Guide to Literary Agents

Agent Advice: Peter McGuigan of Foundry Literary + Media

2009-11-22T16:44:24.906-05:00

Agent Interview by

contributor Ricki Schultz.

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features Peter McGuigan of Foundry Literary + Media. Peter has more than 15 years of publishing experience. He has worked as an active agent for more than ten of those years and served as Rights Director for two literary agencies. Peter studied creative writing, journalism, and literature at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University and has a degree in English.

He is looking for: smart, offbeat nonfiction, particularly narrative nonfiction on pop culture, niche history, biography, music and science. He also represents novelists, both commercial and literary, across all genres, especially first-time writers.

Peter McGuigan

GLA: How did you become an agent?

PM: Mostly by chance. My first job in publishing was at a small agency, but I was just figuring out how everything worked. Then I spent four years working for publishing houses, and near the end of that period, I began to feel my entrepreneurial side coming out. I had been frequently suggesting book ideas to my colleagues and leaving magazine articles for them on their desks, and lo and behold, some of these ideas turned into real books.
So I thought maybe this was the right direction for me. I didn't like the endless meetings and politics of corporate publishing, and I felt that I belonged on the other side, as an advocate for writers. I was a writer myself, but I lacked the necessary discipline. Being an agent works well with my short attention span: I can juggle a number of creative projects, protect my writers and help them navigate their way through the publication process, which is almost never smooth sailing.

GLA: Tell us about something you’ve sold recently.

PM: I sold a sweet and funny memoir by SNL alum Jim Breuer recently to Gotham. I also sold a follow-up book to my biggest success so far, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, to Dutton. Both of these books exemplify what I try to do most often: Put together projects that are both commercial and high quality.
     Dewey may look like a silly cat book, but it's actually very intelligent and extremely moving—and it sold in 30 foreign countries. Jim may be known as that stoner guy from Half Baked, but when you read about his family, his struggles, and his faith in mankind, you can't help but be pleasantly surprised. That, to me, is the perfect combination.

GLA: What are you looking for right now and not getting?

PM: I am looking for every kind of book. I do literary fiction and kids books, history, and rock-n-roll bios. Really, if I like the writing and the subject, I'm open to it. And if it's good, but it's not for me, it's probably for one of my other Foundry colleagues.

GLA: Does that mean you give submissions to colleagues you feel the book is more appropriate for, or do you reject and refer the writer to a different agent at Foundry?

PM: We're lucky at Foundry in that we all overlap in interest, yet each of us has a core competency that is obvious. So when any of us finds a project that is good, it will find its way to the right Foundry agent without delay.
     I've actually sold books in the past, at other agencies, where one of my colleagues had rejected it rather than walk it 30 feet to my desk, yet the author found me, and we were a perfect fit. That's exactly what we are not about here. I think we enjoy a great balance: entrepreneurial yet collegial.

GLA: Your bio says you are “happiest when representing controversial, out of the ordinary, or provocative subjects and authors.” Can you give us a few examples of books you’ve repped that fit this bill so authors know what to send you?

PM: I have a book coming out next year called Chasing the White Dog by Max Watman (S&S). It's about America's secret history with whiskey, especially the illegal, homemade kind. Let's just say that the author spends equal amounts of time with the folks fighting moonshine and the folks making moonshine, and it makes the war on drugs look quaint by comparison.
     I have another excellent book that is hanging just below the bestsellers list right now called The Monuments Men by Robert Edsel. It's the amazing story of the art that the Nazis stole during WWII and the little-known group of soldiers who risked life and limb to find these works and bring them back. Stolen art from the war is still a majorly touchy subject—Robert just blew the whistle on SMU's possession of two paintings that were stolen by Nazis and never returned to their rightful owners. One of them even has a swastika burned on the back of the frame!
     I also did Lisa Lampanelli's hilarious, but admittedly un-PC, book Chocolate, Please. Extremely well written, off color, not for the faint of heart.
     Patrick DeWitt's breathtakingly gorgeous novel Ablutions, one of the darkest and smartest pieces of fiction I've ever read, about alcoholism and decay, was also mine.
     These are the kinds of projects that get me out of bed in the morning.

GLA: In addition, you work with a lot of first-time writers. In an industry that gets increasingly difficult to break into, what are a few things newbies can do in their query letters that might convince you to take a chance on them?

PM: 1) Watch those typos, folks! We do notice. 2) Don't try to be cheeky, it never works. 3) Tailor your submission to the agent, no "dear agent" letters! 4) Don't go to more than one agent at the same agency—that'll get you the delete button quicker than anything. 5) If it's fiction, a tight paragraph that includes a pitch and compares it to other books is helpful—"for readers who enjoyed X and Y." 6) For nonfiction, make sure we understand what the author's qualifications, or "platform," are. If you're trying to write a book about a subject you're not an expert on, it's probably not going to work out.

GLA: Regarding your interest in pet-related projects, are you more of a dog or cat person? Tell us about what draws you to this category.

PM: Ha! I was raised with (some would say "by") both dogs and cats, and I like both equally. I admit that cats are better city animals, since they don't require as much attention, but I'm happiest with one or two of each.
Ironically, I don't have either at the moment. I had two cats and a dog, but my ex took them both when we split up! (This is where the "aaaawwwwwww" goes...) I do have a pet snake, but he's not very cuddly...
I hesitate to say I'm drawn to the pet category. I'm attracted to all types of popular culture. When I read about Dewey, I knew he was a superstar among cats. I soon found out that Vicki Myron is also a superstar among librarians. Then I brought in Bret Witter, who is a superstar writer. And it worked! We sold a million hardcovers in the US, foreign rights in 30 countries, and we have a film deal with Meryl Streep attached. So sure, it starts with one cat, but it's much, much more multi-dimensional than that.

GLA: You seek nonfiction in a whole host of subjects. Any areas lacking in amount of submissions?

PM: I think we're overdue for a revival of upmarket crime books. Not mafia books, but In Cold Blood-style, literary narrative nonfiction that happens to be about a particular crime. We get these every so often. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil leaps to mind. Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz, which I was lucky enough to work on at my former agency. But there's room for more of these.
My client Robin Gaby Fisher is one of the best writers in this arena. Her book After the Fire hit the Times bestsellers list, and she's got a Pulitzer. This caliber of writer tackling upmarket crime is, I think, ripe for rediscovery. Her next book is a similarly upmarket crime story called The Boys of the Dark, about an insanely sadistic reform school in the South that did unspeakable things to the boys there, and the whole town was in on it! Robin knows how to make these kinds of stories get under our skin and stay with us for a long time after we've put the book down—that's her gift.

GLA: How much does a writer’s platform impact whether or not you agree to represent his manuscript?

PM: Major. As I said above, platform is everything when it comes to nonfiction. What gives you the credentials to author a book on subject X? A great idea needs to be paired with the right author. There's no way to get around it.

GLA: If you were teaching a class on nonfiction writing & submitting, what would be item number one on your syllabus?

PM: I like Stephen King's comment: Adverbs are not your friends. That's good writing advice. As far as submitting, if you can't summarize your idea in two to three sentences, it's not fully formed yet.

GLA: What is the one thing you’d like to tell authors pitching you in person at a conference?

PM: Good luck—I probably won't be there! Ha ha. Honestly, I've done a few of these things, and I love writers, but it really is the worst way to encounter someone's writing. So if I were there, I'd say, "Lovely. Send your materials to my office, and I'll look at it."

GLA: Best piece(s) of advice we haven’t talked about yet?

PM: I think I'm paraphrasing Harry Crews: "Fix your ass to the seat and write."

This agent interview by Ricki Schultz,
freelance writer and coordinator of
Shenandoah Writers in VA. Visit her blog
or follow her on Twitter.

New Agent Alert: Justine Wenger of Emma Sweeney Agency, LLC

2009-11-22T16:28:14.508-05:00

Reminder: Newer agents are golden opportunities for new writers because they're likely building their client list; however, always make sure your work is as perfect as it can be before submitting, and only query agencies that are a great fit for your work. Otherwise, you're just wasting time and postage.

In lieu of a forthcoming headshot of
Justine, here is the ES agency slush puppy.

About Justine: She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing. In addition to working for Emma, Justine is poetry reader for BOMB Magazine, and routinely writes short stories or long poems on the subway.

She is seeking: literary fiction, short story collections, and food-related non-fiction. I'm looking for stories that are well-written with surprising, yet simple craft and driving characters. "I am also a fiction and poetry reader for BOMB Magazine and OPEN CITY, which is a good example for the style of fiction I would like to acquire."

How to submit: "We require queries to be delivered by e-mail to queries at emmasweeneyagency dot com. Please paste your cover letter and the first ten pages of your manuscript or proposal in the body of your message. For security reasons we cannot open attachments. Please note that queries sent to any e-mail address will not be considered. Because of the volume of email we receive, we cannot respond to every query. We regret that we do not accept submissions by post unless specifically requested." If this query is specifically for Justine, put "Query for Justine" in the subject line.

The 'Flight of the Navigator' Synopsis

2009-11-21T16:16:45.347-05:00

I always tell people that if they're confused as to how a novel synopsis
should look, simply go to Wikipedia. Search any movie made in the last five years and the first thing on the page is the long "Plot" section, which is essentially a front-to-back synopsis. A lot of them are too long; a lot of them are poorly written; but some are good, and you will get a sense of how they work. Or—you could just let find good ones for you and edit them a bit.

This time it's Flight of the Navigator. In book terms, this would be considered fun middle grade, considering the protagonist is 12. More specifically, it would probably be a science fiction adventure. Concerning this synopsis, I cut all out mentions that Max's home planet was called Phaelon. I cut all info about how the craft could fly at high speeds. I left in one little moment about the freefall, because I felt it showed David's arc in taking control of the situation after starting as a guinea pig at NASA. I had to lose a lot of specifics about how Max got stuck on Earth and what exactly he did with David's brain. You're starting to see a pattern here - cut, combine, cut, combine, cut. Smooth and fast —t hat's how a short synopsis has to look.

Twelve-year-old DAVID FREEMAN is trekking through the woods at night when he falls into a ravine and blacks out. Waking a short time later, David heads home only to find an older couple in his house and no visible trace of his parents or brother. Police arrive and start asking questions, but David’s answers are met with puzzlement. His parents are located in a nearby city in Florida, but upon meeting them, David is shocked to see they have visibly aged. He faints and is taken to a hospital. There, he has a conversation with his younger (now older) brother, JEFF, who explains that eight years have passed since that night in the woods and David was declared dead long ago. Everyone in the family is overjoyed with this miraculous reunion, though no one can explain David’s disappearance or lack of aging.

NASA official DR. FARADAY arrives at David’s home and asks for testing. David agrees. At the NASA base, David receives garbled messages in his head, apparently coming from something or someone in a nearby hangar. During tests, Faraday discovers that David’s brain now holds incredible amounts of information related to a strange flying craft, galaxy maps, bizarre languages, and more. Faraday theorizes that an alien spacecraft picked up David in the woods and took him to another galaxy and back. The light-speed trip only took four hours, but everyone on Earth aged eight years. Scared at this revelation, David runs out of the testing room, screaming that he wants his old life back. He hears more from the voice, and follows its directions to a hangar. There, he discovers the spacecraft his mind projected on screens earlier. Inside, he meets the ship’s robotic pilot, whom he nicknames MAX.

Max escapes the base with David onboard. It turns out that David, along with creatures from other planets, was taken for study on Max’s peaceful home planet. Unlike usual, Max did not return David to his original timeline (eight years prior), fearing that humans as a species are too delicate to survive time travel. While Max explains how he got caught in power lines trying to leave Earth (then captured by NASA), David takes a liking to a small friendly creature whose home planet was destroyed by a comet.

David and Max realize they both need each other to get home. David needs Max to pilot to Florida, and Max needs star chart information in David's head to navigate back to his home galaxy. Max performs a scan of David's subconscious to extract the information but accidentally gets some of David’s memories and personality. Max’s voice immediately changes, becoming less robotic and more humorous and erratic. David and Max bicker as to their next course of action, to which Max's response is to shut down in a freefall, forcing David to take control and drive the ship. The two bond, and David heads for his family in Fort Lauderdale, though Max warns him NASA will anticipate this move.

They locate David’s house when Jeff sets off fireworks from the roof. David’s initial happiness to see home wears off when he discovers NASA is waiting for him for more "guinea pig tests." He urges Max to return him to his own timeline, despite the danger. Max and David share a heartfelt good-bye, having become friends. Max speeds up the ship until David passes out. Awakening in the ravine like before, David walks home and finds everything the way he left it. He hugs his family (yes, even his little brother Jeff) and gets a pleasant souvenir from his adventure: The "orphaned" alien creature he bonded with seems to have stowed away in his backpack.

Cover Band Soap Opera: 'You Got to Fight For Your Right'

2009-11-21T16:03:20.933-05:00

For anyone who follows the ridiculous adventures of my Cincinnati rock cover band, you may have noticed that I don't put video up of us. Truth is, I'm self-conscious. Someone missed a note, or this didn't sound right, or that's blurry, blah blah blah.

Well, no more of that. This is my band playing "You Got to Gight For Your Right (to Party)" by The Beastie Boys at a recent fall show. That's me playing guitar on the right.

> > >

Three Ways to Identify the Literary Agent of Any Book

2009-11-20T20:24:17.569-05:00

If you want to know who agented a particular book, there are a variety of ways how to discover the individual literary rep who made the deal. Here are three ideas for starters:

1. Simply check the book's acknowledgements. Sometimes, it will be as simple as a writer saying, "And a special thanks to my agent, Randy Masterson."

2. Use search engines. Try Googling the book's title (or author) and the word "agent," and see what you come up with.
Also, lots of times, authors will have their representation listed online. So if you want to know who the agent was for Joe Smith's book, The Neptune Paradox, find Joe Smith's official Web site. Check the bottom of the home page, and then the "Contact" page. The site may say, "Joe is represented by Randy Masterson Literary Agency, 245 Manhattan Road, New York, NY."

3. Worse case scenario, you can call the publisher. If you see that Knopf published the book, for example, call Knopf's main line and speak to the operator. Ask for the editorial department; better yet, if you can, explain your goal and request to speak with the editor who worked on The Neptune Paradox. The operator will say, "Oh, that's Judy Smith. I'll transfer you." You won't talk to Judy, but rather her assistant. No matter. Ask the assistant if Judy did indeed edit The Neptune Paradox. When the assistant confirms Judy's involvement, kindly request to know who the book's acting literary agent was. She'll be happy to tell you.

Want more on this subject?

Word count guidelines for novels and children's books .

Networking at writers' conferences.

20 Tips on Query Letters.

Need some help finding the best literary agent for your work? Sign up for my webinar, "How to Land a Literary Agent," on Dec. 17, 2009. You can ask questions and hear me discuss queries, proposals, submissions, copyright and more.

Successful Queries: Agent Sharlene Martin and 'River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Woman He Loved'

2009-11-19T00:42:30.78-05:00

This new series is called "Successful Queries" and I'm posting actual query letters that succeeded in getting writers signed with agents. In addition to posting the actual query letter, we will also get to hear thoughts from the agent as to why the letter worked.

The 20th installment in this series is with agent Sharlene Martin (Martin Literary Management) and her author, Jeffrey Buckner Ford, for his book, River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford of the Woman He Loved.

This query excerpted from Sharlene's awesome new work, Publish Your Nonfiction Book, out this month (Nov. 2009). If you're looking to sell a book proposal, this book is a must-buy.

