Agents Doing You a Disservice

It would be great if writers had the power in deciding the agent/writer relationship. Some writers do. Most don't. Agents will tell writers, "It only takes one yes." But if that one yes is all a writer gets, options are limited. While Jessica is, commendably, afraid of doing a disservice to a writer she's not 100% behind, which is worse to the writer's mind: a disservice or no service at all? If options are running low, I'll take the disservice any day.

And I agree with you . . . to a point. I suspect it is very rare that an author gets the benefit of having multiple agents vie for her attention, or more important, her contract. I think that most of the time the author gets one agent interested and that’s the one and only person who offers representation. That being said, it does not mean that a bad agent is better than no agent. An agent who does you a disservice could damage your career. Having no agent just means it’s going to take you longer to find someone willing and able to work with you successfully.

I think that many readers can easily share (anonymously of course) stories of when they thought exactly as you do (and I hope they do). Grabbing that agent was the most important thing, no matter who the agent was. In the end, though, I think many can tell you they would have been better served to wait a little longer for someone who could actually do the job right.

Jessica

When Agents Agonize

We hear all the time about the pressure authors are under. The stress of finding an agent and the agony of waiting when you have requested material out there. But rarely do you have to hear about the agony and stress you can put agents under. So here’s my story. . . .

On Monday I received an e-query from an author. Typically e-queries get dropped immediately into a folder for me to read when I have a few spare moments (I always try to get to them in two weeks). This author, however, did something that few actually do. She included her title in the subject line and it wasn’t just any title. It was a really amazing, eye-catching title. The kind that would make anyone pick up the book just out of curiosity. Naturally I opened the email and read the really great letter. I emailed back immediately to request that the partial be snail-mailed to me.

On Tuesday the author emailed me back to say that she had received an offer from a publisher and asked if I would like to see the full manuscript. Of course I did. I immediately responded and asked her to email it out, promising to read it overnight. Tuesday night, through dinner and during the rest of the evening, I read, frequently shouting out funny lines to my husband. I was reading and loving the book and continuing to read because I wanted to. Always a good sign.

Wednesday morning I finished the book and Wednesday afternoon I emailed the author (I didn’t have a phone number for her) to offer representation. We finally got in touch via phone and had a really great conversation. She knew a few of my clients so had some perspective already on the way I work, and of course she had done her research before submitting so knew I was reputable. I explained my vision for the book, asked her some questions about her career, and overall I think we had a good conversation. Of course she was waiting to hear from a few other agents and promised to get back to me soon because the editor was hoping for an answer quickly.

Thursday I waited. And waited. And stressed. I thought about it all through my lunch with an editor. And obsessed over what the author was thinking or what more I should have said.

Friday I panicked. Why hadn’t I heard? Why hadn’t she called me back yet? What was going on!?!?! Before heading home for the day I sent a quick follow-up email. I don’t want to nag, but I wanted to let her know that she should feel free to get in touch if she had any more questions or concerns. I heard back almost immediately and we talked again on the phone. She explained that on Wednesday she was a little nervous, but had since talked to other agents and wanted to ask a few more questions. We chatted some more and again I felt the conversation went well.

Saturday and Sunday I let it go. I had to. The decision was in the author’s hands and all I could do was hope she made the best decision for her. Whether or not that included me I wouldn’t know until I heard from her. It was, really, a very nice weekend.

Monday the phone rang. Whooo-hoo! She had received five offers of representation and had been, not surprisingly, overwhelmed. It’s a big decision and she wanted to make sure she made the right one for her.

The relief was so great I had to leave work early to celebrate. Okay, I didn’t do that. The minute we agreed to work together I went to work to get the book in front of as many editors as possible and negotiate a deal that I think we’re both very happy with.

So when you’re feeling that anxiety that we agents cause, remember, you cause it too.

Jessica

Pitch Critiques Round 1

On October 25 I did a workshop of sorts on Perfecting Your Pitch, and if I do say so myself it was a bit of a success. Thank you to everyone brave enough to participate. Over the course of the next several weeks I will go through pitch-by-pitch and give my critique. Feel free to comment and give your own critiques, ask further questions, or just tell us what you thought. This was a lot of fun for me and I might, just might, do it again sometime (if I ever get through this pile).

