Where I plan to be on June 13

Greenlight Books.
Brooklyn.

Oh yea.

Sara Gran.

I'm not sure I can admire her more than I do without becoming what Laura Lippman called herself (in relation to a different author however) at the Edgars in 2010: "a foaming fangirl."

Since I'm not exactly sure what fangirl foam IS and I'm too much in awe of LL to actually ask, let's just leave it at this:

I'm going to be in the first row, front and center.  7:30pm. Come and join me.

And you can't join us, buy the book.  Sara Gran is beyond amazing.  If you disagree with me, you're wrong.

Are you setting summer goals?

I'm a big believer in goal setting.
I wish I was better at goal achieving!

I take comfort in studies that show setting goals will get you farther than not setting goals-- even if you don't reach the actual goal itself.  It's either take comfort or lie on the ground, drumming my heels, wailing like a frustrated two year old...and my FinePrint colleagues have taken to pouring water on my head when I do that.

Seriously:

I set goals for the year, for the month, and sometimes for a season. Like summer.

I set a very specific professional goal for May.  And missed it. By a lot.  My little stickie on my desk top chided me today.  It listed the date I set the goal, what the goal was, and when I wanted to reach it.


Big juicy splat.  In fact, I fell behind if you analyze percentages.  Which of course I do, because why feel like a mere failure when you can feel like a riproaring stupid failure.  Yes indeed.

Then I had to yank up my sox, and remind myself:

Failure is NOT not-succeeding. 
Failure is NOT not-achieving the goal.
Failure is NOT feeling stupid and lazy.
Failure is giving up.

Failure is not trying;
Failure is not paying attention;
Failure is giving up. 


Well, I'm not giving up.

I analyzed why I didn't achieve my goals. One reason was it was too big. I scaled back my expectations. One was I didn't remind myself of the goal regularly.  I've put a reminder notice on my electronic calendar. And one was I didn't finish all the details when I had a task in front of me...and I have no idea how to fix that other than to be aware of it and try not to do it anymore.

With that in mind, I've set new professional goals for the summer season.  Five of them.  Three are related to the goal I didn't achieve in May--I've broken it down to three parts. 

And one of the other two goals is to take summer Fridays off. I'm busier and more behind than ever (I bet you are too) but one thing I learned over the Christmas break when I took a week off, was that I worked more efficiently after I took a break.  So, making a goal of taking summer Fridays will both help me achieve my other goals (I'm hoping!) AND give me a goal that's fun.  Goals shouldn't always be about the arduous things in life.

I specifically haven't mentioned what my goals are because it's not the specifics that matter.  It's simply the act of setting goals, and working to achieve them that matters.

I've had long-term goals on my mind recently because twice in the last three months I've heard from writers who've told me their books are being published this year. Authors I met at conferences or publishing events YEARS ago...more than five.  They had a lot of frustrating experiences betwixt then and now, but they didn't give up.  (And they didn't throw up their hands, say everyone in publishing was a moron, and self-publish either.)  They persevered, worked hard, paid attention to critiques and achieved their goals.

And I just bought their books on Amazon this morning.


So, if you're setting goals this summer, here's to our success! And to remembering what failure isn't.

BEA 2011 Day Four or How a Map and A Sawbuck Saved Me From a Life of Crime

Book Expo America draws all sorts of people to its shores.  One of the things I most enjoy is swimming around the non-book exhibits.  Yes, it's true, I love the gadget displays of store furniture; stationery; calendars; and maps.  And this year, I about fell over myself with joy upon discovering the Moleskine exhibit.

If you have not discovered the pleasure of Moleskine, stop reading this blog post right now and go here.

I've pawed through the Moleskin offerings for years, just cause I love the feel of them. I've never been able to bring myself to spend the money on a notebook though.  (I buy my notepads from Staples for a buck a piece...and that's after three years of trying every different notepad on the market!)

This year at BEA though, my sharkly eye was instantly drawn to something new in the Moleskin offerings: briefcases and messenger bags.  I have a lovely bag I bought a couple years ago, but it weighs a ton even empty.  I've been on the hunt for something more lightweight.

And here it was.  I picked it up. I stroked it.  An eagle eyed booth attendant was on me instantly with a glint in her eye that meant "put down the bag; back away from the display."

