Workshop Wednesday

By repeated request we've started Workshop Wednesday. It will definitely play out through 2011, and beyond that we'll just have to see. We've received well over 200 queries at this point, but we are choosing at random, so don't be afraid to participate as per the guidelines in our original post.



For anyone wanting to comment, we ask that you comment in a polite and respectful manner, and we ask that you be as constructive as possible. If you can be useful to the brave souls who submitted their query and comment on the query, that's great. Please keep any anonymous tirades on publishing or other snarky comments to yourself. This is and should remain an open and safe forum for people to put themselves and their queries out there so that everyone can learn. I'm leaving comments open and open to anonymous posters, as I always have; don't make me feel the need to change that policy.



And for those who have never "met" Query Shark, get over there and do that. She's the originator of the query critique, the queen, if you will.





Dear Jessica



The ideal time to meet the love your life is probably not when you’re stalking your ex. Unless the love of your life is also stalking your ex that is...



I think this is a strong and interesting opening. My only hesitation would be that it sounds a little chick lit, but I'll hold judgement at this point. I'd also delete "that is"; I think it weakens the point.





Josie Stephenson is not just accident-prone - she's so intimate with disaster that she could probably have its baby and no one would ask questions. Thankfully she's still a virgin, so that's one thing she doesn't have to worry about. That just leaves her glamorous career at the mortuary, owing her godmother eleven new gnomes, and her fiance leaving her for another woman.



I'm totally thrown by this paragraph. It has nothing to do with the preceding paragraph and now I feel like you're tossing a lot of information of me, but none of it fits into a story, at least from my perspective.





All she wants to do is survive her heartbreak - and maybe get a new job, a new place to stay, and a dinosaur bone for her dog. Instead she finds herself falling for (in front of, on top of, and over) the mysterious new guy. But is he going to be the best thing she’s stumbled upon since shin pads? Or will he convince her that the only safe men are dead ones?



I think this could be a strong paragraph if I understood what the book was about. Honestly, if feels like you've brushed the hook away and you've definitely downplayed it. I assume, given the title, that the gnomes play some significant part of the book and are quite possibly a paranormal element, and yet I have absolutely no sense that this is paranormal. Or maybe it's not since you call it contemporary romance. See, I'm confused.



What exactly is this book about, what's the hook, what's the chief storyline. That's what I need to know, not fragments of who the character is.





Naughty Gnomes is a finished, contemporary romance of 83,000 words, set in a large rural town in Australia. Please find the first chapter and synopsis below.



Unless the gnomes are playing a large part in your book, and presumably the query, this title doesn't work. If you can show me in your query why the title would be "Naughty Gnomes" it would make sense.



And lastly, I miss that you didn't give me an bio. I assume (from your address actually) that you are from Australia, but I'd like to know a little about you, a tidbit of who you are.





Thank you for your time and consideration.



Sincerely









Jessica

John Locke's Simon & Schuster Deal

Okay,

I'm just fresh off the plane and I know I need to talk more about bios but something occurred that I've been waiting for so long on that I have to post on this.



Simon and Schuster signed John Locke to a print-only deal. This is HUGE for indie authors that are having success in the ebook world, and quite frankly it was something I didn't think I'd see.



I love that traditional publishers are starting to think outside the box and this is a win-win-win for all parties involved (readers, Locke, and S&S). Now, of course it took someone who could sell 1,000,000 books in less than half a year to get such a deal but once one pebble falls, others are sure to follow.



Bottom line...traditional publishers really shine in the bookstore model, so having them do what they do best, while giving the author freedom to play with ebooks (where the big-publisher really doesn't bring any "value add" and in fact can be a deterrent as their prices can be pretty high) is something that really makes sense to me and is a great advantage for the author.



I'll be keeping my eyes out to see if more of these "creative" deals start springing up. Just one more reason why there has never been a better time then now to be an author.

The Beggar's Garden - Michael Christie

I picked up this book recently based on a raving review in the local paper and let me just say that I was not disappointed.

This is a collection of loosely linked short stories set in and around Vancouver's east side. Each one is almost like a little vignette or a mini portrait of a character, each with his or her own story to tell and view on life. There are a few interactions and connections between the characters in the different stories, but no more than you would expect from a group of people living in the same neighbourhood. There is no cute-sy wrap up or tie up where all of the characters come together in a happy campfire sing-along in the end. (oops - do I sound too cynical there?)

What I really liked about these stories was the uniqueness of each one. All of the characters were memorable, and each one had a unique voice, some more likable than others, some more memorable than others, but each one with a story to tell. From the woman running a thrift shop to a heroin junkie getting high, to a grandfather trying to track down his grandson who is living on the streets, to a young couple who meet at the dog park then come together over their dogs' friendship, to a banker who "befriends" a beggar as his marriage is falling apart, to a man in a psychiatric hospital who descends into more and more delusions as he stops his anti-psychotic meds; each character seemed so real to me as I was reading the stories.

I can't pin down a story as being my favourite or least favourite, but I can say that this is one of the best collections of short stories that I have read in a long time. I started each story with anticipation to find out who would be introduced, and what story he or she would have to tell.

OK - have I raved enough about this book yet? I really hope to see it on some of the award lists this fall!

Mistress of the Son - Sandra Gulland

I think that I may have mentioned at some point in the past how much I enjoyed Sandra Gulland's Josephine books (The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.; Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe; and The Last Great Dance on Earth); and so I was looking forward to going 100ish years earlier with the same author.

The title character is Louise de la Vallière (aka Petite); born to a family of minor nobility with no money for a dowery either for marriage or to enter a convent; and destined through a series of chances to become mistress of Louis IV, the Sun King.

Unfortunately, while it was an enjoyable read, I didn't love it as much as the Josephine books. I quite enjoyed the beginning when Petite is a child, with the description of French country life in the 17th century. Unfortunately I found that it really lost momentum in the middle part when Petite reaches the court; and then there was a pile of action in the last 50 pages and then the book ended. I never had the feeling of being right there in the middle of the action, the way that I did with Josephine B.

It was an easy read though, perfect for the summer when I don't want to have to devote too much energy to reading. And for when I was staying with my sister and her 3 children under the age of 5 and had very little energy left in the evening when I finally had a chance to open a book!

Earthquakes, and Hurricanes, and Wild Fires, Oh My...

For those who may have been wondering if I dropped off the face of the planet. Well I sorta have. I had a planned 4 day trip to Death Valley with Michael who needed to do some hands on research for his current book. Just minutes before we left the earthquake hit our area. No real damage but spooked the heck out of the dog who refused to come back in the house (we all went outside in case another one was coming.



As Saturday approached (our planned return date) it was pretty obvious that our flights would not make it through. I couldn't even get to the airlines via phone to rebook so I finally just said screw it and got new one-way flights home for Tuesday from San Francisco so we could travel a bit.



Since Saturday we've been roaming the Sierra Nevada Mountains and visiting Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. There is a wild fire in Yosemite that is burning a number of the residences of the park rangers. One of the roads into the park is closed and about 1,000 fire fighters are woking to contain the blaze and they are evacuating some areas that have never been evacuated in the past.



I will be heading home today then tomorrow take off again to DragonCon so I'll start posting again in a bit. I'm sure you are more interested in marketing and publishing tips then hearing about my adventures but I thought I should at least stop in and tell you'll what's been happening.

Why I Do What I Do

I just wanted to thank you. A while back, you had a post about querying agents at the same agency. Previously, this was something I would never have considered doing, but after reading your post, I decided to take my chances and send to an agent I felt might be interested in my novel in spite of the fact that another agent there had already rejected me.



Well, I received a request for the full manuscript almost immediately, and I recently signed with said agent. I never would have queried him had I not read your blog post, and I would have lost an amazing opportunity in the process. Thank you for your post and for giving me the courage to take a chance.









Jessica

An Agent Leaves

I'm hoping you can help me understand something. I see mentioned occasionally that an agent is moving from one literary agency to another. From what I've been able to tell, this can mean transitioning their clients to someone else in the old agency and acquiring new ones with the new group.



Is that common? A writer spends so much time looking for the right literary agent; someone they click with and get along with who is passionate about their work. So is the writer signing with an agent or with the agency when they finally make that connection? I realize it's different when an agent just takes another career path, but while they're still in the business, how does the managing of clients work under these circumstances?





