Fear Is So Old-Fashioned, Right?

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.

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

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

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

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.

Let Them Eat Cake

A friend/colleague attended some vaguely hippie-sounding conference/retreat recently in California, where she ran into Gary Schmidt, who is all kinds of awesome. If you haven't been reading Mr. Schmidt's books, you may want to continue to avoid them for fear his awesomeness won't inspire you as much as give you a huge insecurity complex.

Unfortunately, Mr. Schmidt got up in front of the group of aspiring writers and told them that he hated the word "hook". Mr. Schmidt, if you're reading this, you know I love you. I'd rank you in the top ten novelists working in children's books today. But you're giving me such a headache.

I know, there's a lot of confusion about what qualifies as a hook. And if that's where you're coming from, ok, I sympathize. I hate terms that have no useful definition as much as the next dictionary-reader.

So here you go:

hook / noun : the reason people will read your book.

No, really. That's what it means. Go back and read it again if you have to.

Now, in the case of writing like Mr. Schmidt's, the hook--the reason people will read his work-- is that it's brilliant, and there are lots of people willing to tell readers it's brilliant.

Writers like Mr. Schmidt (or Mr. Anderson, or Ms. Anderson, or Ms. Lockhart, or Mr. Alexie) don't need to worry much any more about hook, because once a wide segment of the book community realizes that whatever these writers write will be worth reading, such writers have hook at their fingertips.


So Mr. Schmidt, you're doing new writers a terrible disservice when you tell them it's ok to dislike and disregard 'hook'.

You are, in fact, sounding a great deal like certain French princesses, who when informed of the peasants' concerns about lack of bread hook responded, "Bah, 'bread' 'hook'. I never worry about bread hook, and neither should those peasants aspiring writers. If they are so hungry trying to be published, let them be published because they are acclaimed writers like me."

Fortunately for you, writers are a hell of a lot more optimistic than your average French peasant, and they'll get all the way home intending to eat their cake before remembering that they don't have any of that either.

Consider this before you advise people against the importance of hook. And before you go to your next writers' conference, take my advice and check for guillotines.

Possibly Some of the Best Advice Ever

From the consistently entertaining Rejectionist. I feel bad enough about being a bad blogger lately; why does le R have to rub it in with awesome posts?

http://www.therejectionist.com/2010/03/5-traits-that-bag-boyfriend-agent.html

This advice goes for getting yourself an editor, too.

Not Dead or Dying

Worried about you, EA‏. Give us a sign if you have a chance.

Still alive. I know, I'm being a bad blogger-- but a good editor. Getting stuff done. Being my alter ego.
Thanks for the concern! And the patience!

Lawsuits and Looneytunes: DEFCON 1

Dear EA:
I have become distressed by the frivolous lawsuits brought against J.K. Rowling (as well as Stephanie Meyer) whose only crime appears to be enjoying unprecedented success.

It's not a crime to be rich; it's not a crime to be famous. But if you're both, you will be punished for it by the crazy public. Happily, millions of dollars can buy a lot of lawyers and rottweilers.

When I read that the estate of Adrian Jacobs was suing J.K. Rowling and her publisher for 500 million pounds, I thought it was a joke. And yet blogs and forums abound with readers who have compared Harry Potter with Willie the Wizard and declared J.K. Rowling guilty of plagiarism. Fewer people are speaking in her defense.

I think most reasonable people who heard that yet another person was suing Rowling for plagiarism simply rolled their eyes and reflected on the downsides of being a billionaire.

Willie the Wizard’s claim to a piece of the Harry Potter empire is ridiculous and an insult to any writer who has ever put in the countless hours of crafting a novel instead of grabbing their fifteen minutes of fame in a frivolous lawsuit.
So what I would like to know is why are so many people taking this lawsuit seriously? Why aren’t more people speaking out against it? And how can we as writers protect ourselves against such lawsuits in the future?

I haven't been following this situation at all, so I don't know who's taking it seriously (are they nutjobs?) or why (because they're nutjobs?). If you'd like to clarify in the comments, please do.

One of the lessons of working retail or waiting tables or reading the slush or being a bestselling author or in any way coming in contact with a wide range of the public is this: there are CRAZY people out there. Freelance wackos. Earnestly delusional lunatics. Vicious looneys.
Sure, there are plenty of just mildly wacky yahoos, and sometimes they're even published authors. But you want to be careful about the public at large and how much of their attention you draw, because this kind of flagrant money-grubbing can be the result.

The good news is the vast majority of authors never draw this kind of attention, because the vast majority of authors never make millions of dollars.

The bad news is that you'll never know the pleasure of setting the dogs on the idiots rooting through your garbage.

______________________________________
Addendum:
Oh, good lord. Here's some of the text from Willy the Wizard. The idea that ANYONE would have plagiarized a work like this is CRIMINALLY INSANE.


Willy sat in Ali Baba’s chair and was frequenctized into vision acute, now receiving clarity waves from the Ruby Tower.
—-
Kentucky set the scene for the polo feast. A green green carpet appeared like a field in the sky, and the audience was enthralled as the mini polo ponies careered back and forth with their Jockies at breakneck velocity around the entire carpet lawn. … Duke plied them with the local coconut juice which spiced and blended with Bay pineapple juice, caressed their lovely day.
—-
In Willy’s laboratory, Wizard Cricket demonstrated how a mixture’ of grounded nicket paste and paleberry juice applied gently on the eyebrows of an Aussie guinea pig would bring a marked change of appearance. Willy suffered the mixture and clumsily knocked the contents of the texture into the berry juice paste and ! The guinea pig became a winking wongo - a wonderful little chap, a cousin to the Dutch Tree Squirrels.
—-
It was specially intimate between them and had provoked some envy as its sweet success for silent discourse. Sitting in the cove, Willy sniffed deeply and drew into his mind Breathair Oxy-Zone. He had been taught the trick by Master Wizard Onlywheness who had been blessed by Guardian Saint Lovely Lucinda. Onlywheness had shown Willy how to breathe and on outward breath to sound silent messages. It was a question of nose muscle control and delicate lacquering of the air with thought pellets. Willy concentrated hard. He was rusty for he hadn’t drawn on this secret power for decades but his patience was prized…

Thanks to JES for the link.

So True

From the intern:

http://internspills.blogspot.com/2010/02/in-which-being-kind-is-soooooo.html

Hundreds of thousands of people want to be published. They all at least think they want our advice. Do we have time to give it? No.

(Unless, of course, we give you a contract. Then just try and get us to shut up.)

Lost In Translation II

I have translated a wonderful children picture book from Hebrew that addresses social and emotional intelligence and compassionate communication geared toward children ages 4-8. The book sold 100,000 copies in Israel since 1999 and now we are seeking a US publisher.
I am wondering how to find a publisher or an agent for such a topic since the books that I see in the market are very preachy, written by therapists and published by big publishers that do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
I know there is a huge market in the US for this book because the author came for a tour last December with a play based on the book and I was able to arrange many performance with almost no effort. People where begging me for books after and before the performances. I am just puzzled with how to break in the market.
Would appreciate your professional advice.

