I'm doing a Work For Hire. Will that hurt my novel?

I have an opportunity to write a few novels set in someone else's world in a work for hire situation. My name, my stories, their IP. I also plan to write my own novels in the same genre. While there isn't a non-compete clause in the contract, I still have some qualms about the opportunity. Or am I over thinking things and panicking like a frightened woodland creature?

Either way, I can't seem to shake these questions:

(1) Will the work for hire novels hurt or help my chances to get my own novels published?
(2) Will I still be considered a debut author if the work for hire books come out before I'm ready to shop my own novel?
(3) Does it actually matter what order this happens in?
(4) Should I look at getting an agent for the work for hire novels? (the contract is very straight forward.)

(1) No

(2) No

(3) Yes. Your first novel is your debut. If the WFH comes first, that's the debut. If your own novel comes first, that's the debut. Debuts matter ONLY for prizes, generally, and for gaining interest from booksellers. You won't need the bookseller interest for the WFH, I'd guess, because the interest is based on the series, not the author. Generally, if you're writing a Star Trek novelization, readers are asking for the next Star Trek book, not the next Felix Buttonweezer book.

(4) Yes. Now remember, I'm an agent. I think everyone should have one BUT to support that statement let me quote from a client who did get a very straightforward contract recently for a project that I did not sell "Thanks for the notes. I know I would not have caught (any of) these things"

In other words, I saw some things that he didn't and he was able to get most of them changed in the contract.

(Just FYI, I review all contracts my clients enter into even if I don't sell the project for Just This Reason!)

This seems like a good opportunity to build your writing portfolio. Even if you don't secure an agent for the WFH, you should have someone review the contract to keep you out of trouble. Let me know if you need a name.

Would you help someone who is a terrible writer?

As an agent but also as a human with a warm heart under a sharkly exterior, would you ever consider giving a repeat querier gentle advice about their prospects of success?

I know of a person who has been querying the same couple of MSs for a lot of years (at least 5) - fake name Alex. Alex is earnest and enthusiastic, but just cannot write. Alex pitches terrible plots that make no sense and can't write even a sentence without an error. Twitter pitches, queries, samples of the MS - they're all riddled with mistakes. The MSs have literally hundreds of rejections (300+) but Alex continues to query the same MSs - their response to a rejection for one is to query the same agent with the second a month later, then wait a few months and repeat the process. Given this, I'm sure at many agents in Alex's chosen genre have received dozens of these queries over time, and some at least must recognise the name and plots by now.

I know a bad query is a form reject. Presumably when you notice it's the same novel, form reject again. But for a clueless but polite serial requerier, would you ever be tempted to write a gentle note back to the author telling them that they might want to think about just shelving the novels?

Obviously it is none of my business if Alex wants to keep doing this. It's not hurting anyone. Dreams are great. But on a human level it just makes me sad that Alex is wasting their life working on these books over and over that no agent is ever, ever going to pick up. The writing is not getting any better. They are just going to keep beating their head against the wall over and over for...ever? Rejections still hurt Alex's feelings so it is just a bit heartbreaking when they seem like a kind, nice person. So sometimes I hope that maybe an agent will gently tell Alex that they should rethink things, and maybe they would listen to someone in publishing? Clearly no-one in their regular life is telling them this (or Alex is not listening if they are). And then if Alex wants to write and publish then self publishing is available 

Is this ever going to happen? Would you or anyone you know ever decide to do that?

No
No

One of the hardest things I've had to learn, not just in this business, but in life, is that you can't help people who don't want help, or don't want to learn.

Given that I have devoted EIGHT YEARS to helping people revise their queries to be effective**, I am at peace with the fact I will continue to get terrible, no DREADFUL, queries because some people just aren't going to get it.

The good thing is: it sorts them out from the writers I do want to work with very quickly.

What you and Alex don't know is that after about three repeat queries, I no longer see his emails. They've been flagged as junk, and are diverted by Priscilla, Queen of the Just Desserts, my spam filter long before it reaches my inbox.

I'm sorry for Alex on a general humanitarian level. But if he does the same thing over and over, expecting different results, his biggest problem isn't his writing.

