Magical Words

I’ll start by saying that I’m incapable of churning out as many words and pages as Catie has been writing the past few weeks.  I admire her ability to write that way; I know of many authors who write fast, and many others who write truly high quality books.  I can count on one hand the ones who do both.  Catie is one of them.

I go about my work differently.  I hunker down.  I plod along.  I use any other metaphor I can think of for writing slowly and steadily.  Last week I wrote a total of 9,000 words — thirty-six pages.  The week before that I wrote about 8,500 words.  The week before that about the same.  This week I’ll lose a day to the holiday weekend, but I should wind up with 7,000 words or so.  It’s not a lot.  But it’s enough to get me a hundred and twenty to a hundred and thirty manuscript pages a month.  And that means that I can write my 140,000 word novel in less than half a year.

The numbers can get a bit overwhelming, and I don’t mean to get bogged down in them.  My point is this:  Don’t be intimidated by what Catie is doing.  If 8,000 words a week seems like a lot to you, don’t be intimidated by that, either.  Catie and I are both professionals with many books in print, and yet our output is vastly different.  As I wrote several weeks ago, there is no right way to do this.  There is no threshhold page or word output that makes someone a legitimate writer.  Don’t try to write 20,000 words a week because Catie can; don’t try to write 8,000 words a week because I can.  Write as quickly or as slowly as feels right for you.

What does that mean?  If it means that you only write a page a night — 1,250 words for a five-day work week — so be it.  If it means that you struggle for days with a single paragraph, but finally get it right, that’s fine, too.

There are lots of writers — fellow professionals — who write faster than I do.  (There are also many who write slower)  Many of them churn out more books than I do and make a good deal more money.  But I can only write to my own pace.  And at my pace I’m getting my work done and putting out books that are as good as I can make them.  The key is to set goals for yourself that are realistic and achievable.  For me, there’s nothing worse than setting a goal and failing to meet it.  When that happens, when I find myself beginning the following work week already in a hole, I start to get discouraged, and then my work really suffers.

Writing a book is a huge undertaking.  It’s hard enough to get to the finish line while meeting your goals and sticking to a schedule.  But if you begin and end every day of writing feeling that you’re hopelessly behind, that you’re failing to do what you set out to do, that daunting task can become impossible.  Be good to yourself.  Enjoy the work.  Find your pace, accept it as your own, embrace it.  And then stick to it.  You might not get the book done as quickly as you’d like, or as quickly as some pros do, but you’ll get it done.  And really, that’s the most important thing.

Tags: David B. Coe by DavidBCoe
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Good morning, folks, and welcome to Special Guest Friday! Today we’re visited by literary agent Holly McClure. Holly’s the author of two novels, Lightning Creek and Secrets and Ghost Horses, and president of the Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency based out of St Simons Island, Georgia. Welcome, Holly!

What made you decide to become a literary agent?
A few years ago, I was approached by an agent who offered me the opportunity to join her agency and learn the ropes in order to take over some of her submissions. I was pretty good at recognizing good writing and helping other writers, had a background in sales, marketing and PR, and was familiar with contracts, so she felt it was a good fit. At the time, I was conference director of Southeastern Writers Association. I thought as an agent I could work with our Southern writers and help them get started in a writing career. After that, I decided to form my own agency in order to have more control over how it was run. [control freak maybe?] I believed that an agent should only make money when she sold a book, and I was committed to that concept. It’s often a very difficult job, but I thoroughly enjoy it. The name come from my middle name, Sullivan, and a family tradition of referring to the McClure clan as the Macs. Some of us shortened it to Max, and added a second x to make it plural. I have plans for a certain family member to join me as soon as she completes her degree in creative writing.

Are there advantages to being based somewhere other than New York City?
There are advantages and draw backs. It’s hard to be a part of the publishing community when you live at a distance. I can’t get in a cab and hand deliver a hot manuscript to an editor or call and invite someone to lunch, but I can invite them to visit me here on this lovely island. I also see editors at conventions etc. In recent years, technology has made it possible to work outside NY. Email, fax machines and cell phones make it possible to stay in touch wherever you are. Besides, there are some very good publishing houses that are not located in New York. It’s sometimes easier for a writer to break into publishing with a regional publisher. Most of all, I like living in the south. Northern winters can be brutal, and I’m happy being where I can stay warm. When we need to go to New York, we can always pay a visit to family living there.