I enthused.
I extolled.

I drooled.
I fawned.

And I think I might have offered to steal it.

Well, that brought out the head honcho who briskly frog marched kindly escorted me to the other end of the exhibit and brought out a clever map showing where Moleskine products can be purchased in NYC.

I snatched the map from her hand so fast she got a paper cut.

I might have hollered "thank you!" but it was over my shoulder at full speed gallop.

Yes, I flagged a cab and waved a twenty at the driver. "Hurry!" I screamed, "the store closes in five minutes."

Say what you will about NYC cabbies, they know how to leapfrog over double-parked cars, and carom around belching buses, and dawdling pedestrians.

My cabbie deposited me in a shower of flame and crack of the sound barrier in 93 seconds flat.  I threw him the twenty and another ten for the fare.  At last glimpse he was in conversation with New York's Finest, a conversation I did not pause to join.

I leaped into the store, spent several moments oohing and ahhing over all the choices, then grabbed the messenger bag.  I think it might weigh ten ounces total. It's sleek, like a seal. It was all I could do not to eat it.

So I bought it.

An added bonus was the gorgeous bag enclosing my new gorgeous bag:

I hope the Moleskin exhibitors at BEA read this. I'd hate to have them think I wasn't serious when I said if I couldn't buy it soon I'd have to steal it. 


Saved from a life of crime!

Writing non-fiction?

I found a great list of Seven Tough Questions for Useful Proposals over at the Berrett-Koehler blog recently.

If you're writing any type of non-fiction, most particularly memoir, these are good questions to ask yourself.

thanks to Miss Molly O'Neill, the source of much goodness in the world!

Friday Night at the Question Emporium

My recent blog post about how to find out if your agent is an idiot (sadly, post #3 on that subject) produced quite a few comments that caught my interest.

Here's one:

Another point concerns who the agent sells to. If it is places an author can sell on his own, the agent is not as valuable as an agent who can get you into the large high paying publishers.


That's manifestly not true.  Almost anyone can sell a good project to a publisher, large or small. Selling is the most visible, most talked about, part of an agent's job.  To an author starting out, it seems like the most important. It's not.

Selling a project WELL no matter to which publisher is the art of the deal. And which publisher is less important (trust me on this) than which editor. And knowing how to negotiate your contract, and what is negotiable and what isn't--those are all the places where an agent who knows what she's doing earns her commission.  Yes you can sell direct to a variety of publishers.  Unless you've made a lot of other deals, I don't think you're going to do it anywhere near as well as a good agent.

The 900K word novel that I sold

How to find out if your agent is an idiot-part trois

Subscribe to their newsletter.

If you see "should any manuscript peak your interest" you know your agent is doing a couple things wrong:

1. confusing peak and pique -- which makes editors cringe;

2. submitting multiple manuscript ideas in a newsletter -- in other words, spamming editors.


When editors send me these examples and ask me if I can spot ALL the mistakes in the first paragraph, it's pretty much a sign they don't take the agent, or the proposed projects, seriously.

Of course I surfed to the agent's website. Four immediate red flags:

1. no sales;
2. no authors;
3. no agent bio indicating his/her experience in publishing;
4. Clunky writing misusing industry terms.


Make sure you know how your agent is pitching your work.
Ask for the pitch letter; you're entitled.

Ask for the newsletter; you're entitled.

Your agent represents YOUR work; you're absolutely entitled to see how it's positioned.

BEA 2011 Day Three

The big news today is that Barry Eisler isn't self publishing his next John Rain book.

Barry Eisler announced today during his presentation at Publishers Launch Conference, an event held alongside BEA, that he has signed "within the hour" a deal with Thomas and Mercer, the new crime imprint at Amazon.

In response to the moderator's question, Eisler also revealed he was receiving an advance "comparable to the one offered by Minotaur" which is widely rumored to be near $500,000.

Eisler said the print royalties were commensurate with what he'd have received in his contract at Minotaur and the ebook royalty rates were much higher, near 70% (a percentage of what exactly was not specified.)

I'm sure there will be more complete reports in trades tonight.  Keep an eye out for scheduled pub date: one thing Eisler was dissatisfied with was how long it took "traditional publishers" to publish a book.

