A Day in the Life.... by Jim Hart

A while back one of my clients sent me some interview questions for her blog. Here is a portion of that exchange. I thought they could be helpful if you’re either looking for a literary agent, or just wondering what your agent does all day! 

Q: You get lots of emails, not just queries but from current clients, editors, etc... What tips or advice do you have for writers regarding queries?

A: Keep it brief and be professional. Don’t try to be all mysterious and cute (unless you’re a humor writer).  I want to see the title, genre and word count of your book. And then a brief synopsis of two, or three, paragraphs. Quickly tell me about yourself. Is this your first published book? Why did you write this book? Tell me something about your author platform.

If the book you are pitching has been previously self-published PLEASE indicate that first. In most cases a publisher will not be interested in a previously self-published book. It’s frustrating to find out on my own that the book being pitched has already been self-published and has been available on Amazon.

Q: What catches your eye?

A: Quick details. Author credentials. A plot or subject that is either somewhat original, or is handled or presented in a unique way.

Q: Is longer or shorter better?

A: I like a shorter e-mail. Just hit me with the details: what’s the book? Who are you? Any publishing history?

Q:What are some things you DON'T want to see in a query?

A: Poor writing. Desperation. I would prefer that the author does not copy and paste chapters from their book into the e-mail.

Q: What are you looking for in a proposal?

A: Honesty. I look for some sort of indication that the writer has a good knowledge of the publishing industry. I need a good bio with only pertinent information. I look for a marketing plan that spells out what the author will do and has done, not just what they plan to do. Don’t plan on making a website for your book. You should already have one in place before sending proposals. I look strongly at the comparable/competitive titles section, so take the time to do research.

Q: You've requested a full manuscript. On the author side of things, it's a lot of waiting and nail biting and checking emails every five minutes. But what happens on the agent side of things?

A: I’m trying to find extended periods of time where I can read relatively uninterrupted. I like to try to get six to ten chapters reviewed in one sitting. Usually by that time I’ll know if I need to, or want to, continue. If the manuscript is really compelling I read it in one sitting.

I’ve read a manuscript that I loved while on vacation. Most of the time I also take notes – what I liked or did not like, what I thought worked well and what did not.

Q: Why can it take weeks to get back to authors on partials/ fulls?

A: Every day is a new adventure and I never know what is going to demand my attention at the moment. We could get contract offers from publishers that need immediate attention. There may be phone calls from clients and editors. These are some of the things that I do in the time that I’m reviewing a proposal or a manuscript:

• ·         I’m also going through my contacts, doing some research on possible publishers and taking notes in order to get an idea if a particular manuscript has a decent chance at getting picked up by a publisher.

• ·         I’m looking at their web page / blog / Facebook / twitter pages

• ·         I’m looking them up on Amazon to see any publishing history

Q: When is it appropriate for an author to follow up on a MS request?

A: Six weeks

Q:  So you love the MS, and the author and you really seem to click...how do you decide to make that final step and offer representation? And, in the end, what makes you decide on sending a rejection?

A: As soon as I am convinced that:

1) The writing is excellent and there is little or minimal work to be done on the manuscript.

2) I have identified a suitable number of editors to send the proposal to

3) I have a clear understanding of the author’s expectations and their writing goals for the future.

4) I get the sense that the author will be professional and pleasant to work with, and they understand that we will need to work as a team.

And that would be same criteria when I make the decision to not represent an author.

Q: What do agents do all day?

A: Drink coffee and use eye-drops! I try to send proposals to editors every day. Sometimes dozens will be sent in one day. We always have multiple e-mail conversations going not only with clients, but with editors. In addition to reviewing proposals and manuscripts I am reading industry newsletters, updating my contacts, researching publishers, trying to stay abreast of industry changes.

Q: Any other tips or advice or insider info?

A: Show the agent, through your query and proposal, that you are a hard worker. Do your research before sending a query or proposal to an agent. Don’t send a query until you have a great proposal complete and ready to send when it’s requested. I personally don’t mind when the proposal is attached to the query. That saves me time, and it’s one lest e-mail to keep track of.

And be patient!

A Close Call by Terry Burns

Yes, it was a close call.

I was quickly scanning my junk file before tossing it and I spotted an email in there from a publisher wanting to set up a phone call.

I immediately whitelisted them, of course, and quickly wrote back.

I used to have my junk file set to dump automatically since it was getting so good at catching things that it was rare for anything to get through. But I did have a few things get through, so I went back to scanning the titles before dumping them.

That brings me to the topic of what I want to hit today. An email from a publisher or editor or such is pretty easy to spot on a casual scan so I am unlikely to miss them. An occasional submission still gets by me though because a large number of emails in there have people's names on them as senders and there is nothing in the subject like to alert me that it is a submission.

