If you desperately want to be correct, you could look it up in the Chicago Manual of Style, which is what most people use. But most editors will look benignly on however you format such a thing-- as long as it's clear what's the text of the sign and what isn't, it's fine. The copyeditor will adjust it to the house style later in the process.

In the days of yore, when email was exciting, there were some who'd always advise us to send partials with SASEs. Part of the thinking behind this was to control who got to see your MS. Has that culture of mailing queries and partials completely gone away now?

Of course, I realize that - in theory - once the MS is out of your door, it can always be copied and leak out (say, if you're Dan Brown or J. K. Rowling). But how does the author know her MS was read and rejected? That it didn't drown under the giant swells of other partials?

It seems like you have more than one question.

If one of your questions is "How do I know my manuscript won't be copied or stolen or something?", please refer to the pythons.

If one of your questions is, "Do people still want a partial MS and an SASE?", please refer to individual publishers' submission guidelines.

But to "But how does the author know her MS was read and rejected? That it didn't drown under the giant swells of other partials?", the answer is a question: Did you submit your manuscript to a publishing house that accepts slush? If yes, then assume it was read and rejected. If no, then assume it drowned.

How Interested Do I Have to Be?

2010-05-13T08:55:00.000-04:00

I was just wondering, in that vague kind of unfocused fashion that comes after just having had a full meal, what it takes to be an agent?

A lot. Have you read any agent blogs, or is your interest too vague for that?

Is there a course somewhere to prepare you for it?

No.

Is it merely a discerning eye for good stories? For what will sell?

Yes. PLUS a knowledge of WHERE it will sell. Agents know the differences in publishing tastes between one publisher and another; one editor and another. AND they know the ins and outs of publishing contracts. AND they know industry practices and norms. AND they know the terrain of the modern author's career path, and what's best for them.

If those sound like things you'd like to learn, then you could try interning at an agency.

I'm a writing student at the University of Technology, Sydney, in my final semester and I've always loved editing, have always desired to enter the publishing industry in some fashion (be it as an editor or writer) but I've never considered what is required to become a successful agent, hence my question.
If you could give me tips re: the editing front as well, I would appreciate it. I've tried offering myself as an intern for most of the publishing houses in Sydney (though there are probably several hundred I've missed) to no avail, so tips there would be nice.

Knowing something about writing is a definite plus. But what matters more to people in publishing houses is being acutely interested in CURRENT books, and in what's GREAT and what SELLS.

Have you conveyed an acute interest to the publishing houses you've applied to? Or only a vague one?

Query Redux

2010-05-12T08:43:00.000-04:00

In my zeal to share my brand new novel with the WORLD!!! I misinterpreted "cast a wide net" as "query a bunch of agents all at once."

No, I didn't actually do the whole "Dear Agent" with a million email addresses in the "To:" field. That seemed rude to me... I simply googled agents representing my genre, and on Monday I sent 10 queries, on Tuesday I sent another 10, on Weds... etc.

Only problem is, it seems my query wasn't so hot. I'm getting more form rejections than not, a bunch of non-responders, and one kind agent who directed me to the Heroman's guide. I did manage to score one partial request! But it's still pending.

My question is this: Of my sawed-off shotgun approach, there were about five "ideal agents," eight "perfect match" agents, and several "might like it" ones. And I'm thinking if I'd stumbled upon Nathan Bransford's extremely helpful blog sooner, I might've connected with at least one of the first 13. Maybe even more.

Is all this just too bad for me, or would an agent appreciate an introductory "I'm a dumbass, and would you mind if I tried this again" followed by an improved query? Or should I just go to my room with no supper? And if you say, try the "I'm a dumbass" reboot, how long should I wait? A month? Two? Six?

I'm sure some agents will feel you should just wait to query again on your next project. But others will be sympathetic to the humble "dumbass" approach-- as long as it's just ONCE.

So I guess I would suggest trying that, and sooner rather than later. Be sure to offer the agents the option of not responding to the re-query, if that's what their inclination is, so that it's clear that you know they're doing you a favor if they do consider the re-query. And I would also recommend assuring them that if in another month or two THIS query seems foolhardy and amateurish to you, you will NOT be querying a THIRD time.

Without Fear of Punishment... or Publication

2010-05-11T08:11:00.000-04:00

Do editors worry when children’s book authors post political trash talk on the internet?
I’ve seen some pretty offensive comments on Facebook and other forums; as a result I’ve passed on purchasing several titles over the last couple of years. I don’t believe in banning books, but I just can’t bring myself to personally contribute to authors I find offensive.

Well, editors are busy people and may or may not find the time to look into what a potential (or currently signed up) author is getting up to on the internet. So perhaps not-- ignorance is bliss.

But I would hope that if any of my authors held political views that they knew would offend major segments of the public (if aired publicly), they would take that under advisement. I don't mean to say that they should necessarily say nothing about their views-- I'm a big believer in free speech, and I doubt that any one of us doesn't hold some belief that would set someone else's hair on fire.

Sane people know that however true and irrefutable their beliefs are, there's no point in bringing them up just anyplace, and in front of any audience. Respectful, reasoned discussions of current topics are a wonderful thing, but there's no point in them if the audience in front of you just isn't listening. And if it's not a respectful, reasoned discussion, but rather an angry, emotional screed, most people will respond by not listening and getting angry about it. Sane people know this.

Crazy people don't know this.
I don't want to work with crazy people. Nobody does.

I don't want anyone to be quiet when they feel it would be untrue to themselves. But I also want my authors to remember that they are ambassadors for their books, just as their publishing house is.

If they aren't interested in being ambassadors for their books, then they shouldn't be surprised if their publishing house loses interest in that, as well.

Calamity Jack: a Conversation with Shannon Hale

2010-05-10T08:41:00.001-04:00

You may know Shannon Hale from her awesome Newbery-Honor-winning novel Princess Academy. Or maybe from her many other novels, which manage to be both thoughtful and a hell of a lot of fun. Or maybe you know her from that time you thought you were just going to hear another author talk, and ended up laughing so hard you had cross your legs to keep from peeing your pants.

