Periodically I get into an email exchange that takes on a life of its own. Inevitably it starts with someone asking for submission guidelines, which I happily reply to by sending them to the BookEnds Web site. Then suddenly I get a follow-up email asking for clarification that might say something along the lines of, “It says you represent romance, but does that also include fantasy with romantic elements?” To which I’ll reply, “I’d have to know more about your book.” To which I’ll get back, “It’s about a vampire who lives in space. Is that something you’d like to see a query on?”
Just send the dang query!
It makes me wonder if the problem is me or is the Web site unclear? Because what you’ve done now is annoy me enough that when the query comes I’ll probably reject it. Who has time for a client who can’t just simply send the query, because that’s really what you’re doing now in a line-by-line email exchange?
Anyway, that’s my thought for the day.
Jessica
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Picking a Genre for Your Book
Categories, categories. It seems that I can answer these questions a million times over; there never seems to be enough information on how to categorize a book. A recent question asked me this: What do agents mean by General Fiction?
Let’s look at categories from a very basic marketing perspective. Let’s look at it from the point of view of the reader or for the bookstore buyer. The truth is that who categories matter most to, in the end, are readers. Most readers tend to gravitate to one section of the bookstore first, and those sections are usually divided by: Mystery, Romance, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult/Teens, or Fiction. Okay, yes, there are many different sections in the bookstore, but most of those are nonfiction. Fiction categories tend to be a little more narrow. Now some bookstores may deviate from this a little, depending on the store, but for the most part this is what you can expect. So, when choosing a category, the first thing you are going to look at is where in the bookstore does your work best fit? Who can you compare it to? When picking an author to compare your work to, do not pick anyone who has ever hit the New York Times bestseller list. Why? Because inevitably once they hit that list they’ve crossed genres in some way and no longer clearly fit a perfect category. Stephen King, for example, is not a horror writer anymore, he is Stephen King and could easily have his own section of the bookstore. The same could be said for authors like Nora Roberts, J.R.R. Tolkien, or Janet Evanovich. So who else can you choose? Can you find someone new, fresh, and hot to pick from? Keep in mind that this is for your own personal research, you don’t have to share this with anyone else.
So what if after all of that your book falls firmly into the “fiction” section. Can you call it fiction? Yes, absolutely, that’s what it is. Of course that’s what all of those sections are. Typically when an agent calls something general fiction (or mainstream) she is thinking of a book that can’t be categorized in any other way. Often it’s more literary or more generally mainstream. An author who would perfectly fall into that area is Tom Perrotta. His books are not women’s fiction because although they do and will appeal to women in many ways, they enjoy a broader audience and tend to have themes that would appeal to men. Nick Hornsby's books are another example, as is The Kite Runner. Although The Kite Runner might be seen as a little more literary.
In this case the reader thought her book would be better categorized as women’s fiction. So call it that. If the book would appeal more strongly to women, like the books of Elizabeth Berg, Jodi Picoult, or Nicholas Sparks, it should definitely be called women’s fiction. Okay, so you fall into the “fiction” section of the bookstore, but agents and editors aren’t bookstores. They are individuals with more individualized tastes. Calling a book women’s fiction or historical fiction rather than just fiction gives us insight into who the audience is, what the themes of the book might be and, frankly, whether or not it’s a subject that might be of interest to us. The same holds true for you. If you were told you should read a book called Jessica’s Story and that it’s fiction, you probably wouldn’t jump at it because it gives you no description. If, however, Jessica’s Story was described as historical fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, or gay & lesbian fiction you immediately get a different image.
Another reason sub-genres are becoming more popular is an increased use of online bookstores. While a physical store doesn’t have room for 15 different fiction sub-genres, an online store does, making it more appealing to readers. When I browsed books on B&N.com, the fiction section came up with the following sub-genres:
I honestly think one of the reasons authors have so much difficulty with this is because they have a hard time really narrowing in on what their books are. Any book in any of these categories tells a bigger story than just women’s fiction, for example, and we would all like to think that our books appeal to more than just those people shopping in that section or shopping in “gay & lesbian,” for example. But give yourself time to find those audiences. For now, just pick a sub-genre.
Jessica
Let’s look at categories from a very basic marketing perspective. Let’s look at it from the point of view of the reader or for the bookstore buyer. The truth is that who categories matter most to, in the end, are readers. Most readers tend to gravitate to one section of the bookstore first, and those sections are usually divided by: Mystery, Romance, SF/Fantasy, Young Adult/Teens, or Fiction. Okay, yes, there are many different sections in the bookstore, but most of those are nonfiction. Fiction categories tend to be a little more narrow. Now some bookstores may deviate from this a little, depending on the store, but for the most part this is what you can expect. So, when choosing a category, the first thing you are going to look at is where in the bookstore does your work best fit? Who can you compare it to? When picking an author to compare your work to, do not pick anyone who has ever hit the New York Times bestseller list. Why? Because inevitably once they hit that list they’ve crossed genres in some way and no longer clearly fit a perfect category. Stephen King, for example, is not a horror writer anymore, he is Stephen King and could easily have his own section of the bookstore. The same could be said for authors like Nora Roberts, J.R.R. Tolkien, or Janet Evanovich. So who else can you choose? Can you find someone new, fresh, and hot to pick from? Keep in mind that this is for your own personal research, you don’t have to share this with anyone else.