What do you look for in a prospective client?
The most important thing in a writer is, they can write. Wanting to be a writer and knowing how to write, often don’t go hand in hand. Professionalism is very important. If a good writer has a manuscript that’s close but not quite ready, he/she is receptive to suggestions for how to make improvements. They will take advantages of every opportunity to improve their skills. I also look for someone with whom I enjoy working. A professional writer understands that it takes time for a book to sell once it’s submitted and doesn’t start calling a week later wanting to know if I’ve heard from anyone. One of the most rewarding things about being an agent is calling a writer and say, ‘we’ve got an offer on your book.’ If I’d heard anything, I’d be calling at the first possible moment. An agent is as anxious to sell a book as the writer. Remember, that’s the only time either of us gets paid.

You’re a writer as well as an agent. Is it hard to keep the two sides separate?
Being a writer gives me more empathy, which is a two edged sword. I know how it feels to be rejected and hate to do it to a fellow writer but I often have no choice. Some good manuscripts aren’t right for me, some aren’t ready, and some would take more work from me than I have time for. When work backs up and I take a long time responding to submissions, I can’t help feeling guilty. I have to keep the two jobs separate for sanity’s sake. I try to finish all the agency work before I sit down to write, but if a phone call comes, I have to stop writing and focus my attention on business. I also avoid reading manuscripts that are similar to what I write, which isn’t too difficult. My books tend to come from my family background which is so different from most, that my books reflect the difference. I have just completed a book called Promised Child, which was very time and energy consuming. I’m going to put writing aside for a few weeks and focus totally on the agency until the editors get back to me about rewrites. It’s good to take a breather from writing occasionally and put on another hat.

What five works of fiction would you recommend to an aspiring author as “must-reads”?

Of course Mad Kestrel would have to head the list. It’s an excellent pirate fantasy with a female protagonist. Another favorite of mine is A Confederacy of Dunces. I recommend it as an example of a strange and wonderful book that was so difficult to get published that the author gave up and killed himself. His mother kept submitting it until she succeeded. It won a Pulitzer and is still selling years later. I also love Handling Sin. It’s an example of Southern writing that’s done absolutely right. The characters are genuine without being caricatures or clichés. To Kill a Mockingbird is fabulous. Harper Lee was a genius when it came to creating sense of place and writing memorable characters, but I recommend it as a wonderful book to read and enjoy but don’t try to emulate. For that, we need to read books that are being bought now. Writing styles have changed and it’s important to keep up with what’s selling in today’s market. Some of the books we will always love would be hard to sell in today’s market. As a thriller, I like Melanie Rawn’s Spellbinder. The fact that her protagonist is my alter-ego, influenced me a bit. I also like Steve Berry’s The Amber Room, and for Science Fiction, anything by Jack McDevitt. Most of all, I recommend that writers read new books in the genre in which they write. Not that you want to try to write the same thing but it’s a way to keep current. If your work gets dated, you lose readers.

Any funny stories you’d like to share?

A recent submission as an email attachment was too weird to be funny. The query letter said, “ After careful research, I have chosen to allow you to represent my 600 page novel. You will find it attached along with a contract for you to sign, agreeing to obtain a publisher within the next six months. Please return three signed copies along with a detailed marketing plan.” There was more, but I was too busy deleting the whole thing to read anymore. A word of advice, this is probably not the best approach.