I've seen writers who realize their skills aren't up to par take steps to change. They've enrolled in classes, hired editors, or just worked hard to improve their skills on their own. THESE are the folks I'm willing to invest my time and energy with. Someone who doesn't even realize they need to change? Not so much.




**QueryShark was launched in April 2008

Too much of a good thing

 

I have been querying YA agents, ten at a time. Revise, edit, revise, repeat. In the last batch of ten I straight away got a full requests from YA Agent 1. Bingo, right?

But…
I waited and waited, and took a hiatus on sending out queries to concentrate on my wip. Three months later I nudged Agent 1 and got an apology email (it got lost, the dog ate it, the blasted spam filter…), requesting I resend and she’d get right on it. So I did.

Then, feeling frustrated and on a bit of a whim, I sent a query to a (non-YA) big name Agent 2 known for representing literary fiction. In sixty minutes flat I got “your pages really caught my attention, please send the full, even though my reading list is very full.” Holy crap!

Then, next day, in rolls another full request from YA Agent 3, from the batch of queries sent three months before. When it rains it pours. But it gets worse, or at least more confusing.

Two months later Agent 1 emails back, I loved the story, and read it several times. Please revise and resubmit. It’s too literary. We want it to sell well as commercial, not just win literary awards. Not much other guidance. Things started looking a little fuzzy.

Here’s what my brain wanted to say: What literary awards? What manuscript are you talking about? Is my story literary fiction? Seriously? Is that why Agent 2 is interested and why so many YA agents haven’t been? And what the heck!? Aren’t we supposed to want to win literary awards, even if we never aspired to that and think the idea a little ludicrous? And where do Agents 2 and 3 stand on all this?

Here’s what I actually emailed back: Roger that, I’ll revise and resubmit.

So now I’m in a real conundrum. Will revising the manuscript to make it more “commercial fiction like,” and less “literary fiction like,” make the manuscript less attractive to big name non-YA Agent 2? If Agent 2 likes my writing because of it’s “literary fiction” aspects, will revising to make it more “commercial fiction like” make the manuscript less attractive? Would Agent 2 be problematic since she represents literary fiction, not YA?

I’ve been diligently rereading and editing, trying REAL hard to make improvements without messing things up. Time has actually made a difference and I really like many of my edits, but most of them are subtle. I’m also playing a waiting game. Maybe big-name Agent 2 will get back to me soon (even though she said her reading list was very full) with more specific ideas for revision and I’ll have a better idea of where to take the book. But I’m about out of runway. My edits are essentially done.

Seems like I have a lot of alternatives.

1. My gut (going with honesty is the best policy) says send the revision back to YA Agent 1 and nudge Agent 2 and 3 letting them know I am sending in my R&R.

2. I could send in my R&R to Agent 1 and hold my cards on Agents 2 and 3, with a gentle nudge to Agent 2 because it’s now been three months.

3. I could continue to drag it out hoping for a response from Agent 2 without loosing the interest of Agent 1.

4. I could crawl back into my woodland nut hole and keep going with my wip, which is decidedly commercial YA. (At least I think it is. Oh no, what if I’m wrong there too?)

Apropos any of those options, I suppose I could also recast my query and send it to agents specifically looking for literary fiction. Sigh.

Any advice for your devoted blog follower and befuddled woodland creature?

An agent sent you an email that said "revise and resubmit" and didn't give you any guidance on specifically what s/he had in mind?

Oh man, I need to remember that. Talk about a fast way to REALLY make writers crazy!! This is even better than "I'll reply soonishly" which I use now to torment all my clients and few queriers with requested fulls as well.

One of the things that would really help you is to get both projects (finished and WIP) in front of an agent who works in this category. That means a writing conference or a consultation (you can often buy these at charity auctions.)  Get some feedback from someone who's seen both projects.

Right now you don't have enough information from any of these tormentors to actually act on. Thus:

1. Keep querying
2. Keep nudging
3. Keep writing

It sounds like you've got the writing chops to snag an agent's interest.  Now, you just need some actual guidance from someone who says "I love this, now let's change it."