So what if after all of that your book falls firmly into the “fiction” section. Can you call it fiction? Yes, absolutely, that’s what it is. Of course that’s what all of those sections are. Typically when an agent calls something general fiction (or mainstream) she is thinking of a book that can’t be categorized in any other way. Often it’s more literary or more generally mainstream. An author who would perfectly fall into that area is Tom Perrotta. His books are not women’s fiction because although they do and will appeal to women in many ways, they enjoy a broader audience and tend to have themes that would appeal to men. Nick Hornsby's books are another example, as is The Kite Runner. Although The Kite Runner might be seen as a little more literary.
In this case the reader thought her book would be better categorized as women’s fiction. So call it that. If the book would appeal more strongly to women, like the books of Elizabeth Berg, Jodi Picoult, or Nicholas Sparks, it should definitely be called women’s fiction. Okay, so you fall into the “fiction” section of the bookstore, but agents and editors aren’t bookstores. They are individuals with more individualized tastes. Calling a book women’s fiction or historical fiction rather than just fiction gives us insight into who the audience is, what the themes of the book might be and, frankly, whether or not it’s a subject that might be of interest to us. The same holds true for you. If you were told you should read a book called Jessica’s Story and that it’s fiction, you probably wouldn’t jump at it because it gives you no description. If, however, Jessica’s Story was described as historical fiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, or gay & lesbian fiction you immediately get a different image.
Another reason sub-genres are becoming more popular is an increased use of online bookstores. While a physical store doesn’t have room for 15 different fiction sub-genres, an online store does, making it more appealing to readers. When I browsed books on B&N.com, the fiction section came up with the following sub-genres:
- Anthologies
- Christian Fiction
- Drama
- Erotica
- Essays
- Fiction & Literature Classics
- Fiction Subjects
- Gay & Lesbian
- Graphic Novels & Comic Books
- Historical Fiction
- Horror
- Letters
- Literary Criticism
- Mystery & Crime
- Poetry
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Short Stories
- Teen Fiction
- War & Military Fiction
- Women's Fiction
I honestly think one of the reasons authors have so much difficulty with this is because they have a hard time really narrowing in on what their books are. Any book in any of these categories tells a bigger story than just women’s fiction, for example, and we would all like to think that our books appeal to more than just those people shopping in that section or shopping in “gay & lesbian,” for example. But give yourself time to find those audiences. For now, just pick a sub-genre.
Jessica
Friday, October 10, 2008
Working with Agents, Part II
In an earlier post on Working with Agents, I talked about signing with a new agent who had once been at an established agency. What one reader pointed out, however, is that the question seemed not to be about working with an agent at a new agency, but working with a new agent at an established agency. Oops. She was right. So whether you wanted it or not, you get a two-fer.
Before delving into what you can expect from this new agent and what kind of help the new agent might be getting, let me explain a little how agencies and publishers typically work. Now by typically of course I mean from my own experiences. Every agency and every publisher has their own set of rules and guidelines, but this is probably what you can expect. I’m also looking at this regarding a new/young agent or editor, someone who might not be new to the company but is only recently acquiring. This would not necessarily be the way new agents who have had experience in the business and are simply changing agencies work.
When starting in publishing you usually start as an assistant. That means working closely with an agent or editor who has more seniority. This means you do things like write rejection letters, read through the slush pile, answer the phone, and file. It could also mean you get coffee (thank you, Katelynn!). When an assistant starts acquiring they are often seen to the outside world as new to the business when in truth they have been slowly learning about the business for quite some time. When it’s time for a “new” agent to start submitting, it’s only natural that she’ll be receiving a lot of guidance, on everything from which editors to submit to to how to handle contract negotiations, from her senior agent/boss. In fact, when submitting here at BookEnds we often receive a lot of guidance from each other. I don’t know how often we ask each other for recommendations or suggestions when it comes to submitting certain projects.
So, I would assume if you have a young/new agent that she is working with others at the agency to make sure that she’s doing the best for your work that she can. However, I still stand by my earlier statement that if you have any concerns at all you should be talking to her about it, and if you don’t trust that this agent has the instincts to do the best she can for your work, no matter how big the agency she’s with, it might be time to cut and run.
Jessica
Before delving into what you can expect from this new agent and what kind of help the new agent might be getting, let me explain a little how agencies and publishers typically work. Now by typically of course I mean from my own experiences. Every agency and every publisher has their own set of rules and guidelines, but this is probably what you can expect. I’m also looking at this regarding a new/young agent or editor, someone who might not be new to the company but is only recently acquiring. This would not necessarily be the way new agents who have had experience in the business and are simply changing agencies work.
