QueryTracker Blog

Helping Authors Find Literary Agents

Friday, May 30, 2014

Publishing Pulse for Friday May 30, 2014

Whoa! There is a bumper crop of QT success stories this week. Please join me in a digital round of R.A. Burrell, Merriam Saunders, Amber Mitchell, and Olivia Heinbaugh.
applause to these four QTers for landing an agent. If you click on a name, you can read each success story interview:

Around the web, everybody is talking about the standoff between Amazon and Hachette. The New York Times was the first paper to break the story, back in early May. This week, it's everywhere. The longest and widest ranging article is in The Atlantic. And because we're talking about publishing here, it's doom and gloom all around. Enjoy this article with copious grains of salt.

Yesterday, Publishers Weekly unveiled the beta version of Booklife, a site focusing on self-publishing. It's got potential. Check it out.


Sarah Pinneo
 
is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

QueryTracker Upgrade in the Works

I've been hard at work writing a new version of QueryTracker, and I thought I’d post about it here to let everyone know what’s coming. There was so much I wanted to do that simply patching the current version wasn't going to cut it, and so a totally new version was needed. It’s going to be a lot of work and I don’t expect to have it done for several months still. 

As in the past, I will strive to keep things from changing too much. Things will stay as familiar as possible, and I don’t think people will have much trouble adapting to what does change.

There are three major points this new version will address and will be my main focus. 

1. With more and more people using tablets and smart phones to access the web, I thought it was time for QueryTracker to target these devices directly. As some of you may know, there is a mobile version of QueryTracker but it is outdated and limited and I just don't like it. 

I also don't want one of those mobile sites that are so limited they're useless, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that either. 

So my goal is to have a fully functional mobile version. In fact, my goal is to have just one site, not three different versions designed for three different screen sizes. Instead, this one site will adapt itself automatically depending on the device you're using. This means the features will be the same across devices. It also means I'll only have one site to support instead of three. Everyone wins. 

2. Often, I hear remarks from QueryTracker users who tell me QueryTracker is just too complicated. Well, in a way, I have to agree. The site can do a lot, and for that reason there are lots of options. On the search page alone there are nearly 30 different text fields, check boxes and selection lists, all screaming for attention. Though not everyone uses all those different options, it can still be overwhelming seeing them there. 

For that reason, the new version of QueryTracker will have two different modes, basic and advanced. In basic mode, the choses are few. It is for people who want to do basic searches, not getting too detailed. But with one click, you can put the system in advanced mode, and instantly have access to all of the options available now. Once set in advanced mode, it will automatically return to that mode by default whenever you visit the site. That means very little change for power-users who want all the features, while at the same time not overwhelming new members. 

3. The third point of focus is new features, but I’ve gone on enough so I’m going to leave that discussion for a future blog post. Sorry about the cliffhanger.

If you have any ideas for new features or changes you’d like to see added, please mention them in the comments section.





Monday, May 26, 2014

Successful Authors Don't Keep Secrets

When I began writing, it was definitely a solitary effort. So solitary, in fact, I kept it a secret. I wrote early in the morning, when my husband was at work and the kids were asleep. No one to look over my shoulder. No one to critique. No one to criticize. Just me, and my novice efforts and my fledgling craft.

Who was I kidding? Back then, I had no craft. I just wanted to write. I had no goals, no real plans, and certainly no schooling. Those days were long before I educated myself with craft books and the internet articles. I had no regard for plot and I couldn’t have cared less for dialog structure. All I knew was I wanted to write word after word and see if they took me anywhere.

Then, one day my husband asked me who Marek was. Erp. He’d found the bits and pieces I’d been writing, a first person POV with a romantic interest. I had to set him straight real fast. Marek was a character I was writing, and no, he couldn’t read it.

I lacked confidence. I wasn’t a writer—I was a pharmacist and a homemaker. I grew up in the eighties, when only professionals got published by big companies. Stephen King was a writer. I was just a girl with an imagination too big to stay in my head.

He didn’t see it that way. He believed in me and said if I wanted to be a writer, I should just stop saying can’t, and start doing it.

So, I did.

