Query Question: previous work

When querying for one particular novel, is it a good idea to (briefly) tell an agent about other books I have written in the past or manuscripts I am working on at the moment?

Although those might be besides the question, I feel they might be relevant to an agent like yourself, who is interested in representing careers, not books.

You don't have enough room in a query for much information other than what this particular book is about. 250 words total, remember?

However.

I am interested in what you've written before but only if you've published it. That's where your website comes in handy. You post a list of your previous writing (and links to it if you want people to read it or buy it) and have a tab on your website that says "Books" or "Works" so I can click on it and take a look.

In your query, you put your website address underneath your name in the signature.

Example:

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Felix Buttonweazer

ButtonweazersRus.nyc
@ButtonWeazer

1-800-Wea-ZERS

123 Duck Soup Circle
Fredonia, NY 14063

At the query stage I'm ONLY interested in this one book right now. If I've read the full and liked it, you can count on a quiz about your previous work.

Query question: market saturation

I have a pretty high concept novel that is in an overly saturated market. I have had one agent request and reject it. In contests I have entered, the feedback I've gotten is that market is too saturated. I am thinking of hiring a professional editor to possibly smooth out the writing.
However, it's quite expensive, and while I would be willing to spend the money if it really helped me move up to the next level writing wise, I don't want to if it won't get published because of the overly saturated market. If that's the case, it may be better for me to move onto my next novel. I hope that makes sense. Would it be out of line to ask the rejecting agent if he thinks a professional editor would be worth it? I hate to bother agents that are already so busy, and I don't want him to give me an editorial letter. He's the only professional that has read the manuscript.

An "overly saturated market" doesn't have anything to do with the quality of your writing. If the shelf is full, no one is looking to take on more authors in that category.


Hiring an editor to improve your novel for a category that's already full is solving the wrong problem.


On the other hand, you're basing your decision on VERY limited feedback. One agent requesting and rejecting is hardly the basis for making any changes.  And I'm not sure what contests you're entering, or who the judges are but unless they are agents who make the choices of what to take on, and what not to take on, I don't think that advice is worth much either.


You need to query much more widely before deciding anything.


And if you're writing in a category, you should be reading that category as well. Front list (ie published THIS year books)


How can you tell if a market is getting full?  Look for debut writers in the category. If the category is mostly authors with three or more books, that means there are a lot of authors with on-going series.  If there are more than four or five debut authors published THIS year, then there's probably a lot more opportunities.


This is one of the many reasons you need to read widely and deeply in your category. It's very easy to get discouraged by what someone tells you unless you've done you're own reading and know they're full of hogwash.

Happy Christmas!

Rant: send All

In yesterday's email I found this:

For the last 40 plus years I've communicated with my family and friends to share our fate and fortunes.  The numbers receiving this at one time topped 700 and has been whittled down a bit though the number is large and many share with others which is fine. 

Yes, it's the form letter in the annual Christmas card. Sent to "family and friends" which this nincompoop has mistaken for everyone in her address book. I'm not her family, and I'm not her friend. I'm one of the agents she queried in 2011; she's one of the writers who received a form reply.



If you would like to make sure that I never see any email from you again EVER, this is a sure-fire way to do it.


Send ALL is a disaster waiting to happen.  Your email address book saves all sorts of addresses and unless you look at that list and refine it, you're going to end up in this lady's shoes.

Send ALL also a sign of laziness.  It's a whole lot easier to hit Send ALL than it is to go through the list and delete names you don't need.  One of the things I'm NOT looking for in 2015 (or ever) is laziness. In fact I'm looking for the exact opposite.

Be smart. Send smart.

Query Question: short novels

I've written several short stories that I want to expand into a series of books, and an idea came to me. I was thinking of the books by Og Mandino.  They all had a message, but they were all very short books. I'm guessing most of his books were only 50,000 words tops; they certainly were not normal novel length.

Would that work in today's world?  Is it even possible to find a market for novellas?  If I wrote this series of books about special children named Hope, Mercy, and Peace, and they were all in the 50,000 word range, would I have any chance of finding an interested publisher?

I had to look up Og Mandino because I knew the name but couldn't have told you a thing about his titles (that's a clue right there.)

Turns out Mr. Mandino isn't writing novellas at all. He's writing self-help and inspiration. He may be using story form to do it (Simon the Ragpicker etc.) but his goal is to is to teach, not entertain.

If that's what you want to do, and it sounds like you do if you've got "special children named Hope, Mercy, and Peace" then it's not the size of the book that's the problem it's the style.

You need to figure out what you're writing. If it's self-help and motivational essays, then it's NOT a novella.  If you want to write a novella, make sure you're telling a story first, not trying to teach a lesson. Books with heavy handed overt messages are non-starters these days no matter their length.

Blog contest results

I ran a quick contest on Saturday, induced when I needed some of the restorative powers of the comment column, and after requesting three count em three full manuscripts in one day.

I asked you to guess how many full manuscripts I'd requested this year.

Some of you clearly missed the "this year" part and thought I meant "ever"

879	Bill Negotiator
741	Laurie Lamb
716	El El Piper
617	Lynn Guelzow
427	Michele Lynn
427	Kalli
402	Erin
333	Denise Beucler
326	Stacy
303	Lisa Bodenheim
301	Ruthy

Some of you might have thought I meant in this decade:
 

279	Sarah Meral
266	Janet Johnson
258	JennyC
247	Unknown #2
222	Deep River
219	Ellen
212	mrsfringe
205	Alyssa Carlier
204	Becky Mushko
189	Josh Johnstun
178	Dan McFadden
176	MB Owen
162	Wordnerdlove
158	S.P.Bowers
157	Rami McShane
156	Dena
151	Kevin

And then there are those of you who really think I either don't work very hard or am VERY hard to please:

17	Christine Edwards
12	Antonia Malchik
8	slcortazar

 The remainder were in the ballpark at least.