Or perhaps you know her from the fantastically entertaining graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge, which she wrote with her husband, Dean, with the fab illustrations of Nathan Hale (no relation). If so, you're in luck, because--tada!-- there's a sequel out this spring: Calamity Jack, and there's just as much fairy-tales-meet-the-wild-west hijinks as lit up the first book.

In honor of its release, Shannon and I traded secret passwords and "met" in adjoining airport bathroom stalls.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I enjoyed Rapunzel's Revenge a great deal, so I was thrilled to see a sequel. I particularly admire the pacing, which is often a troublesome thing for writers trying the graphic novel format for the first time. Can you speak to what it was like to transition from novels to graphic novels?

SHANNON HALE: Thank you! I think the key for us was having the right story. We didn't want to take any book idea and try to cram it into that format. We wanted just the right story that would really shine in this medium. The fairy tale was the skeleton, but the Hollywood western really directed the plot and let us have fun with the story.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: I think many writers coming from a novel-writing background are accustomed to the support that narration offers. But in graphic novels, the dialogue has to do the lion's share of character building AND plot acceleration. I suppose that could be either difficult or exciting (or perhaps both). What elements do you like best about the two storytelling media?

SHANNON HALE: I do depend a lot on my narrator. I love the third person narrator. It's such a useful tool, and allows for so much language, which is thrilling for me. But the truth is, I get bored easily. I have to switch stuff around to keep myself from getting disaffected with writing. I used a different narrator for my adult books than my YA books, I had a first person diary in Book of a Thousand Days. It is very limiting to lose that narrator entirely in a graphic novel, but it's a good, clean challenge too. Whittling down a story to dialog and captions, then turning over the action of the story to an illustrator is scary and exciting! Luckily we had a brilliant illustrator. Also, we re-wrote a lot, which is my secret weapon in any genre.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: Did you and Dean write the manuscript before beginning work with Nathan (the illustrator)? If so, how close to what you'd imagined were the illustrations/scenes? How much did the manuscript change as it came together with the art?

SHANNON HALE: I love the way it worked out. We had the plot outlined and first 1/4 written when we met Nate. We pitched it to our editor and Nate was on board before we finished the script, so we were able to work with him on character designs, as well as write to his strengths. (He loves beasties and creatures!) I think it became a stronger partnership that way than if we'd written in a bubble then turned it over to an unknown illustrator.

Graphic novels are so different than picture books, I think if the author/illustrators don't know each other, it makes it harder to have solid collaboration. We do write all the panel descriptions for Nate, since so much of the action is visual, so the script we send him is twice as long as what ends up actually printed in the book. After we see his art we go through and make lots of changes--striking unnecessary dialog, changing dialog to better fit the mood of the scene, etc.

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: What do you think it is about you that attracts you to total doofuses like the main character? Are you proud of the example you're setting for the young people?

SHANNON HALE: I know you don't mean Rapunzel, because she is Kick-Butt Awesome. And no way you mean Jack is a doofus, since he's all kinds of good times, built in the grand tradition of trickster/rogue/Coyote. But in answer to your question, yes, I am very proud. As you no doubt know, we children's authors took a sacred pact years ago to secretly subvert the young minds we so carelessly influence and lead them straight to a Bad Place. My part of this nefarious scheme is to trick my impressionable readers into growing their hair long and using it as a weapon. When the war comes, my army will be well-trained, and ALWAYS ARMED. (or haired)

EDITORIAL ANONYMOUS: LOL! I'll start growing out my bangs. Do you have any advice for people who want to try writing a graphic novel, or who want to fight crime with hair?

SHANNON HALE: I think there was this idea for awhile that graphic novels were HOT, HOT, HOT and easy to sell. That has not always proven true.

I've never had such gleeful responses to any of my books as I have to Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. Parents, who were initially hesitant (there's that idea that comic books are Evil and kids should be weaned off illustrations by age 8), were so excited when their 10, 12, 14 year old non-reader read these books and decided he/she liked to read after all. That kind of feedback is worth a career!

Graphic novels have found a place in the libraries, but many book stores still struggle with where to shelve them (a kids' GN section? on the shelves with regular books? the general GN section?), let alone to sell them. I've been pleased with the success of our books, but they're very expensive to produce, both for the illustrator Nathan Hale (17 hour days, 7 day/week for 9-12 months per book) and the publisher. Less than hoped-for sales have discouraged many publishers, and I've heard of some publishers who are no longer looking at GNs. (I'd be curious to hear your experience with this, E Anon.)

But what that all sums up to is, the graphic novel market is no easier to break into than any other, and perhaps even harder. I think writer-illustrators have the upper hand here. I don't know of any debut author who pitched the script alone and got published. The idea, the hook, the script itself has got to be pretty extraordinary to catch an editor's eye. Still, if you can make it, wow. It's awesome. Based on reader response, I'd be thrilled to do more books like Jack and Rapunzel for the rest of my life.

As for the hair question, I find my own locks woefully flimsy and harmless. But as a child, I was Pippi Longstocking for Halloween and my mom threaded my braids with a piece of hanger to make them curl up. So I suggest pimping out your hair with lethal lengths of wire. Unless someone gets hurt in the process; then I never suggested such a thing.

Books I Have Decided I Want

2010-05-09T13:34:00.010-04:00

Give them to me!

What's on your list, readers?

Art Samples: From Your Imagination to Our Recycling Bin

2010-05-07T14:11:00.004-04:00

Love your blog! I have a quick question about sending my artwork to editors. There are always several different types of editors: editor in chief, executive, managing, deputy, assistant, just plain editor, and so on. Who is the best person to send my work to so that it doesn't end up in the trash? I am planning on sending my first sample pack to the art director and then send postcard updates to the editor as well.

