Multiple Updates

A series of developments occurred over the weekend.

The Nethereal partial manuscript submission I sent to Tor back in December resulted in a form rejection.

The agent I'd queried most recently replied today with identical results. I'll be sending out another query to a new agent tomorrow.

It's startling to look back at that December update and see that I was only on chapter ten of the latest Souldancer revision. I'm now on chapter 46 and expect to finish the latest draft of the book this week.

End transmission.

Prologues and Epilogues

Before I'm accused of closed-mindedness regarding supplemental novel materials, let me say that both of my manuscripts' first drafts had prologues. I was persuaded to cut them on the wise advice of my beta readers.

Prologues and epilogues have staunch defenders who point out major books by famous writers that have them (Robert Jordan and Neil Gaiman for instance). I cut my prologues for two simple reasons.

1. Agents and editors hate them.
2. I am neither Robert Jordan nor Neil Gaiman.

Let it be noted that the prologue to The Eye of the World is one of the best opening hooks in modern fantasy (it's certainly my favorite), yet it violates all of Ms. Lakosil's guidelines. As I wrote in this space before, you must master the rules before you're allowed to break them.

Since this blog sticks to advice for beginning writers from a beginning writer, I say in all bluntness: avoid prologues and epilogues. Make them your first and last chapters, integrate the material elsewhere in the book, or just cut them altogether. Again, the main reason for this rather crude approach is that 90% of agents and editors admit that a prologue negatively impacts their view of a manuscript. If you must include supplemental material, submit the MS without it and tactfully discuss adding it back in once the project's been accepted.

Considering Writers' Conferences

I've been contemplating attending a writers' conference for a while. Such events come in many flavors (general, genre-related, writers' retreats, etc.), so it's important to define your goals and select the conference that's best able to meet your needs.

I'm in the market for a general or SF/Fantasy-focused event where I can meet agents (a method proven by several successful authors) and editors (workshops and panel discussions are valuable, but I'm mainly focused on networking). Having limited funds, I'm not looking to travel far.

The most promising event I've found within these criteria is the Chicago Writers Conference. It's not till September, but one can't start planning too early. I don't know if I'll go this year. Registration is $200.00, and that's without travel and lodging expenses. I'll keep you posted as the situation unfolds.

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

An agent I queried asked for the first five pages of the Nethereal manuscript last week. The pages were rejected in a frank and highly professional manner. The gesture is highly appreciated.

I went into Heinlein phase five bracing myself to face criticism. I conditioned myself as best I could to take negative comments with an open mind, revise the book if they made sense and ignore them if they didn't. Funny thing: There really hasn't been any criticism to speak of. The most common replies I've gotten have been: A) nothing and B) form letters. The two or three personalized responses all amount to, "Your premise and execution are fine, but it's not what we're looking for."

The dearth of feedback is something I didn't anticipate. I have plans in place to deal with, "Your work is bad, and here's why." Instead I'm left grappling with, "Your project is OK. For someone else. But I don't know who it is."

On further reflection, I believe I'm facing the following difficulties:

It's impossible to sell a manuscript unless the buyer reads the whole thing. Not only can't you judge a book by its cover; you really can't judge it till you've read the last paragraph. Readers may have that luxury, but not people whose jobs depend on acquiring new titles. And yet...

Agents and editors don't have enough time to read every manuscript submitted to them. It's a fact of the busy world we live in: more so for literary agents and acquisitions editors, who receive thousands of submissions a year. These conditions force them into the paradox of judging something piecemeal that can only be fairly evaluated within the context of the whole.

Faced with this Joseph Heller reference, most professional writers advise researching agents and editors' tastes before querying them. A common strategy is to look up agents' recent deals to find out what kind of books they represent. Mining the acknowledgements pages of novels in the same style and genre as yours is often recommended as a good way to find like-minded agents and editors.

I've been following that advice for years, but...

I haven't found anything close enough to my work to identify an agent/editor with similar sensibilities. From one perspective, the fact that I can't find other books like mine is good. Agents and editors often say that they're looking for fresh material. On the other hand, it's bad because people usually stick to what's worked before and don't go too far beyond their established tastes. I know I do that. There are sound logical reasons for playing to one's strengths.

Frankly, I don't want to work with an agent, editor, or publisher who isn't excited about my book. Agents are salespeople (so are writers), and the best salesmen are genuinely passionate about the product. A project has no better friend than an editor who's willing to champion it to the publisher, and a lukewarm publisher is apt to bury a book at the end of the list (or drop it altogether).