Writing in two categories

I am currently mid-edit my first novel, a MG adventure. But I have also been fermenting a historical crime fiction, which I’ll tackle once I start to query my first. I understand from your posts that you’re explicitly NOT seeking MG works, which is why I plan on not wasting your time by querying you. But if I’m fortunate enough to land an agent for this first book, won’t this agent be interested in my writing career as a whole? In which case, I would then need to rely on her to try selling my historical crime, wouldn’t I? Or would she expect me to re-query other agents, who deal in this genre (in which case, my query would be in your inbox as soon as I felt that the novel -and query letter- were up to par!)


However, I thought that normally, an author wouldn’t have two different agents at the same time, would they? I know that some authors publish in different genres under different pen names; is that why? So that Persona A writing in Genre A has one agent, and Persona B writing in Genre B has another?

I realize that this is very much ‘cart before horse’ however, I would hate to be contracted to an agent who could sell only some of the works that I have in the pipeline.

What happens normally in this situation? 

Generally, you'll try to sign with an agent who reps both kinds of books. This is something you will discuss with any agent who makes you an offer.

If you were to query me for the historical crime, and I loved it, and we were discussing rep, and you told me about the middle grade, I'd be INSTANTLY less likely to sign you.

Here's why:

1. I don't rep middle grade. I've got some middle grade on my list from established clients but it's a tough competitive field and I'm not sure I can provide the quality representation in this category that my clients should expect.

2. If you're working in two VERY different areas, I'm not convinced you're reaching your full potential in either category.  I don't think most people can excel in two different categories. Maybe you're the exception, but at the start, I'm skeptical.

3. Middle grade and adult fiction is promoted and sold VERY differently.  Instead of one career, you'd essentially be trying to establish two.  I can't begin to tell you how hard that is.  And the chances for success with divided time and focus are diminished. Please remember that I make money ONLY when you make money, so your success is CRUCIAL for me.  Anything that gets in the way of you making money is a problem.


Right now you're only thinking about what you like to write.  That's great. But when you involve me in the situation, the discussion is about how to build a career.  I know that wasn't your question here, but it is the answer.  Figure out where you want to focus and then query to find the agent best suited to help you achieve your goal with that book.

Agents changing area of focus

Two friends of mine were represented by Successful Literary Agent (SLA). Friend 1 writes dark fiction for a specific age group. Friend 2 was writes lighter fare for a different age group. Both were thrilled to sign with SLA and have their manuscripts on submission with several houses.

Then ... SLA changed agencies and told Friend 1 that SLA would not be taking Friend 1 as a client to the New Agency.

SLA said s/he was narrowing his/her focus to two of the other age ranges s/he represented and thus would no longer be representing the age range of Friend 1's project. SLA stated s/he would follow up with the remaining editors who had Friend 1's project, and if one of them were interested, SLA would relinquish his/her commission and Friend 1 would then be free to query other agents with that offer in hand.

Upon hearing this I immediately thought of Friend 2 who had signed with SLA just a few months prior to this. Since Friend 2 wrote in one of the two age ranges that SLA told Friend 1 s/he wanted to focus on, I was hopeful Friend 2 might still be represented by SLA.

Alas, no. Friend 2 was also on submission at the time of the announcement, and also not retained as a client.

By contrast, the agent of another writer acquaintance of mine recently switched agencies and this writer remains a client of said agent.

My question: what typically happens when an agent changes agencies? I was under the impression that most clients follow the agent to the new agency. Of course now I know to add this to the list of questions to ask a prospective agent, but I (and my Friends) would love to know if what happened to them is typical practice.

It's not a typical practice with the agents I know. And I'm very puzzled by this, in fact.

When I sign a client, I love love love their book. And generally I like the client too (please do not mention this to any of my clients of course, I don't want them knowing THAT!)

If I were to change agencies, I'd be hauling all of them along with me.

Several agents I've worked with have changed agencies. In each case they took all their clients with them, unless the client chose to stay behind.

This makes me think the agent is using this move as an excuse to pare away projects and/or clients she can't sell (or doesn't think she can sell.)

Which makes me ask of course: why did s/he sign them in the first place?
You really really really want an agent who's in this with you for the long haul.

I have nothing against young agents. I think a lot of them are incredibly bright and very good at their jobs,  but this can be a problem with people just starting out. They are learning the hard way about what sells, what doesn't, and the uphill battle to build a commission based income.


