How to Sell Your Manuscript When You Don’t Have an Agent

• Research the Industry. The internet is a remarkable resource. You can obtain information on editors and their preferences through SCBWI sites. The conference faculty blurbs provide great information.

• Compile a list of publishers who publish what you write. Hold off on those that take only agented queries. Many publishers allow unagented queries.

• Submit only your best work.

• Take advantage of open submissions. After regional conferences, guest editors may open submissions for a short time. Stay on top of your regional loops for this type of opportunity.

• Target the junior editors. Editorial assistants and assistant editors are at the bottom of the totem pole. They are often hungry to build their lists. Send your submission to them instead of the senior and executive editors.

• Take advantage of opportunities to meet editors one-on-one at conferences or workshops.

• Search regularly for contests with final round judges from publishing houses.

• The simultaneous submission dilemma. Many editors insist that you submit only to them. You must then wait until they reject your work to send to another editor. The successful authors that I know bend this rule to extremes. You’ll want to acknowledge in your query letter that the query is being submitted to multiple publishers. Make sure to notify the editors if you sell your work to someone else.
• Send only one of your projects at a time. Don’t give the editor the chance to pick the best and disregard the rest.
• Follow up on submissions after six months.
  
• Interpreting the editor response
• Request for a full—You’re making progress! You’ve gotten the editor’s attention, which is always a good thing. The editor may not buy this work, but she’s likely to be interested in other work from you.
• Boilerplate rejection—Sometimes you’ll receive a slip with a checkmark on the reason for rejection. These are common and do not mean that your work doesn’t merit a real response. They mean the editor is inundated with submissions. Don’t get discouraged. Often, the key to selling is getting the right project in front of the right person at the right time. Persistence is the key.
• Personalized letter—Any personalization on the letter means the editor took some of her valuable time. She may say that she liked the work but already had something similar on her list. You should take this as a compliment.
• Extensive comments or a request to resubmit—Excellent news! You definitely want to make changes and resubmit if the editor asked. They spent valuable time on your manuscript, and expect you to send it again with changes.
• The offer! Hurray! These often occur via phone, and you will need to calm down enough to remember to ask for a day to get back to them. After jumping up and down for several hours, check in with other editors you’ve submitted to and let them know you have an offer. You can also contact your dream agents and let them know you have an offer on the table.

• Keep submitting.
• Keep writing.

Rejection is for Grown Ups: Encouraging the Young Writer

After completing a writing project, your son, daughter, niece, nephew, or neighbor begs you to send it to your editor. You’re a writer, aren’t you?

I get tired of explaining to adults that like with weight loss, there just isn’t any easy way to get published. Crushing a child’s dreams with reality isn’t a hobby that I relish.

So I did a little research. The truth is that a book publisher has no interest in seeing manuscripts from teens or children. While gently nudging the young person to stop asking you to mail their story to New York City, you can provide some encouragement for the young writer.
Many school systems, colleges, literary associations, and art councils provide opportunities for young writers. In less than five minutes, I discovered a competition for student writers sponsored by the Arts and Education Council of Chattanooga, classes for young writers at the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum through the Center for Southern Literature, and opportunities for workshops for Michigan schoolchildren at Calvin College. My son’s school system sponsors a Young Author’s Conference every year, and several children from each class are selected to attend. Some of the opportunities are free, and for the more expensive options, there are often scholarships available. You’ll be surprised what you can find.

Seven magazine markets (print or ezines) also cater to young writers. Most provide some contributor’s copies. Check the websites for current guidelines.

Positive Teens
Who: Ages 12 to 21
What: articles, poems, fiction, art, and opinion pieces
Where:www.positiveteensmag.com

New Moon
Who: Girls ages 8 to 14
What: articles, fiction, poetry
Where: www.newmoon.org

Creative Kids
Who: Ages 8 to 14
What: stories, songs, cartoons, articles, and poetry
Where:www.prufrock.com

Characters
Who: Ages 8 to 18
What: poetry and fiction
Where:www.cdavisnh.com

What If?
Who: Canadians ages 12 to 19
What: art, fiction, articles, and poetry
Where: www.whatifmagazine.com

Look Look
Who: Ages 12 and up
What: articles, fiction, art, poetry
Where: www.look-lookmagazine.com

Young People’s Press
Who: Teens
What:articles, art
Where: www.ypp.net

Submitting to these magazines does carry the risk of rejection. If you determine that you are not willing to risk your child’s disappointment, another option for showcasing your child’s talents is to build a website or start a page on MySpace, a blog, or something similar. As long as you closely supervise your child and keep any and all identifying information private, you should be able to post your child’s stories, poems, and artwork. Friends can access the site via the internet to enjoy their masterpieces. After all, many adults are finding self-publishing in this manner immensely rewarding. Look at the blog explosion for example. In today’s world, framing your child’s artwork or photocopying a story aren’t your only options for celebrating your child’s talent.

