Tag Archive for: publishing

The Write Life: Trust Your Gut

Ask a publishing professional what you should write next, and they’ll never tell you. “Write what you want to write,” they’ll say. They might say writing what you want will produce better results, or that no one can guess a trend. But there’s another aspect I’ve never heard someone say but am now realizing is essential to the creative process: You have to trust your gut.

Trusting your gut as a writer applies to many different aspects of the creative process. You have to trust your gut when you’re drawn to write your next project. Or when you’ve chosen a weird name for your main character. Or when your characters go off your planned course, but it feels inevitable and right in your gut.

There’s also a point when all your research looking for the right home, agent, or editor for your manuscript ends, and you just have to trust yourself to make the right choice. Sometimes you just feel good about something, so you send your email off into the world because it feels like the right time, the right person, and you hope.

That hope is part of the publishing process, too. It’s the thing that keeps writers going after a stack of rejections and years of work and refinement. It’s what pushes writers to write the next thing, submit the next story, and do it all again, despite the difficulty, frustration, and feelings of failure. But we keep going because something in our gut keeps pulling us forward, and we keep trusting it to lead us in the right direction.

I’ve been too in my head about writing recently. I’ve been too caught up in the “right way” to start a novel. Too busy analyzing where to best spend my time. Too lost thinking about writing instead of slapping words on the page like a writer. I haven’t been spending much time listening to my gut, and that has got to change.

I’ve had a lot of distractions this month (mostly in the form of covid), so I haven’t made much progress on this change, but knowing what my next steps should be is making me feel more confident about my writing future.

How about you? Do you trust your gut when it comes to writing? Any suggestions on how I can get better at trusting my gut again?

 

 

For full access to The Write Life and more about what I’ve done to assist with my creative life, sign up on Patreon for $1 or more per month. You’ll also receive a personalized thank you in a future edition of The Write Life.

/0 Comments/by

The Write Life: The Mountain Is So Tall

When you’re starting out in a writing career, it’s easy to look and see what’s at the top of the mountain. Publication! That goal is easy to see, and the path to that goal is easy to figure out: write a book, get an agent, get published. So, you start walking that path by working on a book.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Writing a book isn’t easy, and you knew it wasn’t easy, and that’s okay. This is the first step to the long-term goal and even this is a long-term goal because it can take a long time to write a book. Or rewrite a book. Or rewrite a book again. (And again.) But that’s okay, it’s all okay, because you knew what you were getting into.

But then you’ve got a book, and it’s good, so you start querying agents. And there’s not a problem with the book, there’s a problem with the timing, specifically in that the market isn’t ripe to support your book. Which means you’ll need to write a different book to get an agent. But you can still do something with this current book because self-publishing is an option.

Now the path up the mountain includes writing a new novel to get an agent and self-publishing a book. You’ll need to write (and rewrite) the next book. You’ll need to learn more about self-publishing, including the technical aspects of putting the files together and marketing a book. But it’s okay, you can do this. You already had an idea for another book and have some resources to tap about self-publishing. You knew the path up the mountain wasn’t necessarily straight and there would be deviations along the way, that’s fine. It’s fine.

But now that you’ve started up the mountain, it’s harder to see the top because you’re on the mountain. The easiest things to see are the path ahead of you and that it’s much farther to the top than it looked from the bottom. The mountain is so tall, and it’s going to take longer to reach the top than you thought it would.

 

This is the analogy I used recently to describe how I was feeling to my therapist. The mountain is just so tall, and right now I’m feeling overwhelmed and tired. Those are hard feelings to manage in a creative career because there is so much pressure to keep creating. I feel like I don’t have time to be overwhelmed or tired, and I have to keep going. If I crawl, I’m still making progress, right?

Ha. I’m fairly certain my therapist doesn’t think that’s the healthiest mind set. She frequently reminds me that I have to make room for self-care, which, for a writer, that includes refueling the creative well and leaving time for my brain to rest and cogitate on new ideas. It might mean not writing for a while, or not writing the thing I’m “supposed” to write. Even though I know this, and even though I repeat these reminders to myself, it’s hard to remember because the mountain is just so tall.

