Today we're taking a jaunt across the fence to see if the grass is really greener on the other side of the fence. The agented fence. So many of us are working hard to perfect that query letter, research agents and hoping to find that one industry believer who can get our book into the hands of an editor. But what really goes on after you sign with an agent?

Well, Lisa and Laura Roecker (hitherto known as L&L) are here to give us a glimpse. These sisters-turned-authors signed with Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Management earlier this year and were kind enough to give me a few minutes to answer some questions. They run a killer blog and you can check out their website too. I'm ElanaJ (aka EJ. You're disappointed it's not Oprah, aren't you? Dude, that's on my other blog.) and I'm totally going to hit them with my best shot.

EJ: Okay, you’ve signed with an agent. Many of us might be asking: “Is the grass really greener on the other side?” So…is it?

L&L: Oh yes, it’s just gorgeous over here. We’re kidding…kind of. We’ve had the most amazing experience with Catherine. She’s incredibly talented, hardworking and communicative. We feel like we’re her only clients and yet she works with tons of authors, many who are NYT Bestsellers. We feel incredibly lucky that she saw potential in the two of us and has invested so much time and energy into our work.

EJ: Let’s start with revisions. Did you need to complete revisions for your agent before going on submission? If so, how intensive were they? How long did they take? Were you able to ask Catherine for feedback and advice along the way?

L&L: When Catherine offered representation she mentioned that she’d want us to do some revisions before going out on submission. About a month after signing with her we met her in NYC and were lucky enough to get our revision notes live. I will never forget going to Starbucks afterwards and looking at each other, like “Oh, crap. That’s a lot of work.”

But Catherine has this knack for pointing out strengths and weaknesses in your manuscript and really forcing you to make it the very best it can possibly be. She reminded us that you only debut once and it needs to be spot on. So, the revision ended up taking us about a month, but it was an intense month.

We definitely had to ask for advice in regards to the title. We came up with list after list and Catherine would provide feedback. It all comes down to the fact that we suck at thinking of titles. But we all loved THE HAUNTING OF PEMBERLY BROWN, so that’s something.

EJ: Okay, the day comes. Book is revised. Agent-approved. Then what? Give us the low-down on what happens next on your end. On Catherine’s end.

L&L: After Catherine read our revised manuscript she told us she wanted to put it out on submission the following week. We did a little happy dance and then immediately started to freak out. While Catherine was busy writing up her pitch and figuring out who we should submit to, we wrote up bios, took an author pic, created an author website and continued freaking out.

By the next week Catherine sent us the list of the lucky editors and we immediately went into cyberstalking mode. It was sort of amazing to read about all of these uber talented editors who were going to be reading and (hopefully) talking about our work. It was also terrifying.

Catherine kept in touch in regards to who was reading, if/when she’d nudged them, if/when we were going to acquisitions, etc. Every time an email would pop up in our inbox or Catherine’s number would pop up on our cell phones, we’d about pass out. But it was fun. In a terrifying, exhilarating kind of way.

EJ: How did you endure the wait? The rejections? How did having an agent help with both of those?

L&L: We certainly had our fair share of rejections, but Catherine never ever let us give up on THE HAUNTING OF PEMBERLY BROWN. We honestly can’t imagine going through the submissions process without an agent. Whether it was an encouraging e-mail or the constant updates on the status of our submissions, Catherine kept us informed and (somewhat) sane throughout the entire process.

EJ: Did you start a new project while your first was on submission? If so, were you able to bounce ideas off Catherine? How helpful/instrumental was she in what you decided to write next?

L&L: Catherine was extremely open to us bouncing ideas off of her. About a month into the submissions process, the waiting was driving us crazy, so we told Catherine we’d like to start working on something new. She told us to put a few pitches together, so we sent her some of our best ideas. She was on vacation at the time, and while we were waiting for her response we got a completely new idea for a project. By the time she came back, we were already 15,000 words into SHE’S LEAVING HOME. We just fell in love with the characters and the concept. So basically, Catherine didn’t have much of a choice, but I think we’re all really happy we decided to write what we did!


Whew, sounds like it's a thrilling ride, no matter which leg of the publishing journey you're on! Thanks so much for sharing with us. Oh! And Lisa and Laura recently sold their book to Sourcebooks, with a publication date of Spring 2011. Further proof that hard work pays off, no matter which field you find yourself grazing in.

RWA’s 2009 Reader Survey reports 74.8 million Americans read at least one romance novel in 2008, with the core of the romance fiction market at 29 million regular readers.

Not only did romance fiction generate $1.37 billion in sales in 2008, but also it remained the largest share of the consumer market at 13.5 percent. R.R. Bowker’s Books In Print shows 7,311 new romance titles were published in the United States in 2008 (out of a total 275,232 new titles). With 7,311 new romances published in one year, “no fiction category can rival romance in terms of sheer size.”

The U.S. economy slid into recession in 2008, and book sales were down to $10.175 billion from $10.714 billion in 2007. Romance fiction sales were strong in 2008 at $1.37 billion.

One morning I opened a reader email that came through my website. The woman wrote to tell me that she'd had a very tough week. Both of her parents were terminally ill, and reading Would-Be Witch was the first thing that had made her happy in a while. She just wanted me to know. I sat and cried as I wrote her a reply.

Before that reader email, I had occasionally wondered if I should really be writing paranormal romantic comedy. It wasn't, after all, serious writing, right? Afterward though, I never questioned my choice again. My book eased the pain of someone who was shouldering a very heavy load. Nothing will ever mean more to me than that.

WOW (Women on Writing) is holding a flash fiction contest that closes November 30th. Entries will be judged by Noah Lukeman of Lukeman Literary Management. There are many fun prize packages. Entry fee is $10.