An agent leaving an agency can mean a ton of different things depending on the contract the agent has with the agency. The clients could go along for the ride or stay with the original agency. Sometimes the contracts the agent negotiated stay with the agency, but the clients themselves, and their new clients, would go along with the agent. I don't know that it's common for agents to leave agencies unless they are starting their own. I guess I've never thought about how often it does or does not happen.



The only way to know what would happen with you in that situation is to ask the agent when an offer of representation is received what would happen if that agent chooses to leave the agency.





Jessica

Christie Craig: Three Why Questions; Three Writing Tips

Christie Craig

Don't Mess With Texas

Publisher: Forever Books

Pub date: August 2011

Agent: Kim Lionetti





(Click to Buy)







I get a lot of questions tossed my way. For today’s guest blog, I decided to answer three of them, along with three connecting snippets of writing advice.





Why do you set all your books in fictional Texas towns?



Most people are surprised to learn that I’m not a native Texan. However, I was only here a few weeks when I knew this was where I’d hang my hat. Texas and Texans are just . . . well, unique. I mean, where else is it illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow, shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel, or own more than six dildos? Yup, those are real laws in this fine state; I know because I checked when I decided to live here. (Not that I’m into graffitiing cows, shooting buffaloes, or stockpiling dildos. I just like to know the laws of the land, so I can poke fun at them in my books.) So I guess what drives me to base my books in Texas is that this place is one of a kind. And since I try to write one-of-a-kind books, it fits. And for what drives me to use fictional towns, that’s easy. I don’t want to worry about getting geographical facts incorrect. Okay, I’m lazy and hate research.



Writing tip #1: Using fictional towns equals less research and less hassle. You won’t get readers emailing you notes like: There isn’t a fifty-foot-high bridge in Spring, Texas, like you used in your book.





Why do you add suspense and humor to your romance novels?



Years ago, I published a sweet Silhouette Romance. Unable to sell a second book, I focused on my freelance career. I wrote words to feed knowledge-hungry individuals. I wrote about China, calligraphy, window fashions, tomato horn worms, and ugly shoes.



Basically, if an editor would pay for it, I wrote it. After an eight-year sabbatical from fiction, I was desperate to return to writing novels. I announced my intentions to my family, my friends, and to the innocent bystander at the post office: I, Christie Craig, was going to publish another book even if I had to kill somebody to accomplish it.



What I didn’t realize was that’s exactly what it would take. When I whacked my first person, guilt sat on my shoulders like a fat gorilla. But as soon as I washed the imaginary blood off my hands and reread my deadly scene, I had an epiphany: Nothing can liven up a party or a plot like a dead body.



Since then, mystery and murder are prevalent in my work. Yes, there’s other stuff like romance, but I’m not sure I can write a story without having one person kick the bucket. Or at least having someone try to kick someone else’s bucket. Death or someone facing death excites me, and that comes across in my writing.



As for the humor? A writer needs to stay true to their writing voice, and my voice is humorous. When I first started writing my funny suspense novels someone warned me that murder wasn’t funny. They’re right, but how people respond to it under duress can be a real belly-roller.



Take Nikki Hunt’s situation in Don’t Mess With Texas: Nikki thought her night couldn’t get worse when her no-good cheating ex ditched her at dinner, sticking her with the expensive bill. Furious, she tells anyone who will listen to her that she’s gonna kill that man. Then she found his body stuffed in the trunk of her car and lost her two-hundred-dollar meal all over his three–thousand-dollar suit. Now not only is Nikki nearly broke, she’s a murder suspect. See, that’s kind of funny.



Writing tip #2: Find what excites you, what sparks your emotions, and stay true to your writing voice. Be prepared to ignore well-meaning pieces of writing advice when your gut says it’s not right.





Why did I choose Kim Lionetti as my agent and why I’m still with her?



I’d heard some good things about BookEnds, and I liked the fact Kim had been an editor. I submitted, not knowing of her upcoming maternity leave. Months later, one of Kim’s clients judged my work in a contest and recommended me. Kim recognized my name as someone from her post-pregnancy slush pile. And the rest is history.



Why I stay with Kim is another matter. Contrary to what Kim probably believes, it’s not her wit or sparkling personality. This is a marriage. And it holds a lot of similarities with regular marriages. There’s a honeymoon stage where everything is blissful: i.e., I love her because I’m sure she’s going to sell me to some big rich publisher; she loves me because she’s sure she’s going to sell me to some big rich publisher.



Ahh, but the honeymoon period doesn’t last forever. Revisions are requested—rejections come in, and the initial bliss wanes. (Kim and I were together for a year before I sold.)



Just like in regular marriages you learn your partner doesn’t lower the toilet seat lid and they stop telling you they love you every day. Now, I’m not accusing Kim of not putting the toilet seat down and I’m not sure she’s ever told me she loves me. My point is that you start learning how you and your agent are really going to get along, how you communicate—or don’t communicate—and how you will have to compromise to make the marriage work.



This is actually the most important stage in an agent-author relationship. If you can’t learn to respect, communicate, or compromise you’re likely headed for the Big D. It may even be after you’ve sold several books. Over seventy-five percent of published authors who divorce their agents do so due to a lack of one of the above elements. Sometimes the personalities never meshed, and sometimes it was a breakdown in communication on the side of one or both parties.



So exactly why am I still with Kim after six years? Two reasons. One, agents wear many hats. A good agent will wear different hats for different clients. And Kim Lionetti wears all the hats I need her to wear: editor, adviser, cheerleader, contract negotiator, big bad agent who fights in my corner. All good agents in some instances wear these hats, but if you get an agent who prefers wearing the editor hat more than you want them to wear that hat, then you may not be a good fit. If they excel at wearing that adviser hat but you’d like them to wear the cheerleader hat more often, this can cause friction. Kim’s preferences for the hats match all my needs.



The second reason goes back to the respect, communication, and compromise issue. She respects what I want to achieve in my career. I respect her knowledge of the business. Her style of communication and mine fit well; neither of us are intimidated by the other, and when we don’t agree on something (and that’s not that uncommon) we debate until one or the other changes the other's mind, or we compromise.



And much to Kim’s dismay, this doesn’t mean she’s the perfect agent, any more than I’m the perfect client. I don’t think those birds exist. Again, it goes back to the whole marriage thing. I’ve been married to my hubby for over twenty-five years. Some of you couldn’t live with that man for twenty-five minutes. But our personalities work and we’re almost perfect for each other. And the same goes for Kim and me.



Writing tip #3: Before you sign on the dotted line for any agent, ask enough questions to know if your personalities will fit together and be prepared to communicate and compromise. Know what type of hats the agent is mostly likely to wear and compare it to what you need them to wear.



Thank you, BookEnds, for having me and a huge thank-you to the readers for letting me share a few of my Why answers. I hope something I’ve said is helpful, and if it falls into that category of not matching what your gut says, then toss it out like last week's leftovers.



Have a great day.



CC

Only the Righteous

So here's the story . . .



I receive a message through my LinkedIn account. Honestly, I'm not sure why I have a LinkedIn account. Occasionally I've looked for clients for nonfiction projects through LinkedIn, but rarely has anything ever come of it. Truthfully, the most success I've had in social networking comes through Twitter.



Anyway, a message came through LinkedIn from someone I've never met, I'm not even sure we're connected, asking for assistance in "partnering with a literary agent." This person was a fellow alum from Marquette University and proceeded to tell me about their book. The author ended by telling me there was a book proposal ready. My response, as is my response to all queries sent through social networks (if I respond at all), was that I don't accept queries through social networks, but the author should feel free to query following the guidelines on our website.



The author, apparently because we attended the same school, felt that she was exempt from following my guidelines and was apparently put off by my response, "I'm afraid I do not accept queries via social networking sites. To query me and BookEnds you should review the guidelines on our website."



Well, not that you're surprised, that set off a sh**storm. One that I can now honestly say amuses me and I'm sharing for your entertainment only. The author corrected me to explain how, after rereading the original message, there was nothing in it to indicate this was a query and that not only was my response disappointing, but indicated I have a "lack of belief in Marquette Ideals." What?! What?! Because I stick to a company policy I am now apparently morally corrupt?



And then after explaining that LinkedIn is a professional networking site and not Facebook and that I use it to solely seek to benefit from others the author said, "While I realize you cannot instill decency into people, it disturbs me to have Marquette's name to continue to be represented in such a poor manner."