>>>

Dear Ms. Martin:

I'm sure I've browsed to your site several hundred times if once, and I continue to come back; drawn primarily, I think, by the evident priority that you place on your authors.

Ernie and His Lovely Wife, Betty is a narrative recounting of the lives of Betty Jean Ford and her husband, Ernest, the man known to the world as Tennessee Ernie Ford. In a career that lasted half a century, Ernie Ford achieved a degree of fame that went beyond his success as an entertainer. It was a fame that weaved him into the fabric of popular culture, and earned him a permanence in history: three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, walls of Gold and Platinum records, and a television legacy spanning generations.

But Ernie and His Lovely Wife, Betty is not a biography of Ernie Ford, but rather, a record of the lives of two people. It is a portrayal of the complex and beautiful woman who shared his life; a gifted artist the world would never know, whose own star might one day have eclipsed even his, but instead, slowly faded over the years, paling under the weight of the lengthening shadow unwillingly cast by the man she loved - a shadow she believed she could escape, but only by taking her own life.

From their first meeting on a desert airbase at the dawn of World War II, to their last moments together nearly half a century later, the story of Ernie and his lovely wife, Betty, is an American love story, an American tregedy; a portrait of an ordinary family changed forever by an extraordinary life. A family whose story is also my own. Ernest Jennings and Betty Jean Ford were my mother and dad.

I am haunted by the memory of these two souls. I am gripped by the arc of their radiant lives, and wounded by the memories of their deaths, This book is my hope of healing those wounds; a hope bound with the promise that one day I would tell their story.

The book stands completed at just over 92,000 words. I would be honored if you would consider reviewing a partial submission.

Jeffrey Buckner Ford

Commentary from Sharlene

As you see, there is a blood relation in this nostalgic celebrity memoir, but it is a mistake to think that just because you are related to somebody famous, you have an actual book in you. Relationships are one thing, but you are either able to write about them with alacrity and depth of insight, or you are not.

This author is careful to explain his protagonist in paragraph two, so that you know what the scope of his story will be. But it is in the third paragraph where Jeffrey Ford demonstrates why he was not merely born into this family; he was born to write this book. The paragraph is consumed mostly by the second sentence, and after reading it, can you doubt that this writer possesses the sensibilities required to tell this powerful tale of quiet frustration?

This author also took the impressive step of writing a complete draft before seeking literary representation, although this can sometimes work against you. With memoirs, which are more narrative in nature, writing a full draft can be helpful. However, many publishers of nonfiction books like to have some input into the flow of the information and the text. Before the book is sold, it usually is best to put your time and energy into your platform, your proposal, and then your query - in that order.

River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Woman He Loved sold to Cumberland House in Tennessee, in Ernie Ford's hometown of Nashville.

BUY Publish Your Nonfiction Book

How I Got My Agent: Colin Broderick

2009-11-18T11:29:43.868-05:00

"How I Got My Agent" is a new recurring feature on the GLA blog. I find it fascinating to see the exact road people took that landed them with a rep. Seeing the things people did right vs. what they did wrong (highs and the lows) can help other scribes who are on the same journey. Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings.

To see the previous installments of this column, click here.

If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we'll talk specifics.

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Colin Broderick.
Colin is the author of the memoir,
Orangutan. His site, www.colinbroderick.com,
will be up and running soon.

ROCK BOTTOM

On the sixth day of the sixth month 2006, I left my apartment in Hells Kitchen with the last of my belongings in a small U-Haul truck to drive to farmhouse up north and try to save my life. It might sound like I’m fabricating the facts here for dramatic effect but as I started the truck and headed north I glanced at the dash clock and it read 6:06. It occurred to me then and I still believe it now that there was some Dante-esque connection at play here, my life had literally spiraled to its lowest point. I was a 38-year-old, twice divorced alcoholic weighing in at an astonishing 115 lbs. I was broke and now I had lost my apartment. It was time to start the long crawl out of the hole I had dug for myself. I had witnessed the depths of the inferno and it held little of the allure it once did for me. I wanted nothing more to do with it.

Within three days, I had started writing what was to become my memoir, Orangutan. I had been writing for twenty years since moving to New York from Northern Ireland at the age of 20 to work construction. I completed a couple of novels, plays, short stories and notebooks full of poetry—but I had only ever managed to get one short story published and that had been 10 years before. I spent my twenties convinced that I would be "discovered." An agent or editor would read one page of my manuscript and run to the nearest phone to dial my number with an offer that would catapult me into the waiting arms of the Nobel Prize Committee. It didn’t happen. I did send my early manuscripts out to a few agents and agencies but I can’t remember even receiving a rejection letter. It seemed finding an agent was a more elusive dream than finding a publisher. I used to joke that you needed an agent to get an agent in this town.

Orangutan

THE AA REFERRAL

After spending a year on Orangutan—a year that saw me back on the bottle for a brief but productive period that added a stint in an upstate jail to my resume—I started dating a girl who had been a bartender of mine once upon a time. She was a writer, also. She read what I had written and was convinced that this was the manuscript that would finally get me published. She took me back to the city gave me a place to stay and a desk for my work. I married her for her efforts and quit drinking to devote my time and energy to creating a career for myself in the only profession that has ever made any sense to me: writing.

I was at a meeting one night way downtown—one of those meetings you hear about where the alcoholics gather to drink coffee and smoke their cigarettes—when I heard a guy about my age tell his story. He’d escaped from a locked ward at Bellevue Mental Hospital, and was the first to escape from the institution since the early 70s. He’d sobered up and written a book about it, and with the help of his wonderful agent had just nailed down a book deal. I lurked around outside the meeting afterward waiting for my moment. He was quite popular and had a lot of goodbyes to say but I was patient. This was my guy—I was sure of it. When he finally turned to leave, I followed him around the corner and stopped him with a tap on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, my name’s Colin I just heard your story in there and it was great. Here’s the deal; I heard you say you have an agent, well I’m a writer myself and I have this manuscript almost finished and I could really use an agent.” Here he started mumbling some line about how he had introduced someone to his agent already and it hadn’t really worked out for him but I didn’t let him finish. “I can assure you, I told him that if you introduce me to your agent you will always remember this as the night you discovered Colin Broderick.” He smiled. I had appealed to his cooky sense of happenstance. He laughed and eyed me skeptically.
     “You’re not bullshitting me,” he said. “You can really write?”
     “I promise, I will not embarrass you.”

"SHOOT"

Three days later (thanks to a phone call from this nice man), I was seated in the office of Dystel and Goderich down on Union Square. I on one couch, Jane and Miriam on another facing me. “Okay, shoot,” Jane said clasping her hands in her lap and the two women glaring at me with raised eyebrows.
     “What?” I had no idea what to do next.
     “Well, why are we sitting here with you? Shoot.”

This was the moment I had been waiting for my entire adult life. Here was an honest-to-goodness shot at the hoop. I jumped right in with my story and within a few minutes I could tell they were warming up. We had made a connection. They asked me if I’d brought anything with me for them to read. I had. I gave them a disc with what I had of the manuscript so far and in within three days I was back in their office signing a contract. I had my agent!—the same agency who represented Barack Obama, a Hemingway, Judge Judy, and a Bellevue escapee. I had found my home.

It took six months for them to sell Orangutan to Three Rivers Press, (Random House, no less). Over the past year, both Jane and Miriam have been working closely with me helping me refine my next book proposal. They have just submitted it to the publishers. It’s been a long hard road, but it’s been well worth the wait. And that Bellevue escapee, author Chris Campion, and I became fast friends into the bargain.

This guest column by Colin is an exclusive online
supplement to a feature on him in the Jan. 2010
issue of Writer's Digest (the "Breaking In" section).
If you haven't subscribed to WD yet, what are you
waiting for? Get a sub now!

Want more on this subject?

Word count guidelines for novels and children's books.

Networking at writers' conferences.

20 Tips on Query Letters.

Join Me for 'How to Land a Literary Agent'

2009-11-17T14:44:09.236-05:00

You hear me talk a lot on this blog about the writers' conferences I attend and the presentations I give on agents and pitching. Well, if you've ever wanted to attend such a conference but can't because of money or proximity issues, here is your chance to listen in and ask questions from your computer at home!

I'm teaching a webinar at 1 p.m. EST, Thursday, Dec. 17 on "How to Land a Literary Agent."

Some praise from past attendees:

"Thank you so much for putting the time and
effort into the agent workshop today Your answers
(to my questions and those of others) were
valuable and most appreciated. It was great to
hear you speak on such an important topic."
- John Backman (Attended May 14th webinar)

"Just a quick thank you for your presentation
on 'How to Find a Literary Agent'. Good information."
- Jennifer J. (Attended Oct. 8 webinar)

"Thank you so much for the information shared
in your webinar. The information provided will be
invaluable in my search for a literary agent."
- Paula Lieberman (Attended Oct. 8th webinar)

Here's the Gist:

You've finished your masterpiece. It's as good as you hoped it would be—but you're dreading the next step: finding a literary agent. This next step involves queries, synopses, selling your idea and much more. It's a completely different monster than actually sitting down to write.

If you're looking for guidance in the agent-hunting process or have questions that need answering, sign up for my webinar, "How to Land a Literary Agent," at 1 p.m., EST, Thursday, Dec. 17. There's a reason that "How to Land a Literary Agent" is WD's most popular webinar. It's because the online session crams tons of info into 90 minutes. Subjects I'll be talking about include, but are not limited to: queries, pitching, proposals, synopses, conferences, avoiding scammers, where to find agents, self-publishing, and how to target the best reps for you.

Do you know how to begin a query letter to an agent? I'll show you. Do you wonder about contacting multiple agents at the same time? We'll discuss that. Are you curious about how to protect yourself and your ideas from scammers and rip-off artists? We'll address that, too—and more. After editing the Guide to Literary Agents for three years and attending writers' conferences all over the country, I've learned all the ins and outs of how to snag a rep who can sell your work. If you sign up for this webinar , I can pass on what I've learned to you.

Also, attendees are free to ask as many questions as they like. Go on - hit me with your best shot! I'll be answering questions live in real time, and I will address all questions afterward and e-mail you the answers. No question will go unanswered—guaranteed. Also, attendees will be able to access and "rewatch" the entire presentation (so you don't have to take notes!).

7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Mike Chen

2009-11-17T13:32:52.084-05:00

7 Things I've Learned So Far is a recurring column where writers at any stage of their career can talk about seven things I've learned on their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning. This installment is from writer Mike Chen.

Mike Chen is a professional copywriter, and
also has his own blog on writing. He loves
hockey and writes for several sites about
it (including FoxSports.com).

1. You don't have to write from beginning to end. I know some writers that start a story at the very beginning and build and build upon it until they hit a wall ... and because they force themselves to write chronologically, the whole thing stops dead in its tracks for months. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was the idea of mapping a rough outline with key scenes; when you get stuck, grab one of those pivotal moments and write it. You'll be surprised at how the different perspective can get you going again and it might even give you a new perspective on characters and events.

2. Extreme moments define characters. How does your character act when the world is collapsing upon her? Sometimes, we never know because we don't get that far. One lesson that's always stuck with me is that characters are defined by how they act in conflict. When I feel like a character isn’t working, I stop the manuscript. Instead, I throw the character into an extreme circumstance (either related to the plot or not) -- amp up the conflict and see what happens: how they react, how they choose, what their voices sound like. Whenever I start a new project, I do a bunch of these scenes to help me learn about my main characters before I throw them into 90,000 words.

3. Inspiration comes from everywhere. My crowning achievement in college creative writing was a satire on Hollywood and pop culture called How Brad Pitt and I Saved The World. The story came from sitting next to a Fed Ex truck at a red light, and I randomly thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if a celebrity was actually kidnapped in the back of the Fed Ex truck?" (which perhaps shows how twisted I am). Normally, these silly thoughts pass in and out of my head, but I decided to try and run with this one and it became a 20-page story for a class. To this day, I try to gather my random thoughts and apply them to a story whenever possible, even if they seem totally absurd. You never know what will work!

4. Even idiots have some valid points. I was once in a workshop group with the most stubborn, close-minded writer I'd ever met. He was writing historical fiction in a very, er, straightforward style (passive voice, no metaphors or imagery) ... and he wanted every writer in the group to write exactly like he did – even the woman who wrote obtuse literary fiction. I filtered out most of his comments, though he made the occasional interesting point. It took me a while to deconstruct it among all of the crap he threw out, but it pushed my characters in different and unique ways because his thinking was so different from mine. So even the most dense, unimaginative criticism is worth checking out.

5. Keep your influences close. When I hit the block -- and we all do -- one of my tricks is to re-read my primary influences. This isn't reading for pleasure; it's to examine pacing, structure, prose, point of view, all of the things that might open (or re-open) my creative drive. For me, that means keeping a copy of About a Boy and High Fidelity by Nick Hornby within reach and flipping to a random page whenever necessary.

6. Writing can heal the soul. Each of my stories means something different for me, but they've all helped me grow as a person. Sometimes, it's the exploration of wish fulfillment (Local Band explores the musical heights I'll never see, barring a miracle); other times, it can deal with more serious personal issues. In those cases, I find that writing from the perspective opposite of my real-life situation helps me understand the real world better -- and that more well-rounded perspective helps me think more creatively. It's a win-win situation.

7. Get writer friends who respect you enough to be critical. This one's a no-brainer, but I'm surprised at the amount of feedback I got in workshops where people offered a gentle, "I like it, it's good" and not much else. Fortunately, I've built a strong circle of writer friends that can provide criticism in an effective and respectful way. This goes for both fiction and nonfiction essays. I think some writers worry too much about hurting feelings, so they stay on the safer side of criticism. However, when respectfully done, constructive criticism can spark creative thoughts, solve plots points, or flesh out character quirks. It’s incredibly important to have those reliable people that can push you to be better.

Want more on this subject?

Want to write a "7 Things" guest column? Write me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com.

Networking at writers' conferences.

20 Tips on Query Letters.

Agent Irene Goodman Auctions Off Critiques

2009-11-17T13:13:20.804-05:00

Literary agent Irene Goodman of the Irene Goodman Agency in New York is auctioning off 25 critiques this December, with all proceeds going toward Foundation Fighting Blindness and the Deafness Research Foundation. If you've ever wanted to get a thorough critique from someone who knows their stuff and has helped launch some amazing writers' careers, read on.

Irene Goodman and her son, Rob,
who was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome,
which affects sight and hearing.

All the details are on Irene's page about this. Here's the gist: You can submit a synopsis and up to 50 pages (a "partial") and she sends back her notes on how the work can be more salable. There are certain categories she likes in both fiction and nonfiction. The auctions on EBay start on Dec. 1 and end on Dec. 15, 2009. The actual EBay links do not exist yet (as of Nov. 17) but will be live as of Dec. 1.

It's a good cause, so think about getting in on this and making a bid. If you don't have anything that needs a critique, purchase one of these for a friend or writer you know as a Christmas gift! (On a side note, I am advocating to everyone I know to buy books, magazines and more books this Christmas to support the publishing industry. First on my list: Pixarpedia.)

Want more on this subject?

Want to write for the GLA blog? Learn how here.

Advice on writing memoir.