Those titles mean slightly different things at different houses. Any or all of those people may have a voice in illustration selection.

Realistically, most of your samples WILL end up in the trash. That's why you have to send a lot of them, to a lot of people. A few of them will like what they see and keep the postcard for future reference. If you want to send a more formal sample, like a portfolio, then you need to research each publisher's preferences in receiving portfolios for review.

To Be Continued! Or Maybe Not.

2010-05-06T14:04:00.000-04:00

How does one decide how to split up a story into parts if the book is too long and the story is continuing into another book? Is it OK to end a book with a cliffhanger, or should you always come to some kind of resolution?

It is OK to end a book on a cliffhanger. You should just be aware that if buying your book requires buying two or more books, the publisher is going to weigh their enthusiasm against the higher investment required.

If you're starting a series, consider whether you're writing the type of book that often becomes a series. Genre fiction often carries series. Quiet, literary novels... not so much.

The Art of Choosing Illustration

2010-05-05T13:46:00.001-04:00

On Thursday, February 11, 2010, In Memoriam, your blog says, "The story suggests some unusually good visuals - animation, in fact - though I have learned I should not bother with illustration before submission for publication." "That is correct."
But on Monday, November 23, 2009, In Which the Cockles of My Heart are Reasonably Tepid, your blog states, "They submit illustrated manuscripts, and the editor doesn't look at them and think, "Well, we'll get that illustrated by someone better." She thinks, "This is essentially done! Awesome!"

It appears it's a double edged sword. I'm curious because I'm a profession video producer. I have produced videos for 8 years now and I have a lot of marketing experience too. I have basically learned that you have a finished project and THEN you pitch it. But I have also included in my submissions a letter stating I'm completely open to having different illustrations done. What say ye?

Professional-quality illustrations are acceptable, and including a note that you're willing to be flexible about them is a good idea. The reason I generally caution against pairing a text with art is that the VAST majority of people have no access to professional-quality illustration, and don't know enough about the CHILDREN'S book industry to know what flys. Do you, for instance, know someone who does great animation for Pixar? Their static art may be a bad fit because they're not used to art being static. Do you know a fabulous cartoonist who appears in the New Yorker regularly? Their cartoons may be a bad fit because they're too adult in flavor.

On top of these considerations, it's just unnecessary! Editors acquire unillustrated manuscripts all the time!

There are some children's book agents -- and others who know our industry well -- who are good at matching art and text. To my readers, my advice is: if you just think you can do this well, you're wrong. The people who can do it well know it.

Changes of Heart and Character

2010-05-04T13:39:00.001-04:00

I have a book which is now in the hands of a publisher. It was recently submitted so it will take quite a bit of time to hear back about publishing or not. When I submitted the manuscript it included a character that now the creator of the book wants omitted. (I am basically the ghostwriter and the one who submitted the book...it's a long story.) Now what? Do I resubmit a manuscript? Wait for a yeah or nay by the publisher? If the publisher likes the story, do I still have the option of saying the character wants to be omitted? The creator is very attached to his book and refuses to bend on this point. So, does that make the manuscript now void?

No, not necessarily. I mean, it's not one of the main characters, is it?

I'd suggest you wait to hear from the publisher, and if there's interest, let them know immediately about this change. Most likely they won't have a problem with it.

And if they do, then you can assume they wouldn't have wanted the revised manuscript, can't you?

The Black Hole Has "Requested" Your Manuscript

2010-05-03T13:29:00.002-04:00

I've had a middle-grade manuscript sitting (or standing, or whatever manuscripts do while they wait) at a small regional publisher for going on nine months now. It was requested last summer just a few days after I queried, and I received an enthusiastic confirmation e-mail a couple of days later. After six months of silence, I sent a brief follow-up to check on the status and got no reply. I've since seen on the Web site that the person to whom I was asked to direct the manuscript is no longer with the publisher. I would assume that when the intern/associate/whatever who was originally assigned the manuscript departs, the manuscript remains viable until I'm notified otherwise. Is it OK to e-mail the managing editor, who originally requested the full manuscript, again? How might I word the e-mail to engender an actual response? I don't want to be a stalker, but this isn't a slush pile situation. They asked for my book.

You're not being a stalker. They ought to respond.

However, one of the staff leaving often means his/her to-read pile is utterly orphaned. (Possibly even orphaned into the recycling bin.) Anyone helping to shoulder the work that staff member left behind is going to have more than enough to do with the already-signed-up manuscripts.

I would suggest you do email the managing editor, but there are no magic words to make this a priority or ensure a response. Meantime, you should be submitting elsewhere. 9 months is ridiculous.

The Legend of the 3,000 Word Picture Book

2010-05-02T13:20:00.004-04:00

I have written an original legend about an indigenous Chilean girl who saves her people from volcanic destruction. It would make a great picture book; the problem is that it is 3,500 words long! It is written for readers of about 4th grade level. Is there another type of format rather than picture book that would fit something of this length and for this grade level?

Well, that's still too short for a chapter book.
There are some picture books for older readers that have texts of this length. But they're mainly supported by teachers and librarians-- so I would be asking myself how such a topic fits the needs of curriculum. I know they aren't doing South American indians in 4th grade. Why will teachers and librarians want this enough to spend their (smaller and smaller) budgets on it?

Children vs Adults

2010-04-26T08:01:00.002-04:00

I once read that children books should also be designed to target parents since they are the ones buying the books. I would think that there is some truth to that since parents probably look at content and often times decide for their kids. Do you have any words of wisdom on this?

Yes, that's absolutely something we consider in publishing, especially in picture books.

Picture books are most often bought by the adult for a child. Once you get into books with chapters, it's a more even mix of kids shopping with adults who pay vs adult shoppers alone. But yes, even then, the adult holds the purse strings and may refuse to buy something they disapprove of.