 

 

For full access to The Write Life, sign up on Patreon for $1 or more per month. You’ll also receive a personalized thank you in a future edition of The Write Life.

/0 Comments/by

The Write Life: Fresh Start December

Normally at this time of year I do an end-of-year assessment on the goals I set in January, or do some kind of wrap up to talk about what I achieved. But 2020 was so wildly unpredictable that most goals I set for myself quickly morphed, and I came to accept that writing things that made me happy was more important than anything else.

Even so, in this last month, I finally started a project I’ve been putting off all year.

The last time I re-submitted revisions on my agent pursuit, I came up with the wild idea to split my finished novel into a novella trilogy. I decided to wait through one last round for agents to respond, then a publisher’s open call, before dedicating myself to dividing the novel for self-publishing.

…And then I waited two more months because who wants to do all that extra work if you can just keep waiting???

But as I waited, I thought more about what the revision from novel to novella series would look like, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it (even if I kept procrastinating on making a mess out of something that was “done”).

In December, I finally bit the bullet, split my Scrivener file, and started outlining each part as a separate novella. The original novel structure with three distinct acts means making the initial split was easy, but work still needs to be done to establish inciting incidents for each part and ensure each book resolves a major conflict. (Also, increasing the word count overall, or else I’ll have a short story and two short novellas.)

So far, the first novella is fully mapped out, and the existing parts from the other two have been structured so I have some idea of what’s missing. I still have some planning to go before I start writing, but I’m expecting these revisions (and prepping the series for self-publishing) to be my major project through most of 2021. I’ll be launching some new tiers and rewards on Patreon to support this project, so if you’re interested in reading more about the self-publishing process or seeing previews of the work-in-progress, keep an eye out for that announcement, likely in February or early March.

 

 

For full access to The Write Life, sign up on Patreon for $1 or more per month. You’ll also receive a personalized thank you in a future edition of The Write Life.

/0 Comments/by

The Write Life: Try Anything February

This past month I hit a landmark in my daily writing goal: 1,500 days of writing! I talked about how I started writing daily when I hit 1,000 days back in 2018, so if you want the origins of this obsessive goal, check out the post, 1,000.

While I’d like for this announcement to be filled with positivity and congratulations, that’s not entirely how I feel about it because aside from writing daily, I feel like I don’t have a lot to show for all this hard work.

Since 2016 I’ve finished a novel, revised a novel (thrice), wrote half a draft of two other books, and drafted many other short stories, though I haven’t published any original fiction. In other words, my writing life has been stagnated in the measurable areas “that count.”

Writing 1,000 days provided me with consistency and confidence. It helped shake off some of the doubt I had about my ability to start and keep writing. But writing another 500 days has brought with it different concerns and questions. Most specifically, how do I turn this productivity into published works?

That’s the question I’ve been grappling with this past month. I don’t believe there’s an easy answer—and there’s certainly not one answer—but I’ve been throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, and see what sort of drips down the wall because it’s kind of sticky but not fully cooked. (If you’re getting the idea that this has been a messy process, you would be right!)

I still don’t have any answers, but I have a list of things I’ve tried:

  • I set up a new email address and emailed myself like I was a writing coach.

    Sounds goofy, but I figured it was finally time to take advantage of my abilities to analyze other people’s work and my ability to disassociate when I’m speaking to or through a character. Essentially this became a more organized way of talking to myself out loud. (And it was a little more productive, because I’d already written all the ideas in the email!)

  • I wrote a revision plan.

    This is actually an old practice, but something I haven’t done in a while, for whatever reason. I read over a short story and instead of shuffling commas and agonizing over diction, I kept notes on what needed to change and what I needed to review. I translated that into a progress chart so I could work through each item and check it off.

  • I tricked my resistance to specific tasks by making goals of other tasks.