The way I see it, I have two options:

1. the Jim Butcher method: which ain't gonna happen, if only because I have too little charm and too great a fear of jail to crash invitation only industry lunches.

2. the black hole: wherein I keep throwing message-laden bottles into the ocean hoping that just the right alignment of circumstances prompts an agent to request a sample based on my query letter, that the partial reading elicits a request for the full manuscript, that the MS convinces the agent to approach an acquisitions editor on my behalf, and that the editor agrees to take on the project.

I might be a timid eccentric, but I'm a very patient timid eccentric.

Nethereal Update

It's been a while since I could report movement on the Nethereal project. All the while I've been busy doing my homework and sending out query letters to those literary agents whom I deem best able to represent the book.

All of my queries were met with form rejections or silence (except for one which offered some encouragement). This pattern of responses isn't unusual. Most folks in the publishing industry are so swamped that they don't have time for individualized feedback.

The pattern of rejection was interrupted yesterday when I got a request for sample pages of my manuscript. The agent asking for a look at my material was the first to receive a query letter I'd drafted using a new approach. Correlation isn't necessarily causality, but it's quite a coincidence. I'm inclined to think that my previous query letters didn't sufficiently entice agents to read the manuscript, but that's how we learn.

I'll keep you updated as new information becomes available.

And if the aforesaid agent pops in, thank you for giving me a chance. Thanks also to anyone who's read my work, even if you couldn't make it past page one.

Patience Obtains All Things

Since I started taking my professional novelist ambitions seriously many well-meaning folks have asked when my books will be out. I'm grateful that people have shown interest in my work. I also advise those people to stoke their enthusiasm for the next several years.

Taking an idea from draft to finished manuscript to publication usually takes a long time. Published author's I've consulted say that the average is about five years. This means that some authors get published in a year. For every first year prodigy, someone else waits ten years.

It takes me about six months to write a novel draft. I go through a minimum of three drafts before I start to think that my work might be fit for public consumption. Each draft goes out to beta readers from whom I get as much feedback as possible before re-drafting.

When editing devolves into aimlessly pushing words around the page, I've done all that my petty skills allow. It's then time for agent queries and possibly a few direct publisher submissions. I don't approach many publishers directly because:

1. Few publishers even accept unagented submissions these days.

2. Those few publishers who do allow open submissions still give top priority to projects from agents they've done business with before.

3. The stigma that writers making unagented submissions weren't good enough to land agents.

4. Publishers are far less likely to buy a manuscript rejected from their slush pile (which it almost certainly will be) even if an agent represents it later.

5. It is extremely poor form to submit the same MS to multiple publishers at once. It can be career-ending to get caught.

I'm focusing most of my efforts on querying agents. It's generally okay to query more than one at a time if you promptly inform the others when one accepts you. Agents who say they're taking on new clients will only add one or two at most, but those odds are still better than in the slush pile.

The good news is that I've been hard at work querying agents. Most have replied via form letter, which is neutral. The few personalized rejections have only been encouraging. To my surprise, no one in the industry has yet labeled me an illiterate hack.

Once again I ask your kind patience. Delayed gratification is the best gratification.

Nethereal Progress Report 3/6/2013

Most agents and editors are too busy to send anything but form rejections these days. I've sent out other queries that were answered with rejections, but all of them have either been form letters or polite but vague rejections. None of them gave direct criticism of my work.

I queried literary agent Russell Galen about Nethereal back in November. He was recently kind enough to give me my first piece of personalized feedback. It wasn't even that much: just a single sentence declaring that my book sounded "fine" to him. However, the slot on his dance card reserved for a sci fi-fantasy author is full.

After months of wondering if my story is irredeemable schlock, someone in the industry has confirmed that it has a modicum of literary (or at least commercial) merit. Again, I know full well how busy the agents who didn't give feedback are. No hard feelings.

I continue the agent search armed with Mr. Galen's encouragement.

Agent Queries

I've recently started looking for a literary agent. Getting professional representation is almost as hard as getting published. Authors I've talked to say that getting an agent can take 30-60 attempts, even for an outstanding book. Knowing this figure, I started researching ways to improve my chances.

Match prospective agents to your style and genre. Agentquery.com and Writer's Market provided me with a wealth of information on how to track down agents that specialize in my kind of writing (or as close to my kind of writing as anyone gets). Agent Query has a robust, customizable search feature that will give you agents' names, contact information, and most recent sales.