I also want to give a quick shout-out to reader Mark Terry. Mark did what I think was an amazing blog post about this blog “contest” and really broke down what makes a successful pitch in a way few agents are sometimes able to do. Check it out.

1. diana
My book is a romantic comedy about a big-city girl and a small-town auctioneer who become entangled in a 130-year-old case of murder, identity theft and bodies buried in the wrong graves.

Unfortunately, while intriguing (I like cold cases), not intriguing enough. Essentially your pitch tells me nothing. What is the conflict? Is it that they are solving a mystery? What exactly is the mystery? What makes this book stand out from other romantic comedies or mysteries (your genre choice and description confuse me a little). This might not fit your book at all, but what about something more along the lines of . . . ”Cold Case meets Sex in the City when 'Julie' teams up with a small-town auctioneer (is this even important to the story?) to . . .” or “Unearthing a 130-year-old body seems gruesome, but not deadly. Julie is about to find out differently when she becomes entangled in a case of murder.” Does that make more sense? I need to know the why more than the who. Why are they solving this case? What’s their motivation? What’s the threat? And lastly I’m concerned that the tone of your pitch doesn’t at all convey the tone of the book. At least I hope it doesn’t or you have a real problem with telling instead of showing.

2. anon (David Weisman)
If you've ever wondered why being part of a hive mind should cause people to dress in black, act asexual, and talk in stilted phrases, this book is for you. Major Brett Johnson struggles to satisfy both duty and honor, and learn if the overmind on the planet Oceania is a deadly seductive trap that may snare humanity, or a tool to extend human lifespans and enrich our experience of the human condition.

(I'll only send this to agents who handle science fiction, and assume they've heard of the Borg!)

I’m at a huge disadvantage here since I have no idea what the Borg is. Anyone? My first comment, though, is change your first sentence entirely; “this book is for you” is not going to grab an agent’s attention and you might limit yourself if you submit to an agent who really has never wondered why being part of a hive mind would do those things. It sounds like your book is probably a SF thriller. That doesn’t come through in the pitch. I would delete the first sentence altogether. It doesn’t add to your pitch and, in fact, probably detracts. Instead I would simply work on strengthening sentence number two and keeping that as your entire pitch. I’m hoping you can do a better job than I can (since you know the story), but what about something along the lines of, “Major Brett Johnson is in a struggle for his life, and the lives of all inhabitants of the planet Oceania, while he battles to learn if the overmind is a deadly seductive trap set to ensnare humanity, or a tool to extend human lifespans and enrich the human condition”? I still think though that you need more. From this I don’t have a clear understanding of what the story is about. What I see here is something that’s similar to every other book. What makes your book different? What else about the conflict makes this stand out?

3. k.r. stewart
Completed fantasy novel "Omn's Tears"

Captain Ryon Addothun is a renegade soldier who refuses to blindly follow orders like he once did.

Kain is a ruthless dragon hunter who cares for no one but himself.

When Ryon and Kain discover an angelic woman from a realm of myth--stripped of her otherworldly powers and held captive by Ryon’s superiors--they learn that the Emperor has unwittingly unleashed a disastrous magic that may eventually unravel all of creation. The only way to save the mortal world and the heavenly realm is for the trio to join forces and seek out the mythical remnant of the Creator’s power, Omn's Tears.

Too long. Sure it’s not going to kill you to write your pitch at this length, it’s also not doing you any favors. Remember, you have about two sentences to grab an agent in a query letter and about two minutes in a verbal pitch session. While I suspect you can read this in less than two minutes you lose me pretty quickly. Your most interesting pieces are that you have a renegade soldier and dragon hunter, but after that it’s lost. If you’re going to mention those things then I would imagine they are both part of the conflict; if not, they probably aren’t worth mentioning. Here’s the deal. I don’t know what this book is really about enough to excite me. I think your real pitch comes after your last sentence. What happens next? That’s what I want to know in your pitch. What do they have to go through to save the mortal world? The first sentence of your last paragraph can be cut completely. Do not tell backstory in a pitch. Get to the point from the beginning.

4. Solidus
(One sentence.)
A crippled composer, her overprotective father and an idealistic pharmacologist struggle for several kinds of freedom for themselves and the embittered lunar colonies.

