Tag: Agents

Posted in Agents, Picture Books, querying

Querying: What It’s All About (At Least for Me)

Posted on by beckylevine

Even before January, I knew what my word for 2022 would be. In the midst of all the chaos, anxiety, and uncertainty of the past two years, writing has been the eye of my personal hurricane. I know, for many writers, the pandemic and their own experiences with it have made writing hard, if not impossible. As in so many other ways, I’ve been lucky. My ideas, my stories, have stayed with me, and I’ve been able to make steady progress toward my goal: to get enough picture book manuscripts to the place where I feel ready to query them. To be honest, this has been my goal for 2 or 3 years, but this is the first year I’ve felt certain enough to name it.

My word for 2022 is Query.

I’ve been musing on this for the past couple of weeks, and I’ve decided that–as part of this querying year–I would come back to my blog. Primarily for my own accountability, I want to use this space to set out the process I’m following, including some of the specific steps I’m taking, to get my work out there for agents to see. I’ll be using tags so that anyone specifically looking for this kind of conversation can find the posts, but I’m going to hold off on linking to them on social media. If I start to feel like I’m writing anything truly useful for others (and if I stick to posting at all!) then I’ll revisit that plan.

Anyway, if you’ve found your way here…

Photo by Henri Mathieu-Saint-Laurent on Pexels.com

I hope you discover something to help you or, at least, to make you feel less alone on this stage of your writing journey.

To get started, here’s a summary of where I am, followed up by the next big steps I’ll be taking.

I have three picture book manuscripts “this close” to ready. I have sent them all through my excellent critique group multiple times, and I have workshopped them with other writers & a few agents. (One agent ended our conversation with “keep me posted” and agreed that, assuming I could revise the manuscript as we discussed, I should query her. Guess who I’m sending it to first!)

I will be sending these three manuscripts through my critique group one more time. I am hopeful that, even if they don’t shout, “OMG, SEND THIS OUT NOW!,” the changes I will want to make from their feedback will be minimal. I am not going to restart any of these three or make any changes that mean an entirely new revision pass. I truly believe that it is time for me to get these stories out into the query world.

What do I base that belief on? Well, all the things I’ve noted above, but there’s one other big factor: the feedback I have gotten, and my own sense of the stories, tell me that I will not be burning any bridges by send them out. They may not resonate with everyone who reads them; some agents may feel like they need more work than they’re willing to contribute. I may get no requests for more; I may get no response at all. But nobody will be putting my name onto a list of Never Read Anything from this Writer Again.

My critique group meets monthly. One of the manuscripts is in their hands for January, and I’ll send the other two to them in February and March. As I get feedback, I’ll do a pass to integrate their comments, and then each manuscript will go into the Ready pile. (Oh, yes, you can bet I’ll proofread each again before I send it out!)

While all this is going on (and I’m trying not to be buried by my day job!), I need to also be working on these steps:

  • Set up a spreadsheet to track my queries. I’ve done this before–I queried a middle grade manuscript YEARS ago, and I sent out a couple of picture book manuscripts when I first made the shift to this genre. Still, it’s fun to start fresh & someone on Facebook posted about how they code their lists with idea for different colors of hearts. I may steal that!
  • Start populating that spreadsheet. I have been playing around in query tracker, and while it’s a good place to see a list of agents, to see who’s open and who wants what, it’s a little clunkier than I want to use for actually tracking things. I’ll start my list off with the agent who said to query her, of course, and in second place is an agent I took a fantastic workshop from, who also represents one of my critique partners. I’ve also done research on both of these that confirms I want to query them. Hmm…maybe I’ll do a post on research. 🙂
  • Work on my pitches for all three manuscripts. Honestly, I hate this part, but I’m going to make myself do it. Different agents say different things about pitches & query letters in general – some read them and weigh them, some seem to skip them completely. But I’m not going to put out a sloppy pitch and risk having the agent stop reading before they even get to the manuscript. I just signed up for my second year in 12 X 12, and I will be posting my pitches in the forum for feedback (and giving feedback to others, of course). I may also post some on the Sub It Club Facebook page.
  • Keep revising. Keep writing. I have a fourth manuscript that everyone has “liked,” but it has a major darling that has to be killed before I do the next revision. After final revisions on the other three stories, revising this manuscript is the next writing work on my list. Last year, in 12 X 12, I managed to writer or revise a draft in 10/12 months, and I will be keeping up with that as best I can. I’m halfway through Storystorm, and I already have a few ideas that are actually calling to me.