I'm keeping a very close eye on a couple things: the reaction from Minotaur; the reaction from Dan Conaway; and what term Eisler will now use to describe Amazon since "legacy publisher" appears to describe everyone else.

BEA 2011 Day Two

It was a very busy day.
Very good. Very productive. VERY full of words.

My word hoard is bare.

More later.

BEA 2011 Day One

Book Expo is the annual trade show where booksellers meet publishers to hear about what's coming in the next season.  Like every great clash of opposing forces, the hangers-on outnumber the direct combatants and provide most of the low comedy.  I am one of the hangers-on.  As a literary agent, I'm useless to booksellers, and publishers alike.  Doesn't matter. I'm badged, and ready for fun.

And BEA is fun.  It's fun because this is the one time of year when I know that I'll learn stuff I didn't know I needed to know. I'll connect with old friends, dodge new enemies, and if I'm lucky, find some great stuff to read.  (This is the point when my faithful readers can point to yesterday's blog about the BIO conference and how many books I dragged home and look askance at the idea I need ANY new books for two more years.)

But I digress.

I'd intended to swim over to the Javits Center bright and early but was delayed because a client needed to come over to the office and sign his new contract.  Oh yes, I have my priorities in order. Contract FIRST. Then BEA.

I arrived to find the registration lines ...absent!  If you're ever attending BEA, the first day is the best day to pick up badges. Tomorrow the lines will be out the door and down 11th Avenue but today, no one.  And yet, there were a lot of people there.

The first lucky collision was with an old friend Susannah Greenberg.  It was great to catch up with her and hear about some of the interesting things she's doing with Google ads.  (Susannah is a terrific publicist just fyi.)

A quick glance at the list of panels turned up "Making Non-Fiction Sexy" and there was no chance I could resist that!  Off I swam to the panel.

It became clear from the start that the panel was intended for booksellers.  I'd stumbled into new and foreign territory, but the people didn't throw stones, so I huddled inconspicuously and took notes.

The panel moderator was Oren Teicher, head of the ABA.  He mentioned that most bookstores sell 1/3 fiction, and 2/3 non-fiction. Nods from the audience confirmed this statement.

It took me a couple minutes to realize that statistic undercut the premise of the panel.  Making something "sexy" is jargon for increasing how attractive it is for buyers.  It's clear from those sales stats that non-fiction is quite sexy enough, thank you.

And yet, if you ask anyone about hot books, or the what's being buzzed at BEA (as in the Editors Book Buzz to follow) they all talk about fiction. 


After the Non-fiction seminar, I dashed across the hall to make sure I got a good seat for the Editors Buzz at 4:30. I know from long experience that the room fills up quickly.  My strategy is to attend the panel meeting in the same room and right before the buzz panel thus securing a seat. Second row left side, voila!

In this case,the panel before the Buzz Panel was the opening plenary speech by Margaret Atwood.  I've met Margaret Atwood, I've read Margaret Atwood. I've been lectured and reprimanded by Margaret Atwood.  I planned to listen, but I was there just to hold the chair.

Boy was I surprised.  Margaret Atwood is hilarious. Really REALLY hilarious, and smart funny too.  I was shocked to my shoes.  Then I was so immersed in what she was saying I forgot to take notes.  She told us about the three speeches she started to prepare for this event, and in telling us about why she wanted to talk about the topic, and why she couldn't complete the topic, conveyed more to us than if she'd simply told us her main point. In other words she told us a story, and in doing so let us draw our own conclusions about what she meant.  And no surprise: she's brilliant.

Utterly and completely brilliant.

It's amazing what you find at BEA when you're not looking.

When I tell you  her new book is about science fiction, and she told us she loved SF: science fiction, fantasy, sword and sorcery, slipstream fiction, you won't be be surprised at all.  Such clever and complex minds need more than earthly dimensions!

And when I heard her say "I'm the only person you know who's read all the Conan the Conqueror books" only to have three people in the audience say "hey, me too!" I knew I was at BEA 2011!

And when her closing comments were about the provenance of metallic brassieres, I knew it was going to be a GREAT show.