And there you have it. I am nothing but a money-grubbing, self-absorbed, indecent human misusing my alma mater. Dang, I'm a jerk.





Jessica

Workshop Wednesday

By repeated request we've started Workshop Wednesday. It will definitely play out through 2011, and beyond that we'll just have to see. We've received well over 200 queries at this point, but we are choosing at random, so don't be afraid to participate as per the guidelines in our original post.



For anyone wanting to comment, we ask that you comment in a polite and respectful manner, and we ask that you be as constructive as possible. If you can be useful to the brave souls who submitted their query and comment on the query, that's great. Please keep any anonymous tirades on publishing or other snarky comments to yourself. This is and should remain an open and safe forum for people to put themselves and their queries out there so that everyone can learn. I'm leaving comments open and open to anonymous posters, as I always have; don't make me feel the need to change that policy.



And for those who have never "met" Query Shark, get over there and do that. She's the originator of the query critique, the queen, if you will.





Before I get into the critique I want to say that I think this is a really good letter. Sure, there's always something to critique, but for the most part I think this query could go out to agents as is and I do think the author will have some success with it.



Dear Ms. Faust,



I am seeking representation for my 98,000 word mainstream novel, Doubting River.



This is just fine. My only comment is that I think you could come up with a better title. I don't see how this title ties into the book and I suspect you could come up with something a little more striking.





Former runaway, Charm Freeman, returns to his old life after his sister's husband is killed in a car accident. Initially planning to fulfill his brotherly obligation and then disappear for another twenty years, Charm reluctantly agrees to stay and help with his sister's injured son, but they clash over how to best help the ten year old deal with the death of his father.



I have to admit, maybe I read too many romance novels, but my first thought was that Charm was the husband's brother and that the two were going to fall in love. My second thought was that since it doesn't come into play in the query at all, do you even need to mention that he's a former runaway? Honestly, this makes the book sound like it's about Charm, but later I sense that the book is really about the boy and Charm. I think you could switch the focus and make it more about the boy and what Charm needs to do to help his nephew.





Before the accident, the boy and his father were training a neighbor's retriever for a field trial. The boy desperately wants to fulfill his father's dream, but his mother believes anything to do with the dog is a setup for heartache. The past belongs in the past; the way forward is forward. Against his sister's wishes, Charm and the boy join together to turn an injured retriever into a champion, a journey that forces the family to face the issues that tore them apart only to find salvation in the past they tried to forget.



My only concern with this is it lacks a little voice to me. It feels a little lifeless. If the dog is injured I think you should mention that from the beginning. The first time you mention it you say it's a neighbor's retriever. So are they training the same dog or are you talking about two different dogs? I also think you don't focus on the conflict enough. Since I assume this is women's fiction and there's a high level of emotion in this story, I want to get a sense of that emotion in the query since that is what will draw readers to the story.





An excerpt of this novel, Doubting River, won the mainstream category of the 2010 Sandy literary contest. I am a former dog trainer and the author of Click for Joy, the winner of the 2003 "Best Training/Behavior Book" award presented by the Dog Writers of America. I am also the owner of the 7000-member ClickerSolutions (dog training) mailing list, and I have published numerous articles in the magazine "Teaching Dogs."



This is all good.





My contact information is below. I look forward to hearing from you!



Sincerely,









Jessica

Bios...Is yours working for you?

One of the things that you'll use over and over again (on your blog, in the back matter of your book, during author interviews) is your bio. Yet most are sorely lacking. I'm the first to admit that I was guilty of writing a "less than desirable" bio in the past - but that's why we are here - to learn from my mistakes and hopefully do better in the future.



First you should recognize that you need more than one bio. I actually suggest 3:

• Super short - for twitter (160 characters)
• Medium - 500 - 600 characters
• Long - 500 - 700 words

Your bio should change over time. Every few months I look at the bios of myself, my authors, and Michael to see if they should be revised. Did you just release a new book? Get an award? Cross an important milestone?



I'll come back another day and discuss the super short and medium but for today I want you to think about your "long form". It should:

• Give the reader insight about you
  
  
• Be engaging
• Be truthful and heartfelt
  
  
• Tell a story

I'm going to pick on Blake Crouch for just a second. (I love you Blake but you illustrate my point well). He's a great writer of hardcore Thrillers and in some cases they get a bit on the "disturbing side" as many works of that genre does. Here is Blake's bio from Amazon:

BLAKE CROUCH is the author of DESERT PLACES, LOCKED DOORS, SNOWBOUND, and ABANDON, which was an IndieBound Notable Selection, all published by St. Martin's Press. Blake's latest thriller, RUN, his first indie release, hit the Amazon Top 50.

His short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Thriller 2, Shivers VI, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and other anthologies.

In 2009, he co-wrote "Serial" with JA Konrath, which has been downloaded over 500,000 times and topped the Kindle bestseller list for 4 weeks. That story and ABANDON have also been optioned for film. He is currently at work with JA Konrath on the novel STIRRED, the conclusion to his Andrew Z. Thomas series. Blake lives in Colorado. His website is www.blakecrouch.com.

Blake took the "establish credibility route" - which is fine. He mentions his books, and how successful they have been - but this really doesn't "pull me in" or endear me to him as a writer. Readers like having a personal connection with people they read and Blake didn't give us enough about "him" to do this. I read an interview once where Blake mentioned that when he was young his parents were pulled in for a conference when little Blake wrote a paper for school that was "disturbing"...What a great insight!! What a fun story for someone who writes about serial killers and grisly murders. Blake, why isn't this in your bio?



To illustrate the "tell me a story" aspect of the bio let's look at Michael's

After finding a manual typewriter in the basement of a friend's house, Michael inserted a blank piece of paper and typed: It was a dark and stormy night and a shot rang out. He was just eight years old. But the desire to fill the blank page and see what doors the typewriter keys would unlock wouldn't let him go. For ten years Michael developed his craft by studying authors such as Stephen King, Ayn Rand, and John Steinbeck...just to name a few. During that time he wrote ten novels, and after finding no traction in publishing, he gave up and vowed never to write creatively again.

Michael discovered that never is a very long time, and he ended his hiatus from writing after a decade. The itch returned when he decided to create a series of books for his then thirteen-year-old daughter, who was struggling in school due to dyslexia. Intrigued by the idea of writing a series with an overarching story line, he created the Riyria Revelations. Each of the six-books were written as individual episodes but also included intertwining elements and mysteries that develop over time. Michael describes this endeavor as something he did "just for fun with no intention of publishing." After presenting the first manuscript to his daughter, he was chagrined that she declared, "I can't read it like this, can't you get it published?"

So began his second adventure on the road to publication, which included: drafting his wife to be his business manager; signing with an independent press; and later creating a small press. After two and a half years, the first five books sold more than 60,000 copies and ranked in the top twenty of multiple Amazon fantasy lists. In November 2010, he leveraged his success and received his first commercial publishing contract for three novels from Orbit Books (the fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group, USA). In addition, Michael reached international status with foreign right translations including: France, Spain, Russia, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

Today, Michael continues to fill blank pages and has three projects under development: A modern fantasy, a literary fiction piece, and a prequel to his bestselling Riyria Revelations.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

2010 Fantasy Book Critic #1 Indie Fantasy (Wintertide & Emerald Storm)

2010 Iceberg Ink Award Best Read (Avempartha)

2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 25 (Wintertide & Emerald Storm)

2010 Bookworm Blues Overall Best Reads of 2010 (Avempartha)

2010 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (The Emerald Storm)

2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 12 Novels as of First Quarter (The Emerald Storm)

2010 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist (Avempartha)

2010 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist (Nyphron Rising)

2010 Fantasy Book Critic Top 5 Novels of Second Half of 2010 (Wintertide)

2009 Winner of Book Spot Central's Fantasy Tournament of Books (Avempartha)

2009 Speculative Fiction Junkie's Top 5 Close Contender(The Crown Conspiracy)

2009 Top 10 Books by Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews (The Riyria Revelations)

2009 National Indie Book Award Finalist (The Crown Conspiracy)

2008 ReaderViews Annual Literary Award Finalist (The Crown Conspiracy)

2007 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist (The Crown Conspiracy)

BOOKS OF THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS (Ridan Publishing)

The Crown Conspiracy (October 2008)

Avempartha (April 2009)

Nyphron Rising (October 2009)

The Emerald Storm (April 2010)

Wintertide (October 2010)

Percepliquis* (January 2012)

OMNIBUS VERSIONS of RIYRIA REVELATIONS (Orbit Publishing)

Theft of Swords (11/2011)

Rise of Empire (12/2011)

Heir of Novron (1/2012)

*Limited edition release

CONTACT INFORMATION

Michael's website: http://www.michaelsullivan-author.com

Michael's blog: http://riyria.blogspot.com/

Michael's twitter: http://twitter.com/author_sullivan

Michael's publishers: http://www.ridanpublishing.com & http://www.orbitbooks.net/

I love this story about when he was a kid, not just because it is true, but it really makes me "like Mike". I can picture him typing on the page. Thinking he just did something great, and scrunching up his fact to figure out what comes next and licking his lips as he starts the next line. It's personal.