(One paragraph; three sentences.)
Elizabeth Barton has been protected by her father but, when the lunar colonies rebel against corporate domination, reality breaks in. She falls in love with pharmacologist Robert Brown, who is drawn to the power of her music as well as to her personal fragility, but her father believes Robert to be arrogant and reckless, and forbids their relationship. When Greater China sends in the troops to retake the colonies, Elizabeth and her father must work with Robert to prevent the slaughter.

Neither tell me anything about the story and neither sound exciting or different. Do I really care that he’s a pharmacologist? Is that why readers might buy the book? What about the fact that she’s a crippled composer? I doubt people would pick up the book for that reason alone. It might be what endears them to her and keeps them reading more, but it’s not your hook or your pitch. I suspect your hook is what they are all risking by preventing the slaughter and what they go through to get there. The rest is backstory.

5. Leatherdykeuk
Dead Line
Harold Waterman hates corpses and finding three of them in his garden spells the beginning of a bad day. Being assassinated in his pyjamas was the very worst evening he could think of until he discovers that there are worse places to go than Heaven and Hell. It’s lucky for him that his best friend is a demon who can pull some strings, if he can only stop being so sarcastic to God.

I like the tone of this and I think it’s almost there. The problem is that it’s confusing. First of all, who doesn’t hate corpses? That seems pretty obvious to me. I also don’t get how the assassination connects with the corpses. Are they one and the same? Is it the same day? I think your last line though is terrific. Totally grabbed me, and that would probably push me over the edge to ask to see more. I would suggest though that you tighten your first two sentences some. Could you say something along the lines of, “When Harold Waterman found three corpses buried in his garden he didn’t think his day could get any worse, that was until he was assassinated in his pyjamas and learned there are worse places to go than Heaven and Hell...”?

6. Anon 7:19 am
(A paranormal romance)
When Adrianna was young, she cut out her heart and hid it from Death. Three thousand years later, she's forgotten where she put it. She can't die. But she can't love, either.

I’m going to use a lovely sing-songy voice here to say BRILLIANT! This is the best pitch so far (okay it’s only the sixth, but it’s really brilliant). There is no doubt I would request this without even reading the rest of the letter. Why? It gets to the heart (I know, he-he) of the problem. We have a heroine who has lost her heart and is searching for it, and not in the traditional way of, My heart turned to ice because of some loser I was once married to. No, she physically lost her heart. How cool is that? I get that it’s paranormal without you even telling me and I know what your character’s conflict is. In fact, I think I even have a feeling for who your character is based on. Really, really good. I hope the partial is headed my way. . . .

And that’s it for today. Great work to the first six brave enough to enter. Keep an eye out for the next group.


Jessica

The Power of Platform

There’s a new debate raging in publishing and one that I find more than just a little interesting. It concerns two books that give advice on getting kids to eat their vegetables (and other foods). The first book, The Sneaky Chef, was published in April and written by Missy Chase Lapine, the former publisher of Eating Well magazine. The second book, Deceptively Delicious, was written by Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of Jerry Seinfeld and published on October 5. The debate, according to the New York Times, concerns whether or not material was stolen from the Lapine book to publish the Seinfeld title. I’ll let you read the story yourself because that’s not really what I find interesting about this whole thing. What I find interesting is Oprah.

On October 8 Jessica Seinfeld appeared on Oprah to pitch her new book and of course sell millions of copies (which she seems to be doing, according to the Wall Street Journal). Why? Other than being the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jessica Seinfeld? What really makes her qualified to write a cookbook guiding us to feed our kids better? As far as I can tell, nothing. According to the bio on her Web site, Jessica Seinfeld has no cooking experience (beyond what I have anyway), no nutrition experience, and no expertise in the food industry. She’s a mom. That’s fabulous, but I see book proposals from moms all the time. I turn them down all the time. Why? Platform. Missy Chase Lapine (according to her bio), on the other hand, has years of experience as publisher of Eating Well magazine. So why is it that Seinfeld is getting all of the media attention and selling the books? Duh! She’s Jerry’s wife.

I’m flabbergasted! I’m astonished that this has happened on such a large scale, and of course I’m not surprised at all. Unlike speculation in the media and on message boards, I do not think Harper or Seinfeld stole anything from Lapine’s proposal. I don’t even think they stole the idea. Almost every day I get a proposal similar to something I received the day before. Remember, few ideas are original, it’s the execution (or the platform in this case) that makes the difference. What I’m flabbergasted by (but shouldn’t be) is the celebrity sucking-up that the media does so obviously and that the public follows along with. Let’s be honest. If you are looking for a better way to feed your child vegetables, would you go to a comedian’s wife or someone with a food background? I would go with the food background. However, it seems I’m not on par with most of America. Most of America is going to go with whomever Oprah suggests they go with.