These days I only work electronically, both with submissions and with editors and publishers. It is so much faster, and if a project is to move forward it is going to be with an electronic file anyway. No publisher wants to have to typeset all those keystrokes the way they used to. I very seldom have to send a hard copy submission to anyone, so I really have no use for them, and don't take them. Should I need one I can print it myself off the electronic file.

This means it is vitally important for your correspondence to have the proper subject  line on it in case it ends up in that junk file. How would you be expected to know this in advance? Check the submission guidelines. All agents, editors and publishers have submission guidelines and it is the quintessential mark of the amateur to not check those guidelines before sending to anyone.

A Few Housekeeping Comments by Joyce Hart

I’m trying to decide how to write what I want to say without sounding like a cranky lady.  And then probably the ones who need to see what I have to say won’t see this blog. I’m talking about queries and proposals I get via e-mail.  Probably 70% of the queries we receive are not suitable for our agency.   I write back and say “have you looked at our web site?” or “did you know that we are a Christian agency?”  Most would answer no to both those questions.

On our web site we have listed our proposal guidelines and the genres’ we represent and the ones we do not want to see.  Yet many inappropriate proposals come to us. Others come without headers and without the pages numbered.  I even write back and request those two items be added; explaining for them to use the insert tab to place the page numbers and put the name of the book/author’s name on every page.  And I get them back without either the header or the pages numbered.  Am I the only agent who wants these on the proposal pages?  

Maybe it’s because today so many people read on the computer, their iPad or another reader, but sometimes I still like to read from hard copies and if the proposal pages get mixed up, it’s hard to find my place.  I have to admit I’m doing more reading online than I used to.  I ordered an Ink Toner yesterday from HP - $149.00.  I probably should not take the time to read any unsolicited queries or proposals, but it’s hard for me to hit that delete button.

It really helps when writers go to conferences and learn how to put their work together so it’s easy for the agents & editors to read them and made a good decision.  There are many good conferences coming up.  Check out the Christian Readers Market Guide for dates & places.  The more professional your work looks, the more apt we are to take it seriously. Writing is a business and the competition is stiff.  

We’re here to help you get published and we love doing that.  We’ll look forward to hearing from you, just please do your homework before hitting that send button.

God bless you abundantly,

Joyce

P.S. check out this interview with one of our authors, Jane Kirkpatrick.  It’s terrific!        www.c-span.org/LocalContent/Bend 

Targeting Submissions by Terry Burns

Back in the day when I was a fledging writer I was the host of a well known NY agent at a conference. That meant I was a go-fer, getting whatever he needed and showing him around. Hosts were not allowed to discuss their own work with the people they were hosting but had to wait until a scheduled appointment. But at one moment of down time the agent looked at me and said, “Do I represent what you write?”

I told him that’s what I had an appointment with him to find out. He smiled and told me that was wrong, that I should already know. I went home that night and did my due diligence and discovered that he did, in fact, not represent the genre of my project. When I told him that the next day he said, “I know, but it was important for you to find out for yourself.”

That may be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a writer. Never submit to anyone without first finding out if they are a good possibility for our work. Submission guidelines online make it much easier these days than it was back then and most agents and editors have those posted, but just some very general categories of what someone handles is still not enough.

Submissions are not submitted to publishing houses or to literary agencies, they are submitted to individual editors and agents. Before sending to someone we need to research them and see if they have worked with something that is a specific comparison to what we want to pitch to them. What type clients has the agent handled or what comparable books has the editor published? Whatever reason makes us think the editor or agent is right for the submission is something we should say in the cover letter.

It is constantly changing, too. I often use the illustration of the old TV sitcom ‘Laugh In’ where at the end of the show someone opened one of a wall of windows to lean out and say something and someone else would open another one and answer them. That is a perfect representation of the publishing industry. At any given time a project may only fit one place in the entire publishing industry and it is our job to get the submission in that open window. Soon that window will close and there is still only one place where it fits but now it is a different window open and we have to find it.

A client just pointed out an editor to me who had published a book that was a great comparison for her project. I told her I would check it out but it could mean one of two things; that the editor really liked that type of book . . . or it could mean that she found what she wanted and doesn’t need another one. Impossible to say without asking.

But the point is just going down the market guide and sending everybody who lists our genre a submission is a sure way to rack up a lot of rejections. But what do we have to lose, the worst that can happen is they say no, right? No, the worst that can happen is we burn a bridge that under different circumstances could have been the right avenue for the project, but maybe it is not the right time, or maybe it takes an agent to get it in at that particular place, or a number of other things that could not be in place.

