Agent-y stuff

A while back I went to a presentation by a literary agent (not mine) at my local library... I saw it advertised in the newspaper and thought it would be interesting. And it was!

The agent was a character, and the presentation was a little all over the place, but there were a few things I took away from it, notably this: publishing is confusing and scary, especially to neophytes. There were glazed eyes and bobbing heads all over the room as the hour progressed. I'm certain most none of them realized how a) hard or b) complex it is. And how not lucrative.

I'm writing this from weeks ago memory, so when I say "said," I'm distilling whatever she actually said down to the important ideas. The first thing she asked was how many of us in the audience had written a book. Maybe half raised hands. Next she asked how many thought said book was ready to send to agents/publishers. Maybe half of the half raised hands this time. And then she told everyone the truth:

Most of you are probably not ready (even if you think you are).

An inauspicious start, no? But I liked it. She wasn't fluffing us. People shifted uncomfortably, but better that than their mentally wrapping up their MSs in brown paper and sending them off to great success. They probably weren't ready and now they were thinking about that.

The next thing she emphasized was the most important:

This business is hard and if you want it, you can't give up.

Pretty much, that's it.

Next most shocking was the money, or lack thereof. The audience was clearly shocked to hear how low advances are and that many books do not earn them out. Another painful truth.

After that, she meandered over different things. Key points:

• Work hard.
• Find ways to stand out even if they're not related to your story, or, don't fear a non-traditional avenue to publication.
• Protect yourself from scams and be wary of anyone who asks you for money.
• Don't be a snob about self-publishing. It's valid, as means to reach trad pubbing or in its own right.
• If you're going to self-publish, get a good cover.
• Don't date your manuscript. Literally. Don't put the year on it. It does not help you for the agent/whoever to know your MS has been kicking around for 5/10/20 years.
• Corollary... if it has been kicking around for 5/10/20 years and is supposed to be contemporary, make sure it still is. Or make sure it reads period and not dated.

Lastly, she spent a lot of time talking about marketing yourself and building your platform. People will argue about whether or not this is important for fiction writers, but if you can do it before you're in the publication process it certainly can't hurt. Just make sure you're writing first. If you're also in YA, you'll see that your traditionally pubbed contemporaries are very present in social media. Which makes sense, because so are the readers.

Today's the last day to vote in the 2012 ABNA contest! Go, read excerpts, vote! I won't tell you who I voted for, but I will tell you that it was a wicked hard choice. So much awesome!

The Golden Ticket, Part 6... after the ABNA finals

This is the hard post. Why? Because while it’s got a little bit of luck, it’s not all sunshine and roses. It’s reality. It’s work.

Here is the truth: traditional publishing is still a hard business. Even for an ABNA finalist.

 

So you’re home from Seattle with some great memories, new friends, and a pretty trophy but no contract. I put my trophy on my desk and look at it when I need a reminder that, you know, people other than my family and friends thought my work was pretty good. The key word is work, because that’s what I was back to doing.

 

If you want to be published by one of the big or even mid houses, the usual way to go about it is by finding agent representation. There are a few ways to do that: get a referral, go to conferences to meet them, and, the most common, hone your query and research who to send it to. Or, you can do what I did.

 
While the contest progressed, I’d been working on my agent research and query-honing, but before I really had to test it, I lucked into one. My husband was out having dinner and drinks with an old friend of his, and after several beers started to tell him about the contest and my book. The friend responded with, “I think my aunt does something with books.” Turns out that thing his aunt does with books is represent their authors. And after she read and liked my work, and I talked to and liked her, now she represents me. The moral of the story is never underestimate the power of connections, spousal enthusiasm, and drunken conversations.

And now, here are the stats:

Months of editing and revisions: 4.5
Words thoroughly chopped from my contest MS: over 30,000
Editor submissions round one: 13 subs, 8 requests for the MS, 8 declines

That hurts, right? In many ways, it’s actually quite good. 8 requests for the MS was incredible. Further, the rejections were at a minimum polite but the majority were incredibly complimentary. Still rejections though. Coincidentally, one editor we queried had already read the MS during the contest, so she didn’t need to request it from our sub. I suppose I could call my request count 8.5 if I wanted to.

 

We’re in the midst of our second round of submissions right now, so I’m going to keep the numbers under wraps while they’re still in progress. I will say that response to our initial submission continues to be excellent. And all that time I spent honing my agent query did not go to waste, because with just a few tweaks, and a single sentence about having been an ABNA finalist, that’s what’s getting our strong editor response.

 

There it is, the State of the Union. Lost in Thought’s been or being read by many editors, but none have offered to buy it yet. And you know what? Maybe none of them will. It’s entirely possible. It’s a tough reality that you can actually go all the way to the top three and still not make it. You might not. I might not. But in the meantime, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my head in the work!

Up next: While you wait. Follow this story with the golden ticket tag.

Another YA opportunity- Agent Dinner!

Here's another heads up, YA writers! If you are in or around the Claverack, NY area (ie. the incredibly lovely section of Eastern NYS between Albany and NYC, near the MA border), your library is hosting a YA AGENT DINNER on 6/13.

Details here:
http://claveracklibrary.org/2012/04/03/dinner-with-an-agent-june-13-2012/

For $40, benefiting the library, you get to dine with fellow YA enthusiasts and FOUR YA AGENTS:
Wendy Schmalz
Miriam Altshuler
Jennifer Laughran
Liza Pulitzer-Voges

Could this evening get more awesome? I don't see how.

Registration starts 4/15 and seats are very limited. Here's the catch: you must be a library patron OR AN SCBWI MEMBER.