The second part of the bio shows Michael as an underdog that had to go to great lengths to get his books to an audience. It concludes with him finally "making it" and we all feel good whe we see a little guy win.



Finally we round out the bio with a list of his books (in order so people know what order to read them in) and awards that he has won (to give credibility) and last but not least ways in which his fans can reach him.



This is 588 words and when I have to "reduce it for space" I remove in order:

• Awards (brings it to 430 words)
  
  
• Out of print versions (392 words)
• Reduce contact to just website and email (380 words)

So today's homework assignment...look at your current bios and see if they are working for you as best they can and if not do a little rewriting.

Life as Seen Through Queries

If life were like queries:

• All children would be orphans
• All husbands are keeping a marriage-destroying secret from their wives
• Small towns would have an impossibly high murder rate
• At the age of 16, 17, or 18 we would all learn the secret our parents have been keeping from us (and it's always some super-cool paranormal power)
• Returning home always means falling in love with the hunky man (or gorgeous gal) we left behind

Jessica

BISG July 2011 ebook Buying behavior

The Book Study Industry Group has been surveying book buyers on their ebook buying habits for the last few years now. In some of the preliminary pages that they released was the following graph:

Green line: % of people who read e-books daily/weekly

Blue line: % ebooks purchased (estimate)

I took away a few things from this:

• First, as I've been saying for ages now there was a dramatic shift in ebook sales for Nov and the "good times" continued through about March where sales stabilized rather than increase dramatically month to month. I saw this first in my husband's Riyria Revelations sales, which went from 1,000 sales per month in September to 10,000 a month for Nov-Feb. November was the first month that most of the "top selling" indies saw their first significant increase in sales including: Hocking, Locke, and Konrath
  
  



• Second, in 2009 ebooks had not crossed over to the mainstream in anyway and for most of 2009 (including the X-mas season) remained relatively flat
  
  



• Third, April - June seems relatively level at about 13% - I suspect when we get this data next year it will show relatively flat until about October in which case I think we'll see similar rises as last Xmas season.

The report also reported that ebook sales in Q1 2011 showed 13% of total book sales (based on Bowker Pub-Track's survey of 6,000 US book buyers.

How Many Clients Do You Have

Anytime I offer representation I'm asked how many clients I have. It's a fair question and I get why authors ask. The problem is that there is no right answer. The other problem is that I refuse to count up my clients. I don't want to know. I don't need to know.



The problem with this question of how many is too many has so many variables that it really doesn't matter.



For example, what is the agent like? I've known some agents who are superagents. They can seemingly jump giant publishing conglomerates in a single bound while juggling hardcover tomes, reading a novel, and editing a masterpiece. I've known others who can barely get their pants on in the morning without help. How organized an agent is can make a big difference in how many clients she can handle.



What are the clients like? I have clients I literally haven't heard from in years. I still consider them clients, but at this point they are either busy with other things or quietly working on their next books. I have clients (especially nonfiction) who have written one or two books, and while they're still clients and we're still seeing money and working on foreign sales, I don't hear much from them either. I have clients who call or email almost daily. I have clients I edit for and those I don't. . . .



The answer to this question isn't about how many clients an agent has, it's about how the clients feel about the agent. Do the clients feel that the agent is too busy to answer emails or attend to their needs or do the clients consistently feel like they are the most important person on the agent's list (or up there anyway). Maybe this isn't a question you ask the agent, but instead you ask the client how the agent makes her feel and how well the agent attends to her needs.





Jessica

Competing with Yourself...Amazon Marketplace

Today's post is a quick little trick to earn yourself a bit of extra income. If you've read my post on CreateSpace Vs LightningSource you'll remember that one of the advantages about Lightning Source is you can set your discount rate low (20% which is 20% better than the 40% you get from CreateSpace). Now doing so will mean a few things:

• Amazon probably won't discount your books (something to consider in your decision making)
• Most resellers won't carry your books (as there is not enough margin)

But this presents an interesting opportunity for you in that you can offer a discount (and even provide a means by which people can receive signed copies...Amazon Marketplace.



Amazon Marketplace is a free program by which anyone (even you the author/publisher) can offer books for sale. They show up on the Amazon page as shown here:



When you offer deep discounts to the distribution chain, many sellers will beat you in price as they will be willing to offer the books at a pretty tight margin. But since you are only offering 20% discount most will list theirs higher than you can offer yours.



For Full Share I put my books in Amazon Maketplace for sale for $11.95. I make four listings:

• New with signature
• New without author signature
• Used with signature
• Used without author signature

They have an "individual plan" with no monthly fees which I recommend if you are not selling a ton each month. The fees under this plan are:

• $0.99 closing fee
  
  
• 15% referral fee
• #1.35 variable closing fee

(If you sell more than 40 items a month you can opt for the Professional plan which has a $39.99 monthly fee and eliminates the $0.99 closing fee).



So for those that don't want to pay the $13.95 full list price for Full Share, they'll look under the "new and used" links and find the following:

• $11.95 from Ridan Publishing
• $14.32 from pbshops
• $16.99 from BooKnackrh
• $17.00 from bargainbookstores
• $17.04 from Quick and Easy Marketplace
• $17.65 from super_star_seller
• $18.86 from Buye: Buy to Give
• $19.21 from invise
• $20.40 from any_book
• $20.58 from brookebooks

So who do you think they'll choose? Yep - you and a nice perk is that Amazon charges $3.99 for shipping but if you use Media mail it will only cost you $3.01 for shipping (includes $0.19 for tracking) so you'll make $0.98 off of that.



So...let's break it down. If they buy the book from Amazon or one of the other resellers you'll receive:

• $13.95 - 20% - Lightning Source print fee = 13.95 - $2.79 - (302 * .013 + .90) = $6.37

For any sold through the marketplace you'll receive

• 11.95 + shipping - $0.99 - $1.35 - 15% - Create Space print fee - shipping cost = $11.95 + $3.99 - $2.34 - $1.79 - (302 * .012 + .85) - $3.01 = $4.33

Which is less - but it allows you to offer a discount for the books (many people won't buy without a discount) and they'll be attracted to the option of getting it signed. Plus, $4.33 a book is nothing to sneeze about - most authors make $0.60 - $1.20 on paperback books so you are still coming out in the plus column.



Of course you'll make the most when they buy direct - and you'll have the advantage of getting their email addresses. But that is for another time - so stay tuned.

Thought for the Day

I love it when people start their query with something along the lines of "I know a query should get to the point, but that's not my style and I like to do things my own way," or "I know you don't accept unrequested manuscripts, but that's not my style and I like to do things my own way," or "I know a mystery should really have a mystery in it, but that's not my style and I like to do things my own way."

Isn't that a little like me saying, "I know I shouldn't get fall-down drunk at writers' conferences, but that's not my style and I like to do things my own way"?

Jessica

What bestseller list can you trust?

The calculation for the New York Times Bestseller list is a closely guarded secret. In the past it was based off of sales to retailers (not books bought in the stores) so it was possible to hit the list by an aggressive sales campaign to bookstores. This meant that some not-so-bestselling books hit the list because buy-in is not the same as sell-through and the huge returns were not accounted for after the fact.



Also in the past, the NYT indicated that they did not take into account online sales, though I suspect they do nowadays because online sales superstars are now hitting the list (even some self-published authors even though the list description clearly states that self-published works are excluded.



In October 2009, the NYT started using Nielson Bookscan data which takes into account "actual sales" as recorded by readers actually walking out the door with books in their hands - but the BookScan data misses a lot of sales and is terribly inaccurate.



I'm not a big fan of the NYT list - it seems pretty biased to the the "old model" where bookstores ruled the book buying world.