Tags: Special Guest Stars by Misty Massey
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Last night I was talking to a friend who is reading my book.  She told me it’s been a little bizarre reading because she knows me…or thought she did.  “You write sword fights!  And describe people being wounded as if you know how it feels!” she said.  “How do you figure all that out?”  I explained that having a cooperative husband who’ll block fight scenes with me helps, but she shook her head.  “No, it’s just that I realize you’re not quite who I thought you were.”  This friend only knows me from dance, where I am joyful and energetic.  So of course it might be a bit daunting to recognize that I might have a darker side, one that knows how injuries feel, how enticing vengeance can be and what betrayal looks like.   I’ve run into the same thing with coworkers, who read the book and suddenly look at me as if they’re trying to find the no-nonsense, efficient librarian whose body I’ve obviously taken over.

It’s still me.  I’m still cheerful in the morning, madly in love with my husband and determined to find the magic I believe is out there.  I’m a good daughter, a loving mother, a faithful friend.  I experience deep anger and irrational jealousy.  I laugh easily.   I’m afraid of heavy winds but I love a good thunderstorm.  I write so I can travel to places that exist nowhere but my imagination and I dance in order to free my body and  connect to the numinous, that something ‘other’ that makes the ordinary into the extraordinary.  So I wrote something that startled you, something that a nice lady like me shouldn’t know about?  Better just take a deep breath and keep reading.  ‘Cause this is what I do.

This is who I am.

Tags: Misty Massey by Misty Massey
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In case you haven’t gotten it yet, the life of a writer isn’t all bon-bons and big checks and champaign parties in New York City at the publisher’s. Between’s David’s worry about his fab urban fantasy that hasn’t yet sold, to Catie’s revelation during an impossible writing schedule, to, well, this post, I say, “It ain’t easy.”

No. It is work. And impossible schedules. And rewrites from hell.

I am in the middle of one such rewrite. The rewrite sucks so badly it makes me scream. But I know that the editor (with whom I’ve worked for a number of years and 8[?] books) is right about all her suggested changes. All 5 pages, single-spaced, changes.

And? Right now all I can think is – I am such a stupid-awful-poor writer. Why do I do these things? Why do I bother to write? I suck so bad at writing that I deserve to be kicked into the sewer. How could I have missed that? And that?

And, wait! Why can’t she see *that*???? It is so freaking obvious. Isn’t it? Oh. Wait. Crap. *slaps own head* It isn’t obvious. Is *that* what I wrote? No way….

Here’s one example of my editor’s suggestions (sans spoilers):

1. One key point that needs consideration is the final revelation of what happened.  I had trouble believing that so many people could have been involved in ___’s murder and no one cracked and told. I’d like to suggest simplifying this and making ______ the main suspect.  Here’s one possible scenario that occurred to me: 

And she makes an obvious suggestion. So obvious that, *why didn’t I see it????*

I don’t deserve to be allowed to breathe. I stink as a writer.

Wait… I can fix that! Of course! I can make that bothersome complaint go away! Whoowhoo!

So now I am on the way back up, on that emotional rollercoaster ride of the creative process. I love my job. I hate my job. I’ll be finished with the rewrite next week some time. Probably. And I’ll love the book so much more than I do now.

Sigh. I need a beer.

It’s five p.m. somewhere, isn’t it?

No?

Back to work.

Faith

Tags: Faith Hunter by faithhunter
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Man, I almost forgot to post today. This week has been way less writeful, I’m afraid. We’ve been moving, and that’s eaten 5 days, turning them into basically no words days (I did 1200 words on Monday, but that was it). Tomorrow’s going to be a loss, too, but as of Thursday I’m *hoping* I’ll get myself back on track and really start to pound some words out. Got a lot of ground to cover still…

words written this week: 13,142
pages written this week: 51

41,413 / 110,000 (37.6%)

[Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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The best book I’ve ever written hasn’t been published yet.  It hasn’t even been contracted.

This isn’t some lame attempt at metaphysics or inspirational tripe.  I mean this literally.  The book is written, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.  But I can’t sell it, and it’s driving me nuts.  Let me back up briefly to correct something in that first line.  The book has been contracted once, but the publisher went under before the book saw light of day.  It was a small press, sort of.  Certainly it was far smaller than Tor, which has published the rest of my novels.  And we did manage to get the book rights back before the publisher folded.  But reselling the book has been difficult to say the least.