20 Tips on Query Letters.

Agent Paige Wheeler on Her 10 Pieces of Advice for a Successful Agent-Author Relationship

2009-11-16T16:55:18.876-05:00

A little while ago, I received an invitation to the graduation of one of my author’s daughters. This author has been with me for eleven years when her daughter was only seven years old. It’s amazing how time flies. It’s even more amazing the relationship that I’ve developed not only with my author, but with her family as well. We have shared personal ups and downs over the years, I’ve watched her family grow and I’ve guided her career as well.

It’s the same for the majority of my clients. They start off as clients but they become friends. It’s important to nurture this relationship from both sides, because it is going to be a long term relationship. Once the agent sells the book, you’re working with that agent for the life of the book contract. Even if the two of you part ways, royalties still have be paid out, correspondence exchanged, and foreign rights have to be sold. It behooves both sides to follow some simple guidelines to ensure good communication between agent and author. I’m going to outline some of them below.

This guest column by
agent Paige Wheeler
of Folio Literary Management .

1. Make sure both of you agree how you like to communicate. If it’s by e-mail, confirm that you have the best address (many people have multiple addresses). If you change your e-mail address, make sure this is communicated as well. Also, keep your agent updated on all of your points of contact. That means your phone number, e-mail, and mailing address. This is even true once you part ways. Your agent must continue to send you royalty statements, 1099s, and other important information for the life of the book contract.

2. You may want to casually inquire how frequently you should expect to be in contact. You can expect to be in fairly close contact when your agent is giving feed back on revisions, shopping your material around and negotiating the deal. Once she has sold your book and the contract has been signed, she may leave you alone to actually write the darn thing.

3. Both the author and the agent should be attuned to how the other likes to communicate, whether it is informal and chatty or strictly down to business. This will vary depending on demands on both parties, but pay attention to cues in how communication is exchanged and respond accordingly.

4. How long is too long to wait for hear back from your agent? Or better yet, when should you start to panic? This, too, will vary. But before you panic, realize that e-mails go astray, computers crash, people get sick, messages get erased, and calls made from a cell phone may be too distorted to comprehend. If you haven’t heard back try again and then a third time. After the third time, then you may want to get concerned about the lack of response.

5. If you’re going on vacation, let people know. This is true for both sides. For authors, leave contact information so that your agent can reach you. Agents who are leaving on an extended trip usually inform their clients and indicate a person to contact in case of an emergency.

6. Show appreciation for each other. Remember each other at the holidays and, if possible, birthdays (although, I admit, I’m horrible at remembering birthdays).

7. Realize that you’re not going to agree on everything all the time. Your agent probably won’t love everything you write. If she’s good, she’ll let you know that it’s not your best work. That’s her job.

8. Make sure you both understand your goals. Do you want to write a book a year? Make a bestseller list? Reach a certain print run? Move to another publishing house?

9. If things aren’t going well, don’t dwell on it by discussing it only with your writing buddies but not your agent. If there is a problem it should be addressed directly. This is true for both sides. If the agent has issues, she should bring them up as well.

10. Realize that this is a small industry and gossip travels quickly (for example, on Galleycat). Above all, practice courtesy and be professional. Treat your agent the way you’d like to be treated and she should do the same.

Bottom line: keep the lines of communication open, don’t hesitate to bring up any concerns, and make sure you both have a clear understanding of your goals and responsibilities.

Paige Wheeler is an agent with Folio Literary Management. View her complete submission guidelines here. Paige is a founding partner of Folio; before that, she founded Creative Media Agency (CMA) in 1997 and served as its president for nine years until she merged CMA into her new company, Folio, in 2006. She seeks: "upscale commercial fiction and nonfiction books, women's fiction, romance (all types), mystery, thrillers, and psychological suspense. I enjoy both historical fiction as well as contemporary fiction, so do keep that in mind. I'm looking for both narrative nonfiction and prescriptive nonfiction. I'm looking for books where the author has a huge platform and something new to say in a particular area. Some of the areas that she likes are lifestyle, relationship, parenting, business, popular/trendy reference projects and women's issues."

Want more on this subject?

Interview with Folio agent Michelle Brower.

Advice on writing memoir.

20 Tips on Query Letters.

Agent Advice: Ann Collette of the Helen Rees Literary Agency

2009-11-15T21:22:02.818-05:00

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features Ann Collette with the Helen Rees Literary Agency. Ann has agented for 10 years. She previously wrote for Fiction Writer magazine, and contributed to The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing.

She is looking for: "Adult fiction of all types, with the exclusion of sci fi and fantasy. I also do a certain amount of nonfiction, including memoir, military and war, and pop culture."

>GLA: How did you become an agent?

AC: I spent fifteen years as a freelance writer and editor before meeting the head of the agency I'm with, Helen Rees. She initially hired me to go over her slush pile; she liked my work, and so asked me to become an associate.

GLA: What's the most recent thing you've sold?

AC: The Vampire Empire trilogy, by Clay and Susan Griffith. My assistant Rachel was going through my slush pile, and pulled out something that intrigued her—I'd never done a vampire novel before, but Rachel, who's considerably younger than me, thought it had a steampunk element that would appeal to younger readers. With or without steampunk, I knew it was a terrific story that drew me in from the first page with its mixture of politics, romance, and vampires both sexy and terrifying. Lou Anders at Pyr Books agreed, and bought the entire trilogy.

GLA: You handle adult fiction. All kinds?

AC: I'm open to all kinds of adult fiction, with the exception of sci-fi and fantasy. (I don't do children's books or YA at all.) I particularly love what's known as "category fiction"—meaning mystery, thriller, suspense, Western, and horror. I'm always on the lookout for commercial women's fiction, particularly novels that can be thought of as "book club" books. And of course, I would absolutely love to discover the next great National Book Award winner, so I'm always open to literary submissions. I have a strong interest in race and class, and a special weakness for books concerning Southeast Asia. Right now I'm actually trying to expand my list beyond adult fiction and into nonfiction: again, race and class are issues I'm interested in, along with military and war books, pop culture and biography.

GLA: On Publishers Marketplace, I saw three crime/fiction sales from Clea Simon. Tell us a little about what draws you to Clea's work so writers can understand some of your tastes.

AC: I'm not in the habit of posting all my deals on Publisher's Marketplace, though perhaps I should! Clea's not actually my client anymore, but in general, I like dark fiction, the darker the better. The first thing I usually look for, though, is strong prose. In category fiction, I like to see terse, punchy language where every word counts. In women's and literary fiction, I've got an eye out for lyrical prose. I like strong protagonists, clever and unusual plots, and lots of twists and turns in category fiction. For women's and literary, I like character-driven stories.

GLA: On this subject—crime fiction: If you had to give your best three tips on how to write effective crime fiction, what would you say?

AC: 1) Every word has to count. Every word and sentence and paragraph has to be there for a reason, or else the plot starts dragging and I put it down. 2) Every chapter has to end on a page-turning note. 3) Either the plot or the protagonist has to offer something fresh and new.

GLA: Let's say you're looking at queries in the slush pile. Where are writers going wrong?

AC: Two of the most common problems I see are pedestrian prose and predictable plots. The wonderful thing about category fiction is that you can learn how to write a great mystery or thriller—it's a matter of paring your language down to the bone. With literary fiction, you either have the gift or you don't, but category fiction really is all about rewriting so that every word is there for a reason. Editors today are real thrill-seekers, so are constantly looking for as many twists and turns as can possibly be crammed into a plot, so even if your idea isn't all that new, if the execution of it is, it'll catch my eye. And if it catches my eye, there's a good chance it'll catch an editor's.

GLA: You recently attended two conferences—SEAK and one in Maine. Tell us some of your thoughts on what writers are doing wrong when attending conferences—specifically, when pitching agents.

AC: First, don't waste your time or mine if your novel isn't finished. Agents aren't willing to invest time in an author who hasn't finished his or her book, because anything could happen, and that writer may never finish the novel. (Of course, it's different for nonfiction. Here, I want to see a completed proposal.) I, for one, would rather hear you talk about your book than yourself. If I'm not interested in your book, then I don't care what your background is. I know it's difficult to hear criticism, and it's hard when an agent turns you down, but try to keep your mouth shut and not get defensive. The agent may actually be giving you some really good advice on how to make your book more commercial that you can't hear if you're too busy defending a work the agent's made it clear he or she doesn't want to represent at that time.

GLA: At a prior writers' conference, practically at gunpoint, I was asked to predict what would be the next big thing. I said "War books" because of the Iraq War and the 150 year anniversary of the Civil War coming up. I see you look for war fiction. Any chance I was on to something?

AC: In general, editors feel there's a lot out of nonfiction out there on the Iraq War, so unless the book is offering something really special, such as fabulous writing, they're not terribly interested. I think they'd sing a different song if the book was on Afghanistan, though. Great fiction on either war would probably be of interest. As for the Civil War, I can count on getting a couple fiction queries on the subject every week. So yes, definitely the 150th anniversary is probably going to mean a couple of important books.

GLA: Will you be at any upcoming conferences where people can meet and pitch you?

AC: I'll be at CrimeBake (I believe this is my sixth or seventh year attending) this November, and at the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association in May of 2010.

GLA: What's the best way to contact you? What do you want to see and how do you want to see it?

AC: E-mail me at agent10702@aol.com. If it's a fiction submission, send a terse query with the first chapter of the novel included in the body of the e-mail. (No attachments please.) For nonfiction, send a query only. I respond to every one of my e-mails personally, so you can be sure you'll hear from me about whether or not I'm interested in your work.

GLA: What's something people would be surprised to know about you personally?

AC: Other than books, my two greatest loves are opera and martial arts movies.

GLA: Best piece(s) of advice we haven't discussed?

AC: I'm a great believer in writer's workshops. Feedback from other writers can help you improve your manuscript tremendously. It's to your advantage to always send me your best work, because the truth of the matter is I've only got time to give you one chance. You don't want to blow it with a manuscript that no one else has read over. I don't need to know who your other readers were (unless they're published authors willing to give you a blurb) but it's to your advantage to have gone over your manuscript one more time with someone's editorial feedback that you respect in mind before you submit to any agent.

The Bone Factory by Steve
Sidor was repped by Ann.
Buy it here.

Want more on this subject?

How to Write a Query Letter.

What Should You Write in the "Bio Paragraph" of a Query Letter.

Why Your Manuscript Can Get Rejected, by Hallie Ephron.

10 Hidden Gifts of Rejection Letters.

Google Alerts and Agents.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

New Agent Alert: Jack Perry of Max & Co.

2009-11-15T21:01:25.147-05:00

About Jack: In 1994, Jack joined Random House and went on to become Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for Random House, then head of Sales for SourceBooks and Scholastic. He recently landed with Max & Co., a Literary Agency and Social Club.

Seeking: He will focused upon nonfiction books with a foundation in history, business, politics, narrative nonfiction, math, & science. He also likes sports. And music. In fact, if the writing is good enough, he can be led to a vast array of topics

How to submit: Jackwperry38@hotmail.com. E-query, and include a brief synopsis and biography stating what the book is and who you are. "Ideally both will point to a very large collection of people willing to drop $24.95 to read your work. We appreciate direct & cogent proposals (well...at least in others). Then include sample chapters as attachments, one of which must be your opening (we like to see how you take the stage). If more than four weeks have passed without a response, write again or call. E-mail was never intended to carry the burden we all now place upon it. Stuff gets lost in the ether."

Want more on this subject?

Read an interview with Max & Co. founder Michael Murphy.

How many agents should you query?

How to write a query letter: The 3 parts

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Cover Band Soap Opera: 'Blister in the Sun'

2009-11-14T20:50:19.273-05:00

Well, no more of that. This is my band playing "Blister in the Sun" by The Violent Femmes at a recent fall show. That's me playing guitar on the right.

The 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' Synopsis

2009-11-14T19:15:01.654-05:00

I always tell people that if they're confused as to how a novel synopsis
should look, simply go to Wikipedia. Search any movie made in the last five years and the first thing on the page is the long "Plot" section, which is essentially a front-to-back synopsis. A lot of them are too long; a lot of them are poorly written; but some are good—and you will get a sense of how they work. Or—you could just let find good ones for you and edit them a bit. Synopses I edited and posted in the past include Starman (see that one here) and Witness (see that one here).

This time it's Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. In book terms, this would be considered fun YA (maybe even a "boy book"). I've tried to break up the synopsis below into the three acts of the movie, with the first two paragraphs being Act I, then the next one Act II, then the next one Act III, and the final one is the resolution (denouement?). We get a few quotes to spice it up and the whole thing moves nice and quick. Remember, synopses are designed to show the three acts of the story, not the skill of your prose.

Two best friends, BILL and TED, are fun-loving Valley boys who'd rather rock out than study. Their lives revolve around their band, "Wyld Stallyns," despite the fact that they are mediocre musicians at best. As senior year winds down, the two are on course to fail history class, and, as a result, flunk out of school. They brainstorm ideas for their final history report (due tomorrow!) but come up blank. TED'S FATHER, a strict police captain, tells Ted that failing school means enrolling in an Alaskan military academy, effectively ending any dreams of forming a band.

That night, while asking history questions to bystanders in a convenience store parking lot, a flying phone booth drops out of the sky miraculously. A strangely-dressed man introducing himself as RUFUS steps out of the phone booth and explains that he is from the future and here to help the boys with their report. Frightened and skeptical ("Dude ... strange things are afoot at the Circle K"), Bill and Ted are only convinced after a second flying phone booth lands, and from it steps future versions of themselves, who implore them to trust Rufus and follow his every instruction. Rufus reveals that the phone booths are time machines that can travel to anywhere at any time. He takes the pair to Austria, year 1805, and shows them Napoleon in battle. When Rufus brings the teens back to present-day California, Napoleon is inadvertently dragged along. This gives the boys an idea: To pass their exam, they will kidnap other historical figures and have them explain what they think of the present.

Rufus departs, wishing the boys luck and leaving them with a phone booth of their own. Bill and Ted set off into the past. They survive a Wild West gunfight to nab Billy the Kid then visit ancient Greece to rope in Socrates (whose name they constantly mispronounce)—but the pair run into trouble in medieval Europe. Smitten with two princesses who are betrothed to "royal ugly dudes," Bill and Ted sneak into a castle and meet the girls, but are captured and set for execution. Only a rescue by Billy the Kid and Socrates saves them. Bill and Ted quickly continue their time-traveling adventure, picking up Sigmund Freud, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Abraham Lincoln, and Beethoven. They also accidentally travel to the far future (where they are unexpectedly recognized) then stop back at the Circle K and end up on other side of the original conversation with themselves. They then successfully return to their present timeline.

With mere hours left before the report, Napoleon has gone missing. The boys discover him at a waterpark ("Waterloo") but return to find that all their historical figures were arrested by Ted's father after causing chaos in a shopping mall. Bill and Ted free the prisoners, using prearranged items around the police station they intend to place there later using the time machine. Arriving with no time to spare, the boys give their report and everything is an extraordinary success. The two pass history and Ted stays in California.

In the summer, playing the same chords in the same garage as always, the boys finally decide to get focused and become better musicians. Rufus unexpectedly shows up, and explains how the music of Wyld Stallyns will, in the future, serve as the core of the world's Utopian society. That's why it was imperative the two remain together as friends and bandmates. Rufus leaves the boys with two more surprises: new guitars, and the medieval princesses, as they, too, are destined to be part of Wyld Stallyns.

Want more on this subject?

Read about Everything You Need to Know to Write a Novel Synopsis.

Concerning names and backstory in a synopsis.

Read another good synopsis: Peggy Sue Got Married.

Read another good synopsis: Proof of Life.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

What If You're Afraid Your Writing Idea Will Get Stolen?

2009-11-13T19:00:58.269-05:00

Q. I have completed several chapters of a nonfiction work dealing with a subject that has not been previously written about in other publications. I am confident that I can speak in front of many professional organizations on my topic, as it is unique, and relevant to the field. I also feel it will be a topic that can attract the lay public. I also know I will be submitting articles on the topic for publication. However, this is my dilemma: Should I first approach agents with a strong platform for speaking at these conferences, as well as publishing in many periodicals, both professional and for the lay person? Or should I first submit my ideas to professional organizations to be featured as a speaker? I am concerned that by first speaking on the topic, without having my book submitted for publication, that the concept and/or title of my book can be used by others. My professional friends are urging me to secure an agent first.
- Alice

A. Hmmm. Tough question. I understand your trepidation in writing articles and doing public speaking about a subject that you want to protect. This makes sense and I've been there. But what is the alternative? Try to secure an agent? How can this be done without a platform? You could have all kinds of ideas for articles and speaking and media and marketing, but none of it will be proven yet, correct? It will all be in theory.
Here's what I would do. Try to secure speaking engagements and start pitching periodicals with articles. If your idea catches anywhere, it will be "down the road." Magazines work about six months ahead on average. And if you speak to a local group, ask to secure a date several months out. That way, you will be building up your platform but not "releasing" your idea out there yet. In the interim, write your proposal and seak an agent.

Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript (My New Book!) is Out!

2009-11-13T17:38:41.495-05:00

This is so cool. Very soon after holding a copy of the new 2010 Guide to Literary Agents in my hand thsi summer, I got some more good news: my other new book, Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript, 3rd Ed. is out and available now. Awesomeness.

When asked if I would helm the third edition of Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript, 3rd Ed., I said yes immediately. After all, I kept the second edition right next to my desk at work and consulted it all the time – it would be an honor to update it. My only worry was: How can I make this good book better?

My solution: New query examples and new article examples – and lots of ‘em, baby. (See a review of Formatting & Submitting on The Writing Bug website.)

There’s a reason that this book warranted a third edition. It has more than 100 examples of queries and articles and everything else writing-related. It doesn’t just tell you how to format something, it shows you – with sample queries and submissions that are well constructed, while also showing what to do and what not to do when contacting publishing professionals.

Making submissions look pristine is not an easy task, no matter what you’re writing. Are you confused as to how to format a magazine query or sidebar? I'll show you how to do it. What about formatting a screenplay or a film treatment? I've got examples of those, too. Or what about stage plays, picture books, graphic novels, fiction, book proposals and everything else? Yep – it’s all in here. On top of the examples, this book has hundreds of pages of general submissions tips and info – the dos and don’ts when sending your work to editors and agents.

It all adds up to giving writers the best shot of getting their work read and published – whether you want to call it getting ahead of the curve, to the head of the class, or just to the front of line.

Maybe you’re ready to submit but want to make your work perfect, or maybe you’re just starting out and don’t know whether that idea is a novel or a screenplay. Either way, this is a book that can truly assist you in your writing journey. What's so cool about this book is that no matter what you’re composing, Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript, 3rd Ed. can help you do it right. After all, it helped me; why not you, too?

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Agent Advice: Kate Schafer Testerman of KT Literary

2009-11-12T10:01:16.823-05:00

Agent Interview by

contributor Kerrie Flanagan

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features Kate Schafer Testerman with KT Literary. After nearly ten years with industry powerhouse agency Janklow & Nesbit Associates, Kate formed kt literary in early 2008, where she concentrates on middle grade and YA fiction as well as diving into some adult commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction. Bringing to bear the experience of working with a large agency, she’s looking forward to concentrating on all aspects of working with her authors, offering hands-on experience, personal service, and a surfeit of optimism.

She is looking for: "brilliant, funny, original middle grade and young adult fiction, both literary and commercial; witty women’s fiction; and pop-culture narrative nonfiction. Quirky is good. Please note: at this time we do not represent picture books."

GLA: How did you become an agent?

KF: Perseverance, and being given a chance. I was working in the foreign rights department of a literary agency as an assistant, doing my job as it was required, but always eager to take on more responsibility. Over time, I was promoted to handle foreign rights on agency titles on my own, and as I did that, I also continued to volunteer to do more, especially in the realm of kids books. Eventually (and yes, this whole process took about nine years), I signed clients of my own.

GLA: What misconceptions do people have about agents who don’t live in New York?

KF: Very few, I find! I hear more and more lately about agents that aren't located in New York. With technology such as it is, it's almost easier today for me to stay in touch with people 1,600 miles away than a few years ago, when I was only six blocks away. One thing I do come across sometimes is when authors think if they live in Colorado, they need to have a Colorado literary agent. There's benefits, I guess, but I don't consider an author's location when deciding to sign them. And as an author, I wouldn't worry too much about an agent's location either.

GLA: What do you do to stay in contact with editors/publishers when you are back home in Colorado?

KF: My best tools? Facebook and Twitter! That, and regular e-mails and phone calls to check on submissions, and catch up on anything new and exciting.

GLA: What's the most recent thing you’ve sold?

KF: I just placed a YA novel with vintage photographs with Quirk Books. The author, Ransom Riggs, is an amazing photographer, with a a long history of interest in found photos—this novel will place that interest in the character of a young boy who discovers "orphaned" photos—in more ways than one.

GLA: Do you have any exciting news to share about current clients?

KF: I do! Maureen Johnson's forthcoming series about a British ghost police force has been sold in Germany, France, and Italy, with pending deals in two other territories! Plus, we're thrilled to be working again with Brilliance Audio on an audio edition of the series.

GLA: What are you looking for right now and not getting?

KF: Fantastic middle grade novels. I feel like my cup runneth over a bit in terms of the quality and quantity of YA submissions I receive, but I would love to see more great middle grade novels, particularly those you'd call "boy books."

GLA: What are you tired of seeing?

KF: Guardian angels, vampires, werewolves, and the over-used idea of a main character who suddenly discovers they're the only one in the world (or multi-verse) who can save X.

GLA: You represent mostly middle-grade and YA, but on your website you say you are open to some adult fiction. What does an adult fiction novel have to have for you to say yes?

KF: I think it would need to be compulsively readable and character-driven. In my free time, I love reading Nora Roberts and Jennifer Crusie and Sophie Kinsella—they write characters that I become emotionally involved with, and plots that make me keep turning pages. Plus, humor. It's got to be funny—or at least have a sense of humor about itself. I feel like I gravitate right now to characters in their late 20s or 30s—not just the wife and mom who's looking to make a fresh start because of something that happened, but bigger idea books.

GLA: What is a common mistake you see in the middle-grade/YA submissions you receive?

KF: In queries, telling me what happens without spending time allowing me to invest in the character. Without that connection, I don't care what happens. I also hate being told that that everything out there in the market is bad, or that the author couldn't find anything good to read, so they decided to write a book themselves. It's insulting to me and to my clients.

GLA: Will you be at any upcoming writers' conferences where people can meet and pitch you?

KF: I don't have any scheduled at this point, but if any of your readers are organizing conferences, I'd love to be considered. I've meet several clients through conferences, and really enjoy going to them.

GLA: What is something about yourself writers would be surprised to know?

KF: I'm not sure there's anything they don't know already! I put a lot of myself on my website, blog, and Twitter feed, so writers who follow me already know I used to work at a Renaissance Faire, belong to a coed bowling league, am going for my White Belt in Nia, and have a serious crush on Nathan Fillion. I guess one thing I don't speak too much about is my own interest in writing. It's on the backburner right now while I concentrate on building kt literary and working with my clients, but some day I'm sure I'll focus on it again. I think having some experience as a writer myself helps me be a better agent.

GLA: When writers first contact you, what do you want them to send and how?

KF: In a query, I ask for a letter pitching their book and a little about themselves, plus the first three pages of their manuscript. If I like that, I'll ask for the first five chapters and a full synopsis. If I like that and still want to read more, I'll ask for the full manuscript. I'm always amazed when someone thinks they have a better idea of what I want to see than I do. But seriously, five non-sequential chapters from somewhere in the middle of your book aren't it.

GLA: What advice do you have for new writers?

KF: Read everything you can get your hands on! Read novels in your genre, read books about writing, read author blogs. And know that just finishing a manuscript, while a personal triumph, doesn't mean your novel is ready to be shopped. Learn to love to edit, and find a critique group.

This agent interview by Kerrie Flanagan,
director of Northern Colorado Writers and
a freelance writer. Visit her blog, The Writing Bug.

Want more on this subject?

How to Write a Query Letter.

Agent interview: Elizabeth Pomada of Larsen-Pomada Literary Agents.

Agent interview: Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Management.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

New Agent Alert: Sophia Seidner of Judith Ehrlich Literary Management

2009-11-12T09:42:49.445-05:00

About Sophia: OK, so Sophia's not technically a "new" agent, but she just moved from Wiley to Judith Ehrlich Literary Management, and seems to be transitioning more from international sales to taking on domestic clients (and this is a good thing for writers). Sophia worked in the literary division of International Management Group, starting as an assistant to the literary agent Julian Bach, working with clients such as Pat Conroy and Jan Morris. After Julian Bach’s retirement, Sophia continued as an assistant agent, and contracts and subsidiary rights manager, working on behalf of clients such as Jack Welch, Ken Blanchard, Marshall Goldsmith, Peter Drucker, Bill O’Reilly, Pearl Jam, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, and Elvis Costello. Next Sophia joined John Wiley & Sons, Inc. as an international rights manager for three years. At Wiley, she focused on selling translation rights for Wiley's extensive list of business, technology and culinary titles.

Seeking: strong literary fiction and nonfiction including self-help, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and biography. Areas of special interest include medical and health-related topics, science (popular, political and social), animal welfare, current events, politics, law, history, ethics, parody and humor, sports, art and business self-help.

How to Submit: sseidner@judithehrlichliterary.com. For nonfiction, query and include an explanation of platform. For fiction, query with brief synopsis and a small representation of the writing (7-15 pages pasted in the e-mail). "If we are sufficiently intrigued by your project, we will ask for samples or the complete proposal or manuscript. Due to the volume of submissions, we regret that we cannot respond to all e-mail. We do not represent children’s books, novellas, poetry, textbooks, plays or screenplays."

Want more on this subject?

How many agents should you query?

How to write a query letter: The 3 parts

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

New Genre: 'New Adult' ... and a Contest!

2009-11-12T09:31:57.008-05:00

The Agency Gatekeeper Blog and Georgia McBride's site let me know about this new contest by St. Martin's Press. Previously, we've talked about the emerging genres of cyberbilly, elegant erotica, and quagmire fiction. Now it's "New Adult." (By the way, I love subgenre categories - I find that stuff fascinating.)

Here's the gist: "St. Martin’s Press is actively looking for great, new, cutting edge YA with protagonists who are slightly older and can appeal to an adult audience. Since twenty-somethings are happily reading YA, St. Martin’s Press is seeking YA that can be published and marketed as adult; kind of an 'older YA' or 'new adult.' " Writer Jodi Meadows has a good look at the new genre and why it's cool.

Here is everything you need to know about the rules. The contest ends quickly! - Nov 20, 2009.

Want more on this subject?

Writer's Digest has year-round contests, including an annual competition where the winner flies to NYC to meet agents and editors!

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

24 Agents Who Want Your Work

2009-11-11T10:46:44.3190222-05:00

Every year, Writers Digest asks me to assemble a short list of agents who are actively seeking new work from writers. (I call it "The List.") Well, The List came out in the Oct. 2009 issue of Writer's Digest. But it is now online for all to see. It's a special grouping of literary agents who’ve confirmed they’re open to reviewing queries from new and established authors alike. This means your work is going to get read and considered. And rest assured there’s an agent on this list for you, no matter what you’re writing.

By the way, if you aren't subscribed
to Writer's Digest, c'mon, what are
you waiting for? Ask for it for a
Christmas gift and Order it online

Before you go sending out queries, remember to polish your work and pass it around to beta readers. Donya Dickerson has nicely provided 10 easy tips concerning what to do before submitting your work to agents. Good luck, everyone!

Agent Elana Roth Calls for Children's Submissions

2009-11-11T10:33:54.916-05:00

Agent Elana Roth of the Caren Johnson Literary Agency recently made a call on the CJLA blog for more kids submissions. See the details below. She is looking for more good middle grade and young adult. Read on to learn more!

Elana Roth

ELANA'S WISH LIST:

1. Middle-grade novels. I have been reading a ton of awesome MG novels lately. When You Reach Me is perfect. I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President (which I guess some people are calling YA, but the kid is in 7th grade, so dammit, I'm calling it MG) is cracking me up. So send me something with a strong hook and a great voice, and make it good. Think big.

2. Non-paranormal YA. I've had so many "I see ghosts" books cross my desk, that even if you are reinventing the hook, I can't see it anymore. I don't mind fantasy, or sci-fi elements, but bear in mind, I like my YA reality-based with a splash of those things. Go read Candor if you really want to get a sense of my taste. So give me a twisty YA, give me a voice I haven't heard before, a vision of the future I haven't seen yet, a POV that hasn't been touched on (I'm still waiting for the YA version of the movie Saved! to cross my desk).

Want more on this topic?

New agent seeking kids stuff: Teresa Kietlinski of Prospect Agency.

New agent seeking kids stuff: Beth Fleisher of Barry Goldblatt Literary.

New agent seeking kids stuff: Adriana Dominguez of Full Circle Literary.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Successful Queries: Agent Michelle Wolfson and 'Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon'

2009-11-10T10:27:57.574-05:00

I'm re-posting this Successful Query
in honor of the book reaching the
NYT best-seller list this week.
Congrats to Michelle and Mark.

--------

This series is called "Successful Queries" and I'm posting actual query letters that succeeded in getting writers signed with agents. In addition to posting the actual query letter, we will also get to hear thoughts from the agent as to why the letter worked.

The first installment of this series is with agent Michelle Wolfson (Wolfson Literary), and her client, Mark Di Vincenzo, and his book, Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There.

Dear Ms. Wolfson,

Have you ever wanted to know the best day of the week to buy groceries or go out to dinner? Have you ever wondered about the best time of day to send an email or ask for a raise? What about the best time of day to schedule a surgery or a haircut? What’s the best day of the week to avoid lines at the Louvre? What’s the best day of the month to make an offer on a house? What’s the best time of day to ask someone out on a date?

My book, Timing is Everything: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There, has the answers to these questions and hundreds more.

As a long-time print journalist, I’ve been privy to readership surveys that show people can’t get enough of newspaper and magazine stories about the best time to buy or do things. This book puts several hundreds of questions and answers in one place -- a succinct, large-print reference book that readers will feel like they need to own. Why? Because it will save them time and money, and it will give them valuable information about issues related to health, education, travel, the workplace and more. In short, it will make them smarter, so they can make better decisions.

Best of all, the information in this book is relevant to anyone, whether they live in Virginia or the Virgin Islands, Portland, Oregon, or Portland, Maine. In fact, much of the book will find an audience in Europe, Australia and Latin America.

I‘ve worked as a journalist since 1984 and have made a name for myself as someone who exposes wrongs, such as rampant abuses at mental hospitals and decades of neglect by government agencies that monitor the environment. I've won numerous awards, competing against reporters from The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the Associated Press, the Richmond-Times Dispatch and The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot. In 1999, the Virginia Press Association created an award for the best news writing portfolio in the state – the closest thing Virginia had to a reporter-of-the-year award. I won it that year and then again in 2000. The next year I beat out reporters from The Charlotte Observer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to win the Southern Environmental Law Center’s first-place journalism award. I then became metro editor at a 100,000-circulation newspaper in Newport News, Va. Over the years, I’ve honed my long-form writing skills by doing magazine cover stories and writing short stories. During the summer of 2007, I left newspapering to pursue book projects and long-form journalism.

I saw your name on a list of top literary agents for self-help books, and I read on your Web site that you're interested in books that offer practical advice. Timing Is Everything offers plenty of that. Please let me know if you'd like to read my proposal.

Sincerely,
Mark Di Vincenzo

Commentary from Michelle:

This query caught my attention and I requested it less than 3 hours after I received it. I’m pleased to say that Mark became my client and his book, with the new title Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That, and Go There will be coming out from Harper Collins in October.

I loved the opening to Mark’s query. I tend to prefer it when authors jump right into the heart of their book, the exception being if we’ve met at a conference or have some other personal connection. Otherwise, it’s safe to assume I know you are looking for representation and I like to get down to business.

Mark chose clever questions for the opening of the query. All of those questions are in fact relevant to my life—with groceries, dinner, e-mail, and a raise—and yet I don’t have a definitive answer to them. Then the next paragraph he got a little more offbeat and unusual with questions regarding surgery, the Louvre, buying a house and dating. This showed a quirkier side to the book and also the range of topics it was going to cover. So I knew right away there was going to be a mix of useful and quirky information on a broad range of topics.

The next sentence was great. By starting with “As a long-time print journalist,” Mark immediately established his credibility for writing on this topic. While I needed more—which he provided later—this was great to know right away that he had experience researching topics. And the second half of that sentence helped show that there is a market for this book. This established the need for such a book.

And what do you know? Mark had the solution! A book that answers that need. And he does, in the rest of that paragraph. I think he could have shortened it a drop maybe to “…hundreds of questions and answers with valuable information about issues related to…” I would also be careful not to be too specific about how you envision the final book, and this is something I am always changing with authors in their proposals, since if editors see it differently, you may turn them off by having such a rigid format already described. Why large print? Who knows. I would not put that in a query.

Mark’s next paragraph is interesting because I like it if an author can describe his target audience. However, when most authors say their audience is everyone, as many do, I pretty much automatically reject it. And even as I type this, a query comes in for a YA vampire novel that will, “find a market in most reading ages, similar to the first couple Harry Potter books.” But Mark’s book really does have broad market appeal and he made his point based on a regional basis rather than age, although I think it cuts both ways in this particular case. But keep in mind this is a reference book—and facts are facts and they really do apply to all people.

Mark’s bio paragraph is a little on the long side but offers a lot of good information. Again, I think a journalist is the perfect background for this kind of book since being an expert on any one thing wouldn’t help; you really need to be an expert in researching information and delivering it in an entertaining readable fashion. Overall, I felt I gleaned enough information to feel confident that we could present Mark’s platform in an impressive enough manner to find a publisher.

I liked Mark’s final paragraph, of course, since it’s all about me! Seriously though, it is nice when I feel like an author has sought me out specifically and thinks we would be a good fit. Here I am saying Mark is going to be doing a research heavy book and he has taken the time to research agents as well and has personalized his query with a little flattery thrown in. Always a nice touch.

Of course, now that I’m looking at the query with an eye towards critiquing the query itself, I will comment on the little nitpicky things that I notice, but wouldn’t necessarily stop me from requesting something. Since I just mentioned personalization, I’ll say that on closer inspection, I noticed that the "Dear Ms. Wolfson," is in a different font than the rest of the query. Now I don’t expect you to send me an exclusive query; in fact, I hate them since I then feel pressured to respond right away when that’s not how I generally work if I’m not interested. But you could at least make me feel like you’ve typed it out just for me, and a different font calls attention to a writer's admirable, yet meant to be secret, time-saving methods.

Want more on this subject?

Successful Queries: (Fiction) "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet"

Successful Queries: (Kids/YA) "Wake"

Successful Queries: (Nonfiction) "Peaches & Daddy"

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

5 Tips on Maximizing a Writers' Conference

2009-11-09T15:33:36.137-05:00

This guest column by Jessica Monday,
freelancer and aspiring novelist.

So you’re planning to attend a writing conference? Read these five tips to ensure an experience you’ll savor long after you’ve left the hotel lobby. After all, you paid for it, right?

1. Choose sessions you find interesting

It's no secret you need to know how to write a sparkling query, but you’re intrigued to find out how journaling can release your creative muse. Go for the muse. Hundreds of websites will be waiting at home to tell you how to write a query letter. Whenever I attend a lecture or reading, I never know what I’ll take away. That’s the beauty of being open to whatever information the speaker decides to bring. View a conference as a mini-vacation, not something to stress about or execute perfectly.
     Also, don’t become a guest speaker groupie. Sample as many different speakers as possible because you’ll learn something new from each one.

2. Resist taking copious notes.

You’ll retain more when you are focused on listening, not rushing to take down every word leaving the speaker’s mouth. If your type-A personality insists, bring the notepad with you and jot down inspiring bullet points you can hang above your desk. If you waste time taking a ton of notes, more likely you’ll miss the most important things being said and lose an opportunity to engage in the moment.

3. Mingle.

Walk around and talk with people between sessions. Find out what other writers are working on and get inspired by their imagination. If you already know some of the other conference attendees, meet new people and introduce your friends. During meals, sit at a table where you don’t know anyone or, if obligation demands you sit with your friends, invite someone you don’t know to sit at your table too. This is your chance to exchange ideas with other artists, so don’t be shy.

4. Talk less, listen more, and ask concise questions.

Please don’t be “that guy” at the conference who is always in the midst of a twenty-minute story outline. Don’t worry about impressing people. You’re here to ingest expert knowledge, not disseminate yours. When you have finished your graphic novel, poetry anthology, etc. and are invited to be a guest speaker, then is the time for you to talk about your process ad nauseam. Until then, your job is to listen.
       On the other hand, now is the time for questions. Ask the panel of experts who have been assembled for this purpose and don’t be afraid to share your question during a session. Caveat: If your question is particular to your work rather than general, wait until after the session to ask the speaker one-on-one (which is a great way to engage them personally as well!).

5. Bring at least one piece of your work.

Most conferences have open mic during the evening hours. Choose short pieces - again don’t be “that guy” reading three chapters from a rough draft. Shoot for 1,000 words in length or something that can be read comfortably in less than five minutes. It should be polished enough for public presentation, but be sure to bring something even if you write it specifically for the conference. Reading your work out loud builds self-confidence and helps transcend the fear of exposure common to so many of us writers.
     Above all, remember the conference is the easy part.
     Writing is the real work that will be waiting when you return home. So enjoy yourself and let the conference energize your creative spirit; it will follow through in your writing.

Want more on this subject?

Check out this guest column by Han Vance on Networking at Writers Conferences.

Read more about the dos and don'ts of pitching agents at conferences.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

4 Awesome Ways You Can Write For the GLA Blog

2009-11-09T10:48:07.027-05:00

Thanks to all my awesome visitors, the GLA blog is getting pretty big. Want to get involved and boost your platform a little? Agents love platform. If you're interested in any of these ideas below, simply write to me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com, and we'll talk. Feel free to repost this post on your blog if you feel like readers want to get involved.

1. How I Got My Agent

These guest columns are stories of how writers came to sign with their agent.

2. Seven Things I've Leaned So Far

These guest columns are from writers of any skill level who can share 7 things they know now that they wish someone would have told them at the beginning of their writing odyssey.

3. Write About What You Learned at a Conference

Were you at a writers' conference recently where you sat in on a good presentation and took notes. Write up a little summary for a guest column. Three people wrote guest columns following the South Carolina Writers Workshop and those were excellent posts. (You can see them posted in late October in the Guest columns category.)

4. Sign Up for the RSS Feed

OK, this isn't technically writing for the blog, but if you sign up for my RSS feed, you will be notified daily when new blog posts go up. Simply put your e-mail into the box in the upper left-hand corner of this page.

Agent Advice: Chris Richman of Upstart Crow Literary

2009-11-08T13:36:56.14-05:00

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features Chris Richman of Upstart Crow Literary. Chris received his undergraduate degree in professional writing from Elizabethtown College, and an MA in Writing from Rowan University. A former playwright, contributor to The Onion, and sketch comedy writer, Chris broke into agenting in 2008 and has sold several projects.

He is looking for: "Chris is actively building his list, enjoys working with debut writers, and is primarily interested in middle grade and young adult fiction, with a special interest in books for boys, books with unforgettable characters, and fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously."

GLA : How did you become an agent?

CR: In 2008 I was a 25-year old writer desperate for a career in books who decided I had to move to NYC to make it happen. I brought my life savings and applied to every editorial position I could find. Then, on a whim, I applied for an internship with Firebrand Literary (who had already passed on a novel of mine). They let me come in and assist for a few weeks before deciding I had potential. They offered me a position and two months later, I sold my first project. It's been a bit of a whirlwind ever since.

GLA : Tell us about this move to Upstart Crow.

CR: Working with the great Michael Stearns was one of the main reasons I initially took a position at Firebrand, so it was an easy choice to join him at Upstart Crow. I've been told our love of books and authors shines through on our website, blog, and in the general way we speak about the agency, and I can say with confidence that it's no act or way of endearing ourselves to potential clients. We simply love books and want to do the best by them. It's wonderful being at an agency where the focus shines directly on the books and the writers.

GLA : What's the most recent thing you've sold?

CR: Lately we've been focused on selling lots of subrights on projects. It's been great to sell projects in foreign territories, like Jacqueline West's forthcoming The Books of Elsewhere series. In the states, it'll come out in June of 2010 from Dial.

GLA : Your history is as a playwright and comedy sketch writer. How does this influence your tastes and the way you read?

CR: My experience with comedy, though probably not as impressive as it sounds, has made me extremely picky with "funny" manuscripts. It takes a lot to make me laugh, so when something does, I find it extremely gratifying. However, I think sometimes people are a bit intimidated by my background in comedy, especially considering I briefly contributed to The Onion, but I'm here to assure you that 1) I'm not as funny as I think I am and 2) if you can hook me with humor, I'll be a terrific advocate for your work.

GLA : Before we get into your love for kids work, tell me: Do you rep any adult works?

CR: When I first started agenting, I though I might dabble in adult works. I imagined myself selling humor or sports books. I've learned, however, that it's incredibly hard to "dabble" in the world of publishing. I've decided that if I can't go into something 100%, it's better to stick with what I really know. For me, that's kid's books.

GLA : You seek YA and MG. Besides a soft spot for boy books, what else can you tell us about your preferences? What do you see too much of? What do you see too little of?"

CR: I'm definitely looking for projects with something timeless at their core, whether it's the emotional connection a reader feels to the characters, or the universal humor, or issues that are relevant now and will still be relevant years from now. Can readers truly understand what it's like to be the prince of Denmark? Probably not, but they can identify with feeling disconnected from a dead loved one and the anger at watching him be replaced by a conniving uncle. I want stories that, no matter what the setting, feel true in some way to the reader.
I definitely see too many people trying to be something else. I used to make the mistake of listing Roald Dahl as one of my favorite writers from my childhood, but I've found that just inspires a bunch of Dahl knockoffs. And trust me, it's tough to imitate the greats. I get far too many emulations of Dahl, Snicket, Rowling, and whatever else has worked in the past. It's one thing to aspire to greatness; it's another to imitate it. I want people who can appeal to me in the same way as successful writers of yore, with a style that's their own.
I see too few writers willing to take chances. I just finished Markus Zusak's wonderful novel The Book Thief. It breaks so many so-called rules for kids books - there are tons of adult characters and POVs, it's a
historical at heart, and it's narrated by Death for crying out loud. It's one of the best young adult novels I've read recently.

GLA : What are some Chapter 1 clichés you often come across when reading a partial?

CR: One of my biggest pet peeves is when writers try to stuff too much
exposition into dialogue rather than trusting their abilities as
storytellers to get information across. I'm talking stuff like the mom
saying, "Listen, Jimmy, I know you've missed your father ever since he died in that mysterious boating accident last year, but I'm telling you, you'll love this summer camp!" So often writers feel like they have to hook the reader write away. In some ways that's true, but in others you can hook a reader with things other than explosions and big secrets being revealed. Good, strong writing and voice can do it, too.

GLA : Tell me more about "fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously." Help define this more so people understand what and what not to send you.

CR: When I was younger, I went through a big fantasy kick. I read Robert Jordan and Tolkein and the combo of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There's definitely a place for those types of books, but I now find myself drawn more to fantasy that's more fun. The thing about Twilight is that it's not fun at all. If you're going to send me fantasy, I want there to be more than an epic quest and worlds in peril and all that, if I'm going to take on any at all.

GLA : I know Michael (Ted, too?) reps kids books. Do you find yourself
discussing and passing along different projects in this new community
atmosphere?

CR: We definitely discuss projects at Upstart Crow. Before signing new
clients, in fact, we generally share a synopsis and sample chapters with the rest of the team, including Danielle Chiotti, our adult expert. It's always great to have another set of eyes on a project to make sure that it's not only good, but saleable.

GLA : Is Publishers Weekly right? Are vampires out and angels in? Regardless, is it fair to say there will always be a big call for "paranormal," though the specific paranormal item (zombies, vampires, werewolves) is in flux?

CR: I think people are saying that angels are "in" because of a few projects that have just pubbed or are about to, like Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush or Lauren Kate's Fallen. These things come in cycles, though, and more vampire books are coming out each season. I really think some things, like certain types of monsters, will always stay in fashion in one way or another, as long as the mythology stays interesting and there's romance at the core. Or comedy, like with zombies, because they're really funny.

GLA : What's something writers would be surprised to learn about you personally?

CR: That before becoming an agent, some of the ways I made money were by: waiting tables, teaching at a community college, writing jokes, writing about fantasy sports, bartending, and acting in a dinner theater.

GLA : Will you be at any upcoming writers' conferences where people can meet and pitch you?

CR: I'll be doing several SCBWI events over the next few months. Look for me at the Metro NYC in November, Princeton in February, North Carolina next September, and many other places. We keep an updated calendar online that we'll be adding more to soon.

GLA : Best piece(s) of advice we haven't covered?

CR: Take your time with your stories, listen to feedback, and, when you have a real winner, send it to me!

Want more on this subject?

Interview with agent Jeffrey McGraw (The August Agency) .

Agent interview: Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Management .

Interview with agent Phil Lang (Reece Halsey North/Kimberly Cameron) .

What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves .

What Agents Hate: Even More Chapter 1 Pet Peeves .

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Got My Agent: Stephanie Feldstein

2009-11-08T13:00:39.977-05:00

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Stephanie Feldstein.
Stephanie is the author of the novel,
Downward Dog. See Stephanie's website
or check out her "Stray Words" blog.

Stephanie Feldstein

POOCHES AND QUERIES

I started querying by accident. The closer I got to the end of my manuscript, the more people I told about it – both because I was beginning to believe that I was actually going to finish a novel, and because I wanted to make sure that I did; the more people who knew about it, the more accountable I would be. My friends started telling their friends (dog lovers tend to get really excited about new dog-related fiction) and somewhere in that network, there happened to be a few agents.

Within a couple months of opening my big mouth, I had the manuscript out on submission to three different agents, encouraging responses from a handful of others, and the first installments in my rejection collection. To keep the madness of waiting at bay, I’d drop a few more queries every couple of weeks, working my way down the list of agencies I’d found online. One of those was the Irene Goodman Literary Agency and my query landed on the desk of Barbara Poelle, who asked for a full manuscript.

A WORK, IN PROGRESS

That fall, about six months into my querying process, I went to the Algonkian Pitch and Shop Conference in New York and returned with two requests from major editors. An idea for a new first chapter of my book was started to grow, but I ignored it since my book was already in so many hands. It wasn’t long before one of the editors rejected me. Then I got a rejection from Barbara Poelle. A few requests trickled in on the wake of more rejections. Then Barbara and I got back in touch and discussed my new concept. She liked what she heard and said she'd give it another shot. The other editor rejected me. My revision still wasn't quite right for Barbara and she rejected me again.

My initial queries were sent out way too soon. I dove in just because someone told me there was a lake, without looking to see what was at the bottom. For over a year and a half, I was caught in the current of submissions - rejection pulling me under, then a wave of referrals and requests throwing me back to the surface. I started a new novel and tried not to give up on the first one. I tried to decode agent responses and constructed a “Dear John” love poem from rejection letter lines.

As I was losing my oldest dog to cancer in late October of last year, I realized what my fictional dog needed to give him new life. Once I got started, it became a line-by-line process, lasting nearly as long as it had taken to write the first draft. But when it was done, I knew it was really done this time.

A THIRD CHANCE WITH BARBARA

There had been a number of agents who, like Barbara Poelle, had given my manuscript serious thought, had lots of praise for my writing, but weren't able to commit. But Barbara's response had shown an understanding of my novel, and what I wanted it to be, that the others hadn't. It didn't hurt that her career had taken a killer turn in the past year, too. Or that she was known for being absolutely hilarious. So, I sent her an e-mail begging for one more chance.

She read my last draft over the summer and suggested we meet up at the South Carolina Writer's Conference, as we were both planning to attend. While it was probably safe to assume she didn’t want to meet to serve me a restraining order against future submissions, I didn’t exactly have her answer yet. At the mixer on the first night of the conference, Barbara found me nursing a glass of wine and chatting with a friend. She began by giving me feedback on the manuscript. As hard as I tried to listen, “Is this a revise and rewrite or an offer of representation?” kept running through my mind. But when Barbara Poelle said she had brought a contract with her, it came through loud and clear.

If you had told me up front that I’d spend two and a half years on an emotional bungee cord to eventually land my dream agent, I would have taken up knitting, or geocaching, or anything with attainable goals that could distract me from the need to write. I’m not known for my patience. But luckily, I’m also not known for a lack of stubbornness. So I kept going, and my refusal to give up on my book eventually paid off.

Want more on this topic?

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas (Demonfire).

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks (Widow of the South).

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Cover Band Soap Opera: Bar Owner Demands We Play 'Rocky Top'; Calls Us A-Holes When We Cannot

2009-11-07T13:20:32.369-05:00

And now: The continuing ridiculous adventures of my Cincinnati rock cover band.

This is a simple story yet a good one. One of the first bars we ever played at was a real dive. I guess techinically it was classified as a "sports bar," and I suppose that category garnered more respect in the Yellow Pages than, oh say, "crap-hole." We had all kinds of problems at this bar - all because of the owner, who was a nice enough guy at 9 p.m., but drunk as hell come the witching hour. He was the type of guy who, when he talked to you, immediately gave off this vibe like "No young smartypants college boy is gonna tell me how to do anything!"

The first time we played there, he stumbled up to us and requested "some Rocky Top!" If you don't know what this song is, you probably don't watch college football nor live anywhere near the South. It's a well-known southern song that the University of Tennessee has adopted as its football fight song. We told Mr. Bar Owner that, no, we don't have any banjo players in the band at this juncture, nor did we even know the first chord of the song. He walked away murmuring something under his breath. Anyway - whatever, things didn't really boil over until the next show.

So we're back at the bar a few weeks later and, hell's bells, the bar owner zig-zags up to us and asks us if we learned the song yet. We say no. Then he says a new bride and groom just came in (what the hell they were doing there only God knows), and offered to spend an additional $300 at the bar if the band could play "Rocky Top." It was an interesting scenario, but we still said the same thing: "Sorry, man - no can do." It was somewhere around this moment that Mr. Bar Owner just blew a gasket and called us A-holes and idiots and other stuff along those lines. Somehow, we were never invited back to play.

Sign a Release Form with an Agent or Manager?

2009-11-07T12:43:21.971-05:00

Q: I received a letter from an agent saying yes, he wanted to read my whole manuscript. At the same time, he sent me a 2-page mini-contract that focused on my not suing him if he rejects it and down the road, there's a similar book written. Is this normal?

A: It wouldn't say it's typical but it's definitely OK. These are called "release forms" or perhaps "a submission release," and they are very, very common in the screenwriting biz. You can't submit anything anywhere without signing one of these. There are a lot of ideas going around and people are afraid of getting sued. If you're interested in seeing what a release form looks like, you can see one here. It was provided as part of the Willamette Writers' Conference, which draws a lot of script managers/agents and producers.
It’s rare to see these in the literary world but they are not something to be afraid of. As always, look online and do some searching to make sure the agent is reputable and connected. Protect yourself always.

New Agent Alert: Mary Kole of Andrea Brown Literary

2009-11-06T10:42:12.409-05:00

About Mary: She is a new associate agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and runs the KidLit blog. In her quest to learn all sides of publishing, she has also worked in the children's editorial department at Chronicle Books and is currently earning her MFA in creative writing at the University of San Francisco. Mary's passion is editorial work. When she's not reading manuscripts and queries, she's devouring books by some of her favorite authors, like Laurie Halse Anderson, Libba Bray, Sara Zarr, Jake Wizner, M.T. Anderson, Scott Westerfeld, Frank Portman, Neil Gaiman, Rick Riordan, Elizabeth Scott, Lauren Myracle, E. Lockhart and others.

Seeking: "young adult and middle grade novels and truly exceptional picturebooks. She's seeking fresh, unique voices and idiosyncratic characters who, by book's end, she knows like a friend. Her favorite stories are character-driven but well-plotted—a mix of fast pacing, emotional resonance and beautiful writing. Boy books, girl books, first person, third person, it doesn't matter. She's looking for a literary spark with commercial appeal. While she's not interested in high fantasy, science fiction, thrillers or horror, she would love to consider realistic/contemporary, urban fantasy and fantasy/adventure, historical, paranormal and mystery manuscripts. One of her favorite genres is magical realism: a story set firmly in our world, only with a twist—magic, danger or something that turns "reality" on its ear—to make things more interesting. Favorite themes include: family, home, unlikely heroes, discovering one's voice, finding one's equilibrium after a big life event."

How to submit: E-queries only to Mary@andreabrownlit.com. If you haven't heard anything in 8 weeks, please assume that she is passing on your project. For picture books, include query and full ms. For fiction, include query and first 10 pages pasted in e-mail. No phone calls please.

Want more on this subject?

Examine great high-concept hooks for kids books.

New agent seeking kids stuff: Adriana Dominguez.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

The 'Witness' Synopsis

2009-11-06T10:30:45.552-05:00

I always tell people that if they're confused as to how a novel synopsis should look, simply go to Wikipedia. Search any movie made in the last five years and the first thing on the page is the long "Plot" section, which is essentially a front-to-back synopsis. A lot of them are too long; a lot of them are poorly written; but some are good - and you will get a sense of how they work.

Or - you could just let find good ones for you and edit them a bit. The first great synopses I edited and posted were Starman (see that one here) and Peggy Sue Got Married (see that one here). This time it's Witness. Witness is kind of strange category - probably mainstream fiction in book terms. It's got the Amish elements, a dash of crime stuff at the beginning and end.

Look at the synopsis below. I like how it's pretty short. There could be a lot more said about the culture clash in Philadelphia and then how Book adapts to Amish life on the farm, but just enough is there. Like other synopses posted here, this one has a quote or two - just enough spice to flavor the whole thing. Don't use quotes often.

Several days after her husband's funeral, Amish widow RACHEL LAPP and her six-year-old son, SAMUEL, depart for Baltimore to visit her sister. At the train station in Philadelphia, young Samuel enters a public restroom and is the sole witness to a brutal murder.

JOHN BOOK, the investigating detective in charge, consoles Rachel and Samuel. He also reveals that the murdered man was a police officer. Samuel says two men were involved in the crime, but he could only see one—a tall African-American man. Despite Rachel wanting nothing to do with Book's laws, Samuel is taken around town to identify suspects, but fails to find a match. At the police station, Samuel sees a displayed press photograph of Lieutenant MCFEE, and identifies him as the murderer. Worried, Book turns to his mentor, Chief SCHAEFFER, for help.

Shortly after, McFee engages Book in a parking garage gunfight and Book is hit in the abdomen. The injured Book deduces Schaeffer and McFee are both dirty and working together. After destroying records to hide the location of Samuel’s home, Book sneaks Rachel and the boy out of the city and drives them to their farm in rural Lancaster County. Moments after dropping them off, Book passes out from loss of blood. Rachel's father-in-law, ELI, reluctantly agrees to put up the "English" man, and arranges for an Amish apothecary to treat the bullet wound using traditional methods.

Adopting Amish dress to be more inconspicuous as he recovers, Book, an amateur carpenter, fits into the community fairly well—making toys for Samuel and helping in a barn raising. As the weeks pass, he sees more Amish culture, and also begins to fall in love with Rachel, who has mutual feelings for him. Their attraction is met by disapproval of Eli and the elders, who consider having Rachel shunned. Meanwhile, Eli lectures young Samuel about the English man’s use of the "gun of the hand" and tendency for violence ("What you take into your hands you take into your heart").

In town, Book witnesses some youths harassing the Amish. Book severely beats the youths and, as the Amish are strict pacifists, word of this unusual occurrence spreads quickly. Book realizes his cover is blown and Schaeffer will soon find him. Book prepares to leave the farm, sharing a passionate embrace with Rachel in farewell.

Schaeffer, McFee, and a third corrupt officer (the second murderer) arrive at farm the next morning to kill Book. Unarmed, Book uses his wits to defeat the two cops before Schaeffer holds him at gunpoint. Thinking quick, Samuel rings the farm bell, alerting his neighbors to a problem. Schaeffer, knowing he cannot kill all the amassed Amish witnesses, surrenders. Afterward, as Book prepares to leave, he shares a quiet moment with Samuel, then exchanges a silent, loving gaze with Rachel before driving back to Philadelphia. Eli caringly tells Book to "be careful out among them English."

Want more on this topic?

How to Write a Novel Synopsis.

Buy the book Give 'Em What They Want.

Read the Starman synopsis - a great example of a summary.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

New Agent Alert: Kimberly Shumate of Living Word Literary Agency

2009-11-05T16:09:52.69-05:00

About Kimberly: Kimberly began her employment with Harvest House Publishers as the assistant to the National Sales Manager as well as the International Sales Director. Within four years, she was hired into the editorial department steeped in the slush pile of would-be/trying-to-be/can’t-seem-to-be authors. Having been a screenwriter since 1995, a freelance article and book contributor, her ability to identify and polish the diamonds hidden within the coal mines of unsolicited submissions gives her an eye for talent and a heart for the underdog. She is a member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, the Christian Media Association, and has 12 years of publishing experience.

Seeking: adult fiction, YA fiction, Christian living, dating/marriage, parenting, self-help, apologetics, health, inspirational, environmental, social issues, pop-culture, women’s issues, and men’s issues. No cookbooks, children’s books, science fiction or fantasy, memoirs, or poetry. No simultaneous submissions, please.

How to submit: Submit a query with short synopsis and first chapter via Word document. Agency only responds if interested. Send queries to livingwordliterary@gmail.com. Web: http://livingwordliterary.wordpress.com/. No phone calls, please.

Want more on this subject?

If Christian/inspiration writing is your thing, check out the agents I've interviewed who specialize in this category, including Greg Daniel and Joyce Hart.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

Agent Advice: Dan Conaway of Writers House

2009-11-04T20:31:20.681-05:00

Agent Interview by

contributor Ricki Schultz.

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features Dan Conaway of Writers House. Dan has been Executive Editor at Putnam, Executive Editor at HarperCollins, Director of Literary Acquisitions at PolyGram Films, Story Editor at Citadel/HBO, Creative Executive at Tribeca Films, and Associate Editor at W.W. Norton.

He is looking for: literary fiction, true crime, commercial fiction, historical fiction, thrillers/suspense; and his nonfiction interests include history, pop culture, narrative, and journalism. He does not accept e-mail queries. See full submission guidelines here.

GLA: How did you become an agent?

DC: When I was an editor at HarperCollins and at Putnam, the agent I did the most business with—Simon Lipskar at Writers House—had become pretty much my best friend in the world. And one of our many standing jokes (our favorite: “friends don’t let friends write books”) was that how when (not if) I got fired, I’d come work for him.

GLA: Does that mean you were on the verge of being fired when you left Putnam in 2007?

DC: No—at least, not that I'm aware of! But I've always had this paranoid fixation with the number 52—that being the age at which I always figured my corporate superiors would at last judge me too expensive relative to my productivity, and cut me loose, leaving me to wander about aimlessly like some gray-suited ad-man in a John Cheever short story. And what happens to editors when they get fired—and they all get fired, eventually, don’t they?—is, they become agents. At the time I left Putnam, I’d published or had acquired bestsellers by Ridley Pearson, Martha Raddatz, David Stone, and Steve Lopez, and had published some other pretty amazing books along the way. So I wasn't feeling vulnerable at that time. But I did a little math and realized that 52 corresponded with another number: 17, as in the age my three triplet daughters would be when I turned 52. Three college educations to pay for? That seemed like a particularly bad year to get fired.
So, long story short, it occurred to me that my stock probably wasn’t going to get much higher than it was right then, and that if I really imagined I wouldn't survive to get my gold watch at the age of 65, maybe I should make the move to becoming an agent preemptively. Writers House was looking to grow the agency, so I was invited to come aboard. That was about two and half years ago.

GLA: What’s the most recent thing you’ve sold?

DC: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott, sold to Reagan Arthur for her eponymous imprint at Little, Brown. A two-book contract; and we've since sold the book in a number of foreign countries, too.

GLA: What are you looking for right now and not getting? What do you pray for when tackling the slush pile?

DC: Slush or not, I keep my prayers simple: Let's start with a handful of really wonderful sentences strung together just so. "Just so," of course, speaks to the impossibly subjective nature of this racket.

GLA: You used to be the anonymous voice behind Mad Max Perkins of the now-inactive BookAngst 101, the blog that started out as a way to candidly discuss the industry with other editors and publishing types but emerged as a resource for writers. Do you miss it? Have you found another outlet for such conversations?

DC: I do miss it! BookAngst 101 was a wonderful experience, for a whole bunch of reasons. As time passed, it became less about industry stuff and more just my riffing on one thing or another, kinda self-indulgent, I suspect, but it was a uniquely satisfying outlet for me. But ultimately the energy I put into Mad Max is work that is more profitably channeled to my clients, with whom, in many cases, I'm allowed a great deal of creative input.

GLA: In an interview you did last year for Susan Henderson’s LitPark, you said you weren’t looking to take on any new clients. Still true?

DC: Kinda yes, kinda no. I will take on new clients when I'm bowled over.

GLA: Do you notice any trends in what you tend to represent in historical fiction? Elements that particularly grab you?

DC: First off, I'm never interested in anything but beautiful writing; engaging, urgent storytelling; characters you fall in love with—above all, voice. I'm reading a new novel right now by Robyn Young, a huge bestseller in the UK; the novel is called Insurrection, the first in a new series about Robert the Bruce and the wars for Scottish independence, and it's blowing me away on all these fronts.

GLA: What draws you to a true crime story?

DC: How annoying would it be if were to give you essentially the same answer? And yet it's true: I'm always looking for basically the same thing! Regardless of genre—thrillers, narrative nonfiction, anything—it's the writing and the voice and so on that are the determining factors for me.
True crime is a particular publishing challenge, because the phrase itself signals down-market crap-ola, and yet, so many of the most beloved and enduring works of narrative nonfiction could be categorized as such. The reason there will always be interest in good true crime stories is the same reason that dramatic adventure stories like The Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air continue to resonate: They're real stories, often about communities in crisis, dealing with matters of life and death. For more than a decade, I've wished I could find a new category tag/euphemism that would allow people to publish what we mean by "true crime" without the stigma the phrase connotes. If you come up with one, let me know.

GLA: If you were teaching a class on nonfiction writing & submitting, what would be item number one on your syllabus?

DC: On the submitting side, I'd say: Keep the pitch short and to the point. On the writing side, I'd say: When you think you're done—that is, after you've rewritten it a couple of times, set it aside, wait a while—then sit down and rewrite it again. Whatever you submit, it needs to be as good as you're capable of making it.

GLA: Concerning your nonfiction interests, what are three topics you would classify as overdone?

DC: For me, execution is everything, so anything handled the right way can still be interesting. We may not have another seafaring story quite so big as The Perfect Storm, but great stories told well, regardless of category, are likely going to find interest. One category that seems especially tough, though, is military memoir regarding Iraq and Afghanistan.

GLA: What would writers be surprised to know about you?

DC: What a terribly slow reader I am.

GLA: Best piece(s) of advice we haven’t talked about yet?

DC: It's not advice, really, but perspective: This really is a profoundly subjective business. Editors and agents respond to what they respond to—not so much to whether there might be a market for something, but whether they themselves are sufficiently moved by something to be the right person to help find that market. There's lots of good writing that doesn't quite light my fire; that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it—it's just that it's not right for me.

This agent interview by Ricki Schultz,
freelance writer and coordinator of
Shenandoah Writers in VA. Visit her blog
or follow her on Twitter.

Want more on this subject?

Interview with agent Jeffrey McGraw (The August Agency).

Agent interview: Michelle Brower of Folio Literary Management.

Interview with agent Phil Lang (Reece Halsey North/Kimberly Cameron).

What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

What Agents Hate: Even More Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Jessica Zelenko

2009-11-04T20:13:02.771-05:00

Jessica Zelenko is a new writer living
in Jackson Hole, WY, and when she’s not
writing, she’s becoming a badass. See
proof at her Becoming a Badass blog.

1. Take the leap. You already don’t have an agent or oddles of assignments coming in, so there is no reason for you to fear rejection. You have nothing to lose!

2. Start a blog. If you have a blog, you can direct people to examples of your writing. This is especially helpful if you aren’t published. Plus, do not underestimate the motivation that comes from having an audience. Every time someone tells me they enjoy my blog, I get a body buzz and a renewed desire to write. I’ll do almost anything for a body buzz, excluding ~~most~~ hard drugs.

3. We must listen to the experts. We need expert advice on grammar, structure, queries, agents, etc. Look to books, websites, and Chuck Sambuchino. The most important advice I've taken to heart is to have a set writing schedule. Everyone recommends it, and if you aren’t writing regularly, you’re probably barely writing. Admit it. Set a schedule.

4. But we can also blow off the experts. All these great writers like to talk about their desks - like Stephen King in his book On Writing, who makes a desk sound more important than oxygen. I spent months bemoaning my lack of a desk and trying to find one to cram into my tiny room. I felt like a failure. Finally, I realized, I’ve got a lap, a bed, a couch and, gosh darn-it, I’m writing. The details don’t matter; the writing matters.

5. This is supposed to be fun. I write because I enjoy making myself and others giggle. Some people write for catharsis or a love of spreading knowledge. There are a million reasons to write, so acknowledge yours and hold onto the passion. If you just wanted money, you could write living wills or ransom notes. Keep on nurturing your love, and when the rich suits give you a hard time at your high school reunion, just smile smugly, knowing your having a much better time with your life than those drones.

6. Writers' Conferences are worth attending. My first writers' conference was in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming and I was one of the few people there who didn’t qualify for Social Security. Still, for a flat rate, I got access to a bunch of experts and networked with agents and editors. Go to a conference. You’ll learn and you might make some …

7. ... Writer friends. You can steal all their knowledge over coffee, tea, or whiskey. They will edit for free! They will help keep everything fun, and keep you from ~~the hard drugs~~ procrastinating.

Want more on this subject?

Want to write a "7 Things" guest column? Write me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com.

Live out west? Check out my review of the Wyoming Writers' Conference.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Successful Queries: Agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and 'Sway'

2009-11-03T09:44:46.257-05:00

This new series is called "Successful Queries" and I'm posting actual query letters that succeeded in getting writers signed with agents. In addition to posting the actual query letter, we will also get to hear thoughts from the agent as to why the letter worked.

The 19th installment in this series is with agent Joanna Stampfel Volpe (Nancy Coffey Literary) and her author, Amber McRee Turner, for her book, Sway, which was just recently sold to Hyperion/Disney.

In lieu of the book cover (forthcoming),
how about this photo of Amber Turner (right)
and her mom, Pat. Credit: Skirt! Memphis.

Dear Ms. Volpe,

Eleven-year-old Cass Nordenhauer had always been bundled in the admiration she felt for her mother’s storm clean-up work with the Southern Mobile Aid Response Team. Her pride rises near flood level when Mom announces her enrollment in meteorology school, where Toodi Bleu Nordenhauer plans to become “Toodi Bleu Skies.” Not so honorable, it turns out, is a soon-to-be-famous mother whose dream will be financed by a new man. Or better yet, a news man.

Reeling emotionally from the storm caused by her mom’s betrayal, Cass is sentenced to a summer ride-along with her seemingly lackluster dad, Douglas Nordenhauer, seller of frozen meats. When Cass reluctantly boards her new world-on-wheels, an old RV nicknamed “The Roast,” she’s increasingly captivated by the mysterious objects she finds – a freshly-glittered wagon, a trunk full of smelly shoes, a tambourine dripping with ribbons, and a unique method of navigation, Ye Olde Sneaker Reacher. It’s when Cass is introduced to her dad’s alter ego, “Make Believe McClean, Traveling Soap Sliver Salesman,” that she realizes she’s in for no run-of-the-mill beef jerky road trip. M.B. McClean wears a snug lime-striped suit. He sings Gordon Lightfoot. He’s got a suitcase full of magical soap slivers, and a whole lot of sway. And in one summer, M.B. McClean will escort his daughter from wonder to disgust and back home again, where Cass’ own special sway can take root.

Sway, a contemporary middle grade novel, is the story of a season with Cass and Make Believe McClean and the wounded-but-wise characters they meet along the way. It’s an adventure sudsy with southern gothic appeal, filled with arm-wrestling ghosts, sunken bumper boats, tumped port-o-potties, and fruity-chewy wax lips. It’s about the power of old soaps and lost shoes and how just the right combination of the two allow Cass to wash her hands of the past and look toward a future foaming with magic … with a new appreciation for “1 big can of lye.”

In 1993, I received a degree in Fiction Writing from Rhodes College, where I won both the Jane Donaldson Kepple writing prize and the Memphis Magazine fiction contest student award. I’ve had soap sliver sway oozing out my ears since that year. Thank you, Ms. Volpe, for your consideration of this query. At your request, I will be happy to send along part of the story, which is complete at 32,900 words.

Regards,

Amber McRee Turner

Commentary from Joanna

Every time I read it, I'm reminded that I love, love this query just so darn much. Here's why: the voice. Every sentence of this query is just oozing with eleven-year-old Cass Nordenhauer's voice. The play on words and witty but child-like descriptions caught me immediately. So I just had to request the manuscript to see if it delivered, and it did.

Not every query has to convey your protagonist's voice to be successful. But this story isn't high concept, it isn't super commercial and it isn't about vampires—so it's not exactly easy to pitch the plot and sound interesting. It's about a girl whose mom leaves. She goes on a forced-summer road trip with her least favorite parent—Dad. She learns a lesson. Their relationship grows. Sounds real interesting, right? Well, no. No it doesn't.

But what makes this story stand out is the honest voice, the beautiful prose, the real-to-life but still unbelievable twists and turns that Cass and her dad take along the way. Amber had to show this in her letter to make it stand out, and she certainly did. Now, typically I don't love a third paragraph that tells me why this story is wonderful. I usually like the summary to just speak for itself. But in this query Amber did something else that worked. She wrote that paragraph in Cass' voice too.

So for those of you out there telling a coming-of-age type story (sans vampires or zombies), one way to make your query stand out is by letting that voice really shine in your query. Introduce us to your main character right away. Let him or her make us stand up and take note. I think Amber proves that it can work!

Want more on this subject?

Successful Queries: (Fiction) "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet"

Successful Queries: (Kids/YA) "Wake"

Successful Queries: (Nonfiction) "Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon"

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

I Caved and Joined Twitter

2009-11-03T09:24:51.162-05:00

So, yeah, it was bound to happen one day or another. I caved and joined. Follow me if you dare (@ChuckSambuchino), mwahahahaha.

I predict I will either quit within a month or become pretty good at Tweeting.

Want more on this topic?

A guest column: 20 Query Letter Tips.

A guest column: How to Get an Agent's Attention.

They're called Google Alerts, and yes we have them.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Literary Agents Talk Blogging, Twitter and More

2009-11-02T21:19:58.945-05:00

Outside, it was a warm Friday afternoon at Myrtle Beach. Inside, eager, nervous writers filled a windowless room at the South Carolina Writers Workshop, hoping to learn how to do the “social networking” thing that we keep hearing is no longer optional. We awaited the arrival of Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary agent extraordinaire, her inimitable minion and fellow fabulous FinePrint agent Suzie Townsend, and the amazing Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary Management, to teach us.

Guest Blogger Michelle Hodkin
writes for young adults, tweets
(MichelleHodkin) and blogs
(www.lovesandloathes.blogspot.com).

What is this Twitter thing, anyhow? And how does one accomplish this blogging they speak of? Must we have a website? What about Facebook?

These, ladies and gentlemen, were the big questions.

Twitter, for those of you who don't know, is a free social networking site that enables users to “micro-blog” in short bursts of text not exceeding 140 characters. Still with me? No? Okay, let’s rewind.

THERE'S THIS THING CALLED "BLOGGING"

The term “blog” is short for weblog. If you’re reading this, you probably get that a blog is a site maintained by an individual person or company that features regular entries - like a journal, only public. And if you’re a writer, you should probably have one, along with your website that should, at minimum, have your contact information listed so people can find you. You can set up your own blog, free of charge, using Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, LiveJournal.com or Typepad.com. Each of these sites has helpful guides to getting your blog up and running.

But what, we asked eagerly, do we write about?

Ms. Reid was undeterred by the open-endedness of this question. While there are no hard and fast rules, she warned us not to constantly talk about ourselves and our writing. That gets boring And annoying. You can narrow your content to focus on a specific area (such as Nathan Bransford’s blog), or you can blog about a veritable cornucopia of topics (cue Janet Reid). Here are some additional tips on How To Be Interesting:

Just as we all have our own voices when we write, that should shine through on our blogs.
Maintain a schedule so your readers know when they can expect new content. Try to keep your posts to 250 words.
Ask questions of your readers to entice them to participate via the comments section.
Join or form a group blog that focuses on your genre and rotates between writers, like YA Highway and Hey, There’s a Dead Guy In My Living Room.
Write about other books and authors à la Suzie Townsend’s blog. This has the additional benefit of letting those authors know that they’re being discussed in a (hopefully) flattering way, by virtue of Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a service that allows you to set up an Internet filter that notifies you when a name, phrase, or string of words is mentioned on the Internet.

If this sounds hard, that’s because it is. And if you don’t think you can do it well, Ms. Reid warned, you may be better off not doing it at all. So what then?

WHEN IN DOUBT, COMMENT

Agents notice when people comment regularly, as do authors. Ms. Stampfel-Volpe elaborated on the right and wrong ways to do so at the session.

If you are respectful and witty, commenting will help you make virtual friends.
If you are sycophantic and/or belligerent, well, don’t be.
Each comment you make should add something to the discussion.

As with blogging, commenting done poorly is worse than not commenting at all.

AND IF NONE OF THIS SUITS YOUR FANCY, THERE'S TWITTER

Twitter allows you to make friends and influence people. Well, maybe not influence people. But make friends, certainly.

Ms. Townsend showed us how to “follow” literary agents like herself and Ms. Reid and see what they have to say; often, they post indispensable advice to authors.
You can follow other authors and celebrities and friends, too.
You can compose “tweets” yourself, short updates letting your followers (friends, enemies, aliens, whoever) know what you’re up to, what music you’re listening to, what your cats are doing RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE.
You can tweet at other people, engaging them in conversation by using the @ symbol before their twitter username.
And you can do all this from your cell phone in the grocery store or from a Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. It’s like magic. Just make sure you “unprotect” your tweets so that other people can follow you without approval.

ALL OF THESE THINGS WORK. BUT WHAT DOESN'T WORK?

Facebook. Why? Because people have to take the extra step to “friend” you if they want to learn more about you. And you don’t want to make your future fans work any harder than they have to. Also, Facebook is not searchable. And you want to be searchable, writers. Indeed you do.

IN THE END?

Blog your little writerly hearts out, aspiring authors. Unprotect your tweets and let the public in. Start commenting on blog posts by your favorite industry folk. And for the love of all that is holy, remember that the internet is public and behave accordingly.

Want more on this topic?

Another SCWW column: 20 Query Letter Tips.

Another SCWW column: How to Get an Agent's Attention.

They're called Google Alerts, and yes we have them.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

How I Found My Agent: Marisha Chamberlain

2009-11-02T16:32:36.306-05:00

This installment of "How I Got
My Agent" is by Marisha Chamberlain.
Marisha is the author of the novel,
The Rose Variations (Soho Press).

PLAYWRITING DAYS

It took me three long years of persistent querying to find my literary agent, and although the journey was grueling, I was ready for it. I’d already had rough-and-tumble experience with more than one theatrical agent for my plays.

Word was that a playwright wanted either a fierce woman or a motherly man for an agent, and I went the fierce woman route. So why was I surprised to find my fierce and famous play agent to be combative and high handed? She negotiated contracts just fine (I had plays done in London, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto) but I dreaded talking to her. And God help me if I had a question to ask her. One day, she took on an assistant—guess who?—a motherly man. He and I bonded, and when he left the fierce woman agency, I went with him, and he still represents me as a playwright and librettist.

When I switched my writing focus to fiction, some fifteen years ago, I pondered the writer-agent bond. My first theatrical agent, impossible though she was, did make a telling comment that I’ve never forgotten. No play, she said, was ever produced too late. By this, she meant many were presented to the public too soon, and that is true both of plays and novels. I didn’t even think about seeking an agent ‘til I had a manuscript ready. I mean, ten-years-and-twenty-drafts ready. Not everybody needs ten years to write a polished draft of a first novel, but I did.

