Crossing Over

When I asked yous guys what you wanted me to blog about the most, many of you said you want to know what happens after you get an agent. So that's what today's post will entail, in order of events:

You accept an offer of rep from an agent. You're on cloud ninety-nine. All your hard work has paid off. Now you can just sit back and...Yeah, not so much. While your agent was/is ecstatic about your project, it doesn't mean it's ready to send off to ye editors. Ideally, you will have discussed this sort of thing *before* you accept the offer of rep, but if not, then NOW is when you talk about the possible revisions and tweaking your MS might need. Depending on the extent of the remodel, it will take a few weeks to a month or more to sculpt it into submittable shape. *Note: Lucy requested minor changes, which I made within a week. Each situation/time frame will be different. You will get tired of hearing me say this.

Now that your baby has been through MS boot camp, it's ready to go to war, vying in the big arena for the attention of editors. You are excited about this. You can't sleep at night. You accidentally put the milk in the cabinet and the cereal in the fridge, and you don't remember driving to work but you must have because you're pulling into the parking spot that you'll soon come to loathe. Your relationship with your agent feels like that of a newlywed, all googly-eyed and rose-colored bifocals and such. It will be difficult to remember that she is your business partner instead of your bestest friend in the whole entire snuggly world. Seriously. But you won't have time for this mushy-gushy-cuddle-muffin stuff because...

Probably you'll be having another phone conversation with your dream agent about where she'll be submitting, and the strategy she'll be using. You'll want to know how long it will take to hear back from these editors. She won't be able to tell you. This won't be because she's not fantabulous--because trust me, she's fantabulous. It's just that this business is...wait for it...subjective. Some editors will read it right away. Some won't get to it for a month, maybe more. Like agents, editors don't have time to sit around all day and read submissions. Much of their reading, like agents, is done on the weekend.

You'll ask Fantabulous Agent what you should be doing while these editors are reviewing your work. Fantabulous Agent will say...wait for it...keep writing. So, aside from the floaty, euphoric feeling of having a professional cheerleader on your side talking up you and your project, the whole process of submitting to editors is much like the query process we go through to snag Incredible Agent. You still watch your email obsessively. You still feel like maybe you're not good enough. You still bite your nails and curse yourself for ruining a perfectly good French mani.

And you still have to wait. So, to harden you up for this process, I'm making you wait for the next blogpost to find out what happens when you get "the other call". ("The call" is, and always will be, reserved for agents.)

Happy Monday!

Are You Ready to Tell People About Your Book?

Many of you already know that agents ask for different things in a query letter. Some simply ask for the query letter, some ask for the query and the first five pages, while others ask for the query, a synopsis, and the first three chapters. But what they ALL ask for is a well-written blurb that describes your book. Nathan Bransford, a former literary agent, discusses one-sentence, one-paragraph, and two-paragraph pitches here.

As difficult as writing a good query letter is, I'm finding that telling people about my book is harder than writing about it. To the point where, when someone asks what my book is about, I say, "It's about mermaids." They usually return this indulgent looks that tells me I should have at least added an expletive or two to make it more interesting, since I didn't take the time to manipulate my plot into an informal blurb. But writers, you NEED this. You need to be able to tell people about it, to make a memorable impression for reasons other than awkwardness.

Complete strangers who hear you talking to your daughter about your book. Bookstore managers with whom you're trying to arrange an in-store signing. Friends and frenemies, acquaintances, relatives and twice-removed cousins. You need to be able to pique their interest verbally, and sound freaking cool while doing it. You can fling a bagillion marketing dollars at your book, but word of mouth will always be more effective in selling it than the prettiest internet ad.

It will take practive. It might take some wine. But get ready. You should be the best person to ask about your book. "It's about mermaids" = writer fail. So, by the end of the week, I hereby promise to have an interesting informal-sounding pitch, AND I promise to use it on at least 10 new people.

What about you? Are you ready to tell people about your book?

You Tell Me

Okay friends, I need your input. I'm about to go to line editing with OF POSEIDON in a couple of weeks, but I don't want to be so erratic with my blog posts. My goal is to have a batch of ready-made posts for your reading pleasure during this time, some cut and paste goodies I can write in advance. When I sat down to make a list of topics, I felt a little silly, with three things on the list and all. So I thought I'd ask you. What questions do you have about the publishing process? Is there anything that concerns you right now? What do you need help with the most?

You tell me. Ask and you shall receive...

P.S. Tomorrow, stop by http://authoraghoward.blogspot.com/ for my author interview. Anita Howard is my gracious hostess, and she is one of US--a slush pile find with an awesome novel on submission to editors AS WE SPEAK! :) And while you're over there, check out her book trailer!

I'm Baaaaaack!

