Planting My Seeds by Andy Scheer

“I need to buy seeds.” As my wife drove us to church, I remembered the garden. My time at a writers conference, plus a week of rain, had kept me from planting.

If I wanted a crop, I needed to plant something—and that meant seeds.

Last fall I’d composed the garden with a layer of shredded leaves. After the snow melted, I’d twice turned over the soil. With a final raking, it would be ready to plant. If only I had some seeds.

At a garden center, I selected packets of green beans, peas, lettuce and carrots. My wife found sunflower and columbine seeds.

But for the past few days, as rains continued, the seeds have sat in the garage.

That’s a shame. The photos on the packets look good enough to eat. Even the varieties’ names sound enticing: Prizehead, Black-Seeded Simpson, Blue Lake Stringless, Landreth’s Stringless Green Pod, Danvers 126 Half-Long, Burpeeana Early.

I almost want to keep the packages inside. Maybe put them in a shadowbox.

That’s not what seeds are for. I need to tear open those packets, place the seeds in rows, and cover them with soil. I need to relinquish control and bury them.

I think of the writers conference. For four days, people attended classes, listened to panels, and had appointments. Now they have notebooks filled with information, minds filled with ideas.

There’s another package of seeds in my garage. The box of “Wildflower Mix” contains seeds for “17 beautiful varieties,” enough to cover one-hundred square feet.

There’s just one problem. The box says the seeds were packed for 2005. Someday I’ll get around to planting them. Maybe after I revisit that manuscript I started a few years ago.

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.

Why Are There Submission Instructions? by Linda S. Glaz

We handle very little sci-fi/fantasy/spec fiction of any kind. And we definitely DO NOT handle anything that has profanity or graphic sexuality. We each also have particular genres that we prefer to see. We ask that authors follow our non-fiction or fiction guidelines and then submit to us.

And yet…I continue to get erotica, fantasy, erotic fantasy…well, you get the picture.

We also spell out exactly how we would like submissions to come to us. In a proposal with specific information included as well as sample chapters…the first three sample chapters. And still, I get the first chapter, the last chapter, and the “one that’s really good”!

Editors and agents spell out what they want to see for a specific reason. We can move through them much more easily if they all are in a specific format. They is nothing that hurts the eyes more than to be on submission 20 for the day, and have it come through single-spaced, Arial-10pt. At that time of the day, I’m lucky to still be able to see double-spaced, Times New Roman-12 pt. But at least my eyes are used to it, so I can still see well enough to do what I think is a good job responding.

It is never good or professional to send proposals to all of the agents in one agency, even worse to blanket the entire industry of agents with the same email. All of us listed for each other to see.

When a professionally done proposal per agency guidelines is sent to one agent at a time (and I’m fine with authors sending out multiple submissions; I wouldn’t want you waiting before sending another), we can take those proposals more seriously. A well done prop gets your foot in the door. The more professionally done, the better.

Think about whether or not you would want your instructions followed; it opens the door immediately. And even if the writing isn’t quite there yet, an agent will probably be willing to have a second look if you followed the instructions the first time.

Do your homework. Know what the agents are looking for. Don’t ‘assume’ anything. If you follow the guidelines on agency sites, the chances are you are already ten steps above most.

Good luck, best wishes, and follow those instructions to a ‘t’.

Anyone Going to a Conference by Linda S. Glaz

Just returned from Maranatha conference and am looking forward to some really awesome proposal submissions, and some that I think might be good but need a little work. Well, if they aren’t exceptional, why did I even asked to see them?

It’s really very simple. Because that individual put a boatload of time and energy into preparing their pitches as well as, many times, getting up the courage to make an appointment with me. (Everyone knows how mean I am…LOL) Does that give them special rights? With me, it does. I remember being on the other side of the appointment and how brutal it was.

Folks who shell out hundreds, and sometimes, thousands of dollars in order to attend a conference at least deserves a chance to have my attention for more than fifteen minutes. So, yes, I do offer everyone the opportunity to send me their proposals for a better look. And if I don’t take it? I can at the very least offer some suggestions. Then perhaps next year they will be that much more prepared. And who knows? They might find their connection.

Anyone going to a conference…deserves our best as editors and agents. And my best is offering a bit more of my time.

A matter of taste by Terry Burns

I pick things to represent that I like to read.

That's not hard to understand. It's something I like and it holds my interest. I feel good about trying to get it out where others can read it as well. I'm happy to have my name attached to it. It's a matter of taste.

But what if an acquiring editor that I send it to does not share that taste and it isn't something they like to read? Well, duh, they're going to pass on it. They are looking for things that fit the catalog slots that they are trying to fill, but they are also looking for things that they personally enjoy. That's a matter of taste too.