When starting in publishing you usually start as an assistant. That means working closely with an agent or editor who has more seniority. This means you do things like write rejection letters, read through the slush pile, answer the phone, and file. It could also mean you get coffee (thank you, Katelynn!). When an assistant starts acquiring they are often seen to the outside world as new to the business when in truth they have been slowly learning about the business for quite some time. When it’s time for a “new” agent to start submitting, it’s only natural that she’ll be receiving a lot of guidance, on everything from which editors to submit to to how to handle contract negotiations, from her senior agent/boss. In fact, when submitting here at BookEnds we often receive a lot of guidance from each other. I don’t know how often we ask each other for recommendations or suggestions when it comes to submitting certain projects.
So, I would assume if you have a young/new agent that she is working with others at the agency to make sure that she’s doing the best for your work that she can. However, I still stand by my earlier statement that if you have any concerns at all you should be talking to her about it, and if you don’t trust that this agent has the instincts to do the best she can for your work, no matter how big the agency she’s with, it might be time to cut and run.
Jessica
Thursday, October 09, 2008
A Bittersweet Email
I received an email the other day that can best be described as bittersweet. The author took the time out of a busy day to simply thank me; thank me for a rejection letter/email I had sent one year earlier. Apparently, according to this writer, not all agents are as kind in their rejections, and the author was feeling disheartened and discouraged.
I so appreciated the thank-you. Who doesn’t? Any time you’ve been able to give people a smile or a note of kindness it’s so nice to hear back. I think like all people I don’t always know if I’m helping or if I’m coming across as kindly as I would like to. I was honored and impressed that this author was willing to take the time to drop a note a year later. However, I was also saddened. Saddened that rejection letters can come off so harshly and mostly saddened that they can start to eat away at a writer’s self-esteem. I know a lot of agents, and most of those I know are sincerely nice people. They try to be as kind as possible in a form rejection and will sometimes even give personal advice, again as kindly as possible. I’m aware that sometimes perception is different from reality. I can try to be kind, but the letter doesn’t always come off that way, or doesn’t read that way at the time. However, the flip side is that there are agents, like there are people in every profession, who don’t see a need to be kind to an author’s feelings. That’s fine. That’s their way of doing things and it doesn’t mean they aren’t fabulous to their clients as well as warm and caring. They just don’t have time or feel the inclination to be a warm and fuzzy agent to all writers. It’s just sad if anyone is beyond cold and downright mean. That’s not right.
I’m not sure that I can give any real advice here. What I can say, and what this author is attempting to do, is ignore it the best you can. But this is also where a writer’s support group can come in beautifully. Don’t forget to celebrate every success—a finished chapter, a finished book, a nice rejection letter. I think it’s so much easier to focus on the negative than the positive and it’s hard, really hard. But focus on the positive and keep at it. I strongly believe that 90% of success is persistence in all things.
Jessica
I so appreciated the thank-you. Who doesn’t? Any time you’ve been able to give people a smile or a note of kindness it’s so nice to hear back. I think like all people I don’t always know if I’m helping or if I’m coming across as kindly as I would like to. I was honored and impressed that this author was willing to take the time to drop a note a year later. However, I was also saddened. Saddened that rejection letters can come off so harshly and mostly saddened that they can start to eat away at a writer’s self-esteem. I know a lot of agents, and most of those I know are sincerely nice people. They try to be as kind as possible in a form rejection and will sometimes even give personal advice, again as kindly as possible. I’m aware that sometimes perception is different from reality. I can try to be kind, but the letter doesn’t always come off that way, or doesn’t read that way at the time. However, the flip side is that there are agents, like there are people in every profession, who don’t see a need to be kind to an author’s feelings. That’s fine. That’s their way of doing things and it doesn’t mean they aren’t fabulous to their clients as well as warm and caring. They just don’t have time or feel the inclination to be a warm and fuzzy agent to all writers. It’s just sad if anyone is beyond cold and downright mean. That’s not right.
I’m not sure that I can give any real advice here. What I can say, and what this author is attempting to do, is ignore it the best you can. But this is also where a writer’s support group can come in beautifully. Don’t forget to celebrate every success—a finished chapter, a finished book, a nice rejection letter. I think it’s so much easier to focus on the negative than the positive and it’s hard, really hard. But focus on the positive and keep at it. I strongly believe that 90% of success is persistence in all things.
Jessica
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
A Reader's Coming of Age
When I first started in publishing I was fresh-faced and fresh out of college. While I had spent my summer reading commercial fiction like John Grisham, Michael Connelly, and, yes, Bridges of Madison County, I somehow had the impression that as a recent college grad, or just an intelligent woman, I should be reading more intelligent books (whatever that means). In other words, I should be catching up on the classics I missed out on as a journalism major or reading only books that incited great philosophical discussions. The irony of that sort of thinking is that one of the reasons I got my first job as an editorial assistant with Berkley Publishing is that I was reading exactly the types of books they published. I was reading commercial fiction and they were looking for someone just like me. They didn’t want to hire someone who had spent the summer reading The Celestine Prophecy, Dickens, or To Kill a Mockingbird. They wanted an editor who understood the market for the books they were publishing.