You're quite right that this is something you want to talk about before you sign with someone, and it should be something you think about if you're signing with a new or junior agent.

There are some previous posts on labelled "changing agents" that have some specific guidelines about what to do when this happens.

"You're gonna be sorreeeee"

Today, a query writer replied to my form rejection with "will think of you when the project gets picked up."
Which demonstrates the writer certainly has bravado and confidence, and also demonstrates s/he doesn't know how to control it.

Because when you say that to me, what I hear is "you're gonna be sorry you didn't take this on" and frankly no one responds well to that kind of comment. I certainly don't.

Now here's the part that's hard for people to remember when they're in the query trenches: one of these days you're going to get OUT, you're going to have a published book, and you're going to need readers. And people to buzz about your book.

And you may not want or get me as your agent, but I'm still someone you probably wouldn't mind having in your corner when you need to find readers.

And if you've said something like "neener neener, you're going to be sorry" to me, the chances of that happening are the chances of hell freezing over (even with global warming.)


And it's not because I keep some sort of blacklist of people I'll never ever be nice to again.
No indeed.

Here's what you didn't remember: I pass on books I like. I pass on books I like a lot. I pass on books that are not only publishable, I pass on books that DO get published.

Not all good books are right for me. I'm not the right agent for every good book.

That means I can and DO talk about books I've passed on after they're published, with things like "this is a terrific book." Which might be something you want said about YOUR book, no?




So, what to do?
Before you reply to rejection letters with anything but "thank you for taking a look" remember agents and editors are READERS too.

Be extra careful what you say about the query process in public forums. And MORE careful in private forums. If you don't think we see all those comments, you don't understand how much people like to talk.

This is the EXACT reason I never reply to queries with "you suck" even if I think the book does. There are a dozen books selling quite nicely that I think are utter dreck, and if you think I want MY rejection letter on any of those authors' website** you underestimate the size of my ego!






**I've attended several conferences and one awards banquet that featured authors reading their rejection letters. I was praying the entire time one of them wasn't from me. 

Week in Review 3/20/16

Last week ended not with a review but a whimper: boy oh boy do we hate loathe and abominate Daylight Saving Time.

A lot.

Except Donnaeve

I love me some DST. More porch time!

But the comment from Lisa Bodenheim on Monday was just epic:

Speaking of which...somewhere along the line, I missed what DST means and it's not in the glossary. And it's the Monday after .....ok, got it. Daylight Savings Time. jeeesh.

-wanders off for more caffeine-

Dena Pawling has the best suggestion EVER for all winners of all contests here on the blog:

Because the contest entries have become more and more difficult to judge, and your time this week is already full, I propose you choose all the entries as winning entries, and then send all of us a copy of John Frain's manuscript.

Which Mark Thurber agreed with

I second Dena's brilliant idea! (John, this has been an inspired viral campaign for your book -- your marketing people are truly top-notch.

As does Steve Forti 

For the record, I'd read the hell out of John Frain's manuscript, too. 

Along with BJ Muntain

Now I'm sad I didn't enter. I want to read John Frain's manuscript too :(

And CarolynnWith2Ns 

It's after 1am, can't sleep. I'll read Frain. Please let it be boring so I can konk out.

And Karen McCoy 

I'll definitely read Frain! His flash fiction inspires, and I'm sure his novel does too.

Which means the next time someone is debating whether to sign with me I'll just point out that we buzz your book before it's even finished, signed or sold.



Too bad this is too long to be the subheader of the week, cause this is priceless from Kregger

To borrow from the vernacular,
it's
Sisters before misters
and
Bros before (?)
now it's
Dollars before hollars!
You got that right, QOTKU

Celia Reaves cracked me up with this:

Just this week in my critique group we got to arguing over whether it should be "the place where they had laid Frank" or "the place where they had lain Frank." We decided on "the place where that had put Frank."

The struggle is real.

On Monday the topic was whether a film not based on your book could build buzz, a la a rising tide lifts all boats
Sadly, no.

Of course, I worked on that post up to the last minute so some spelling did not get czeched. And when you were kind enough to call it to my attention (which I DO appreciate) my reply was of course ironic in its typo as well:

Maybe if I WAS a robot, my spelling improve.

