Pub Rants

Category: submission

“Just Don’t See How I Can Break This Out In A Big Way”

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Ready to turn in for the night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? I GOTTA FEELIN by Black Eyed Peas

I have to say that lately, these are the most dreaded words an agent can hear from an editor.

As I mentioned last week, midlist authors are getting hit the hardest—especially when it comes to option proposals. This and debuts.

Lately, the most common editorial refrain seems to be the above. In fact, editors will even be wonderfully complimentary—really highlighting how much they liked the writing, the concept, the talent of the writer but… And the ‘but’ is the tough part.

If editors don’t see something as a big book, they are passing. Or my other recent favorite, if it doesn’t fit into a very narrowly prescribed genre of what has worked for them (oh let’s say something like dark YA angsty romance), then they are also passing.

Okay…. Hollywood does this too until the next big hit comes out of “nowhere” because it’s nothing like any movie currently out. I know it’s tough, editors, but I’d love a little vision.

Some Titles Should Never See The Light Of Day

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Reading late tonight but I hope not to be burning the midnight oil.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? USE SOMEBODY by Kings of Leon

I have to say that tonight I can completely sympathize with all you writers out there who are struggling with a title for your work.

I find that in general, one of two things happens. Either you immediately know the title for your novel and it, in fact, happens often before you even begin writing or you can’t find a title to save your life.

For the last two weeks, a client and I have been brainstorming titles again. I know what you are thinking—not this again. But hey, it actually worked with Jamie Ford’s Hotel On The Corner Of Bitter And Sweet (and I’ll be forever grateful that one discarded title idea, Burning Silk, never saw the light of day). Oops, should have kept that hidden under a rock…

For Private Arrangements, we actually have the Bantam team to thank for that one. Our original title was Schemes Of Love—which is not a bad title per se but Private Arrangements is definitely a stroke of genius. (Not my genius mind you….)

Once Upon Stilettos was a Marketing Director’s brilliant idea (I love creative people!). So there is hope for you if you end up selling your novel with its only so-so title.

Which is why when I read queries, I don’t rely too heavily on what a project is called. However, if it’s a rockin’ title, I’ll ask for sample pages even if the query letter isn’t as strong as it could be.

That’s one good reason for a strong brainstorming session before your submit. After all, the title Soulless was an instant winner in my book. Proof By Seduction immediately caught my attention by being clever and original.

Hands down, Ally Carter is the Queen of titles and let me tell you, all the genius is on her side. I’ve not been responsible for any of her wonderful titles.

Keep in mind that queries with good titles definitely stand out but nailing that title isn’t a deal breaker—especially when I’m going to spend the next hour playing with word combos for this manuscript we’ve been working on! Maybe I should put Ally on speed dial…

Exploding The “Must Have Connections Myth”—Guest Blogger Megan Crewe

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: For a Monday, it was actually fairly quiet. Only one major issue to solve.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? RASPBERRY BERET by Prince

I thought this a pertinent and timely entry in light of a lot of recent discussions I’ve seen in the comment section of agent blogs lately.

Megan’s debut hits shelves this week—all done with nary a networked connection.

I think every aspiring writer hears this message at least once: You don’t have a hope of getting published unless you’ve got connections. I saw it pop up on message boards and websites as I was preparing GIVE UP THE GHOST for submission to agents, and couldn’t help feeling nervous. After all, I’d never talked to an editor or an agent in my life. I didn’t even live in the same country as most of them! And my close writer friends were currently unagented, so I didn’t have a referral, either.

But I’d also read posts by authors talking about getting picked out of the slush pile, and agents mentioning their excitement at finding a gem in their inboxes, and that gave me hope. So instead of digging into my savings to fly off to every conference I could manage, I simply wrote a query letter, revised it, and started sending it out.

Three and a half years later, I have an agent, a publishing deal, and a book that just hit the shelves. I met Kristin in person for the first time this past May, two and a half years after we started working together.

I know now that there’s nothing to worry about–people receive offers of representation and book deals without any prior connections all the time. I did, many of my writer friends did, and I’ve happily told this to writers who’ve said they’re afraid they won’t be able to find an agent or get published because they don’t know anyone.

Unfortunately, I realized offering my experience isn’t enough. Why should anyone believe me over those claiming that it’s impossible? Maybe my case was just the exception.