Well, it took me a long time to accept and advertise the fact that I was a commercial fiction girl. Some of that could be because of the reactions I received when hired for my new job (laughter and disdain about romance novels), and some of that could have been my age. See, like all young women (like all young people), I think it took me a while to come into my own and really accept myself for who I am. Sure, I can read and enjoy Dickens just as easily as the rest of you. But I don’t have to. Because what I really want to read, when I have the chance to read, is what some of you might refer to as a good old-fashioned bodice ripper, or what others have called “trash.” I’m no longer embarrassed to carry a steamy book on the subway or to the doctor’s office. In fact, often I’ll carry the steamiest book I can find, simply to advertise my clients. It helps now to be confident in who I am and prepared to defend the books I love. It also helps that I make a good living off of them [wink].
I think all readers evolve and grow over time and eventually find their niche. I hear often from those who read only fantasy as young people and now have grown to read different kinds of fiction, and I hear from others who still can’t stomach commercial fiction but love nothing more than to cuddle into a long classic. Some typically enjoy longer literary works, but when life is tough or getting them down, they will pull out a favorite romance or thriller. What we read and when we’re reading it can say a lot about who we are in that time of our life, just like the music we listen to and the movies we watch. Did I ever tell you how much Sex Pistols I listened to in my angst-ridden teen years or the number of times I’ve seen The Breakfast Club?
Jessica
Well, it took me a long time to accept and advertise the fact that I was a commercial fiction girl. Some of that could be because of the reactions I received when hired for my new job (laughter and disdain about romance novels), and some of that could have been my age. See, like all young women (like all young people), I think it took me a while to come into my own and really accept myself for who I am. Sure, I can read and enjoy Dickens just as easily as the rest of you. But I don’t have to. Because what I really want to read, when I have the chance to read, is what some of you might refer to as a good old-fashioned bodice ripper, or what others have called “trash.” I’m no longer embarrassed to carry a steamy book on the subway or to the doctor’s office. In fact, often I’ll carry the steamiest book I can find, simply to advertise my clients. It helps now to be confident in who I am and prepared to defend the books I love. It also helps that I make a good living off of them [wink].
I think all readers evolve and grow over time and eventually find their niche. I hear often from those who read only fantasy as young people and now have grown to read different kinds of fiction, and I hear from others who still can’t stomach commercial fiction but love nothing more than to cuddle into a long classic. Some typically enjoy longer literary works, but when life is tough or getting them down, they will pull out a favorite romance or thriller. What we read and when we’re reading it can say a lot about who we are in that time of our life, just like the music we listen to and the movies we watch. Did I ever tell you how much Sex Pistols I listened to in my angst-ridden teen years or the number of times I’ve seen The Breakfast Club?
Jessica
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
No Writing Courses, Please
On a recent blog post I mentioned advice that is often given by writing instructors and how the advice can hinder an author rather than help her. One of the reactions I received from a number of readers was to avoid writing classes. And while I don’t entirely agree with that advice, I do think writing classes should be taken with a measure of caution.
As I’m sure many will agree, writing courses can be incredibly helpful and useful. They can help you discover or break free of what’s been holding you back. They can also trap you and become your biggest obstacle. I see it all the time at conferences, on message boards, and in blog comments. Authors telling me why they can’t do something and referring back to a writing course or a critique group. Why again can’t you do it? With any creative pursuit, like writing, painting, pottery, or photography, a class can be incredibly useful in helping you learn new techniques or see things a different way. However, you need to remember that unlike accounting, these pursuits are not cut and dry. In other words, there is more than one way to write a book or paint a picture. There is rarely more than one way to keep the books (legally, that is).
So take your writing courses. Sometimes it helps to listen to what others have to say, but remember that you need to take what you learn and see first if it fits your style before running ahead and simply changing everything because your instructor said so.
Jessica
As I’m sure many will agree, writing courses can be incredibly helpful and useful. They can help you discover or break free of what’s been holding you back. They can also trap you and become your biggest obstacle. I see it all the time at conferences, on message boards, and in blog comments. Authors telling me why they can’t do something and referring back to a writing course or a critique group. Why again can’t you do it? With any creative pursuit, like writing, painting, pottery, or photography, a class can be incredibly useful in helping you learn new techniques or see things a different way. However, you need to remember that unlike accounting, these pursuits are not cut and dry. In other words, there is more than one way to write a book or paint a picture. There is rarely more than one way to keep the books (legally, that is).
So take your writing courses. Sometimes it helps to listen to what others have to say, but remember that you need to take what you learn and see first if it fits your style before running ahead and simply changing everything because your instructor said so.
Jessica
Monday, October 06, 2008
Helen Coronato on Reviews
Helen CoronatoEco-Friendly Families
Publisher: Penguin/Alpha
Pub date: August 2008
Agent: Jacky Sach
(Click to Buy)
Author Web site: www.helencoronato.com
The Reviews Are In! (Is It Safe to Come Out?)
