The Author Website

We've had a whole lot of yuck at my house this week. The baby had an ear infection and now he and my 3-year-old have RSV, and my girls are recovering from strep. Not fun.

So I'll keep this short and sweet.

For months I've known I needed to create an author website.

My agent recommends that ALL writers who want to submit their work have a website (not just a blog). Websites are nice because agents and/or editors can look through in just a few minutes and get a pretty good idea of who you are and what you write.

I worried putting up a website would be a ton of work and/or super expensive and/or very time consuming. I didn't want to think about it, so I put it off for months.

Last week I finally decided it was time. I now have an author website www.nataliebahm.com. It's nothing fancy, but I think it will be sufficient for now. And to my surprise, it wasn't hard, it wasn't expensive, and I got it done in just a couple of days.

Do you have an author website? If not, have you thought about creating one?

Another Visit From My Agent

Hey everybody! I'm still on my month-long blogging break but my lovely agent, Sara Megibow, offered to share some notes from last month's referral experiment and I knew you'd find them interesting. Enjoy!

Dear readers and writers -

Thank you for all the wonderful submissions referred by Natalie last month! I've had a delicious month reading romance, romance, romance! Just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work and for considering me in your agent hunt.

Here are the results:

I read 75 partials (still have a few in my database, but not many)

I asked for 3 fulls

if I sign any new clients, I will definitely let Natalie know

Of the partials that I read, there were three main reasons for passes - I thought I would share my notes in case it helps. These notes are not true of all submissions of course, but were more of a general observation.

1) stories that opened with dialogue in which the purpose of that dialogue was to "explain" the story to the reader:

ex. (and I am making this example up - it's not taken from any real submission)

Chapter 1

"Fred, how could you? You know that mom and dad sent us here to Wisconsin specifically so you could learn how to get along with others and stop fighting!"

"But Sally, I've just had such a hard time since mom's cancer and I don't like anyone here in Wisconsin anyway"

To me, this feels like an awkward way to introduce a story to the reader, so it was one reason why I passed on some partials.

2) occasionally, I saw examples of weak writing right up front. Yes, as an agent, I could "edit" this kind of thing. But, if I see it up front, then I'll gamble that it's throughout the book. An editor at a publishing house would pass on a book for weak writing and therefore so will I.

ex. (again, making this up)

James looked out across the mesa. James picked up his coffee cup and took a sip of the hot liquid. He didn't know what was next in life, but he felt overwhelmed. James felt like this a lot.

Obviously, no submission is perfect. But, if I saw too much of these kinds of mistakes (poor use of pronouns and "telling" the reader what James is feeling instead of showing us), then I would pass on the sample.

3) data dump. This is the number one reason that I pass on projects submitted to the agency in general. I know it's really hard to integrate backstory and get the reader "into" the story. But, editors will only read 30-50 pages before nixing a work, and that's how important those first 30-50 are. So, there is no room for datadump especially upfront.

ex. (again, not taken from anything specifically)

Gretchen was an only child and the last chance for the Duchess to produce an heir. She's been sent to boarding school, trained to perform, pampered, educated, pushed and prodded. And yet, she was 22 and single. Her mother was losing her patience and Gretchen was losing her confidence. Really, there was only another month until her 23rd birthday and her mother was insisting on throwing a big ball in an effort to attract suitors.

I hope my thoughts and notes are useful and I wish you all Happy Writing!

Sincerely,

Sara Megibow

Nelson Literary Agency

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SaraMegibow/

www.nelsonagency.com

Good stuff, huh? I've struggled with all three of these things. My first manuscript was a lovely little story that began with a gigantic info dump. I did learn a lot from writing it though and I'm glad I didn't give up after the first attempt. Practice. Practice. Practice. The more we write the better we get!

I hope you all have a great July and I'll see you in August.

Client Referrals and Critique a Week

First off, anyone who writes romance, romantic YA, fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi, etc. and who is ready to query agents needs to check out my last post. My agent Sara Megibow is looking for romance writers and I'm giving blog readers a referral.

Second, the winner of last week's 10 page critique is Tracy! Tracy, I'll email you sometime today. Commenters today can be eligible for next week's critique. Just make sure to say you would like to win a critique in your comment and include an email address. If you want more info, this post explains everything.

Since Sara's offer has created such a stir, I thought I'd write a little about client referrals, (or at least my experience with them).