Clearly I’m ranting now and probably making little sense. So what is my point besides that I’m disgusted with Oprah and the entire media world? This is why platform is so dang important and, when it comes to nonfiction, why platform is critical. Why it’s often the very first thing an editor looks at and asks for. Media is crucial. Media sells books. Platform equals media. If you have any sort of connections that are guaranteed to get you in Oprah’s door, a publisher is going to snag you, no matter how small your credentials may be. The truth of the matter is that it does make a difference. Before you start ranting on the stupidity of agents and editors, remember, you can only blame us so much. It’s our job to buy and sell books that sell and it’s the public who makes the final decision as to what book sells and what doesn’t.

Jessica

Perfecting Your Pitch

Back in May I offered a Query Critique Workshop. I received over 40 entries and critiqued 10 queries. (See Query Critiques 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10—or enter "query critique" in the search box at the top left and see all the critiques on one page.) I received some flack, but hopefully I also offered some sound advice. Well, I must be crazy, because I’m doing it again, sort of.

After doing a workshop at the NJ RWA conference on Perfecting Your Pitch I decided it would be something that could easily translate to the blog. Whether you're published, unpublished, have a pitch appointment or are pitching through an equery, every author needs to be able to summarize his or her book in as little as five words, but no more than three sentences (or so). In other words, you need to capture an agent's, editor's, or reader's attention quickly.

To participate, here's what you need to do. Submit through the comments section your pitch—that one sentence or one paragraph in your query letter that you're using to grab an agent's attention. I'm going to randomly pick and choose and critique as many as I can. As I critique the pitches I’ll post them on the site for all to read and make comments on.

So, brave readers, here’s your chance. A free critique from me. Post them in the comments section and I’ll start my critique as soon as the first one is up (note that the critiques will be posted in future blog posts).

Jessica

Author Beware: Nothing But Cheap Editorialism

As many of you know I have a thick stack of “author beware letters.” These are letters and emails I’ve received over the years from authors clearly unhappy with comments they’ve received from me or work I’ve done for them. This one might be one of my all-time favorites and is in response to our quarterly newsletter.

Dear BookEnds:

After receiving a letter from Jessica Faust I would like to be taken of your newsletter list. I was completely appalled and dismayed. Instead of using my SASE she simply used the same envelope I had sent my letter in, the one with a cancelled stamp. This was unprofessional, cheap and illegal--she was cheating the Post Office. Could it be possible that your company is steaming the stamps off of envelopes for your own use? Horrifying!

I am thrilled that you did not accept my work. I would not want to be associated with such a company and thought Ms. Faust's comments were nothing but cheap editorialism, despite the fact that what she said did have some merit.

Can you imagine!?

Jessica

Literary Horror

I was asked by a reader to define literary horror. She had seen the term used on a few agency Web sites and was asking what makes something literary horror as opposed to just horror. I’ll be honest with you, we weren’t quite sure what the answer to this was. Since we don’t represent a lot of horror we certainly aren’t experts in that area, but after a little research here's what we came up with. . . .

The most obvious definition is that the writing has to be very literate and beautiful, a general explanation whenever the word "literary" is used. Authors that came up when talking literary horror are Chuck Palahniuk, Tom Piccirilli, or Kafka (and keep in mind I’ve never read any of these). I think, though, that ultimately agents are using this term to try and weed out authors who submit books that only contain slashers, and other gruesome events. They are alerting authors to the fact that they are looking for an amazingly written book first, horror second. In other words, blood and guts don’t make horror, it's an emotional reaction that's created by the author.

I hope that helps.

Jessica

More on Exclusives

I would like to know why agents would like to know whether they are seeing your manuscript exclusively. Does it make a difference in making their decision about your work?

It does not make a difference in an agent’s overall decision, but letting an agent know she has an exclusive gives her breathing room. If in fact you have given an exclusive (even voluntarily), she now knows there’s not a huge rush to get to it. In other words, it can easily go to the bottom of her reading pile since there’s no real competition. She also assumes that if she offers there’s not going to be any worry about whether or not you’ll accept. Of course you’ll accept because, again, there’s no competition.