When you say that the book addresses "social and emotional intelligence and compassionate communication geared toward children ages 4-8", I cannot be sure whether you see "very preachy" as a plus or a minus. If you see preachiness as a minus, be aware that your query letter may be giving the wrong impression.

I should also mention that based on the mistakes in your question (where / many performance / children book / break in the market), your translation may be giving the wrong impression as well.

If you are talking about a book published by an Israeli publisher, then (as I've mentioned before) the answer is that usually publishers in other countries are pursuing contacts at the large publishers themselves in an effort to sell foreign rights. As a fellow publisher, the 'no unsolicited manuscripts' rule doesn't apply to them. If this is the situation we're talking about, I don't understand why you would be the one pursuing a US publisher. (And just in case: if you don't work at the foreign publisher, you can't contact US publishers and say you're "representing" the foreign publisher.)

If you are talking about a self-published book, however, or (regardless of the term you use) any "publisher" where the author takes on the burden of selling the book, then you are effectively in the same boat with any other author attempting to find an agent or publisher, and all the same rules and advice applies-- except that you must also inform everyone you query or submit to that Hebrew rights are not available.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

More Quick Answers

When I submit a manuscript to an editor, is it a good idea to include my (children's book related) blog with my contact information? Is this something an editor would be interested in?

Sure, it wouldn't hurt.

My agent is pitching my YA novel. Controversial subject. (But not chick lit or about vampires in any form.) I have received a few thoughtful, longish rejections, each with faint or nice praise. I agree with the critiques and am doing some revision. Is it best to wait for more comments or do significant revision now?

This is something to discuss with your agent. Tell her you're thinking of revising, and wonder if she should stop sending the manuscript out until the new draft is ready, or if she would rather keep pitching it while you rewrite. Whatever decision you come to should make sense to both of you.

I've received a fair number of "good" rejections from editors over the years with favorable comments in spite of the rejections. Several editors have invited me to submit other work. I have continued to submit work to them (picture books) as well as other open houses. The difficult spot I find myself in now is that I am considering trying to get an agent to open doors to closed houses. However, as I have already submitted some of my manuscripts to numerous publishers, I'm afraid that I have, in a sense, tied an agent's hands when representing my work. Should I give up on the idea of finding agent representation for some of these manuscripts or should I wait until I have something new that has not yet been submitted?

Because I'm not an agent and I don't know who you've been submitting to, I can't be sure whether your previous submissions will hamstring a potential agent. You might be able to find an agent now--as long as you're up front with him/her in your initial contact about where the manuscript you've sent them has already been shopped, and why (those personal connections sometimes make a difference). Your chances may be better, though, with a brand new manuscript.

I am writing my first YA novel; extremely to succeed. I have all these thoughts in my head and sometimes find it challenging expressing them, not only because writing genuinely is hard, but because Spanish is my native language. I just purchased two books on writing YA and quit my job to finish my novel. I know, my mother-in-law said I was crazy. Then again, "nothing ventured, nothing gained". What does it take to be a great writer? What advice you would give to someone really willing to follow it? A million thank yous from Puerto Rico.

There are different definitions of what makes a writer "great", and the ways that different writers go about being their version of great varies a great deal, too. So unfortunately there is no simple formula for greatness. But I do strongly recommend reading every day and writing every day, faithfully and persistently, and wanting to live the rest of your life that way. Greatness is not achieved through a passing interest or periodic dabbling, and most writers' first work (or works) do not get published. I can tell you at least that no one ever achieves greatness by wanting to be a writer-- only by being one.

Addendum: some great writerly advice from Patrick Rothfuss, courtesy of Maine Character.

In Memoriam

Upon the death of my mom last summer, I began to help my father get organized and discovered an 18-typed-page children's book written by my grandmother, probably 50 years ago. It was never published. Some of the language has an old-fashioned feeling to it, but my cousin for whom it was originally written and I think it has potential. 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.

Do you have any thoughts about the process or sequence of events if a cartoon series is actually a better use of the text? Do people usually start in the print medium? Are there any special considerations in publication of a work whose author is deceased?

I know nothing about the movie/TV industries. But I do know that most studios don't take submissions from unagented writers, and even if they did they wouldn't take a book manuscript. Maybe my readers have some tips.

First, I would recommend you go ahead and rewrite that manuscript, if only for the experience. You've already noticed some issues with it; I promise an editor will notice more.

The problem with a manuscript whose author has passed away is that the editor cannot work with the author to fix the manuscript. So that leaves you to work with. You should be willing to change the manuscript (perhaps a lot) in order to make it market-ready. If you are unwilling to change anything about that manuscript, I would bet the chances of you getting it published are very slim.

Second, take my advice and do not mention in the cover letter that your mom is deceased. Publishers get tons of mail referencing sick people, handicapped people, people going through a messy divorce, people being channeled from the other side, and people grieving for their 127th china doll "Miss Calliope" who was recently decapitated by their incontinent Chihuahua. None of this has anything to do with publishing. It will be seen as a play for sympathy, and even if it works, our sincere sympathy has nothing to do with publishing.

Good luck!

Exactly.

http://www.therejectionist.com/2010/02/reminder-dont-fuck-with-assistant.html

And this goes for reused art from Felicia Bond or Beatrix Potter, or the text of Jane Yolen's Owl Moon.

Though I must say that when I've encountered such things, I could not help sending a rather pointed letter about plagiarism and its extreme inadvisability.

The Manuscript Wearing Sunglasses and a Hat That Won't Give Its Name

When I finished my novel last year, I rushed into my query with minimal research on the matter. As soon as I sent it to a small collection of agents, I knew I'd been hasty and that it wasn't the best example of my work. Kicking myself in the head, I set out to rewrite the query, and while I was at it, went through several rewrites of the novel itself. Both letter and novel are basically unrecognizable when compared to their original versions...so my question is, would it be a faux pas to query one or two of those agents again, say the ones that I was most excited about presenting with my work?

Depends. When you say "basically unrecognizable", do you mean "Oh, it's sooo different! The characters' motivations are completely changed! And that scene where Sam runs into Alexandra? Now Alexandra runs into Sam. And I took out like 15 adjectives!!"

Or do you mean unrecognizable? Because when the manuscript in my hand has a different title and different character names and roughly the same plot as the manuscript I saw four years ago, I recognize it.

Quick Answers

I am a professional illustrator, and I've just started writing my first children's book, which I plan to illustrate as well. I've seen different advice on how and what to submit to publishers and agents as an author/illustrator. Some say you should submit a dummy book, and others say you should submit a standard manuscript with a few example illustrations included. If a dummy book is the way to go, do you prepare it as closely as possible to what you picture the final book to be? (layout, typeface, design, at least mock-up illustrations on each page, etc?) And if it is preferred to submit a standard manuscript, in what manner do you include the illustrations? Do you just include a few prints paperclipped to the manuscript, or do you try and show where in the story they fit, by laying out some text with them?