But we should know whether that window appears to be open or not before we send it.

Why do I insist on email submissions by Terry Burns

The quick answer is that I do almost all of my work online and very seldom have a need for a hard copy print out these days. A hard copy manuscript is practically useless to me. Besides that I tend to lose them. I toss them in the inbox in the study along with a bunch of junk mail, and they can get away from me. I seldom work there, mostly I work wherever my computer is, so I don't get in there to dig them out and deal with them often. I don't feel all that bad about it because our submission guidelines say I don't take hard copy submissions at all. Authors should NEVER submit without checking submission guidelines, so if I get one, I figure I'm dealing with someone that doesn't follow instructions anyway.

Most editors I'm working with prefer to work electronically, so I need clients that will work with me in that manner. A person that tells me they don't know how to do attachments or they seldom email might as well be telling me they deliver handwritten manuscripts. I need people who are keeping up with the changing technology of the industry. A contract for one of my clients calls for delivery of a hard copy manuscript. That client is ready to send the final manuscript but when I checked with the editor to be sure, she said even though the contract calls for hard copy, she'd rather have it electronically. Exactly what I'm talking about, I want to see how well a submitting client handles the technology.

A lot of editors and agents don't want any attachments to an email. Some want electronic submissions but want it all in the body of the email, no attachments. Others, like me, don't want hard copy submissions and do want them as an attachment, not in the body of the email. Some will take hard copy submissions and some, like me, don't.

These differences point up why it is so important to check the submission guidelines before we send to anybody. Those who don't want attachments probably are concerned about them containing viruses. I understand that. I have massive virus protection and several layers of backups, but understand at some point that I will have a problem. It's a cost of doing business.

A proposal in the body of an email is not a virus threat either, but I prefer them attached as a single word or .rtf file because I like to see if the writing is properly formatted, and if it's a project I like it is easier for me to use it as a base to build an agency proposal on. I actually am evaluating the proposal, whether it provides what we ask for in our submission guidelines at www.hartlineliterary.com and whether we can see how well it would give us what we need to market the project as much as we are looking at the writing itself.

So often at conferences I hear people say "I don't see why they ask me to submit like this, or any reason a proposal needs to contain that, or some other facet called for in guidelines." We ask for a little more in a proposal than some others but we would rather have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Other Hartline agents (and other agents in general) may accept things differently. I can't say it enough, we should never submit to anyone without checking their submission guidelines to see if we are sending what they would like to have in the manner they would like to see it.

Every Writer Wants to be Published by Terry Burns

That's a true statement, right?

I think it is, why would someone spend many months or even years writing a book and not want anyone to see it?

Why indeed?

But if it is true why do people come to appointments at conferences, get a proposal invited on their project, then never send it? Why do they stick them in a drawer and never send them in? I still do think these writers would like to see it published, so what's the deal?

It could be a lot of things. Maybe they don't think it's good enough. Or maybe it really isn't good enough but they aren't taking the steps they need to take to grow their craft and MAKE it good enough. Or maybe they don't do it because they can't or don't want to do the things that would be required to go out and publicize the book if it were to be in print. There are probably other reasons, but these occur to me right off the top.

Probably the biggest one that I hear, however is fear of failure. I can identify with that. There have been times in my life that I haven't tried something because I was afraid I would fail. And if I did? What would have happened, someone would laugh at me? I might lose some money? When I thought it through, the downside was never that big.

But there's another way to look at it. Writing something and never submitting it IS failure. Submitting it and risking rejection is taking a chance on success.

Or maybe the writer HAS tried a couple of submissions and gotten turned down. There surely is rejection involved in submissions, but it isn't something to take personally. Our work either fits an available slot at a publisher or it doesn't. Not only is such a rejection not about us as a writer, it probably isn't even about how good the writing is, but rather about the fit to the market. I don't even call them rejections, I call them a 'negative market reports.'

At any given time our work may only match up with one opportunity in the whole publishing industry. The trick is to find that open window and get our work in it before it closes. Then our work may only fit one other place but now it's a different window that we have to find. I spend most of my time looking for open windows for my clients.

It is true we should not make a submission until our work is as good as we can make it and equally as true that we should continue to grow in our craft until we are a good fit for one of those open windows. But there comes a time when we have to stick our neck out and send our baby out into the world and try for publication.

That's what writing is all about, isn't it?

Editor's Choice by Andy Scheer

“Don't make the editor's decision for her by not submitting.” I thought of that quote from Victoria Janssen this past Wednesday as I read an editor's email.

