Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Dudes! Did you know about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award? 

*Pokes Rachael and Marieke who have darn good manuscripts ready.*

Here's the excerpt from Amazon's site: 

Amazon.com, along with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace, is pleased to announce the fourth annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. The competition will once again award two grand prizes: one for General Fiction and one for Young Adult Fiction. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.

The Breakthrough Novel Award brings together talented writers, reviewers, and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. If you're an author with an unpublished or previously self-published novel waiting to be discovered, visit CreateSpace to sign up for regular contest updates. Open submissions for manuscripts will begin on January 24, 2011 and run through February 6, 2011.

Isn't that an amazing opportunity? I'm sure the winners won't have any trouble finding an agent after they have a promise of publication already. You'll need to be fast, though, because they stop accepting pitches after 5,000 entries for each of the two categories (so it'll probably be filled up before the end of January). 

On Word Count and Querying

Image borrowed from: www.nurseryeducationonline.com/-c-62.html

Attempt One:

Before I started on my manuscript, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to write enough words for a full length novel. I tried writing a novel when I was 15, and it ended up being 3,000 words. I did a little better on a fan fiction that ended up in 74,000 words (16 chapters), which I think is quite amazing. It's packed with adverbs and other no-no's, but it's a good story with a good plot and sub plots. I was 26 at the time. Today I find that the more I write, the longer the word count. It is a challenge for me to keep it low enough, because there's just so much to write about. The first attempt at full manuscript ended in 125,000 words. I queried it as such, and got an auto-rejection. It may have been because of the word count, or because the query letter was horrible, or because the writing was terrible and packed with no-no's. Probably all of the above.

Attempt Two:

At the time, I had no idea there was such a thing as "appropriate word count" for young adult fiction (or any other age group, for that matter), I just thought that more words equaled better writer. I compared my manuscript length with Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, by doing formulaic count of words I was taught while learning to type. I remember the day I learned about appropriate word counts. I sat in the black chair in my office, curtains pulled closed to shield the tiny room from light, desk cluttered with books, print-outs and stationary. The silly little text on my screen said 110,000 max for YA novels. I felt like giving up. How could I possibly cut a single word out of my novel? Every single word was important. But after a lot of research, a reading of a book on how to write, and a second look at the manuscript, I realized that there was quite a bit I could cut out. The revised 125,000 worded manuscript became 111,000 words. Much better, or so I thought.

At WriteOnCon, I discovered that 111,000 is way too much. There was an agent who went over queries live. She began by plucking out all the manuscripts over 90,000 words and tossing them into the bin. She said that the manuscripts with higher word count have to be truly exceptional. She said that 90,000 words +/- 5,000 is max in YA (apparently opinion on this differs, possibly because my novel is Fantasy, which means a little more leeway with some agents). That means I'll have to cut it down to at least 95,000 to avoid such auto-rejections from agents. Before the WriteOnCon, I had submitted queries to a lot of agents. I also received quite a number of rejections. The reason could be because of the word count, or because the revised query letter was terrible, or because the revised writing wasn't quite up to snuff yet. Probably all of the above.

Attempt Three:

I learned from this that you should only query a few agents at a time, because of the learning curve. If I had submitted to all the agents I've now submitted to with my horrible first query - all of them would reject it. If I would submit to all the agents I have yet to query with my terrible second query - all of them would reject it.

In other words, to avoid auto-rejections based on word count, I have to slice my manuscript even further. I'm doing that with the aid of critique partners - something I never had before - something I should have had before. I have also tried to be honest with myself, and cut out pieces that I knew, deep down, were not supposed to be in the story. With the first 6 chapters rewritten/revised, plus a whole chapter later in the manuscript removed, the word count is already down to 104,000 words. After WriteOnCon, I have a formula for a fantastic query, along with amazing critiques from Elana and Casey that I won at the conference, so I'm hoping I'll be able to produce a kick-ass query before I continue my agent querying next year. I also realized, during WriteOnCon, that I have to take a second look at adverbs, and other tics that are frowned upon. The reason I'm not querying until January next year is not only because agents are generally less likely to sign new authors late in the year, but also because I'm taking Creative Writing at university, and I'm learning heaps.

We're reading Sol Stein's Stein on Writing. Chapter two is so inspirational that I had to put down the book and jolt down ideas. He talks about the importance of the first line and first paragraphs in a book. He gives fantastic examples (real examples are so rare in those educational books on how to write!), and I now know that I have to change the beginning of Book of Black. In fact, I've been inspired to change the whole first chapter with a whole new concept to dive the kids into the other world faster. He helped me see how my first chapter is a bit distracting. It's a good chapter, but there's a misleading story that doesn't set the tone for the rest of the book. I see now that this first chapter is material for a different story.