I’m writing about this not because the particulars of the business side of this saga are terribly interesting; really, they’re not.  Rather, I’m writing this post because there’s an emotional dimension to this issue with which I’ve been grappling.

I love this book.  I mean I really love it.  I believe it truly is the best book I’ve ever written.  The narrative just flies, the characters are dearer to me than any I’ve created for other books, the magic system is tremendous fun.  Most of all, I love it because it’s so different from my epic fantasy.  (It’s contemporary fantasy, with a mystery twist and a dark theme.   That’s really all I care to say about it right now.)

The thing is, that difference, which is so central to my feelings about this novel and the volumes I hope will follow, is also the source of my deepest fears about the book.  You have to understand, since my agent and I started trying to resell the thing it’s been rejected many times.  While I love the book, something seems to be giving editors pause.  And I’m starting to wonder about my own perceptions of the novel.  After ten books and several short stories, I’ve become pretty adept at evaluating my own work.  At least I have in traditional fantasy.  But this is . . . different.  What if I can’t judge this work properly because I don’t know the subgenre well enough?

I’ve edited and polished the thing until it shines (though I’ve taken care not to overwork it).  I’ve done one extensive rewrite that improved it quite a bit.  I’ve put it away for months at a time and then gone back to read it thinking that maybe when looking at it fresh I’d see its flaws.  I’ve done this twice, actually.  Upon rereading it both times I was struck again by just how much I love the book.  My agent has always liked the book, but has never loved it as much as I do.  She liked it a good deal more after the rewrite.  My wife, who never liked the concept of the book in the abstract loved it when she read it and agreed it was my best work.  And she’s usually a tough critic.

We’ve all heard the stories of authors whose work was rejected again and again and again until finally it found a home and then went on to be a huge success.  I want to be the guy in that story.  But when do the rejections outweigh my belief in this book?  When do I accept that even though I love it and remain certain that it’s my best work ever, no one else sees it the same way?  I’m not ready to give up on this novel yet.  I still believe it will sell, and I also believe that when it finally hits the shelves it will do well.  But my faith, in this book in particular and in my self-judgment in general, has been shaken by the experience.  And I fear that sometime soon, I’m going to have to let go of this dream.  

So, I guess I’m asking:  When does that time come?  When do I give up and accept that those editors who have rejected it know better than I what’s good and what’s not?  Have any of you faced similar issues in your own work?  Is it possible to love a book too much?  Could it be that in  making the book so special to me, I’ve made it less attractive to others?  I’d be grateful for feedback.

Tags: David B. Coe by DavidBCoe
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David here.  And let me start by saying that the title for today’s post came from our guest blogger, Edmund Schubert.  Ed is perfectly capable of introducing himself (as you’ll soon see) and so I won’t waste your time or mine by listing his credits here.  Suffice it to say that he is one of my very favorite people in this crazy business.  He’s smart as hell, funny as he is smart, and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet (although I suspect he wishes I’d kept that last one to myself).  He is also a terrific editor; I know this because I’ve worked with him recently on a story of mine that he’ll be publishing in the next issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.  His post today is, I hope, the first of many he’ll be offering us from time to time.  So without further ado, ladies and entlemen, Billy Shears!  (Okay, that was for all the Beatles fans.)  Here’s Ed:

Hail and greetings and salutations and all those fancy words that mean hello. My name is Edmund Schubert, and despite the fact that I have now personally met David, Faith, Misty and Catie, they have invited me to come play in their sandbox anyway.

 I met Catie Murphy first, at World Fantasy in Austin, TX (Nov. 2006). If you ask her about that particular WFC, she’ll inevitably tell you about someone who threw himself through a hedge to get at her. That was me. I’d be embarrassed about it except there’s also a story going around about someone who grabbed Gordon Van Gelder in the men’s room at that same World Fantasy–and that was me, too. So really the whole hedge thing is hardly worth mentioning. (I’d tell you more but I’d probably be in violation of the restraining order Gordon took out. Buy me a couple of beers at a con (no, one beer is not enough) and I’m sure I can be convinced to tell the tale.)