Is it possible to write a bestselling book that by far appeals mostly to adults and leaves children cold (or even creeped out)? Yes. Favorite examples include Love You Forever and The Giving Tree. You may have noticed that many people who are serious about children's books abhor and detest those books for their wildly dysfunctional relationships, but lots of adults get all mushy over them. So the authors (and their estates) can feel in need of therapy all the way to the bank.

Is it possible to write a bestselling book that by far appeals mostly to children and which outrages and disgusts adults? Yes. Favorite examples include Captain Underpants and Junie B Jones. You may have met upright people who abhor and detest these books for their bathroom humor and bad grammar, but lots of children will read them because they're funny. So the authors can feel juvenile all the way to the bank.

But here's what we're mostly shooting for: books that serve children-- their needs, their tastes-- and that will get by the gatekeepers with a minimum of fuss.

A certain amount of sympathy for parents is not out of place-- it's a tough job raising kids; a heroic job. That doesn't make laziness acceptable, and I'm one of many who think that if you know how to discipline your children, no amount of undisciplined-character exposure can undo the training your children get at home. But it does make tiredness acceptable, so I'm sympathetic to parents' preference for shorter bedtime reads.

A huge amount of sympathy for children is always appropriate. Being a child is a tough job; a heroic job. One of the things we fight in slush all the time is people who want to write for children and really don't know much about children at all. (Why do they do this? I would never decide to write for wombats. It perplexes me.)

In terms of audience, my recommendation: Children first, always. Adults advisedly.

The High Cost of Self Publishing

2010-04-22T09:40:00.002-04:00

I've written a children's book, which I plan on self publishing as an app. I have a built-in mode of marketing, which should ensure publicity for the book.

What should I expect to pay the illustrator? What are the standard fees asked for by an illustrator in the self publishing arena?

I'm afraid I don't know. I've never worked on a self-published book. Regular publishing pays illustrators thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars, plus royalties. And if we pay an illustrator on a flat-fee basis, even then they'll have a publication credit to point to that can further their career.

Of course, most of the self-published books I've seen weren't professionally illustrated, and that's one reason they sell so badly. If you were thinking of going to someone of professional quality, I don't know what kind of money would tempt them to work on a self-published book.

If you weren't planning on that, you have bigger problems than what you'll pay them.

Warning: Objects in Mirror May Be Less Self-Editing Than They Appear

2010-04-20T15:17:00.005-04:00

After editing my manuscript multiple times, I sent it to a professional editor for a final polish. In my submission letters to editors and/or agents, should I mention that I have had my ms professionally edited? Of course, the ms must stand or fall on its own, and I don't expect that mentioning a professional editor will give the ms any special advantage, but are editors/agents interested in knowing that a writer has gone the extra mile to make his/her ms the best it can be?

No. Don't say anything about this... unless you plan not to send your next novel to a freelance editor, and to surprise your publisher with a less-polished-than-the-first-one manuscript. Then we would like some warning.
Thanks!

Quick Answers: Age Groups, Beginning Illustrators, Librarians

2010-04-18T10:10:00.005-04:00

I'm about to start querying my novel (workshopped, re-written, etc.) to agents and feel I've put together a pretty good query. But, I stumble over how to define the novel. It's a 55K word urban fantasy with twins that turn 13 in the first chapter. It seems to me that the characters maturity (or lack thereof) plus a few nonsensical elements place it as a mid-grade, but I wonder if the age of the characters make it YA. Is there a sharp line delineating the catagories? Or, perhaps more likely, are there widely accepted defining points that apply to this situation? Should I send out x number of queries calling it a MG, and y number calling it YA and see which fare better?

There isn't a distinct border between the age groups-- or, that is to say, some people's distinct border is different from other people's distinct border, like neighbors who are always arguing about the property line. Take your best guess, and stop worrying about it--if we like what we read, we'll forgive it easily if you think it's MG and we think it's YA. That's a slight tweak in the terminology-- no big deal.

What we don't forgive as easily is if a person thinks their "fictional novel" is for preschoolers or something like that-- some designation that's so far off base that we have to worry about their relationship with reality, and what that will mean for the publishing process. People with low reality IQs are a huge pain in the ass.

I am a childrens book illustrator, however have not yet published my first book. To be completely honest - I don't quite know where to start.
So far my research has shown the first step (after completing your work of course) is sending out query letters. How should an Illustrators query letter look?
If you could offer any advice on how to get started, it would be really be a great help...I just know I have some wonderful illustrations to offer the world!

If what you're trying to sell is a book, then regardless of whether it's text and illustration or a wordless book, your query letter should look the same as any other author's.
If you're trying to get illustration work with samples from your portfolio, then you should be looking up publisher's art submission guidelines and following those. Possibly you can participate in a portfolio review, and you should definitely have a portfolio up online.

Between 1995 and 2000, I wrote four nonfiction series books for two different publishers. Both publishers seemed happy with my work and asked me to do more. However, just at that time, I started moving up in the ranks of my actual full-time paying job in a library. I made the decision to concentrate on my career and my family, with spare time devoted to reading, rather than writing. The writing I have done during the intervening ten years has been professional in nature: book reviews, journal articles, a book chapter, and a book.
Now I am ready to go back to writing children’s nonfiction. I have several projects I am researching for possible books.
My question: how much do I have to explain my hiatus in publishing when I query editors and agents? If I just say I wrote these four books in the late 90s, will they wonder what’s been going on? I don’t want to over-explain, but I also want them to know that the break was my decision, and not because I couldn’t get anything published.

Do explain very briefly that you've been concentrating on being a librarian in the meanwhile. Not only does that give a reason for your past titles being long out of date (and thus less useful to us as comparisons), it also tells us you're a librarian! We like librarians.

Sexy, Sexy Armadillos

2010-04-11T11:13:00.005-04:00

The Rejectionist has a little news flash for you: MFA programs may not help you get published.

Let me preface this by acknowledging the truth that Writing of True Genius can elevate any topic, no matter how dull or off-putting to the public's sensibilities. A 500-page novel about the sex lives of armadillos? Great!

