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Everybody's
talking about one sheets
Just before a major conference this always becomes a hot topic. A one sheet or sell sheet is a basic tool at a conference in handling a pitch that will be of limited duration. I also include them in proposals that are going out after a pitch has resulted in it being invited. Why? If the process moves forward I want that editor to have a good sell sheet to carry into committee with them to help make the pitch.
I'll be heading out to ICRS
in
Most of mine are set up the same way, on agency letterhead, a large attention getter at the top, a compelling summary of the story in the body, and a sidebar with the author's picture and writing credentials down the right side. Since they are standard they know what to look for where.
I've done 18 deals so far this year and the lion's share of them as well as those that are currently at committee level or where the full manuscript is being read first initiated at ICRS last year. It is a really good contact point for me, and has produced more than the other conferences that I've gone to added together. You can see how long it took those contacts to work all the way through to fruition, but that's okay.
Our agency is doing appointments with editors together and they are scheduled in 30 minute increments all day long for three days. I've spent a couple of weeks getting all of these sheets just right, making sure everybody is covered.
Now I need to go practice my fast draw . . .
Meet
You in
Hey, hope everyone has a great Independence Day!
On the off chance that someone is looking at the blog
instead of grilling burgers and dogs at the lake, let me say I hope to see you at
ACFW in
If you haven't tumbled to it yet, the American Christian Fiction Writers is THE premier writing organization for those who are writing Christian fiction. It's an amazing organization comprised of members that are some of the most recognizable names in Christian fiction today right alongside newcomers that are just starting to learn and practice their craft.
Whether an advanced writer or a brand new one just getting started, trying to write without taking steps to learn the craft is like a brain surgeon sawing off the top of someone's head without having formal training in order to "just figure it out." ACFW is one of the best places to go in order to get that training.
The same holds true for someone that has a finished work and it trying to get it published without investing the time to make the necessary contacts. We don't sell to publishing houses, we sell to editors, and the best way to do that is to meet them in person or meet an agent who can help make the contact for us. Trying to randomly pitch projects without doing the groundwork not only is more likely to get a rejection, but even worse can burn a bridge that with the right preparation or the right method of the contact might have been the appropriate bridge.
To me the question really isn't can I afford to go . . . it's can I afford NOT to go.
Why do we ask
for so much in a proposal?
Good question. The purpose of a query letter is to get a submission invited. The purpose of a submission (or a proposal) is to interest them enough to invite and read a full manuscript. But we ask for more things in our submission guidelines than a lot of publishers do. Why?
It is true that not all publishers want that much in their submission guidelines, but the key is to have it so it can immediately be produced when the guidelines call for something different. That's why we ask for more. We have to be able to submit the way any of them want. On one we may not use a couple of things and on something else completely different. We will certainly tweak the proposal and work on it, but the better the document we have to start with, the better it will end up. This is the guidelines on our website, and between them we've found we can pretty much cover what a publisher wants to see:
Guidelines for
Your Fiction Proposal
Your fiction proposal should include the following items:
Proposal Cover Page - Include the title, author's name, your physical address, your email address, the genre of your novel (e.g. cozy romantic mystery, Civil War historical, women's fiction), and the length (word count).
One-page sell sheet - A one page overview that summarizes your novel.
Biographical sketch - List your writing experience, your education, your achievements, and your prior publishing history.
Market analysis - Identify your novel's audience (the specific categories of readers your book is aimed at) and describe your ability to sell books at speaking engagements, seminars, conferences, and other events.
Competitive analysis - Identify novels published within the past five years that are similar to your proposed work. Tell us why your book should be published, and explain how your book is superior and/or provides a new slant on your topic.
Marketing strategies - Increasingly, fiction authors are encouraged to promote their novels themselves through writers' conferences, book signings, and web sites. What is the "platform" available to you to sell and promote your book and what do you intend to do in addition to the efforts of the publisher.
History of the manuscript - Please tell us if the manuscript has been submitted to editors and/or publishers by yourself or another agent or to other agents.
Story Synopsis - Prepare a one to three page synopsis of your story.
The first three chapters - For fiction send the first three chapters. Non-fiction can be your choice of the first three or what you feel best showcases your book.
One of my clients, Bonnie Calhoun, today premiered the Christian Fiction Online Magazine. Many of us have been anxiously awaiting this day and we were not disappointed. Under the guidance of editor Michelle Sutton, the content in this publication is not to be believed, the presentation is sharp and professional, and you could spend the month from now until the next issues comes out going through the huge amount of material contained in it.
