Being Internly: Lessons from Liberty States Fiction Writers' Conference, Part II

I would celebrate posting two weeks in a row except I'm writing them both on the same day and I should be doing client edits right now. Eeeee. Let's move on, shall we? Bits of wisdom from the Liberty States Fiction Writers' Conference, this time from the Editors panel.

Things You Should Know from the Editors Panel

Panelists: Jillian Bell (Ellora's Cave), Shannon Criss (Harlequin), Toni Plummer (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's), Bob Podrasky (AudioGo), and Michelle Richter (St. Martin's)

1) They really prefer you have an agent. The exception here was Ellora's Cave since they are an e-pub that basically offers the same contract to everyone. Shannon Criss from Harlequin talked a lot about the different ways you can submit to the publisher, agent or not, but I definitely got the feeling that the majority prefers to deal with agent for business matters rather than the authors themselves. It helps keep the relationships separate because when you're dealing with an editor in an editorial capacity, it's more of a symbiotic relationship. However, in a business capacity, that editor's now going to be looking to get the best deal possible, which may not be the best deal for the author. I'm not suggesting they're going to be unethical or try to screw you; they're simply looking out for their own interests. An agent can be all aggressive on your behalf and your editor can play hardball with them, but keeping you out of it means your relationship with your editor remains healthy.

2) Unsolicited means do not send anything that hasn't been requested. At all. Someone asked this question at the end of the panel and I was a little surprised about that, so I thought I'd cover it here. If you see in Writer's Market or on someone's website 'closed to unsolicited submissions,' that really means 'If you send me a query/manuscript, I'm going to have an intern look at it to make sure that it's not something actually important and then reject it/delete it.' Even if they are open to submissions, unsolicited materials rank at the very bottom of the 'look at' list. One of the St. Martin's editors (I can't remember if it was Toni Plummer or Michelle Richter) basically described the hierarchy like Authors Already Under Contract -> Agent Submissions -> Conference Submissions (solicited) -> Other Solicited Submissions (contests, twitter, etc.) -> Unsolicited. This is yet another reason to attend as many pitch sessions as you can, online or in person, and more confirmation about why it's important to get an agent.

3) Don't call us, we'll call you. I know it's hard being patient when you're waiting for an editor/agent to make a decision, but the entire panel cautioned against aggressively following up on a submission. Shannon related an anecdote about a manuscript she'd been excited to read until the author started calling her every day to see if she'd read it yet. Now, not only does she have no desire to work with the author, she no longer wants to read the manuscript. My advice would be to find out what their time frame is and give them a gentle nudge two weeks past that. For example, Shannon says Harlequin's policy is to respond within 90 days. So if you submitted to Harlequin on April 1st, I would politely nudge on July 15th.  Above all, be professional, folks.

4) A good manuscript will always trump the economy. Times are tough all around, but according to the editor panel, it hasn't stopped them from buying books by debut authors.  Sure, they might do smaller print-runs or only buy the first two books of a series, but if they love your book, they'll still go for it. A wonderfully entertaining, beautifully crafted, story will always find its way if you are persistent enough.

5) Do your research. All of the editors complained about receiving submissions that don't fit their categories. Jillian Bell made a point of saying, no, Ellora's Cave doesn't publish picture books. Even a rudimentary glance at Ellora's website reveals its 18-and-over content. Shannon also mentioned that her last name is frequently misspelled on submissions (I feel I should point out that both Shannon's and Bob Podrasky's names were misspelled on the conference website). It wasn't specifically mentioned during the panel, but if you are un-agented, you should definitely do research on the companies themselves, especially the smaller e-pubs. A company may be "actively acquiring" dozens of manuscripts, but how are they getting all of those manuscripts edited? Who's doing the marketing?  Which online stores are going to offer the book for sale? Do your research.


I also want to mention that Bob gave a pitch for Man in the Empty Suit that basically had the entire room salivating for the book. It sounded so good, I was surprised at the low GoodReads ranking. This is the power of a pitch that highlights the unique, people. I'm off to go do those edits, but, hopefully Part III (the Agents Panel) will be up next Sunday.

Being Internly: Lessons from Liberty States Fiction Writers' Conference, Part I

I got to shadow my boss at the conference and we're waiting for the pitch sessions to begin when she looks at me sideways, saying "You can write about this, you know. Your blog has been a little...slow lately."

She wasn't wrong. Sorry, guys! Between my personal life and the internship, things have been absolutely crazy. So let's just get right to it, yeah? 

Things I Learned from the Pitch Sessions that You Should Know

1) Bring business cards to your pitch sessions.  Agent Boss used them to keep track of what she requested from an author. Since we both have smartphones, we were also checking out twitter feeds and websites while still at the conference. The cards don't have to be fancy, but you want to have something so you can give the agent a tangible reminder of who you are. Please note that does not include resumes or manuscript pages. If the agent asks you for a hard-copy something, that's one thing, but don't offer anything except a card or maybe a bookmark. 

2) The more prepared you are, the better you look. One author had Googled my boss beforehand and checked out her other clients. So when the author was enthusiastic, it felt like they knew what they were getting into and still couldn't wait. Agent Boss was so in love with this author, she tracked them down again later, and the author handed her a freaking press kit that had sample chapters in it. We actually found a quiet room, sat down, and read the chapters right away. Agent Boss offered representation two hours later. Don't get me wrong, the author had talent, but they were clearly dedicated to making a career out of this and that's very attractive to an agent. 

3) Be ready to go off-script AND you're also pitching yourself.  As soon as the authors sat down, my boss began to pepper them with questions. It wasn't just about the book the author was pitching, it was about the authors themselves. How well did they click with Agent Boss? How did they handle themselves when thrown off-guard? How passionate were they? How well did they answer some questions? Don't get me wrong, if Agent Boss really likes you, but your book is not up to par, she's not going to offer you representation. However, if she's on the fence about the book, but she remembers that you were awesome, well, that's a factor too. 

4) Highlight the unique AND know your genre. One author led with a really unique twist, which made us sit up a little straighter, before going on to describe, basically, the plot to Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Magaret Stohl. Y'know, the hugely popular series, the first book of which was recently made into a movie. I just sat there and thought of all the ways the author could have used that unique twist to create an unique book. One of the things I've learned from this job is that authors will individually come up with the same plot more often than you'd think. So know your genre and, at the very least, try to avoid pitching your book so that it sounds exactly like something that's already been published. 

5) Agents are defensively polite. Agents usually stay for the majority of the conference and the last thing they want to deal with is an upset person. So if you pitch to an agent at a pitch session, they will probably request three chapters, just to be polite. This is good news for you because it means you still have a shot, even if you think you've bombed your pitch. If they request more than that, then they really liked it.  It's natural to be nervous when pitching because you're putting yourself out there, but relax! The agent is going to be polite and professional, and if they're not, then that's likely not an agent you want to have anyway. 

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to cover the editor and agent panels separately, so check back next Sunday to find out. As always, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments. 

Being Internly: Day Off

Hey guys, I haven't had a chance to write up a proper entry for this weekend, thanks to the oddly named blizzard Nemo and a lack of free time. So if you have any questions for me or my boss, leave them in the comments.



Posted by RT Book Reviews (a magazine I read religiously every month), this is a March 2011 video interview about how to get a literary agent and what to expect from them.




I can't remember when I first heard of Kristin Nelson, but she's a name you'll hear often when it comes to big book deals. I picked this video of hers to highlight because I read fifty million pitches last month. Ms. Nelson also has a blog you should add to your RSS reader.

And this last one is just for fun. Thanks to this internship, it now makes me think of aspiring authors waiting by the phone for 'the call.'

Being Internly: Feeling the Passion

I've heard my boss say more than once that she needs to be passionate about a book/author in order to sell it. I understood what she meant, but I didn't actually get it until today. 

Boss recently participated in a writing contest of sorts, where authors posted a snippet of their work for select agents to read. As a result, the slush mailbox is a-bursting and I've pretty much been reading whenever I can. Since other agents could also request from the same pool of authors, some authors have been lucky enough to get offers of representation already and those manuscripts get moved to the top of the pile so my boss can decide if she wants to unleash the dogs of war or not. 

So there I was, eating my dinner, reading on my iPad. I finished one manuscript and I went to open the next high priority manuscript, but I hesitated. I've read the partial of the manuscript and recommended that my boss request the full, but now that it's here, I didn't really want to read it. And that's when I had my epiphany. 

Reaction GIFS

This author can write really well, in multiple subgenres, and could definitely, in my opinion, be sold to mainstream publishers. They'd be a safe investment. And yet I still can't muster up a lot of enthusiasm. There's some undefinable thing that keeps me from clicking with the work. It's not the author, it's me. I lack the passion. 