Sorry for the long silence--I had to ask for a tiny extension on my revisions due to a surprise root canal. I love surprises. Just not when they're root canals... Soooo. About the revisions (which are offically completed and turned in). I know I mentioned before about the 4 page editorial letter. I thought it was mostly minor issues, tweaking, re-touching. But when I went back through the MS with fresh eyes, I realized it was major revisions, and some of those not even in the editorial letter. In a way, I performed a root canal on my MS. It was still mostly my original, but I gutted it and re-made it, only better and stronger than the original. I cut 18k words and wrote 17k words to replace those. I cut scenes I loved, but they did nothing to move the plot forward. Then I replaced them with scenes I loved more, scenes that worked like a donkey for the plot. And I'm really, really excited about it. I wanted to share something I found very helpful in this process. I created an excel spreadsheet to document my revisions. The left colum indicated the chapter number. The middle column told a short synopsis of the content of each chapter. The right one indicated what needed to be changed in that chapter, if anything. As I went through and revised, I replaced what needed to be changed with a description of what actually changed, and I notated the page numbers for reference. This will help you when you turn in your revised MS--outlining all the changes for your editor saves him/her a big chunk of time for the re-read. What about you? What editing advice do you have? I'd love to know!

Progress Check

Sorry for the long silence. Though I intend to keep this post short and sweet (and you'll see why in a minute), I want to thank everyone for cheering for me and for all the congratulations. In keeping true to my word in blogging about the process, here is what I've learned about the publishing industry so far: It isn't always slow.

I've already received my first editorial letter (four pages, single spaced!) and I've already had my first pow wow with the editors about it. My silence is because I'm working to get the revisions done by April 1st. This will likely be my last post until then.

For those of you new to writing, you need to be prepping that rhino skin right now, so that it's fully developed when you hit this stage. So that when you receive a four page, single spaced letter telling you everything that DOESN'T work about your book, you'll be able to look it objectively. I'm not saying I didn't fall out of my chair, and partly because of a certain comment made about a certain scene which still has me blushing, but I'm just saying that you need to have skin thick enough to open the document without crying or being rushed to the ER. That's all. You need to collect some critique partners so that your wounds are calloused over by the time you hit this stage in the game. (BTW, it's a lot to take in at first, but really truly all of the editorial input I received was so on-point that I could hardly argue how much better it would make the book. By the end of the phone conference, I felt this overwhelming sense of appreciation for landing in such good hands with Feiwel and Friends, not to mention Lucy!)

Okay so, since my last post, this has happened:

1.) Mom back in the hospital.
2.) Editorial letter.
3.) Meeting with editors about said editorial letter.
4.) Computer crashed.
5.) Got the stinking flu.
6.) Got a new computer.
7.) Mom out of the hospital.
8.) Revisions, revisions, revisions.
9.) Beginning this week, I will be tranporting my sister to cardiac rehab 3xweek, for at least the next month.
10.) Editor needed author bio and author pic RIGHT AWAY for promotional packages to sell international rights at Bologna Children's Book Fair THIS MONTH!

Also, did I mention I work full time? And so, that is why I haven't been blogging. Please forgive me! But please don't blog flog me for not posting until after April 1st!

Thanks again for all the support, and I hope my erradic posts are still encouraging.

HOW IT HAPPENED

I know I've been saying I'd post the whole story here, and I'm sorry for the delay! I love reading success stories of other writers, so hopefully you'll enjoy mine. And hopefully it will motivate you to keep going:

I wrote my YA Fantasy OF POSEIDON (title subject to change, as many of you know) in a pretty short time frame, considering I work full time and have a young daughter, and help to care for my elderly mother. Anyway, with the first book I wrote, (OF POSEIDON is my second attempt at writing) I completely screwed up my query letter and closed the doors to a lot of agencies I thought would like it. How did I screw it up? Well, for starters, it was over 1,000 words long!

So the first novel was a learning experience. But I wrote OF POSEIDON with a purpose, armed with much more knowledge of the industry. They say you should always test your query letter on agents on your "B" and "C" list before sending to agents on your "A" list--the ones you really, really want. So, before the manuscript was actually finished, I shot off a first draft test query the beginning of January. Within two days, she asked for the full. The word 'Panic' was invented for this situation. Also, the word 'Idiotic' comes to mind. Anyway, I scrambled to get that draft out to her within a reasonable time frame. She passed, of course, because it was a first draft MS.

Then, I figured maybe her response time was just a fluke, so I sent out a few more queries while I edited. And received a few more bites. I decided my query letter was ready to go, so I began to query everyone on my list. And continued to edit.

I found an agent who I thought would really love it, and queried her with the first chapter. Within 45 minutes, she emailed me back with: "If only you could see my smile. Please send the rest and I look forward to reading it!" So, I squealed appropriately and then did as I was told. Within a week, she emailed that she would like to offer representation if I'd be willing to make a few revisions. Since I was about to leave for an all-girls cruise with my sisters, we agreed to get together when I got back.

Then, Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency emailed and asked for the full. She also wanted to know if other agencies were looking at it, which I did tell her I had several fulls and partials out. I also let her know I'd be out of touch for a few days because of the cruise. She promised to read quickly so I would know where I stood with her before I left. I emailed her the full, and within a few hours, she emailed me back and said she peeked at my first page and could tell I had a voice that was confident, so she'd try to get through as much as she could before I left.