There are top names in Christian publishing represented in articles and columns. There is an author interview with Robert Liparulo, book reviews and devotionals. Our agency will have a column there and owner Joyce Hart led it off with introductions of agents at our agency. Allen Arnold of Thomas Nelson spoke out in the Publishers Corner, and there are articles on ACFW Happenings, Publicity, writing topics, short stories, POD info, and of course no premier issue would be complete without Chip MacGregor opening up the top of his head to see what comes out. Always enlightening.
There's more. I've just hit a few high spots as I thumbed through the pages like a teen column and several columns on fiction today. You need to bookmark the website http://www.christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/ as you go over to sample it for yourself. You need to do that because nothing I say here can do it justice.
Congratulations, ladies, you
have outdone yourselves.
On our submission guidelines it says that Tamela and I do not take hard copy submissions. When I get a query and send a request for proposal I am careful to point out that I do not take them and instead point out what I'd like to see and how I want to receive it. I've talked about it in appointments at conferences or when I am on panels, when I've done interviews, it can't be much of a secret.
But here they come, all the time. Why? Why would anyone send a submission without checking the submission guidelines to see how to submit? Or worse, what if they did and took it upon themselves to do something different? What am I to make of these envelopes that tend to annoy me when they clog up my small mailbox?
Why would I care? I care because I seldom work where these envelopes pile up so I seldom deal with them and I don't like to do that. I care because my office is where my laptop is and that is where I am usually working. I do have a study, but it's full of unsolicited envelopes and it isn't a convenient place to work. I care because more and more the business of publishing is being carried out online and I want to receive submissions in such a way that shows me how well an author can handle themselves in that medium. I've had some say they don't know how to use a computer and don't do email. It would be virtually impossible for me in today's electronic world to do business with them so that alone is grounds to pass on their manuscript.
There are those who want a hard copy submission. For them I want the manuscript on my computer so I can look over it before I send it, ensure that the formatting is correct, maybe catch typos or story problems that I can ask the author to deal with before I tie my reputation to theirs by sending it on. That is too inconvenient with a hard copy.
Mostly it's because I asked them to do it. Whether it was because they failed to show me the respect of finding out what I wanted or disregarded the instructions and did it another way, it is a red flag for me or for other agents and editors. And maybe with another agent or editor it is the opposite, an email submission when they said not to do it that way. It isn't the way it was submitted, it's the fact that the guidelines are not followed. Or maybe the content requested was not provided. All the same problem.
What should I do with them? Some people simply write return to sender on them and let them go back. Maybe I should do that but I don't. I keep thinking I'll work them anyway and I do, I worked some yesterday. Occassionally I find some that are really old and since that person has already written me off as uncaring and insensitive anyway I just dispose of them. (Our website also says if you haven't heard from us in six months to consider it a no) I am generally well within our usual 90 day response time on things submitted as requested, usually not much over a month unless I am really stacked up.
I know I should be forgiving and pay the same attention to them that I do to those who follow instructions and I try to. But it's hard.
You may recall I hurt my back picking up a box of books a couple of months ago. Really did curtail my activities for a while. I aggravated it a bit this last weekend, then yesterday, well, yesterday I did it up right.
I managed to get locked up to the point where I couldn't get up or down, literally could not move. Saundra is a massage therapist, and she and her partner worked on me until they could get it released enough that I could go home and lay in the floor on an ice pack. As far as the entertainment value of this activity it isn't something I would recommend.
Up until this time I had a certain amount of disdain for people who allow back problems to completely get them down. I would never say it to them, of course, but I admit having thoughts such as "they must have a low pain threshold," or "it couldn't really hurt THAT bad."
I used to have an occasional migraine headache, and that was sort of the upper end setting on my personal pain scale. I have added a couple of new calibrations to the scale, and I pegged the needle on those.
I did go to the doctor when
this all started and the x-ray revealed no skeletal problems, it is just
muscular. Right, that's like saying the thing we dropped on
The other thing that has surprised me about this is how little it takes to set any progress back. After several weeks of steady improvement, one little activity and I am back to square one. I am beginning to suspect this may be a life changing event, I may never be back completely like I was.
Or maybe I'm just getting old.
The letter 'A' is the operative word. Very often I get an email that has all of the parts of a proposal in separate files. Most agents and editors don't want to dig though a bunch of files, hunting information they want to see in order to evaluate the work . . . and the professionalism of the submitter.
I tell them that a professional submits a carefully done proposal, formatted, with the sample chapters included in such a way that the manuscript formatting is shown. There are some agents and editors that would rather have the sample chapters as a separate file, which is why the submission guidelines should be checked and carefully adhered to. Some don't want anything but hard copy. Some don't want email attachments. I only want word or .rtf attachments. I can't tell anything about how well the work is formatted and how ready it is to go if it is just pasted in an email. I don't want hard copies at all. I do most of my work online and that's how I want to receive the files.