“I’m the new editor at [XYZ Publishers],” she said, “handling [Jane Doe’s] former responsibilities. … We would like to circulate this manuscript to our publications committee to take a look at it. Is there a full manuscript available?”

I'd almost not sent the proposal to XYZ. None of the previous proposals I'd sent them had generated any kind of response, even an acknowledgment they'd been received.

But when I considered the houses to which I might send a proposal for this client's project, XYZ came to mind. Still when I initially tried to send it, my email bounced back as having a bad address. So I checked with my Hartline colleagues.

Their response wasn't encouraging. Like another few editors at other houses, Jane Doe had a reputation as a correspondence black hole. Nevertheless I tried an alternate address.

True to form, XYZ gave no response to my initial inquiry. Other houses did. They said nice things about the concept and the proposal — and that they were either full in this category or had given up on it because for them it didn't sell.

Time passed. I checked with the houses that had not yet replied, including XYZ. A few more responded, some with compliments, but all with rejections. But from XYZ, only silence.

Until Wednesday. As I sent the editor the full manuscript, I reflected on the reasons I'd included XYZ on my list — against strong evidence to the contrary.

In the end they may still say no. But at this point they're the only publisher saying yes. Good thing I decided to leave the decision to them.

Open to New Clients - by Terry Burns

Am I open to new clients?

I get that a lot.

I get an email asking that question and they most of the time they could just skip to the next step, go to our submission guidelines at www.hartlineliterary.com and just send me a proposal because that's what I'm going to tell them.Oh, occasionally they say something in the note that causes me to know that there is no point in sending it, but a quick check of the submission guidelines can tell people what those situations are as well.

Many wish to check me out with my clients before they send and I encourage them to do so. I don't post the email addresses of clients but if the person knows one or more of them I believe they are all happy to tell about their experiences. If the person doesn't know one of them I still don't give out the addresses but if they will ask me I will ask my client group if 2-3 of them would like to initiate the contact from our end. Usually they are happy to.

I am getting quite picky, however, so be sure you send your best. I get a lot of really good things sent to me and I can just take a few. It can be a great project and I just don't connect with it, or maybe I don't see the market for it or feel I have the right contacts to get it to market. And I have a great group of people in my client group, people that connect closely with one another and support and pray for one another. I look for people that I can see fitting in with those terrific folks.

We do think career over here and try to help our authors grow. Over 80% of my clients have published since they signed with me no matter what we have had to do to make that happen. I'd like for that to be 100% but I know that will probably never happen. Doesn't mean I'm not shooting for it. It also has a lot to do with the goals and aspirations of the individual author and whether those goals are realistic for that individual work. And it has to do with the fact that I don't just sign projects then try to sell them, I see if I have a clear path for the project or I don't put it under contract.

That doesn't mean I guarantee to sell anything. But it means I do see solid potential or I don't take it. Am I open to new clients? Yes indeed . . . if it's the right project.

Twenty-dollar Proposals by Andy Scheer

I groaned when my wife brought me the Express Mail envelope.

Without opening it, I was nearly certain the sender had wasted his money. He'd gone to a lot of work, a considerable expense, and also made more work for me. Not a win-win situation.

Inside I found a neatly done cover letter, a brief proposal, and a fifty-page fiction sample. Without reading it, I was nearly certain I'd soon be sending him a rejection. What a shame.

By simple arithmetic, any writer contacting an agent for the first time has the odds stacked against him. Agents receive far more proposals from potential clients than they can possibly represent.

The work of deciding whether to decline becomes easier if the writer proposes something in a genre outside my expertise. Or if the sample chapters are laced with material I find offensive.

But in this case, the writer simply hadn't paid attention to the information on the Hartline website that four of the agency's five agents “accept ONLY e-mail submissions.” So I was expecting the proposal wouldn't cover — at least in any depth — the required information. It didn't.

Not surprisingly, the fiction style didn't impress me. The prose felt flabby—loaded with telling and double attributions (both a tag and a beat) for every line of dialogue, plus funky punctuation. I didn't enjoy spelling out my major reasons why I thought the piece was not yet ready for publication, but I felt the writer deserved at least some return for his twenty-dollar investment.

I just wish he had invested his postage money in a book from Writer's Digest, learned more about the craft, then emailed me a proposal — for free.

TickyToes@urgggmail.com By Cindy Sproles

Platform, platform, platform. Where do we begin? It's easy. You begin with your email address.
 

Texting has overtaken the phone while email has breezed past the post office. When email came into existence we found it fun, never anticipating it would become the businessman's way to communicate. Who would have thought?

Families set up email accounts and from that, individual accounts, whose addresses became as unique as the people themselves. Now we stand at the threshold of a new era. One where instant gratification is most important. So what does that mean to the writer? What is the impact for you? It could be devastating.

