Deborah Heal

Scribophile Is an Option to Consider

The hard work of revising Honor at Stake continues. My new friends at Scribophile (and others) are finding lots of ways to improve it, stuff I was blind to. My response to most of their comments is, duh, I should have seen that myself. But after nearly a year of writing the book, I realize I’m too close to it to see what’s clearly on the page—or for that matter, what’s not on the page but should be. I am so grateful for these fresh eyes.

Having a local writer’s group would be wonderful, but I have not been able to find one close enough. I highly recommend Scribophile for writers in the same situation. Being a member has dual benefits. I get my work critiqued. I learn valuable lessons from critiquing other members’ work, both what to do and what not to do. And then there are the benefits of critiquing on my own schedule and not taking valuable writing time to travel. The downside for Scribophile is that it takes time to earn enough “Karma” points to post my chapters for critique. It’s taken a month to get eighteen chapters posted (only four more to go), and so far only six of them have received critiques.

But eventually, after taking the bits of advice that seem appropriate (and politely ignoring those that don’t) I’ll go through my manuscript with a fine toothed comb once last time. I’ve decided my next step will be to send it off to The Writer’s Edge, a “manuscript screening service for 75 cooperating Christian publishers.” For a fee, they will evaluate it and tell me if it is “publishable.” If they deem it so, they will send out a synopsis to their member publishers and see if any of them are interested in offering me a contract. If they deem my manuscript unready, they will offer advice (though not a detailed critique) on how to improve it. By the way, paid critique services cost hundreds of dollars.

If a publisher picks up my book through The Writer’s Edge, I may decide not to pursue an agent after all. Or maybe I should still get one to better protect my contract rights? But then again, I’d really like to avoid paying an agent 15% of my blood, sweat, and tears. If I am not successful with Writer’s Edge, it will be back to the drawing board. Here’s hoping (and praying) for success!

 

Getting a Literary Agent

I decided I needed an agent for my second book. I know—it sounds pretentious.

But apparently these days it’s a requirement for getting a book published by one of the larger publishers where a writer has a greater chance for success. At least this is true for fiction. (For non-fiction there’s a 50/50% chance of success without an agent.)

Agents are the gate keepers publishers rely on to sort through the gazillions of manuscripts people send in every week, only a few of worthy of consideration.  Most manuscripts that hit their desks aren’t:

polished enough—just not ready for prime time (Hence the need for Feed Back Buddies post haste.)

the genre or category a publisher handles

what the reading public is in the mood for (Right now it’s vampires, so I might be in trouble here.)

Most larger publishers will throw out without reading any un-agented manuscript that reaches them. But it’s also to the writer’s advantage to have an agent because

they already have built relationships with publishers and can get the writer in the door,

they fight to get writers the best, most lucrative contract, because they get paid a % of sales,

they make sure writers get paid and on time, and

they sometimes offer additional services like minor editing.

 

And so I’ve been pondering the need for an agent for months now. But I forced myself to keep my nose to the grindstone and finish the book first, because should an agent show interest in your work, you’ve got to have the manuscript finished and polished to a high gloss. (Hence the need for Feed Back Buddies post haste.)

So with the manuscript of Honor at Stake essentially finished, I’ve turned my attention to getting an agent. The first step is to consult books like Guide to Literary Agents and Writer’s Market for the agents most suited to my work. Agents, like publishers, specialize in certain types of books, so you might as well not waste your time and effort contacting ones that won’t be interested. Many of the agencies exhort authors to do their homework before submitting. So that’s what I’m doing this week. You can learn a lot by carefully reading the listings. Many agencies will tell you outright what they do NOT want to receive. Here are two examples:

Does not want: Does not want to receive category romance, erotica, inspirational, historical, sci-fi/fantasy, horror/dark thrillers, short stories/novella, children's picture books, poetry, screenplays.

Does not want: Does not want to receive poetry, screenplays, short stories, westerns, horror, new age, religion, crafts, cookbooks, gift books.

Since these agencies don’t want “inspirational” or “religion” I’m assuming they would disapprove of the biblical themes in my book. Other agencies list what they do specifically want. For example:

Actively Seeking: "BookEnds is currently accepting queries from published and unpublished writers in the areas of romance (and all its sub-genres), erotica, mystery, suspense, women's fiction, and literary fiction. We also do a great deal of nonfiction in the areas of self-help, business, finance, health, pop science, psychology, relationships, parenting, pop culture, true crime, and general nonfiction."

I got excited about the fact they’re interested in "unpublished writers", but lost interest when I saw they’re actively seeking “erotica.” It doesn’t sound like the kind of agency I’d want to do business with.

The following agency interests me, however. CBA stands for Christian Booksellers Association, which means this agency definitely is geared to my type of work. And they’re looking for YA, that is, Young Adult, which is another step in the right direction. The fact that they want “literary” YA is a plus, since my novel is definitely not about shallow topics like the high school clique scene. The only downer is they want fiction by “established authors,” and I don’t know if I qualify as that.

Represents: nonfiction books, most genres of commercial adult fiction and nonfiction, as well as select young adult projects

Actively Seeking: "We are most interested in commercial women's fiction, especially elegantly crafted, sweeping historicals, edgy, fresh teen/chick/mom/lady lit, and CBA women's fiction by established authors. We are also very keen on literary historical mysteries and literary YA novels. Topical, timely nonfiction projects in a variety of subject areas are also of interest, especially prescriptive how-to, self-help, sports, humor, and pop culture."