AIEEEEEE

I really loved what the Duchess of Kneale had to say here:

Every novel has a beginning. Every novel has an ending, whether it's being abandoned after chapter three, finished but doomed forever to the trunk, self-published or published by some Random Penguin to great acclaim.

Regardless of its fate, eventually you hit the end of the novel. Then what?

Unless you're willing to quit your writing career forever, you write another novel.

We write bad novels. We write practice novels. We write good novels and we write great novels. I've written novels that will never see the light of day. I've written novels I've apologised to the world for having written, they're so bad. But I've written (IMHO) good novels and I believe I've even written great novels.

When I initially queried my first novel, the query process took so long, by the time I realised no agent was going to pick it up, I had written another novel and was halfway through yet another.

A truly thorough query process takes a long time. It does our career and our mental health no good not to be writing a novel while we wait. A career novelist, even an apprentice one, will not stop at just one book.

And I'm growing in my love for the WIR for one very pragmatic reason: It allow me to catch the godawful spam that creeps in just under the moderated comment deadline. That magic husband restoring one is like fucking kudzu, bless its heart.



On Tuesday we discussed how to query if you're going to be unavailable for a while

I suggested a dedicated email and a trusted person to monitor it

Mark Thurber's comment is spot on

I can't seem to keep from checking my email compulsively for quite some length of time after I have queried, and so far, my most positive responses have come after I have completely given up and moved on to the next thing. So maybe being inaccessible would actually enhance one's positive response rate, like carrying an umbrella to ward off rain.

And this from RachelErin was eye-opening:

Right around Hurricane Sandy, when I was living in Pisa, we had a few days of fog that shut down our internet. No, that is not a typo. Fog. It has cyber-stealth powers that rainstorms and hurricanes can only rage about.

It took them two weeks to get internet back to the entire city. TWO WEEKS. In a city with a famous university. DH went to the internet service store daily, and they shrugged. It happens every couple of years. Meanwhile we saw news reports of areas hit by Sandy having internet restored in 3-4 days.

I wasn't querying, but I had design submissions out to magazines and was rebuilding a website with an Aussie. Email was not recreation. The web designer did not believe me when I told her a height-phobic cloud had flattened our service. I can only imagine what an agent would have thought. Is it a metaphor for going on a bender? Evidence of taking hallucinogens?

Better to be prepared. Stealth fog could strike anywhere.

I had no idea fog could shut down the internet!



Amy Schaeffer Schaefer(soon to head out on an amazing sea voyage herself) said

As a final point, I wouldn't mention your connective difficulties in your query letter. Unless you are riding a unicycle across Mongolia and really will be out of touch, you should be able to check email often enough to keep up with requests. Bring it up once someone has asked for a query or full, and then only if the issue is still relevant. Good luck!

To which Megan V replied:

Amy, as a unicyclist, my knees buckled at the thought of riding across Mongolia. Uff da. That would be one arduous trip.

A unicyclist! I think we should all demand photos.

And speaking of things I want photos of Jenny C said:

I am happy to send my manuscript in whatever form the agent wants to see it. Hell, I'll write my synopsis on the side of a pumpkin and mail the pumpkin if that's what he/she likes. (Yes, you can mail a pumpkin.)

Adib Khorram asked:

Jenny C: I confess I'm quite surprised there are agents still doing snail mail! I wonder how common this is.

I get snail mail queries. Not many, but some. I always answer the ones from people in prison. That rebel Matthew with his "naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me" {25:36} might not have meant answering queries but I don't want to find out the hard way that he actually …did.


The topic turned, as I'm sure it will again in coming months, to the attraction of living in Canada.

Celia Reeve said

Remember when thousands upon thousands of airplane passengers were dumped on small cities in Canada on 9/11/01 because the US closed its borders to air travel?

Yes.

In fact, we'll never forget it.


On Wednesday, I posted some things I read in queries that actually mean something else as far as I'm concerned.