So, with all these new discoveries, and with the aid of the amazing WriteOnCon, that was a revelation to me, I hope that when I start querying again, I won't get auto-rejected because of word count, I will have a catchy query letter, and that I will get a contract because of my new and shiny writing skills.

Keep Writing!

Image: www.alertdriving.com/newsletter/wordpress/?p=491

As many of you know, I attended the WriteOnCon last week and learned heaps. There was one point that was made in at least two lectures that gave me a kick in the bum: Keep writing.

There were two articles in particular that spoke of this, Give Yourself Permission, by Molly O'Neill, and Keeping Your Chin up in the Face of Rejection, by Crystal Stranaghan. Crystal encourages writers to write their next piece while waiting for replies from queried agents. Molly encourages writers to give themselves permission to "...do what you need to protect yourself as a writer—to turn off the internet, or to stop reading blogs for awhile, or to avoid Twitter—and enable yourself to do that thing which writers must do—TO WRITE."

Woah! Stop right there! I should not follow the writer community on the internet for a while? That got me thinking. Since I started looking for information on how to submit, etc. I've spent every spare moment on the internet to learn, make connections, and build an online platform. We're talking months! But to stop all that and just write? Of course I can do that, and I should! I'm starting university in two weeks and I feel time slipping away. I suddenly realized that I don't have time to hang out on the internet anymore. I don't have to twitter - I don't want to twitter. I love blogging, but it takes so long to think of a topic, write, link, edit, find a good picture, read, re-read, re-re-read, etc. that it's taking away some serious writing time. I want to build an online presence, but I also need to write. How can I balance both?

I didn't follow the WriteOnCon in exact order. In the former part of the days I did, but since each day ended at night here, I usually missed the last two events. So I finally watched the live workshop with Daisy Whitney about Building an Online Presence yesterday, and there I got my answer. She talks about how you don't have to take part in every social media on the internet. If you don't like to tweet - then don't tweet. If you don't like blogging - then don't blog. So I decided that I'm going to blog and follow a few discussion forums, and then build my Facebook account later, since I really like Facebook.

Then there was the question of how often I should blog. It takes up to an hour to put together a blog and try to make it as perfect as I can. Daisy says that it's okay to blog just once a week, as long as you're consistent. That means blogging the same day of the week, every week. That way, the readers know when to expect material from you. The people following you won't stop reading just because you don't blog as often.

So I've decided to blog once a week, at least until I've finished the first draft of the second book. I haven't decided which day that should be, it depends on my uni-schedule, but this will be my entry for this week.

Today alone, I've managed to ignore the internet (until now, but my brain is fried), and I've finished 7,000 words of the first book. Okay, 3,000 of those were already written, so technically that's 4,000 words today. Not bad! I've also finished outlining the book, but after I outlined it, I went back to writing, and I felt a little constricted because of the outline. It was stifling my creativity. So I'm going to use another advice of Molly's: Give yourself permission to stray from your outline.

So I have the outline, but I feel like I need to fill in the blanks, and I can never come up with something if that's what I feel I need to do to prolong the chapter. That's why I'm going to use the outline as points and just write the story as it wants to be written. That's what I did with Book of Black and it turned out awesome.

What am I doing with Book of Black, now that I've started on Book of White? I found critique partners! While they read the manuscript and comment, I use my time to write the second novel. I finally let go of my fears and sent the manuscript to three different people, four if you count a friend of mine who isn't a writer. Can someone steal it, or parts of it? Sure! But I have various versions of the manuscript printed at home, the first five pages and query up on a forum, and on my blog, and I've sent the manuscript to more than one person, so they'd be able to back me up if something gets stolen.

I realized after WriteOnCon that my manuscript isn't nearly ready. I got an auto-rejection from agent Natalie M. Fischer because the manuscript was 110,000 words long (she was commenting on query entries live at WOC), and it taught me that many of the rejections I've gotten might be auto-rejections because of the word count (and because the query synopsis was terrible! I have a new and shiny one ready for the next agent I query - when the manuscript has been revised). Natalie says YA manuscripts should be 90,000 words, +5,000 at the most. Some manuscripts can be longer, but they need to be exceptional, so it's hard to get past the query stage. My critique partners are going to point out things that can be cut/edited.

There are also other things that need to be fixed: Character depth, dialog, and such. I also need to list the tension points and see if they're working as intended. And then I learned that I probably shouldn't have made a universal query letter for all the agents I queried. I should have personalized each one (more than just write the name of said agency). I can send many at a time, as long as they're personalized and don't feel like form-queries. Apparently form-queries are one sure way of getting form-rejections.