Amazon, on the other hand, is based on real live actual sales directly to consumers, so this is the list I spend a great deal of my time reviewing. And the great thing about Amazon's lists is not only do they track the top 100 in multiple categories, but they also have the Mover's and Shaker's list that shows whose sales have skyrocketed in a short burst.



I watch the Mover and Shaker list a lot. It alerts me to recent trends and promotional aspects - for instance the way I first noticed "The Big Deal" and "Sunshine Deals" wasn't from an email announcement or noticing the links on the pages...but because the Mover and Shaker list had some strange movement (a bunch of books going from 1,200 - 3,400 suddenly showing up at 200 - 300.



To bet on the Movers and Shaker List you have to be ranked 400 or less and your change in ranking from one day to the next has to be significant. Ridan authors have been on the Mover's and Shaker's lists a lot. People who have made the list include: Michael Sullivan, Nathan Lowell, Leslie Ann Moore, and now Joe Haldeman.



Joe's Forever War first hit the list on 8/12/2011. I don't have a list of all the times it was on as titles tend to bounce on and off the list but here are some snapshots I found:

• 8/12/2011 - #9 moved from 529 to 377 (40% increase)
• 8/13/2011 - #93 moved from 410 to 378 (8% increase)
• 8/17/2011 - #37 moved from 404 to 318 (16% increase)
• 8/18/2011 - #56 moved from 354 to 297 (19% increase)

There are a few milestones I look for with any title.

• 1,000 - once you reach this you're doing well enough that the Amazon engine of recommendation and also bought are starting to pay some dividends.
  
  
  
  
• 400 - eligible for Mover's and Shakers - usually once you hit this level it is easy to stay in the 200 - 500 ranking as you are getting more exposure through the Amazon engine
  
  
  
  
• 100 - The big time, if you hit this list you are really doing something. Most indies and self-published authors only hit this with price breaks (most are $0.99). There have been a few $2.99 on the list but they are usually second books in a series. There has only been one author that I've seen that hit the list with $3.99 and that is J.R. Rain who did so with books #3 and #4 of a Vampire Series. I'm still waiting for a fiction $4.99 book to hit the list - there have been a few non-fiction one by John Locke the other by Seth Godin.

Sadly, no Ridan author has hit the top 100...yet. I few got very close:

• Full Share by Nathan Lowell - 117
• Soldier of the Legion by Marshall Thomas - 148
• The Crown Conspiracy by Michael J. Sullivan - 102

As we price our books at $4.95 it's a bit harder for us to get onto the list - I'm sure if I dropped one of the popular books to $0.99 then it would get on the list but that would be trading income for a high ranking and I'm not willing to do that.



So, I'll continue to count on the Amazon lists for my "finger on the pulse" of the books that are selling well - they have the biggest share of the market and their data is based on actual sales and I like that rather than some obscure algorithm.



Here's to hoping all of you will one day find yourself on one of those lists.

Taking the Summer Off

In your opinion, is it better for an agent to wait till after the summer to send a novel out on submission? Is it a myth that the publishing industry basically shuts down in August? Are there any advantages in NOT waiting?





I don't think there's a universally correct answer to this. I think it depends what your agent knows about the editors she wants to submit to and your agent's own schedule. If your agent has plans to be out of town maybe it is best she hold off on submitting. I don't know that publishing "shuts down" in August. Truthfully, I had a crazy two weeks between RWA and the July 4th weekend when I had offers on the table and it was taking weeks to finalize them because of RWA, editor vacations, and the holiday. It happens. It's summer. All of that being said, we've had many years where August resulted in our largest sales month of the year, primarily because it is so quiet and so many do vacation that editors have more time to actually catch up on their reading and hopefully find something they can get excited about.



When it comes to August, like many things, there's no right or wrong. A book could easily be read quickly by an editor who finds a relaxed schedule in August or sit and fall to the bottom of big piles because an editor happens to be away for two weeks and your material arrived during that time.



Jessica

Agents as Publishers

Today's post is "by request" as someone asked me to comment on the recent trend of agents becoming publishers. There are some that say it is a conflict of interest, that an agent should be working to place their work with a publisher and not acting as a publisher themselves.



To be honest...there is a part of me that feels that way too. It's kind of a matter of serving two masters. I think that most successful people find something they are good at and do that thing very well. To be trying to walk both sides of that may be difficult to balance. But my biggest problem is not with conflict of interest but rather do they have the skills required to make a book a success...and that generally comes down to marketing.



I know that in today's publishing environment agents are scrambling to find out what part they can play. I think there is much that they can do that fits squarely with their training and strengths. For instance, agents are used to reading a book and seeing the good and bad things about it. For indies, I think there will be a huge market for content editors. Those that can give critical feedback that can take a book that shows some good potential and making it great.



So for new works...I think an agent can be a great content editor which is one of the major jobs that a publisher does (or should do). But it's not all that is necessary. But...if you need substantial story editing and even copy editing, then getting it from an agent who takes a cut might make more sense then spending several hundred or thousands of dollars to get the book launched.



But, in most cases where this comes about is not for "new titles" it is for back list reverted works and that is a horse of a different color. Because this book has already been edited and is "good to go" for the market. So here's what's left:

• Formatting - either for ebook, or print, or both -- ebook formatting is amazingly easy so much so that I personally think people should do this themselves...or if they pay someone else to not pay more than $100 - $200.
  
  
  
  
• Cover Art - something the agent will probably be outsourcing. Since this will come out of their pockets - then it's not such a bad idea. (Although I've heard of some "arrangements" where the author is being asked to pay for this ... then what is the agent doing for their cut?
  
  
  
  
• Marketing - well now that is where the rubber meets the road. This is not a business of, "if you build it people will come". Well - this may be the case for some very popular books but if they are so then why were they dropped? And if this is so what value add is the agent/publisher bringing? Marketing is key to a book's success and I've proven five times now that once I concentrate a little marketing loving on a project (that is well written) then getting sales of tens of thousands of books is doable...but....my background is marketing. I understand how to build a brand, how to promote, how to get people excited and I work pretty hard at that. Will an agent do the same? Will they know what to do? Will they be successful?

If the answer is yes - then I say sure - go with an agent/publisher - after all they are just taking 15% and a royalty share of 85% is pretty generous and a book sitting idle and unavailable isn't doing anyone any good. But they better be doing things to earn that 15% - if they are just slapping on a cover, formatting, and getting the book "for sale" then do as Dean Wesley Smith suggests and pay for "day labor".



Anyway - that's my two cents on the matter - comments?

Workshop Wednesday

By repeated request we've started Workshop Wednesday. It will definitely play out through 2011, and beyond that we'll just have to see. We've received well over 200 queries at this point, but we are choosing at random, so don't be afraid to participate as per the guidelines in our original post.



For anyone wanting to comment, we ask that you comment in a polite and respectful manner, and we ask that you be as constructive as possible. If you can be useful to the brave souls who submitted their query and comment on the query, that's great. Please keep any anonymous tirades on publishing or other snarky comments to yourself. This is and should remain an open and safe forum for people to put themselves and their queries out there so that everyone can learn. I'm leaving comments open and open to anonymous posters, as I always have; don't make me feel the need to change that policy.



And for those who have never "met" Query Shark, get over there and do that. She's the originator of the query critique, the queen, if you will.



Dear Ms. Faust,



I would like to submit KINDRED THREADS after learning of your interest in historical fiction through WritersMarket.com:



My first caution to this author is to check and double-check where your information is coming from. I don't represent historical fiction, although I do represent historical romance and historical mysteries. They aren't the same thing. Whenever possible, always check an agent's website. That's where you'll find the best, most up-to-date information.





There are many ways for a woman to die in 1795 and Jane Wallis has seen most of them. Sickness. Childbirth. Kitchen fires. Though Indians mostly stay put across the Ohio, outlaws still roam western Virginia. Dealing with an occasional thief is as much a part of frontier living as selling her husband's whiskey to trappers and hunters.



I'm not sure what you're trying to say in this paragraph. It gives me the sense that Jane Wallis is going to discover there's a way to die that she hasn't yet scene and yet, when I read the next paragraph, that's not the case at all. I also feel a disconnect with the sentence "Though Indians stay put..." Are you implying she hasn't seen an Indian massacre or just generally describing the area? I guess the last two sentences don't really fit to me with the huge statement that she's seen many ways for a woman to die.