Then came a new one. I started receiving emails, each with a piece of the puzzle in it. Not only would I have to dig through a bunch of files, I would have to sort out the emails to be able to do that. I'm not making fun of the lady, I promise, I told her what the deal was and she was very happy to find out the way it should be done. I believe she is about to resubmit properly. Some I suggest that the work is better received if it is in a proper proposal form. Many get it and ask if they can write up a proper proposal and resubmit. Some don't and stay with what they sent. It's hard digging through that stuff and I probably don't look as closely as I do to someone who has submitted in a very professional manner. It isn't like there aren't a bunch of places that show how to format a proposal.
I recognize some people live out where all they can connect on is dial-up, which sometimes won't do a big file, and in that case I don't mind receiving the sample chapters separate, but the proposal part itself is a small enough file that it should be no problem to send.
Am I being too picky? Wonder how an editor would react if I just sent a bunch of miscellaneous files and told them to pick out what they wanted and ignore the rest? Would it in any way affect the time and attention they gave to the project? Would it affect what they thought of me as an agent?
Duh.
I work in different places, but one of my favorites is out on the deck.
I have company when I work there since we live out of town with rabbits
playing in the yard, birds scurrying in and out of a big birdhouse, some
kingbirds ruling the skies, robins working in the yard and flowerbeds
(ever since I was digging it up and tossed worms to them as I did)
and then there are the roadrunners.
I like roadrunners. They are social and like to be near people. If I go in
the house too long they will come up and hang out on the porch. If I still
stay gone too long they'll come over to the door and see what the problem is.
They won't stay on the deck if I come out, but do seem to like to know I'm there.
The front door? That's where the pair of finches have their nest where we can
watch them. They've
raised a family in that nest the last 6-7 years. Who says writers work alone?
The blog hasn't been changed this week. I've been so stacked up there just hasn't
been time. Then my friends out in the yard remind me that isn't all there is to life.
And the roadrunner pecks on the door and asks if I can come out to play.
One
of the programs I gave at the Christian Writing Workshop last weekend was
"Using Fiction to Spread God's Word." The main theme of the program
was recognizing the difference between writing fiction to a primarily Christian
readership, and writing with the hopes that it would go into the hands of an
unbeliever and plant a seed that might
sprout if further nourished. The latter requires subtleness, drawing the
reader into the story before any faith content creeps in.
Why?
Because
all believers know what it feels like to come under conviction, and this is
what causes people to pull away when they start hearing a faith message.
Coming
under conviction is never comfortable, and people very often deal with it by
shutting it out. In our case that means putting the book down and we lose our
chance to witness to them. Our task is to get them so strongly involved in the
story that they do not put it down when they realize the message is there, then
to keep it subtle enough that it does its work without pushing them out of the
story. It is to plant seeds that do not attempt to do the job all at once but
to open the door that can later lead to the Holy Spirit finishing the job,
leading the person where the fruit can be brought to fruition.
The
second theme was "if we are writing for God we have to do it in His
time." We are studying the Book of Jeremiah in church today. One thing
that struck me was how long he had to prepare to do his ministry and how long
he worked at it, over 40 years, seeing little success. He is not alone. Look
what God did to prepare Moses, Abraham, Joseph, David, the Apostles, even how
long Jesus prepared before he began to fulfill his earthly mission.
Why
would we think we could just decide to write and our very first effort bear
tremendous fruit, be published and achieve amazing success? Why would we think
we could do it without God preparing us for our task, experiencing the
heartaches and rejections that teach us what He wants us to learn? Without
patiently learning our craft, over and over, the way those in the paragraph
above had to be prepared, failing and learning, understanding what it is we
need to do to get it right? We have the writing seed planted in us but we
expect it to grow fruit immediately without the preparation God always expects
His people to go through. Sometimes we circumvent the process to get a book out
there without all of this difficulty and then are disappointed when it does not
do what we hoped it would do.
If
we want to write for the Lord we have to turn it over to Him, have to undergo
the preparation He always uses to get us ready . . . and we must do it in His
time.
God
is trying to tell me something
I'm sitting here working on a manuscript for "Return to Respect: Raising Rugged Young Gentlemen." Intriguing title, huh? Janet Parshall's radio show is on and she is interviewing an author who is talking about raising children. Earlier I was working on sending additional information the publication committee requested on Brenda Nixon's parenting book that Revell is considering to follow "The Birth to Five Book" scheduled to come out January 09.