COMMENCE "OPERATION: AGENT"

Then I began the search for a literary agent. I’d already learned the hard way that I wanted not just any agent, but someone with whom I’d have rapport. I was looking for courtesy, candor, clarity, energy and trustworthiness—someone I could freely ask questions, someone I wouldn’t be tempted to second-guess. However, landing any agent would be difficult. So my beggar-as-chooser approach was absolutely secret.

I began with researching sources such as Guide to Literary Agents and Jeff Herman’s Guide. Who’s looking for literary fiction? The agents who are, say so in their listings and/or interviews. I made a lengthy chart of possible agents, sent out queries and sample pages by the bale, fielded a lot of phone calls from agents, saw my postage and Xerox bill go up, up, up. I got a bunch of nibbles and a few bites, followed by sudden, prolonged silences.

The process, which took three years, was equal parts encouraging and exasperating. I did it in waves: first wave, second wave, New Wave. I rewrote my manuscript again, whenever I got a comment that seemed apt. And I sent out a new query the day after any rejection arrived. To keep going, I amused myself by jotting into my chart outrageous or damning bits from agents. The worst were handwritten scrawls right on my original query letter, sent back after requesting my full manuscript. Given that I paid all that postage back and forth, you’d think I might rate a piece of the agent’s stationery. This happened twice. Both agents are prominent. Call it sour grapes, but I think I’m lucky those two said no. Oh, and the pompous form rejections. Cue the tubas: We are sorry we are unable to use your material. There are many reasons to decline a manuscript, etc.

THREE YEARS, THEN...

I got contacted by Stephany Evans of FinePrint Literary Management. She loved the first fifty pages of my novel and wanted to see the rest. I Fed-Exed. She responded within a week with an offer. That’s when I brought my secret plan out into the light. It was simple. Before signing, I asked for a meeting, face to face, on my own dime. It was cheeky. I asked her for references and I called the references. All of them.

Now, it happens that Stephany’s office is in New York City, and I live in the middle of the country, in a river town south of St. Paul, Minnesota, so the face-to-face meeting was not a casual stroll across the street for me. I knew, within ten minutes of meeting her, that Stephany’s offer was my big break, but I played out my plan, every step of it, because, for me, the agent relationship is such a big deal. I played it carefully because we were setting the tone for something fine and mutually rewarding. And I played it quick: I checked those references and signed within a week of meeting Stephany, and all I’d hoped has unfolded since then. The Rose Variations was published by Soho Press in 2009 and the paperback will land in early 2010. I was lucky, yeah. But I played an active part in my luck.

Marisha Chamberlain

Want more on this topic?

How I Got My Agent: Kate Douglas (Demonfire).

How I Got My Agent: Robert Hicks (Widow of the South).

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Agent Sara Crowe's Call for Young Adult Submissions

2009-11-01T20:23:16.783-05:00

Sara Crowe, an agent with Harvey Klinger, Inc, recently posted an in-depth post concerning exactly what she looks for in a young adult submission. Fascinating stuff, considering this is exactly the kind of thing writers need to see to pinpoint the best fits for their work.

Here's some example text from the post: "I am sure I have said in some places that I am not looking for fantasy or historical - but that is not quite true. I don’t rule anything out because its historical or fantastical. Contemporary often speaks more to me because I respond to the realism of that writing, its emotional truth, but when a story is out of this world and fantastical, it can still work for me - as long as I can believe in the characters and the world they are living in." See the entire post here.

Want more on this topic?

New agent seeking kids stuff: Teresa Kietlinski of Prospect Agency.

New agent seeking kids stuff: Beth Fleisher of Barry Goldblatt Literary.

New agent seeking kids stuff: Adriana Dominguez of Full Circle Literary.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today!

Agent Advice: Erin Murphy of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Inc. (Part II)

2009-11-01T14:14:15.317-05:00

This interview with Erin is
Part II. Read Part I here.

"Agent Advice" is a series of quick interviews with literary and script agents who talk with Guide to Literary Agents about their thoughts on writing, publishing, and just about anything else.

This installment features kids agent Erin Murphy of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Inc . Erin specializes in kids book and has agented for 10 years. She's based in Arizona.

She is seeking: Erin has a unique submission policy and only likes queries from writers she has met at one time or another, or writers who come through an impressive referral. She seeks kids books—young adult, middle grade and picture books.

How Do You Wokka-Wokka?
is a picture book Erin represented.

GLA: Let's talk picture books. These are very difficult to get published, it seems. What can writers do to enhance their chances?

EM: I know it sounds simplistic, but write the very best picture books you can. I think the market contraction has been a good thing, for the most part. I'm only selling the very best picture books my clients write—but I'm definitely selling them. Picture books are generally skewing young, and have been for some time, so focus on strong read-alouds and truly kid-friendly styles. I'm having a lot of luck with projects that have the feel of being created by an author-illustrator even if the author is not an artist, in that they're fairly simple, have all kinds of room for fun and interpretation in the illustrations, and have a lot of personality.
    A year or two ago, I had an early inkling that meatier, more story-based picture books might be coming back around, but then the economy crashed and that went out the window. It will happen eventually, and I will be glad, because I love those stories, too, but they're darned hard to sell right now.
    I see a lot of picture book manuscripts that depend too heavily on dialogue, which tends to give them the feel of a chapter book or middle-grade novel. The style isn't a picture book style.

GLA: Kids writing is one of those worlds where plenty of people still go straight to editors and sell things. Do you find that agented writers can secure better deals and advances?

EM: Well, I'd hope so, or we agents aren't doing our jobs! But having an agent is definitely not required to be successful in children's books, and advances aren't the only (or even the best) way to measure success. It's a very personal decision.

GLA: Do you also take submissions for juvenile nonfiction?

EM: I do represent nonfiction projects; Chris Barton is a primary example from my client list. One of the sales I'm currently negotiating for another client is for a middle-grade nonfiction piece. I don't ever picture a time when a huge percentage of my clients are focused in this area, though, and I already work with a few writers of nonfiction, so the odds are lower there for new writers subbing to me.

GLA: You have an associate agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette. Does she have different tastes readers need to know about? Same submission procedure?

EM: Same submission policy. Our tastes overlap quite a bit, so the agency identity didn't drastically change when Joan came on board, but of course we do have some differences. I'd say the main similarity is that we both love heart-driven stories. Joan is really talented with rhymed and metered picture book texts; I know a good one when I see it, but Joan is terrific with these and getting them into really strong shape. She is more drawn to paranormal YA, dystopian, and the like than I am; I am more open to historical (so long as it's not purely historical-for-the-sake-of-the-setting).

GLA: You've been in business for many years as an agent and editor. How do you see the industry and kids books changing? What do serious writers need to know?

EM: I think the thing I'm most focused on now is that the industry requires you to hone your craft. For many years, SCBWI was all about learning the market, and that's definitely important—but it seems to be harder and harder to find writers who have really let themselves sink into their craft, into developing as writers, and give the process the time that it takes.

GLA: Will you be at any upcoming conferences where people can meet/pitch you?

EM: I am not scheduled for any conferences in 2010, I'm afraid—and I hope to keep it that way so I can conquer this reading pile at last! The next conference I'm scheduled for is SCBWI Florida in Miami in January 2011. Joan will be at Missouri SCBWI on March 20, 2010, and NESCBWI on May 14-15, 2010.

GLA: Will you accept queries from those who don't meet you at conferences? Or is it best to meet you first or have a connection? Either way, what do you want to see and how do you want to see it?

EM: I have a pretty closed submission policy, which allows me to spend most of my time focused on my current clients. I don't accept unsolicited queries or submissions. If you go to a conference where I speak, or if you have a referral from someone I know, I will be happy to take a look. I prefer queries via e-mail.
        By the way, I don't put an expiration date on the offer for conference attendees. I'd much rather that a writer wait until a submission is truly ready than rush and get something undercooked to me in a certain window. I've received queries and submissions from people I met at conferences years ago, and I really respect the confidence it takes to reach out after all that time. I also find that those people have had long enough to get to know the business and develop their craft that they are generally more ready for representation.

GLA: What's something writers would be surprised to learn about you personally?

EM: Hmm! That's a hard one! Well, I just mentioned to a group at the Southern Ohio SCBWI Conference that I have a famous relative, so this won't be surprising to those folks, but perhaps it will for others: Allison DuBois, the Phoenix psychic who inspires the Patricia Arquette character on the TV show "Medium," is my second cousin through my maternal grandmother. At the beginning of her book Don't Kiss Them Goodbye, she talks about the great-grandfather who appeared to her after he died when she was a child, and was her first experience with the afterlife; that was my great-grandfather, too (and I had my own weird experience at his wife's, my great-grandmother's, funeral a few years later!). If she and I have met, though, it was when I was too young to remember; we haven't crossed paths as adults. I like to claim relational psychic ability when it's handy, though!
        Oh! And I can't wear a watch, because I make it stop, and it can't be started again; my maternal grandmother is the same way, so there's definitely something unusual going on in the DNA on that side of the family.

GLA: Best piece(s) of advice we haven't covered?

EM: Claim your spot in this world of children's publishing with confidence. Read what is coming out now; take advantages of the industry resources and insights the Internet provides; network how you can; stay in touch with the things that interest kids, and with kids themselves. But write for you, above all else. If you don't appeal to your own inner child, how will you ever be happy writing for kids?

Erin Murphy

Want more on this topic?

Interview: Kids agent Joe Monti of Goldblatt Literary.

Examine great high concept hooks for children's books.

New agency seeking kids work: Rodeen Literary Management.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

The 'Dragonslayer' Synopsis

2009-11-01T13:23:00.524-05:00

I always tell people that if they're confused as to how a novel synopsis should look, simply go to Wikipedia. Search any movie made in the last five years and the first thing on the page is the long "Plot" section, which is essentially a front-to-back synopsis. A lot of them are too long; a lot of them are poorly written; but some are good - and you will get a sense of how they work.

Or - you could just let find good ones for you. The first great synopses I edited and posted were Starman (see that one here) and Peggy Sue Got Married (see that one here). This time it's Dragonslayer, a fantasy! I know a lot of people are writing fantasy stories and it's a category I don't read as much as I should.

Look at the synopsis below. Note how the reader can get lost with a lot of names, so only five names are mentioned throughout - Galen, Urlich, the King, Valerian and Elspeth. Also notice how the kingdom is not named nor is the dragon. Remember: more names and places = more confusion. Keep it simple. I consider Dragonslayer to be adult fiction, but this is not far from YA fantasy either. If Galen were, say, 16 years old, then this would be YA. Fantasy is hard to summarize; even after I edited the heck out of this, it was still 125 words long. For what it's worth, see the synopsis below.

Galen in Dragonslayer

A sixth century post-Roman kingdom is being terrorized by a 400-year-old dragon.

A group of men from the kingdom travels far to the house of ULRICH, the last sorcerer in the land. The frail Ulrich is assisted by his young apprentice, GALEN, who also seeks to be a wielder of magic. The men of the expedition explain that they need help, and how the dragon is only appeased by an offering of two virgins each year. The wizard Ulrich, despite foreseeing his own death, agrees to help. Before he can leave his home, however, a skeptical man in the group demands proof of sorcery. Ulrich invites the skeptic to stab him to prove his magical powers. The wizard dies instantly when stabbed, however, much to the horror of Galen. The young apprentice burns his master’s body and collects the ashes.

When the dead wizard’s amulet begins to obey Galen’s Latin incantations, the ambitious apprentice decides to take up the task of defeating the dragon. On the journey to the kingdom, Galen discovers that a smart young man in the expedition, VALERIAN, is actually a girl in disguise. She was passed off as a boy to spare her “the lottery,” where virgins are chosen at random for sacrifice to the dragon. Valerian suspects daughters of the wealthy are secretly kept out of the lottery, as well. Arriving at the kingdom, Galen inspects the dragon’s lair and blocks the entrance by causing boulders to fall. Though a clumsy and overconfident move, the landslide appears to cause a successful entombment. The village celebrates Galen’s success and Valerian abandons her manly disguise. The feast is interrupted by the KING, who guesses that they boy is not a real wizard and that the “entombment” has only served to anger the dragon (alluding to similar exacerbations by those who ruled before him).

The king confiscates the amulet and locks Galen away. The king’s daughter, ELSPETH, visits Galen, who informs her of rumors the lottery is rigged. The King himself confirms these rumors. Meanwhile, the dragon has stormed its way through the rubble and emerges with a vengeance. An earthquake ensues, and a priest who confronts the dragon is incinerated. The dragon attacks the village with fireballs; much is destroyed. In the confusion, the king’s daughter releases Galen. The next morning, the King reinstates the lottery.

Galen, meanwhile, is hiding with Valerian while plotting to reclaim his amulet. At the lottery, Elspeth rigs the draw so that only her name can be chosen, in reparation. The King is appalled but unable to overrule the decision. When Galen is caught searching for the amulet, the monarch returns it to him so that he might save Elspeth. Galen uses magic to enchant a heavy spear (dubbed Sicarious Dracorum, or "Dragonslayer") to pierce the dragon's armored hide. Meanwhile, Valerian gathers dragon scales and makes Galen a fireproof shield. She also discovers that the beast has a brood of dragonets.

Galen sets out to rescue Elspeth. Before he leaves, he shares a tender moment with Valerian and they kiss. At the lair, Galen frees Elspeth, but she chooses to sacrifice herself and die. Galen slays the dragon babies before confronting the beast itself. After wounding it, Galen breaks his spear, and only the shield saves him from incineration. The villagers fear another attack is imminent and leave the village, turning to religion and priests. As Galen and Valerian prepare to leave, the amulet gives Galen a vision that reveals his master, Ulrich, had planned everything from the beginning. The old sorcerer was too frail to make the long journey himself, so he had his apprentice make the trip for him by carrying his ashes. Galen releases the ashes in a lake of fire and Ulrich is resurrected.

Despite the disappointment of realizing he had no powers after all and was merely channeling Ulrich via the amulet, Galen is overjoyed to have his master returned. Ulrich reveals he is not back for long, and that Galen must destroy the amulet when the moment is right. As the sun is eclipsed, Ulrich battles the dragon; the beast soon grabs him and flies away. As instructed, Galen destroys the amulet, causing Ulrich to explode and the dragon with him. The King arrives at the scene and claims glory for himself. As Galen and Valerian leave the kingdom together, Galen reflects again on how he had failed to conjure any real magic. But when he says, "I just wish we had a horse," a white horse appears out of nowhere to take the incredulous lovers away.

Want more on this topic?

How to Write a Novel Synopsis.

Buy the book Give 'Em What They Want.

Read the Starman synopsis - a great example of a summary.

Confused about formatting? Check out Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript.

Read about What Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.

Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for? Buy the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents today! >

Cover Band Soap Opera: 'Alive' by Pearl Jam

2009-10-31T20:12:36.001-04:00

For anyone who follows the ridiculous adventures of my Cincinnati rock cover band, you may have noticed that I don't put video up of us. Truth is, I'm self-conscious. Someone missed a note, or this didn't sound right, or that's blurry, blah blah blah.

Well, no more of that. This is my band playing "Alive" by Pearl Jam at a recent fall show. That's me playing guitar on the right.

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