Colin Smith had a question about "there are no books on this topic"

Okay, so Ms. Majestic QOTKU Ma'am Sharkiness, this whole "Look till you find a book in your category..." thing--you seem to imply here that you're looking for comp titles on a query. Are you saying we need comp titles, or does this only apply if we decide to list comp titles? It seems to me, if you honestly can't think of a comp title, you shouldn't list comps at all. Better to say nothing and let the agent think, "Oh, cool--this sounds like The Exorcist meets Romeo and Juliet!" than to risk an instant form rejection, is it not? Yes, comps can be helpful. But so can nailing the correct genre, and you've told us that calling our Speculative Fiction "Sci-Fi" isn't a deal-breaker. What gives? Ma'am. :)

I don't think you need comps in a query. I think ya'll screw up comps more than you get them right, and who needs that?

However, if you think a comp is a good idea, or some other agent wants comps (and lots do) this advice is to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot.

In other words, you don't need to be armed to enter the QueryForest, but if you are, make sure you aim your blunderbuss in the correct direction.

Lisa Bodenheim asked:

But, Miz Sharque, if I write that I am a published author, name a non-fiction book and my publisher, can't the agent I'm querying just assume that my non-fiction publisher does not do fiction?

ummm…what?

I'm not sure where that fits in here…but remember I also couldn't find one of the prompt words in this week's contest either.

If you say you're a published author and you name the publisher, I assume you had an agent for the deal. I do not assume the agent only handles non-fiction. Was that what you meant?


Celia Reaves asked:

Like Lisa, I'm wondering about a previous nonfiction publication. I wrote a college textbook 24 years ago, published by Wiley (a highly respected publisher in the field). There was no agent involved, as is typical for that sort of deal. When I query my novel, I would assume no need to explain what happened with my nonfiction agent, since there was no such person, or why I'm not trying to place my novel with a textbook publisher. I still think it would be worthwhile to mention that earlier publication since it shows that I can write coherent sentences, finish a project on time, work with an editor and copy editor, and so on. But maybe not? Is an old nonfiction publication completely irrelevant and not worth wasting precious query words on?

If you're light on more current pub credits, listing a textbook is fine. You'd say "I published The Carkoon Guide to Kale (Wiley: 1792) without an agent"


I really really like what Kae Bell said on the subject of comps

On the issue of subjects, for what I say, what you hear -- what taxonomic level can writers assume the agent is operating at? So, taxonomy, the classification from specific to general. Bio refresh: genus, species, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom...Take the common house cat:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Felidae
Subfamily: Felinae
Genus: Felis

As it relates to queries, I'll use a personal example. I said in OP from earlier this week that there was almost no current fiction about Cambodia. Janet replied that there were six books. We had two different understandings of the subject. I was at the species level, i.e. "books set in 2016 Cambodia in which the Khmer Rouge try to return", while I think Janet replied more at the more general Phylum level, i.e. "books about Cambodia".

Without understanding people's taxonomic assumption about a subject, seems like confusion/lack of understanding could arise.

You should assume that an agent is looking at the Class level: fiction about Cambodia. Or non-fiction about Cambodia.  No one is going to have your exact book (we hope!) but when the marketing and publicity folks need to talk about your book, they'll also be at the Class level.

Scott G cracked me up with this

What you say: Can't get to contest results til Wednesday. Wait, make that Thursday.
What I hear: Somebody had a liiiiiiiittle too much scotch while "editing" over the weekend and the hangover lasted longer than expected.
What you should take away: Janet, it's ok. You don't have to spend 24/7 on this blog helping writers not your own. You're entitled to "edit" once in a while.

And Donnaeve did too:

What you wrote (condensed version): Make a bold statement and I'm going to fact check until Google/Amazon/even the Library of Congress beg for mercy.

What I read: I can't believe I have put every single stinkin' thing I know out on Query Shark and STILL. This.

InkStainedWench (yes, I had to correct this from InkStainedWretch!) said

Oh, dear. I had no idea my query was saying so much about me. I am a published author of non-fiction, and said so. It never occurred to me that the agent would think I self-published. A Google search would reveal several top-drawer publishers; it never occurred to me that an agent would think I got in a bar fight with my agent.

I had no agent; my books were works-for-hire. I was asked to write them by a book packager who placed them with big houses. Should I have explained all this in my 250-word query? Or say nothing at all about my publishing history?

In you query you say just that "I am the author of Green Eggs and Kale (SnugglebunnyPress: 2001) that was a work for hire through a book packager."