I would recommend manuscript pages, a sketch dummy (don't spend time worrying about type and design), and a couple samples of finished illustrations.

My first question is, as an editor, what do you want to see in a cover letter from an illustrator? I've seen plenty of advice for writers on how to structure a query letter, but there seems to be little advice for the illustrators. Is there anything specific that should or should not be in an illustrator's cover letter? Does the illustrator need a cover letter at all?

Not really. If you're just sending illustration samples, most of those come labeled with the artist's contact information and that's it.

My other question is about formality. In sending out packages of art samples/cover letter to publishers and their art directors or editors, how important is it to have typewritten addresses or address labels rather than handwritten?

Unimportant.

Again and again I find myself reading a book which I bought based on reading the cover blurb, only to find that the story, and sometimes even the genre, has been completely misrepresented. For example a book I bought last year had a blurb which described a story about an archeologist finding an ancient sword in Jerusalem which may have been the sword of Mohammed and that finding it may change the world, the title was even Sword of God. The sword appears on the first chapter but immediately after finding it (as in still down in the tomb covered in dust) the character is drawn into a (rather cliched) espionage adventure in which war crimes in asia are uncovered. I spent the whole book wondering when and how the sword would be worked in and it never was.
Now, perhaps this happens because, like cover artists, blurb writers read only the first chapter, but I think it has to be a deliberate marketing ploy - after all, you can't return books after you've read them (at least not in Australia) so perhaps some publishers don't care about disappointing/lying to their readers as long as the purchase is made.

Seems awfully stupid to me. I mean, sure, a publisher might farm out its covercopy needs to a freelancer, but then how does the editor not read the copy and realize it's wrong for the book?
That's sloppy, sloppy publishing. In this country, people can and do return books, but if you don't have that option you can at least stop buying books from the publisher who can't reliably tell you about the books they print.

Do you know of any mainstream publishers that accept electronic submissions? Very few do currently. Why do agents want to go green and publishers prefer snail mail?

Do you mean mainstream publishers that take electronic submissions from agents? That's everybody. But if you mean mainstream publishers that are open to unagented manuscripts and take electronic submissions, no.
Agents get a lot of email in the way of submissions. People at publishing houses get a lot of email simply generated by the rest of the company they work for. Both agents and publishers battle a stormtide of incoming email, but if publishers had to deal with the email they already get and an ocean of submissions emails, we would be sunk. (Also our computer servers can't take it.)

Show Some Initiative

By staying away from our offices. Please.

Do Your Family a Favor and Talk Some Sense Into Them

My sister wrote and illustrated a short picture book for my mother as a Christmas present. Now my parents want me to bring the book to my editor and see what she thinks. I know exactly what she'd think: "No. Thank you, but no." Oh, the story and the drawings are cute and fun, but I don't think the story can be stretched out to fill 32 pages (or whatever the length of a picture book is). However... I am not an editor. Is it possible that I'm the short-sighted one?

Well... you never know. I've said 'hell no' to manuscripts that went on to thrill the socks off of another editor and were published very nicely. (I still say 'hell no', but clearly some people love that stuff.)

I don't think my editor needs another picture book submission from a) someone who thinks their relative is brilliant, or b) someone who thinks they have an in because they know someone at the publishing house.

That's true.

Then again, it would take 30 seconds to read.

But how long to say no to it, and graciously? That's the time-suck.

Am I refusing my sister a fair chance? Or, should I just tell her to re-write the story until it's good enough? Also, is there a way to let parents down gently, without making it sound like the gift was terrible?

I don't know your family members, so I don't know what will make sense to them. You should at least try to bring across to them that editors field a LOT of friends-and-family manuscripts and they don't appreciate it. So while (of course) you are willing to do your sister as many special favors as there are stars in the sky, your editor isn't.

Editors are often sympathetic, patient people at heart (though overworked), but I know they all wish that more people understood that when one asks one's author friend to do a favor and send a manuscript to their editor, one is not asking the author to do you a favor-- emailing something takes very little time, and no energy. What one is really doing is asking the editor to do you a favor, and you don't get to ask strangers for favors.

Still, your editor likes you and wants to be kind, so sending your editor one manuscript from your family is probably ok with her. You may want to let your sister know that this is the only special favor you'll be able to ask of your editor-- so is this the manuscript she wants to use her golden ticket on?

And as far as your parents: I don't understand why, but it's clear that many people can't believe something is wonderful unless everyone else agrees. Which, in case anyone reading is feeling low on logic, MAKES NO SENSE. Publishing a manuscript is about appealing to thousands of people. There are lots of wonderful manuscripts that would make dozens, or scores, or even hundreds of people happy. They can't be published. They would be cherished, and they would sell, but they would not sell enough.

Publishing is about appealing to people who spend money on books. Publishing is about appealing to strangers. In terms of the story that a daughter writes for her parents, there is simply no excuse for any conclusion besides this one: if the parents think the story is wonderful, then it has appealed to the only important people in the world.

Take Four Lefts, and Then Ask Someone Else for Directions

My husband and I have written two novels together (one MG/YA and one Chapter Book). There are no human characters “featured” in either. We’ve gotten what appears to be interest in both (“excellent writing”, “well developed worlds”, etc.), but have not been able to entice an agent. Recently, one major house, after the editor (from a conference) requested a full and responded that he loved our MG/YA manuscript and went through the scenes he liked the best, said that his “boss” did not like the idea of animals having human characteristics. We’ve gotten that response from a number of professionals at SCBWI conferences we’ve attended. When they hear that there are no human characters in our completed manuscripts, they turn us down without looking at the work. So, my question is are we just looking in the wrong places or is this a market trend and both projects should just be shelved for the time being? Alternatively, should we take this as a “sign” that the projects just need more work?

There do seem to be some people who have a bit of a prejudice against animals as main characters. This doesn't make much sense, because there are plenty of very popular books of this sort*. So you may not have found the right house yet.

But it could mean the manuscripts aren't quite ready yet, too. I think that because animals as main characters take a little extra suspension of disbelief, when it works, it works, and most people will recognize it. And when it doesn't work, when somehow it's not quite convincing enough, people fault the animals instead of the believability.

Have you ever asked someone for directions to a place, and their response was "Oh, you're lost." Yes, yes I know I'm lost. That's why I need directions.
The toughest thing about feedback is that it's subjective. The second toughest thing is that sometimes people can only tell you you're not there yet, and when they try to guide you in the right direction, they're pointing the wrong way.

*Poppy series
Redwall series
Warriors series
The Highway Cats
The Underneath
Firebringer
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIHM
Watership Down
Guardians of Gahoole
etc etc.