The Perfect Query Formula

Jodi Meadows, Author of The Newsoul Trilogy

As many of you know, I'm attending WriteOnCon for the next two days, an online conference for free, packed with lectures, prizes, and critiques. I read Jodi Meadows advice on query writing, and I have to say that most useful material on query writing I've ever seen. 

Here is the copied formula:

KNOWING WHAT TO INCLUDE:

If you don’t already know how to format a query letter, get thee to Google. This post isn’t about what font you use. This post is about how to show the extreme awesomeness of your story.

Beginning a query description can be really intimidating! To get started, answer the following questions:

1. Who is the protagonist and what is their goal? (Motivation.)

2. What is keeping the protag from achieving that goal? (Conflict.)

3. How will the protagonist overcome this problem? (Plot.)

4. What happens if the protagonist fails/what choice does the protagonist have to make? (Stakes, and why the reader should care.)

I can’t give you these answers, but I can help you learn how to turn them into a clear, kick-butt query.

So simple, right? You can read the rest of the post here. She also talks about filling in the blanks, what should be in every sentence of the first paragraph, the story world/conflict in second, and choices and more implications in the third. 

My latest query, with the aid of WriteOnCon critiques, is not far off. The first paragraph is a little different, though, and I'll look into that. There's also lots more interesting things she reveals about the art of writing query letters.

Amazing Conference!

WriteOnCon is just amazing! We managed to crash the server, so it's down for the moment, but I've been smiling all day while reading/watching lectures, meeting people and doing and receiving critiques. I may have possibly found a second person to critique my manuscript, and I'm going to badger a third, too. I'm also taking notes, although the content will probably be up after the conference, but I like having my own notes. There are all sorts of professionals taking part in this, agents, editors, illustrators, published authors. There's a new lecture every hour, and in between I have fun critiquing.

And best of all? It's free! And I can wear my pajamas, although I'm not wearing them now since I had to go out earlier, but I could! If online conferences are this cool, I can't imagine what the real thing is like. 

This is the first time this is held, but they're going to do it every year. It's amazing what a few aspiring authors can do when they get together. And I love how the industry people are eager to participate - they can't be getting paid for it since the girls hosting the conference aren't charging. The contest awards are amazing, and I'm getting great critiques on my stuff. Who knows, maybe some professional will critique as well.

Sorry for the gushing, I swear I'm not getting anything free out of it, it's just me being excited. I just didn't realize this was going to be so much fun. I even got my husband to take the kids out after kindergarten so that I can focus on this.

WriteOnCon

Okay, I'm putting my musings about self-publishing on ice for a bit. Yes, I'll study it, but I want to see if I can get trade-published first.

I joined WriteOnCon yesterday. I signed up on the forum, and I'm now an attendee at the free online conference on August 10-12th 2010. There are over 1400 people "attending", and I'll be able to post my query letter, first five pages, and first 250 words, first thing Monday morning. Then I'll possibly get critiques from fellow writers, and possibly publishers/agents/other trade people too. I already have some critiques on my practice critique of first five pages (you need to register on the forum to see it).

I'm also having fun writing critiques for others. I already wrote four yesterday and another four today. I leave the query critiques alone for now, because I don't feel too comfortable advising people on that since I'm not a 100% comfortable with query letter writing. I think the conference will be exciting. I can post questions for professionals, there will be rewards, and I'll meet other writers, and maybe make friendships or find critique buddies there.

I'll also join The Muse Online Writers Conference in October. That's also free, but it lasts a whole week. They have workshops that I'd like to check out. More on that later.

Self-Publishing

Image: http://erinlobach.edublogs.org/

I have taken time off from submitting, since my twins are on vacation. Their vacation ends next Monday, which means that I'll get back to business until Uni starts. That means three weeks of writing.

I've done a lot of thinking since the start of the vacation and I've decided to look into self-publishing before submitting to more agents (or any publishers). I really like the idea of it, and if I decide to do it, I'm doing it properly. I already have three self-publish books ordered from Amazon; Become a Real Self-Publisher, by Michael N. Marcus, a fellow She Writes member (even though he's a male), it has great reviews and he's got a lot of experience; Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, by Dan Poynter, this has great reviews as well; and of course Self-Publishing for Dummies, by Jason R. Rich, because I love the Dummies books.

Why am I considering this? Because the books advice how best to set up your own publishing company, and I like the idea of that. I wouldn't use any of the companies who do the work for the authors (Lulu, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, etc.). That means I'd have to deal with all sorts of stuff, like accounting, but it shouldn't be undo-able, especially if I set up the company in Iceland and do business from here (got to love the internet). I'd have to find a printer in the USA, as well as a distributor (since it would cost too much to have the books printed here and then sent individually to the USA -- or I'd have to look into it anyway). The rest I can do online!

