At Technorati, author Jane Sadek tells a little tale from an agents conference held by the Writer’s League of Texas. Three agents all agree that a certain query submission would have been stronger if it had contained a comparative title, but how do they react to the title comparisons in the queries that follow?
Check out “Goldilocks and the Three Literary Agents.”
procraftinate /pro-kræf-ti-neit/ v. – to put off writing and sending query letters to literary agents so one can continue researching, writing, and rewriting fiction.
An assertion we often read on book trade blogs is that the process of selecting a book for representation and publication is subjective. I have to confess that this idea raises major red flags for me, not necessarily as an author, but as writing professional who has worked as both a writer and an editor.
Do you think the Norse god Odin, who takes advice from a severed head, rides an eight-legged horse, talks to ravens, sacrificed an eye and hanged himself in the pursuit of wisdom, would appreciate us referring to his day as “Hump Day”?!
Well, okay… the “Hump” refers to finally suffering through the worst trials of the workweek, and looking forward to the pleasures of the Day of Frigg (his wife), so maybe he would appreciate the symbolism. *shrug*
As Odin was the literary agent of Norse myth, let us away to this week’s literary agent links!
In a recent Huff Post blog, author Melanie Benjamin joins the chorus of publishing-related people who are starting to speak some sense in the maelstrom of “everyone can be a writer” cheerleading.
While her main point is that aspiring writers should also be avid readers (her raison d’écrire was Tin House publishing’s decision to require a bookstore receipt for unsolicited manuscript submissions) she touches on the core of my argument that publishing is in danger of becoming a pyramid scheme.
I think that’s the problem today; too many authors, not enough readers. So many people dream of seeing their book on a front table in a bookstore; so few people actually buy books that are on front tables–or back shelves–of bookstores. So few people even know where their closest bookstore is located.
As someone who can think of three chain bookstores, two independent bookstores, and three used bookstores within walking distance of where I live (not to mention the bookstores in the National Mall’s various museums) I could not agree more.
But more importantly, “too many authors – not enough readers” is the Formula of Ultimate Doom for the publishing industry’s current toxic combination of DIY marketing and cross-consumerization of readers into wannabe writers. It’s the reason all pyramid schemes fail: not enough new recruits funneling resources to the top cats who are reaping all the rewards.
Benjamin goes on:
I have no problem with a publisher requiring an aspiring author to show proof that he’s read at least one book lately. Wouldn’t it be great if every writers’ conference required the same thing for all applicants? Wouldn’t it be wonderful–if not strictly ethical–if every literary agent did this, too?
I’ll be honest: considering some of the quirky pet peeves for which agents reject queries, I can’t see the ethical problem in asking for some proof that a writer is involved in the literary process beyond clicking send on an email, so long as the agent doesn’t require that the book be one she or her firm represented.
I have a stack of books knee-high already from 2010 alone. Bring it on!
Heck, if every aspiring author read ten books a year, this industry would not be having the problems it’s having today.
I will see that bet and raise you, Melanie. If half of the aspiring authors (specifically those for whom getting published is more for dazzle than devotion) would shift their enthusiasm for literature entirely from writing to reading, publishing would be both financially and artistically richer.
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For a similar piece by Joseph Bednarik, read “The Law of Diminishing Readership” at Poets & Writers.
Pyramid scheme? Is that an unsigned writer standing by a publishing bridge with a lighter in one hand and a can of kerosene in the other?
Believe me, what follows is not intended as an accusation of any sort. I have the greatest respect for literary agents, editors, and publishers, who slog through piles of manuscripts that would make me cry like only a grown man can cry: masked in anger and empty threats. I have suffered through enough truly awful writers’ group submissions to know that I could never do what these ladies and gentlemen do on a daily basis.
So, this isn’t about questioning anyone’s integrity. And, it’s not about protecting or promoting my own interests as a writer, which the last few paragraphs will make clear. It’s about trying to help the literary community as a whole by connecting dots that are as yet unconnected, showing how several recent trends in publishing are converging in a very, very bad way through a natural and largely unintentional process of business evolution.
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As almost any industry blog will tell you, the publishing biz is in flux. New formats, new challenges, new avenues to success have put every assumption and axiom of recieved wisdom up for grabs.
In the midst of all this chaos progress change, it is still possible to recognize an event that sheds new light on the evolving dynamics of publishing.
For example, promotional and marketing specialist Steff Deschenes has scooped up nearly a dozen literary prizes for her self-published commentary on everyday life, The Ice Cream Theory. In it, she compares different personality types with different flavors of frozen treat. Continue reading
First of all, let me do a favor for Jessica at BookEnds LLC, and literary agents everywhere, by reminding all of you prospective authors out there that a “novel” is a fictional narrative longer than 50,000 words. There is no need to say “fiction novel” and no reason to say “non-fiction novel.”
And now, let’s go on to the links! Continue reading
First link of the day comes from Jessica at BookEnds. Following up on a fantastic post by Nathan Bransford about the importance of keeping a “series bible” to keep track of the little details in your fictional world, Jessica explains the difference between a series bible and a style sheet, and why an author should seriously consider developing a style sheet before his or her work goes under the editor’s knife.
I am using that as my intro today because Jessica’s idea hadn’t even occurred to me, even though I do maintain a rough series bible for the Observer Tales. (The releasable stuff, I rework into Observer’s Gloss entries.) Now I have another project!
On to the rest of the links: Continue reading
Now that I’m returning to the link soup model (see my previous post about writer links for the whole sordid confession) I might as well go ahead and pump out some links to literary agent stuff I have found interesting recently.
In keeping with the new style — and until you tell me it makes you bat-crazy — these links will use the bullet method to avoid that ugly dotted underline hyperlink marker.