Angela V. Cook was only off by 9
Unknown #3  and Poor Dead Jed were only off by 8

Britta Boudreau and DLM were only off by 1.

That makes Verna Austen the very best guesser at 78.

BUT, the most amazing part of the contest were your comments. Honestly you've outdone yourselves this time. I think I laughed about every single one.  What a great weekend tonic you provided.

Here are just a very few of the standouts:

Ones about the numbers:

Mister Furkles: 

I don't believe it is 47 but I like 47 and it doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Rae Chang: 

49 because it is just so pretty

bass: 

I'm gonna guess 51. It seems like a cute and oft forgotten number.

Slcortazar: 

My best guess is 8, for no other reason that I like that number. It's neat and tidy.

And comments about the couch and everything else:

mrsfringe: 

Come sob on my sofa. No cats, but a dog who thinks she is one.

poor dead jed: 

I can rent some kittens for the day if you swing the contest my way, Sharky-Snookums. ;-)

Michele Lynn: 

If I win please send a book.
My couch is usually full of teenage girls sobbing over their less than perfect suburban lives,

Ruthy: 

You are welcome to cry on my sofa. I like a challenge and I need someone new to bake for. These people are animals and not in a good way.

Angela: 

You can come sob on my couch. I haven't done any querying in a while, so my couch could use a good watering.

Unknown (8:49am) 

And I'm going to say book because I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old--I have enough people sobbing on my couch from time to time!

Donnaeverhart: 

You can come and squall to your heart's content on my couch. Trust me, you'd wail at the sight of it anyway. It's very comfy, but 20 years old. Little dog has decided it's his chore to end it's misery and attempts to destroy a bit more of it everyday. If you're still weeping on it on January 2nd, I'm sorry to say you'll be hauled away to wherever old sofas go.

April: 

If I win I'll take the book, because I'm not willing to pay for your airfare all the way to Tokyo. ;)

Amy Simonson: 

138, and I offer my couch and access to all the alcohol in my house which is significant at the moment as I'm hosting Christmas dinner for 14.

Kalli: 

If I win, I would like a book please. I was tempted by the idea of you sobbing on my sofa, because I've been doing exactly that ever since my beloved bunny passed away just over two weeks ago, and I figured it was someone else's turn, but I think a book might cheer me up more :-)

p.s. that was not a shameless bid for the sympathy vote. After all, this is not the X factor final

p.p.s if a shameless bid for the sympathy vote would have worked, then please disregard my previous statement

Becky Mushko: 

Should I win, I'll take the book. My couch is full of cats, and they yield space to no one—not even sharks

Sarah: 

You can come sob on my sofa, but can you bring a book? I'll make tiny red velvet cupcakes, or green Christmas tree spritz cookies.

Dena Pawling: 

I choose book, because I have a teen-aged daughter, and honestly my house is already way too full of drama.

But nothing by Laird Barron. I scare easily.

Kari Lynn Dell: 

102, because that was my kid's temperature last evening and it's approximately the number of cows and horses I have to pack feed to this morning. And I should take a book because I'm quite sure you don't want to experience the sensation of tears freezing on your cheeks.

Jennifer D: 

Couch, so you can hang with my very sad 5 year old son who thinks he's in an freaking Annie movie because I made him help me clean the house this morning.

S.D. King: 

And somebody's got to sleep on my couch this Christmas - it might as well be you!

LynnRodz: 26 

You can come cry on my couch, it makes out into a queen size bed and quite comfy actually. I'll even have my French chef whip up a wonderful dinner with warm crusty baguette straight from the oven. The wine will be flowing and you'll soon stop crying, because who cries in Paris???

JennyC: 

Will be in FL at my parent's with lots of nieces and nephews. Mom and Dad have a comfy couch for sobbing and the girls will paint your toenails cheerful colors.

And here are the two top comments, chosen for very different reasons of course!

Colin Smith:

My guess: 128 (the average of all the guesses as of 11:58 ET).

And I think I'd rather have you sobbing on my couch. It's a win-win for everyone:

My wife will feed you her grandmother's cheesecake, which is beyond awesome.

#1 child will share makeup tips and talk to you about her favorite books.

#2 child will teach you Korean, Chinese, and Japanese, and make her incredible Lo Mein for you.

#3 child will dazzle you with his Legend of Zelda skills, and invite you to team up with him... if you dare!

#4 child will draw your portrait.

#5 child will give you hugs and wait on you hand-and-foot.

#6 child will talk to you about anything. Anything. Don't expect to say much back.

And I won't need a book, because you'll bring all those awesome manuscripts with you for us to read. :)

Brian: 

37. 

I pick you sobbing on my couch(it really is comfy), that way I can read you my novel and you can't escape. I can also tuck you in, prop your feet up, it'll be like Misery. That was a feel good story right?

Colin, Brian, and Verna, if you'll email me your mailing address and an idea of what kinds of books you like, we'll get your prizes in the mail.

Thanks to everyone for participating. You not only made my day, you made my whole weekend!

Happy Holidays!