On the Effort Meter, This Manuscript Is Reading 'Sisyphean'

Is having a good idea for a middle grade novel enough in publishing? What I'm trying to find out is at what point is a manuscript considered to be too much work? What does "too much work" mean from an editor's perspective? Do you ever encounter situations in which your love of a book makes the "too much work" aspect not as important and insurmountable?

I'm not absolutely sure how to answer this question. If you mean, is having a good idea enough to excuse a phenomenal lack of writing ability, the answer is no.

As I've mentioned before, ideas are not everything. If everything about the writing needs work, then it's almost certainly too much work for any editor, no matter how good the idea.

That said, there is wide variety in types of writing strengths. Some writers are great at dialogue; some at setting; some at character; some at plotting; some at mood. The best writers are good at pretty much all of these, but if your writing is hitting just one of these qualities in a way that is particularly compelling to the book's audience, then that may in fact be enough. Maybe.

Every editor weighs how much she likes a manuscript against how much work she thinks it will be to edit it. Do you have a bad habit of adding adverbs to all your dialogue tags? That's irritating, but it's also EASILY FIXED. Do you simply have no idea how to show, not tell, and your fantastically plotted novel is by turns condescending and boring because of it? That's irritating, and ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIX.

And there's also the question of the author's ability to receive one correction and run with it. I've critiqued first pages that had a pernicious fault, like overuse of adjectives. The author thanked me kindly for my input and asked if she could send me the whole manuscript. Sure, ok. When I got the manuscript, that fault had been fixed on the first page AND NOWHERE ELSE. People like this are a long, long slog to edit.


One of the misconceptions editors meet most often among non-editors is that we can fix anything. No, we can't. We don't have superpowers. Our ability to make anything better depends on our ability to convey to the author what's working and what's not working and why, and the author's ability to apply that knowledge. In order to edit anything, it has to be the author who fixes things, not us.

If an author simply can't write, well, no one can fix that.

Your Wish Is My Command

For Nancy, who asked for more kittens on this blog:
kittens.
more kittens.


and for Michael, who asked for more nudity:
naked kittens.

This blog is basking in the support and interesting suggestions from the previous post.
Particularly interesting is a couple suggestions that I might try blogging while drunk (with alcohol, one supposes, rather than the drunk-with-righteous-indignation that you're all quite used to by now). Since the line between drunk and asleep is almost non-existent for me, that's less likely to happen. I shall, however, take those suggestions as meaning the writers wouldn't mind having a drink with me. The feeling is mutual.

Remastered! in 3D! with 30% More Pointed Advice!

Can you believe this blog turns three years old in February? In blog years, that's what-- like, 50?

And as much as this blog would like to be a bouncy young thing, it's actually hugging its hot water bottle and trying to shake a touch of the winter blues.

So it's time for some reader feedback.

What would you like to see on this blog in year 4?
What do you like about the way this blog comports itself already, and what elements would be welcome additions to its repertoire?

Remember, reader participation is to blogs as sunshine and vitamins are to people. And this blog is really looking forward to springtime.

This blog promises to consider all suggestions, right after its nap.

How to Complain About Your Publisher in Public

In terms of freedom of speech, which I support in every form: complain any way you want.

In terms of smart career advice and behaving like a professional: DON'T.



In the many comments about the Magic Under Glass cover, a few people have wondered about the author's relative quiet. It seems there are two very different questions, though:

Some people seem to be asking "Why wasn't the author the very first to object publicly to the cover?"

When you, as an author, form a professional business relationship with a publisher (ie, contracts, signatures, money changing hands), the publisher expects you to act professionally. What that means is that in most cases, you should take a 'no comment' approach to the publisher's mistakes, in the same way that the publisher will take a 'no comment' approach to your mistakes, if you make any.

If a newspaper article runs about the time you accidentally showed up at your job clothed only in tequila, your publisher will not be happy. But to the public, its response will be 'no comment'. You are its business partner, and short of canceling your contract, that's not going to change. So your publisher realizes that if it became one of the people publicly objecting to your behavior, that would not help the situation. At all.

And the same goes in reverse. I would say that the only time it would be smart to publicly distance yourself from your publisher is when/if it has done something that will cause continuing public outrage and bad feeling even after it makes an attempt to mitigate its mistake. You may have noticed that much of the outrage and consternation about the cover is dying down now that Bloomsbury has capitulated. This was not one of those times.

So while I, like you, am curious what the author's personal feelings about all this are, I don't feel she should have felt any pressure to share them with the world.

If your publisher does something so outrageously offensive or stupid that other publishers (the other publishers you would be going to if your current publisher relationship soured) want to distance themselves from it publicly, then THAT is your invitation to excoriate your publisher on your blog and twitter and to burn them in effigy on your front lawn. Not before.

And you should take comfort in knowing that unless you decide to start habitually showing up for school visits clothed only in tequila, your publisher will let you deal with your mistakes your way.

But some seem to be asking, "If the author has no problem with her cover (if in fact that's so, and she's not just being discrete), what gives other people the right to find it objectionable / racist?"

Excuse me? The author is not the arbiter of what cover matches her text when there is an obvious contradiction. No one, absolutely no one, would describe the model on the cover as "dark-skinned", which is how the author described her main character.

One of the problems we have with racism today is that a fair number of people think that racism can only be deliberate. As in, it doesn't matter if something you say or do is racist. If you didn't mean it to be racist, then it's not.
For the record, and I hope we're all really listening: THAT IS INCORRECT.

And also for the record: those of us who objected to the cover were not objecting on the author's behalf. We were objecting on the readers' behalf. And especially on the minority readers' behalf, because some of us understand how excruciating and demoralizing it is to children to be made to feel that they are the wrong color. This is a question completely outside of the author's participation or non-participation. No matter who approved or disapproved that cover, no matter what was meant or not meant, that cover on this book was wrong.

UPDATE: Bloomsbury rejackets

"Bloomsbury is ceasing to supply copies of the US edition of Magic Under Glass. The jacket design has caused offense and we apologize for our mistake. Copies of the book with a new jacket design will be available shortly."

New Year, New Season, Same Old WTF

Dear Bloomsbury,

I don't understand you. Considering the quality of your fiction and the covers on your books, I have to guess you have great editors and great designers.

You certainly have great authors. So why do you keep doing this to them?

The main character of this book is described as far-eastern, and dark skinned. She is a "trouser girl" in this alternate Victorian England. Reading the book, I assumed that was a reference to traditional Thai styles of dress.

Here's the cover.
Bloomsbury, something is wrong in your house. Something that makes you think your Caucasian readers (and no argument, they're the majority) wouldn't be interested in reading about anyone of another color. And something that makes you feel it's ok to make your minority readers feel marginalized; to make them feel that whatever they look like, they ought to be white.