Okay, so that turned into a long post, but I’ve laid out where I’m at and where I want to be going. If you’re new to my blog and want to know who I actually am, you can read a bit about me here. If you think this post or upcoming posts would help someone you know, feel free to share.

Happy New Year and Happy Querying!

Posted in Publishing

Monday Musings: In the Self-Publishing World, How Do We Identify “Ready”?

Posted on by beckylevine

There’s so much talk going on around the blogosphere about e-books and self-publishing and the changes that are here and the changes that are coming that…well, it feels a bit overwhelming to even try and jump into the conversation. Then again, all that talk does get me/us thinking, and it’s a conversation that does need to be had, even if we don’t come to any major conclusions.

So, my thought for today is about how we, the writer, know when a story is “ready.”

I don’t believe that having a book accepted by an agent or an editor at a traditional publishing house is the only definition of ready. I’m not getting into the argument about whether these routes only produce “good” books or not. Obviously, there are books that were ready that also got turned down in this forum, for various reasons from taste to market needs, and that’s only happening more in this economy, I’d guess. I do think, however, that we can say there is and has always been a kind of validation for an author, if and when they get a yes from someone along this path. Someone who reads a lot, who knows the industry and the business and who, yes, loves books.

So many of us are talking about other routes today, seriously considering them–if not for this project, for the possibility of a future one. It’s kind of like the discussion about e-book readers: I don’t need one now, but I can definitely see a future when I’ll have one. I’m not ready to self-publish anything myself today, but I hear conversations about e-books for royalties only, and I think…hmm? I don’t know.

And the big thing I wonder about is: for all these writers who do decide to take this step, who take back the reins of the horse and release their own book–how do they know when it’s ready? How do they get the validation that what they’ve written and revised has reached that stage when their audience, if not a publisher, will say…oh, yeah!? (And reaching that audience–yet another discussion!)

For me, I think, there has to be one or more outside readers in the process. Yes, a critique group, obviously is the choice I would make, but, really, what I’m talking about is people who are less invested in your writing and your success than you are. People who are brave enough to dig deep into your story and talk to you about what isn’t working yet. People who are skilled enough to do that. And people who will be honest with you and say to you, “Not yet,” if that’s what they truly believe.

And there have to be multiple stages where you, with or without this kind of critique feedback, take your own work to pieces–big and small–and put it back together again. And again. And….again. You have to not only kill the darlings, but find them first and then figure out what to replace them with. You have to recognize the differences between each draft–see where things are getting better, then dive back in and work some more with the places that aren’t.

And then…what? What in this new world is going to take the place of that external, professional validation. Maybe the first self-publishers, the adventurous ones already taking those steps are braver than me about this, more self-confident. Maybe, as I said, I’ll get there–to a place where I have a gut-level I know about my own writing. I’m not sure. I’m not going to worry about it today. But I’m definitely curious.

Writers are not the only ones having this conversation. Agents and editors are tossing thoughts and questions and ideas about it all back and forth–I think this is a time more than ever before to be reading their blogs and, if you can do it, stepping out onto Twitter to see what they’re saying to each other. Listen to them at conferences. I’ve heard some people wonder if the professionals who are really excited and enthused about the changes aren’t also a bit naive. Maybe. But I’m telling you–if there were two agents asking to sign me, and–with everything else equal–one of them was “naively” jumping into whatever this all is and the other was reluctantly tagging along, even resisting–I know which one I’d be talking to most.

Perspectives? Opinions?

Where do you see yourself on this path? In what situation might you consider self-publishing? Would you choose print publishing or e-book publishing or both? And what other questions are you musing over yourself? Jump into the comments with your ideas.