Jason Magnason (who had not yet been exiled to Carkoon) asked

So just to be clear Janet, this is in context of your agent site not QueryShark, correct?

Just want to make sure that I was not in the: "Your not getting better" zone and that's why I haven't seen a response in a month or two.

This is about querying me, not about entries on QueryShark. QueryShark entries must keep sending queries till they drop dead, quit, or get to win. There is no fourth choice.



kdjames asked

Do you really have a rejection key? Because that would be so cool. Can we see a pic? Does it only work on queries or could it be used on all of life's irritations? (asking for a friend)

It's a graduation gift from Agent School.

It only works on queries. To reject other things, you'll need this

On Thursday we (finally!) got the writing contest results.

To celebrate Jason Magnason decided he wanted to spend some time on Carkoon

WE NEED A REIDER'S FLASHFICTION ANTHOLOGY!!!!!!

Janet, could this be something in the future? A sort of, Contest of Champions, the Wordsmiths Flash Fiction Annual.

For those of you who are perplexed about cause and effect here: a reminder that suggesting I do more work is generally met with banishment.


Dena Pawling said

Congrats to all, especially Cheryl! But I'm sorry you didn't get a copy of John Frain's manuscript. She must be holding that for the "best story of 2016 prize"

Exactly so.

Mark Thurber said

I was grateful for the delay in results this week, as I didn't get a chance to read them all until yesterday. I like what DLM said about inhabiting so many worlds in quick succession. It's a great exercise. I wonder if this is at all how agents feel when they read (good) queries and have to immerse themselves in one story after another?

Yes.

When I read queries, I often respond first to the ones I know are not a good fit for me. I flag the remainder to read at a later time, usually when I'm not in a hurry to do anything and can read at a more measured pace.

For example, yesterday (Friday 3/18/16) I read ten flagged queries. I ended up requesting five manuscripts (that's a HUGE percentage of requests, definitely not the norm.) They were all enticing pages so I went from outer space (yes, I requested an SF novel, don't die of shock) to a historical mystery.


After that the blog comments just went wildly, merrily off topic almost completely. In other words, good times.



On Friday we talked about book covers, and when a querying writer should mention their importance

Robert Ceres asked

This post does beg the question what the heck makes for a good cover? I can make a good list (if not follow) rules for a good query. I have a pretty good idea of what I think makes for a good book, and maybe some idea of what agents might like. I now know at least something about contracts. But covers? Nada. Not sure I can even look at a good cover that I like, say twilight, and say what it is I like. Yikes.

A good book cover is one that makes someone pick up (or in electronic parlance "look inside") or just proceed directly to buy.


As Kitty illustrated here:

The book cover on Steve Hamilton’s A Cold Day In Paradise was the only reason I picked it up in B&N. I didn’t even notice the Edgar Award-winning Novel gold seal on its cover. It was the cold snowy night that got my attention. I read the first page and immediately bought the book, and I’ve read every book in Hamilton’s Alex McKnight series since then. Some of the book covers in that series were boring, forgettable even. But I was hooked on the characters, so I didn’t care what those covers depicted. Had I not spied that first cover, I might have missed the whole wonderful series.

That means it was a good cover. It did it's job. There is no template. What works as a cover on one book may be a disaster on another.


For example:

Would simply not work with anyone who wasn't very famous, and very handsome.


The power of a good book cover is perfectly illustrated (get it!) by Mister Furkles comment

Alice Smith, my mother's college roommate, produced book jacket art, magazine covers, and book illustrations for years. She graduated from Parsons and the Paris School of Fine Art (École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.)

We visited her in New York once. Alice's art would haunt your mind for years afterward. There was an implicit suspense about them. I still remember two book covers she'd just finished. The cover for a book with a title like “The Day the Money Ran Out” was of a fine bookcase with leather bound books. There was an empty whiskey glass and an overturned, nearly empty bottle next to it. Several of the books had fallen over. You wanted to know what happened.

I liked S.P. Bowers comment here

Mostly I just want my book to have a cover.

I love Jenz' insight here

I used to design CD covers, and I bet working with authors on book cover design would be the same kind of special hell that working with musicians was.

Don't get me wrong, they're wonderful people. :) But clients with deep emotional investment get fixated on the parts they love most instead of what a broader audience will fast connect to.