It’s also a matter of curiosity. I know that if I find out that other agents, or editors, have also requested a full manuscript, the material has already received some sort of stamp of approval and might pique my interest more.

Jessica

The Branded Author

We talk about subsidiary rights fairly often, and most of the time what we focus on are foreign rights and movie/performance rights. But this question reminded me that there’s a lot more to sub rights than we often talk about with the author.

I have an agented, illustrated non-fiction book out to several big houses. My book could easily spawn a line of other merchandise–greeting cards, calendars, coffee mugs, etc. I see it as eventually being a "brand." What control, if any, will the publisher have over my venturing into other merchandising with the book? How would/could my agent fit into this plan?

Any agent worth her salt will retain what are called merchandising rights, especially with nonfiction. These are the rights to make your book into calendars, greeting cards, and other merchandise that are not books. How much control the publisher has depends on how much you give them. As to how an agent can fit into this plan, I am right now actively submitting calendar rights for at least one book project.

Jessica

Different Agents for Different Projects

I received this question recently, and coincidentally I had a phone call not too long ago with someone in this very predicament. Not a bad position to be in. . . .

I am in the middle of writing a YA science fantasy, but have also been approached by a gentleman with platform to ghostwrite his nonfiction project. I see the nonfiction as bringing in the daily bread, and I know I will enjoy the process, but my passion is firmly in the fiction field. How should I go about my agent search? I’d prefer to have one agent if at all possible, but the pool of agents who handle nonfiction plus science fiction and fantasy plus YA is a short one. Should I let the "name" on the nonfiction project pursue an agent on his own, and sign agreements that way, or should I be the one on the hunt? If the latter, do I just concentrate on the nonfiction proposal, or is it okay to mention my diversity in the query letter? Note: I already know not to actually pitch multiple projects in one query; I’m thinking just a brief mention of my fiction interests.

There is a lot of advice I could give here and all of it depends on where things stand. I think you are a little ahead of yourself on all fronts here, so let’s approach things one at a time.

YA project first . . . since you are only in the middle of the project you’re not ready to query on this yet. Therefore it’s a moot point (or as Joey from Friends would say, “a moo point.”) You can only plan for your future so much, and planning for something that may or may not happen months down the road can stifle someone and eventually hurt her career. For example, who knows what decisions I would have made ten years ago had I known I was going to start BookEnds. No, sometimes the best laid plans are those that are unexpected.

I guess what I’m saying is that you need to look at the most pressing possibility first, and since you have nothing yet to submit on the YA I would simply hold off on worrying about that or even including it in your equation. In an ideal world you would find one agent to handle everything, but we all know that publishing is far from an ideal world.

As for the nonfiction project, I’m assuming you have worked with this expert and have some sort of proposal to send around. You will need to have something, even something short, to send to agents before someone is going to represent you. Before working on anything, though, I would also suggest that you put an agreement in writing. This should stipulate, among other things, how much you each expect to get paid (you could always say that this will be determined at the time of the offer), whether or not you are getting author credit or simply ghostwriting, and what happens if things don’t work out and/or the platformed author decides to find a new ghostwriter. You should of course be compensated for your time. Any time you are coauthoring or ghostwriting with or for someone, you need an agreement. I have one I use for my authors and would suggest you check out freelance Web sites (maybe someone can suggest some) for guidance on writing up your own.

Since you are the ghostwriter on this project and have no real credentials yourself it’s going to be tough to get an agent to represent you separately. I would suggest you work as a team to find an agent that can suit both of your needs as nonfiction authors. Primarily, though, you want an agent with expertise in the subject you’re selling, not someone who necessarily has expertise in YA Fantasy. Remember, your goal is to sell the book. If you need to find a second agent to sell your YA Fantasy, that’s certainly better than having one agent who can really sell neither. The smart author finds the very best agent for each individual project, especially since the nonfiction agent is really representing the book (and platformed author), you’re just a bonus in the package.

Presumably the nonfiction agent will represent both of your interests fairly and honestly. However, if you find that she expresses favoritism to the platformed author and doesn’t seem to be representing your interests at that point, when you have a deal in hand, you could always ask that someone else be brought in to represent your side fairly. In most cases, though (when I’ve done similar projects), it’s worked out pretty well.

To sum up, focus on one project at a time.

Jessica