I know it's a huge gamble, but I do have business education and I have tons of interest and enthusiasm. It also means that I can publish whatever I want, and don't have to rely on having the right material at the right time for the right agent/publisher who's only looking for one specific thing for his/her list. I read somewhere that less than 1 out of every 100.000 manuscripts is considered good, the rest is junk. To me, that either means that the rest of the manuscripts look like something written by grade-schoolers, or it isn't the entire truth (that they're rejecting a lot of good manuscripts because of trends, risks, etc.), or they just have really, really narrow tastes. I'm guessing the second, that there are many great manuscripts being rejected because they were not sent on the exact right time.

I queried just over 50 agents and I've gotten 18 rejections. I don't know if I should see it as my story idea being bad, it's only 18 people. The rest either won't reply to their queries, or some might be considering. But even so, if I self-publish, I get to keep all my rights and decide for myself what to include in the books and what not. I'd possibly get less exposure (unless I become really good and clever at the advertising bit, which is the part I'm kind of looking forward to), I'd probably also sell fewer books, but I'd get better paid for each book sold. There are so many more advantages, and the disadvantages seem to be only the extra work and the risk (and possibly some snobbery against self-published authors). The extra work I can do, the snobbery is due to lessen with the increase in self-publishing, and the risk? Well, it's time to take some.

I wouldn't be thinking about this if I didn't believe so strongly in my trilogy. Sure, I'll have to change it a bit, make it into more chapters, cut out some things (again, what I've been considering over the past months), and then have another editor read over it for it to be 100% publishable. I'll also have to try to find a trustworthy critique group, although I'm really scared to do so (always afraid of people taking my stuff as their own - maybe that's newbie thinking, but it's how I feel).

So far I've connected self-publishing with non-fiction books, but I'm sure there are also self-published fiction authors out there.

So, what will I do if those remaining agents contact me? Probably champ at the bit! But I'm keeping a very open mind to the self-publishing and I'm going to study it well during my first semester of Uni. Then I'm going to write the second book before publishing the first. And after the trilogy, well, I have loads more ideas, both for the USA market and the Icelandic one.

What can I say? I once wrote a Severus Snape fiction and couldn't find a decent Snape site to host it (at the time), so I created one that is still running 6 years later, even through I had no idea how to do it to begin with. I suppose this is a similar scenario, only on a larger scale with more costs and more risks.

Question: How do you trust critique groups enough to let them see your manuscripts? Where's the best place to find a critique group with people who aren't afraid to say their opinions (YA fantasy/adventure)?

The Second Book

Image: www.bakeadogabone.com/dog-business/index.htm

Goodness! Having the boys at home for their summer vacation is draining every ounce of energy from my mind. I meant to blog more often, but whenever I get a break, I just want to sleep or lie on the sofa and stare at the ceiling. Three year olds are loud, energetic, and attention suckers. I do hope you'll forgive me if my blogs seem a bit detached. Two more weeks to go...which means a month to go for Uni. Yup, that's right: I'm leaving a well paid job to go back to University in hope of pursuing my dream of becoming an author.

Since I've already had a two week break from the querying and writing, I've been re-thinking things a little. When the boys go to kindergarten again, I'll have two weeks until Uni starts (majoring in English this time, already have a bachelor's in marketing and administration). I could do what I was doing two weeks before the boys had their vacation: sit at the computer and read articles etc. and keep dreaming, or I could start writing the second book of the series. I think I'll go with the latter.

I'm both curious to see how the second book unravels, and I also think it's important to start writing it so that a) I can say that I'm already well on my way with the second book if I do get an agent interested, b) writing is fun and it's important to use the little time I have left to cram in as much writing as I can (I wrote the first manuscript in a month, so I should be able to get at least half of the book done in two weeks), and c) if I can't get a deal, I will feel more optimistic about e-publishing, because I've already started on the second book.

There's one other thing I haven't considered much, and that is to query publishers. There are many writers who query publishers first and then find an agent if they find an interested publisher. The other way would be more ideal, since the agent can negotiate the deal, but I think it would probably be easier to find an agent if you already have a contract ready to be signed from a publisher. Once I'm back at Uni, I'll probably spend some time compiling a list of publishers -- ones who consider unsolicited material. There's the problem, really, and the main reason writers try to get an agent first: not all publishers will consider manuscripts if the writers have no agent. This has put some unfair shift of work on the agents. Now it is they who have to sieve through the query letters, which seems more logical work for the publishers.