Biographers International Conference 2011-updated

Even if you don't write history or biography, you'll want to check out Biographers International Organization (BIO--get it!)  Conferences like these are a great place to break free of the usual; get a fresh perspective; see how the other team suits up.

And if you do write history or biography, join now. Go the next conference. I don't plan to miss any.

I attended the 2011 conference  here in DC at the National Press Club.  It was fun to check I was headed in the right direction by following the signs to the White House.  Yes, I was a total tourist.

The second sign I was NOT in NYC was that the coffee and pumpkin muffin cost less than $5 and the cashier smiled AND wished me a happy Saturday.  It was bewildering and disorienting of course, but I regained my wits enough to find the right place.

The first panel was "Dealing With Black Holes in Your Subject's Life."  I figured it would be useful in case any of my clients ran in to the problem.  I guess it's a big problem for biographers: the room was packed.

The first speaker was Marc Leepson who wrote a book I really want to read called SAVING MONTICELLO (more on my book buying later).  He was hilarious and charming and although he didn't have any great tips on black holes, he was the first of many people who talked about the rich sources of primary material available in letters. It made me wonder what historians of the future will mine for information.  Twtter? Godhelpthem.  Maybe blogs?  (hello future readers, sorry about the slang, inside jokes and foul language!)


The second panelist Matthew Algeo also talked about using letters for primary sources.  And the difficulty of deciphering some of those letters (say what you will about computers, they've largely ended the problem of crap handwriting)  What Mr. Algeo did was post a copy of the letter on his blog, and crowdsourced it. In other words, asked for his readers' help in "translating!" That drew an instant "ohhhhh" from the audience.  Clearly there will be more examples of this in the future!

And with the third panelist Tom Powers, we hit the jackpot.  He recounted how he learned about "deep chronology" from a CIA agent.  Deep chronology is a detailed gathering of information; built without prejudice, without making judgements. He said it's easy to be misled if you ignore something you know isn't true.  In other words, every event is in the chronology, even if you think it's wrong.  Mr. Powers said that as you build a chronology you begin to see relationships emerge; subjects can't hide anything in a chronology like this; it's the very life of a project.

At the end he said "you have a very valuable document you don't know what to do with!" and the room laughed with him.  But, he said, if you have everything in the chronology you'll soon find what is defined by the negative space.

It was clear this resonated deeply with the audience.  I can see the value of it in other things as well, but as a research and writing tool it's amazing.  Trying to figure out if something could have happened is a lot easier if you know that it can't have happened cause other things were going on.

Mr. Powers was so intelligently charming that I instantly resolved to buy all his books immediately.


The highlight of the day was the lunchtime speech by Robert Caro.  Mr. Caro is the undisputed master of the biographical form.  His books on Robert Moses and LBJ are benchmarks.  It was riveting to hear him speak about how he researched the LBJ books.  He and his wife moved to Texas for three years to do research on LBJ's early years.  He recounted that only when the residents of the Hill Country realized he wasn't leaving after a cursory look did they begin to open up and really give him the material that would illuminate the entire book.

His talk was so inspirational I felt ready to take on another ten years of publishing. 

UPDATE: For a better, more in-depth report on Mr. Caro's lunchtime speech, check out Andrea Pitzer's piece in the Nieman Storyboard.  She captures it to perfection. (thanks to Pat McNees who called it to my attention in the comments section of this post)

And of course, after hearing him speak, I had to buy his books.  I'd read bits and pieces of most, actually owned a copy of THE POWER BROKER at one point, but they weren't on my shelves.

Now they are.

Here's what I bought:

If you wonder where I am this summer, just look at this picture again: I'll be reading!

Why Marfa Texas might be crowbar worthy!

Yea, verily it looks like they are quite welcoming to the Sharkly set!

why yes, that is Bill Cameron clutching a Dagger Short List!

The CrimeWriters Association Short Story Dagger 2011
Prize: £500

Nominees are:
"Wednesday’s Child" by Ken Bruen from First Thrills

"The Princess of Felony Flats" by Bill Cameron from First Thrills

"East of Suez, West of Charing Cross Road" by John Lawton from Agents of Treachery

"Homework" by Phil Lovesey from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime Vol 8

"The Dead Club" by Michael Palmer & Daniel Palmer from First Thrills



What an amazing list! And how deeply rewarding to see the incredibly talented Bill Cameron right there!

what she said

yea, this.