Eventually, I let others in on my secret. I showed my scenes to my sister, cringing and waiting for her to declare it complete suckitude. She didn’t. Neither did my husband, who took my characters very seriously (and decided he hated one of them violently). I got my younger sister to read an early draft—and she finished it. That really blew my mind—that anyone would actually want to read the whole thing.

My husband and my sisters became my most powerful critique partners and my dearest lifelines. They gave me the confidence I needed to crawl out from under the rock I’d been writing under. They took the solitude out of my efforts. And they cheered when I got published, because it was a victory for us all.


Flashing forward to today... my third novel comes out in June, the third in a series that began with a character named Marek and a writer who was too cowardly to tell anyone about him. I’m no longer quite as solitary a writer and often have long conversations with my husband about the people who dwell inside my head. He daydreams about retiring from his career in pharmaceuticals so that he can be my full-time assistant. (He doesn’t realize I’d gladly hire him, even if only to shovel off my desk once a week. I tend to stock-pile it to the point of oblivion.)

The one thing he’d never do was manage my social media. You need a personality to sell books, he said, and I don’t have your personality.

While I’m sure he meant it as compliment, I took it as a painful reminder of the uncomfortable, vulnerable moments I experienced when I first showed my pages to others. I wrote in solitude because I was safe there. As long as I was writing for only myself, solitude was fine.

While writers can exist in their vacuums, authors cannot. I’m using the term author to mean someone who is writing for an audience—so, by definition, solitude can play no part of it. While there are websites devoted to authors getting their stories out to an audience (Wattpad.com is a favorite), it eventually becomes necessary for us to put ourselves out in the world, book in hand, face to face with real, live people in the hopes that they will read our work.

Once again, I’m reminded of the concepts I’d stubbornly carried with me since the eighties. Book signings and readings and tours were for real authors and big publishing houses. That would never be me. The only concession I made in recent decades was to admit the Internet was a good place to sell books, which was just fine by me. I could still hide behind a computer, no sweat. I’d been doing it for years.

But, alas. I might write fantasy, but I can no longer pretend to live in one. My illusions have been completely dispelled. Putting a book on Amazon didn’t guarantee sales, not when your book is a mere drop in a literary ocean. Having a publisher doesn’t ensure a landslide of PR, no matter who the publisher is.

I’ve read a fair share of posts from mid-list authors of big houses as well as mega-successful indie writers—and none of them are saying anything even remotely close to what my eighties-era conceptions would have had me continue to believe.

So, what’s a writer to do, other than get out there and sell my books? No one is going to do it for me.

And that, I think is where I realized my husband had put it all together for me in a single word: personality. He can’t be my voice on Twitter or Facebook, because he doesn’t have my voice. He couldn’t post to my blog any more than he could write my next book. It all comes down to personality. Readers are drawn to a writer’s voice, so why wouldn’t they be drawn in by an author’s personality?

Personality doesn’t mean being the most popular person in the room, the winning smile or the center of attention. It’s us, pure and simple, as we can only be in person.

Personality is both our strength and our weakness. While it’s our nature—and, being creative people, writers should naturally have interesting personalities—it’s also the most intimate thing about ourselves and we are protective of our privatest parts. Public speaking is not for everyone.

Conferences and their opportunities for schmoozing with the big-wigs give most emerging authors the willies, if not outright palpitations. The whole face-time thing means we can’t hide behind our computer screens anymore.

Personality and in-person go hand in hand. Bye-bye, solitude.


It's all part of the publishing game. We must learn how to write better and improve our craft if we want to be published. Likewise, we must learn how to appear in public if we want to sell our books.

Emerging authors sell more books to personal contacts than by any other route. Our first readers are our family and friends—so, naturally, they become our first customers. Using our personality to sell our books to them is as easy as blinking. However, once you try to move past the innermost circle of our audience, it gets a little harder.

So we must learn how to do it, and do it well.

My only regret is that when I started to take my writing seriously, I didn’t know enough to look ahead to the business side of things. Why would I have done that? I never crept out of bed at five in the morning because I planned to pursue publishing contracts. I did it because I wanted to write, not because I dreamed of book signings or meet-and-greets. Culturing an author appearance-worthy personality takes as much craft as completing a manuscript.