Next time a child, tween, or teen stares up at you with those innocent eyes and asks you to get their work published, you’ll be ready to nurture their creative spirit.

Agent Snagging 101

1. Identifying agents who are right for you

• Make a list of reputable agents who represent work like yours. The best way to identify working agents in your field is to search the SCBWI websites. Check out the faculty blurbs for the agents at the national conferences in New York and LA. Then look into each regional chapter’s events to find additional agents. Generally, these will be well respected agents or agents who are eager to build their client base.
• Meet and talk with agents at regional and national conferences if at all possible.
• Verify that the agent is a member of AAR.
• Any New York Times Best Selling Author will tell you that it’s far better to have no agent than to have a bad agent.
  

2. Before you submit

• Get your best work ready. Run your manuscript through a critique group. Do not take your mother/sister/husband/wife’s glowing review at face value. When you manage to get your work onto an agent’s desk, it needs to be your best.
• Learn how to draft a query and perfect yours. The query may be the only thing the agent reads. Don’t blow it.
• Don’t pay reading fees. Agents will review your work without charging you. If you feel that you need a book doctor, shop around for the best deals.

3. Submitting

• Submit to only a handful of agents at a time. If you’re lucky, some of the agents will give you comments. You can then incorporate their recommendations (if you agree with them) before submitting to others.
• Follow the submission guidelines on the agent’s website. Some prefer email queries, and others require snail mail. Send only what they request.
• The great wait
• If you haven’t received a response in six months, follow up with an email or phone call. Be professional and indicate that you are just touching base on your submission.
• Work on your next manuscript to make the time pass faster. By completing a second project, you double your chances of getting published.

4. The response

• Don’t be discouraged by rejection. Successful agents have a large stable of writers and generally only take on a new client if they are blown away by the work. Keep trying.
• Revise if the agent recommends revisions. They expect you to resubmit. They’ve spent time on your project, and may offer representation when you resend. If you don’t like the recommended changes, take some time and carefully consider your options.

5. Regroup

• Start on the next five on your list.
• Feel free to submit your next project to the same agent that rejected your current manuscript. Your next project may be just what the agent has been waiting for. Do not send them two or three works at one time.
• The offer of representation
• The right agent for you will be enthusiastic about your work almost to the point of gushing.
• He or she will be your champion among the editors of New York. It is essential that your agent believes in you and your work.
• Carefully review the contract for an offer of representation. You may love your agent now, but you want to be sure you can break with your agent after a reasonable amount of time if necessary.
• Establish from the beginning what you expect from each other. The agent should ask where you see your career going and how many books you can write in a year.
  

Writer's Workshops in Knoxville November 1st

Join SMRW on November 1st for a Series of Writing Workshops

Super Saturday & Booksigning: November 1, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. We encourage pre-registration, but will also accept registration the day of the event. The fee is $45 to attend all day, or $15 for an individual workshop. The booksigning will take place at Borders Turkey Creek after the workshops.

A Beginners Guide to Writing Fiction – This is a beginners' basics on writing. How to format a manuscript, terminology, the opening hook, and submissions. All of the participating authors will discuss common terminology pertinent to their subjects as they present. Leanne Tyler will discuss the importance of a good opening hook & why backstory is bad. Carolynn Carey will discuss grammar mistakes which send up red flags to editors & agents. Donna Wright will discuss point of view. Lauren Hope will discuss the query letter and synopsis, and why following the publishers’ guidelines is a must.

A Beginners Guide to Creative Non-Fiction: Authors Deborah Brent and Petrina Aubol will speak to freelance writing, memoirs, how to outline a proposal on a non-fiction book, the Cup of Comfort series, and travel and cuisine writing.

Writing for Young Adults and Middle Graders – It isn't "dumbing down" your manuscript for a younger audience. Juli Heaton and Kristin O'Donnell Tubb will take you through the plotting and writing for today's savvy middle and high school readers.