What is a client referral?

Referrals are basically a recommendation from a client. I have given Sara 3 client referrals since I started working with her last fall. I only refer when:

1. I have read a full manuscript AND loved it

2. And I feel like the piece might be a good fit for her

3. And the writer is interested in being referred

(That probably gives you an idea of why this blog referral is so cool!)

Why would I want a referral?

The reason client referrals are desirable is that an agent is more likely to request material when a writer is referred. A referral gives a query letter a little more weight. If an agent is debating over whether or not to request a partial from a query letter a referral might be the deciding factor.

What happens after a partial (or full) is requested?

At this point the referred piece gets about the same consideration as any other requested material. The agent has to LOVE it and believe it's salable. The agent knows their client loved the manuscript, but unless the agent loves it too they can't offer representation.

So, in summary, referrals are cool. They can definitely help to get your writing (and not just your query letter) in front of an agent. But they aren't magic. In the end, the only thing that will get you an agent is a great book that an agent thinks she can sell.

But remember, just because one agent doesn't connect with your work doesn't mean another agent won't. There are hundreds of agents and it only takes one yes.

Have you ever been given a referral to an agent or editor? Was your experience similar to what I outlined or totally different? Agented authors: Have you ever referred writer friends to your agents?

Jury Selection and Query Reading

I'm sorry I've been absent all week. It's the last week of school for the kids and got called into jury duty yesterday, and everyone is sick. So basically it's just a normal week and I have no excuse for not blogging. :)

Anyway, jury duty was a bit anticlimactic this time because I didn't get selected to be on the jury. I don't know if jury selection is the same in every state, but where I live they have 24 jurors go into the jury selection process. The lawyers have 1 hour to get that jury from 24 to 6.

They start by asking questions to weed out the people who might be crazy or have biases that would make it difficult for them to judge fairly. It's pretty easy to tell who these people are. When asked if they would have a problem trusting law enforcement testimony they say policemen are all out to get us. Or when they are asked about how they feel about children testifying they say that kids are stupid and unreliable and they don't think they could believe anything a kid says.

Then the prosecution and the defense get to exclude 3 jurors each just because the attorneys think they might be sympathetic to the other side. They could easily make a mistake at this point. They've only had an hour to get to know 24 people. They can't know everything about them. Maybe they excuse jurors who would have been on their side. The first 6 people not to be excluded have to/get to be on the jury.

Some of the people who are excused feel a little rejected. They are competent people. They didn't do anything wrong. But the judge reminded us that it wasn't personal. The lawyers were just doing their best to put together a jury that would be fair to both sides.

I was one of the very last jurors in the room so I knew I wouldn't get picked unless more than half of the people in the front two rows were crazy. So I had plenty of time to contemplate other things, like what it must be like to sort through queries looking for clients.

I think it must be a little like jury selection. The agent or assistant starts with way more authors than they could possibly represent. It's easy to do the first cut. There are many people who don't follow submission guidelines, there are a few crazies, and there are probably some letters that are so poorly written the agent knows the writer couldn't put together coherent novel. I'm guessing none of you fit into this category.

The second round is more difficult. The agent has to read each letter and decide if the the story being offered is something they would like to read AND something they can sell. They have to make guesses. They don't have unlimited time so they have to limit their requests to the works that are most promising. They miss the mark sometimes. They might reject a piece they would have enjoyed and they might request pages they don't care for at all. But they do their best.

Query rejections (and sometimes even partial and full rejections) are done quickly and I think writers need to remember that rejection isn't personal. It doesn't mean the agent hates our ideas, or our writing. It doesn't even mean they didn't like it. It just means that they had a lot of material to get through and our project wasn't the one that stood out.

Have you ever thought about what it must be like to read all those query letters?

It's All About Taste

It occurred to me about a month ago that all of the steps in the publishing process come down to one thing: personal taste.

You can write the most brilliant novel ever about sea slugs, and if you only submit it to one agent, and that agent happens to detest sea slugs, it won't get published.

Or perhaps you'll find an agent who is crazy about sea slugs and loves your chatty MC and thinks the story is wonderful, but when he submits it to editors, one editor doesn't like the chatty MC, and one likes the MC, but thinks the story is lame, and another just hates sea slugs.

And then if you manage to sell the book you have to worry about reviewers who hate sea slugs or chatty MC's or books with alternating points of view. And then readers... you get the point.

Every person in this world has their own set of likes and dislikes. I dislike books where people seem to fall in love/infatuation for no clear reason. This scenario drives me crazy. But there are a lot of books like this that are popular, so just because I don't like them doesn't mean someone else (or millions of someone elses) won't.

I think it's important to remember when you query agents, or your agent submits to editors, that in the end it comes down to taste. The agent has to love your book in order to take it on. And if one agent doesn't love it, that doesn't mean it isn't great. It could be the hottest book since Harry Potter, but it just didn't fit with that agent's interests. I think this is why we're told over and over again to query widely.

So there you go. Don't feel bad about rejection, it's all (or at least a lot) about personal taste.

Have you ever read a bestseller that you hated? Or have you ever read a quiet little book that you loved?

I was supposed to unplug this week, but I didn't. So, I'm going to officially unplug tomorrow and stay unplugged until a week from Monday. I'll miss you!

My goal during unplugged time will be to FINALLY finish this first draft. It's close. I just need some time to focus.

My Agent

I signed the agency agreement on Saturday, so it's official. My agent is Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency! YAY!!!

I LOVE Sara! She's brand new to agenting but she's had loads of experience pulling great manuscripts out of the slush pile, like Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (if you haven't read it, you should--it's beautiful). She is enthusiastic about Underground, and I'm very excited to be one of her first clients.

Back in April I sent NLA a query. They were at the very top of my list, mostly because I loved Kristin Nelson's blog (she was so nice!). At first I thought I would wait to submit to them until I'd sent a few more practice queries, but when I got a full request off the first query I sent out, I felt confident enough to send to Nelson too.

They asked for a partial a few days later and then a full a couple weeks after that. I was shocked that I'd made it that far with such a stellar agency, so it came as no surprise when I got the rejection letter a week later. What I was surprised by was the letter's detail. Sara highlighted the things that she loved (the voice) and gave me specific examples of things in the story that needed to be stronger. She also told me that if I decided to rewrite they would look at it again.

So, of course, I started to rewrite. I stopped querying, I stopped working on my new story, and I rewrote Underground for two months. I made major changes, cutting entire chapters and adding new ones and completely rewriting the beginning and end. By this point I had my writing group and each of them read over sections of the manuscript and offered invaluable critiques. By the end of the revision I felt much more confident about the manuscript.

I sent out another practice query and got a request the next day. (I got plenty of rejections too, I promise. I just got lucky with the first query I sent out in each batch.) Feeling encouraged I emailed Sara to ask if she would like to read the revised manuscript. She said yes!

A month later I was sitting at the computer looking over my agent list and trying to decide who I should send a query to next, when the phone rang.

So there you have it. Sara told me I go her attention the second time when she opened up the document and found a brand new first chapter. She said often when a writer sends revisions they don't change much. She could tell I'd put some work into it and she liked what I had done.

I am thrilled to be working with Sara. I feel so blessed to have gotten this far and I'm excited about the possibilities the future holds. I finished revisions last Friday (or at least the first round) and I can't wait to start working on a new story!

Querying: Or How to Become Crazy in Just One Easy Step

We all know we've got to query if we want to get our books published (or I guess we could have a close personal friendship with someone really important who believes in us-- like maybe Stephen King or Stephenie Meyer).

Unfortunately querying also makes us crazy... or at least it made me crazy. Before I started querying I could sit down at my computer and write without checking my email first. I could continue to write for an hour or two (as long as the baby was still asleep) without opening my Internet browser once.

After I sent that first query I became an email checking junkie. First thing in the morning I'd rush to the computer to see if someone had replied. I'd check again an hour later and every hour I was home, until I checked for the last time just before I went to bed. If I was out running errands I'd think about my inbox and wonder if I might be missing some important correspondence from an agent. When we were on vacation I'd have to track down a computer every few days just so I could make sure I hadn't missed something.

I could rattle off stats like nobody's business. "As of this minute I have sent 13 queries, I've received six rejections and two requests for full manuscripts. Of the 5 agents left 2 should respond in the next week, 1 could take as long as 3 months and 2 say no response means no."

I'm still slightly obsessed with statistics. Like I could tell you that my first query yielded a 1 in 5 request rate while my second query was closer to 1 in 10 and that my overall request rate was about 1 in 7. And that only 4% of my queries ended in an offer of representation.