I have editors who are good friends but have never bought anything from me. Our tastes are different. There are others who like similar things that I like and we've done quite a bit of business together. Often I take something because I do know somebody is looking for it. Maybe it is not my normal fare but I feel I know where it goes. The danger there is the fact that if the place I think it is supposed to go doesn't want it, there may be a limited market for it otherwise.

Then there are the editors that I just am not sure what they want. When I submit to them I don't get any feedback that will tell me what they like or did not like in a submission. Nothing to narrow it down and help me to better find something that would be a good fit for them. I can read something they edit for publication and maybe get an idea that way, but unfortunately with the large number of incoming submissions that I have to handle I don't have the kind of reading time that I would like to have.

I ask my clients to read in their genre. Perhaps between us we can stay abreast of books that will help us nail down these areas of interest, better define particular editor tastes. After all, we don't sell books to publishing houses, we sell them to an editor that really likes the offering personally.

It is, after all . . . a matter of taste. 

Is it ready to submit? by Terry Burns

Sitting here working through incoming submissions I have to shake my head as I wonder why some people thought they were ready to send it in. Competition is steep for the few slots for representation that I have, even steeper for the few publishing slots that acquisition editors have to fill, why would people waste an opportunity with anything less than their absolute best?

But they do.

I've said it many times, chances are an acquisition editor that takes on a book will then have the be the copy editor that works it up for publication. When they take the book they change hats. So if you wonder why it is important to have the formatting and the grammar and the punctuation right, why it isn't just all about the story, that hat change is the reason. If an acquisition editor keeps being pulled out of the story by noticing things they will have to fix and things they will have to change, then we have forced them into copy editor mode. Copy editors don't buy books. It's our job to give them a submission so clean and well edited that they don't get pulled out of the story by such things.

If the story is great either one of my assistants or I will try to work with the author to clean up these type problems. I do formatting and light editing as I read a submission if I have gotten to the point of asking for a full manuscript. But what if my workload is very heavy? I get several hundred submissions a month and I can't put that much work into all of them. One has to really catch my eye for me to do that.

Any author that is counting on someone on the other end to clean up and fix their work is taking a very low percentage shot. It could happen, but most of the time it is very unlikely. The professional writer makes sure it is as good as they can make it from the beginning.

Any person reading a submission is affected by early impressions as well. If they open something to see improper margins and formatting, if punctuation and editing problems start jumping out at them,, then they know they aren't dealing with a pro. They will still read until they reach the point where they know the submission is not right for them, but they do not have very high expectations. The little things DO matter, they matter very much.

We have a nifty page on our website entitled "Is it ready to submit?" that can help a writer take care of all these little details to create the most professional looking submission possible and to keep that editor from popping up in place of the acquisition person that is supposed to be reading it. The direct link to it is http://www.hartlineliterary.com/submit.html and you are welcome to make use of it.

Just remember, a poor submission is burning a bridge that a good submission on the same work might cross successfully. It is very difficult to get people to take a second look at a project that they have already rejected.

It's best to do it right the first time.

Targeting by Terry Burns

Think William Tell . . .

You know the story. Threatened with death, the only way you and your son could live is if you are able to shoot the apple off the head of your son. You're an expert with the crossbow . . . but it's your son!

I can imagine looking down that crossbow at that tiny apple so far away but having trouble seeing it. Seeing only the head of your son.

What does this have to do with writing or being an agent?

Sometimes I feel this way targeting opportunities for my clients. At any given time a project may only fit at one place in the whole publishing industry. Within a short period of time that place may be gone but now it only fits at one place and that place is at another house. It is all about getting the right product in just the right hands at just the right time. That sounds to me like as small a target as that apple.

Even finding the right hands is not easy. There may be a number of acquisition people at each house that might be a possibility for the project. All of them have the ability to turn a submission down but maybe only one of them is right for it, who might decide to accept it. If I send to the wrong one I've shot my client instead of the apple.

That's why I spend so much time simply trying to see who is publishing what, what genre's they are interested in. Not only what the publishing house is, but what specific editor was interested in it. That's important because personal tastes enter into it. There are editors that are good friends of mine but who have never acquired anything from me. Our tastes are different. Things I decide to represent are not what they like to read. Other editors have similar tastes and we work very well together.

It helps when I get feedback from submissions other than "not a fit," something that tells me more about what they like and what they don't care for. Otherwise I have to depend on other sources to better understand who is interested in publishing what.

It's all about trying to make the apple bigger.

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.