World Building – Author Jessie Verino will present a builder's guide; a set of blue prints to direct the writer of speculative fiction and instruct the writer on how to build a fully developed story world. Author Cheryel Hutton will present a “Creature Feature” of the different otherworldy characters who populate speculative fiction worlds. Author Kate McKeever will introduce the world of psychic characters and their abilities.

Plotting the Character Driven Novel – Michael Knight & Shannon Burke: F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Character is plot; plot is character." This workshop will explore the relationship between these two narrative elements, particularly the ways in which plot often grows organically from a well-developed character and offer suggestions for incorporating and strengthening these elements in works-in-progress.

Ask the Authors Panel Discussion – We'll answer your questions on writing, submitting, getting published; the good, bad, and ugly of the publishing industry.

Go to smrw.org for more information.

Ten Hints for the Newbie YA Writer

This article has appeared in SCBWI region and RWA chapter publications.

Don’t talk down to your reader. Whether you are at the low end of the spectrum (age 12) or the high end (18), remember that your reader probably has a better grasp on science, math, and world events than you do. After all, they are just learning about everything, and most of us haven’t used our knowledge of, say, the workings of Congress, in many years. Check out the vocabulary in the YA’s, which include the Harry Potter books and Eragon (Knopf), which was written by fifteen-year-old Christopher Paolini.

Remember that times have changed. Big time. Even if you were a teen in the 90’s, technology has advanced so rapidly that things are different. A teen today who meets three friends at the mall doesn’t stand around wondering if one got lost. Between them, they likely have four cell phones. Teens are connected to each other and everything else all the time. So, any embarrassing moment can be caught by a passing cell phone and passed around in seconds. I’m so glad we didn’t have four cameras with us at all times when I was younger. We all do stupid things that we want to forget.

Make it a fun, fast read. Sure, you can cover serious issues and even teach a lesson if that’s what you’re after. But remember that they are already reading literature for English class, and if they pick up something after school to read it’s probably going to be either something that really touches them or something that entertains them.

Keep in mind that YA is a huge range. If you want older readers, then your characters should be older. I have a pretty strong opinion on what 17 and 18 year olds are really reading. Since I read Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds in the seventh grade (and I went to Catholic school), I have to believe that the older teens are reading adult books.

Know your market. The YA market is moving away from sweet toward “edgy.” I’m waiting for it to swing back.

If you are a long-time RWA member, you may need to think about joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I’ve been eating, breathing, and sleeping romance writing for years, so I had trouble realizing at first that there are other publishers out there—editors who don’t buy romance but do buy young adult. Of course, there are also some terrific options among the romance publishers. The same applies to agents. If you want an agent who does both, you probably already know who to target. But if you are changing directions entirely, you may want an agent who specializes in children’s books.

Network with other YA writers on yahoo and myspace.

Read what’s out there now. Some editors want literary. Some want high concept. Lauren McKenna at Pocket acquires for MTV books. Read Caridad Ferrer’s excellent novel, Adiós to My Old Life, to get an idea what they want.

Decide which word length is right for your story. Some YA’s are only 50 to 55 thousand words. Others are much longer. The younger YA’s slide to the lower end in general because middle grade novels (one step down in the children’s market) are even shorter—about 160 pages.

Enjoy yourself. As a mom, wife, attorney, and apparently maid, I have tremendous daily responsibilities. But for my thirteen-year-old characters, it’s all about them. You won’t believe how easy it is to channel your inner thirteen-year-old. Or seventeen-year-old. And it’s nice to know that all the horrid things that happened to you, like say starting your period while out on a sailboat with your dad, his bud, and his teenage son, and no feminine hygiene products. Did I mention the sailboat was white? And so were my shorts? Anyway, you can use all those horrible things to bring comedy and reality to your stories.

Welcome to my blog!

I'm late to the party, as always. But I thought this would be a great place to post some tips on writing, articles, and info. Hopefully I can manage to keep my foot out of my mouth and not get myself into trouble.

I write young adult fiction and light paranormal romantic comedies. I'm a member of RWA and finaled in the Golden Heart in 2006 with my YA, Investigating the Hottie. Over the last few years, I've learned so much from RWA conferences and SCBWI conferences. I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing in this business.

I'll be speaking at SMRW's Super Saturday on November 1st in Knoxville. We're not limiting ourselves to romance, and we're having a full day of workshops targeting all sorts of fiction and nonfiction writers in town.