Anyway, as soon as the boys are back at kindergarten, I'll sit down and draft the second book. I already have readers related to me who are waiting for the continuum.

The Fat in the Book

By Mytrueblood "Sookie is Mine"

A weekend out in the country is over. The sun was way too hot (something we don't get a lot here, and also something I don't thrive well in), and I saw five--FIVE-- spiders! Eugh! I suppose that with the weather warming, the number of insects increase. I don't mind flies so much (even the bees I used to be terrified of before I became a mother), but spiders, even though they're tiny = a squeal and a shudder + warily looking about everywhere I go and feeling tiny little itches everywhere.

Back on subject:

There are two things I'd like to talk about today: Cutting the fat out of the book and short endings.

As I've talked about before, I wrote my first manuscript without having read a word about how to write a book. I wrote it as I would like to read it. It was, after all, originally a book forme from my fantasy world. After reading several books on writing, I learned to stick to the plot and cut out trivial information that were just for fun. By doing that, I severely reduced my word count (which was way too high for a YA novel), and the story became faster. But! I have been reading a lot of YA books since, and there are books, like the House of Night series, where there is a lot (and I mean a LOT) of little things that could be cut out, but if they had, the story would be missing a lot of its charm. The plots in those books are relatively simple, but essential to further the series along (there are going to be 12 books), so I get that the authors have to put a lot of fat on the meat. They have Zoey (the heroin) eat breakfast, get snacks before watching a movie, having conversations with her friends that have nothing to do with the plot, and even a lot of interaction with her cat (that, for now, has very little to do with the plot).

Charleine Harris's books, The Sookie Stackhouse Series (True Blood), is also like that. The series is for adults. Sookie does her hair in a certain way, gets dressed in this or that, puts on makeup, does yard work, cooks, cleans. And I love it all. The books wouldn't be the same without it.

I wonder if adults prefer reading books that get right to the point, and in doing so, loose a lot of the little things that the teenagers might be more eager to read. Most (if not all) books about how to write books are written by adults. I wonder if the "How to Write YA Books" were different if they were written by teenagers.

And then there's the endings... I've noticed that in most of the books I've read, the final plot reveals itself when there's only a handful of pages left. It is natural to have it at the very end, but I always feel a bit cheated when, after the plot is revealed and the hero/heroin has saved the day, there are only 2-3 pages left for the aftermath. I want more. I want to read about everyones reaction and discussions about what happened. I want to read about what they're going to do next. I want to read about how they go on with their lives after the big event is done.

I'm writing a series myself (3 books, but could possibly become more), and there's a whole chapter dealing with the aftermath (my chapters are very long, around 8,000 words). In that final chapter, more is revealed about the big event: questions asked and answered, and then decisions are made. The heroin struggles with decisions, feelings about the big event, and one of her fellow travelers develops as a character. Some other characters deepen as well and there are hints to what will happen in the next book. I don't think the book is complete without all of this, and I'm going to fight for this chapter if I get a contract, because it is essential to further the series as a whole.

What are your opinions on this? Do you prefer a direct line to the plot, or more fat on the meat? Do you prefer curt endings, or do you like to see the aftermath?

Task for the day: Play with twins.

Lord of the Rings meets Me

My twins are on a month’s vacation from their kindergarten and they’re wearing me out! Due to this fact, I won’t have as much time to blog (or write *whine*), but I’ll try to get in two-three blogs a week.

I‘ve been reading a lot of books in my genre (YA fantasy), and I‘m especially interested in the vampire series. It is important to read a lot in your genre to be able to compare your work and see what works and what doesn‘t. While I read, I also try to think about what makes the book interesting, what keeps me reading, how chapters end, the much important “voice” (which is something I hadn't heard of until two months ago), how each chapter is constructed, and I look out for hints throughout the book and then guess at the ending (which has spoiled books for me, since I can often guess at the ending in the middle of the book). I then compare these things to my novel. I can say this: I read books in a whole new way since I started writing.

It‘s hard for me to find exactly what I need to compare my books to, other than the technical factors. If I were writing a vampire book, it would be easy to explain how it is different from other vampire books. I’d like to be able to do the “meets” thing—you know: Lord of the Rings meets Ella Enchanted meets Morganville Vampires, but all I can come up with is the Lord of the Rings because my land is medieval and there are wizards. There aren’t even dwarves in the land or dragons (which is why I can't use Eragon as a “meets”).

I suppose I could say Lord of the Rings with a dash of humor, pinch of romance, two spoonfuls of mystery and three cups of sexy darkness. That’s still not a good way to give people an idea of what it is. I intend to do a lot of reading this month of exhaustion and maybe I’ll come across a book that I’ll be able to use as a “meets”.