The morning we were supposed to board the ship, I'm eating breakfast in the hotel with the rest of my crazy sisters and I get a call on my cell with a NYC area code. When I answer, it's Lucy! She tells me she only read about 75 pages so far, but that she absolutely loves it and doesn't want me to sign with anyone else before I talk to her. I clam up. Maybe it's just me, but what would you do in that situation? We all dream about the "call", and even though I already had a contingent offer of rep, this agent called to catch me before I left after reading only 75 pages! Lucy can sense that I'm a little overwhelmed, so she tells me to call her once I board so we can have a more in depth conversation.

I board the ship in a daze. I'm glad my sisters were keeping up with my 9 year old daughter for me, because I wasn't acting like Mother of the Year just then. I couldn't enjoy the Jamaican music or the fruity drinks laced with liquor they started passing out immediately. My mother was in emergency surgery at the moment back home, and we were all waiting for an update on it. And now, I've got two offers of rep on the table for a work I'd only begun querying a couple weeks before.

When I call Lucy from my cabin, I try to be more outgoing, and fail obnoxiously at it. Lucy is a good sport and explains all the pertinent information. Then she starts pitching to me about what a great agency the Friedrich agency is, and how I'd be very well-cared for if I'd join their ranks. I tell her that I've been working with another agent who'd like to see some revisions, and express my concerns that she has only read 75 pages, and what if she wanted even more revisions? She said she didn't care, and that she never offers representation based on a partial, but that I should consider this an official offer and I should notify other agents immediately to let them know. Then I clam up again, because does this ever really happen??? We end the conversation agreeing to touch base when I get back.

Then our ship leaves New Orleans, heading for Cozumel, and what I really want to do is jump ship and swim back to nurture my budding new writing career. On board, I end up buying one of their expensive internet packages so we can touch base with my hubby. When I check my email, I almost fall out of my chair--Molly Friedrich, the founder and president of the agency, has personally emailed me! She says that she personally read the manuscript as well, and that if she needs to throw Lucy on a plane to come down here and convince me to sign with them, she will absolutely do it. She said my manuscript would enjoy the full backing of the agency, and she also outlined their success in launching debut authors. So now, this cruise has become my own personal hell, a prison keeping me from starting my dream immediately.

On the last day of the cruise, my sister suffers a heart attack. When we port, she's taken straight to the ER, where they perform tests and inform her that she will need open heart surgery. She ends up getting a room on the same floor of the hospital as my mother, who is still recovering from her own surgery. So now, I'm juggling family emergencies with family life, and returning to my job the day after we port. Meanwhile, I'm emailing other agents that I've received an offer (which makes me feel guilty because I already know in my heart that it's Lucy, period), and within twenty minutes of sending them, I get an influx of requests for fulls.

I end up getting two more offers of rep--one contingent on major revisions, such as changing the whole thing to first person POV, and the other with minor revisions and both from very good agencies. I accept Lucy's offer, amid all this, plus my sister developing pneumonia and my mom falling twice in the hospital, breaking her foot, and losing a tooth. Then my niece, who had flown down here from Arkansas to help care for my sister during her recovery, ends up in ICU herself with diabetic ketoacidosis. I visited each family member in shifts; one in the morning, one on my lunch hour and one in the evening.

After reading the rest of my MS, Lucy did have some minor revisions as well, but they were easy fixes and I submitted them quickly. Within days, she submitted it to editors and within days of that, we received an outstanding offer, which we promptly accepted.

Now that my sister is out of the hospital, my niece is out of ICU, and my mom is recovering in rehab, I can breath and actually be excited about all of this. I know this blog entry sounds like a whirlwind, but I told it like it happened. Now that life has calmed down, I'm excited to begin the next steps of my writing career.

And I intend to share those steps with all of you who kept me motivated and supported me and will some day be in this position, although I hope not in as chaotic circumstances! So, stay the course, DON'T EVER GIVE UP. NEVER ever never ever.

Rejections do suck. The day after Lucy sold my manuscript, I received a rejection from an agent on said MS. When agents tell you that this business is subjective, believe them. Keep submitting. It will happen. It really, really will.

BOOK DEAL!

Well, I know I promised to give you details about how I came to land awesome agent Lucy Carson (it really truly is an interesting story), but now I have a little more news. She has negotiated an outstanding two-book deal for my young adult novel with Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan specializing in children's fiction (in case you didn't realize, and my story about how we came to be a team will further convince you, Lucy is a bit ambitious).

I'm extremely excited to work with editor Jean Feiwel (anyone ever heard of the Goosebumps series and The Babysitters Club? Yeah, that's her, and now she has her very own imprint!) As this process unfolds, I promise to update regularly, but as you can see, things have been happening a teensy bit fast, and I've hardly had time to catch my breath. But do check out the Feiwel and Friends website; you'll see why I'm so excited to join the ranks there!