So, lets talk about finding an Agent. Like everything else in the writing world, this too is filled with scams. Keep Mr. Yog in mind, if the money is moving in the wrong direction (i.e. away from you) it's time to go running away.
For example: Reading fees, reputable agents don't charge them. They may want to, and I get that, because they have to read a whole lot of stuff to find the good bits and it would be nice to be paid for their time. However, a whole bunch of scammers noticed that authors are willing to toss money around like a man with a mid-life crisis trying to impress nubile blond girls, and opened up businesses that did nothing but charge reading fees. So to distinguish themselves, the real guys don't charge them.
If an Agent is hot for you but wants you to spend money on an editor, or research fees, or placement fees, or writing workshops, or anything other than what you already spent getting his attention, it's time to find another Agent.
From what I can find there's basically only one legitimate expense an Agent will ask you to incur, and that's the cost of sending them a pile of your manuscripts so they can be shopped around. Which, if you're like me and you wrote War and Peace II: This Time It's Even Longer!, that might be a real expense. Otherwise, they should not be asking you to shell out money.
The job of the Agent is to get you money. He goes out and gets a publisher to buy your book. Then you, and the Agent get paid by you selling copies of the book. Agents seem to get 10 to 15% of what you make. When you think about how much work they do for this money it's rather staggering. Supposedly Jane Average Writer will sell 3,000 copies of her book. If she makes 2.00 a copy, then Joe Agent will make .20 a copy. At 3,000 copies Joe Agent just made $600.00. He's doing how many hours of work for you for $600.00? If Joe can sell your book, Joe is a bargain. (We're not going to talk about how much work you did for the remaining $5,400.00.)
So, because of the work they do, and how little they get paid, it make sense to be kind to Joe and his readers and only query Agents who will actually be interested in your project. Nothing will get you rejected faster than sending out a "Dear Every Agent in the Western Hemisphere" letter. Joe's time is valuable. If Joe represents Christian Themed Cookbook writers, please do not send him a letter about how great your new Dresden Files meets the X-Files mystery thriller is. You've just wasted Joe's time and the cost of your stamp.
Go find five books you think are pretty similar to yours. Now, go find out who their agents were. That's where the hunt begins. Hopefully said agents have websites and blogs that will tell you exactly how they want you to send them things. Pay attention to what they have to say on those blogs. Tailor your letter to their specs. You want Joe Agent's reader to know you did your homework and were paying attention when you picked him.
Once you've gotten those first five agents, and mailed out query letters to them, go find another five. Keep doing this. Every time you get a "Dear Writer... We are sorry to say..." letter, send a new query out. If you've cleared out the library of every book even remotely similar to yours, then it's time to invest in Publishers Weekly's or Writer's Market, etc... There are lots of agents out there, and eventually you'll find the right one. (Though after five or ten rejections it might be worth while to rework your query letter.)
Why not start with Publisher's Weekly or Writer's Market? This is just a matter of personal preference for me. It comes down to this, anyone with money can advertise. An actual published book in your hands tells you that Agent was able to sell the book. A bunch of books is even better. On top of that, with the book in your hand you can check with it's Author, did she like her Agent? How well did the Agent do his job? What kind of contract did the Author get? How long did it take?
Once you get a letter back saying please send us more information we're interested, it's time to do more research. Before you sign a contract head over to Absolute Write and look the agent up. Or get on the discussion board and ask around. In addition to scams, there are Agents who just aren't very good. Time to put your feelers out into writer land and see what the others think about the person who just offered you a contract.
Of course, that's the fun part compared to what we'll talk about next: The Dread Query Letter!
Showing posts with label agents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agents. Show all posts
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sylvianna
So, by this point, some of you might be interested in what the book is actually about.
Or not, but I feel like writing about it, so I will.
Really though, this is practice for something important to either the query letter, the sales pitch, or the back jacket if I self publish, because, no matter how brilliant the book is, no one will buy it if they don't know what it's about.
So... what's it about? Like most writers I'm sitting here with a manuscript and it's got a lot of things going on in it and trying to get that down to one paragraph (Yes, that's what we're aiming for in Query letter land.) is daunting.