Lucky for me, I like to talk. My career in pharmacy requires me to be an expert in the field, an educator, a counsellor, and a professional communicator. When I go to book signings, I draw on the strengths I’d developed in my day job and use them to my advantage. (Bonus is I don’t have to filter everything I say. When I’m at my author job, I get to be as sassy as I want to be.)

I love to talk to readers about books, and not just my own. I get to connect with readers who like the same kinds of stories that I do. My favorite appearances have been in libraries because that’s where the readers live. The real payoff lies in knowing that I made face-time with readers who will tell their friends about my books. That word-of-mouth is what grows our audience in the beginning—and word-of-mouth spreads fastest when we’re the ones doing the talking.

The Real Secret to Success...
If you are on submission with your first book, or anticipating your first release, celebrate the first victory: the moment you took your book out of the computer and sent it to a complete stranger.

That’s bravery at its finest. Just remember, though, that there are still times ahead when you are going to have to re-prove your courage—when you have to actually go out in the world, book in hand, and tell a complete stranger what it’s about and why they should read it.

Don’t wait until your first appearance is a week away and decide to have a complete meltdown because you just don’t have the type of personality. You do have that type of personality. You just need to cultivate it.

Start close to home. Practice your pitch on family and friends. They are going to buy the book anyway—why not use the opportunity to hone your charm? Practice now means ease of execution later.

Do mini-readings where you’re already comfortable. At work, at your kids’ playgroups, at your church or community events—your neighbors and your acquaintances are perfect for pre-appearance practice. You may have started writing in secret solitude like I did—but when you have a book to sell, the time for secrets is long past.

Start small. Does the thought of walking into Barnes and Noble to ask for a book signing scare the living hell out of you? Don’t start there. Start with your local library and offer to do a reading. Bring some bookmarks to hand out and a few copies of your book. You will drive home and have that surreal moment where you go Holy cow. I just had a book signing. Then you’ll wink at people in their cars the rest of the ride because you’re all that and a bag of chips.

Barnes and Nobel just might still be there next year. You’ll get there. Don’t worry.

The bottom line is…you may write in solitude now, but you can’t stay there forever. Hone your writing craft, but don’t neglect your in-person personality. Write your pitches and read them out loud. Tell the very next person you encounter that you are a writer, and that you’d love to tell them about your book.

Don’t keep your biggest achievement a secret. Learn to talk about your book now so that the word-of-mouth you get later on will be made of good words.

Experienced authors—what secret can you share with emerging writers regarding those scary first appearances?






Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. Visit Ash at www.ashkrafton.com for news on her urban fantasy series The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press) or stop by the Demimonde Blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com . WOLF’S BANE (Demimonde #3) is forthcoming June 2014. 

Friday, May 23, 2014

Publishing Pulse for May 23, 2014

New At QueryTracker:


This week we've updated four agent profiles in our database, mainly for genres, and added one new agent. Please make sure you double-check every agent's website or Publisher's Marketplace page before sending your query.

If you're a QueryTracker premium member, then you can be notified whenever an agent or publisher profile is added or updated. If you're not a premium member, you can just check for yourself.

Publishing News:

Our work is done:


Smashwords and Overdrive make a distribution deal.

Publisher's Weekly asks if the agency model will survive. Amazon appears to be playing hardball with Hachette. Plus, Amazon and Bonnier seem to be having issues.

A thoughtful discussion about books and prisons.

Should we put trigger warnings on classic books?

Around the Blogosphere:

One self-published author recalls her success: Three years, 300,000 books sold.

How editors go about making an offer on your book.

Small publishers in the age of the digital book.

John Greene and building a passionate audience.

A YA librarian gets fed up with the mass media's misconceptions about YA.

We all have them: those moments when a writer feels lost in the woods.

Literary Quote of the Week:

"You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance." Ray Bradbury

Thanks for stopping by, and keep sending those queries!

---
 Jane Lebak is the author ofThe Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, three cats, two books in print, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or shoveling snow. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four kids. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Writer Support Groups: The Why and How

As much as we love our friends and family, they often don’t get it when it comes to our writing careers and ambitions. They don’t know what it’s like to receive rejection after rejection on our queries, or rejection on requested material. They don’t know what it’s like to navigate the confusing world of publication. They don’t know what it’s like to read a review of your book that tears your heart to pieces. This is why support from other writers and authors is so important for your sanity.