 A few months later I met David at ChattaCon in Chattanooga, TN (Jan. 2007). I mainly went to ChattaCon that year because a good friend told me it was a con that was heavy on gaming, but for some reason they had dual writer guests of honor that year and the two GOHs were Kevin J. Anderson and Robert J. Sawyer. The first night at ChattaCon I ended up in a train car that had been converted into a diner, eating pizza with Kevin, Rob, their spouses, the aforementioned good friend, Alethea Kontis (Ingram book buyer who recently guest-blogged here), and some guy named David Coe. Mostly we just ate and listened to Rob and Kevin tell stories, but I knew right away that David was someone I wanted to get to know better—though I wasn’t sure why.

 I found out why a few months later at RavenCon in Richmond, VA (April 2007) when David and I met again. After proving to the con organizers what a really bad idea it was to put that much top-shelf booze in a room with the two of us and no chaperone, we quickly came to realize why we were drawn to each other: we were living uncannily mirror-imaged lives. We both had wives who were (or had been) scientists and who had real jobs so we could be ‘creative’; had two daughters of nearly identical ages and interests and birthdays and even names; were former New Yorkers who had escaped the Big Apple and now lived in the South; and were fervent Mets fans (which was much easier to say with a straight face before their horrid collapse at the end of last season). The list goes on and on, but I can see you’re getting bored, so I’ll leave it at that (for now). (Yes, I know, I have a penchant for parenthetical asides. But the more you point it out, the worse it gets, so pretend not to notice and maybe I’ll stop (or at least ease up (not likely, but worth trying)).

 Anyway…

 I just met Faith Hunter and Misty Massie at ConCarolinas this year (Charlotte, NC, May 30 – June 1, 2008). I didn’t bother with niceties with either of them, I just let loose and acted like myself. Usually that’s a recipe for disaster, yet they kept coming back for more. I think this either says a lot about their character as fine, patient, tolerant human beings, or it calls into serious question their ability to judge a man’s basic nature. Personally, I’m hoping for the latter. It’s my only chance.

 So that’s how I know these good folks. As for me, I am a character actor (emphasis on the word ‘character’ (in case you hadn’t noticed by now) and I play a lot of roles. They are all roles I enjoy, and there are probably more of them than any sane man would undertake. I am (in no particular order):

 A) managing editor of a new women’s business magazine called Diversity Woman. Not terribly glamorous, but it pays the best of all of my various gigs and I enjoy the behind-the-scenes work of putting a magazine together. Also, being the father of two daughters, I have developed an interest in women’s issues that is not likely to go away any time soon.

B) fiction editor of Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (and by default co-editor of the anthology by the same name due out this August from Tor). Science fiction and fantasy short stories are a lot more glamorous than managing Diversity Woman (I think so anyway; my parents seem a bit more impressed with the business magazine); plus, as an added benefit, it’s how I met Catie, David, Faith, and Misty (hmmm, maybe my parents were right after all…).

 C) a writer of things speculative and mysterious. I started out writing a novel, quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing (not that I’m saying that’s changed much) and began writing short stories as a way to learn the craft. Along the way I published half a dozen mystery shorts in minor magazines such as Futures Mystery Anthology and Hardboiled Mystery Magazine (one of which resulted in a preliminary nomination for an Edgar Award for Best Short Story in 2006), as well as approximately two dozen speculative short stories (mainly of the variety of what they are now calling ‘interstitial’ (though I personally hate the term), along with a bit of straight science fiction), also published in minor magazines and anthologies you’ve never heard of and winning a few minor awards you’ve also never heard of (I’m nothing if not self-effacing). Somewhere in there I managed to write a novel called Dreaming Creek that’s kind of like the TV show “Cold Case” with a Twilight-Zone twist.

 D) a dad, who sets aside roles A), B), and C) at three o’clock in the afternoon when the school bus pulls up to the curb. Then it’s several hours of snacks and homework and laundry and cooking dinner until the previously-mentioned supportive wife comes home. Then, depending on how much work is left, I might or might not go back to my office in the evening and attend to whatever part of A, B, or C most needs my attention.

