At long last you’ve written “The Endâ€. You’ve slaved long and hard, and your manuscript is a masterpiece. The next New York Bestseller. You’ll be the next Nora Roberts or J.K. Rowling. Expectations are high and you begin the query process. Gotta have an agent who will get you a six (or even seven) figure advance.
You’re aiming for the moon with the stars thrown in for good measure.
But first you hit a brick wall. You’ve got to query, but what do you do first? Give that big New York publisher the right of first refusal, or do you hire an agent to broker the deal for you? You research the market, talk to your friends, take a deep breath and contact that published author whose work you’ve always loved. And actually hear back from her!
Your queries are sent out and you wait. And you wait. And you wait. What’s wrong? Why aren’t these people jumping on what is sure to be a money maker? This is great stuff … the best.
Or is it? How polished is it? Did you write a 200,000 word manuscript and sub it to a publisher who does categories? Or have you written a historical and sent it to an agent who deals primarily in contemporary? Did you send the entire manuscript despite the fact the website said query letter and three chapters only? Did you even spell the agent’s name right? That in itself is the kiss of death.
You have to do your homework. Editors and agents are incredibly busy people. There’s a reason they have strict guidelines and requirements when looking at an author’s work. They get in hundreds of queries a week … perhaps daily. That’s not counting the submissions that come straight from agents. The stories we’ve all heard about the slush pile are depressing.
You have to adhere to their schedule. I don’t care if you are the next Nora Roberts. If your manuscript has hit the slush pile, you may be in for a long wait.
Looking back when I was a newbie, I can tell you that I’ve made a number of mistakes when sending in a submission, including the one listed above where my first book WAS over 200,000 words. I did carry that sucker to my first conference, convinced that I just needed to meet with an editor and hand it to her. I’ve since learned so much about this business. The dos and don’ts that are important. Being a published author is an incredibly difficult goal to achieve. You have to know what you’re doing because believe me, there are plenty of writers out there who do. And who do you think that editor or agent is going to give precedence to?
How ‘bout you? What mistakes have you made during the course of your career? Now I can look back and laugh. Share a few stories and give us something to chuckle over.
Well my biggest mistake was when *names and rant deleted to protect the not-very-innocent* And I never thought I’d recover from that, but I did.
Great post, Liz! I had to smile when you mentioned toting your 200,000 word manuscript to conference. Been there, done that. And it was to an editor appointment. I so brilliantly flipped that sucker out of my little black bag, and gripped it as if it were the Holy Grail. Onionskin paper and all. Yep, it was before I heard about those coded Do’s and Don’ts.
Let’s just say, our little meeting was wrapped up at warp speed. I walked out on noodle legs and thought, that wasn’t so bad. My first editor appointment, my biggest flop. Life, gotta love it.
Wow, Liz! Timely blog. I just posted a message at a loop asking questions about seeking an agent when a publisher is ready to offer a contract. I got one horribly negative reply, that said, in part, that agents only want to see an author with a proven sales track record.
I deleted the post, but, not before a real author gave me the opposite advice. She said, YES, contact an agent!
Not that it’s a funny story, but, since you mentioned contacting friends, etc., for information, I thought it was good to share my recent experience. It’s so important to network, because no matter how many query letter, synopsis writing classes you take, nothing is as valuable as advice from people who have been there.
Aw, c’mon Jody. Share.
I’m happy to see that I’m not the only one who’s done that, LaDonna. Fortunately, I never hauled it out during my first editor meeting because I was too busy shooting myself in the foot with Kate Duffy. I started out stating that I’d never heard of her publishing company. To which she looked at me like I was crazy and asked if I’d never heard of “Kensington”? I think my jaw dropped. I was supposed to be meeting someone from Five Star and they sent me to Kate Duffy. Needless to say, the meeting went downhill from there. I’m sure I was a babbling moron, tried to pitch my futuristic. I guess I should be happy that she stopped me halfway through and let me know that Kensington didn’t do paranormal. They probably do now … but they didn’t six or seven years ago.
That’s my first pitch … ever. I think I still scuttle in the opposite direction whenever I see Kate Duffy at conferences.
First off, Does this mean that you have a publisher interested in your work? If so, congratulations, Kathy. Tell us more.
And yes, I agree with the published author’s advice, Kathy. By all means contact one of your “A” list agents and let them know that you’ve got an offer on the table. You can either have he or she look over the contract for a flat fee or you can have ‘em broker the deal. Granted he/she will get the 15% for what was basically your work in getting an editor’s attention, but an agent is able to get you a hellava better deal than you can on your own.
Only one story, Liz?:twisted: A couple years ago I had an agent appt. at a conference. I’d memorized my pitch, but when I sat down the agent wanted me to ask her questions. My mind went blank, I’d been so focused on what I was going to ask her. I ended leaving my appt. early.