There are a number of ways to develop a support group, the majority involving social media. One group I’m in started out as a Twitter conversation between myself and a friend. Someone else we know jumped in, and we started talking about forming a group of debut authors (who meet a specific criteria). The group had a number of goals:

•    Provide a shoulder to cry on when needed.
•    Help promote our books (like a street team).
•    Share our personal experiences when it comes to the industry and when it comes to marketing.

The additional benefit of the group is that we’ve developed friendships, and at the Romantic Time Convention last week, those of us attending were able to get together and not feel so alone. This is a big perk if you happen to be an introvert and the idea of meeting new people at a conference gives you a bad case of hives. Some of us even beta read for other members of the group. We’ve become like an extended family.

You don’t have to form a group like this to benefit. Facebook has tons of writer groups that you can join, though they tend to be a lot larger and not have the same benefit of a small group. But before you join, know what you’re looking for in a group and determine if they are the best group for you. There are some groups that don’t have a lot of interaction, and are more like sites for self promotion. Other groups have strict rules to limit spam. I belong to a large group on Facebook that focuses on New Adult stories. It’s amazing how many people join just to promote their books. And it’s equally amazing how fast the administrators (including myself) cut them from the group if they’ve ignored the guidelines. We’re all about interaction and members helping each other with questions and concerns. And we’ve noticed that those authors who promote their new releases and regularly interact with the group are met with greater enthusiasm than the authors who don’t contribute to the group and suddenly come out of nowhere to promote their new release. Just something to keep in mind if you decide to join such a group.

In addition to writer groups on Facebook, there might be groups in your city you can join. These are great if you prefer face-to-face interaction, rather than online interaction. If you’re a member of parent organization (e.g. Romance Writers of America), check to see if a local chapter exists in your city.

Do you belong to any writer groups? If so, do you find them helpful?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website. She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available. LET ME KNOW (Carina Press) will be available Sept 1st, 2014.



Monday, May 19, 2014

When Your Publisher Merges

I was on a conference call for Harlequin authors last week. The call had been scheduled weeks in advance, but the Q&A was entirely taken up with questions regarding the recently announced acquisition of Harlequin by HarperCollins / News Corp. As I listened to all the fresh angst on the line, it occurred to me that my previous life in the corporate world made all the managers' proclamations easier to understand.

In the earliest press releases, everyone was careful to say that Harlequin would operate as an independent entity inside of HarperCollins. But that's management's line in the playbook. They have to say that. Because when you fork over a half a billion dollars cash for a company, it's crucial to retain the top talent until you figure out just what you want to achieve from the merger. News Corp can't really say "hells to the yes, there will be big changes!" Because Harlequin employees would have their resumes copyedited faster than you can sing the chorus of "These Boots Are Made for Walking."

But even knowing that, there's still no reason to panic. Corporate mergers are slow. Really slow. The Penguin / Random House merger was announced in the fall of 2012. It was officially completed (on paper, anyway) nine months later. And now, nearly a year after that, I'm still getting separate royalty statements from the two.

Don't forget that Harlequin acquired Silhouette in 1984. And if you're squinting at the many similar "lines" of romance titles at Harlequin, you can still see vestiges of overlap between the two companies, thirty years later.

So what should an author do? In the first place, take a deep breath. Don't call your editor in a panic. She's probably having a really stressful day. Questions will not be answered quickly. But that doesn't mean that nobody cares about you. Even if you're sitting on an unsigned contract, or an offer of publication that hasn't gone to contract, odds are that your situation will be completely unaffected.

It's too early to say how this latest merger (or the next one, or the one after that) will change the marketplace. As with so many other questions in publishing, the question of "what should the author do?" has a familiar answer. Head down. Write the next book. And make it a winner.



Sarah Pinneo
 
is a novelist, food writer and book publicity specialist. Her most recent book is Julia’s Child. Follow her on twitter at @SarahPinneo.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Publishing Pulse: May 16, 2014

This Week at Query Tracker

The profiles of several agents were updated this week. Please make sure you double-check every agent's website or Publisher's Marketplace page before querying.