Jane pays scant attention when she hears of an outlaw camp somewhere in the backcountry. She has other things on her mind: new settlers, troublesome in-laws, and a difficult pregnancy. But the outlaws become bold as winter sets in, increasing their thefts and throwing the settlement of Meadow River into turmoil. The night comes when Jane is alone with her children and thieves force their way into her home. One of them is a local girl with a grudge, giving Jane every reason to wonder if she—and her family—will survive the night.



My biggest concern with this paragraph is that it feels very contemporary, there's no historical voice in here. This is something that is hard to explain because there's no specifics to point out, but it just doesn't feel historical.



If the outlaws are throwing the settlement into turmoil, wouldn't she start paying attention? If left alone wouldn't she be warned? It doesn't ring true to me. I also don't get the "local girl with a grudge," that doesn't sound scary to me. I guess, based on the preceding two paragraphs, I'm not seeing enough of a book here. I can see where a woman trapped in a house with outlaws could be terrifying, but that's not coming through in your query at all. Is that all the book is about? Because in your next paragraph you say it tells of a year in Meadow River, which implies this just might be one of many stories.





Seen through Jane's eyes, KINDRED THREADS tells of one year in Meadow River. It is a 98,000 word historical novel depicting the feminine side of pioneer life. Woven into the fabric of KINDRED THREADS are old-time ballads, figures from Appalachian history, and tales nested within the tale.



I think this is a nicely written paragraph (and query), but I have no sense of what the story this book is telling is or, I guess, what's compelling about the story.





The success of Kathleen Kent's The Heretic's Daughter and the newly released Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks indicates there is a market for fiction set in early America. KINDRED THREADS shares with these books a female protagonist, though it moves the frontier forward in time and location.



I think this is a great paragraph. It shows you've been doing your research and know the market. The only hitch I see is that you're picking huge names in the historical fiction market, which means that a debut author is really no competition. It's like saying horror is selling (it's not) because Stephen King came out with a new book. Stephen King, like Geraldine Brooks, no longer rights in a genre. They have become brands unto themselves.





I have loved pioneer stories since discovering A Little House on the Prairie as a child, growing up to receive a BA in history from Atlanta's Emory University. My work has been published in journals and magazines.



I think this is fine, as is the rest.





Thank you for your time and consideration.



Sincerely,









Jessica

Does Social Networking Work?

Do sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking avenues do anything for you or your career? I guess that depends on how you use it. Three of my most recent clients came to me through just those avenues.

In one case I contacted a client of mine to ask if she had any interest in writing a nonfiction book I had a request for. She didn't have the time in her schedule, but put the word out on my behalf to a professional group she belongs to online. I found at least one new client that way.

In another case I put the word out on Twitter that I was looking for a very specific type of book, fiction, based on a conversation I had with an editor. Surprisingly only three people responded. I read the work of one, loved her voice, and so did the editor.

In a third case, through an #askagent session I held on Twitter, an author asked a question about the genre she was writing. In my answer I suggested she explore another author. She did, queried me on the work, and within a week or so (maybe longer) I had a new client.

And a fourth case, a bonus case, involved yet another nonfiction author. In this case I put the word out through Twitter, which also connects to my Linkedin and Facebook profiles, about an expert I was seeking for a book project an editor was looking for. Within days we had a deal.

While obviously these sites might not net you an agent, I think they can go very far in helping you gain an understanding of the industry and network, which in today's business world is critically important for everyone.


Jessica

Feeling Powerless

Last year, I signed with an agent who is a great fit for me on paper: she has sold multiple book series in my genre to great editors for great deals. Very exciting. In the beginning, we spoke several times a week, and her rounds of feedback came quickly.

It’s been nine months, though, and we’ve gone through seven rounds of revisions on my MS. I’ve written two separate outlines and had her sign off on both of them… only to question things later. Since August, I’ve only heard from her a handful of times – always with a positive tone (i.e., “we’re almost there!”) but noticeably less frequently. The plan was for her to start submitting in September, but that clearly hasn’t happened.

I don’t know how many more rounds of edits I can quietly endure. It feels like she’s never going to submit my book. Every time she says “we’re almost there”, I get another six-page document of revisions. Am I just being impatient? How many rounds of edits do most writers go through pre-submission? When is it okay to say ‘enough’? I know she has a plan to pitch the book and editors ‘primed’ to read it… but the promise that is her ‘plan’ is starting to feel like a carrot to keep me revising endlessly.


Uff. This is frustrating. I think you are being very patient. Yes, it's quite possible for a manuscript to go many, many rounds of revisions. Ask some of my clients ;) so that's not my biggest concern. My concern is the fact that you had a target submission date of September, many months have passed and you're not hearing much. I think it's time for an in-depth conversation with your agent. You need to find out what her real concerns are, why it's not being submitted and ask point-blank if she's still as passionate about this book as she once was. Because it sounds to me like your real fear is that she just doesn't love it like she used to. Let's face it, that happens. It stinks, but it happens.

The truth is, it sounds to me like maybe you just don't love her like you used to either.

Here's the most important question, however: Do you love the book like you used to? I imagine you're a little tired of it, but do you still feel strongly about it? Actually, what I should be asking, is do you feel that this book is bigger and better from when you started? Seven rounds of revisions is a lot at this stage in the game, and at some point someone has to say: Enough. It's time to send it out, I can't do anything more. This is a great book. Someone has to put a foot down. It would be nice if it was both of you.

The good thing is that your agent clearly feels enough passion to go seven rounds. She's working hard to try to find you a publisher, and this is the first step in that process. I don't think this is a case of an agent not doing her job. I think it's a case of an agent and client who need to get on the phone together and really have a discussion to see where they are both at now. This is a discussion agent and client should have frequently throughout the years. How are you feeling about things right now and what is our plan? Let's make a plan and stick to it. I think that phone call will make all the difference.

Jessica

A Weekend Full of Biking - And Fruit!

It has come to my attention that I am becoming a cyclist. First I got the road bike, then I got bike clothes, finally I got clipless pedals. Then I started doing crazy things like riding up the sides of Mount Diablo multiple times. Looking down from a perch over 2,000 feet above the surroundings, and flying down the hill, I just kept thinking about how I used to drive up hills like this and wonder why any person would want to bike up them. Biking up hill is super hard. Saturday's ride was 60 miles and more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain. The temperature was over 90. We did see some beautiful scenery though, particularly the one-lane road through Morgan Territory, and the views coming down Diablo on the other side.



Today Matt and I went to an event called Tour d'Organics. We participated in a 35 mile ride that involved three rest stops, all stocked with local, organic food. Two of the stops were at farms like this one:







We rode through some extremely beautiful country, as well as plenty of apple orchards:







Back at the community center where the ride started, we had an organic, vegan lunch replete with local entertainment. Overall, the ride was extremely well-organized, the food was great, and everyone was really friendly. We would definintely do this ride again - maybe a longer one next time! (Although the nice guy who fixed Matt's flat at one of the rest stops seemed incredulous we were on the 35 mile ride instead of the 16 miler, presumably because of Matt's bike.



This ride was up near wine country in Sebastopol, and we discovered that the Gravenstein Apple Fair was also going on, so we swung by after the ride. (Matt loves apples.) It was amazingly well attended, full of live music, crafts, and much food, particularly apples. There were also people showcasing their super old machinery like irrigation pumps, sprayers, riding saws, and more. We finally headed home after stopping at the local hardware store to use our two "Digby Dollars" from the ride on an apple peeler they had advertised out front. I couldn't believe how country the whole place felt.



After coming home, I headed out for a run, and boy was it tough. I'm thinking I maybe shouldn't have signed up for a half-marathon just a month after the bike event. I don't know how I'm going to start knocking out longer runs on the weekend. The 3.5 I did today was rough, and it has to go up from here. I may experiment with moving my long runs to a week day. Some day I will stop going on event commitment binges and just live a normal life where I don't bike 93 miles in a weekend. Someday.

Agents Verses Intelectual Property Lawyers

There's been a fair amount of talk on the Kindle Board, and also in a phone conversation I had with another author as to whether you should use a lawyer or an agent. As with most things, the answer is...it depends. The argument I've heard is why spend 15% forever when you can spend a fixed fee. It's a valid point in SOME circumstances but I think there is still a lot of value in having an agent. Let's look at some typical scenarios.