I'm hoping that now that my agent search is finally done I can stop being quite so crazy and get back to what I enjoy--writing. But I'm thinking that my anxiety will just switch from agent to editor submissions. Nice.

Does the query process make you crazy too? Or are you one of those people who can send a query and forget about it? (HOW?)

Great Resources for the Query Process

So, I let you in on one great resource for query writing yesterday, and I thought I'd share several more today, along with a few websites I couldn't have done without while I was researching agents.

Query Writing:

The Public Query Slushpile- this is a fantastic blog started by a fellow aspiring writer. People are able to post their queries and get advice about how to make them better. Some of the criticism is harsh (I know from personal experience), so make sure you have a thick skin and a real desire for feedback before you venture in. Also, if you post a query it's nice to leave feedback for others, too. (My first attempt and the query that got my agent's attention are both posted here)

Query Shark- I'm sure most of you know about this one. At Query Shark, agent Janet Reid gives query advice to people brave enough to have their query ripped to shreds. Just reading the queries that are already posted there is extremely informative. You can get a sense of the things that immediately annoy agents and also read several fantastic queries.

Charlotte Dillon's Website- several people mentioned this was a great resource yesterday and I agree. I loved the page with all of the winning query letters.

There are a lot of other blogs that focus on query writing. (The industry blogs listed on my sidebar all have wonderful posts about writing query letters.)

Searching For Agents:

Agent Query- This is a searchable database of agents. What I love is that you can search by agent, agency, clients or even book titles, so you can find out who represents your favorite authors.

Preditors and Editors- A fantastic resource for background checking agents. Do you want to know if an agent has sales? If they charge fees? If they are members of AAR? All of that information is available at Preditors and Editors. A Pink Recommended after an agent or an agency is a pretty good indication that an offer from that agency should make you very happy. A red Not Recommended should definitely make you think twice before querying. If there is neither a Recommended or a Not Recommended (this is the case for most of them) then you might want to do more research.

Bewares and Background Checks at Absolute Write- These are forums where writers can discuss their experiences with agents or agencies from query response times, to feedback (or lack thereof) from manuscript submissions, to what agents are like after they offer representation.

Publishers Marketplace- If you pay the $20 per month subscription fee you can search all of the deals made by agents (or at least the ones they reported) since 2000.

After You Query:

QueryTracker- This is mostly an organizational tool, but I found it very helpful. You can select agents you want to query and keep track of them after you query. Under the Reports and Statistics bar you can see the response times of individual agents as well as the genres they have requested pages from in the past.

I hope this wasn't all review (I'm sure it was for some of you). These are the websites and blogs that were most helpful to me during the query process. Do you have any favorites I missed?

How to Write the perfect Query Letter

This week I thought I'd write about finding an agent. I figure most of us have queried in the past, are doing so right now, or will be querying in the future. (Plus it's a topic that is very fresh in my mind, since I sent my last query just 2 weeks ago.)

So look out blog readers, I'm about to tell you the secret to writing the perfect query letter.

Here it is:

1. Write a summary that makes the book sound better than Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games.

2. Have a ton of writing credits and hopefully at least one work that's been on the NYT Bestseller list for 10 weeks or more (or maybe a Pulitzer)

3. Remind the agent that you've been best friends since kindergarten.

See, it's easy.

When I first started researching query letter writing, I wondered what on earth I was doing trying to get a novel published. My story was definitely not the next Harry Potter, I had never had so much as a limerick published, and I didn't know ANYONE in the publishing industry, .

My first 30 attempts at query writing failed miserably. Then I came across a blog that gave a simplified approach to writing a query letter. The blog author suggested the writer fill out a worksheet of important elements in the story and then combine the elements into sentences to form the pitch and the rest of the query. This fantastic blog held the first practical query writing advice I'd seen. It made the process easier. I filled out the worksheet and played with combinations until I finally had a query that had voice, conflict and a reason to care about the MC (albeit, still not a single publishing credit). It wasn't the perfect query letter, but it was so much better than any attempt I'd made before.

I sent it to an agent the next day, and two days later my inbox sang with a request to read the full manuscript.

What has been the most helpful tool for you during the query writing process? Have you come across any great advice that you'd like to share?