At the beginning of August my third nonfiction book, Eco-Friendly Families, was released by Penguin/Alpha Books. Since my first two books were series titles, this standalone felt a little different–it really felt like mine. I was, and still am, really excited about this user-friendly guide for going green as a family; but I was (still am) also nervous over reviews. Were my recommendations too out there? Or not committed enough? Were my suggestions manageable? Or over the top? Was the author photo okay? Or should I have worn the blue scarf? Pressing issues. And pressure that I hadn’t really considered.
When I was writing the book, I concentrated on the content, the writing, and the deadlines. I worked hard weeding through environmental sites and sources to find accurate, reliable research, then combine it with my experience and expertise to create a handbook of commonsense, family-friendly ideas. I picked through mountains of information while picking up dinner, crayons, dry cleaning, socks, shoes, and Legos. And then I put it out there for anyone, anyone, to pick up, pick apart, poke and prod at. Whew, we’re a brave lot, us authors.
What’s been so interesting since the publication of Eco-Friendly Families has been reading about which suggestions and strategies struck a chord with reviewers. Whenever you write a chapter, announce an opinion, include a recipe, or make a recommendation, you do so knowing it excludes other options. You can’t travel two roads at the same time–you gotta make a choice. Those choices set the tone, the pace, the feel of your book. And then it is just out there. (Did I mention how brave we are?)
So far, the responses I have gotten for the book have been extremely rewarding. Since I spend the better part of my day Googling my own name, I have learned that readers and reviewers love the easy-to-follow twelve-month calendar of environmental ideas (starting on page 30), the numerous ways to save gas money (page 67), what to do with a unmatched sock (page 78), why precycling works wonders (page 94), seasonal, locally inspired recipes (page 140), inventive ways to think outside of the holiday gift box (page 183), the “five minute makeovers” peppered throughout the book, and, most of all, the underlying theme that yes, you can make a difference, and no, it’s not too late.
Today, the book (and author) is doing well. And that makes me proud, humble, happy, and a little nauseous. They say the farther up the ladder you go the more people who can see your ass hanging out. Right now, even though I'm only on the first few rungs up, it feels like I’m leaping buildings in a single bound . . . without pants. At least I’m giving people something to talk about.
I should go check. . . .
Happy Writing,
Helen Coronato
When not Googling herself, Helen is helping to spread the word about all of the little things you can do today to make a big difference for tomorrow. Eco-Friendly Families is available everywhere books are sold. Pick up a copy today and join the discussion at www.helencoronato.com.
Friday, October 03, 2008
The Way I Read
I’m always asked if I actually read for pleasure given that my job entails doing a whole heck of a lot of reading, and I’m actually surprised that others are surprised when I say yes. However, one of the things I’m not sure I’ve ever explained to anyone is I read differently for each thing I read. For example . . .
Query Letters
To clarify, these are the one-page equeries that I receive each day (by the way, we’re now up to about 25 to 30 a day in my inbox alone). When I read queries I often skim through the introductory material, title, and even genre, because I’m looking for the meat of the query. I want to know what the book is about and I want to be excited about it. In other words, I’m reading through the query to be stopped. I want to get to the point where I think, “Wait a minute. I need to read that again.” When I get to that point it’s very likely that unless there are any real bumps in the road (a word count of 7,000, for example) I will be requesting more material. Queries take a lot longer to read than one would think, and even if I can read one query every two minutes, I certainly can’t read 50 queries in a row. Which is why I now have nearly 200 queries sitting in my query folder.
Proposals
This is almost always material I’ve requested from a query letter. Typically a proposal should include the first three chapters of your book and a synopsis. Now here’s the big one . . . never do I read the synopsis first, and I always wonder why people put the synopsis on the top of the chapters since the chapters are what you really want me to read, but that’s a post for another time. When reading proposals the first thing I do is read the attached letter (attached because my assistant probably clipped the entire packet together). Proposals that either don’t include letters or don’t include letters that give me any information about the book (usually the same information that was in the query is best) usually get put back down to be read at a later date. When I finally have time to sit and read proposals I want to pick up proposals that I know I’ll be excited to read. So I go through and read all the letters first. Which proposals do I remember requesting and which grab me just as much the second time around as they did the first? Those are the proposals that are likely to go home with me first. From that point I flip through until I get to the first chapter and then I sit down to read. Often when reading proposals I’m distracted. I’m reading at home, at night, and dinner is on, or the TV is on, or there is just chaos. A good three chapters is going to make that chaos disappear. Like most readers I don’t have the opportunity for a peaceful few hours to sit quietly and read. Instead I’m counting on the book to take me to that peaceful place. Okay, full disclosure time: When reading proposals I’m looking for that first reason to reject. I get 25 queries a day and probably 25 or so proposal packets a week. I can’t possibly take on that many new clients, and in my years of experience I know that there are not going to be that many winners in there. So I’m skeptical (as are all agents and editors), but I want to be wowed. Because there’s nothing more exciting than finding something amazing when you least expect it.