This Week in Publishing

A number of interesting links for QT readers…

Pinterest is a great tool to promote your books. Here are eight tips for writers. (Another tip? Pin It on Saturday—it’s believed to be the most effective day of the week when it comes to getting visibility.)

Interesting info-graphic that compares two publishing routes--traditional and indie.

I can’t resist any article that begins with the word “secret”. Here are more numbers from a mid-list author about her publishing reality.

Quick thoughts on show vs. tell (and one key warning for writers):

These are ten things Russell Blake wishes he’d been told about writing.

You fail only if you stop writing. --Ray Bradbury

Have a great weekend!



Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. Visit Ash at www.ashkrafton.com for news on her urban fantasy series The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press) or stop by the Demimonde Blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com . WOLF’S BANE (Demimonde #3) is forthcoming June 2014.

Monday, May 12, 2014

The Green-Eyed Monster

It was jealousy, not envy, to which Shakespeare is referring in the famous lines from Othello, but the comparison is still apt. And it's one to to which writers at all levels of their careers can relate--if they are honest, that is. In the Bard's day, the color green was associated with illness. You've heard the phrase "sick with envy," right?



Maybe it's because as writers we share the same devouring need for attention, or praise, or both. And perhaps we secretly believe that there's only so much of that stuff to go around, so we liken it to an equation that might read so:

If she gets x amount of praise times big advance multiplied by Amazon numbers--well, that somehow leaves less for me.

Stated in this manner, we can see how ridiculous it seems. There's certainly enough book love out there to go around, but we all want our share don't we? (Or perhaps more than our share.) And that's where that green-eyed guy tends to rear his ugly head.

With the possible exception of Nora Roberts, none of us is immune,. And we feel it at all levels of our careers. Remember that creative writing class you took in college? Remember how you felt when that one student was singled out for praise? Did you go up to her after class and say, you rock, girl! I'll bet you dollars to donuts you did NOT. (And if you did, you're much too nice to be reading this post.) If you're like me, and I suspect you are, you had at least a moment when your baby blues or browns or hazels glinted with a sickly green glow.

Because it's a natural response. It's not right and it's not becoming, but it's part of the human condition. It's part of our condition as writers. We go to pitch sessions, waiting our turns nervously outside the door, only to see the guy ahead of us emerge with a big grin on his face. And we clench our fists just a little tighter. Our writer friends get agents or contracts or awards before we do--and we're happy for them, because we love them, but that green-eyed imp sits on our shoulders and whispers bitter little nothings into our ears. Is she any more talented than you? Did he really deserve that review in the Times?

The honest answer to those questions is maybe. And the honest response to envy is to acknowledge it. Own it. You might try this little mantra: Yes, I am feeling envious right now and it's not worthy of me. My time will come. My time WILL come.

Repeat as necessary. And then try believing it--because, sweetheart, green is so not your color.


A Jersey girl born and bred, Rosie Genova left her heart at the shore, which serves as the setting for much of her work. Her new series, the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, is informed by her deep appreciation for good food, her pride in her heritage, and her love of classic mysteries, from Nancy Drew to Miss Marple. Her debut novel, Murder and Marinara, was named a Best Cozy of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. The second book in the series, The Wedding Soup Murder, is scheduled for release September 2.  An English teacher by day and novelist by night, Rosie also writes women’s fiction as Rosemary DiBattista. She lives fifty miles from the nearest ocean  in central New Jersey, with her husband and two younger sons.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Publising Pulse: Friday, May 9, 2014

This Week at Query Tracker

The profiles of several agents were updated this week. Please make sure you double-check every agent's website or Publisher's Marketplace page before querying.

You can see the publisher updates list here

Ready to write your own success story?

If you're a QueryTracker member (membership is free) you can view the database of more than 1200 agent and publisher profiles. Premium Members can be notified whenever an agent or publisher is added or updates their profile, in addition to receiving access to several other enviable features.

This Week in Publishing


In a $455M deal, HarperCollins bought Harlequin. HC hopes the acquisition will allow them to expand into foreign markets.  Caution: this article may contain language unsuitable for romance authors.

Curious to know what UK fiction editors are looking for? We found twenty-five who share their wish lists.

For new writers—increase your confidence with this list of useful tips.