 This month, however, it happens not to be A), B), OR C); it’s A), B), AND C). With a whopping dose of D) thrown in for good measure. You see, the next issue of Diversity Woman has to be to the printers by June 17^th, the next issue of IGMS is scheduled for release on (or about) June 27^th, and my publisher (a small press in Pennsylvania called LBF Books) is expecting final edits on my novel by June 30^th. And did I mention the girls are out of school on June 11^th?

 I know they say that busy people get things done, but come on…

 But here’s the thing that makes me chuckle. When David emailed me and invited me to write a guest piece for this blog, I instantly knew that of all the roles I play, ‘writer’ is the one closest to my heart. How did I know this? How, you ask? (don’t ask, don’t ask… too late, I told you not to make eye contact). How? Because of all of the things I could have and should have been doing, when this opportunity presented itself, it was all my mind would focus on, all my fingers would consider doing. Here was an opportunity to tell a story – my story – silly though it (and I) may be, and my fingers heard the siren-song of the keyboard. There was no turning back. I just like stories.

Time to go pound out some parenthesis, boys.

Tags: Special Guest Stars by DavidBCoe
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Yesterday Faith talked about how to approach an agent … and how not to. The same advice goes for approaching a published writer for help. Ever since “Mad Kestrel” hit the shelves, I’ve been receiving emails from nice people very politely asking me to help them. People I do not know.

Before I was published, I was lucky to have the guidance of a published author, Faith Hunter. We met when I joined the writing group she also belonged to. She encouraged me to try writing a novel when all I’d done up to that point was short fiction. She was constructively brutal when I needed it, supportive and kind when I was suffering. She took me under her wing because she believed in me. And she believed in me because she’d had time to get to know me and my writing.

I’ve had complete strangers offer to send me their novels. (If y’all could only see the stack of published books I haven’t read yet!) I’ve had people attach their novels to the email requesting I read them. (One lady, when I told her there were liabilities to me doing that, promised very sincerely that she’d never tell. Uh huh.) I’ve had people offer me ideas if I do the writing. (If only they knew how long it takes me to write the ideas I have now!) I remember how hard it was to write a whole novel the first time. The anguish of rejections, the stress of not knowing what comes next, the worry over whether I’d ever get an agent to represent me - those are all still very fresh in my mind. And who knows, one of those nice people might be the next J K Rowling, and I could discover her! I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t enticing.

But here’s the thing…I’m a writer first. I’m not the one who’ll spend her time showing editors your work, nor can I buy your novel from you. All I could do is look at it and tell you what works and what doesn’t. While I’m doing that for you, I’m not writing MY book. If it comes to my book or yours competing for my attention, mine is going to win. Especially if I’ve never even met you before. Yes, a published author helped me. I let her get to know me first, get to know that I meant what I said, that I could do the work myself and that I was willing to tough it out. In J K Holmes’ interview last Friday, she mentioned that she’d had the assistance of writer Carolyn Haines, but once again, that help came because they had a personal relationship, and Carolyn recognized J K was ready to put her money where her mouth was.

I don’t mean to sound like a downer - we do want to help. That’s why the four of us are here - this blog is a way for all of us to pay it forward. We welcome writers’ questions here. If you run into one or more of us at a con or writing conference, we’re happy to give advice and suggestions. Write, rewrite, make your book as good as it can possibly be. Take advantage of opportunities like writing critique groups or online support forums, and if you luck onto a personal relationship with someone in the business, treat it gently.

But you’re going to have to learn the craft for yourself, the hard way. The same way we all did. That’s the big secret to getting published.

Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for a special guest appearance from Edmund Schubert, writer, managing editor of Diversity Woman and fiction editor of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, an online sf/fantasy ‘zine.