And Joseph Snoe cracked me up with this

I'm with Colin. I don't want my picture on my book's back cover (I don't want his picture on my book's back cover, either.).

But I'll demand they put my name on the front cover.

B.J. Muntain however

Well *I* want Colin's picture on my book. *note to self - hire Colin as stunt double*

Craig said

Six or eight careers ago I designed signs. Nothing can make or break a company more than the sign they put in front of their building. Before I got bored with the miracle on demand business of sign design I designed six signs that became classics. We ended up having to keep a stock of those signs because people would steal them within a week of a new one going up.

One of those signs we planted in the middle of a pond. Since it was in Sarasota that pond was full of gators. None of those signs lasted more than a week before it was stolen.

The old saying is imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Larceny can't be far behind!

Kate Higgins said

In my "real" life as a graphic designer, I've done my share of book cover designs mostly for non-fiction. I would never do one without reading the book or at least examining it for tone and researching its target audience.

I am amazed at the variety of covers that are poorly done, generic images or pulled off some template page. Once computer programs came out that allowed anyone to "design" and offered 100's of fonts; some tried using all of those fonts at once because they were there. The consequences were bad designs the general public became immune to.

When a book cover design shows up with some panache they, become irresistible to a vanilla world. So if you think your book is worthy, talk to your publisher about using an experienced designer. If you are a DYI self-publisher find a real designer with experience (no nephew art, please). I can't really attached pictures to comments but use your imagination; which would you rather pick up and read if you were say, a CFO, looking for book about your job of balancing company assents with a cover picturing:
A) A pencil and a calculator on it (really obvious)
Or
B) An Inuksuk (if you don't know what it is, look it up on Google images. :)

A good book cover needs to tantalize the mind regardless of the content.
The content is left to the writer to do the tantalizing further... even if it is with numbers.
I did a cover like the one above, is was a best seller for that niche publishing company.

Inuksuik

Are those my only choices? Until I looked at the inuksuk photo twice, I'd have said the obvious one. I understand your point that evocative art is better than obvious, but I also think book covers be instantly understandable, and I had to think about the inuksuk meaning for a second or two.

And this, dear readers, is why we have endless cover discussions!  The artist has vision, and the agent is a worrywort!



DLM asked

Janet, I understand that there is also the possibility that an author's chosen title may be changed. This is one of those warnings I used to hear earlier in my authorial education, but haven't run across in recent years; is it an urban legend - "Don't get too attached to your title, they'll KILL IT FOR MARKETING!" - or a genuine issue?

Titles are also the purview of the publisher, although most contracts have "mutually agreed upon" clauses for that. In other words your novel "Stalking Jack Reacher" can't be changed to "Celery Stalking Reaches Jack" without your consent.

We have monkey knife fights about titles all the time. All The Time.



On Saturday we talked about where to start your novel when you have conflicting advice.

I suggested there is no hard and fast rule. What works for one reader may not work for another.

BJ Muntain made a good point here

I believe that if you're getting conflicting advice - especially from industry professionals, as these the workshop leader and editor were - then it's possible you're at the point where it's a matter of taste, more than skill. While you can do something about skill, you can't please every reader's taste. If your beginning reaches this point, then it might be time to stop worrying as much (you'll never stop) about the beginning, until you get an agent or editor willing to work with you to get it published.

And just a reminder, you can subscribe to my mailing list here:
The newsletters are going to be mostly about client books and goings on.

See you next week!



Subheader noms:

I learn and laugh on a daily basis here. --Kae Bell

I learned to eat Kale in the Oregon State Penitentiary and loved it. --Brian M. Biggs

(I love this on from Brian, but without context, it might lead to the idea that he'd had been a guest of the government so, it was dq'ed from further consideration)

Honestly, Carolynn, I look forward to your comments almost as much as I look forward to Janet's posts. :)--Bethany Elizabeth

First pages are the devil that flicks flames at our feet throughout the months of writing and querying.--Sherry Howard

I'm with Colin. I don't want my picture on my book's back cover (I don't want his picture on my book's back cover, either.) --Joseph Snoe

But honestly I'm in such despair about the election stuff, I'm going to leave the subheader from last week.