Make sure that the agent is accepting new clients. Many agents already have full client lists (some represent about 50 at once) and only add one or two new clients a year. Check agents' profiles on their agencies' web sites to see if they're seeking new clients. Agent Query also lets you filter searches by agents with openings on their client lists.

(Optional) check to see if the agent is an AAR member. The Association of Authors' Representatives is a voluntary professional organization of literary agents. AAR agents adhere to an admirable list of principles, including the requirement that they not charge reading fees. Considering the glut of inexperienced and scam agents that entered the market in the last several years, AAR membership is a good sign that an agent can be trusted.

Write a query letter. Unlike publishers, which usually want to see your whole manuscript (or at least several chapters) up front, most agents prefer that first contact be made with a short introductory letter. There are almost as many tips for writing query letters as there are agents, but some guidelines are constant.

• Keep it short: between 250-300 words. Agents are busy and you must grab their attention fast.
• Each query has three parts: project details, a hook, and an author bio. Include such details as the book's genre, the total word count, whether it's a standalone story or part of a series, etc. The hook is a sales pitch that should sound like the blurb you'd want to appear on the back cover. As for the bio, give relevant information only, such as past publications and any special expertise that qualifies you to write this story.
• Personalize each query. Name the agent in the salutation. Mention books that the agent has sold which are similar to yours. Tell the agent why you chose him.
• Share information about your book's characters, plot, and themes. Explain the action of your story in terms of who the main characters are, what they want, and what's keeping them from getting it. Don't be afraid to reveal spoilers (but the ending can wait for the synopsis).
• Sound humble without being self-deprecating.
• Sound confident without being arrogant.
• Set the proper tone. The query letter should convey your writing style. It shouldn't be dry, stilted, and excessively formal. Neither should it suggest undue familiarity. Use your narrative voice in a professional manner.
• An agent's time is valuable. Thank him in the closing.

Again, Agent Query has more detailed guidelines.

Agent Kristin Nelson shares and analyzes a successful fantasy novel query letter.

Of course, there's lots more to know about finding an agent. Feel free to ask me for specifics. If I don't know, I'll do my best to find someone who does.

In the meantime, I leave you with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=c9fc-crEFDw

January 2013 Update

I heard back from Donald Maass. His client list is full. I appreciated the relatively quick turnaround time on my query, though. There are still two other agents I'm waiting to hear back from.

Nick Enlowe's annual Novel Push Initiative is over. All three participants acquitted themselves admirably this time. I captured the coveted Highest Words Written Total thanks to a sudden fit of fevered inspiration on the final day, but this is one contest in which all of the contestants can truly be called winners.

December Update

Just a bit of necessary blog maintenance:

-Agents queried: 4
-Replies to queries: 2
-Rejected queries: 2
-Form rejections: 2

Also, I've submitted a pitch/synopsis/first 40 pages to Tor. With any luck, my submission packet is in their slush pile as I write this sentence.

This week the agent hunt continues, as does my ongoing revision of Souldancer. As of this writing, I'm on chapter ten.

In closing, here is sage advice from John C. Wright.

Nethereal Final

I'm pleased to say that the final version of my Nethereal manuscript is done. The final draft is far leaner and smoother than the others, weighing in at 541 pages (compare that figure to 720 for the original). That's without deleting any chapters or scenes; just making smarter word choices and using more concise phrasing. The shift to third person variable perspective also helped to weed out excessive description and exposition while adding dialogue.

I don't plan on making any further changes unless a professional editor orders them, so the next step is to start querying agents. I'll keep everyone apprised of how my search goes.

Beta Geminorum Featured at Drunken Zombie

First a quick update: the most recent Nethereal manuscript revision is fast drawing to a close. I've had some slumps in productivity but should be able to make my end of the month goal if I stay disciplined. When the manuscript is done, I plan to start querying agents.

Of more immediate interest, the fine folks over at Drunken Zombie have graciously featured my first short story "Beta Geminorum" in their 31 Days of Halloween short story series. Zombie inebriate in chief Bryan Wolford has assembled an impressive catalog of shocking tales both classic and contemporary, and it's an honor to be included in his list among luminaries like Ambrose Bierce and H.G. Wells.

Also, be sure to check out Bryan's gripping short story "The Incident at Bowling Ball Tree". It's a macabre coming of age tale in the tradition of Stephen King's "The Body" and is well worth your time.

Choosing an Agent: Commissions and Fees

If there's one hard and fast rule for selecting a literary agent it's this: all money should flow toward the author.

There's much more to the process, which Writer Beware can tell you much better than I can.