Guide to Literary Agents had a great article, 7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your First Chapter.

Since our American readers are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, it seems a good time for a moment of gratitude. In fact, there's really no wrong time to be thankful.

Many people consider writing to be a solitary activity. But however true that may be, when you begin a quest for publication, you join a community. And if you're reading this post, then you've found your way to the best writing community I've found.

The fact is, it takes a lot of support to pursue a writing career, from your family, from friends, from beta readers... from whoever motivates you to keep going.

I am grateful to many people:

• My husband and my best friend, the best support system a girl could ask for
  
  
• My fellow blog mistresses, also known as The Best Crit Group EVAH
  
  
• My amazing agent, Katie Boyle
  
  
• Patrick McDonald for conceiving and implementing the fabulous Querytracker.net site
  
  
• My sweetly ruthless beta readers

And finally, YOU... the Querytracker community for sheer awesomeness. I'm grateful for your suggestions, your participation, your thoughtful comments here on the Querytracker blog.

So, what are YOU thankful for?

For those of you celebrating, have a peaceful and happy holiday!

In honor of our swiftly-approaching one-year mark, I'm pulling out one of the QueryTracker Blog Team's first posts.  Part of what's fun about the re-post is that I can link to many of the posts we've done over the past year!

Characteristic 5: Professionalism

Understand that publishing is a business, and that agents and editors are trying to find books publishers—and eventually readers—will want to spend their hard-earned money to buy. That means you need to conduct yourself like a professional. While this might seem obvious, you must treat everyone you deal with, from agents’ assistants all the way up to publishing heads, with courtesy. Even if you don’t like what they’re telling you.

Never send hate mail back to agents or editors. (You might be surprised how often publishing professionals have to deal with this.) Also realize that form responses are normal — if you had to read hundreds of queries every month, you’d send them too! Don't take rejection as a personal attack—it's just business.

Characteristic 6: Patience

It takes patience to see your dream of being published come true. Not only patience to write the book—which doesn't happen in a single sitting—but patience to wait for responses from beta readers, critique groups, and then agents, editors, and publishers. Some respond immediately. Some are a little slower, but will respond eventually. And some won’t respond at all. In each case, your patience will be tried.

Characteristic 7: Luck

Before you decide that you’re doomed because you’ve never won the lottery (or even a door prize drawing), you need to know that we’re talking about the kind of luck you make for yourself. There is an old Chinese tenet, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” So first, be prepared. And then cultivate your own luck. Lucky writers behave in ways that create good fortune in their lives. For example, they read agent and industry blogs (like this one!) to get a feel for what different agents like. They notice and act upon chance opportunities, follow their intuition, look for the bright side of every situation, and are certain their future is promising. Their outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, creating the perfect environment for “luck” to flourish. Remember, it only takes one positive response!

Put All Those Characteristics Together: Indomitable Spirit

Incorporating these seven traits will result in the indomitable spirit necessary to succeed in the publishing industry. What is Indomitable Spirit? It’s an attitude or state of mind in which you are impossible to frighten or defeat. Never, never, never give up on your dreams.

“People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Elana Johnson, Carolyn Kaufman and Suzette Saxton worked together on this article!

New Literary Agents:


Amy Burkhardt at Kimberley Cameron & Associates. From their website: "She represents both fiction and nonfiction projects for the adult market. In fiction, she looks for literary and commercial fiction, upmarket women's fiction, mysteries with a twist or an unusual protagonist, and historical fiction. In nonfiction, she seeks narrative nonfiction and memoirs as well as prescriptive nonfiction written by experts in their field. She has a soft spot for lifestyle, humor, food, and current events topics."

Lina Sion at Global Literary Management. "Her focus at the agency is to represent authors of Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction."

Stacy Carlock at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. "She is interested in character driven stories that deal with women’s issues (both fiction and non-fiction). She is also interested in spiritual stories that come from being real. She is always into a great page turning beach read - particularly legal thrillers with complex and interesting lead characters and just good fun reads. She loves business books that encourage and develop people skills and ethical awareness."

Serafina Clarke at Burkeman and Clarke Literary Agency. "We handle fiction and general non-fiction, children’s books and scripts for film, television and theatre."

Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary Services, LLC. "She is most interested in realistic, true-to-life stories with conflicts based in the real world. She likes edgy, dark, challenging voices, unique settings, and everyman stories told with a new spin."

Guichard Cadet at Seredipity Literary Agency. "Guichard is looking to represent a balanced mix of fiction and non fiction but is not interested in magical realism, fantasy or science fiction. He has a special affinity for pop culture, sports and Caribbean themed titles."


Contests, Happenings, Etc.

The fine folks at St. Martins are hosting a new adult contest. From their blog: “We are actively looking for great, new, cutting edge fiction with protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience. Since twenty-somethings are devouring YA, St. Martin’s Press is seeking fiction similar to YA that can be published and marketed as adult—a sort of an “older YA” or “new adult.” The deadline is TODAY, so get your pitch entered fast!

Delacorte First Young Adult Novel contest: Submissions due December 31.

Dragon Moon Press is calling for submissions in “Fantasy, Science Fiction and Gentle Horror.” Read the details here. Don't send submissions until December 1.

Literary agent Jenny Rappaport is closed to submissions. Read more here.


Inspiring Things To Read:

Alice Pope, editor of Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market, is calling for queries for her upcoming Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market book. Click here for details.

Alice also did a fantastic post this week on social networking, and just what you need to be doing. Check it out.

I found this glossary of publishing terms on Janet Reid’s blog. Pretty funny, so check it out!
 

The whole Harlequin self-publishing announcement exploded this week. Reactions have been up all over the place, but here are a couple of my favorites. From Dear Author. Kristin Nelson gives us the possible fallout from the announcement here.

Have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving!