Authors' Thread (New! Improved! Now With 10% More Questions!)

At risk of seeming like a masterbater, I'm reposting this, which I originally stuck on the Sports Publishing LLC thread. It was something I needed to get off my chest and that seemed the best outlet, but I think it probably should have gone here:


Too many publishers -- and too many writers, including me, when I started out -- feel as though the writer's lucky just to get a book published, and asking for anything beyond that honor is an ingrate's exercise. It's as though that romantic desire to slip your book on your shelf trumps every other good instinct.

I mean, if a newspaper editor came up to you and said, "I'd like you to write 100,000 words for us, and we'll pay you an advance of $5,000, which you may or may not earn out if you see it at all," you'd tell him to eat a dick. But a book publisher does the same thing, and it's like we've struck gold.

Again, I was guilty of the same lovesickness. This isn't a condemnation of anyone on this thread.

But here's what I know now: Writing a book is fucking hard. Getting it published might give you a nice little spark and a book you've written is the prettiest thing to look at it, but never forget that book publishing is a business, too. It's about selling a product and making money with it. Don't undersell your talent. Get an agent. Don't assume that a publisher is looking out for you. Don't take the first offer. Don't feel like they're doing you a favor. Always remember that if a publisher wants to publish your book, it's because they see a potential value in it, not because they're in it for the art. Make sure you see that same value in yourself.

Just because the words are printed on a different kind of paper with a different kind of cover, doesn't mean you should forget that they're words all the same, and that words are a writer's currency. It's how we communicate, but it's how we pay for the bumwad, too. Hell, even crack whores get some crack out of the deal.

GET PAID.

 

To revive a dormant thread: Anybody here have a literary agent they'd be willing to recommend, particularly one that deals with memoirs?

I ask because I've read online that it helps get your stuff noticed if in your query (I always try to spell that word queary), you mention that 'so-and-so' recommended them.

On the other hand, anyone have any agent/publishing horror stories to share, people to avoid, etc?

 

As I just PM'd another poster. The best way for you to get an agent is to do the following:

1) check for an agent in your geographic area

2) look on the acknowledgments page of anther book you repsect that is similar, but not identical, to yours, to see if an agent is mentioned

3) write a good query letter to the agent and have proposal either ready, or nearly so, to share in the event interest is expressed

I am often asked by friends/acquaintances to "recommend" agents. I almost never do, because, like most writers, I have experience with just one or two agents. My current agent, for example, while he/she may rep a memoir, also doesn't want to be bothered by brand new authors - it is not cost effective for the agency. And if I recommended every writer that asked me to, my agent would no longer answer my calls. Also, many authors won't recommend an agent because you don't want your agent to rep an author who may be doing work similar to your own.

You kind of have to do this one on your own. Instead of saying "so and so" recommended them, write that you read "book such and such" were impressed to learn that the agent represented the author, and that you have a book that you believe might be of interest for the following reasons.

Good luck.

 

Seconding what IE said... In some respects being "recommended" really translates only to "this author is doing this other writer a favor," which may even put an agent off. That's conjecture - I'm not an agent - but I do know that when I've recommended friends to my agent, he has been polite about it but it certainly hasn't changed how he's approached the book.

Again, very small sample size here (as in me and a few peers) but it seems getting an agent happens either because A) that agent reads something you write and gets excited and contacts you (rare) or B) you write a kickass query letter. And really, that means that especially the first few grafs are kickass. Write those grafs as if that's all the agent might read, because often that's the case. Then, once you have his/her attention, sell your idea hard. Why it's unique, why it will be spellbinding, why there's a market for it or, failing all that - and this is how I got my first book contract - why you're the only person crazy enough to undertake such an idea.
To go that final route, I recommend being young, single, willing to live on no money or, preferably, all three. As Jones mentioned earlier, writing books does far more for the self-esteem than the wallet.

 

It's been a while since I've posted, and there's a reason for that. Call it (in Scrubs style) My Cautionary Tale.

Without outing myself too much, I've been toying with the idea of a book for a while. I caught a break a few years ago and broke a pretty big story on my college beat. Finally, earlier this year and with the help of my mentors, I started putting together the basics of a book idea - taking the story I broke and using it to examine broader themes.

I pitched it to an agent (again, a door opened thanks to a mentor) and never heard a word.

Just this week, I get an e-mail from an acquaintance. He tells me he's started work on a book on the same subject and wants to talk to me about my experience with it.

Now ... for the record, there's no plagiarism whatsoever. He came up with the idea on his own, like I did. And I'm flattered that he's asked for my help. But the fact that he's farther along that I already am (he told me so) made me realize tonight that I'm not going to be writing the book. There's only one book out of this story, and he's going to beat me to it.

And that, my friends, is a feeling that sucks

I should be clear: I didn't spend the past couple months ignoring the book and playing Wii all day. I'm applying to graduate schools for next year, and that became my main focus over the past few months. I cover two beats for my shop, and am married with a house and a dog.

