Angelina Jolie is making a movie that my book could be about!

I queried about thirty agents last winter (2015) with my first ms, a thriller about Cambodia/Khmer Rouge. Save one partial request, all flat-out rejections.  I self-published at the same time as querying. (1)

This year, Angelina Jolie is releasing a film about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, through an adaptation of the memoir 'First They Killed My Father' by Loung Ung. Film will be released on Netflix. Good or bad, everything Angelina does gets press.

(A celebrity is releasing a film this year about the obscure topic that will bring it more to public awareness...)

There is almost no current fiction about Cambodia. If the movie does well, I think it will help my book. (2)

Question is:  Should I re-query all the same agents as I did last year, highlighting this upcoming movie? (3)

Or query only new-to-me agents (4)
Or does it seem like a complete non-event and move on? (5)
Or a wait and see how movie does?  (6)

And should I unself-publish first?  (7)

I feel like I am sitting on an opportunity now that before was a 'No One else Cares'.

Thanks for the blog, wish had found it earlier. (8)

(1) If you self-published at the same time you queried, you seriously misunderstand the purpose of both self-publishing and querying. I don't take on books that are already published. Agents who do look for strong sales. If you've just published, unless there was a tsunami of sales on Day One, even agents who take on self-pubbed books won't be interested.

(2) Go to Amazon, type in the search term "novels about Cambodia."  I came up with six.  When you look on GoodReads, there are more. When I see this kind of statement in a query, and my very cursory research doesn't support your statement, I'm hugely dissuaded from considering your work further. You're much better off emphasizing how your novel is DIFFERENT from the other novels out there. You don't have to be only, you just have to be new and fresh.

(3) No. Publishing works on a long lead time. Right now, I'm selling books in to Fall 2017 catalog and Winter 2018 lists. You've missed the window completely for Fall 2016.

(4) Sure, if you want to.

(5) The success or failure of Angelina Jolie's movie will have almost zero impact on whether someone wants to read your book UNLESS Angelina Jolie's movie is based on your book.

(6) See #5

(7) There is no such thing as unpublishing. You've published the book. It's got an ISBN number and if you were smart, a copyright registration. Those things do not go away even if the book isn't available for sale.

(8) Me too, if only to have spared you what seems like a lot of work for no reward.




As a general rule, a movie based on a book is good news for that particular book, but it doesn't help books in the entire category. One of the (many) reasons for this is that the movie is based on a book that was published several (if not more) years ago. That means that publishers wanting to ride the wave of any renewed interest in this topic are going to look at their backlist (previously published books) FIRST, not try to acquire something to publish now. Reprinting a book can be done in weeks. Publishing a novel takes MONTHS if not a year or more.

Bottom line: query new agents if your book is selling well. If it's not, be prepared for a vast swath of silence.

If your book is not selling well, at the risk of sounding cavalier about the challenges of writing: write another book and start the query process anew. OR invest in making the self-published book a success.

Comp titles: mine is a bestseller, can I still use it?

I am currently in the editing phase of my novel and therefore also in the query-drafting / dream-agent-list-making phase. I've been mentally tossing around a few comp titles for months but none of them have stuck. And this morning it hit me. The perfect one! Quirky in the same ways, relatable in the same ways. I literally yelped with joy, I was that excited! It felt so right. And then immediately so wrong as I remembered two things about the novel that totally deflated me.

1) It was a bestseller. Just last year. And I am under the impression that it's generally advised to steer clear of those, as a million other people are undoubtedly using them on their own query letters.

2) It's very similar structurally. The plot, tone, and themes are different. Mine is written in first person and the other in third. But there is a very familiar feeling to the way the story moves, as far as action and flashbacks and such. Two of our main characters even share a name! (I'm not married to the name. I'm willing to change it and wont feel at all bad about doing so as soon as I come up with a better one.) Still, I'm worried that, despite the differences, drawing attention to the similarities by using this bestseller as a comp title might do more harm than good to the impression I'm trying to make.

If I give you a thousand dollars cash, do you worry about getting paper cuts from those crisp new bills?