Which is why, last month, I set out to collect solid data. 270 fiction authors from a variety of genres filled out a poll asking them about their experiences selling their first published novel. With the results now in, I say with assurance that the idea that you need connections to get published is nothing more than a myth.

62% of the agented authors who responded got the agent who sold their first book through cold querying–no prior meeting, no referral.

72% of the authors sold their first book to an editor they had no connection to (either by cold querying themselves, or submitting via their agent).

You can find my full discussion of the poll results here.

Can connections help you out? Of course! But if you don’t have them, don’t sweat it. I’m a Canadian author who signed with a Denver agent who sold to a New York editor without my having any prior connection to either of them, and that novel can be found right now in stores across both countries. If I can do it (along with more than a hundred other authors who answered the poll), there’s no reason you can’t, too.

Editor Rant–Daniel Menaker

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: TGIF and I’m heading out of the office early to do a little reading.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? STORMY BLUES by Billie Holiday

Ah, I couldn’t get the Friday Funnies to work and since I’m heading out, I’ll just have to let Daniel Menaker rant in my place.

If you haven’t checked out his blog posting at the B&N blog, it’s really worth a look.

Warning—this article is not for the faint of heart.

It’s definitely the unvarnished inside perspective though….

Have a great weekend.

Why Agent Honesty Is Overrated

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Today is about royalty statements, a submission, and a film deal in process.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SHE DRIVES ME CRAZY by Fine Young Cannibals

Writers on submission always want to know the answer to this question: “Why aren’t agents just honest in their response to my sample pages?”

In other words, if we think the manuscript sucks, why don’t we just say so?

I’ll tell you why.

1. In my experience (and I can’t speak for all agents), any honest reply generates a response from the writer. Unfortunately, we simply can’t get in a dialogue with the thousands and thousands of individual writers who query us in any given day, week, or month. Better to send out the form letter.

2. Sometimes it really is subjective. I’ve passed on manuscripts that I literally hated. Thought the writing was terrible. Yet another agent has taken it on, sold it, and the book did well. Who was right and who was wrong? See? Subjective.

3. I know y’all will disagree but it’s not actually an agent’s job to tell you that your writing needs work. That’s why writer’s conferences can be important and why most writers need a good critique group. The key with critique groups is to find one with writers who you can trust to be honest but helpful with their feedback. I just did a critique workshop at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and it was amazing. I let everyone else in the room speak first to the writer being critiqued. More times than not, I simply said, “I agree with so-so” and didn’t have further comments to add. That’s how good the writers were in my group. I’d recommend them to anyone looking for real feedback.

4. It’s impossible to say something doesn’t work without explaining the why of it. And sometimes the why is so detailed (from grammar issues, to misplaced modifiers, to dialogue not working, to plot issues, to no character development) that my explaining of why would just take too much time. Simply easier to say NO via a form letter or via inclusion of one of the more generic response line. Sad but true. And sometimes, it’s really hard to figure out the “why” if the writing really isn’t ready

5. Where a writer is now is not where he/she might be a year from now. I’ve been to a lot of conferences over the years and have heard many a keynote speech from hugely bestselling authors. In their keynotes, they often will relay a story where an editor or an agent told them it was hopeless—to never write again. But here they are, X many years later on the bestseller list. Uh-huh. Where you are now is not where you may be in the future. Why should I discourage you if writing is your passion? If you’re planning to stick with it, then you’ll work on craft until you get it or until you discover that the cost of getting it isn’t worth it to you.

Granted, for some folks, it will be hopeless. They’ll never learn the craft but I certainly can’t know that from one submission read if the writer is one who can learn or one who never will.

Response Speak

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Heading out to dinner with an agent friend who is in town.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO by Frou Frou

Form response:
Don’t interpret anything. It could mean just about anything under the sun.

Form response with personal comment
Submission was interesting enough for the agent to make a comment. Don’t interpret too much. It’s the nature of the comment that is important here. If it’s “I just didn’t fall in love” that could mean anything from concept isn’t right or writing isn’t quite there yet.

If comment is something along the lines of “see talent here but not right for me”, well that’s encouraging.

Letter with feedback
On to something here. Time is tight. If agents take the time to actually include feedback, they see potential.

Revision letter with request to submit again
Agents are interested. Now they want to see if you can take a potentially flawed work or something that’s not quite ready into something they can get serious about, offer representation, create a revision letter to make the work publishing ready.