A few months later, I had an appt. at National. I asked on a loop about the agent, and learned she wanted the same thing during pitches. This time I had a list of intelligent questions to ask her.
That was only one example, Edie. See my response to LaDonna’s post above.
I see what happens when one is so focused, Edie. Probably one of the reasons I only do a minimum of practice. Ya gotta wing it every once in awhile.
On a side note … I see that Lucienne is responding to some of the questions posted Saturday for her guest blog regarding characterizations. Check it out if you had something specific to ask her.
I’m still hacking away at my first manuscript, so my submission bloopers are still in the future. Hopefully I can learn something from y’all and keep them to a minimum. Thanks for sharing!
Liz, I love your advice. And yep, a publisher requested my full, which I sent, and then they contacted me requesting revisions, which I’m in the middle of now. I don’t know if that means I’m in limbo, i.e., if they’ll look at my revisions and say, “Neh, pass,” or, if they’ll see that I can jump through hoops and want me.
I’ll keep you all up to date.
Liz,
At my first conference I didn’t have a manuscript ready to pitch, so I didn’t make an editor/agent appointment. ( you could only make them if you had a finished manuscript) By the end of the conference, I’d talked to enough people to know the dos & don’ts. So I managed to avoid alot of newbie pitfalls.
I did embarress myself after one of the agent chats though. This agent repped one of my favorite authors (Bevery Bird) and I went up to her to tell her how much I’d enjoyed Bird’s last SIM. Only my mind went completely blank, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of the author or the book I’d enjoyed so much. Oh man, talk about painful. :stressed:
My biggest mistake was when I queried my first 250,000 word manuscript. I said to myself, “No takers, eh? Well, how about its 180,000 word sequel? What? Still no takers?” I learned a couple of lessons with that mistake. Never use “Dear Agent” or “To Whom It May Concern.” Make sure that the first book is a stand-alone (aka. on its own). And finally, if I refuse to read Moby Dick because the freakin’ thing is too long, then who am I to think that someone might want to read my gigantic dark fantasy when it sounds like a drunken Dr. Suess wrote it?
That’s when I took about 4 years to research the market while hacking my manuscript to pieces. The result was my very first e-book.
Good luck, Kathy. Fingers and toes are crossed for you. (Makes typing rather difficult).
Oh, man … that’s a rough moment, Theresa. Nothing worse than the mind going blank at a crucial moment.
Glad LaDonna and I aren’t the only two, Marcia, although you’ve got us beat with a 250,000 word manuscript. Yeah, that would be a hard sell.
Good going on selling it to an e-pub.
Liz,
Great topic.
I personally like to cast a wide net. So, when I researched agents that said they took commercial fiction or women’s fiction or any category I thought my romantic suspense could fit into, I sent it.
I ended up getting my agent that way. She represents mostly women’s fiction, but was interested in repping me even though I’m a strictly RS writer.
The only downside of that is that if they don’t specialize in that area, they may not have as many established contacts.
There’s always the pros and cons when it comes to agents–they’re well-connected, but they’re so busy it’s hard to get a return email. They’re young and hungry and have lots of time for you, but they’re still cultivating contacts. Etc.
You’ve got to know that you’re dealing with someone reputable, feel comfortable with them and then, just go with your gut.
All very true, Joan. You have to carefully research what type of agent you want. Do you need someone who’s hungry, someone who’s established, someone who will hold your hand, or someone you want to be buddies with. Everyone has different requirements.
Great blogpost. I can’t really give a list of errors “in the business” unless it was learning really quickly about protecting my reputation. Because I read a TON of writing books from the very beginning. And I only submitted short stories. This novel I’m revising right now is going to be my maiden voyage into attempts at publishing..novel wise. So..eek.
As a newbie, you always have room to make mistakes, Zoe.
However, educating yourself will help you to avoid the pitfalls. Believe me … reading articles, talking to other writers, and reading How-To books have saved me from making a good number of blunders.
So you’re going about this business in the right way.
Thanks Liz
Liz, I hope this response reaches you because I’m not the most savvy person when it comes to working her way around the internet. Thanks for posting your advice. I’ve contracted my first novella with a publisher, and in order to avoid looking like a total idiot when dealing with editors, I’m gobbling up advice that editors and authors are kind enough to offer. I’m considering joining RWA-Wisconsin chapter, but first I want a few more novellas (and novels) under my belt. I would die of embarrassment if I’m the one person with one novella under her belt, and everyone else has 35 bestselling novels to her writing credit.
Warmly,
Sharon Maynard
(Loki Unbound, Torrid Press, release date TBA pen name Gin Glynn)
Your post came in just fine, Sharon. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to join the Wisconsin chapter. A good number of our members are unpublished. That’s part of the beauty of an organization like this. You get the support, advice and the help of both the published and unpublished writers. I’ve learned so much going to the meetings and the conferences.
Plus you get to meet with like minded people. People who understand where you are coming from and where you’re going. That’s golden.