Signing with a small press

In this case I actually suggest: neither

Whenever I hear an author talking about their agent just got them a contract with xyz, and xyz is some small fry publisher , I scratch my head. They really don't bring anything to the table in this situation. The contracts are pretty straightforward. Yeah they'll ensure nothing truly terrible is in there, but they won't be able to negotiate more money (most small presses don't even give advances) and their royalties are usually at or above big-six percentages.



While one would think that a lawyer should look over any legal document - you have to consider cost / risk. That's what a contract lawyer does - looks to eliminate risk. Let's look at Michael's first small press contract with Aspirations Media. We got the contract in and I went to my local Bar Association and several Lawyer referral sites - the estimates I got ranged from $500 - $1500 to review the contract. This wasn't to negotiate the deal, just read all the clauses and point out anything worrisome. But the publisher was only printing up 2200 books (had no plans for ebooks - it was a while ago), and Michael would make $0.75 a book so...even if he "sold out" the first print run he would only make $1,650.



So in this case we "did ourselves" - looked at the contract with a critical eye and asked for changes for some of the things that concerned us the most - mainly under what conditions the rights reverted.



A Medium or Large Publisher Approaches You

This came up on the Kindle board the other day, and what prompted this post. The first thing I want to say about this is...don't do it alone. The fact is, the contract that you'll receive "all by your lonesome" will look nothing like one you'll receive if you're represented. This will be in terms of both money and the clauses (whether they are weighted heavily toward the publisher or the author).



If you have a single book, and it is pretty focused (say non-fiction educational), yeah a lawyer might be the best way to go. It's a fairly one time transaction, the lawyer, if they do a lot of these will know the "going rates" and get the offer increased if he/she thinks its a low ball offer and the likelihood of follow on venues (foreign, movie rights, merchandising) is small.



If you have a series, say fantasy, science fiction, or a thriller than I would suggest an agent. This is body of work with more "legs". The first thing the agent will do is use their connections in the industry to get multiple offers. One of the biggest reasons to use an agent is they have contacts with many editors. Having an existing offer is leverage they can use.



A series also has more potential for subsidiary income: foreign translations, movies, etc. A series has the potential to create a "career" and having an agent to help build it to its maximum potential is, in my opinion, well worth the 15% they will take. A lawyer will work the single transaction and then they are done. The agent has the connections to get additional revenue streams.



You've experienced self-publishing success and want to go traditional

In this case I think an agent is the only smart way to go about this. If you're already earning, you won't have to the query-go-round to find an agent. Pick the ones you are most interested in. Prepare data on your sales, and make some phone calls. If your sales, or rankings are good, I suspect you'll find several people willing to represent you (especially today as authors with an established platform are very marketable).



In this case there agent can bring even more to the table. Most are used to acting as content editors. They'll read the work - suggest changes to make it more attractive (something that an indie author will find expensive and hard to find). It could be that you had a "great start" with good sales, but a little tweaking can turn a good novel into a great novel.



Again, they have many contacts at multiple publishers so armed with a "hot commodity" can make some phone calls and get the ball rolling. This is exactly the situation with Michael's Riyria Revelations series. Our agent put together a proposal, gave it to 17 houses with a deadline to respond with interest in 17 days. She immediately had 7 publishers expressing an interest. Approaching publishers once you have success certainly accelerates the process form the standard approach.



In tomorrow's post I'll talk about agents again but this time "by request" as someone asked me what my take was in the agents as publishers trend.

5 Steps to Building a Platform When You Hate Selling Yourself

The following post was originally written as a guest blog for Michael Hyatt's blog on Leadership. This single guest spot generated:

• 186 Facebook likes
• 215 Tweets
• 492 Comments

It also forced me to write the blog following a "method" that Michael has devised and I found it really helped to create a very focused post. Even though it was posted about a month ago, it still is generating a lot of traffic to my site 5th highest of all other sources and just a smidge down from twitter!



So here's the blog as it originally appeared:

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I hear the following from authors all the time, “All I want to do is write. I hate promoting myself. I’m no good at it.” The result is they don’t work on their platform, hoping somehow that the whole notion will somehow just go away.

Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/tap10

Putting your head in the sand is not the answer. It’s no longer a question of if an author needs a program, it’s now part of the writing business and can mean the difference between success and failure.

But fear not, I’m here to tell you that it’s not only easier than you think, but you should know that someone with your attitude is actually well-equipped to do well.

I’m going to let you in on the most important, and most often overlooked aspect of social networking: It’s not about selling. It’s about participation. It’s about being a member of a community. It’s about connecting with people who share your interests.

Those that use social networking merely as a venue for saying, “Buy my book, buy my book,” are missing out. Nobody likes to be sold to. What people gravitate to is those who give of themselves.

Here’s what you need to know about getting started in social media.

1. Observe. Start out by joining and watching. Pick a venue to get yourself started. It could be twitter, an online forum, or a site dedicated to books like GoodReads, Shelfari, or LibraryThing. You don’t have to do anything at this point other than watch and learn. Be a sponge and absorb what is going on around you. Get a feel for the place. Wait until you are comfortable.
2. Participate. When someone makes a comment that you agree with, support their position. Expand on it. Give an example from your own life that illustrates the point. If you disagree, do so respectfully, offer supporting information for your opinion.
3. Contribute. Once you are comfortable talking with others, it’s time to go to the next level. Start contributing. If you read an article that people in your group might find helpful, post a link to it. If you read a book by someone in the group and liked it, tell others. Be supportive. Be helpful.
4. Form Relationships. This is what social networking is all about. Make this your “end game.” You’re not participating to sell your books. You’re here to make connections. If a fan writes a nice review, thank them. Most don’t expect to hear from authors. But after hearing from you, they’ll remember you even more. They might even share with their friends “how nice you are.”
5. Provide Information. Let the people in your group know about what’s going on in your life. Do you have a signing coming up? Is a new book being released? Have you posted a sample chapter for free? Did a magazine publish one of your short stories? This isn’t selling; it is informing. You aren’t telling them to buy; you are letting them know what you have and leaving the decision to them.

Notice that I never once asked you to sell. That’s what’s so great about social media, you don’t have to. Become a person that others like, be one that is helpful, let others know that you have products (books) and the sales will come.

Now I know what you’re likely to say next, “But Robin, that’s a LOT of work. I don’t have time for all this. I want to write.” I understand, but is writing ALL you do? Of course not. What if you cut out some TV? Is having your dream of being a writer worth your spouse helping a bit more? Can they do the grocery shopping or get the kids bathed and ready for bed?

By trading off on non-writing tasks you can make time to devote to this. The only thing that will hold you back is your belief that it will be a chore. If approached differently, this would be so, but if you follow my steps you’ll find you actually look forward to your time online.

When you receive a great review, tell your network, and they’ll celebrate with you. If you are struggling with a chapter, talk about it and you’ll get words of encouragement. You may just find the opposite is true, that spending time online can be very addictive. Does that sound like such so terrible?

Question: What do you need to do next to take your platform to the next level? You can leave a comment

Thought for the Day

The problem with querying every book at once (either in the same query or three or four queries in a row) is that after reading and rejecting one I tend to feel I'm not the right agent for your work and automatically reject the others. If you query different books over time I will assume your writing has evolved and you've moved on from the books I've previously rejected.

Jessica

Feral Riots UK

The word feral has been used many times in the media in the last few days to describe the behaviour of mindless rioting youths. Feral means wild or untamed. Feral comes from the latin root word 'feralis' which means 'belonging to the dead.' The bible teaches that "The wages of sin is death." Not just physical and spiritual death but sin kills where ever it goes. It kills trust and respect in relationships and seperates us from those around us we should be connected to. The bible also teaches that unbelief is a sin. Children are taught the lie from an early age their very reason for being is a accident in nature millions of years ago. This hardly instills a sense of purpose. They are also taught that respect is earned rather than the biblical model which teaches respect comes with title and position. The 5th commandment is honour your mother and your father. All things begin at home. If there is no respect there, there wont be any outside. As the endless debates continue as to the reasons for the riots, and many are being put forward, the obvious one will be convieniantly overlooked. Unhinged sin is the spirit of lawlessness. It is demonic in nature but easily bound by praying saints. Government has its vital part to play but only the church understands that "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the ruleres, against the authorites, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil." This fight can only be won in one position and that is upon ones knees.

How Ironic

I just realized that the website of my blog is still "Who Needs a Cubicle".

Apparently I do.