I’m often disheartened when I read really interesting books and I think that I’ll never get there, but then I remind myself that a) Stephenie Meyer was a miracle case and most writers have been writing for years before getting published, b) their manuscripts go through serious changes and rewrites with the aid of the publisher’s editorial team before they are ready, and c) my manuscript is darn good, so there’s no reason to put myself down. Again, I wonder if I should change the first chapters, but I decided two weeks ago that it was good as it is and I’d just have to have some faith.

I’ve also been thinking more about e-books and Kindle. If I would publish the series that way, I could just write and write, and it would urge me onwards just to have the next book out there. I know myself and know that even if I only had one reader out there, I’d finish the series because I’d know that there’s a person out there who likes my story.

I figure that if I continue to write a lot and publish books on Kindle, eventually some people will like what I write and will want to read the other books as well. They’ll tell their friends and so on. Of course I’d try to market myself on the internet, but I’d have to promise myself to be patient and not to be worried about slow sales to begin with. I want writing to be my career and this is one way to start it. Who knows, maybe an agent/publisher would notice my work out there and offer me a deal. I know that’s a dream-case scenario, but it has happened and will happen again.

The rejection toll is up to 14 now. All polite form rejections (which I appreciate). I respect that those 14 had the courtesy to reply; I know that many won’t. I’ll also have to sort through which I’m allowed to re-query (a different agent within the agency). I already re-queried the very first one that I queried over a month ago, but I haven’t heard back from her since I sent the re-queried letter last week.

Task for the day: Read.

Writing a Synopsis is Fun!

I have finished sending out all the queries that didn't require a synopsis. I had already written a synopsis, but I didn't think it was good enough. I spent yesterday afternoon writing a very detailed 2,400 worded synopsis -- which is way too much (should be around 1,000 for a two-page synopsis, and 500 for a one page synopsis). One agent requested detailed synopsis and I'll send this one to her. Then I'll print it out again and hack and slice until I have 1,000 and then 500 words for the others. There are 14 agents on the synopsis list and I'll query them next week.

I still haven't made a list of the snail-mail ones. The reason is that I live in Iceland and I haven't been to the post office yet to see about SASE's or IRC's (Internation Reply Coupon). Most snail-mail agents request SASE, but some mention that if you live outside the USA, you might need an IRC. There are two agents in particular that I want to query via snail-mail, so I have to get going on this.

I also haven't made a list of the one-agent agencies (excluding a couple whose blogs I'm following). My three-year-old twins are taking their kindergarten vacation next Monday and will won't be back there until a month from now. That means that I'll have less time to query and write. It also means that I've been pressed for time this week to try to do as much as I can before next Monday, and making the one-agent list was one of the things I haven't had time for. Again, this doesn't mean that I don't want to work with them, it just means that I haven't had the time (I have them bookmarked). Apart from two snail-mail agents, I'll probably do the one-agent agencies first.

I know that many writers bite their nails when it comes to synopsis writing, but I enjoy it. It is all thanks to Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy, who wrote Writing Fiction for Dummies. How new a writer must I have been to have bought a Dummies book to write? I had actually written the manuscript before I bought it (along with other books), but this one was my best-buy. Their very simple advice on how to write a synopsis has helped me a great deal and makes writing it fun. I also feel that now that I have written the synopsis twice, I know my book better and I didn't have to look at the manuscript once to write the very detailed synopsis yesterday.

Randy and Peter's synopsis is made from the three-act structure one does when following the book. I seriously recommend this book if you're having trouble writing a synopsis.

I think that one other reason I think writing a synopsis is fun is because I'm a rule-girl. By that, I mean that I'm good at writing instructions and have a good eye for details. This is one of the things I have to do at my job, writing rules, guidelines and such. I also used to run a Harry Potteresque website and wrote all the rules and instructions there + I used to lead a guild in World of Warcraft (hey, I'm a geek and proud of it!) and wrote the rules and instructions on our website. So I have experience in writing sort of guide-like texts.

In other news:

I got one more rejection yesterday and one "we don't represent fantasy anymore". Still no tears. These rejection are mostly from big agencies and I sort of expected them. There are still a few big agencies who haven't answered, but I know that not all of them will answer. Might I mention that I think it's rude when agencies don't send form rejection letters to all they're not interested in? Writers spend months waiting and hoping and here the agent has deleted the query weeks ago without a word. How hard is it to reply with a standard text? I'm sure it's no harder than getting follow-up emails and re-queries, having to read through those and delete-again.

I highly respect those who reply to their emails (even if they're form rejections). I sort of think that the ones who don't reply to all queries sound kind of way up there and we are way down there.

More Agent Rejections!