One of my clients sent me an article entitled "Where the Boys Are," and no it isn't talking about the old song and movie with Connie Francis, it talks about reaching reluctant reader boys. Max Anderson has been championing this battle for some time and this author was decrying the fact that there just aren't any books for these readers in the bookstores. We've talked about that before. She says to reach them we have to go where they are, with male protagonists and with issues that appeal to them. She points out that girls read more widely than boys and are quite likely to enjoy these books as well. Acquisition editors have been agreeing with this for years, so why aren't they buying these books?
Now I've just received a Publishers Weekly article on, what else? A scholastic report shows that 68% of kids love to read and feel it is very important, but that number falls off to 55% by the time they become teenagers and the competition for their time increases. Parents and teachers are shown as the greatest influences on whether children are readers or not. Several other things have come through on this subject this morning but you get the idea.
So what's the deal? Usually when I discover a common thread like this that seems to be totally dominating input to me the Lord is trying to tell me something. The International Bible Society puts a verse on my website each day and I never know what it might be, but today it is: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. – Isaiah 55:11"
That's plain enough. We need to be reaching out to those reluctant readers. What few books are being offered, a lot of them are on some rather questionable themes. People like Bryan Davis and Donita Paul are leading the way, but it seems to me instead of trying to find open markets the way we traditionally try to place books we need to be more proactive, convincing houses and convincing editors that we need to get product on the shelves that appeal to these readers.
Okay, Lord, I don't know how much I can do but I'll do what I can.
The Gang in
The conference was excellent – the workshops I presented were small groups but the interaction was great. The college gave the conference excellent support and the facilities were very good. I have already agreed to return next year. The above picture shows four clients that were in attendance as well. Pam Kumpe on the left, then Vickie Phelps who was busy at the conference with the conference bookstore. Standing next to me is Donn Taylor who was on the faculty as well teaching poetry and last but of course not least Randall Mooney. It was my first chance to meet Randall and a lady who was in the class said she thought we were old friends we hit it off so quickly. Randall had just had his truck stolen (even worse his laptop) but he was somehow able to compartmentalize that and make the most of the conference anyway. It told me a lot about him.
Pam Meyers and Susan Miura
checked in after getting home from Write to Publish at
It's delightful to get to spend time with clients, to see others I have met down the line, and to make a lot of new writing friends. Now to start working on getting caught back up so I'll have room for those delightful proposals that will be coming in after this conference.
Having a different conference every week or weekend is playing havoc with trying to maintain a blog. However, we have had ten book contracts signed in the past couple of weeks and have eight sitting at committee level. That's not bad activity.
I'm also finding myself wondering if we aren't pursuing the wrong publication strategy on some of us. Surveys I see show most writers publish with small and mid-size houses before making the step to the larger ones. I know I sure did. But as an agent my mindset is to try and get them the best deal possible in the largest house possible.
I've had some discussion with a few clients lately about them being more than willing to start smaller and work on building their platform and building their career. Maybe that's where some of us should be, and if so it is certainly a valid strategy for building a career.
I've had the chance to meet quite a few clients face to face at conferences and have this discussion and will continue to do so. In a publishing environment where often writers often don't even meet agents and editors they are working with in person I still much prefer the personal approach.
Ah well, on to the East Texas Christian Writers Conference
I work a lot of conferences.
I'm headed to
I've mentioned before that
our little band of writers who are working with me function rather like a
little "writer's community." Because of that our intelligence gathering
function and editor contact function is expanded considerably. I had four
clients with me at the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in
Sure, there is such a thing as a "courtesy request," a request by an editor just because they are supposed to do so at conferences, but it can be hard to tell which might be genuine interest and which might fall in that range so we go after all of them hard. Besides, you can never tell when a courtesy request might be turned into more interest than they thought with a good proposal.
I'm really proud of my
people. I had two at
It was the same in
I have several who constantly feed me industry information from various sources they want to make sure I see. Sometimes I have seen it, sometimes I haven't. Once again it may be something that directly relates to their work, often it isn't.
I love this unselfish attitude, and I love the way they support each other, pray for each other, and in general share difficulties and success with the group. I'm very proud of them all.
Okay, here's the deal . . . I'm usually pretty good at figuring
out where a book, movie or TV plot is going and getting
ahead of the story. Then I picked up Sigmund Brouwer's
"Broken Angel," and there was no way I could get
ahead of the story or even figure it out right down to the
very end.