Writers of fan fic may want to check out this piece on Amazon Worlds and their licensing model for fan fiction.

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov

Have a great weekend, everyone!


Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. Visit Ash at www.ashkrafton.com for news on her urban fantasy series The Books of the Demimonde (Pink Narcissus Press) or stop by the Demimonde Blog at www.ash-krafton.blogspot.com . WOLF’S BANE (Demimonde #3) is forthcoming June 2014.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Signposts

She's not sure what to do. "I think my agent's given up on me."

I have no idea what to tell her. She's gone over this saga before, and giving advice is different from following it. So I let her talk, and I wish she could hear herself the way I hear her. "I don't expect she's going to be able to sell this one. I don't think she's really pushing. We're not getting any hits on it."

It's a good book, but it's foundering. This writer has gone through the gamut of emotions with this agent on more than one book, and I've watched the whole parade cycling around and around, like a serpent swallowing its own tail: excitement followed by joy followed by frustration followed by confrontation followed by excitement again. The agent talks a good talk, but the writer is frustrated by the lack of follow-through, and every time they do this, the circle tightens just a little. This writer's trust is a tattered thing, ready to fall apart at the slightest touch.

But she's always believed in her agent, and believed the agent believed in her.

So she sits there, hands wrapped around her coffee cup, and says, "I don't know what to do."

No shortage of individuals, non-writers and writers alike, have told her to leave. But one thing I never expected about the agent-client relationship is how much it feels like falling in love. The same way there was that girl in high school who couldn't seem to dump her bad boyfriend, some writers don't want to walk away from a bad-fit agent. "It was so hard getting this one," she says to me. "The query process is degrading and soul-sucking."

But is her agency relationship any better right now? "I don't want to write anymore," she says. "I just don't feel the joy in it."

They say a bad agent is worse than no agent at all. Maybe this is why. Maybe a bad agent not only fails to sell your work, but she gives away a part of your soul she never had any right to in the first place.

The problem here is the enmeshment of the writer's dream and the person of the agent. "Cathexis" is the unromantic word for the process of falling in love, or an academic "investing emotional energy in someone." Writers sometimes cathect their agents. For them, the agent begins to embody the dream of getting books in front of readers.

In this case, this writer's agent is also a very nice person, and this writer wants to believe good things about people, but in the middle of "good" and "good" you get this toxic brew where a bad-fit agent-client relationship can fester for years.

I'm sure the agent tells herself the client's next book will sell. But in the interim, the client falls to pieces because what she needs isn't coming. "I can't even get my own agent enthusiastic about my book," she's said in the past. "Why would anyone else want to?"  And now, "Isn't my agent supposed to believe in me?"

So which is it? Is this writer unsellable? Is the agent lousy? Is the writer demanding too much of her agent? You can't tell from the outside, so it's impossible to give meaningful advice. But in the meantime, my friend has noticed something: the agent doesn't send her friendly emails or jokes anymore, and yet the writer isn't getting anxious. The agent isn't sending updates about a manuscript languishing in editors' to-be-read piles, and the writer isn't asking. Instead, the writer is beginning to poke around self-publishing sites and learning how to do her own marketing.

It's not only that her agent's given up on her. It's also that she's giving up on her agent.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she says, unable to meet my eyes.

"I know what you're doing," I say. "You're decathecting."

---


Jane Lebak is the author of The Wrong Enemy. She has four kids, three cats, two books in print, and one husband. She lives in the Swamp and spends her time either writing books or shoveling snow. At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four kids. If you want to make her rich and famous, please contact the riveting Roseanne Wells of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. 

Monday, May 5, 2014

Book We Can’t Live Without: The Writer Version

Hi, I’m Stina and I have a confession to make. I am a writing-craft-book junkie. It started out quite innocently. I knew it wasn’t enough to write a story and hope for the best. I needed to know HOW to construct a compelling story and characters. So, I purchased a few general books on the topic of writing fiction, but quickly realized they weren’t enough. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and these books are too limited in scope to help us. Books that focused on our specific needs are a much better investment of time, money, and space.

As I’ve mentioned before, I became a craft-book junkie. If a book looked good, I just had to have it. I ended up buying some books that were golden, and others that were no better than the sludge at the bottom of a lake. To spare you the frustration I went through, I decided to share some of my all-time favorite books for those of you who want to challenge your craft further. Some of the books are also excellent reference material. 