Tags: Misty Massey by Misty Massey
3 Comments »

The Importance of an Agent, and the Agency’s Mailing Address

The importance of having an agent in this day and age can’t be emphasized enough. There are so many small presses with totally inclusive clauses in book contracts, so many scams, so many changes in the marketplace, so many vanity presses masquerading as legitimate royalty-paying presses, and so many new and binding clauses even in traditional press contracts that need to be negotiated out and removed prior to signing, that an agent is absolutely imperative. Especially for the writer just starting out, but even for the midlist writer trying to navigate the predator-infested waters of the publishing industry. Personally I think any writer at any level of success should have an agent, but I have to admit that I know a few writers who have been in the business long enough with careers that are thriving well enough to handle their own contracts.

However, this group blog won’t interest such a high-level writer, so I’ll just limit my comments to the rest of us. Get an agent. Get a good agent. How? It can be done any number of different ways. Once you have a finished, rewritten, re-rewritten, and totally polished manuscript, there are any numbers of ways to meet an agent. The most commonly successful way is for a writer to attend a writing conference, meet, greet, blurb, wine, run errands for if you can find a way to be helpful, and follow through with, an agent. The second most common way to get eh attention of an agent is to send out a hundred or so queries (or what feels like a hundred), and hope for several to ask for partials or whole manuscripts. But let’s just say that you have an agent interested in representing your manuscript. How do you decide whether to sign with him?

I have several suggestions, in no particular order:

1. Agent must not ask for any money at all.  The only time I have ever paid an agent is after a sale, and then only copying, messenger fees, and mailing costs.

2. A New York address, while once of primary importance, has changed in recent years. Once upon a time an agent had to wine and dine publishers and editors as a part of getting them to look at manuscripts. Now – not so much. If your agent travels to New York several times a year and attends most major conferences, that is good enough. Why? The demographics of New York publishing have changed. Once it was composed of hard-drinking, white males, age 40 to 70, who lived in the city and made it a point to stop at one of several popular bars for an after-work drink. Or six. Six drinks or six bars. Take your pick. Meeting and buying them drinks was imperative. The big-wigs in the biz then went home and slept it off, while hard-working underlings (read: poor, overworked and underpaid females) toted multiple manuscripts home and did the bulk of the actual work. Sad but true. Now the business is run by underpaid but immensely powerful females. They go home after work most nights and do their own reading, buying, and editing. They don’t socialize as much, and usually only at conferences. So the NYC address is less important.

3. Agent needs to have foreign agent affiliations and west coast contacts. This should be a part of their website info.

4. Frankly, young, hip agents are doing very well right now, while the old-school agencies are hiring new, young, hip agents to do the actual work in the offices.

5. Agency needs to represent the kind of work you write and should have a section on their website that lists recent sales.

6. Contract with agency should be fair and allow reasonable ways for writer to get out of representation. Note – just because you get out of representation, if they sold anything you wrote, they often have permanent rights to sell and represent that work, in perpetuity. I personally don’t like an “in perpetuity clause,” but it is becoming common in the business.

7. At the time of this writing, I have two agents, one who represents my thriller/mystery works written under the pen name, Gwen Hunter, and one for my fantasy works. This arrangement is unusual for the business, but I came to it honestly and innocently. Really! For me, this multiple relationship, this professional ménage-à-trois is working. So far. How long will it work to divide myself between two agencies? I don’t know. I’ll cross that bridge if I ever come to it.

There are dozens of other things to say about agents, but this will get your feet off the ground. Anyone have questions?
Faith

Tags: Faith Hunter by faithhunter
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I’m actually writing bits of notes through the week for this blog, so these really *are* letters from the battlefield, rather than a Tuesday-morning summary.

words written this week: 21,472
pages written this week: 85

28,271 / 110,000 (25.7%)

Next week is going to be slower. I’m going to Cork for the weekend (to see Eric Clapton perform!), and the house-movers will theoretically be delivering out stuff on Monday, so I’m figuring if I get 2K done a day Friday-Monday I’ll be doing very well indeed. Fingers crossed, and meantime, here’s the week’s Letter:

[Read more →]

Tags: C E Murphy by cemurphy
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