Now, I realize that very likely this cover may have been finished and paid for (and a good cover shoot costs a LOT, I sympathize) even before the Liar kerfuffle. Which would mean that it was before you had that shining opportunity to learn something. Which would also mean that you had more than 6 months to fix this.

This writer is talented, and she's innocent. But I don't know how to support her without also supporting you, Bloomsbury. As writers become more aware and wary of you, though, they are going to start realizing that as talented as you are, you're quite a long way from innocent.

Editorial Anonymous

New Books

Well, old and new. But time for some new colors!

Definitions for the Perplexed: "Issue" Books

If you write a book to help parents and kids deal with something everyone experiences (like bedtime), not everyone who experiences that thing will buy your book. This is obvious, right? Some of them will buy your book. Not all of them.

Good. So the next thing to realize is that if you write a book to help parents and kids deal with something only a few people experience (like the death of a loved one, or synesthesia, or satanic ritual abuse), not everyone who experiences that thing will buy your book. Some of them will buy your book. Not all of them.

This is what publishers call an "issue" book: a book for a particular situation/problem in readers' lives-- one which does not affect all people.

Because the audience for such books is narrowed by the number of people who are affected, and further narrowed by the fact that not all of those people will buy the book, "issue" books have very limited sales potential, and thus very limited appeal for publishers.

You may feel you are doing a public service in writing a picture book about little Samantha's ageusia. You may be frustrated by the unjust lack of books your child's kindergarten teacher can use to explain to the other children that when Timmy beats up on them, it's really a just another of the ways God makes us all special and different.

But publishers have warehousing costs, in addition to many kinds of overhead. They are in the business of providing only those public services that serve more than a tiny fraction of the public, and only those services the public will pay for.

Thanks to Mary O'Dea for the link!
(http://awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/satan-for-kids/)

Announcing... Children's Book Publishing 101: the Online Course!

http://www.bankstreet.edu/onlinecourses/tews681n.html

Children's Book Publishing 101
TEWS 681N

Ever wonder how a children's book gets published? Bank Street College Children's Librarian Lisa Von Drasek will tell you in this exciting overview of children's book publishing. What does an editor do? Do I need an agent? Is there a market for my idea? How do I submit my manuscript? What is a book proposal? What is the deal with self-publishing? We will follow the process of children's book publishing from manuscript to bound book in the bookstore.
Please note: This course is an introduction only. Manuscripts will not be reviewed.

Prior to earning her MLS, Lisa Von Drasek was a children's book buyer and worked at publishing houses in Sales and Marketing. In addition her work as the Bank Street College Children's Librarian, she has been a children's book reviewer contributing to Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Barnes and Noble Review, Nick Jr., and The Bark. Her essays have appeared in Knowledge Quest, Library Journal, Teaching K-8 and Library Sparks. She blogs at EarlyWord.com EarlyWord Kids. Ms. Von Drasek earned an MLIS from Pratt Institute, and her BS from Skidmore College.

Publishing Myths: Cover Photos and Pornography

We had some fantastic contenders in the contest, but in the end, one in particular stood out for its exemplary combination of absurdity and near plausibility. Its straight-faced reporting put it over the top.

The Mormon Mafia myth is a great one. Thanks again to the original questioner for the terrific start to our contest, and for all those who helped to bolster that particular myth in the comments. I see a bright (or should I say murky?) future for this urban legend. In fact, the number of Mormons who found their way here to comment could be taken as further proof that Mormons are overrunning children's publishing. But shh. That's a myth.


Winner for best myth:
Many people don't realize that, after the publication of the 1986 Meese Report on pornography, and following its recommendations, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, ruled that it was illegal to publish photographs of minors on the covers of books. It was a side ruling of a challenge brought against Sarah, Plain and Tall. Though the initial suit failed to bar the book from Louisiana public schools on account of its allegedly promoting white slavery and mail order brides, the wide-ranging discussion among the justices did lead to a determination that photographs of actual children on the covers of books that deal with mature subject matter could constitute a form of obscenity, under a strict construction of the statutes. This is why, to this day, almost no YA or MG novels include full-face photographs of minors. The back-of-the-head or from-the-eyes-up photos common on today's novels reflect a careful compromise by art directors to avoid any potential legal challenges.


Honorable Mention:
You need to use a "magic word" in your cover letter or your manuscript will NOT get read. It's OK to work it into the text or just add it at the bottom like a salutation, but it had BETTER be there.

Why? Because editors (and increasingly, agents) scan the cover letters using computer software to help filter out the amateurish stuff. They know anyone who's put a serious effort into attaining a level of professionalism and deserve a serious read will have learned the "magic word" (which is really a three-word phrase) at a conference or a workshop or by corresponding with published authors.

Using the phrase doesn't guarantee publication or representation, but in most cases with publishers and maybe fifty percent of agents, especially the bigger agencies, without it, your manuscript won't even get read. You'll just get that form rejection, if you even get that. If you do use the word you'll always get a personal letter, even if it's a rejection.

I myself used it by dumb luck in my plot synopsis, before I even knew about it. By the time my agent found out, it was too late--papers were already signed.

It's not really that secret any more -- just google "editors shibbolleth" and it'll come up on some blogs, although it tends to get disappeared as quickly as it appears, whenever I do a search I see the right answer somewhere on the first page. I would just tell you what it is, but I'm sure EdAnon as an editor would not appreciate it. However I've noticed she often includes parts of the phrase in the "Captcha" word verification for leaving comments, which always makes me smile.


Thanks to Matt and Kurtis, and to everyone for playing!

Publishing Myths: General Guidelines and Good Advice

Winner for best cloud-sourced myth(s):

It don't mater how bad you're speling or grammer is, or how illegibly formatted your submission. As long as you have an idea that's the new Harry Potter or DaVinci Code, publishers will send your book to a ghost writer to be written, slap a celebrity's name on it as "author", and give you all the money. Or none of the money.

Alternatively: it doesn't matter how unsalable your idea is if your writing is limpidly beautiful and lyrically whatever. It's only about Art. Who cares how many books we can sell?

Alternatively again: it doesn't matter how beautiful your writing is, because it's only about money. Publishers are actively rejecting most slush manuscripts as "too good" and only publishing cliche-ridden drivel because that's the only thing that sells.

Only the young and vivacious get published. Publishing isn't just a popularity contest in terms of your manuscript, we're also looking ahead to the interviews you'll have to do in a bikini. So wax now.

You must get rejected 26 times. L'Engle, Seuss, Grisham, Karen Jay Fowler... all the best writers have been rejected exactly 26 times. (No doubt this number is because of some secret cabal in publishing.) If you get a 27th rejection, though, it means you're crap.

Once you are published, it's easy-peasy to get all your friends, family members, and crit group partners published, too. Once you're in the secret club, you can recommend up to 26 new members per month. (No, of course your editor won't mind the influx of recommended manuscripts--she's doesn't have to read them, just put them on the secret order's altar and read the secret fortunetelling bones over them.)

