Continuing my tradition, I now present to you the second annual (or is it third? I lose count) Notes on Darlene’s Experience at BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference!
Yes, I scrounged up the money (read: emptied my Writing Account to the bare dregs—money I had worked and sweated to earn by writing Friend magazine articles) and hit the conference again. I believe I said I wouldn’t. I think I felt done last year. But this year I had a novel manuscript, and I need to keep racking up credits for maintaining my now current teacher’s license, so . . . off I went. (Really, the decision was rather difficult. You see, I hate, despise and loathe my novel manuscript. What it got down to was that I felt I would always wonder if I didn’t give novel-writing a real try. It would be useful to really find out whether my ms was any good at all.)
So I went. And I am very, very, very glad I did.
First of all, I felt pretty darn good all week! I was so blessed! It was really a surprise to me. I remember being so darn tired last year, dragging myself through the classes. This year my energy held up pretty well, and my spirits just as high. I came home so happy at having had the chance, and also very happy to see my kids. I’ll never be one of those moms who goes around saying, “My family is better off because I work outside the home,” but I have to say that my psychological health really improves when I feel like I’m getting time to work hard at something I can control, and when I get away from home a little. It didn’t hurt that I had a FABULOUS caregiver standing in for me. She was so fabulous that I honestly think my kids wish the conference had lasted longer. It helps immensely to know that they are happy while I’m gone. (Thanks, Mom Y.)
So [and here I was going to say, “without further ado,” but I strongly suspect there will be much more ado throughout the report], here is my report. And since I have heard tell that some of my loyal readers do NOT like long posts, I will try to break this up a little.
Rather than going chronologically, I’ll tell you the most interesting part first. As you may recall from my report last year—or the year before—it is tradition that the teachers of the workshops are invited to pass along promising manuscripts to the visiting editors and agent. I knew about this because my ms. was passed my first year (in Rick Walton’s class). But this time I didn’t really care because, as I said, I hate my novel. And even if the idea is good (and, believe me, it is), and the first few chapters (which is all we workshop) are impressive enough for my teacher to pass it along, I have a lot of changes I want to make. So, really, having an agent or editor get excited about it while we’re at the conference isn’t much different than if I waited to send it to them in a few months when I think it’s ready. Either way, they ask for the rest.
So, as you have probably picked up by all the foreshadowing here, my ms did get passed. (And I spent an afternoon really stressed about preparing it for him. I hadn’t brought a clean hard copy to hand out, so I had to go print one up. Which means, of course, “tweaking” it a little. And then the printer ran out of toner. Much stress and panic.) Anyway, after reading it, the agent who was there invited me to meet with him. Here’s basically how the conversation went.
A Short Scene. Setting: Small Classroom in Conference Building at BYU.
Agent 007: So, I’m very intrigued about this. Tell me how the rest of the book goes.
Me: Well, as I indicated in the cover letter I [so cleverly] included [and you obviously didn’t read], I plan on making some changes based on what I’ve learned here. But here’s how it goes, generally. (Vague description.)
007: Is it done?
Me: Well, I do have a complete draft. Actually, this is draft three. But I want to change it.
007: I really like this first part. Will the rest of it be heavy and dark, or sort of witty and cool? Is it funny?
Me: [Really wishing I could say “witty and cool.” Wondering, suddenly, whether I would hate it less if I lightened it up and quit trying to make it some heavy newberry Literah-ture] Um, well, not really. It’s sort of heavy and dark, I guess. It sounds like you would like it more if it were the other kind?
007: Well, personally, yes. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t sell it if it were a different kind of book, if it’s good. I’d definitely like to see the rest of it, when you feel ready.
Me: OK.
007: So, do you have any other finished ms’s?
Me: Well, I have a whole bunch of ideas for chapter books, but none written. I also have several picture book manuscripts, a couple of which have received personal rejections or invitations for rewrites.
007 [really likes hearing “chapter book,” I can tell]: Can you tell me some of your ideas for chapter books?
Me: Well, one is (insert idea here).
007: And any others?
Me: Honestly, my mind has gone completely blank. I’ve been so full of this novel at this workshop, you see.
007: That’s OK. What about your picture books? What kind of books are they?
Me [very impressed with myself]: Well, I happened to bring some with me.
007 [panicking]: No, no, I can’t take any manuscripts with me right now. Just tell me what they are about.
Me [Calm down, dude, I wasn’t going to force them on you!]: Oh, I know. But I wanted to show you that they are all over the place in terms of theme and style. Like this one is a lyrical bedtime story in rhyme. And this one is about a girl’s first piano lesson. And this one is totally silly, about some monsters at a produce market—see, “jicama hiccup and celery slurp, [something and something] and broccoli burp.” [Yes, I did actually read this line to him.]
007 [looking excited--really!]: Actually, I will take this one. [Picks it up.] I can read it on the plane.
Me: OK [trying not to smile]. So anyway, you can see I’m all over the place in terms of what I’m writing. That’s why I’m interested in an agent, and I really liked what you said in your presentation about wanting to be able to help authors craft their careers. I could use some help with that.
007: Well, I’ll take a look at this and e-mail you next week. In the meantime, finish up the novel and I’d love to see it when it’s done.
The End.
So now I must sort out for myself whether I am tempted to rewrite my entire novel to be “witty and cool” because I am being blinded by flattery/the prospect of pleasing this particular agent, or whether I am tempted because I don’t like what it is now and might like it more if I did change it. Hopefully, I’ll get that sorted out in the next month or so.
That’s enough for today, I suppose. Stay tuned for more reporting.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query writing and illustrating. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query writing and illustrating. Sort by date Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Monday, June 08, 2009
BYU WIFYR
Continuing my tradition, I now present to you Part 1 of my report on BYU's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference!
How, you may ask, can I possibly give you the first installment when the conference was ONLY TODAY? Because this year I got smart and took my laptop to the conference, so my notes are already electronic! Yay for me!
I will not, however, present them all to you at once. No, I will give you a little tidbit at a time.
This year I am in Louise Plummer's Advanced Novel workshop. I warned her that anything she said can and would appear on my blog. I don't think she believed me. She'll learn . . . And besides, it serves her right for thinking that that picture of me shows me SLEEPING. It does NOT. It shows me READING. TELL me that the rest of you picked that up--please?
But I am not going to give you Louise's class first. Today I will give you Lael Littke's class. I want to do her first because of how tickled I was that she quoted my friend and sometimes-blog-reader Stephen Carter! And she quoted him more than once! Yay, Stephen! So from here on out, the voice is Lael Littke's.
"The Story Question and Other Good Stuff" by Lael Littke
If you get the good foundation, you’re off and running.
Storytelling should start with a story question. Someone with a problem. (A journey is always good—character has to make a journey of some kind and encounter difficulties.) We have a destination, a personal problem (internal), and a lifeline that will save her at the end.
Then figure out what the obstacles are, opposing forces or villain.
Story must start near the beginning with a story question. There’s a difference between idea for story and story question.
Stephen King in On Writing—good story ideas come from nowhere. Your job is not to find them, but recognize them as they show up.
How do you recognize them? I don’t know.
How do you start the book after you got an idea? Hemingway says as soon as he gets an idea, he cleans the refrigerator. I mop the floor. Someone else tells herself that if she doesn’t write, she has to iron.
I once got a great first line (“It was raining on the day I died”, but didn’t know what to do with it. I started asking what if. (Formula for creating a story: what if?) So I asked, “What if she only had a mild case of death?” Which led to a near-death experience story.
So I had an action level. Then I had to figure out an emotional level, a psychological level (internal problem, as Martha said). Mine: Will Janeen, who has always been known as a good girl, come to realize that each of us is made up of good and bad.
My teacher, Helen Jones, made us write the story question in one sentence—good exercise.
Story crafting.
Stephen Carter: “Just as there is a craft to engine design, architecture, and artificial sweetener formulation, there is a craft to story structuring.” [Go, Stephen!!!! You got authors quoting you!]
Rules for writing a novel:
1. Be able to state story question in one sentence. (Ex: Gone with the Wind: will Scarlet get Ashley? Charlotte’s Web: will Wilbur survive? 3 Little Pigs: will the wolf eat the pigs?)
2. The stakes have to be high.
Story is really over when we see the answer to the question.
3. What’s the theme? the nugget of truth we get from the story? Aha moment. What did the character learn? This doesn’t need to be stated in the book—better to show than tell. (In Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte states it herself near the end, about lifting up her small life by helping someone else. 3 pigs: build strong. Build your character strong and the wolves of life won’t be able to hurt you. Gone with the Wind: you can spend your whole life chasing something you don’t really want.)
What editors don’t like: bad beginnings, too long to get there, wordiness, poor plots without freshness, undeveloped characters, no point or meaning.
I used to get stories back with the notation, “too slight.” They lacked a point, didn’t say something.
Helen Jones: Every story should contain at its core a reason to be. Editor: “A story should add up to something.”
Stephen Carter, “The Author Bunny Exposed,” false idea of waiting for the bunny to leave a story for you.
Lael: apply the seat of your pants to your chair and work.
How do you go about setting up story question?
Your character wants something. Set up obstacles to keep them from getting it. A friend of mine uses the term DESPITES: “Will the little engine be able to pull the train DESPITE the fact that the other engines have refused the job and the little engine is considered inferior?” Your story must have enough DESPITES to get through the middle. Middles sags without enough despites.
What could the DESPITES be? A personal trait that holds him back. A circumstance. Nature. Antagonist. (I once heard an editor say, “Your story is no stronger than your villain.” Nietschze: what doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger. Purpose of antagonist: to help main character grow through struggles.) Time (Maybe character needs to accomplish something before time runs out=Suspense).
Rules can be broken if you write well enough. Helen Jones used to say, “You have to understand your structure, and then you can depart from it if you wish.” Example: Sausage story: incidents that are connected but don’t add up to anything (example: Diary of a Wimpy Kid).
Isaac B. Singer on why I write for children: “Children read books, not reviews. They don’t . . . . They love interesting stories. When a book is boring, they yawn openly.”
Helen told us stories should deal with one of 7 basic needs:
1. Live and be healthy
2. Love and be loved
3. think well of oneself
4. to be well thought of by others
5. to belong
6. to feel secure
7. to have something to look forward to.
Make sure your book deals with one of those basic human needs—becomes stronger and has more tension.
Cast your character into a boat without oars; include a lifeline.
Give your character an important problem.
End: your character has achieved the goal or come to realize something about it. (These are 2 basic kinds of stories.)
Helen’s rules you can’t break:
1. Character must solve his own problems. (No deus ex machine.)
2. Kid readers don’t want to look at the forest; they want to meet the bear.
Cartoon, Snoopy has written, “Suddenly, a shot rang out.” Lucy: “It’s important to choose right words. Is suddenly the best word?” Snoopy corrects: “Gradually, a shot rang out.”
Story of developing a story in a tough high school. She had come up with an idea (what if escalator kept going). Asked, where would it end up? (Hell) What kind of character would you put on it? (Murderer. No, that’s predictable for Hell. What’s unpredictable? How about a sweet little old lady?) Why is she on there? What did she do? (murder! No, that’s predictable. What else? Shoplifting.)
My best writing advice: PERSIST. PERSIST. Stephen King: READ READ. I say, WRITE WRITE.
Quote from Ann LaMott in Bird by Bird.
How, you may ask, can I possibly give you the first installment when the conference was ONLY TODAY? Because this year I got smart and took my laptop to the conference, so my notes are already electronic! Yay for me!
I will not, however, present them all to you at once. No, I will give you a little tidbit at a time.
This year I am in Louise Plummer's Advanced Novel workshop. I warned her that anything she said can and would appear on my blog. I don't think she believed me. She'll learn . . . And besides, it serves her right for thinking that that picture of me shows me SLEEPING. It does NOT. It shows me READING. TELL me that the rest of you picked that up--please?
But I am not going to give you Louise's class first. Today I will give you Lael Littke's class. I want to do her first because of how tickled I was that she quoted my friend and sometimes-blog-reader Stephen Carter! And she quoted him more than once! Yay, Stephen! So from here on out, the voice is Lael Littke's.
"The Story Question and Other Good Stuff" by Lael Littke
If you get the good foundation, you’re off and running.
Storytelling should start with a story question. Someone with a problem. (A journey is always good—character has to make a journey of some kind and encounter difficulties.) We have a destination, a personal problem (internal), and a lifeline that will save her at the end.
Then figure out what the obstacles are, opposing forces or villain.
Story must start near the beginning with a story question. There’s a difference between idea for story and story question.
Stephen King in On Writing—good story ideas come from nowhere. Your job is not to find them, but recognize them as they show up.
How do you recognize them? I don’t know.
How do you start the book after you got an idea? Hemingway says as soon as he gets an idea, he cleans the refrigerator. I mop the floor. Someone else tells herself that if she doesn’t write, she has to iron.
I once got a great first line (“It was raining on the day I died”, but didn’t know what to do with it. I started asking what if. (Formula for creating a story: what if?) So I asked, “What if she only had a mild case of death?” Which led to a near-death experience story.
So I had an action level. Then I had to figure out an emotional level, a psychological level (internal problem, as Martha said). Mine: Will Janeen, who has always been known as a good girl, come to realize that each of us is made up of good and bad.
My teacher, Helen Jones, made us write the story question in one sentence—good exercise.
Story crafting.
Stephen Carter: “Just as there is a craft to engine design, architecture, and artificial sweetener formulation, there is a craft to story structuring.” [Go, Stephen!!!! You got authors quoting you!]
Rules for writing a novel:
1. Be able to state story question in one sentence. (Ex: Gone with the Wind: will Scarlet get Ashley? Charlotte’s Web: will Wilbur survive? 3 Little Pigs: will the wolf eat the pigs?)
2. The stakes have to be high.
Story is really over when we see the answer to the question.
3. What’s the theme? the nugget of truth we get from the story? Aha moment. What did the character learn? This doesn’t need to be stated in the book—better to show than tell. (In Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte states it herself near the end, about lifting up her small life by helping someone else. 3 pigs: build strong. Build your character strong and the wolves of life won’t be able to hurt you. Gone with the Wind: you can spend your whole life chasing something you don’t really want.)
What editors don’t like: bad beginnings, too long to get there, wordiness, poor plots without freshness, undeveloped characters, no point or meaning.
I used to get stories back with the notation, “too slight.” They lacked a point, didn’t say something.
Helen Jones: Every story should contain at its core a reason to be. Editor: “A story should add up to something.”
Stephen Carter, “The Author Bunny Exposed,” false idea of waiting for the bunny to leave a story for you.
Lael: apply the seat of your pants to your chair and work.
How do you go about setting up story question?
Your character wants something. Set up obstacles to keep them from getting it. A friend of mine uses the term DESPITES: “Will the little engine be able to pull the train DESPITE the fact that the other engines have refused the job and the little engine is considered inferior?” Your story must have enough DESPITES to get through the middle. Middles sags without enough despites.
What could the DESPITES be? A personal trait that holds him back. A circumstance. Nature. Antagonist. (I once heard an editor say, “Your story is no stronger than your villain.” Nietschze: what doesn’t destroy you makes you stronger. Purpose of antagonist: to help main character grow through struggles.) Time (Maybe character needs to accomplish something before time runs out=Suspense).
Rules can be broken if you write well enough. Helen Jones used to say, “You have to understand your structure, and then you can depart from it if you wish.” Example: Sausage story: incidents that are connected but don’t add up to anything (example: Diary of a Wimpy Kid).
Isaac B. Singer on why I write for children: “Children read books, not reviews. They don’t . . . . They love interesting stories. When a book is boring, they yawn openly.”
Helen told us stories should deal with one of 7 basic needs:
1. Live and be healthy
2. Love and be loved
3. think well of oneself
4. to be well thought of by others
5. to belong
6. to feel secure
7. to have something to look forward to.
Make sure your book deals with one of those basic human needs—becomes stronger and has more tension.
Cast your character into a boat without oars; include a lifeline.
Give your character an important problem.
End: your character has achieved the goal or come to realize something about it. (These are 2 basic kinds of stories.)
Helen’s rules you can’t break:
1. Character must solve his own problems. (No deus ex machine.)
2. Kid readers don’t want to look at the forest; they want to meet the bear.
Cartoon, Snoopy has written, “Suddenly, a shot rang out.” Lucy: “It’s important to choose right words. Is suddenly the best word?” Snoopy corrects: “Gradually, a shot rang out.”
Story of developing a story in a tough high school. She had come up with an idea (what if escalator kept going). Asked, where would it end up? (Hell) What kind of character would you put on it? (Murderer. No, that’s predictable for Hell. What’s unpredictable? How about a sweet little old lady?) Why is she on there? What did she do? (murder! No, that’s predictable. What else? Shoplifting.)
My best writing advice: PERSIST. PERSIST. Stephen King: READ READ. I say, WRITE WRITE.
Quote from Ann LaMott in Bird by Bird.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
BYU WIFYR 6-7: Krista Marino, Edward Necarsulmer IV
Plenary: Krista Marino from Delacourt Press, “What I need to buy your book”
Editor/author relationship is like dating:
Trust, Mutual Passion (for the book), Open Communication, Not calling night and day
Liken it to “He’s just not that into you.”
Publishing can make a lot LESS sense than dating can.
I can only speak about my own rules. But each house/editor is different. So here’s my publishing philosophy.
4 things I need in order to acquire a project. Some you can control; some you can’t.
1. I need to connect with protagonist. Authentic voice, real characters.
2. Something different: plot, character, setting or format.
3. Something I can’t forget.
4. I need to understand the project: what author is doing, who readership is, how packaged.
In a relationship, you might date someone who is great but you don’t get each other, no chemistry.
Examples: books I’ve just acquired.
In these books, I found all 4 elements in first few pages of each project.
[She read a lengthy section from each book.]
3rd person narrator can give a story an old-timey feel. Very appropriate for a “classical” book.
About one book: “Author presented such a collection of questions that I couldn’t stop reading.”
*****************************************************************************
Friday Plenary Session, Edward Necarsulmer IV (agent, McIntosh and Otis): “The Role of the Agent in Children’s Book Publication: Navigating Author and Illustrating Careers Through Good Times and Bad”
(economy . . . ) It’s more important than ever that you write your book.
My philosophy of children’s books: in this world today, being a kid is great, but there are hard things about it. Everything is a public experience. But books are the last bastion of the private, the last thing a child feels is his or her own. As this world gets more confusing and insane.
People I represent: Donald Sobel (Encyclopedia Brown), Old Yeller, Madeline L’Engle, AnnDee Ellis
A Day in the Life of an Agent, from Submission to Publication
You guys get up the guts to send me something. I read it. I feel a reaction to it (gut—which is really all we have to go on, so don’t be daunted by rejections) (btw, I get more rejections than anyone). I feel like I’m falling in love. (Agent/author relationship is like a good sexless marriage—not without troubles but nothing that can’t be worked out.) I call you, say I liked what I saw, ask for the next three chapters. I read it, and if the feeling builds, I’ll request the entire ms. Chances are that if I’m that far, my heart is in it. My mentor said agenting is like learning a foreign language. At one point you begin to dream in it. As an agent, when you read something you feel something for, the names of editors begin popping into your head.
An agent is up on the publishing scene, knows likes and dislikes so he can make a match.
I like a more personal relationship with my clients. That affords honesty. Ex: AnnDee sends me her novel and I’m having a hard time getting to it, I can tell her the truth (“I had to go visit my aunt this weekend”).
Anyway, then I decide I’d like to take you on. Then I’ll give you a call, and we’ll chat in great length. Sorta like an interview. We discuss what you want in an agent, what you require in communication, how you feel about editorial work. Also other things like who else I represent, whether we have a film department. I explain that agents take 15% commission.
How can an agent help you?
-selling your book domestically
-foreign translation rights
-television rights (btw, imo agencies with in-house film/television departments are best. If the agency farms it out to Hollywood, children’s stuff doesn’t get the attention it deserves in L.A.)
-“agency” in dictionary means “to have power in a situation.” I negotiate with houses and I carry my agency’s reputation with me, so I carry weight.
Now we are at work on the ms. An editor’s favorite word is no. Because they’ve got to clear their desk. My job as an agent is to help get your ms in shape so an editor won’t say no, to do the basic things that will help them read on.
We get it in shape, and it’s time to send it out. I have probably already dropped your name to editors by now at lunch or whatever. I’ll talk about the editors/houses with you and how they’ll meld with you personally and editorially.
2 kinds of submissions: exclusive and multiple.
Exclusive is very effective.
The #1 reason people leave their agents is lack of communication. I think that’s terrible. Writing can is a solitary profession. If you write to me, upset, I can at least write you one line from my blackberry. I’d like to be there to talk you through writer’s block, if I can.
I’ll call an editor and say I think it’s a perfect fit for her, and ask, “How about a three-week exclusive?” Or we might do a multiple submission—3 or 4 houses to start.
I cultivate relationships with editors, so that when I get a rejection, I get specific feedback about why things didn’t work.
My submission guidelines: 5 pages if it’s a novel; entire ms if it’s a picture book. Include BYU on the cover.
(He told a success story that got snagged after 12 strong rejections. Lesson: don’t give up!)
If we have multiple offers, we discuss them. I consider myself a “best offer” agent rather than a “highest offer” agent. A healthy advance that earns out is much better than a big advance that doesn’t earn out. (That makes it a one-hit wonder.) We look at all factors, such as rights. I do a cost-benefit analysis in my head about what I can probably get for it. There’s no reason to retain rights that you can’t easily exploit. We make these decisions together. I can include a bonus in the contract for if it wins an award. I’ll tell you about each editor I’m considering and how I think they’ll match with you, and I’ll make recommendations.
So we find a good editor. Then the tough stuff starts—I negotiate your contract.
Once we have a contract, I become a voyeur. I get cc’d with the communication between you and the editor. If I don’t think you are being treated correctly, I’ll step in. Agents are professional pests/bad guys. You need to have a working, creative relationship with your editor. If you hate the cover, it’s easier for me to say it than you.
In about a year your book is ready to come out. I start working on your next book.
Editor/author relationship is like dating:
Trust, Mutual Passion (for the book), Open Communication, Not calling night and day
Liken it to “He’s just not that into you.”
Publishing can make a lot LESS sense than dating can.
I can only speak about my own rules. But each house/editor is different. So here’s my publishing philosophy.
4 things I need in order to acquire a project. Some you can control; some you can’t.
1. I need to connect with protagonist. Authentic voice, real characters.
2. Something different: plot, character, setting or format.
3. Something I can’t forget.
4. I need to understand the project: what author is doing, who readership is, how packaged.
In a relationship, you might date someone who is great but you don’t get each other, no chemistry.
Examples: books I’ve just acquired.
In these books, I found all 4 elements in first few pages of each project.
[She read a lengthy section from each book.]
3rd person narrator can give a story an old-timey feel. Very appropriate for a “classical” book.
About one book: “Author presented such a collection of questions that I couldn’t stop reading.”
*****************************************************************************
Friday Plenary Session, Edward Necarsulmer IV (agent, McIntosh and Otis): “The Role of the Agent in Children’s Book Publication: Navigating Author and Illustrating Careers Through Good Times and Bad”
(economy . . . ) It’s more important than ever that you write your book.