As a matter of fact, I read it straight though in one sitting,
something I did not have the time or intention of doing at
the time that I did it. Set in a post-apocalystic future the reader is thrown into unfamiliar surroundings to leave them ungrounded then gently misled as to the crippled nature of Caitlin. For unrevealed reasons people want her dead and the interest builds as the reader worries for her safety yet wonders why she is so important.
The cast of characters is intriguing as they line up to help or hurt Caitlin who at once seems to badly need help yet at the same time seems amazingly capable of taking care of herself. This story is a beautifully crafted enigma that will play with your mind from start to finish.
I had the pleasure of being in a charity short story collection with Brouwer and if I hadn't been a fan before that would have become one at that point. This book is suspenseful and full of characters that are now who they appear to be.
Easy to recommend.
At Colorado Christian Writers Wesleyan acquisition editor Jim Watkins spoke on the size of our dreams. He talked about Martin Luther King's "I had a dream" speech. He made me think of an old saying that it is better to attempt something great and fail than to try something small and succeed.
Are our dreams too small?
We serve a God for whom nothing is impossible. Do we dream of peanuts instead of an elephant? Or maybe a whole circus?
His comments made me re-evaluate what I want and expect out of life, the opportunities for service and what I'm doing with them.
It made me wonder about our grandkids. In an "instant gratification" society, do they have things they wish for and hope for? When I was a kid I would have something I would wish for all year long, counting the days down until Christmas. The experience of the joy in finally receiving it was magnified by the wait.
Hopes and dreams are the little engines that drive our lives forward. Without something to want, something to work toward, we are going nowhere and are merely putting in time in a stationary routine existence.
Don Quixote tilted at windmills in a noble quest no matter the opposition. He had grand dreams, but grand dreams are better aimed at an achievable target that stretch us to the limit but are still in the realm of possibility. And they are more achievable when they are turned over to God.
Have I been dreaming too small?
I wonder.
Time with God in the Mountains
Colorado Christian Writers was a wonderful experience.
Somehow it helps to get closer to God to get physically nearer to him and in
the
Saundra, mother and I came up a couple of days early to enjoy a little time off. Tuesday it snowed and we drove up in the National Park to see all the trees with six inches of snow on them looking like a Currier and Ives Christmas card. It was breathtaking as are the snow capped mountains that encompass us on all sides. There were literally thousands of elk and deer as well as other wildlife all over the park, here at the conference, and even in town. At one point we were just across a little blacktop road from a coyote who ignored us as he staked, grabbed, and chewed up what might have been a ground squirrel. It went down so fast it is hard to tell. Somehow it wasn't gruesome, though, just an animal having breakfast out in nature.
I had four clients here with me who took full advantage of the event as well. Tim Shoemaker and I managed to work in some great brainstorming on how to do a better job of going after the YA and middle reader market. He also gave me some good contacts he made for me to follow up on. Mary and Jean James worked the conference like a couple of pros and have already placed a list in my hands of projects they got requests for. I'll get those out in the next few days. Mark Littleton was there and we got to visit briefly as well, but we seemed to stay busy at the same times.
For me my workshops seemed to go well and were well received. I heard some good pitches and will be getting the chance to look further at them and one that I have already offered a contract to. Yep, I'd have to say it was a mighty good conference. We're on our way home now, driving back toward home . . . and our daily lives.
Saundra is driving and I'm in the back seat getting a little
work done. We're on the way to the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. Hope
to see some of you there. Have also been talking to Emily Hightower of the
Christian Cruisers Club. It started out with her asking me to do a couple of
writing related programs on a cruise next March for 7 days down in the
If that interests you give me a shout and I'll put you in touch. Or take a look at http://christianwritingcruise.com/default.html – If you are interested tell them I referred you and I'll get some credit on Saundra's share of the trip. The timing on this was really good since I promised her a cruise this year anyway.
You know other people don't really understand what we do and why we do it. That's one reason why we go off to such gatherings where we can be with other writers, other people who understand us. Then there is the task of improving our craft. We can buy writing books and study up on it, but there is no substitute for being in the company of other writers studying and exchanging ideas. And if you can do that in a lounge chair lying on a deck, so much the better.
No, I haven't worked with this group before, but the idea of being in on the birth of a new writing cruise is exciting. I'm looking forward to it.
Just got the word that I am one of ten agents nominated for the American Christian Writers Agent of the Year award. Surprised would be an understatement. Looking at the list of those nominated I have no expectations of winning as the other nominees include some of the best in the business. But like they say in the Academy Awards, just being nominated is an honor.