There are many pros. Just the fact a manuscript can be sent electronically within seconds - cover letter, proposal and entire manuscript in one transmission, definitely makes the cost of postage null and void. Editors no longer have to carry large briefcases filled with submissions when, with the flip of a switch, they have them at their fingertips. Technology has made paper clutter manageable. What a plus for the writer. Correspondence has become instantaneous. Writers can submit to multiple editors, agents and publishers with one simple email. It's wonderful.

But what about the editor or agent receiving the email? With the creative mind of writers, email addresses become a true headache for the editor or agent.

Imagine this:
You're an agent. You've just left a conference and asked for 15 writers to send you their work. By the time you arrive home and turn on your computer, here's what you see.
shessopretty@hotmail.com
Lovenfamily5@jojomail.com
lollipoplickingal@monster.net
kissandtell@....uh....you get the idea? Right?

Not only are these email addresses less than professional, they appear somewhat...well...risque'. As an editor, I can tell you first hand, I've received some pretty questionable email addresses. Though there is humor in these addresses, it's time for the writer to grow up and meet the publishing world with professionalism. How can we be treated as a professional if our branding comes in the form of lollipoplickinggal...?

For the editor and agent, these emails are a disaster. Here's why?

*Scams come in various forms from sneaky ploys to get money to less than desirable websites. Junk fills our email box and it's hard to know what to trust and easy to delete what seems "questionable."
*Viruses are attached to some of these emails. Some spam programs pick out obscure email addresses and dump them into spam, simply because phrases or key words raise a red flag. And if a virus is attached, it can destroy an agents full list of stored work.
*It's hard to respect a writer who's email address paints an unpleasant picture in your mind.

So how do we fix this?

Start by thinking of yourself as a professional. As a writer you are in business for yourself. It's important you have an email address that is both professional and respectful of the work you do. Develop an email address that is recognizable to you as an individual. Begin with your name. For example, years ago, when I began my own email, I set it up under my ministry. i.e. mountainbreezeministries@... Though this is a respectful email address, it doesn't identify me to an editor. More than likely, they don't know who Mountain Breeze Ministries is. Not only that, but by the time you add the remainder of the email address (the carrier), it's way too long.

As I became an editor, I learned the importance of sending an email that identified me to the receiver. I developed a professional email address that clearly stated to the receiver who was sending the email. cindyksproles@....

For those  people in the professional world who worked with me, it was easy to identify my email. They can remember Cindy when Mountain Breeze easily slipped their minds.

Most email carriers allow you to forward your email to a secondary account. And I do that. I allow my cindyksproles email to forward to my mountainbreeze account which is the workhorse account. For those on the professional side, there is no issue in locating me when they need me and I'm respected among my editor and business peers.

For me, it's almost too late to change the mountainbreezeministry email. For years peers have finally grown to know who mountainbreeze is, so by the time I figured out the importance of an email that was easily recognized, the retraining process became difficult.

Your assignment this week is simple. It's all about looking at your personal branding. How do you want people to identify with you? What do you want them to picture when they think of you? And more so, when you send that manuscript to an agent, will they remember YOU?

Perhaps you have a website and your email runs through that. Develop an email address through that site that identifies you in a professional light.
i.e. cindy@cindysproles.com

Utilize your name or first initial and last name into an email address that makes it easy to locate. Of course there are tons of John Smith's. So the chances of getting johnsmith@....com is slim but you can become creative. JohnSmithDevotions or J.Smith100@... Use your imagination to make a name for yourself.

Look over your personal branding. What is the theme of your blog or website? Is your name clearly stated on the site other than under ABOUT? Is there an email address that matches you and your branding. SusieSmithWrites1@....

If you don't have a website, blog or a professional email your assignment is to begin to research and develop this all important first step to building a platform.

Blogs from Blogger.com are relatively user friendly for the beginner. WordPress blogs are a bit more advanced but again, fairly user friendly. Companies such as GoDaddy.com offer web building tools that teach you along the way and provide support should you get stuck. There are individuals who specialize in building websites and blogs you can easily maintain keikihendrick.com.

The point is, your platform as a writer begins on this very basic level. Your email address. If you do not have a business email, get one now. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, ComCast, Charter, all provide free email addresses. When you type in your email address, if is says something on the order of sassygalinboots (I got this once from a writer), then get a new one.

Begin to build your platform with a professional and recognizable email address. 

This article is provided for by Cindy Sproles and is part of basic training for Writers Advance Bootcamp. Check out this North Carolina writers conference at  www.writersadvancebootcamp.com.