Plotting Your Novel

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass: This workbook is filled with useful exercises to help you during the planning process. Or, if you’re a panster, it will help you during revisions. I have several books like this, but Donald’s book is by far the best.

Save The Cat by Blake Snyder: This is a favorite for a lot of fiction writers and screenwriters. Even if you’re not a fan of outlining, the book will help you plan the basic structure to keep your story from meandering all over the place. This will save you time during edits.

Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass: Of all of Donald’s books, this one is my favorite. There are a lot of questions in it to help you shape your characters and plot, and to help you create an emotional read. It can be used during outlining or during edits.

Characterization

Getting Into Character—Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins: Not only does this book help with getting into character, it has chapters on writing emotion and subtext.

The Negative Trait Thesaurus and the Positive Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: These two guides will help you write multi-dimensional characters.

The Writer’s Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman: Fiction writers and screenwriters are notorious for making things up when it comes to psychological disorders. Instead of doing the proper research, they rely on their imagination and movies. The result is a loss of credibility when a reader does know better. Or worse yet, your inaccurate portrayal of a psychological disorder might have a negative impact on individuals who deal with it in real life.

Miscellaneous Topics

Hooked by Les Edgerton: If your first pages don’t grab your reader, the individual will toss the book aside and move onto something else. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the rest of the book might be, if the reader gives up before then, they won’t get to appreciate it. Hooked will help ensure your beginning is just as compelling as the remainder of the book.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: This brilliant resource will ensure that you’re showing your characters emotions instead of telling the reader how the characters feel.

Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson: This skinny book is fill with exercises to help you take your writing from shallow to deep. It’s the different between showing and telling, and is a great companion to The Emotion Thesaurus. These two books will help your readers connect with your characters.

Writing Subtext by Linda Seger: The short book covers all kinds of topics dealing with subtext, and will help you create a more enriched read.

Conflict & Suspense by James Scott Bell: This book is one of those you’ll want to refer to every time you write a story. It doesn’t matter what genre you write, this book will help you ensure that your story is a page turner.

Strengthen Your Writing

It was the best of sentences, it was the worse of sentences by June Casagrande: Your writing can’t help but come out stronger after you read this book.

Roget’s International Thesaurus: This is not a standard thesaurus. It’s organized according categories and the concept behind it is brilliant. You’ll never want to use a regular thesaurus after checking out this one.

Editor-Proof Your Writing by Don McNair: I can guarantee this book will tighten your writing and gave agents and editors the clear prose they crave (which is the other part of the title: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave).

Do you have any favorite writing-craft books that you can’t live without?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.   She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available. LET ME KNOW (Carina Press) will be available Sept 1st, 2014.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Publishing Pulse: May 2, 2014


Today I'll be on my way to the Malice Domestic conference in D.C. Malice is an annual mystery fan convention that offers panels, book signings, and visits with favorite mystery authors. This is my second time at Malice, but my first as a published author. If you're planning to attend, please come up and say hi. (I look *just* like my photo.)

Around the Web

Those of us who are still shivering this spring can warm up by checking out out the Publishers Weekly picks for 2014 summer reads.

If you think you suffer for your art, take a look at this article in Kirkus, "Authors Who Do Really Funky Things for Research (Like Go To Prison)."

Last week agent Carly Watters posted about why even independent and hybrid authors could still use an agent. Worth reading!

The QT forum (and awesome blog team) boast a number of authors who write Young and New Adult fiction. Even if you don't, you might be interested in what Bookish has to say about YA trends here.

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

A Jersey girl born and bred, Rosie Genova left her heart at the shore, which serves as the setting for much of her work. Her new series, the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, is informed by her deep appreciation for good food, her pride in her heritage, and her love of classic mysteries, from Nancy Drew to Miss Marple. Her debut novel, Murder and Marinara, was named a Best Cozy of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. The second book in the series, The Wedding Soup Murder, is scheduled for release September 2. An English teacher by day and novelist by night, Rosie also writes women’s fiction as Rosemary DiBattista. She lives fifty miles from the nearest ocean  in central New Jersey with her husband and two younger sons.