I don't know who submitted me of course. To make the list it was probably more than one and I would guess a couple of my clients. I've made a nomination myself so I know it's more than just tossing in a name, but requires actually writing up a paper making the case for why we think the person is deserving. That's a lot of work and knowing that makes me even more grateful.
My clients and I are a tight knit little group. We don't relate to one another as agent and client as much as we are a little writing community. We pray for each other's success, share contacts and leads, and rejoice any time one of us has good fortune. I don't happen to believe it causes jealousy for one client to know another has had success (well, maybe a little) but instead helps keep spirits up as we all share whatever success any of us have.
This is even more meaningful as two others from our agency
are among the ten, our leader, Joyce Hart, and
And to those who nominated me, whoever you are, thanks . . . it means a lot to me.
We just finished watching "Stranger than Fiction" with Will Ferrell. This qualifies as an excellent movie for writers on several levels. First it is a very pointed study in plot development, since we hear the voice of the narrator (author) chronicling each plot development one item at a time. It is further accented as a literary professor (Dustin Hoffman) dissects the plot and the development as he tries to help Ferrell understand.
Because we do hear the voice of the narrator it is an excellent study of how narration works. When we are hearing the narrator it is easy to see the difference between showing and telling. In this case we understand because it isn't either or but rather showing AND telling.
On another level we see a writer, in this case a very famous one, who deals with writers block and tries to get past it. It shows the extremes she is willing to go to in order to get into the story and feel rather than think about where her story needs to go.
Finally the story makes an interesting statement about empathy between the writer and the story. How would it change what we write if the words that came out of our typewriter really changed peoples lives and real people had to actually live the story we are crafting. Another writer's movie, "Delirious" with John Candy takes a humorous look at this same subject, but that is a subject for another review.
I don't know that I would review this movie highly for someone seeking general entertainment value, but as a movie for writers I would call it excellent.
I just had a nice discussion with a lady on this topic. Submission guidelines may ask for it in different ways, it may ask for comparables, may ask questions about the market, but what editors and agents really want to know is if we know who our readers are. Too often that question is answered by "all females from 18-93." That's no answer at all. All writers want to sell their books to everybody, that's a given.
The best way to answer it, of course, is to say our last five books have each sold over 200,000 copies, that'll do it. But for those of us who can't do that, we have to define it in a way that the editor or agent can understand and relate to. The next best way to the previous example is to find three or four writers that we are very sure sells books to the very same readers we are writing for. We shouldn't say we write like them, that we are any better or any worse, in fact we don't even have to be writing very similar stuff if we can just make a convincing case that we are writing for the same readers.
The lady I was talking to said she had never thought about it. Maybe it's just me, but I can't see doing anything without knowing who I'm doing it for and what their likes and dislikes might be. As a writer I know who my target readership is, I know what writers are selling to them and how well they are selling. I do know when books aimed at that reader group do well and when they may not do as well and I have my own ideas on what might make a book stronger or weaker in that market. A writer who demonstrates this sort of knowledge of who their readers are and what they want is very attractive to an editor or agent.
I told her when I looked at a proposal I saw this and other things, things that told me how strong a package I'd have to pitch if I represented them. And if the package looks strong then I'm really excited to see how strong the writing is that goes with it.
Back from the
Lake Bob Sandlin, terrific place for a writers conference. It was the North East Texas Writers Organization (NETWO) and it was their annual conference.
It was well organized, had a great faculty, over 100 in attendance, and as I said the surroundings were an awesome setting for a conference. Four of my clients were there, Jory Sherman, Vickie Phelps, Pam Kumpe, and Jim Callan. Jim is also a conference leader and has been instrumental in putting it on for years. I got to visit with them briefly, but not as much as I would have liked.
My part on the program was a Q & A panel which seemed to go well. I was booked solid with interviews and found some promising possibilities that I will pursue further. It was a nice quiet environment to do a little work in as well. I talked with an editor and believe we have a clients second book with that publisher sold if they like the manuscript that is nearing completion.
I learned that another client, Michelle Buckman, is a Christy finalist. I don't represent "Maggie Come Lately," the book that was nominated. I just represent her younger work, but I'm still very proud of her. Two other Hartline clients are finalists as well. I received requests for full reads on three other clients where my pitch hit a nerve. That's always a good sign.
All in all it was a very good conference. It's nearly time
now to go to the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in
I took the afternoon off, I openly admit it. I finished working up a proposal to submit on one of my clients, a really hard one, and I treated myself to reading a book. I chose one from a client, Donn Taylor, who has a new mystery coming out soon from Moody.