    I admit that I didn’t do this on purpose, but it wound up working, so it’s going on the list. When I was making my Writer’s Five goals for February, there were two projects I was considering focusing on for my write and release goals. The one I picked was a short story I felt some resistance to working on, but felt pretty comfortable about where it was. I avoided working on it by instead working on the project I felt more resistance to completing because it included revising an outline and sample chapters. But, uh, I finished the outline and am into the sample chapters. While avoiding the other task. So… yay?

Do you have any “tricks” you use to get yourself to finish writing things? Mind sharing? I need some help.

/0 Comments/by

Querying: It’s Dangerous To Go Alone

This blog was written for and posted to The Creative Writing MFA and Beyond July 9, 2017. It has been updated for a wider audience and for revised advice concerning nudges.

 

At some point all writers have to deal with the business of writing. One of those business steps is getting an agent. Last summer I started querying my first novel. The querying process can be overwhelming and frustrating, which is why I’m sharing my experience and the resources that helped me navigate the process.

Preparing Yourself

Before you start looking up agents there are four things you need to prepare:

  1. a complete and polished manuscript
  2. a perfect first fifty pages
  3. a one to two page synopsis
  4. a query letter

Obviously, before you start querying a novel, you need to have the complete, polished manuscript. It needs to be agent-ready the day you send out your query letters. I received a request for the full manuscript the day after I started sending out queries. No more time for copyediting if I wanted to get the manuscript into the agent’s hands.

All agents will want a query letter, but many are also looking for sample pages of the novel. The number of sample pages varies dramatically—I had to submit anywhere between three and fifty pages. Because fifty appears to be the maximum requested, it’s a good idea to give extra attention to those pages and eradicate any typos or wonko language. Make sure your first few pages introduce the main character, hook the reader, and, basically, showcase the novel world.

Some agents specify a one-page synopsis, but others are more flexible (others may not want a synopsis at all). The synopsis should cover the entire plot of the book (even the ending) and should be entertaining. They don’t want a laundry list of events; rather, the synopsis should relate the main arc of the story and include the voice of the novel to show the tone as well as the plot.

The query letter is a whole craft unto its own. In brief, it should cover the stats (genre, title, and word count), the hook and/or comparative titles, a short blurb, and a brief author bio. It helps to have a little personalization as well, something that indicates that you’ve done the research and can say why this agent would want this book (this can also be done just by querying agents who are actively seeking things like your book). The query letter is covered in detail in many different places. I would recommend NY Book Editor’s article How to Write a Darn Good Query Letter to learn more about writing queries.

One More Thing To Prepare

A pitch is a one-sentence enticement for your novel. It should highlight the main character, motivation, and a crisis. You’ll need a pitch if you’re planning to go to a conference or want to participate in a Twitter pitch party. I recommend learning more about pitches since they can be another path to finding your perfect agent. They can even help you in the query process, as the pitch can be part of your query letter or give you another tool in your arsenal.

Researching Agents

Once you have your materials together, the next big step is researching agents and figuring out who to query.

Query Tracker is a wonderful resource for figuring out who represents your genre and generating a list of agents. In addition to searching for agents by genre, you can easily see who is currently open to queries and filter by query method. Query Tracker only lists reputable agents, so it’s also a good litmus test for finding agents who have a proven track record of making sales.

An agent profile on Query Tracker includes links to their agency website, email, Twitter, and other places to help you research them. The information I found most helpful in deciding whether to query an agent was their bio or submission guidelines, their current clients, and their Manuscript Wishlist. All of this information goes toward making sure you find an agent who not only represents your genre, but who matches your view of the publishing industry.

Manuscript Wishlist is another website that is extremely helpful for researching agents and personalizing query letters. Not all agents listed on Query Tracker have a MSWL profile, but many do. A good MSWL profile not only lists the genres an agent represents but has more details about their dream manuscripts—“fantasy from non-traditional eras”; “historical fiction set in the Middle Ages”; “badass, competent female protagonists.” This information can let you know if this agent is not only right for you, but is looking for exactly what you’ve written.