I know the 'it's not you, it's me' line is little consolation for anyone suffering from rejection, but an agent (and their trusty interns) spend an awfully long-time with a manuscript. They may read portions of it up to three times before actually signing (query, partial, full).  Then there's any needed adjustments to get it publishing ready, and, trust me, there's always polishing to be done. It could be as simple as mopping up stray typos or as complicated as re-writing the ending. Then once it's ready to be shopped, the agent has to figure out the best way to sell it and then go forth & shop it around. Which means they may have recited their pitch a bajillion times before the book actually gets sold. Then the editor of the publishing house will likely have more changes to be made and the agent supports the author as they make the necessary edits. I assisted as one of my boss's clients went through that process and, for just this one leg, I read the manuscript at least five times.  I can almost guarantee you that my boss has read it twice as much, if not three times. The editor has now asked for additional changes so I fully expect to be in the double digits before this manuscript hits the shelf. I'm okay with that, though, because I think this author is amazing and it wouldn't surprise me if this book ends up doing really well for a debut. I'm passionate about it. If I wasn't, I'd probably have a breakthrough on the eighth read-through. 

Sometimes, authors, it really does come down to personal taste. My boss may respect your talent, but not particularly want to sign on for reading your book five hundred times. You just have to keep looking until you find that agent who is so passionate about your book, they're willing to read it a thousand times. 

Being Internly: Suggested Readings

So I'm back again with another suggested readings post, this time with a focus on the new adult genre. New adult has been increasing in popularity over the last couple of years (St. Martin's apparently coined the term in 2009) and it would not surprise me if we start to see a wave of these books being released by mainstream publishing in a year or two. Several self-pubs have been snatched up already, notably Easy by Tammara Webber, Slammed by Colleen Hooper, and Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire.  So if you have a polished, completed, manuscript that fits this genre, now is the time to start shopping it.

If you don't know what New Adult is, check out this introductory blog post from NA Alley. I have NA Alley in my Reader and they post on everything from cover reveals to publishing news. Editors Angela James (Carina Press) and Margo Lipschultz (Harlequin HQN) delve into what constitutes a new adult in a Harlequin blog post. It's a bit of a publicity puff piece, but I found James's answer as to what was not a new adult very interesting.  For a more intensive look, a School Library Journal blog (A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy) has a compilation post with links to different blogs, all aimed at answering the question of 'What is New Adult?'

The New York Times published an article back in December 2012 that covers the rise of new adult from more of a publishing perspective. Also in December, Gawker compared 'coming of age' and new adult titles.  In the Gawker article, they reference this Publisher's Weekly article, which looks at the trend from a book-selling point view. I tried to find something about writing new adult books, but instead I came across this August 2012 blog post that looks at new adult from an editorial point of view.

Since I started reading new adult by way of the romance genre, I tend to think of it as being an off-shoot, but it's definitely growing into its own genre.  Another SLJ poster, who is not that fond of the label, recommends 'fiction-y' books that would fit the bill. Back in July 2012, Jane at Dear Author did a new adult recommendation post, suggesting traditionally published young adult books that would fit the new adult category. NA Alley (mentioned above) has a catalog of new adult reads that cover traditional and epubs. Of course, browsing through GoodReads can always lead to awesome discoveries. This list is fairly comprehensive and here's a selection of new adult recent releases.

Being Internly: Predicting the Future

Yes, it's a little known fact that when you are looking for a job in publishing, clairvoyance is a necessary job skill. I admit to being a little taken aback when my boss told me that it's not so much what's selling now, but what will sell two years from now that's important. Why two years? Because that's when the open slots are in the publishing world. The catalogs for this year are already printed, books have already been scheduled. Pubs are businesses. They try to space out what they are banking on as their 'big titles' so that the releases correspond with their financial quarters. Also, certain books do better at certain times of the years. A glossy coffee table book is going to do better being released in October so it gains a little momentum before the holiday season when shoppers are looking for these types of books. A light, frothy, fiction title gets released in May/June for Mother's Day and primarily so it'll be in position for the 'beach read' displays. Somebody somewhere has the title list for the next five sales Barnes and Noble will be holding.

So what does this mean for the aspiring author? If you're going to write to the trend, do so at the beginning of it. Look at the 50 shades phenomenon. D/S bondage erotica wasn't exactly mainstream. Publishers didn't have anything comparable to market so they could ride the wave. So they snapped up self-pubs and reissued anything similar, like Sylvia Day's older titles. Day's Bared to You, by the way, was originally a self-pub. You can get the story of its journey to traditional publishing straight from the source via a Dear Author podcast. 