I'll expand the advice to include this:

Keep your query process off your blog.
Keep it off twitter.
Keep it off Facebook.

Talk about what you love to read.
Talk about how much you adore Game of Thrones.
Talk about the weather.

Do not talk about your query travails in public.

No one cares, and it could will come back to bite you in the tail.

I love this cover almost as much as I love the book

It's the final installment in the Avery Cates series.  Sox, prepare for launch.

COUNTY LINE "sparkles on the page"

oh yes it does!  The good folks at Murder by the Book give COUNTY LINE a rave review.

Here's part of it:

Cameron has written a thriller that makes you want to turn the page faster and faster. He has also written a sensitive story about a young girl from a dysfunctional family who has more troubles than someone her age should have. Cameron's writing easily and poetically handles the transition from Skin's story to Ruby's, from then to now. This is a story that will linger.



Now, as to whether Bill himself sparkles, well, you'll just have to find him at one of his reading stops this summer and ask.

You know your client is HOT when he's got asbestos underpants!

yea baby!

Yea, this.

It's the fifth panel that I'm having tattooed on my fin.

(thanks to the fabulous Molly O'Neill for alerting me to this.)

If you are a writer, read this

If you are feeling tired and discouraged,
If you are frustrated with how your writing is going,
If you wonder if your work will ever find an audience, or a publisher

read this

(stolen ruthlessly from Beth Revis, via Carrie Heim)

yowza!

Oh my Mr. Ulfelder.

How to format a query sent by email

Heading on a query letter today:
---------------------------------------
(date)

VIA: Electronic Mail

Janet Reid
Fine Print Literary Management
240 West 35th Street #500
New York, NY 10001


Janet@fineprintlit.com


Re: Literary Representation
------------------------------------



It took up the entire email screen.  It told me nothing I didn't know already, and a lot about the querier.

If you are querying by email you do NOT put the agent's address OR YOURS, at the top.  E-queries do NOT follow the standard business letter format you learned in stenography 101.

A proper email query uses the subject line for the factual info: QUERY for (title of your book)/fiction or non-fiction

The first line of your email query is "Dear Snookums"

The next line of text is ABOUT YOUR FRIGGING Amazing BOOK.

A lot of agents are reading queries on their smart phones, and every time an agent has to scroll down, you increase the chance they won't. You want to entice an agent to read on from the VERY FIRST WORD you write.  Telling me you are "seeking literary representation" makes me wonder if you think I'm so stupid I need to be told this kind of thing.  You think you're being proper and formal.  You're not.  You're wasting valuable time and real estate. Get to the point. Entice me to read your work.

Be smarter than your phone: learn and follow e-query formatting.

Crowbar, meet CutBank, Montana

I have sworn high and low to never leave NYC again.

You should have taken me up on the bet, a nice cool C-note on the table.

You'd be laughing your asterisk off now, AND spending my your newfound money cause I've found something that will pry me out of NYC.

Here's what it is.

Feeling frustrated with those stupid rejection letters?

You might benefit from an intensive writers workshop.  Here's a good one:

The 4th Annual Seascape "Escape to Write" Retreat

When: 9/9-9/11/2011

Workshop leaders: Hallie Ephron, Roberta Isleib, S.W. Hubbard. (just a side note: I'm a HUGE fan of all three writers, I know them all personally and I think they are terrific.)


WHAT: Tune out distractions and devote a weekend to reinvigorating your creativity and revising your manuscript in the beautiful Connecticut river valley

FOR: Writers working on mystery, thriller, or suspense novels or short stories for YA or adult readers

WHEN: Beginning at about 5 PM, Friday, September 9; ending at 1 PM, Sunday September 11

WHERE: Guest House Retreat Center, Chester, CT


HOW: You submit 25 pages in advance and get a ton of feedback.

INFO: at Roberta Isleib's site


The weekend is limited to 18 writers and is already 2/3 full, so now is the time to make your plans.

"damn those kids and their recurring need to eat!"

Divergent on sale today.

I've been waiting for months for this to go on sale so I can talk to people about it!

Buy it now so I can!