Honestly, until this year, I hadn't had a cubicle since grad school. I'd been lucky enough to work out of my home or at jobs where I had my own office (once with a window with a view of the lovely Jemez Mountains) or worked in a huge open space with no one else around and views of the Pacific Ocean. A couple of times my office had no window, but it was pretty nice anyway. Once I even shared an office, but my coworker was great.

Then I went back to the labs, where I now share a cubicle. It's like I've regressed in life. Nothing but the noise of other people and the glaring electric light over head. No daylight gets to my cube.

But the good news is, at least I like my job so far. At six months, it's going on the 3rd longest job I've had since grad school. If Congress doesn't succeed in cutting our budget egregiously, maybe I'll be needing this cubicle for awhile longer. Too lazy to change the website links though.

Levi's Gran Fondo

I saw this video the other day, and it actually made me excited for the Gran Fondo. Up until this point, I have pretty much just been scared. I am a sucker for promotional videos though. At least this one isn't cancer-related, so it didn't make me cry.

Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge GranFondo from Bike Monkey LLC on Vimeo.

Real-Life Advice

I'm trying to figure out how to write this blog without offending a whole lot of people, which is ridiculous really because if I've leaned anything from this blog it's that I have no idea what's really going to offend a whole lot of people.

We've talked a lot about how there's bad advice everywhere, and while I'm talking publishing I think we can all agree this is true of everything. We blogging agents work hard to try to dispel the bad advice as much as possible, even going so far as to politely correct other agents on Twitter and even their blogs when we feel they are giving bad advice, or advice that's not quite in agreement with what we're doing. It might not be bad, but we have a very different opinion from our very different experiences. Our hope is that if you hear enough good advice it won't be long before you're able to make your own conclusions based on all the knowledge you now have.

There's one group of people though who I hear incorrect advice from regularly and, granted, not all of them give incorrect advice (it would be ridiculous to even think that), and certainly not everything they say is wrong. However, it's come up on Twitter and in the comments on the blog and, more important, it's come across my desk. When it comes to giving real-world advice on publishing I find that professors and college-level academic employees, namely those teaching publishing programs who have never themselves worked in publishing, often give advice that is so far afield or worse, so old-fashioned, I just cringe.

Let me stress, it's not the writing advice I'm talking about, it's the how-to-get-published advice and, frankly, even the career guidance. Many times I've been asked to look at the resumes of my interns and I'm always more than happy to do so. Every single time I advise them to make changes, primarily to place the focus on their work (i.e., intern) experience, I'm told that's not the way their career departments told them to do that. Well, who's doing the hiring here? Do you want to work in publishing or in the career placement office? I'm actually shocked by this. It feels so old school. In a time when we have so many struggling to find jobs, why would you place the focus, your education, on top of the resume unless you're seeking a job in education? For the most part, everyone you're competing with has a similar level of education, so it doesn't make you stand out, not when a potential employer is looking at hundreds of resumes.

It's not just resumes though. I've been amazed at the how-to-get-published advice people come up with, advice they learned in classes at school. Again, typically the query letters will stress academic background over the book and conflict with a lot of the networking, query advice many of us give on our blogs.

I don't think anyone is doing this on purpose. In fact I know they're not. I also don't think any of the advice they're giving is going to kill a career or ruin someone's chances of getting published, but when a professor or someone with an academic background gives us advice we tend to really listen to it. I know I did. When I was in school I had a lot of amazing teachers. I looked to them for advice on everything, and if they said it I believed it must be true.

The academic world is very different from the professional world. I know this from discussions with friends working for colleges and universities. I respect everyone who works as a professor or teacher. I tried it. It's a really difficult job and not something that just anyone can do. It's not something I feel I can do, or do well anyway. I only wish that when giving advice on how to work in the professional world more people in the academic world would take the time to consult with those of us in the trenches to ask our advice. I know that if someone asked me how to successfully apply for a grad program or as a professor I would refer them to someone in those trenches because, frankly, I've never been there and don't have a clue.

Jessica

Discoverability...picking the right title

In my continuing series on discoverability I turn now to titles. I was reading a great post by Kevin McLaughlin where he lays out 6 things you need (You can read the full article on his site - which is worth a read but as they say in the Princess Bride...."I'll sum up".

1. You must have a great cover.
2. You must have a great blurb.
3. You must have an outstanding sample.
4. You must have a good price.
5. You must have a compelling book.
6. You must write other books.

He makes the very astute observation that when someone first comes across you:

"That’s all you have for advertising – just your cover and title."

Many people put a lot time an effort, as they should, into creating a great cover - but do you put just as much time into thinking about the title?

Most authors come up with their book’s titles very early in the writing process with no thought about marketing. It could even be, that at the time they were planning on publishing it through a big house and figured they would take care of that (and they will). But if you are self-published, or have a publisher willing to work with you on title then you should be thinking about this.

When I come up with a title the first thing on my mind is: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which basically means how likely is it to find your title using Google. For instance, one of Michael’s early books had a working title of “Wizards” but I would never release a book with that title. It is much too broad and would be nearly impossible to get dominance. If you type Wizards into Google right now there are 83,900,000 results. We selected the titles for Michael’s books very carefully. For instance if you Google Nyphron Rising, it returns 7,400 links and while I’ve not gone through all of them, I did looked through the first 10 pages (100 entries) and each one was related to Michael’s third book. This title has great SEO. Even if all you remembered was the Nyphron part you still get all entries related to Nyphron Rising.

The other issue with title selection has to do with what it conjures in people’s mind. I’m currently helping a new author with his thriller book. It is a about a female CIA agent who is after a criminal who starts off with a simple crime and escalates the stakes with each one. At each crime scene a card is left behind saying, “This was my xx crime, the next one will be bigger.” Taped to the card is a stick of gum (the first crime was stealing that pack of gum). The author’s title is, The Bubble Gum Thief. I really don't like this title...it conjures (for me) a kid's book featuring Scooby Doo or Encyclopedia Brown Boy Detective. So I would definitely re-title this before release.

If your book is in a series there are other things to consider. Can you tie them together in some way? When Orbit told us they would release Michael's six-book Riyria Revelations series as a trilogy the obvious question was - what do you call them? Michael took a step back and asked himself what was at the core of each. The first two books both revolve around stealing a sword. The second two books around a newly formed empire, and the last two about the lost heir of a forgotten time. To tie these together he decided to make each one be three words with "of" in the middle. Hence was born:

• Theft of Swords
• Rise of Empire
• Heir of Novron

He proposed it to Orbit and they loved it and ran with it.



But what about the title of the series? How can you leverage this? Ridan inherited a few series (signed authors that were previously published) and their titles did little to nothing to enhance the series. Leslie Ann's Moore's Griffin's Daughter Trilogy is simply the name of the first book with Trilogy tacked on the end. Similarly Marshall Thomas's Soldier of the Legion Series is, once again the first book in with Series tagged on. Ugh! What were the previous publishers thinking of?



Again, looking to Michael's books his are entitled The Riyria Revelations. There are several things going on here. First "Revelations" is used to indicate that there are secrets and mysteries that will be revealed through the course of the books. And Riyria is the name used by the two main protagonists to refer to them as a single unit (Riyria is elvish for "two"). Riyria is also SEO friendly (75,300 - and again all relating to Michael's books).



Here's a big secret about B&N's search engine - it's pretty primitive. Selecting of categories doesn't help you out very much as it works primarily on titles. So...when posting your nook titles be sure to add a short descriptive phrase. For instance, if you search for: Military Science Fiction in B&N you get:

• #1 - The Forever War
• #3 - Solder of the Legion
  
  
• #4 - March of the Legion
• #5 - Cross of the Legion
• #6 - Secret of the Legion
• #7 - Slave of the Legion

Magic? Nope - I've just added, "a military science fiction adventure" to the title of each book. BTW - this is a "loophole" that B&N may plug at some point but for now it's worth using. But let's say they won't allow such "tagging" int the title in the future? Well if your series was named, "The Path Finder Epic" then you will still be found when someone types in that they are looking for Epic Fantasy.



Title choice is just one of a myriad of issues that has to be thought of from a “publishers” standpoint and not a “writers.” So if you don’t start out by changing your mindset early you’ll make a ton of small mistakes along the line that will all add up in the long run.



The morale of this story is use every tool available to you. Think of ways you can maximize every aspect related to your book. It is strategic thinking such as this that will help you get ahead of the pack.