If the wave has hit, however, you're going to have a much harder time selling. For example, when The Hunger Games came out in 2008, it launched the YA dystopian trend. Readers were looking for something to tide them over in between books and publishers wanted to meet that need. Two years later, books in this subgenre began to roll-out: Matched by Allie Condie in 2010, Divergent by Veronica Roth in 2011, Delirium by Lauren Oliver in 2011, Enclave by Ann Aguirre in 2011, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken in 2012, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi in 2012. Yes, dystopians existed before the odds were in our favor (The Giver by Lois Lowry in 1993, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld in 2005), but Katniss was the match that lit the flame. It's now 2013. Editors and agents have been flooded with dystopian YAs for FIVE YEARS. Your manuscript has to be pretty damn spectacular to stand out in the slush pile, let alone to get an editor to gamble the readers won't be burnt out on dystopians in 2015. 

How do you predict the future? Personally speaking, I look for the match. If I can pinpoint what might spark a new trend, I can get ahead of it. I check out the TV pilots for the next year's season, glance at upcoming movies, and I read the trades for what's being published next year, Publisher's Weekly in particular. I'm active on social media, I talk to young adult librarians, and I look for things that I, as a consumer, might enjoy. 

I've long been an advocate for more fairy-tale based books due to Once Upon a Time and Grimm. My boss has been actively searching for high fantasy and the fact that we have three Hobbit movies rolling out make this a safe choice. I think outer space/science-fiction might make a bit of a bounce-back and personally speaking, I'd love to see a YA where the future doesn't suck, like a futuristic contemporary. 

But if you have a fantastic manuscript, one that makes your critique partners cry or sigh or gives them nightmares, it doesn't matter what genre your book is in. A wonderful book will always sell eventually.  Who knows?  Your book could be the next match. 

Being Internly: Best Agent for the Job

My boss is awesome. She is fierce when it comes to protecting her clients and she's constantly striving to help them produce the best book possible. She reads pretty much every email sent to her and she will even send personalized replies to some authors if she thinks they are close to being market-ready. I am learning loads from her and I feel extremely lucky to have this internship.

However, if I ever become bed-ridden and decide to finish my memoir, my boss probably wouldn't be on the list of agents that I'd query to. This is because on her website's submission page, in nice big caps, it says NO MEMOIRS.

Several manuscripts have come my way recently and all I could report is that the writing was up to par, but the book itself wasn't market-ready. I couldn't offer any suggestions because the manuscripts were for a genre I don't read. My boss specializes in horror, young adult, middle school, and romance. She chose me as her intern because I read primarily romance and young adult. I can recognize that a, say, Christian fiction manuscript is well-written, but I don't have much experience with that subgenre.  Something that reads as overly preachy in the mainstream market may be just enough for the Christian market. My boss has more experience than I do at judging raw marketability, but the majority of her contacts, i.e. editors, are going to be in her specializations. So while you'd be damn lucky to have my boss as an agent because of who she is, she may not be the best person to guide your manuscript into book-hood.


Different agents specialize in different things and most agents will specifically say on their website what they are looking for. Sending them a query outside of their specializations will likely earn you a rejection and why invite more rejection than you need? It also helps to look at an agent's client list. They will usually have a page somewhere on their personal website or if they belong to an agency, there's usually a general client list. If you consider yourself the next J.K. Rowling, don't query Rowling's agent. They already have J.K., they probably don't need another one. Look for an agent who specializes in middle school fiction and science-fiction/fantasy. Find someone who is looking for something like Harry Potter.

If you looked at my boss's client list, you'd see that they tend to write gritty/serious with a strong emotional core. The subgenres are a bit diverse because she's looking for a specific type of story. Look at the client lists for the agents you want to query. Picture a 'If You Read This, Try This' display filled with the books the agents already sold. Does your book fit in there or does it look like it was mis-shelved?

There is one exception to all of this and that's if you attend an industry related conference or event & meet an agent in person. Agents will frequently be available for pitch sessions or panels, and sometimes they may ask you to send them your manuscript, even if it's beyond their specializations. Either you're blocking the way towards the bathroom or something about your pitch intrigues them enough to investigate further. Agents are always looking for the next big thing and if they think your manuscript is the next blockbuster, they will snatch you up lightning quick. So if they want it, send it, but include a reminder about which event they requested it at.