Good, now that that's out of the way: You're not a genius.

Have you been Highly Educated in writing? That's wonderful. You've spent years thinking about what makes writing good, and practicing those skills, and caring, and god knows we need more of that. The slush pile blesses your heart.

However, what MFA programs tend to instill in writers is an appreciation for their fellow writers as sole audience, because through all that workshopping, your fellow writers are your sole audience.

Guess what? If you want to be published, writers are not your audience.

Now, this is not an argument for the dumbing-down of literature. I wholeheartedly do NOT want ANYONE to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I want you to appeal to average people, who need books as much as you do (and possibly more). Average people are not stupid, but they're less smart about literature than you are. And that's ok! And you should think it's ok, too.

Average people will happily read a Work of Fine Literature and be AMAZED and CHANGED by the experience, but they won't even pick the thing up if it's about the sex lives of armadillos, you know? (Or working-class alcoholic armadillos in snowstorms.)

If, however, it's tightly plotted and about something people can identify with, then you're on your way to moving the hearts and enlightening the minds of thousands. Your publisher loves you! Your readers love you! And your MFA program can barely recognize you, now that your head is completely out of your butt!

Killer Angels

2010-04-10T10:43:00.003-04:00

I was hoping you could look over my query. Feel free to post it on your site if you wish.

I offer the warning in my sidebar because an honest look at what an editor is thinking while reading a query is often NOT what people want. Indeed, some authors' queries are like Roy Schneider dangling red meat over the side of a boat.

Information, however, is power-- and more power to all authors!

Dear Editor,

For seventeen-year-old Nicola Summers, finding her boyfriend Tristan chained to the driveway after being mugged by a street gang was not part of the plan.

No kidding, really? That wasn't part of the plan?

Something "wasn't part of the plan" is a terrible cliche in queries. Still, we might forgive it if it's used acceptably--this isn't. This is akin to saying "Being enslaved by alien Elvis clones was not part of the plan." I think I can safely say that no one has EVER planned for this.

Beaten and knowing the rain is underway, he rejects Nicola’s help.

What? The rain is underway? What does that mean?

Determined, Nicola tries to liberate him, but when the rain arrives and hits his kin, she witnesses the impossible: out of thin air, Tristan sprouts wings.

Oh, you meant "on the way" not "underway". (And I assume you meant "skin" not "kin".) But that sentence would still have been confusing even with the right phrase in it.

"Out of thin air" is another cliche. (Was it really out of thin air? Or... was it out of his shoulders?)

Consumed by an animalistic instinct to protect his identity, Tristan attacks the person he holds most dear and nearly ends her life.

That is not what "animalistic" means.

But after the encounter with her winged-monster-of-a-boyfriend, Nicola’s not sure who to trust with the information—who would ever believe her?

The people who see the bruises? Wounds? Angel dust?

Which makes me wonder, how does he nearly end her life? He didn't try to drown her in a puddle, did he? There must be marks?

She can’t decide whether to pack her bags and move with her mother or finding him.

I know this kind of verb tense inconsistency is an easy mistake to make when you've rewritten something a lot, but it makes it look like you don't understand grammar.

When she seeks answers with the help of her best friend, Tara, Nicola finds herself near a truth that is more terrifying and heartbreaking than anything she imagined.

Just "near" the truth?

First, Tara reveals she is Tristan’s sister.

That doesn't sound terrifying or heartbreaking.

Second, Nicola discovers she is only alive because Tristan unconsciously chose her as his soul mate.

Neither does that. Kinda creepy and stalker-ish, though, since how in heck can she not have a say about who her soulmate is?

And third, he’s dying.

Ah, that's the heartbreaking part, I guess?

Tristan elected staying in his human form

Another verb/grammar problem. For editors, one is a typo; two is Highly Worrying; and three is Oh Hell No.

to prevent his kin of angels from seeing his memories and killing Nicola for what she knows. But how is Nicola supposed to save him when he is dying to save her? TITLE REDACTED, a YA fantasy novel is complete at 90,000 words.

Since when do angels kill people for knowing about them?

We in publishing are getting pretty tired of paranormal romance, including the recent sub-trend in angels, but we do generally tire of trends much faster than the reading public, who are less aware of them.

So you may be able to sell this, even though it's not clear whether you're doing anything markedly different from Hush Hush and Fallen (etc). But this query needs to be clearer and much better proofread, and I'm guessing your novel may need those things, too.

Good luck!

Augh! The New York Times Employs This Person?!

2010-04-05T19:39:00.001-04:00

Nathan Bransford breaks out his hammer and wallops this (ahem) "Ethicist".
Go, Nathan!

Definitions for the Perplexed: Royalties, Advances, and Earning Out

2010-04-04T12:33:00.003-04:00

Royalties on List
The more common book royalty, this is a percentage of the list price. If you are earning a 10% list royalty on your novel (eg), which retails for $15.99 (the list price), then for every book sold you are earning $1.59 in royalties.

Royalties on Net
More common in non-book items like games, stationery, calendars, this is a percentage of the price at which the publisher sold the product. Which takes into consideration the discount at which the publisher must sell products. If you are earning a 10% net royalty on your fancy journal (eg), which retails for $15.99 and is sold to one retail account at 50% off (eg), then for every journal sold you are earning $0.79 in royalties.

The system of royalties and advances is one often criticized. There are many people on either side of the desk (authors, illustrators, agents, publishers) who would like to see a system in place that would benefit themselves more.

Alas, figuring out how to reimburse everyone fairly in an industry like publishing is an impossible feat. Most books don't earn out, and are a loss for the publisher. If the publisher doesn't profit, does that mean the author shouldn't either? Most authors would say no: even the profitless books should profit the author. However, as soon as many authors appear on a bestseller list, their thinking changes. Clearly they're making a bunch of money for the publisher; shouldn't their cut be larger?

Well, there's the thing. If you think that the author should profit even when the publisher doesn't, then you must also be comfortable with the idea that the bestselling books (those desperate few) will profit the publisher more than the author, so that that money can bankroll the failing books on the publisher's list.