Moreover, this is really the only way to be published, since publishing houses go to any lengths to avoid reading submissions. This includes giving false addresses (ha, Candlewick is located in "Boston"! Honestly, who would fall for that?) and simply moving away from old buildings once they become heavily impacted with piles of slush.

Finally, if you earn out your advance and make your publisher glad they worked with you, you clearly didn't get paid enough. Fire your agent, so that at least someone will have learned their lesson.

Thanks to Sam, Chris, Merry, Tricia, Literaticat, Carol, Michael, Vonna, Hope, and A.L.!

P.S.: Anonymous, the secret society of bloggers (led by Nathan Bransford and Literaticat) is factual. This was a MYTHS contest.

Publishing Myths Contest!

I read with great interest about Ally Condie’s recent 7-figure deal with Dutton. It has us aspiring writers all in a kerfuffle. In online writer’s forums, the skinny is that Ms. Condie, like Stephenie Meyer, is Mormon, a graduate of BYU, and mother to three children. This has spawned speculation that the upper echelon of publishing is comprised of a “Mormon Mafia” of BYU alumni. Will my odds of getting published improve if I move to Provo, convert, and squeeze out another kid?

HA HA HAHAHGAH AHAHA HSNORTHAHA! Oh, whew. There should be a class at the gym that's just rolling around on the floor while guffawing.

That's fabulous, and a terrific kick off to our new year's contest:
MAKE UP THE BEST PUBLISHING MYTH.

Points will be awarded mostly for humor, but having some slight connection to reality or some vaguely believable "proof" will make for the strongest contenders. Ideally, I'd like to see several of these myths go on to long, anonymous lives on the internet where they will be passed from newbie to newbie like a cold in a preschool.

Entries should be posted in the comments here, by January 1st.

Last Minute Miscellany

Question: Is it better to be published by a small independent (real) publisher with little to no physical distribution (POD/ebook) or remain unpublished, at least for the short term?

To most publishers, this is essentially the same thing. Whereas self publishing often counts against a writer (as indicative of a tenuous grasp on reality), this kind of publishing just doesn't count at all.

What makes a difference to trade publishers is activity in the marketplace. How many books are you going to sell POD or as an ebook? Anything under 500 is essentially equivalent to zero.

When it comes to an author/illustrator's dummies, should they be full-sized? I've searched for an answer online and have found several conflicting answers. Some people claim they absolutely have to be full size while others insist they just need to be big enough to be readable. As someone preparing their first complete package to send into the dreaded slush, I'd like to be as accurate as possible. I don't want something as simple as the size of my dummy derailing my chances.

There's no rule. Just don't go bigger than 8.5 x 11, or if you're doing spreads 11 x 17. Whatever size the finished book is going to be, making the dummy a size small enough to handle and large enough to read is beneficial at the submission stage.

Suppose a book has not been picked up nationally by Barnes & Noble. But then people start saying that they've seen it on the shelf at their local Barnes & Noble. What does this mean? Has the manager special ordered it, and if so, why? (Reviews? Strong indie sales? or what?)

Could be any of the above, or something else-- for instance local interest (local author or topic). Every B&N buyer has a little latitude to stock their store in a location-specific way.

What does one do after making a terminally stupid mistake with a well-known editor, which has most likely resulted in blackballing by the entire industry? Is there any way for the repentant author (and also very talented, I offer, as one of said author's readers) to redeem his- or herself? Does he or she have a chance to be read and loved by an editor, or would it be better to find some other trade...say, fishmongering?

Without knowing what sort of transgression you're talking about, I can't say. But let me refer you to How To Get Black Balled.

How to Tell If Your Sales Rock... or Don't

Is there an average number of copies a picture book needs to sell before it's considered a success? How about a MG or YA novel? Or can a book's success be more accurately judged by whether it has earned back its advance? Or simply sold out its first printing? Please do not infer from this question that I've spent a lot of time lately staring at my royalties statements, as book sales mean not half as much to me as the smiles of my readers blah blah blah etc.

You can think of a book's success as based on sales numbers. Certainly a book earning out its advance is something to be desired, but the advance and the print run are linked, and the print run is an idea of how many books the publisher hopes to sell in approximately a year. So the advance comes back to sales numbers, too.

Past that, though: No, there isn't an industry average for any type of book. Sales goals vary widely publisher-to-publisher and within publishers book-to-book. The thing to compare your sales to is the first print run.

1st year:
sales are 1/2 or less of the first print run: This is a disappointment to your publisher. If the book was a small investment, the attitude in the office may be "ah, c'est la vie"; if the book was a very large investment, the attitude in the office may be "whose mistake was this, dammit, and whose neck is corporate going to wring?"
sales are around 3/4 of the first print run: Publisher response may range from "that's not so good" to "hey, that's not so bad".
sales are approximately the first print run: Publisher response ranges from "nice work" to "go us!".
sales are above the first print run: Publisher response ranges from "that's great" to "OMFG! Wearegeniuses!!".

2nd year:
sales bottom out: with the exception of a few very topical books, this is not expected and not appreciated.
sales dip, but are above 1/3 of the first year's sales: that's pretty normal.
sales are close to the same as the 1st year: awesome.
sales are above the 1st year sales: holy shit! quick, how did we do that? do it again!

5th year:
book is still in print: congrats. have a bottle of champagne, because this is getting less common.

10th year:
book is still in print: congrats! have a case of champagne, and invite all your friends over.

20th year:
book is still in print: shh. stop celebrating, you'll just make the other authors bitter and envious.

(Also note that if your book's sales were not quite as high as your publisher hoped, but the book got some very positive review attention, that may still be chalked up as a "win".)

Let us remember, however, that one of your rights and privileges as someone not working in a publisher's padded cells is to distance yourself from the capricious mood swings, self-congratulation, and finger-pointing of the industry. Unless you fought your publisher through every step of the book-making process or in a fit of hubris took an advance that no book without an endorsement from God himself would ever earn back, then you can at most take a small fraction of the blame for a book's failure.

And unless the publisher is run by total jerkwads to whom panic and recrimination are as the air they breathe, your book's sales history will eventually be viewed with equanimity and perspective.

So as long as your books don't tank over and over again, things are probably just fine.

Quick Answers

Hello, I have been writing a novella for a few months now. I did not intend for it to be a novella (I was actually not sure what I wanted it to be when I started) but for the story I have in my head that is about the length it will end up as. Is there any publisher that takes them, or is it an unmarketable sort of book? If I decide to submit to agents, should I call it a novella or a short novel?

That is a pretty tough sell, but I don't think it matters what you call it. Tell them the word count, and they'll know what the challenge is.

I'm writing a picture book in which much of the humor will be in the illustrations. They will contain clues, visual jokes, and information key to the story but not mentioned in the text. How do I indicate that? I know it isn't my job as the writer to tell the illustrator what to draw, but the text alone is only half the story and less than half the humor.