I can condense the entire series down into one question: What if Job fought back? Unfortunately that's not much relevant to the first book. Because the first book is actually the middle of the series.
So, what is it? It's a love story. It's about wrapping up loose ends. It's about free will and fate. It's about forgiveness, and about the things that cannot be forgiven. Most importantly it's about how good people can do some really bad things, and how no matter how good your intentions may be, you can still get burned, and burn everyone you love, in the end.
If you liked Harry Potter but wanted something more engaging to a grown-up mind, you'll probably like Sylvianna. If you liked Twilight, but wanted to smack some sense into Bella and Edward (or wanted some decent sex scenes), you'll probably like Sylvianna. If you liked the Magician but wanted engaging characters who actually did things, you'll probably like Sylvianna. Most of all, if you want a book that starts a series that will deal with complex moral issues without preaching at you, and without pulling punches, then you'll like this series.
Well, there are the themes of the book, and who it's marketed to. Now let's take a whack at the plot.
Sarah Metz just got to college. She went in search of a biology degree. She found a group of wizards on the run from their past. They remember her, she doesn't remember them. Over the next year she'll help them fight off the creatures trying to kill them, fall back into love with the man who used to be her husband, break the heart of her best friend by doing so, and maybe, if they're lucky, not remember who she used to be.
Still needs work, but it's a good first shot.
Or not, but I feel like writing about it, so I will.
Really though, this is practice for something important to either the query letter, the sales pitch, or the back jacket if I self publish, because, no matter how brilliant the book is, no one will buy it if they don't know what it's about.
So... what's it about? Like most writers I'm sitting here with a manuscript and it's got a lot of things going on in it and trying to get that down to one paragraph (Yes, that's what we're aiming for in Query letter land.) is daunting.
I can condense the entire series down into one question: What if Job fought back? Unfortunately that's not much relevant to the first book. Because the first book is actually the middle of the series.
So, what is it? It's a love story. It's about wrapping up loose ends. It's about free will and fate. It's about forgiveness, and about the things that cannot be forgiven. Most importantly it's about how good people can do some really bad things, and how no matter how good your intentions may be, you can still get burned, and burn everyone you love, in the end.
If you liked Harry Potter but wanted something more engaging to a grown-up mind, you'll probably like Sylvianna. If you liked Twilight, but wanted to smack some sense into Bella and Edward (or wanted some decent sex scenes), you'll probably like Sylvianna. If you liked the Magician but wanted engaging characters who actually did things, you'll probably like Sylvianna. Most of all, if you want a book that starts a series that will deal with complex moral issues without preaching at you, and without pulling punches, then you'll like this series.
Well, there are the themes of the book, and who it's marketed to. Now let's take a whack at the plot.
Sarah Metz just got to college. She went in search of a biology degree. She found a group of wizards on the run from their past. They remember her, she doesn't remember them. Over the next year she'll help them fight off the creatures trying to kill them, fall back into love with the man who used to be her husband, break the heart of her best friend by doing so, and maybe, if they're lucky, not remember who she used to be.
Still needs work, but it's a good first shot.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Yog's Law
The first rule of the professional writer, so wonderfully encapsulated by James MacDonald as Yog's Law is this: The money flows to the writer.
Wonderful. Simple. Ummm... also impossible for the time being.
And by this I do not mean the "Sign up with me, pay me X dollars, and I'll get you a publishing contract scams." (The agent pays you. The publisher pays you. If they want you to pay them, it's time to find a new agent/publisher.)
No, by this I mean that in order to get an agent, I need to shell out some dough. Research shows me that agents seem to like certain things, like actual physical letters sent in the actual physical mail. So, paper, ink, envelopes, postage. Not too bad, after all how many of these query letter things am I looking at writing anyway? (Sound of Elise researching away...)
You've got to be kidding me? Yeah, some people are lucky and get an agent on letter number one, or number five, but I've got one source telling me that it might be letter number 100. So, if I actually have to write 100 of these things, I'm looking at almost $100.00. And that doesn't attempt to put a price on my time for finding 100 possible good agent matches.