Revision letter with offer
You’ve got talent and a great concept. We’re willing to take a risk by getting you on board and then working with you.

An offer
Nothing ever goes out unedited but when an agent just offers, we know that whatever revision might be necessary will only amount to small tweaks.

No Prize For An Unblemished Record

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Tomorrow I head to Hawaii for the Hawaii Writers Conference. It’s a tough job and somebody has to do it and I’m always happier doing it in Hawaii. Grin.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? FAMILY AFFAIR by Mary J. Blige (now that I’ve learned how to code it down to a small playbox, I’m going to try putting it right under the iPod song–just in case you want to listen while reading.)

I’ve actually been mulling in my head how to write this entry. The reason? I don’t agent the same as all other agents so it’s hard to talk about percentage.

For example, in comparison to a lot of other agents, I don’t sell a lot of books in any given year. I’ve never have—even when I started seven years ago. I’m very selective about the projects I take on.

Earlier in my career when I was still feeling out my tastes and what I really wanted to represent, I had a much higher percentage of books that didn’t sell (especially when I was doing nonfiction titles—which I’m hopeless at and hence why I just rep fiction).

When I became more comfortable in the fiction realm and knew exactly what works for me and what works for the editors, my percentage of projects sold drastically increased. I’m going to assume that what is of most interest to blog readers is the percentage of projects sold for new clients (or debut authors) who haven’t been previously published.

For me, I’m looking back on the last two years and my percentage is almost 100% of what I took on sold. Now this sounds like I’m tooting my horn and other agents aren’t good as I am but that’s not what I’m trying to say (although it could be true, I really don’t know). There may be another way to look at this. Maybe I’m not taking as many risks. I don’t perceive it that way as I only take on the stuff I love but maybe that’s it.

Maybe other agents take on a higher percentage of projects because they are at bigger agencies and have to meet sales quotas. Maybe other agents take on more because they get paid on commission only and bills need to be paid (so the higher percentage they take on, the more likelihood that % number of projects will sell). Maybe other agents take on more simply because they love more stuff then I do (have a broader range in their tastes) and not all of it can sell. Maybe other agents are newer to agenting and still feeling out their tastes and what works best for them to sell.

I haven’t got a definitive answer here.

But what I can say because of yesterday’s entry, my record is not a 100% this year!

Now what’s interesting is that when I took on this author, I knew it wasn’t going to be a slam dunk sale. It’s a work that genre blends so didn’t fit squarely into one place or the other (always harder to sell). Also, this work was something very different for me to rep; it was going outside my “box” so to speak (although I like to think I don’t have a box and I’m open to anything as long as the voice is there). And, to top it off, an earlier version of this work had been shopped previously by another agent. We did a major revision and took it out again. Both the author and I knew what we were up against. If I don’t challenge myself now and again, what’s the point? This work is good; it deserves to sell. This week, we were “this close” to selling it before getting shot down in the agony of defeat.

And if I can’t sell this one, chances are really good I’m going to be selling a future work from this client. The author has a great way of nailing characters who are gray-area bad guys but end up being perversely likable. That’s mastery. I’m patient—as is the author.

So no unblemished record for me this year. C’est la vie!

The Agony of Defeat

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I’m really ready to read a submission that really excites me.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SHE TALKS TO ANGELS by The Black Crowes

Do you remember watching the Wide World of Sports and Bogotaj’s failed ski jump clip timed with the words “the agony of defeat”? I think that image is now synonymous with the concept of crash and burn.

Well, this is exactly how an agent feels when a manuscript he/she believes in doesn’t sell. (And I can’t imagine what an author feels like when this happens! Do they imagine that same vision?)

As a general rule, it’s not possible for an agent to sell every single project that is taken on. A lot of times the market isn’t quite right, the timing is off, the submission falls through the appreciation crack, who knows.

But not every project sells.

That’s a fact of life and not why I’m writing this entry. The toughest moment comes when an editor really believes in a project, when the editor fights for the project at editorial board, and then the unbelievable reply comes that despite the editor’s best efforts, he/she won’t be offering for the project. The work, already rejected from numerous houses, is at the end of the submission yet having come so close to almost making it through. So close and yet it might as well be a mile apart.