Notes about the illustration should be confined strictly to those things that are essential in order for a reader to understand the manuscript.

I am basically wondering about the differences between photo shoots and stock photography in YA covers. Is there a way to determine which method will be used?

The book's budget.

Is one more effective than the other?

Not necessarily. Photo shoots usually get better results, but some stock photography designs are very successful.

Also, there was another author who had told me that a lot of the covers where partial features are shown (a chin or a forehead) are publishing company employees. Do you know if this is true?

It's certainly true that photo shoots are a heck of a lot less expensive if you don't also have to pay a model.

Self-Publishing and Editing Careers

I read your recent entry about self-publishing (and the links therein) with some interest. I currently work as an editor at a vanity publishing company. As far as I can tell, it's a relatively honest and professional one, but it's still a vanity publishing company. Will having this on my resume hurt my chances of eventually getting a job in the real publishing industry? It's frustrating to work with books that are accepted regardless of quality, but hey, the job market's tough right now, and this is a better use of my English degree than waitressing.

It might... I suppose it depends how you spin it. It's certainly understandable that you want to do something of the editing sort while you look for a job in trade publishing. Most people in editorial won't consider vanity publishing as actual publishing experience, though. If you stay caught up with what's on the market now and can prove that to a publisher, it may not count against you. It might be smart to come with a couple jokes about self-publishing, just to set the tone.

How many self-publishers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Answer: The lightbulb doesn't need to change; it's just the wrong-headed publishing industry that expects lightbulbs to shed light.

Editor? What Editor?

When the SCBWI newsletter reports that an editor has moved to a new company, I consider it worth approaching that editor with a Query, etc. but first I want to research what books the editor has worked on to see if my MS falls within that person's tastes. I find it hit and miss when researching editor names on the web. Could you please recommend a source of information that tells what books specific editors have worked on?

I wish there was one. The editors at Candlewick have lists online of some of the books they've worked on, and Publisher's Lunch will tell you a few of the books most editors have worked on, but there's no official record or growing wiki. Editors mean to stay in the background, and we do.

Agents Old and Agents New

I read your blog regularly, and it's been a tremendous help to me in learning about the industry. I finally received an offer of representation after months of querying, but I have a question about dealing with multiple offers. I've read a few posts on your blog that have touched on this topic, but mine has to do with young, inexperienced agents. Is it wise to go with an agent who's brand new, no clients, but comes from a very reputable agency? Or should I always go with the more experienced agent? I'm also young and new and all that, and I firmly believe in the mantra that everyone has to start somewhere. On the other hand, I want to make sure I'm giving myself the best possible chance to get published.

I would be hesitant to sign up with any new agent who wasn't with an established agency, but if your choice is between a hungry, energetic, and ambitious young agent who has an established agency to mentor him/her in the business and an experienced agent who has a record of great sales and great service to his/her authors, I'd say the choice has to come down to personality. Because either could be great for you.

'Self Publishing' meets 'Never Say Never'

I have self published 8 children's books. Three poetry anthologies and 5 chapter books. They have sold a total of 20,000 copies. The books are selling in and around my own city and in vacation areas that I frequent regularly. Now I would like to submit these books to a publisher. Should I divulge the sale's figures or just keep them to myself.

Yes. Let's see, 20,000 divided by 8 is 2,500. Those are certainly good numbers for self-publishing, so you may have a chance.

Don't send all 8 books in a big pile. Choose houses and editors that will be best for single titles, and send that title alone. Specify that title's sales figures. If there's serious interest, then you can mention the other ones.

Consider printing out the manuscripts on plain paper. An obviously self-published work is often a bit of a turn-off for editors, so make your submission look as normal as possible.

Get your manuscripts and cover letters proofread. (The term "sales figures" does not have an apostrophe in it. Putting an apostrophe in a plural is a pet peeve of many editors, and is a bad way to start.)

Good luck!

The Subtle Art of Form Rejections

I've been struggling to get work published for a year now. Patience is not my strongest attribute, but this process has me improving radically. I feel blessed to have gotten two short stories published this year. I often ask myself, if I'd not gotten a single acceptance this year, would I have had the heart to continue trying? It is the acceptances and the rejections with personal comments that keep me going. I get those on my short stories, but not so much from my agent queries.
For my novella I have gotten fifteen some odd form rejections from literary agents. I'm not sure whether to count the one-liners ("Not for me, thanks") as form or as personal, but either way they are not helpful to me. My question is, how does an author figure out if rejections are due to: agent not interested in novellas (word count), weak query, manuscript has a weak opening, weak writing, silly premise, etc, or that the project is altogether unsellable?

"Not for me, thanks."
This rejection is usually an indication that the query was typed on the wrong kind of paper or using the wrong typeface. Possibly you put a staple in one of the forbidden zones, or, if it was an email, the agent could tell you would have put a staple in it if you could have. Resubmit without using any kind of paper, typefaces, or staples (hypothetical or otherwise). And don't use those stupid shaped paperclips; I hate them.

"Not for me, thanks"
Notice the absence of a period. This rejection, slightly abbreviated, means your word count was between 1 to 2,000 words too short. If the final 's' had been left off, it would mean your work was up to 100,000 words too short. This word shortfall should be made up mostly in adjectives and adverbs, and in changing all active verbs to passive voice. Then resubmit.

"Not for, me thanks."
Misplaced comma: This means punctuation and/or grammatical problems. The agent wants you to see a freelance editor and then resubmit. If the comma is placed between 'not' and 'for', it means the agent wants you to resubmit on perfumed paper.

"Thanks, not for me."
The transposition of clauses is a sure sign that the agent thinks you're approaching your story from the wrong POV or even the wrong sequence of events. Try rewriting your story backwards, from the point of view of the main character's toaster. Then resubmit.

"not for me thanks."
Lack of capitalization is a subtle and often-missed hint that your concept/premise is lacking in marketability, or alternatively that you have no platform. The agent wants you to revise your manuscript to include more dinosaurs, sparkles, or crime, or alternatively to commit a high-profile crime involving sparkly dinosaurs.

"Not for me, thnaks."
Word is misspelled: This rejection was typed with the agent's nose as she beat her head against her keyboard.


I know how desperately authors want to know what it is they need to fix. But no matter how you parse it, a form rejection will not tell you: the answer is not there.
Agents are under no obligation (professional, social, or otherwise) to tell you why they're saying no, and if they don't tell you, you can't use rejection ouija to figure it out.

Take a deep breath. Keep writing, reading, attending conferences, and visiting critique groups. Keep trying. And when you get a form rejection, remember that this is a sign that you should lift your shoulders and then drop them again in what is known as a 'shrug'. Then move on.

Bridget Zinn Auction Now Live

I've donated a manuscript critique, but there's also jewelry and bath products and caramels and stuff. Go bid on something--even if you don't win, you've helped to drive the bidding up.