Don’t discount looking up the agents of your favorite authors and authors who write similar stories to yours. One agent wasn’t able to take me on (too similar to her other clients), but she liked my concept enough to pass my query to another agent in her company—and that agent requested the full manuscript! As long as your query is professional and follows the submission guidelines, you should submit. Don’t let intimidation stand in your way.

Sending Queries

I’ve read and heard recommendations to send queries in batches of no more than ten. The first batch is partly to test your query. If you don’t get at least one request for a partial or full manuscript, consider revising your query. If you get anything higher than a 10% request rate, send more queries when you’re ready.

The “when you’re ready” part is key because once I had prepared ten queries, I needed a break. I put about a month between my first two batches, but two to three weeks would have been preferable to keep responses rolling in more steadily. After you hear back from about half of your first round (or after you get one or two requests), start prepping that next batch of query letters.

Be aware that some agents have a “no response = no” policy or they can take over two months to respond. This can make it difficult to query if you’re waiting on responses. To ensure you get responses to your first batch of queries, spread out your queries among agents who have a variety of response times and policies. (And remember, never close a query until at least two months have passed, or the expected response time listed on the agency website. Response times and policies are nearly always listed on the website.)

Tracking Queries

While you can keep your own spreadsheet of the day you sent your query, when you expect a response, and what that response eventually is, I highly recommend using Query Tracker. Once you select the agents you want to query, Query Tracker lets you cultivate a list of those agents and then track when you sent your query and their response. While you can use Query Tracker for free, a yearlong membership is only $25 and gives access to powerful query tools, including the ability to prioritize queries and see an agent’s timeline.

The timeline lets you see when other writers have submitted, when they received a response, and what that response was. You can also see about where you fall in an agent’s queue. I found that while I was trying oh so very hard to be patient, checking Query Tracker once per day to see if agents had made progress on their queues was helpful for keeping myself focused and keeping my worry in check. (Although when I was next in the queue, sometimes that heightened the anxiety.)

Another cool thing about Query Tracker is that while most agencies list their expected response times, using the timeline allows you to see how quickly agents are currently responding. One agency listed a 4-week response time, but I could tell by Query Tracker that a specific agent was responding within a week of recent queries. It made it an easy decision to move that agent up in my priority list because I knew I’d get a response quickly.

Getting Requests

When you get a request for your manuscript, first freak out and celebrate. Then send your manuscript as quickly as humanly possible (while still writing a polite, typo-less response to the request). If you thought an agent responding to your query letter took forever, buckle up for the Patience Carousel—you know, the ride that moves slowly and in circles? A novel, or even a partial (which often sits at that magic length of fifty pages), takes time to read and evaluate, especially when you consider that taking on new clients is only one aspect of an agent’s job.

You tried being patient and it took too long? I know, I know. You can nudge an agent about a requested manuscript, but give it an appropriate length of time before contacting them. If an agent doesn’t list expected response times for requested materials, plan to wait at least six months. Think of it this way, would you rather an agent spend time reassuring you that your manuscript is still in the running, or would you rather an agent spend that time actually reading your manuscript? If you’re planning to move on from a manuscript, that is an appropriate time to nudge.

Another reason to nudge—and the best reason, I’d say—is if you have an offer from another agent. This is the reason you keep sending queries even after those first requests. Once someone makes an offer of representation, notify the agents you queried but haven’t heard from. This gives them an opportunity to look over your query and manuscript before you’re off the market.

Finding Support

While the support of friends and family are great, I highly recommend the support of a friend who has been through the querying process or who understands the publishing culture and knows about agents. My mom teared up the first time I told her I had a full manuscript request and—while that was great—it was even better when I texted my friend-in-the-know. She knew who the agent was and responded positively about him.

A friend-in-the-know can also recommend other agents to query, or provide feedback on your pitch, query letter, or synopsis. Querying can be a rough road, and it is filled with rejection, so planning how to support yourself is key to finishing the quest.

Summary: Take This

There’s a lot more to querying than can be covered in a single blog post, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what to expect and where to find additional information to start your research. Don’t be afraid to ask writers about how they found their agent or what the relationship is like. Writers love telling stories and the agent search is just another story.

/0 Comments/by