That, my friends, is the agony of defeat and let me tell you, agents do feel it as keenly as their authors. Well, I take that back. I really don’t believe it’s possible for the agent to feel as deeply as the author does for that lost opportunity. After all, it’s not quite as personal. I always feel incredible sad anyway (and for some reason I run that mental clip through my brain).

I don’t think I’m wrong. Why doesn’t the rest of the world see what I see?

And then I remember that it all comes down to timing and oddly enough, luck.

That can be the most frustrating part of this biz and about as graceful as tumbling through a failed jump.

Because Inquiring Minds Want To Know

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: I worked on outstanding issues on two contracts, did a phone conference with an author and my film co-agent, touched base with my marketing director on two outstanding issues from last Friday and answered 118 emails. Maybe tomorrow I can actual tackle my To Do list for the day.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? THE MUMMER’S DANCE by Loreena McKennitt

At the end of each day, I do try and catch up with what is going on in the blog world. I like knowing about what other agents and editors are writing about.

So that was what I was doing when I stumbled upon this entry by Editorial Anonymous. I avidly read the entry and looked at the comments. Only 20 people responded? Unbelievable. I get comments like this every day on my blog and here we have an editor answering some key questions such as:

Q1. Given these recessionary times, are nervous publishers holding back on making decisions to take on a book?

You bet I’m reading that with interest.

Q3. As agents go, do publishers give them a pecking order, and so my agent may be lower in the pecking order?

Inquiring minds what to know!

Q7. Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I’ve yet to receive a response?

So I obviously need to point out this revealing entry. On submission right now, get ye over there and read Give Me Your Tired, Your Confused, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Know What the **** Is Going On

And if you’re not at that stage and wondered about these Qs, you’ll also want to check it out.

Q8. From roughly what proportion of partial submissions do you then request the full?

Q9. Of those fulls you request, what proportion of manuscripts would actually be acquired?

Q10. Are you more likely to request a full if you met the author and got on reasonably well with them at a conference or workshop, or would that have no bearing whatsoever on your decision?

Q11. Or if the author had already been published, would that be more persuasive?

Editor Rejection Remorse (Definition)

by Kristin Nelson

STATUS: Technology can make working effortless. When it’s not working, let me tell you what a headache it can be. What a miserable Wednesday.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? HUNTING HIGH AND LOW by a-ha

I have to say that I got a kick out of reading all your definitions for editor rejection remorse. In fact, just about every entry had a terrific definition. No one quite nailed what I had in mind when I was coining the term but more on that in a minute.

In the comments, the most popular definition for editor rejection remorse was an editor who had turned down a manuscript only to later see it be really successful or hit the NYT list.

I think that would also be agent rejection remorse. Grin. Funny enough, I’ve had two books I passed on hit the NYT list and sure, I took a moment to second guess myself but the truth of the matter? I still don’t like either of those books. It so wasn’t right for me. But there is an upcoming release that I went back and forth, back and forth on and then passed—mainly because I was crunched for time and had to make a decision so I let it go. It’s building in buzz as of late so I’ll probably have good regret on that one. Oh well, I only have so many hours in the day.

And editors I’m sure have a moment’s pause as well but every editor I’ve asked said that they can’t spend too much time on things they passed on because maybe it took that certain house with that certain editor to have the vision to put that title on the bestseller list or to give it the good success it had.

Do we believe it? That’s the question….

Now I think it’s normal to have genuine regret if you are the editor who was the underbidder in the auction (as in the editor lost out but really wanted the project). That just plain sucks—especially if the editor did everything in his or her power to get the higher ups to go the distance and they didn’t. Nothing the editor can do there and then to see the project they really wanted be successful can be painful.

Now for me, here is the definition of editor rejection remorse I had in mind when I was typing up last night’s entry. This actually happened. I had an editor pass on a submission with a really glowing rejection letter. The editor used words such as “savored” this novel and “was mesmerized by the beautiful language.”

Yeah, I know. I still can’t believe that was a rejection letter.

A week later, the editor couldn’t stop thinking about the novel and so out of the blue, wrote me an email with an editorial revision letter for the author. The editor mentioned how she would very much like to see this novel again.

She was obviously having rejection remorse. Editors have a lot on their plates in any given day or week so the fact that it was still in the forefront of her mind a week later says a lot. Now whether that will than equal a sale is the crucial question.