If it asks you to sign in, the ID is Bridget and the password is Rules.

Here's my critique. (It's on the fifth page.)

Rerun: I'm Your Sister's Bikini Waxer's Ex-Boyfriend's Dry Cleaner. So You Won't Mind Doing Me a Favor.

I just found out my cousin is close friends with a high-ranking editor at a major house. As an aspiring author, I'd love to believe this could be useful one day, but I imagine there are a bajillion writers within a few degrees of every editor. How do you feel about friends and friends of friends in search of book deals? Is it business as usual, or is it all terribly awkward? Is there anything you wish authors knew about networking in publishing?

Everyone in publishing (and especially in children's publishing) accepts it as part of their job that friends of colleagues, second cousins of friends of colleagues, and hairstylists of second cousins of friends of colleagues will use their "personal connection" to force an editor to deal with their manuscript (rather than an editorial assistant or intern). We don't accept it cheerfully, but we accept it. The world is all about relationships.

We also know that a personal connection is no guarantee at all that the manuscript will be better than the usual run of slush, and indeed it's often worse-- because the people who try this end-run are usually the rank beginners who not only know nothing about the industry, they also come with a bunch of wildly wrong assumptions about it.

Now, I'm not assuming you're one of these people. They don't find their way to my blog, because they don't see why they should be interested in publishing before they get published.

But you should know that it is through this lens of apprehension and mild resentment that your manuscript is likely to be read. If it's simply terrific and grabs the editor from page one, then your road ahead may be clear and golden. But if not, the editor may only read the couple of pages that will allow her to write a letter that shows she did look at the manuscript before rejecting it.



Now, I know, sometimes it seems like there aren't hurdles in your path to publication as much as mountains. I know, following the rules of submitting to publishing houses and agents sometimes seems like an enormous waste of time. But breaking the rules is equally so.

I post about the slush to try to convey to people why there are so many roadblocks set up in the way of hopeful writers: because many hopeful writers are simply delusional about what might get published.

It's like there's a mob of thousands outside your office, and you know from experience that a good half of them are loonies. And a spare few are people you would be thrilled to work with. How do you sift through them? Ask the crazy people to raise their hands? Ask the "good writers" to raise their hands?

No. You're going to have to interview them each in turn, and it's going to be a lot of work. And it doesn't help that there are a few of them waving their arms and calling, "I knew your ex-manicurist's rabbi!"

Never Say Never, Again and Again

As a freelance Illustrator still scraping my fingernails to get noticed by the industry, I’ve created a site that includes multiple styles. I had been told all through art school this was a big No-No to feature multiple styles under the same name. I find this rather frustrating, as I’m sure Editors can appreciate diverse styles to fit story needs… right? Is it better to have one solidified style to ‘brand’ one’s self in the memory of Editors? Or do you appreciate an artist with multiple approaches to solving a children’s text?

I like multiple styles. The designers I know like multiple styles. I don't know what they're teaching people in art school.

I hear people talk all the time about revising manuscripts based on what rejection letters say. If I have received 50 form rejection letters that have no specific connection to my writing, does that mean my work is not worth commenting on, editors are over-worked, or something else entirely?

I would say that's a bad sign. Whether it means you've been submitting something unremarkable or submitting to people who don't take the sort of thing you're submitting, I don't know.

About a year ago I sent out a manuscript to three slush piles of three prominent houses and a couple of other places which shall not be named. Today I was walking through Target and saw MY BOOK WITH ANOTHER PERSON'S name on it. Obviously, it was her book, containing my idea, and a little suspicious that it is out a little less than one year after submitting it. Is this just how the business works? Does my book even have a chance? Should I hope that it is a best-seller so that another publisher wants to pick up my book? Should I get a lawyer? Okay, so not the last, but it is tough seeing a water-down version of my fabulous story on the shelves. Yes, it may be like the Twilight phenomena and we just had the same idea at the same time, but it doesn't make me feel better. The one saving grace is that I like the illustrations and I know that another version is worth publishing. Though the reason I like the illustrations of the woman's book so much is because they are very similar to the illustration that I sent in on my cover letter. I know these things happen, but I feel I need a "pat on the back" and "carry on young grasshopper". I promise I won't be pathetic tomorrow.

First of all, it's unlikely that a publisher could find your idea in the submissions pile and crank out an imitation in less than a year. The book you saw in Target has most likely been underway for a couple years. Likewise, if you sell your manuscript, it will be another couple of years before it comes out. So unless it's a very unusual topic and your approach isn't meaningfully different, there's hope for your book yet.

I write literary fiction, mostly, as well as young adult. But that's beside the point. My question is what does one do with a 15,000 word story--not long enough to be a novel, but not short enough (I understand) to be a short story. Is there any way to sell stories around that length?

Probably not. I mean, Seedfolks is around 11,000 words, but chances are you're not Paul Fleischman. And I can't think of anything that short in YA. I never say never, but that sounds like a bit of a long shot.

Manuscripts Roasting on an Open Fire, Jack Daniels Nipping at My Nose...

I'm just getting ready to buckle down and send out a bunch of queries for my middle grade manuscript, but it suddenly occurred to me that this time of year might be the worst time to try to get agents and editors' attention. As the holidays approach, do agents and editors tend to push stuff off their desks to clear the decks for their time off, and therefore reject more than usual?

Yes!

Or do they store up queries and manuscripts, knowing they might have more spare time to read over the holidays?

Yes!

Or does it just not matter?

Yes!
Look, you have to try to remember that there are tons of different editors, and they're not all using the same brain. There are about as many different workstyles as there are editors. So some of them will do one of the things you've mentioned above, and some will do other things you haven't even thought of. I plan to burn all my outstanding reading in a bonfire while cackling / singing christmas carols.

The Language of Rejection: Not Always Meant for Translation.

As a long time children's book illustrator and now aspiring writer, I have approached a few literary agents that I feel would be a good match for my work. I recently got a very nice rejection letter from a new agent that said my PB manuscript had a "clever sensibility" to it, but that she did not "connect" with my illustration style, therefore it was a "no". I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what "clever sensibility" means...a polite way of saying your story is just okay but not great?

Maybe this would make more sense to me if I'd seen the manuscript, but I think chances are strong that this is just gibberish.

Could you please interpret this rejection letter to me... Sometimes I don't know what this kind of letters really tell... They like your work and in the future want to know what you are doing, or simply is a nice form of rejection, like when a girl friend says its me not you? This is the rejection letter: Dear X, Thank you for your enormous patience with me while I've reviewed your various projects and discussed them with a colleague here. Your writing style is intriguing and lyrical, intense and evocative, but in the end, I'm afraid we found these stories too ephemeral or elliptical thematically--or at least, we found that we lack a vision for publishing and promoting them--so I must say no with regrets.

Translation: "Your writing is good; what it's not is marketable. But maybe I'm wrong? Who knows."