Requested Manuscripts
I don’t request many full manuscripts, so when I do I usually remember it and watch for it. However, the true test of the full manuscript for me is whether or not it holds up. I’ve already read the first three chapters, so when the full crosses my desk, do I have to read those first three chapters again or do I remember them so clearly that all I need to do is skim through anxiously awaiting the material I haven’t yet read? If I have to read them again to remind myself about the book and if I feel weighted down by the time I get to chapter five, I can easily reject the book. If, however, chapter four grabs me as well as chapter three and the next thing I know dinner is burning and infomercials are playing, I know I have a winner. Requested manuscripts are something that often hang over my head. I’ve got three client manuscripts right now I need to read (and I’m excited about reading) as well as numerous proposals and other things, so while I’m always excited to find a new client, the thought of finding time to read another 400 pages is intimidating. So again, I’m looking for a reason to reject and get this task off my desk.
Client Manuscript for Revisions
When reading client material, whether a full or partial, for revisions I need to be in a completely different mind-set. I need to be able to focus, which means I need to have my desk as cleared off as possible with no other projects hanging over my head. The phone can’t be ringing and I can’t be checking email. The best thing for me to do when reading for revisions is sequester myself (wouldn’t that be nice). When reading for revisions I always have pen in hand and a notebook at my side and I make notes. Notes to myself and notes I will share with the author. I am reading with an incredibly critical eye. Not skeptical, but critical. I need to concentrate and follow the story carefully and I need to be willing to be judgmental. To tell my client what is or isn’t working and to give suggestions. I need to have my editor’s hat on, which means a creative hat as well as critical. Reading for revisions is actually very tiring for me. It’s not like sitting down to read queries or to simply read an already published book. Instead it involves carefully thinking about every word and phrase.
Reading for Pleasure
Which, let’s face it, is the best reading of all. There is nothing better for me than being able to just sit down and read a book. I’m not going to be asked for my opinion and I’m not going to be asked to judge the book. All I need to do is lose myself in the story and read. I can put it down and never pick it up again if I don’t want to or I can pick it up weeks later when I have the time.
Jessica
Query Letters
To clarify, these are the one-page equeries that I receive each day (by the way, we’re now up to about 25 to 30 a day in my inbox alone). When I read queries I often skim through the introductory material, title, and even genre, because I’m looking for the meat of the query. I want to know what the book is about and I want to be excited about it. In other words, I’m reading through the query to be stopped. I want to get to the point where I think, “Wait a minute. I need to read that again.” When I get to that point it’s very likely that unless there are any real bumps in the road (a word count of 7,000, for example) I will be requesting more material. Queries take a lot longer to read than one would think, and even if I can read one query every two minutes, I certainly can’t read 50 queries in a row. Which is why I now have nearly 200 queries sitting in my query folder.
Proposals
This is almost always material I’ve requested from a query letter. Typically a proposal should include the first three chapters of your book and a synopsis. Now here’s the big one . . . never do I read the synopsis first, and I always wonder why people put the synopsis on the top of the chapters since the chapters are what you really want me to read, but that’s a post for another time. When reading proposals the first thing I do is read the attached letter (attached because my assistant probably clipped the entire packet together). Proposals that either don’t include letters or don’t include letters that give me any information about the book (usually the same information that was in the query is best) usually get put back down to be read at a later date. When I finally have time to sit and read proposals I want to pick up proposals that I know I’ll be excited to read. So I go through and read all the letters first. Which proposals do I remember requesting and which grab me just as much the second time around as they did the first? Those are the proposals that are likely to go home with me first. From that point I flip through until I get to the first chapter and then I sit down to read. Often when reading proposals I’m distracted. I’m reading at home, at night, and dinner is on, or the TV is on, or there is just chaos. A good three chapters is going to make that chaos disappear. Like most readers I don’t have the opportunity for a peaceful few hours to sit quietly and read. Instead I’m counting on the book to take me to that peaceful place. Okay, full disclosure time: When reading proposals I’m looking for that first reason to reject. I get 25 queries a day and probably 25 or so proposal packets a week. I can’t possibly take on that many new clients, and in my years of experience I know that there are not going to be that many winners in there. So I’m skeptical (as are all agents and editors), but I want to be wowed. Because there’s nothing more exciting than finding something amazing when you least expect it.
Requested Manuscripts
I don’t request many full manuscripts, so when I do I usually remember it and watch for it. However, the true test of the full manuscript for me is whether or not it holds up. I’ve already read the first three chapters, so when the full crosses my desk, do I have to read those first three chapters again or do I remember them so clearly that all I need to do is skim through anxiously awaiting the material I haven’t yet read? If I have to read them again to remind myself about the book and if I feel weighted down by the time I get to chapter five, I can easily reject the book. If, however, chapter four grabs me as well as chapter three and the next thing I know dinner is burning and infomercials are playing, I know I have a winner. Requested manuscripts are something that often hang over my head. I’ve got three client manuscripts right now I need to read (and I’m excited about reading) as well as numerous proposals and other things, so while I’m always excited to find a new client, the thought of finding time to read another 400 pages is intimidating. So again, I’m looking for a reason to reject and get this task off my desk.