Image: http://blogs.adelaidecitycouncil.com/charlotte/2008/10/

I sent out 20 queries yesterday and got four prompt responses; rejections. I honestly have to say that I'm so proud of myself. I just read them and felt absolutely nothing but positive. No tears, no lurch in my stomach, no pinch in my heart; absolutely nothing. I don't know if it was the polite form rejections, the fact that I expect rejections by dozens before a "maybe", that I'm looking at this whole thing as a challenge, or that it was "4 down, 52+ to go" -- I don't know, but I'm proud.

I suppose that one factor of my optimism is that my book is going to be published one way or another. From the very beginning of my preparations to query (three months now), I've also been looking into self-publishing. I have read about companies that do the work for you, but, in my opinion, you get too little royalty that way. Then I've been reading about e-books. Did you know that Kindle allows you to keep 70% of the revenue?

When I see e-published books that are unavailable in print, I automatically think "he/she couldn't get an agent/publisher". Although I'm sure that's what happened to some, I think it's time I change my way of thinking. Randy Ingermanson wrote yet another brilliant post, and this time about e-publishing. His post is long, but it had my entire attention to the very end. He also links to a post by Joe Konrath that is a must-read.

Randy talks about the inevitable change in the publishing market and 9 different ways the market might change. He's very realistic and he talks about the positive way for both authors AND publishers. So far I've only seen negative posts from publishers/agents about e-publishing, likely because they're nervous. No. Not nervous; scared. But reading Randy's post, I honestly don't think they have to be scared of anything. In fact, this whole e-publishing thing might make their work a lot easier. Randy's one option was that writers will e-publish and the agent will watch what's selling and sign up those who are popular. That way they won't have to take some of the chances they take. As for the slush for the market, Randy says that the market is smart and will quickly find ways to get around the slush.

Yes, it will be hard to stand out and market myself if I e-publish on Kindle (or any other means), but I have a degree in business, and I should be able to cope. I'm confident in my writing, and I'm not scared of e-publishing. I actually find the possibility rather exciting.

There will always be printed books. There was one person who replied to Randy and said that he (the person) was old and had eye problems because of computer screens. He said that he wouldn't recommend reading books from a screen. There will always be people who will prefer buying printed books. I know that I'll be one of them, although I'm excited to buy a Kindle device and try it out. I like the idea of de-cluttering my shelves with the device. But I think that I'll always buy my favorite titles in printed form.

p-publishing or e-publishing? Either way, I'm optimistic about my future as a writer.

My Query Synopsis

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I have decided to finally reveal a little about what I‘m writing. I‘ve finished my query synopsis, and it is posted below, but I‘ve snipped out three sentences that would be too revealing. Agents/publishers need a more detailed synopsis that would be spoilers for readers.

--> Tell the agent what your book is about, revealing the end if you have to, and don‘t leave the synopsis with only a clue.

Wishes really do come true! At least for sixteen-year-old Eva Jones, who lives with her obnoxious foster parents in New Jersey and wishes for nothing more than to escape to a different place. What Eva does not wish for, however, is being chased by ghosts, having eerie dreams, and waking up with a nasty spider with wings on her face.

Stuck in the fantasy world of Mira Fir, Eva encounters a deviously handsome and evil young man of the deadly Myrkvera race. She is presented with two choices: help the Ljosvera, casters of light and life, obliterate the few remaining Myrkvera or help the Myrkvera defeat the Ljosvera empress and take over the world.

Snipped out are two final sentences and one and a half in paragraph two.

The names Myrkvera and Ljosvera are Icelandic (Being of Darkness and Being of Light). I started jolting down ideas for the book in January 2006 and up until the summer of 2009, I still didn‘t know what to call the two races. So I chose these names while my brain was hurting, but I like them now. They describe the races perfectly.

I had five words describing Richard, but then I ended up cutting him out of the synopsis entirely. Yes, he‘s a big deal to Eva, but I found that mentioning him was unnecessary.

--> Choose only one to two characters for your query synopsis. It can get a little confusing if you have more.

There‘s obviously more to the whole novel, but this is the essential plot of this book (first of three...at least, I‘m sure I could write more from this world). I had a lot of fun with the world in the very first version of the manuscript, but then I had to chop out a lot to make the book more to the point (supposedly that‘s what publishers want). It‘s not a big deal though, I can always write a series of short stories later.

So, knowing that there are three sentences removed from the synopsis, what do you think? Does it grab attention? Is it confusing? ...Is the punctuation correct?...

Task for the day: Send out some query letters and take ten deep breaths!