But I never gave the project the work it deserved. I didn't have the discipline to get my butt in the chair every day and get writing. For that, I feel like I owe an apology to the people on this board who honor the craft so well. To be honest, I waited two or three years too long to even get started I always thought I was too busy, too inexperienced, to devote the time to a project like this. And both of those may be true. But they're excuses. And they're why I'm writing this, sucking down a Harvest Moon, instead of doing work on my book.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not depressed or angry about this. To be honest, the notion of going to grad school and studying for my PhD. and eventually teaching has me more jazzed than the book idea ever did. Today, I applied to an Ivy League school - which made me happy and scared all at the same time. But there's a part of me that's sad, knowing that I won't be the one to write this book.

So my cautionary tale is this: If you have a good idea, or an idea that could be shaped into a good one, don't sit on it. Don't wait for the right time. Get writing. Get working on it right now. Stop toying with the idea and start typing.

(Sorry for the length. Needed to ramble and vent a bit).

 

Thanks for posting, Jimmy. The Workshop sends you best regards and warm wishes for great academic success.

To the heart of your post - the notion of opportunity passed, missed or unfulfilled - no apologies necessary, ever. To anyone. You'll write the book you're meant to write in the time you're meant to write it. Or you won't, and the world will fill your heart in other ways.

Just this thought and reminder for our younger readers and writers struggling to make sense of their work and their future, as I still struggle to make sense of mine:

As I grow older, I regret most sharply those things I haven't done.

To comfort myself in this - like an old mule following a carrot dangling from a stick - I keep my dreams right out in front of me where I can always see them.

 

After a few years of having an idea stuck in my head for a novel, I sat down two months ago and started writing. And writing. And writing.

Here's my question for ye wise men: as I've seen jgmacg mention before, fiction is a whole new ballgame when it comes to getting your manuscript sold, as many of you have mentioned that most fiction books get sold after completion, or at least halfway. My question is, when is the right time to start looking for an agent?

I don't believe I'm there yet - I still have a ways to go with this book - but I'd just like to hear what some of you think. This is my first book project. I'll be writing this book to completion either way, but getting this stuff straight would help ease my mind.

One last note - starting this book has been one of the best experiences of my life. I've had these ideas in my head for a while now, and after reading through this thread, was finally motivated to sit down and put the damn words on the page. It feels great. Now I'm hooked

 

Stay hooked, Try pitching it now, if you are at least halfway through, although an agent may not go all in until it's finished...

And in this market, not matter how good you are, and how good your book is, no agent and no publisher might bite anyway. So if you are serious be prepared for this to, potentially, all be an exercise, something you write on your way to writing something that will be published, because, due to no fault of your own, this book may not. See the book publishing thread on the main journalism page for more.

 

Thanks for the advice In Exile.

Like I mentioned in my post, in all honesty, I'm writing this book for me, which is probably a good thing with the current economic climate. But honestly, when I'm sitting there writing, it's for me...if it gets published, hey that's even better

This thread has been invaluable, both for information and motivation.

 

The first time I pitched an agent, I think I sent him about five or six possible book ideas. That actually goes against some recommendations I've read, which say that you should have a firm idea in mind. But the problem with that is this, to me - what if the agent likes you, but doesn't like the idea? Then you've done a lot of work for nothing.

The agent liked a couple of the five or six ideas I sent him, then sat on them for a few days. Finally, he picked one out and we got to work. He sent me five or six sample proposals he did with other writers, and I used those as a template. Some of them were books you've definitely heard of and possibly even read. It was interesting to see them in proposal form.

There was, of course, no guarantee that the book would interest a publisher at all, let alone a New York house. And we went back and forth with the proposal for about a year. Sometimes weeks would go by without me hearing from the agent, broken only intermittently by a, "Thanks for your patience!" email.

Having an ego like most writers, and getting little feedback through the years like most newspaper reporters, I couldn't wait until he read my proposal and contacted me back to tell me how it was the most amazing, stupendous, artful piece of writing he had ever read. Wrong. He hated the intro. Thought I had it completely wrong, down to the concept. So we worked, and we worked, and we worked.

Finally, he sent it around. Rejection. Rejection. Rejection.

And, then, like a beacon, an offer.

The manuscript is due in November.

 

Wallace --
See that last paragraph you typed?
Tattoo that bad boy on your forehead. Set it in pink neon on the lawn. Paint it on the side of your barn. Never, ever, forget it.

 

Thanks for the words of advice all. Another question by the novice:

Upon completion of said manuscript, and the time comes to find an agent, what is the initial way to try to 'sell' the book to the agent. Is it in the form of a book proposal-type way, or is it more just talking with the agent, telling them about the book and letting them check out your work? Just curious.

And still going strong on the book. Thanks all.