My philosophy of children’s books: in this world today, being a kid is great, but there are hard things about it. Everything is a public experience. But books are the last bastion of the private, the last thing a child feels is his or her own. As this world gets more confusing and insane.
People I represent: Donald Sobel (Encyclopedia Brown), Old Yeller, Madeline L’Engle, AnnDee Ellis
A Day in the Life of an Agent, from Submission to Publication
You guys get up the guts to send me something. I read it. I feel a reaction to it (gut—which is really all we have to go on, so don’t be daunted by rejections) (btw, I get more rejections than anyone). I feel like I’m falling in love. (Agent/author relationship is like a good sexless marriage—not without troubles but nothing that can’t be worked out.) I call you, say I liked what I saw, ask for the next three chapters. I read it, and if the feeling builds, I’ll request the entire ms. Chances are that if I’m that far, my heart is in it. My mentor said agenting is like learning a foreign language. At one point you begin to dream in it. As an agent, when you read something you feel something for, the names of editors begin popping into your head.
An agent is up on the publishing scene, knows likes and dislikes so he can make a match.
I like a more personal relationship with my clients. That affords honesty. Ex: AnnDee sends me her novel and I’m having a hard time getting to it, I can tell her the truth (“I had to go visit my aunt this weekend”).
Anyway, then I decide I’d like to take you on. Then I’ll give you a call, and we’ll chat in great length. Sorta like an interview. We discuss what you want in an agent, what you require in communication, how you feel about editorial work. Also other things like who else I represent, whether we have a film department. I explain that agents take 15% commission.
How can an agent help you?
-selling your book domestically
-foreign translation rights
-television rights (btw, imo agencies with in-house film/television departments are best. If the agency farms it out to Hollywood, children’s stuff doesn’t get the attention it deserves in L.A.)
-“agency” in dictionary means “to have power in a situation.” I negotiate with houses and I carry my agency’s reputation with me, so I carry weight.
Now we are at work on the ms. An editor’s favorite word is no. Because they’ve got to clear their desk. My job as an agent is to help get your ms in shape so an editor won’t say no, to do the basic things that will help them read on.
We get it in shape, and it’s time to send it out. I have probably already dropped your name to editors by now at lunch or whatever. I’ll talk about the editors/houses with you and how they’ll meld with you personally and editorially.
2 kinds of submissions: exclusive and multiple.
Exclusive is very effective.
The #1 reason people leave their agents is lack of communication. I think that’s terrible. Writing can is a solitary profession. If you write to me, upset, I can at least write you one line from my blackberry. I’d like to be there to talk you through writer’s block, if I can.
I’ll call an editor and say I think it’s a perfect fit for her, and ask, “How about a three-week exclusive?” Or we might do a multiple submission—3 or 4 houses to start.
I cultivate relationships with editors, so that when I get a rejection, I get specific feedback about why things didn’t work.
My submission guidelines: 5 pages if it’s a novel; entire ms if it’s a picture book. Include BYU on the cover.
(He told a success story that got snagged after 12 strong rejections. Lesson: don’t give up!)
If we have multiple offers, we discuss them. I consider myself a “best offer” agent rather than a “highest offer” agent. A healthy advance that earns out is much better than a big advance that doesn’t earn out. (That makes it a one-hit wonder.) We look at all factors, such as rights. I do a cost-benefit analysis in my head about what I can probably get for it. There’s no reason to retain rights that you can’t easily exploit. We make these decisions together. I can include a bonus in the contract for if it wins an award. I’ll tell you about each editor I’m considering and how I think they’ll match with you, and I’ll make recommendations.
So we find a good editor. Then the tough stuff starts—I negotiate your contract.
Once we have a contract, I become a voyeur. I get cc’d with the communication between you and the editor. If I don’t think you are being treated correctly, I’ll step in. Agents are professional pests/bad guys. You need to have a working, creative relationship with your editor. If you hate the cover, it’s easier for me to say it than you.
In about a year your book is ready to come out. I start working on your next book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)