Publishers wouldn't mind at all if authors were willing to only profit if the book does well, but since the vast majority of books don't profit, no author or agent who knows the industry is going to agree to that. Which is where advances come in.

Advances
An advance is an approximation of what the publisher thinks your book will earn you in royalties in (perhaps) a year. It is an advance payment on those earnings, thus the name. Essentially, an advance is a loan that you don't pay interest on (and would only pay back in cases covered by the contract). It's the publisher gambling that there will eventually be money in that book. As we know, mostly the publisher is wrong. But at least this way the author gets some money out of the deal, even if they never see a dime in royalties.

Advances are subject to the publishing industry's full range of hallucinatory optimism and depressive nihilism, so don't be expecting any kind of "standard range" here. Ha ha! "Standard." Hilarious.

Because an advance is a sort of loan, you won't start earning royalties until your accrued royalties have earned back that advance. Which is where we come to:

Earn out
Joyous earn out. If your book has "earned out", then it has earned back the advance, and the author is starting to get royalty checks. In some wonderful cases, the book may earn out even before publication, based on foreign rights sales alone! Ah, then everyone is happy. Right?

No, of course not. There's nothing like publishing to gather egomaniacs with unrealistic expectations. Which is why you hear some crazy people online saying that if your book earned out, then you should fire your agent because clearly you weren't paid enough. (We pause here for painful laughter, and mild hysteria.) If the book makes money, and the publisher is glad they published it, then you're unhappy? You can only be sure you got enough money if your advance made the book's bottom line negative? Who are you crazy idiots?

Board Book Publicity

2010-04-04T09:20:00.000-04:00

Are there publicists who specialize in children's board books? If so can you list a few?

There are publicists who specialize in children's books, and that should be good enough. I can't imagine why anyone would specialize in so narrow a category as board books.

What... brought this question on?

Definitions for the Perplexed: Handy (and Not So Handy) Abbreviations

2010-04-03T11:18:00.002-04:00

From Pimp My Novel.

The Value of Critique?

2010-04-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

I have a question about conference critiques. At our regional conferences, attendees can pay a little extra ($35) to have one of the editors or agents attending the conference critique up to ten pages of a manuscript. Writers are encouraged to do this--to have their work read carefully by someone in the publishing industry.

My question is this: how seriously do editors take these critiques? I've heard enough different things that it seems the critiques are a crap shoot--some editors take them seriously and do a good job, others blow them off. Are there standards for these critiques? Something the industry adheres to? I'm confused because one thing new writers are always told is not to pay an agent or editor to look at their work, even if they offer to critique it. Are conference critiques different? It just seems silly to spend the money since by attending the conference, you're allowed to submit to the editors or agent anyway, and get your work looked at.

The advice about not paying people to look at your work is to help newbies avoid scam "agents" and "editors", not to help them avoid the legitimate professionals that are invited to conferences. But if all you want is for your work to be looked at, and the editors attending are going to offer to read submissions from the conference, then yes, critiques are a waste of your money.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that a few editors do blow this responsibility off, as critiques always take a lot of time and mental energy, and the manuscripts presented are sometimes... of a daunting quality. (Though clearly that's a disservice to the conference an editor has agreed to attend; if an editor isn't willing to do the work of a conference, they shouldn't go to them.) There's no industry standard. I do my best with critiques, and every once in a while I suggest a writer submit to me.

But I'm not certain critiques are really that useful to most people, in the end. Sometimes I have market-oriented advice, which is something editors can be good for, but more often the advice I can offer is the sort of thing anyone could get in a writing class.

I'd be thrilled to hear in the comments of readers' experiences with conference critique. But if you're wondering why writers are encouraged to sign up for them, it's financial. Conferences make a meaningful piece of their profit on critiques.

This Just Seems Like the Most Obvious Thing In the World

2010-03-30T00:39:00.001-04:00

but I've seen enough commentary online to know people need it spelled out.

Thanks for the spelling, Nathan.

It's As Easy As 1-2-3. Unless You're Crazy.

2010-03-28T17:27:00.002-04:00

I am searching for information on how to submit/send a manuscript to a Publishing House(s).
I have written a whimsical,magical Children's Picture Book. I love the book and I think the query letter is ready to go!
I have the 2010 Writers Market Guide, and I can find who does and who does not accept what and when! I can't find how to physically mail the manuscript to those publishers that specify:'Send query and manuscript'.
I need some very basic info e.g. Should the manuscript be loose? Does it go in a folder, or an envelope, or an envelope inside another envelope? Where should the writer's name be written on the manuscript? Are there specific rules somewhere? Is this a secret club?
I think writing the book was the easy part! What do I need to do to accommodate editors?
I need an on-line class called: "Get Me To The Post Office with the Correct Folders, Envelopes and Stamps!"
I don't even like asking you to respond to such elementary questions. Is there a book called Envelopes and Manuscripts For Dummies?

First: Calm down.

Second: Remember that you're sending business correspondence. Look at the publishers' submission guidelines, and obey them. Past that, make what you send us simple, straightforward, easy to read, and no-frills. Interact with publishers like a fellow professional, and you won't go wrong.

The reason there seem to be a lot of "rules" out there is that we get correspondence from a hell of a lot of people who think they're sending their manuscript:

a. To people who should be flattered and grateful for the 9,574th piece of slush to arrive in the office this year (rather than feeling a much more likely ambivalence). No, they didn't send us an SASE or read our submission guidelines, but we should still be willing to spend $18 to put their oversize original art in the mail back to them. And if not we should be willing to listen to lengthy tirades in which they threaten us with legal action.

b. To the fairies. Which is why it's printed in Curlz, bound in ribbons, and shipped with a pound of loose glitter in the box.

c. To their 5th grade teacher, who was SO IMPRESSED when they turned in their report with their own "illustrations", and bound in a plastic folder. We will be impressed by plain paper, and no illustrations. There is no A for effort in publishing--what you're selling us is the writing, and any attempt to distract from that is very, very transparent.

d. To a class of kindergartners. Which is why the cover letter launches into a gooey exploration of the kinds of dreams unicorns probably have, rather than telling us directly what the manuscript is about and why you think we'd want it.

e. To god knows who. I haven't the faintest idea who people think is on the other end of submissions that include stuffed animals, baked goods, clothing, dental molds, intimate photos of themselves, q-tips, five kinds of rice, or a bunch of pressed insects.