The Lazarus File grabbed me right on the first page just like it was supposed to. I found myself invested in the main character, Mark Daniel, immediately and found myself concerned as he was drawn deeply into danger and intrigue spying on South American Drug Lords. Still grieving over a wife lost quite some time before he resisted falling for the beautiful and wealthy Sol Roca. Resisted for so long that I was starting to find myself saying, "You idiot, your wife is gone, what's the matter with you?"
But nothing was easy in this book, not romance, not his assignment as twists and turns kept putting him in more and more danger. Nobody was quite who they seemed and his agency support and contacts kept dwindling until there seemed to be nobody anyone could trust. Still he was driven by duty, by a desire to keep his promises, first to his dead wife, and to the country he served even if it seemed to abandon him.
This was one great book and I recommend it highly, and if you like it, wait until you see Rhapsody in Red.
Last night we watched "Murder 101" with Pierce Brosnen. He was a college professor lecturing on how to write a murder mystery even as the steps he was lecturing on was happening to him in real life. It's an excellent writer's movie and has now gone on my list of DVD's that I want to acquire as MOVIES FOR WRITERS. [story structure]
"Deathtrap" with Michael Cain and Christopher Reeves has been on the list a long time. I got to see it off Broadway and a road show version as well as the movie. In it, an old experienced writer (Cain) is undergoing writers block and is attempting to steal the work of Reeves (and kill him) as he mentors him. The mentoring is great for writers watching, but the amazing constant plot reversals is the real lesson. [plot reversals]
"Sixth Sense" made the list when I was so thoroughly fooled by the plot resolution and had to immediately watch it again to see if I had been fooled all along or if they had simply lied to me. Going back the clues are all there, they simply push me gently to make false assumptions, which I did. This technique would add virtually any Alfred Hitchcock picture to the list. [endings]
"Adaptation" with Nicholas Cage and Meryl Streep is a story of a writer hired to adapt a bestselling book to the screen only to find it is absolutely un-filmable. The insights of the writer in the movie is terrific for those struggling with the craft. [storyline]
"Delirious" with John Candy is a
study in rewrites. "Stranger than Fiction" with
Will Ferrell is a study in narration (that only he can hear) and really shows
us what the text we write (as opposed to dialogue and action) really is to the
reader. [narration] "Funny Farm" with
Some other movies that make various top ten lists for movies for writers include "All the Presidents Men," "Almost Famous," "Capote," "Factotum," "Frida," "The Hours," (Saundra and I hosted the author of that bestseller at a conference although we didn't really care for the book and haven't seen the movie) and "Stone Reader". Some of these I have seen (or read the book) and some I haven't.
I spend my day immersed in writing or writing-related tasks. To "turn it off" I have to watch something that can get my mind off it. If I can do that and still learn something about my craft, more the better. I've decided I am going to collect these DVD's and be on the lookout for more.
That's seven on my own personal top ten lists. I'll post a review as I screen others to complete my list. Some of those mentioned in the "other movie" section above are good writing movies but more for journalists in my opinion.
Yesterday we were sitting out on the deck in shorts, cooking out, watching rabbits play out in the field. Today it is 40 degrees with a biting cold 30 mph north wind. It just keeps see-sawing this way. It's a wonder everybody doesn't have a cold.
Has to do with the jet stream. If it come across the country up high it's a fence and our weather is wonderful. If it comes dipping down toward us it takes whatever is in the high rockies and brings it right down on us. Even in the summer time that's never warm.
It doesn't bring moisture either. We're having a really dry year, and high winds and no moisture means grass fires. We nearly burned up last year and if we don't start getting some rain are in danger of doing it again. There have already been a number of small fires.
Oh well, it isn't like I can do anything about the weather. Nothing but pray for rain anyway. If anybody wants to help with that all prayers are appreciated. That does mean more concentrated time getting submissions out on behalf of my clients (over 160 and still working them up), getting caught up on queries people are sending me (nothing over a couple of weeks old) and finding enough blocks of times to read those full manuscripts that I've asked for. I like to have a solid block of time I can address to one of those, I can't give it the attention they deserve trying to read one in pieces.
Of course I have some conferences coming up and that will stack me up again in all probability. The NE Texas Writers Organization at Lake Bob Sandlin next weekend, the Catholic Writers Conference Online May 2-9, CCWC at Estes Park CO May 14-17, The East Texas Christian Writers in Marshall TX June 6-7, ICRS in Orlando FL July 13-17, the Oregon Christian Writers in Portland OR July 28-31, The Texas Writers in Houston Aug 1-2 (yes these two are very tight), ACFW in Minneapolis, and the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference in Glorieta NM. Maybe we'll get a chance to meet up at one of them.
Kind of a pointless little rambling today, but it's what's happening around here.