Client Manuscript for Revisions
When reading client material, whether a full or partial, for revisions I need to be in a completely different mind-set. I need to be able to focus, which means I need to have my desk as cleared off as possible with no other projects hanging over my head. The phone can’t be ringing and I can’t be checking email. The best thing for me to do when reading for revisions is sequester myself (wouldn’t that be nice). When reading for revisions I always have pen in hand and a notebook at my side and I make notes. Notes to myself and notes I will share with the author. I am reading with an incredibly critical eye. Not skeptical, but critical. I need to concentrate and follow the story carefully and I need to be willing to be judgmental. To tell my client what is or isn’t working and to give suggestions. I need to have my editor’s hat on, which means a creative hat as well as critical. Reading for revisions is actually very tiring for me. It’s not like sitting down to read queries or to simply read an already published book. Instead it involves carefully thinking about every word and phrase.
Reading for Pleasure
Which, let’s face it, is the best reading of all. There is nothing better for me than being able to just sit down and read a book. I’m not going to be asked for my opinion and I’m not going to be asked to judge the book. All I need to do is lose myself in the story and read. I can put it down and never pick it up again if I don’t want to or I can pick it up weeks later when I have the time.
Jessica
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Life's Too Short
All too frequently agents will receive nasty replies to rejection letters. While this occasionally happened in the days of snail mail only, I suspect it happens much more frequently now that email makes communication so easy. Well, a very interesting thing happened this week. I received a query that sounded interesting, but was far outside of my area of expertise. Naturally I rejected it, but thinking it might be right for a colleague of mine I forwarded the email on to her explaining that I had passed, but if she was interested she should certainly get in touch. Why did I reject it rather than simply pass it on? All agents I know are inundated with queries and I feel uncomfortable passing along more work to any of my colleagues, especially my work. My feeling is that I’ll reject it so that I’m sure the author received a response from the agent she queried, and then pass it along just in case someone else finds it interesting. That way the agents I’m passing it along to are under no obligation to reply, but can if they are interested.
Well, in this case the author immediately sent me back a very nasty reply. She called me names and implied that I was an idiot for throwing away what others were calling a bestseller. That may be, but clearly I’m not the agent to represent it and help make it a bestseller. My other thought is that if she had so many agents already interested as she claimed, why would she care about one rejection?
Anyway, I immediately forwarded the author’s response to my colleague. Not surprisingly, after seeing the author’s remarks, my fellow agent determined that this was not someone who would be easy to work with or with whom she would want to work.
It may be a bestseller, but many of my colleagues work under the belief that life’s too short. Life’s too short to work with people who you know going into the relationship will make things more difficult than they need to be.
And frankly, I just think the possibilities of “bestseller” are slim.
Jessica
Well, in this case the author immediately sent me back a very nasty reply. She called me names and implied that I was an idiot for throwing away what others were calling a bestseller. That may be, but clearly I’m not the agent to represent it and help make it a bestseller. My other thought is that if she had so many agents already interested as she claimed, why would she care about one rejection?
Anyway, I immediately forwarded the author’s response to my colleague. Not surprisingly, after seeing the author’s remarks, my fellow agent determined that this was not someone who would be easy to work with or with whom she would want to work.
It may be a bestseller, but many of my colleagues work under the belief that life’s too short. Life’s too short to work with people who you know going into the relationship will make things more difficult than they need to be.
And frankly, I just think the possibilities of “bestseller” are slim.
Jessica
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Does Your Hook Match Your Genre?
In September I had the honor of speaking to the NYC chapter of Sisters in Crime, and one of the things that so often comes up when discussing mysteries is the importance of hook. Hook is what usually grabs an agent’s, editor’s, and even a reader’s attention. It’s what makes us pick up a new book by a new author and what makes your mystery, romance, or fantasy stand out from all the others on the bookshelf.
But is a hook enough? No. One of the things I so often see, especially in the mystery world, is a hook that doesn’t match the mystery. I think there are three basic types of mystery. There’s the cozy, the mystery, and the suspense/thriller. Each type has “rules” or guidelines and an audience of a certain type.
Cozy mysteries are just that, cozy little books that might make you think of your grandmother. Now I realize I’m oversimplifying and there are many non-grandmotherly types reading cozies voraciously, but a cozy doesn’t include a lot of blood and guts, usually doesn’t show the villain’s point of view, and rarely do we see more than one or maybe two bodies. Cozy sleuths are amateur sleuths and often have a love outside sleuthing. The trend these days is a craft or hobby like knitting, crochet, glassworks, rubber stamping, quilting, a bible study group, or bunco.
Mysteries are one step up on the darkness scale from cozies. They are still a mystery, which means the goal is to solve the case one clue at a time. A mystery can still involve an amateur sleuth, but typically the amateur sleuth has a little bit more experience in something that might help solve the mysteries. For example, the sleuth could be a doctor who understands something about diseases or a PI who is obviously not an amateur sleuth, but has the background to actually solve crimes. A mystery can be grittier and darker then a cozy and can definitely include blood and gore.
Suspense/Thriller is the darkest of the three and has a different plot setup. While cozies and mysteries tend to be about solving the crime, suspense/thrillers tend to be about stopping a killer or crime. In other words, often we know who the killer is, it’s not necessarily a whodunnit, but now we must find him or find a way to stop him. Suspense/thrillers can include a potential victim who’s forced to help solve the crime and someone who doesn’t see herself as a crime solver, but has the background experience necessary to help. Typically, however, suspense/thrillers have at least one protagonist who is connected to law enforcement in some way.
Okay, so where am I going with all of this? Each of these mysteries is very different in tone, and just because you are writing an amateur sleuth doesn’t mean you are writing a cozy. A protagonist who is, for example, a medical reporter, might have some interesting things to contribute to a case, but is probably not a cozy sleuth. It’s just not a cozy career. A medical reporter, however, would make a fabulous mystery protagonist. Imagine the things the reporter could uncover that others might not be able to find or even understand. A medical reporter would also be a great protagonist to stumble into a thriller situation where she finds something she wasn’t supposed to and is now on the run.
What if you decided to write a book about a knitter, she’s in her sixties and retired and she likes to garden and knit? What’s the appropriate genre or plotline for that book? I’ll tell you right now, it’s unlikely that she’s going to be hunting a savage serial killer through the Cajun bayous. It just doesn’t fit.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Picking a hook is really important, but it’s even more important to pick a hook that suits your audience. If you are determined to write about that medical reporter, go ahead, but something is going to have to give. You can’t do it as a cozy. So you have to decide what’s more important to you. Are you better at writing cozies and need to come up with a fresh hook or are you attached to your medical reporter and need to consider writing a new sub-genre?
Jessica
But is a hook enough? No. One of the things I so often see, especially in the mystery world, is a hook that doesn’t match the mystery. I think there are three basic types of mystery. There’s the cozy, the mystery, and the suspense/thriller. Each type has “rules” or guidelines and an audience of a certain type.
Cozy mysteries are just that, cozy little books that might make you think of your grandmother. Now I realize I’m oversimplifying and there are many non-grandmotherly types reading cozies voraciously, but a cozy doesn’t include a lot of blood and guts, usually doesn’t show the villain’s point of view, and rarely do we see more than one or maybe two bodies. Cozy sleuths are amateur sleuths and often have a love outside sleuthing. The trend these days is a craft or hobby like knitting, crochet, glassworks, rubber stamping, quilting, a bible study group, or bunco.
Mysteries are one step up on the darkness scale from cozies. They are still a mystery, which means the goal is to solve the case one clue at a time. A mystery can still involve an amateur sleuth, but typically the amateur sleuth has a little bit more experience in something that might help solve the mysteries. For example, the sleuth could be a doctor who understands something about diseases or a PI who is obviously not an amateur sleuth, but has the background to actually solve crimes. A mystery can be grittier and darker then a cozy and can definitely include blood and gore.
Suspense/Thriller is the darkest of the three and has a different plot setup. While cozies and mysteries tend to be about solving the crime, suspense/thrillers tend to be about stopping a killer or crime. In other words, often we know who the killer is, it’s not necessarily a whodunnit, but now we must find him or find a way to stop him. Suspense/thrillers can include a potential victim who’s forced to help solve the crime and someone who doesn’t see herself as a crime solver, but has the background experience necessary to help. Typically, however, suspense/thrillers have at least one protagonist who is connected to law enforcement in some way.
Okay, so where am I going with all of this? Each of these mysteries is very different in tone, and just because you are writing an amateur sleuth doesn’t mean you are writing a cozy. A protagonist who is, for example, a medical reporter, might have some interesting things to contribute to a case, but is probably not a cozy sleuth. It’s just not a cozy career. A medical reporter, however, would make a fabulous mystery protagonist. Imagine the things the reporter could uncover that others might not be able to find or even understand. A medical reporter would also be a great protagonist to stumble into a thriller situation where she finds something she wasn’t supposed to and is now on the run.
What if you decided to write a book about a knitter, she’s in her sixties and retired and she likes to garden and knit? What’s the appropriate genre or plotline for that book? I’ll tell you right now, it’s unlikely that she’s going to be hunting a savage serial killer through the Cajun bayous. It just doesn’t fit.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Picking a hook is really important, but it’s even more important to pick a hook that suits your audience. If you are determined to write about that medical reporter, go ahead, but something is going to have to give. You can’t do it as a cozy. So you have to decide what’s more important to you. Are you better at writing cozies and need to come up with a fresh hook or are you attached to your medical reporter and need to consider writing a new sub-genre?
Jessica
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