I swear, writers can worry about everything! It's rather touching when you worry about things out of your control, but now you're worrying about the good stuff. That's getting ...well, it's not a good sign. I think you need a vacation.

This is EXACTLY the purpose of a comp title. Your book will appeal to the readers of this book, and this book did well.

What's not to love?

When agents tell you not to use bestsellers, what they mean are books that have moved into a category of their own. John Green books are like that. Divergent is like that. Harry Potter is like that. So is anything by Nicholas Sparks or Stephen King.

How can you tell the difference? Ask yourself if someone buys a book because of the author or the book.

People buy books by Stephen King because he wrote them, not because of the book. He can (and does) write across genre and category.

People read J.K. Rowling books because she wrote them. If you don't believe me, google Robert Galbraith.

If your comp book isn't written by one of these outliers, you're going to be ok.

Bestseller is a good thing in a comp, particularly if it's a true comp title, not just something you hope is comparable.

Query question: more on comp titles

My question regards comp titles. You've spoken many times about the need to know what's selling in your genre right now, and to showcase this knowledge in your queries by naming successful comp titles. You've also said that if we can't find appropriate comp titles we're not doing the right research.
I write high concept YA, of which there are many, many on the market right now. My main character is also a lesbian. The number of YA novels featuring f/f romances is on the rise, but everything I've seen is exclusively contemporary or science fiction/fantasy (m/m romances are a different story). I've scoured Goodreads, Absolute Write, and many other forums, but the recommendations I get there tend to be obscure. Titles that receive more than a couple thousand reviews on Goodreads are rare. The most mainstream I've found are Malinda Lo's books, which were published by Little, Brown and have sold reasonably well. They are also fantasy novels. The lack of representation motivates me to finish my novel, but at the same time discourages me from ever hoping to be published by a large company.

My question is: Am I focusing on on the wrong aspects of my work when looking for comp title, i.e., should I list titles that are similar in concept and tone but with straight MCs? 

Yes. What you're missing here is the unique selling point for your novel: your character is a lesbian. AFTER you've done research and found few titles, then you know that you've got something that is probably fresh and new. That's a GOOD thing.

You're on the right side of "there's nothing quite like mine" because you've found books that are similar to yours but without the main character being a lesbian.

Comp titles aren't the same as clone or twin titles.  Lee Child writes very different books than those of John Sanford. I love both authors and their books. Both are generally called crime novels. They appeal to the same readers. They're not similar books in plot, tone or character.  

You've also not mentioned utilizing one of the best resources available to you: your local library. Librarians live for this kind of question.  Give them a shout.

And while we're at it: writers, support your local library. Join Friends of the Library and volunteer to work at the annual book sale. Kick in some money to the fundraiser. Write letters of support to the government body that funds the library.  

Libraries, like writers, are the foundation of democracy and we all need to make sure both stay strong. 

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Query Question: what if my subject is "unpublishable"

I just received your rejection letter from you which is no surprise after receiving 56 other rejection emails. By this point I don't feel anything and I guess that is okay. But it makes me question something that has been in my head ever since I finished the novel. What if the writing is good but the subject is unpublishable?

My novel deals with the mass shooting in a community college, and while I've seen other novels deal with the issue I would guess that the subject itself is controversial. While googling the subject I just discovered the story about a Stephen King novel that I didn't even knew existed: Rage.

Originally published under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, the book has been linked to several shootings and even the author wanted it out of print which is something that I didn't know when I started writing the novel. So my question is: Are there subjects like these that act like a drawing of Mohammed for publishers? Is there a list out there?(1)  Or it really just depends on the literary agent?(2)

I was thinking in putting my query to the query shark to refine but I guess no matter how much I refine a query, they would probably end up rejecting it.(3)   

If the only book you can find about school shootings is Rage by Richard Bachman, you haven't done the most rudimentary of research. I can think of several books on this topic off the top of my head, no Googlemonster required, one of which won the Booker Prize in 2003. And if you do google the topic, you'll find lots of them.

So, it's not the topic. There are lots of books out there about this.  It's the treatment of the topic or more likely, the writing.

And no, agents don't keep a list of things that are unpublishable (2).