Then comes the whole: How do I find agents to query? Well, some agents are nice enough to keep up blogs about their lives and projects. Some writer's are kind enough to mention them in the acknowledgments of their books. I can google them. I can spend some more money and sign up with Publisher's Marketplace, or a similar service where Agents list their services, contact information, and what sort of things they want to represent. I can spend more money and start heading to writing conferences and meet Agents in the flesh. I can hang out online at AbsoluteWrite and chat with other writers and see who they've got representing them.
Lots of options. They all take time or money.
So, once the list of agents to query has been drawn up, and the letters sent out comes the next step, waiting.
Okay, yeah. But after that comes the important bit, getting responses. Now, with any luck some of them won't be "Dear Elise, Thank you for your query, alas as of this time we are not..."
With any luck some of them will ask for a manuscript. Great! Happy Dance time!
Wait a minute. A manuscript is an actual paper document. A very specifically formatted paper document. And... yep... let me reformat a bit here... Bloody Hell! My manuscript is 920 pages long! (In the background I hear my hubby say, "Write a shorter book!")
So, obviously this isn't something I'm going to just whip off a copy of on my home printer. Time to check out FedEx printing. Enter this... download that... and, oh wow! One manuscript is $68.85. Hmmmm.... how's the bulk discount? After all I may have to send out a bunch of these things. Fifteen manuscripts is $481.95.
Ouch.
And I still have to mail it to an agent? At least it fits in the USPS $12 Priority Mail box. So, if I end up sending out all 15 of them it'll cost me, $661.95.
Hmmm... Well, Mr. Yog, now what?
Wonderful. Simple. Ummm... also impossible for the time being.
And by this I do not mean the "Sign up with me, pay me X dollars, and I'll get you a publishing contract scams." (The agent pays you. The publisher pays you. If they want you to pay them, it's time to find a new agent/publisher.)
No, by this I mean that in order to get an agent, I need to shell out some dough. Research shows me that agents seem to like certain things, like actual physical letters sent in the actual physical mail. So, paper, ink, envelopes, postage. Not too bad, after all how many of these query letter things am I looking at writing anyway? (Sound of Elise researching away...)
You've got to be kidding me? Yeah, some people are lucky and get an agent on letter number one, or number five, but I've got one source telling me that it might be letter number 100. So, if I actually have to write 100 of these things, I'm looking at almost $100.00. And that doesn't attempt to put a price on my time for finding 100 possible good agent matches.
Then comes the whole: How do I find agents to query? Well, some agents are nice enough to keep up blogs about their lives and projects. Some writer's are kind enough to mention them in the acknowledgments of their books. I can google them. I can spend some more money and sign up with Publisher's Marketplace, or a similar service where Agents list their services, contact information, and what sort of things they want to represent. I can spend more money and start heading to writing conferences and meet Agents in the flesh. I can hang out online at AbsoluteWrite and chat with other writers and see who they've got representing them.
Lots of options. They all take time or money.
So, once the list of agents to query has been drawn up, and the letters sent out comes the next step, waiting.
Okay, yeah. But after that comes the important bit, getting responses. Now, with any luck some of them won't be "Dear Elise, Thank you for your query, alas as of this time we are not..."
With any luck some of them will ask for a manuscript. Great! Happy Dance time!
Wait a minute. A manuscript is an actual paper document. A very specifically formatted paper document. And... yep... let me reformat a bit here... Bloody Hell! My manuscript is 920 pages long! (In the background I hear my hubby say, "Write a shorter book!")
So, obviously this isn't something I'm going to just whip off a copy of on my home printer. Time to check out FedEx printing. Enter this... download that... and, oh wow! One manuscript is $68.85. Hmmmm.... how's the bulk discount? After all I may have to send out a bunch of these things. Fifteen manuscripts is $481.95.
Ouch.
And I still have to mail it to an agent? At least it fits in the USPS $12 Priority Mail box. So, if I end up sending out all 15 of them it'll cost me, $661.95.
Hmmm... Well, Mr. Yog, now what?
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