The Calm before the Storm

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I have completed the majority of my agency list. Phew, it was a lot of work! I recommend people start on their lists early if they intend to send out queries to many at a time. It took me at least 30 hours all in all to find the agencies, read through their submission guidelines and choose the agent I wanted (by reading the profile of each agent). I also wrote down their email addresses.

--> Start on your agency list early.

I had a whole Word page with names of last-minute agents that I found last Friday and decided to go through it yesterday. I’m so glad that I did! I ended up with 56 agencies, and that’s excluding the one-man ones and the snail-mail ones. Going through that list increased the number in my snail-mail folder though. Why do agents still request forests of queries/manuscripts? I simply love the agencies who request emails only, because they don’t want paper wasted.

--> Prioritize.

I haven’t personalized the query letters yet, but I intend to. They have very different requirements: some request the query letter only, some want 5-10 pages, some 50 pages, one wanted the entire manuscript as an attachment, and some want 1-2 page synopsis, etc. Most don't accept any attachments, but a couple do. I’ll have to read each guidelines very carefully to have a chance.

--> Read the submission guidelines carefully and personalize the query letters. Don't send out mass-queries (Cc's and Bcc's).

Some agencies request exclusive queries, and I decided to ignore those agencies. I might try them if all the others decline. There was actually one agency that said something like “We request that you query more than us. Writers shouldn’t query exclusively.” That made me laugh and the agency earned my respect immediately.

--> Query more than one at a time.

Some agencies forbid querying more than one agent at their agency (no from one means no from all), but some only forbid to query more than one at a time. Janet Reid says to query the others regardless. I suppose I might try it if the agency is big.

--> Query one agent within the agency at a time.

I have also decided to include a line in my queries saying that I’m sending out multiple queries, just to have everything upfront. Some specifically say they want to be told, but others don’t mention it. At first I thought that they’d put those queries aside and focus on the ones submitted exclusively (as some claim to do), but now I’ve come to a different conclusion. I think that they want to read the multi-submitted ones to be able to snatch up the writer before anyone else does, if the query letter sounds promising. I haven’t been able to verify this, but in at least three guidelines there was a text asking writers to let them know if they’ve gotten proposition of representation elsewhere, so that they might make a counter-offer. That means that, say, if I got an offer from Agency X and I also queried Agency Y some time ago, but hadn't heard from them, I’m supposed to send an email to Agency Y and tell them about the offer in case Agency Y wants to have a go. Maybe I'll ask Janet, Rachelle, or Kristin about it.

--> Let the agencies know that you're querying others, too.

The reason I checked the submission guidelines first was to put aside the snail-mail ones. I bookmarked them to list them later. Obviously I’ll try the email-ones first, because they're faster and don't cost anything, but there’s one in particular I’ll want to snail-mail, and that’s the agent of the House of Night series, since that’s my genre.

I also bookmarked in a separate folder “one-man agencies”. That doesn’t mean that I prefer the bigger agencies, it just means that I’ll do more background search on them, and that’s work I’ll have to put aside for a bit.

So what I did was I made five folders in my bookmarks and five Word sheets. I used the same names on the sheets and the folders (Contact 1, Contact 2, etc.) and bookmarked all the ones on Contact 1 sheet in Contact 1 folder. This is to help me later when I have to work my way through the submission guidelines of each agency. I didn’t write the agencies down in any specific order; I intend to query them all. Of course some seemed more like a perfect match for me, but it won’t hurt to send to others to see if they’re interested.

--> Keep a good, organized list on your agencies.

I searched through my genre on PublishersMarketplace, QueryTracker, and AgentQuery and listed them all down. Then I had a webpage of Predators & Editors open and checked each agency to see if they were legit, or had any specific warnings. There were only a few that I took off my list because they seemed iffy. I also eliminated those that take reading fees. I could have done this if they contacted me back to offer representation, but I decided to save myself time so that I won’t have to work my way through their submission guidelines only to learn that they’re dishonest.

--> Check your agencies in Predators & Editors.

So, what’s next? I got back the critique on my query letter and first five pages. I wanted to have the query letter edited to be absolutely error-free, and I got a few pointers with it. I also decided to send the first five pages, because I've made a lot of changes to it since I had the whole manuscript edited. Next up is to apply those changes and then my letter will be ready.

--> Make sure your letter + material is error free.

I have made a full proposal as well and wanted to be able to offer it in the query letter, but since something came up with the editor, I might have to give it a pass. It’s no big deal, really. The agencies only request a query letter, sample chapters/pages, and possibly a synopsis, but never a full proposal for fiction. I just wanted to show that I’d worked hard on the proposal, so less time would go into that after I’m signed.

--> Full proposals are not necessary, but nice.

Task for the day: Apply changes to the query letter and personalize 2-3 letters, but don’t send yet.