And yes, agents have particular likes and dislikes (3)

And if you assume rejection (4) you should stop writing now. Rejection should motivate you to work harder, not quit.

 

Think you're the first and only?

A recent query in my inbox laid claim to being "the first" of a certain kind of memoir. As it happened, I knew that was not the case.  I wrote back drawing her attention to the earlier book.  As you might imagine, the querier did not fall on this information with effusive thanks, return emails of kitten pictures or even silence.  Oh no, unasked for advice, particularly of the unwelcome sort generally get replies steeped in sulfur and singed at the edges.

Oh well.

The problem here of course is that if I know about the earlier book,  it's a good chance that most other agents will too.  And a quick search of the Amazon data base turns it up as well.

When you claim to be first or only, and I'm interested in your book, I dig around before I reply "yes, please send me your manuscript."

It's not so much it's a problem that you're NOT first, as that you are clearly sloppy in your thinking and research. Frankly, that's death for me in non-fiction. Non-fiction requires meticulous research and documentation.

I remember hearing the utterly amazing Robert Caro speak several years back and he just casually mentioned he'd checked with the Historian of the Senate six different times on a single fact, as he got more information about an event.  I would have stood up and screamed "that's how it's done" as if he'd hit a home run at Yankee Stadium, but we were in a library and librarians always have me on my best behavior.

So, what does this mean for you in your queries and writing?

Obviously it means do your research.  If you can't find books in your category, are you using the right category? And are you skimming rather than digging deep? And have you gone to your local library and found the reference librarian and asked for help?

If you're not sure you're the first or only, don't say you are.  Find another aspect of your story that distinguishes you from the pack. 

Query Question: My comp is DaVinci Code

I'm querying a mystery/thriller MS and I'm having trouble finding comps because my real comp is The Da Vinci Code. I bet you just cringed. But the truth is that I was inspired to write my MS after reading Da Vinci Code.

Specifically, I loved the chase through Vatican City, Rome, and the surrounding countryside. I loved solving the clues and exploring the merits of a conspiracy theory. I wanted to mirror these same aspects in my MS. So I found a different conspiracy theory and spent several years researching it. I've made up my own math and science clues and run them past multiple co-workers who hold PhDs in math. I set my story in a foreign country and traveled there myself as well as spent days researching satellite maps and interviewing people from that country.

Knowing we aren't supposed to compare our work to a bestseller like Da Vinci Code or Twilight or Harry Potter, I searched high and low for a different comp. I've spent days on Goodreads creating shelves and looking for recommendations that are similar to Da Vinci Code. I've gone through half a dozen library sites where librarians suggest books similar to Da Vinci Code. I've ordered and read books that seem like a promising comparable because it was a thriller set in modern-day with realistic historic/scientific clues to solve, but inevitably find the book is derivative of other Templar/religious conspiracies (my MS's conspiracy is neither) and/or the quality is just not as good as Da Vinci Code.

So for the sake of having a newer, not-as-popular comp, do I compare my work to a substandard derivative? I've sent out a dozen queries that uses the Da Vinci Code comp, and gotten 6 rejections within a week. I'm afraid agents are writing off my query as soon as they get to that comp.

Your problem isn't that your comp title is The DaVinci Code. It's that your book sounds like a knockoff of one of the biggest bestsellers of all time from TEN YEARS AGO.  Agents were looking for DVC knockoffs in 2002, when the publisher was inundating the world with advance reading copies of DVC and everyone knew it was going to be huge.

Two years ago everyone wanted the next 50 Shades of Gray.

Two years from now everyone will want the next Patrick Lee. (I devoutly hope!)


In other words:The DaVinci Code ship has sailed and you will never row fast enough to keep up.

The good news for you though is that you are no longer limited to the narrow visioned agents and editors who want the Next Big Thing.  You can publish this on your own, find an audience and make us all look shortsighted.

Or you can write your next book, pop this one in your steamer trunk for later when you're a famous writer and your publisher will be glad to publish it.

More on comparisons

I've ranted at length about the dangers of comparing your books to others.