Third: Now go to the post office.

Multiple Personalities Unite!

2010-03-28T17:12:00.004-04:00

I'm having a writer's identity crisis. Highlights accepted and will be publishing an easy reader story of mine, an editor is considering my middle grade historical, and I've written a YA murder mystery and am presently writing a YA dystopian sci-fi. I am not so confident that I think that I can do it all. But I do love it all. Should I follow only what I've had success in? Or should I write stories that I love and embrace my split personality?

If you haven't been writing very long, then I recommend you write what you love, and write a lot of all of it.

If you have been writing for a while, then my experience is this: some writers really do write for all kinds of age groups successfully. If you're one of those, congratulations.

And other writers, having written all the genres and age groups that they love for some time, look back on that writing and realize that while they love all those genres and age groups equally, their writing has been strongest in one or two of them.

It's easy to love what you're working on now, or have recently finished. But the manuscript you're still really proud of after you've written several more can tell you something powerful about who you are as a writer. And if you figure that out, congratulations indeed.

Fear Is So Old-Fashioned, Right?

2010-03-28T10:40:00.003-04:00

I'm curious of how the horror genre is holding up in the children's market. Is there room for another R.L. Stine, or is that era past? If not, who would be the best publisher to approach with a middle-grade horror story? Any ideas?

Is that era past? Have you not noticed the hordes of zombies currently overrunning the shelves?

Horror, like any genre, is fairly perennial. Little Brown is doing very well with its Cirque du Freak series. Simon & Schuster just got a Printz Honor for Monstrumologist. Harper could certainly be doing more with the popular Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, but maybe they're satisfied with those sales. Etc.

I would suggest you do some more market research, and try one of the few publishers who don't currently have a strong horror title or series on their list. And then try the rest of them.

It's an Auction! Or Not.

2010-03-27T19:20:00.002-04:00

You have said never to call an editor to check on the status of your query or manuscript submission. Other editors and editorial assistants have said the same thing. Just. Don't. Call. I understand this.

But what does the aspiring author do when a manuscript on multiple submission garners an offer from one publishing house? Presumably they will want to hear back within a reasonably short time frame, and yet, mailing status checks and "Just so you know, I've had an offer/serious interest from another house looking at this manuscript that I sent you a while back," letters and waiting for a response on those can take a WHILE. (Especially if you're mailing things from Canada to the US, as I am. Snail mail is not far off.)

How does one go about this without making an interested publisher wait too long, angering the other editors who might be considering her work, and calling anybody?

The question is whether you've submitted to a slush pile or not. (For clarity, I am not talking about whether you put an editor's name on the submission-- most of those end up in the slush pile, regardless.)

If you submitted to the slush pile, don't bother informing other publishers. The chances that they know where your manuscript is, much less have read it yet, are fairly infinitesimal. (Sorry. This is one of the reasons people get an agent.) Just go with the offer you've got, if it's reasonable, or if it's not, say no.

If you have submitted to an editor (i.e., because of a relationship with the editor, or because you attended a conference at which she spoke and she offered to read submissions following the conference, or some other reason), then it would be acceptable and prudent to email that editor and let her know you have interest elsewhere.

Meanwhile, let the publisher making the offer know that you just need to check in with the other people who have the manuscript, and then you'll get back to them. If you don't hear back from the other publishers within a week, you should go ahead with the offer on the table. If any of the other publishers do want to enter bidding, they should be willing to get an offer on the table in a matter of days, not weeks.

Creative Thinking and the American Publisher

2010-03-25T22:33:00.003-04:00

I have had published an epic historical novel which has received rave reviews, enjoyed time on the best seller list and has just been nominated for New Zealand's children’s book awards (in the YA) section.
My wonderful NYC agent has been working very hard to generate interest in the US but, though it’s been out since late May 2009, there hasn’t been any takers. In a recent email he told me this:

"The reason it hasn’t hit to this point (and it’s rare that one issue comes up as often as this has, to the point that I can really look at it and say THIS is why), is because, unlike in NZ where Penguin (smartly) published it on the adult list but still pushed it to the Young Adult market, in the US the lists are very compartmentalized. If you recall, Disney (Hyperion) wouldn’t even LOOK at [it] because [main character] was over 17 when it began. And that’s the problem—it’s a YA book with characters older than the American YA market typically deals with. Now, mind you, they are behaving like teenagers, and this is a totally marvellous coming-of-age story. He just happens to be 21 instead of a teenager. And that shouldn’t matter, but it clearly does."

My question to you is this: wouldn’t an editor look very hard at a submission of a book (by an agent for an established author*) which has ALREADY been edited and polished with all the work done, is a best seller, has had and continues to have rave reviews and has been nominated for a national book award? My agent also made the comment that more submissions go to children’s editors than the adult section and that there are more submissions than editors which is why it takes a long time. I’d be interested in your thoughts about the ‘compartments’ comment.

Well, it's tricky. It sounds as though you've written a very good book. But you've also put your characters in an age demographic that buys very, very few novels-- they're mostly buying textbooks and using the college library.

Still, it sounds like a question of the correct marketing to me. Penguin NZ may have had the right idea-- something like this might be better aimed at adults with the hope that it will cross down to teens (perhaps with the help of the Alex Awards). So maybe it's about finding the right adult publisher who sees how to aim it at both markets. Or maybe it's about finding the right children's publisher that has some guts and wants to take a chance on this.