Here is what a complete listing from Writer’s Market looks like: 

 

 HARTLINE LITERARY AGENCY

123 Queenston Dr.
Pittsburgh PA 15235-5429
Phone: (412)829-2483
Fax: (412)829-2432
E-mail: joyce@hartlineliterary.com
Website: www.hartlineliterary.com

Contact

Contact: Joyce A. Hart.
Member Agents: Joyce A. Hart, principal agent, Terry Burns: terry@hartlineliterary.com, Tamela Hancock Murray: tamela@hartlineliterary.com, Diana Flegal: diana@hartlineliterary.com
Specialties: "This agency specializes in the Christian bookseller market."
Agent receives 15% commission on domestic sales.

Freelance Facts

• Member of AAR: False
• Member of WGA: False
• Simultaneous Submissions: Yes
• Current Handles: nonfiction books 40%,novels 60%
• Number of clients: 40
• Submissions: Submit summary/outline, author bio, 3 sample chapters.
• Responds in 2 months to queries. Responds in 3 months to mss.
• Obtains most new clients through recommendations from others.
• Offers written contract.
• 20% new writers.

Needs

Represents: nonfiction books, novels
Actively Seeking: Actively seeking adult fiction, self-help, nutritional books, devotional, and business.
Does not want: Does not want to receive erotica, gay/lesbian, fantasy, horror, etc.

Nonfiction

Needs: business,child guidance,cooking,diet/nutrition,economics,foods,inspirational,money,parenting,religious,self-help,women's issues,women's studies

Fiction

Represents: action,adventure,contemporary issues,family saga,historical,inspirational,literary,mystery,regional,religious,suspense,thriller  amateur sleuth, cozy, contemporary, gothic, historical, and regency romances 

It sounds like it might be a great match for me!  And they do take new writers! Oh, but wait. They don’t mention Young Adult one time. Sigh.

So I’ll keep searching. It’s obviously not going to be easy to find just the right agent.

 

 

Book Signing At Barnes & Noble Saturday

I’ve been obsessing a little about my first actual book store book signing on Saturday. And that was before I found out some pretty shocking statistics. (Read on!)

Originally, like most new authors, I believed that once I’d done all the writing and editing and revising and proofreading and finally gotten my book published, I was all set. Then all I’d have to do was watch the books fly off the book store shelves and start planning how to spend my royalty checks.

 But when the euphoria of getting the contract wore off, I began to be aware of a few sober publishing realities I’d never thought of before. For one, I hadn’t realized how many books are published each year in the U.S. The numbers I saw online were all over the place—from 172,000 to 500,000 per year. But whichever number you choose, it’s obvious they can’t possibly all fit on the available bookstore shelf space. (And according to Google, worldwide there are a total of 130 million books ever published.)

The number of books published in the U.S. has been exploding in the last several years. That’s good because apparently we’ve got some catching up to do. According to Wikipedia, in 2001 and in 2005, Britain overtook the U.S. in the number of books published. And even now, the numbers aren’t too far apart. This shocked me when I considered the huge population disparity between us. It concerns the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) too, because it considers the number of books published per year an important index of a country’s standard of living, education, and general health.  

Put that together with our falling math and science scores and don’t you feel like throwing up? So it’s good that as a nation we’re publishing more books now. Unfortunately, for the individual author vying for shelf space, the increase in books is bad news. According to Steven Peirsanti, president of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, a book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore, because for every available shelf space, there are 100 to 1,000 titles competing for it.

With all this in mind, I thank you all again for your continued support as I launch my writing career with my first novel Time and Again. As you may have heard (ha ha) it is now available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, among other online bookstores. 

But now, I must convince the brick and mortar bookstores to stock my book. A good turn-out is the best way to show stores my book is likely to sell well and that they should put it on their limited shelf space. For those attending my Barnes & Noble book signing, Time and Again will be discounted to $12.00. Hint: it would make a great gift. For other signings please see my Event Schedule.

Publishing 101: More Work, Less Pie

But I just want to write!

I made good progress on my sequel, Honor at Stake, this week. Some really good ideas came to me that made the plot gel nicely. The word count is over 60,000, but I still have lots of work to do to make all the threads weave together properly and come to a tidy conclusion. I wish I could have continued working on the manuscript today while the ideas were coming so well. I'd like to get that published before people forget the first book!

But instead of working on that, today I've been writing ad copy for posters, e-mail, and postcards so that I can attract potential customers to my book signings, so bookstores will stock my book, so that people will buy my book, so I can earn enough money to sustain my writing habit.

I always knew how easy it is to be drawn away from the disciplined work of writing. The housework and family errands always distract. But I had no idea how frazzled I'd be by all chores of publishing and promoting a book.

Today, writers are doing more and more of the work of promoting and marketing their books and receiving less and less of the reward. Award-winning poet Margaret Atwood explains in this hilarious conference presentation.

 

 

Top Ten Best Book Trailers

My publisher will be contacting me in a few weeks to discuss making a book trailer for Time and Again. I think a trailer for my book might be really a good way to publicize, especially since the market audience is so into YouTube and such.

But what if it turns out like some of the horrible trailers I've seen? I found another blogger discussing the same thing and she lists her top favorite trailers here: http://ellelapraim.com/top-10-video-book-trailers/trackback/

Do you have favorites? If so, tell me about them.