Here's a new reason to be wary. A colleague of mine sent me this exasperated email about a querier who used comp titles:

He can't have read any of the specific books, two of the authors hadn't been published yet and one of the books will have a different title when it IS eventually published. And I may be the ONLY thing those books have in common.

Notice the different title reference?

If you use Publisher's Marketplace, or even Amazon, to cull titles for comparison, be aware titles change, and sometimes they change AFTER they're on Amazon or BN.com or other lists.

You don't need a comparison, but if you just can't resist, use books you've read. ***

There are all sorts of pitfalls for the unwary querier but this one can be avoided pretty easily. As such, when I see this mistake in a query, I draw conclusions you're not going to find flattering.



***an interesting and valuable question from the comments

Just a thought - but I'm on a couple of writer's forums and a lot of us have read each others arcs and manuscripts. I would have assumed that the querier had read the books before they were published - but I've also been accused of being a bit on the naive end of things.

Would you say it's bad form to compare your book to pre-published books whether you've read them or not b/c it just looks bad?

If you're using unpublished books as a comparison, say how you came to read them. And you might mention you also know they are not published yet.

"My book is just like.."

I'm quenching my thirst at the fountain o'query tonight and I must say some of you really amaze me.

Most particularly amazing are those of you who compare your books to those that have not yet been published. Two of you in fact compared your novel to a non-fiction book that hasn't been written.

I'm pretty sure you haven't read those books. You're using the listings in Publishers Marketplace or perhaps my own "What I've Sold" blog post.

You don't need to compare your book to anything.

If you can't resist the urge, use books you've actually read.

Unholy Alliances

I've been rolling around in the query pile this morning and find, as usual, some of you are trying to tell me about your book by comparing it to other books.

This one made me laugh out loud: "..novel has many of the elements found in books by Patrick Lee and Kennedy Foster."

I'm pretty sure the only elements books by Patrick Lee and Kennedy Foster have in common are that they are written in the English language.

I've read them both, more than once. I should know.

But...do I?

It's one of the great mysteries of reading and writing that what an author intends is not always what a reader sees. I remember talking with the incredibly talented Kate Christensen about her amazing book The Epicure's Lament. I waxed on enthusiastically about the King Lear qualities of the book, how she'd so cleverly inserted the references and nuances.

Kate Christensen is nothing if not polite and kind to her readership but the look on her face soon revealed she thought I'd lost my mind. I stopped babbling and said "you did mean to do that, right?" and she said, very kindly, "well, this is the first time I've really noticed the things you've mentioned." In other words "no, you crackpot."

I mention this because if you are comparing your books to two very dissimilar books, tell me WHY. It's not obvious to me what Kennedy Foster and Patrick Lee have in common (except that words in English thing.) Maybe you do.

Of course, this only works if you've actually read both books and thought about them.

Book comparisons

I'm not sure how log lines came to be a part of query letters but here they are so you might as well learn to do them right.

Authors love to say things like "its like Jaws, but in the woods!" or "it's like Speed, but on tricycles, and with preschoolers!"

In other words, it's like a movie, but different.

Well, of course, this is a book you're sending a query for, so the first thing to remember is:

1. compare your book to a book



2. make sure your comparison book matches the tone of your book.
I've seen things like "It's just like that movie Home Alone, but this time the kid is alone cause the dad commits suicide".

Whoa! Hold your horses bucko.
Home Alone is a comic movie about a kid who gets left inadvertently and his parents move heaven and earth to get BACK to him. There's NO comparison to the tragedy of a parent committing suicide.

In other words "Silence of the Lambs" except Hannibal Lecter is a really fun kindergarten teacher just doesn't work.


3. Know the book you're using as a comparison to yours
The most egregious comparison error is to compare your work to something (usually one of my client's books) that you haven't read. Not only haven't read, but haven't even looked at the description on Amazon

"my book is an homage to Jimi Hendrix like The Electric Church by Jeff Somers" doesn't work on any level.


I think log lines are a waste of time mostly. They're very hard to do well. They're probably the very last thing you should write as you work on your query letter. That's because the hardest things to write are the sentences that have to sum up a book in just a few words.


Write the paragraph that tells me what the book is about first. Everything else is secondary.