Often my blog comes from when I take the time to make
a detailed response to a topic on a writing list. In this case it was the
American Christian Fiction Writers group, and the topic was whether Christian
writers diluted their testimony by spreading themselves too thin by being in
too many groups. Terrific comment and after a little thought I made the
following response:
I think there is a difference between maintaining a
presence on a list, directory or writing community for the purpose of increased
visibility and contact points and going over and hanging out there. I have a
presence at a substantial number of places but seldom go to most of them unless
I get a notification of a message or a friend request. I actively participate
at only a couple of places (this being one of them) and even then I pick and
choose based on the subject line and whether it is a subject that interests me
or not. However I do watch WHAT is being discussed all over the boards as the
current topics of interest in various writing communities can tell me a lot
about what is going on in writing in general. Do I shortchange some of these by
not participating more? Probably. In return, however, with as broad an exposure
to what is going on in such a wide sampling I can often be a resource when I do
feel drawn into a discussion.
In groups of any size less than 20% of its membership
carries any discussion. The interesting thing is the makeup of this 20% is
constantly changing depending on the topic being discussed. I don't believe it
bothers people that over 80% are lurking at any given time as long as they know
they are out there and can give valuable input if the situation arises. I don't
see this as a problem of Christians trying to spread themselves too thin,
unless they are trying to be active participants in these groups all the time.
We have to be good stewards of our time, but as writers
we have to have visibility. As an agent the visibility is even more important.
The choices we make on how to spend that time regulating online time versus
gaining visibility to me do not depend on the number of places available to me
to participate, but how much time I commit to it and where. That is much more
driven by what is going on where and whether I can meaningfully contribute than
anything else.
Just my two cents worth.
I keep being asked what are the word count guidelines for this or that genre. The best answer is what is called for in the submission guidelines of the particular publisher it is being aimed at. But life is never that simple and some publishers just don't post their word count guidelines.
I have made an effort to pull together some very basic numbers simply as a guideline to help people get a handle on the word counts within certain genres. I tried to use the most credible sources I could find, and when those sources did not agree I did a range that would include both. I welcome input on these items as I consider this to still be a work in progress:
Chapter book (6-8 yr) 5-25,000
words
Middle Reader (8-12) 25-40,000
words
Young Adult (12-18) 40-75,000 words
(middle reader and YA kids like to
read about characters a couple of years older than they are)
Novelette – 7,500–20,000 words
Novella 20-30,000 words
Short Contemporary 50,000-60,000
words
Long Contemporary 70,000-80,000
words
Mass Market paperback (western,
SF, Fantasy, etc) 75-90,000 words
Short Historical /Mainstream 90-100,000 words
Romance novel 90-100,000 words
Long Historical/ Mainstream
108,000-120,000
On first time novel authors publishers tend to want between 80-100,000 words. A person submitting above what they are looking for, should consider that each 10,000 words over the guideline is a 10% increase in print costs, and publishers are not into paying more money on unproven writers.
Congratulations to
all Genesis finalists, but I'm particularly proud of two of my clients, Jane Thornton who is a finalist in two
categories and Susan Miura, who is a
finalist as well. Genesis is a program through which the American Christian
Fiction Writers recognizes promising emerging fiction writers in a number of
categories, and become a finalist is in itself a significant honor. We'll be
pulling for these ladies as we await the naming of the Genesis winners at the
Annual Conference in
In different
competition, the Amazon / Publisher's Weekly Breakthrough novel competition was
a place three other clients stood out. In that event 5000 submissions were
chosen from all of those submitted to be considered. Three clients, Caron Guillo, Graham Garrision, and Linda
Apple made it to the semi-finals, and Caron made the top 100. Jory Sherman and Frank Roderous have won "Spur Awards" which is the
highest recognition the Western Writers of America can bestow and Jory was a
Pulitzer nominee.
Earlier Tammy Barley placed in the Golden Rose
Contest, and Annette Irby finaled in
Genesis.
What is
significant about this? When we get out of school and start trying to get a job
the first thing they want to know is if we have any experience, want to see a
resume. It's the same with writing. On a query or cover letter they want to see
a paragraph that shows we can write, can meet a deadline and produce work.
Being recognized in a significant competition can be a good credit to
accomplish this until we get stronger credits. Is it as good a having a
published book with good sales? Of course not. But it is a good writing credit
if the competition if one that is recognized. We've all seen little contests of
one sort or another where people take turns giving each other awards so they
can be 'award winning writers'. Some of these actually hurt more than help.
I encourage my clients to seek this type of recognition and use good results in their wri