Either way, though, this book is going to call for some creative thinking at its publisher. Good luck!

Quick Answers: Adults, Nuclear Arms, and Movies

2010-03-25T07:49:00.001-04:00

My MG manuscript has been rejected by 30 agents (mostly at the query stage, but a handful at the full stage). The only agent who is excited to represent it is a top notch adult agent with only a few sales in children's. Should I be worried? What do you think of adult agents moving into children's in general? Are they as likely to be successful as any other newbie agent on the scene?

An experienced adult agent is probably a bit more likely to be successful than a complete newbie agent. But the current rush into YA by agents who don't know the market and don't read YA doesn't particularly thrill me-- or anyone else who thinks children's books are worth our time as well as our money. I would ask that agent careful questions about what books he/she thinks are competition, and which publishers would be interested and why.

Would there be a market for a book that is 1/2 fiction and 1/2 non-fiction, alternating chapters. Basically, splice together a 40-50k word non-fiction work with a novella about the same subject (i.e., narrative non-fiction about nuclear arms spreads and fiction story about arms dealer that finds himself brokering a North Korean nuke to Al Qaeda).

I don't know what "nuclear arms spreads" means as a topic, but leaving that aside, this sounds like a perplexing problem for a publisher. What title/image do you put on the cover to convey this mixed content to the reader? More importantly, where would such a thing be shelved, when bookstores have sections for fiction and nonfiction? I think you're making things unnecessarily difficult for both of these books by forcing them to cohabit.

Hi, my name is Jennifer and a new writer for children books. Recently, I wrote a couple of them and I am thinking to look for a self publish method (but I have not done anything yet to contact book agents and editors, etc., because I am afraid of a long, awful period of waiting in-line to get attention. ) The reason that I want it faster is because my stories are also a movie script and now I am working with a foreign investment for the production, and I suppose publishing a book is a better way to protect my rights and contents rather than just registered them in WGA. So, is it a good idea? Then I have a second question: if I go to self –publishing first, do I have a chance to go to mainstream publishers later and how?

Self publishing is not the way to protect your rights. You should do some more reading about self publishing: what it does, and what it does not do.
But publishing-- trade publishing, not self publishing-- can be a way of nailing down the content so that a studio doesn't feel they have free license to change everything about your story in production. So I do recommend you choose: which do you want this to be first: a movie, or a book? Once you choose, put your efforts in one direction, rather than in both.

To Boldly Give Advice No Man Has Given Before

2010-03-23T06:38:00.002-04:00

I recently ran across a very strong "submit straight to editors" blog post. In the post, the writer argued that you should always submit to editors first and get an agent after you have a contract in hand. He argues that none of the agents who take writers without a contract are good, and in the comments he says that writers should submit to publishing houses directly even if they have a clearly stated "no unagented submissions" policy. As an editor, what is your take on that?
The post is here, if you're curious.
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=357

Some of what he says I agree with.
Can you get published without an agent? Yes, certainly.

And some of it I do not.
Is an agent a crutch for weenies who want someone to take care of them? No. Agents don't like weenies any more than the rest of us do.

Do real (ie, non-scam) agents read slush? Hell yes, they do. I know some of the best agents around and they read queries from unknowns and take on writers who have never been published before.

Finding the right agent for your expectations and workstyle is important. Having no agent can be better than having the wrong agent. But if you can find an agent that's right for you, he/she can open up all kinds of doors for you and make your career. I've seen it happen.

To comment on his points in order:

1. Wrong. An agent is not your employee. He/she is a service vendor, and you are his/her client. In the same way you can be a client of a law firm, you are a client of an agency. The agents are employed by the agency, not by you.
An agent's job IS to sell books. Whether or not the agent's job is to help you rewrite is up to individual agents; it is a job in which there is much latitude for self-definition.

2. Correct. Anyone asking for money up front is screwing with you.

3. Editors do need new books. But no, if they don't read a slush submission that turns out to be the next Dan Brown or if they read it and reject it, they will not be fired. At the houses that do not take unagented submissions, there is no pressure to read unagented submissions. NONE.

4. This is true. And another thing a form rejection can mean is "We said we're not taking unagented submissions, and call us crazy, but WE MEANT IT. We didn't even glance at this submission before rejecting it."

5. Certainly there are crap agents out there, but there are also fantastic agents who take on new clients who have never published and never submitted to publishers. Agents I know; agents whose clients are among the best-known and the least-known writers.

6. Yes, books do sell themselves. No matter how much I like an agent and respect his/her taste, I won't acquire something I don't think I can shape for the market and that my publisher can sell. But an agent I know and respect can get me to take a quicker and a more thoughtful look at something that might otherwise have sat around for months before I glanced at the first page and rejected it.

7. It's true that we don't really know what we want until we see it, but good agents have an idea of our personal tastes and can make a hell of a better-educated guess about the best editor for your book than you can.

8. HA HA HA. I suppose he feels the same way about me, an editor who blogs. Here's what I've seen: the publishing professionals who take time out of their days to share their time and experience in an open (or semi-open) forum like a blog are the hardcore-- committed to their jobs, committed to the community of book professionals. We are the ones in the office on the weekends; the ones that go the extra mile for our authors as well as for the strangers we interact with on our blogs. My coworkers think I work too much, and they're working damn hard themselves.

9. Sure. But see #4.

10. See #5.

11. Which is why you probably shouldn't go with a new agent unless that agent can tell you how they know what contracts should be like from an author's perspective, or is backed up by a larger agency that understands contracts and can tutor him/her.

I do admire that with a simple click (visa, mastercard, amex, discover) he's found a way to profit from this profitless advice.

But don't listen to me: Clearly I spend all my time blogging rather than doing my job. And clearly a "bestselling" writer of TV novelizations knows more about agents and the book business than I would.

I can only tell you that if I ever decided to write short stories about Smallville or Roswell or Star Trek the Next Generation, I agree: I certainly would not show them to an agent.