Posted in Agents, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, The Writing Path

Agent or No Agent: My Two Cents

Posted on by beckylevine

A few weeks ago, Shawna at Just Another Day in the Life gave me the Honest Scrap reward for my blog. I still need to pass this award on to seven other bloggers, which I am going to do soon, with pleasure. But I thought of the reward today, as I was coming up with an idea for a post. I’m still in recovery mode from the plague that has hit my house (which is why I was pretty much absent from here the second half of last week), so I was planning to just point you all to some other blogger’s links.

Then I thought of the reward, and I realized I’d better live up to it. Which is why I’m going to tell you, today, that–yes, I think writers should try to get an agent to represent their work. I know this isn’t always the most popular opinion, and that you can find an unlimited number of horror stories about agents on the blog and just by talking to other writers. My thoughts assume we’re talking about a good agent. And self-publishing is another conversation, with pluses and minuses, but obviously the agent question doesn’t come up there.

Here are the thoughts & ideas that have led me to look for and in one case, find an agent; in another case, not yet find an agent.

  • I want experts to do their work for me. I don’t do my own taxes, because I am lousy at math and legalese. I ask my critique partners to read my manuscripts thoroughly, because they’re better reviewers of my writing than I am. My husband trims our small trees, but we hire a wonderful tree-cutting company to climb around in and take out the really big ones. I now ask my taller-than-me son to get the dishes down from the high shelves.
  • I want to write. I don’t want to negotiate contracts. I want to be able to ask my contract questions to someone who isn’t creating that contract, but who is looking at it to get me (and them) the best deal possible.
  • I want my manuscript submitted to the right editors. I have NO way of knowing who those are. I can read their websites and submission guidelines, sure, but–what does “funny” mean? Humor, like so many qualities, is subjective. An agent will have worked with editors and know their senses of humor–and their senses of tragedy, suspense, edginess. I won’t have a clue.
  • I think that having an agent ask to represent me or my project means that my manuscript has reached a certain point. I know, what about my own self-confidence and my own sense of my strength as a writer? Well, let’s just say I’m open to a little extra reinforcement of that sense–especially from a professional who knows this business.

As I said above, one of my hunts–for a nonfiction agent–has been successful. And the experience of working with Jessica Faust on the contract for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide gave me everything I’d hoped for. Jessica is professional and efficient. She answered all my questions clearly (and without making me feel stupid or naive once!). And–for those who worry about that 15%–I’m not going into details, but the negotiating she did .

The other hunt hasn’t had the same success rate, but I’m not ready to give up. My first novel, a middle-grade mystery, went the rounds to agents for about a year. I got lots of compliments, but no takers. I was struggling to decide what to do–whether to go on to submit to editors and hope for the best, whether to find a new revision path, or whether to put it aside and work on the YA historical that had been calling to me. And guess what–I got the best, most clear-sighted advice I’d had yet…from an agent. One of my last queries returned me a wonderful letter from an agent who explained why she thought my book wasn’t being picked up…and it was a market reason. I don’t think I was just grasping at happy straws (because she wasn’tsaying the problem lay in my writing!), but the reason made perfect sense with what I know about the kidlit market. The lightbulb went off brightly, and I was able to pick which direction to take on my writing path.

Agents know what they’re talking about.

I really believe this. Some agents make a lot of money, sure. So do some writers. Overall, though, nobody takes any job in this industry for the high salary; they take it because they love books, they want to work with words, and they want to help add to the pile of reading choices in the bookstores and libraries.

So what do I think this means for writers? I think it means that, along with writing our manuscripts, we need to be doing research about agents. We need to be reading up on who represents our kind of project, on who has a trustworthy record in the industry and with other writers, and on the standard of work we need to be ready to present when we make that initial connection.

Obviously, if I had a direct, clean path to an editor, and I had a project that I thought was ready, I’d be emailing them and asking if I could submit. And if they said yes and if they wanted the book, guess what I’d do? I’d go back to all the research I’ve done, and I’d contact my “top” agent choices and ask them to represent me in negotations. Like I said, I want those experts around who will make my life easier.

What about you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this conversation.