QueryTracker Blog

Helping Authors Find Literary Agents

Monday, June 30, 2014

You Really Want To Avoid This…



If you’re reading this post, it means you’re either aiming to be published one day or you already are. To ensure you have a successful writing career, here are some things you’ll want to avoid doing:

1.    Complain about agents or editors on Twitter (or Facebook). This could be specific individuals or about agents and editors in general. It’s not professional, and you never know who might see or share your tweet.

2.    Whine about your rejections on public forums when using your real name. Now, I’ll be honest. I used to love reading blog posts in which writers announced their rejections of the week (and the occasional requests). It made me feel better because, well, you know what they say about misery and company. But if an agent happened to check out your blog, because you queried him, and saw all those rejections, do you think he’s going to request the full? Probably not.

3.    Use social media to complain about a book you read (unless you don’t include identifiers for it). Especially don’t tear it apart in the worst possible way. If you do, you might inadvertently insult a potential reader for your book.

4.    Please don’t post spoilers on Twitter and FB about books and TV shows (e.g Games of Thrones). Not everyone will have read the book or watched the season finale when you did. You might annoy a potential reader for your book and she won’t pick it up. Yes, I was beyond frustrated when an author I followed on Twitter forgot everyone following her could see her tweets to another person and she tweeted a plot spoiler for a book that had just come out. I unfollowed her.

5.    Review books and give them a low rating. This is a controversial topic. Some writers don’t see what the issue is and wonder why they can’t give an honest review. First, your reviews should always be honest. If you hated the book but gave it a great review (as in 4 or 5 stars), it might come back and haunt you if it comes out that you lied in your review. But if you hated a book and give it a bad review, it could later hurt you if the publisher is one you submitted to, and they’re not impressed with your cutting review.  If you want to be able to review all books on your blog, and not just the ones with a 4- and 5-star rating, you can always review under a pseudo.

6.    Bad mouth authors and their stories while you’re on social media sites. It’s not professional.

7.    Once you have a book out, don’t argue with the reviewer if you disagree with something they said. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Publishing is a subjective business. If you do feel like arguing a point, it could go viral and you’ll be labeled a difficult author and that might lead to more negative reviews.

8.    If an agent or editor rejects your manuscript or query, it is never wise to email them back and rant how wrong the individual is. Same goes if you’re an author and ask another author if they will blurb your book, and they in the end saying no because they didn’t enjoy it. In that case, thank them for taking the time to read the story and move on.

9.    Spam all the social media sites you use…and only post spam. And while you’re at it, please avoid messaging people or sending DMs, asking individuals to buy your book and check out your Facebook page. Also, avoid using their Facebook page to post your spam. It won’t be appreciated by anyone, and especially not the page’s author.

Are there are any other suggestions you can think of that writers should avoid that could harm them later on?


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.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Your characters need their potatoes

A few weeks ago, while weeding in the overgrown plot alongside my yard, I yanked up a potato.

I found myself staring at the thing until I realized what it was, recognized the leaves, and I had an "Oh!" moment. Oh: last year, I must have missed one of the potatoes, and it had wintered over, and long after I'd forgotten it, the thing had done what potatoes do: it made a plant.

I stuck it back in the ground. But I realized our characters need their potatoes too. They need potatoes served three ways.

First, there's the character trait of which your character is barely aware. The reader is introduced to your character with this trait as a part of his whole, but over time readers begin to wonder why he's the way he is.

At some point, the plot yanks up something that looks like a weed, and hey, potato! It's the event or formative background that caused your character to become a liar or to hunger for justice or to fear a long-term relationship.

The reason my garden had potatoes was pure bad memory on my part: I moved something in the pantry and discovered a bag of sprouted potatoes. Given that I live in the Swamp, which as my Patient Husband says is "teeming with a surprising amount of life," I went into the overgrown leaf-dump and stuck the potatoes into the ground. "Have a good time, guys!" I said, figuring that at the very least, they'd turn into compost. Remember, I'm a New York City girl, and I know where vegetables come from: they come from Key Food.

The half-dozen potatoes surprised me by becoming four potato plants, which surprised me further by becoming twenty or thirty delicious potatoes last summer. I thought I'd gotten them all. Surprise!

Here's my second surprise: I'd forgotten the two that died, but later I discovered the two potatoes that never sprouted plants last year had put up plants this spring.

Here's your character's second potato: plot elements you introduced in the first half of the book should sprout in the second half. JK Rowling is an expert at this kind of thing: she'll slip something in, and then when it comes up again, instead of it being a new plot element, you say, "Oh!" Potato.

(Diana Wynne Jones is the master of this sleight-of-hand; the moment you realize what's going on in Archer's Goon is the simultaneous joy of feeling a story unfold and seeing how a black-belt level writer creates perfection. She does it just as well in Howl's Moving Castle. I'm told Beethoven is an expert at this too, but I'm not classically-trained enough to tell you where he does it, only that he does. Those amazing new musical elements in the development section actually arise out of the themes. Go figure.)

The key point you're aiming for is recognition. When something surprising happens, the reader should be surprised not because it's a shock, but rather because it feels right only he hadn't made the connection until now. It should seem obvious to the reader in retrospect: of course this would have come back to haunt the main character; of course this is who the main character really is; of course that's why these events were happening. Chekov tells you that a gun in the first act has to be shot in the third, but the potato corollary to this law is that a gun shot in the third act has to have shown up in the first. Has to have shown up and then been left underground, wintering over, forgotten, and then when everything seems dead at the end of the winter, it opens its eyes, and up pokes its head.

At the moment, I have seven potato plants, two from the dormant potatoes and five leftovers I missed in last year's harvest. And that brings you to the third.

Your third potato is the sequel. A sequel must have elements that were planted in the previous novel, but they have to be planted subtly and deeply enough that your previous books aren't filled with clutter. You have to plant your potatoes and then forget them. Leave them to winter over, presumed dead underground until one day the reader opens the sequel. He'll find that potato and remember when you planted it. Planted, but never harvested.



---
 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 crocheting inappropriate objects. 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. 

Friday, June 20, 2014

Publishing Pulse for June 20, 2014

New At QueryTracker:


This week we've updated four agent profiles in our database (one of whom has an odd story unfolding in the comments). 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:

Apple reached a settlement in its ebooks suit.

Author of Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, has died at age 86. May perpetual light shine upon him.

Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A are ceasing operations. A roundup of links here.

Around the Blogosphere:

Hugh Howey weighs in again on the Amazon/Hachette dispute, and he's of the opinion that Big Publishing is the problem.  Salon, on the other hand, seems to think Amazon is not a friend to Indie authors.

Hugh Howey also discusses why the publishing analysts are wrong.

An insightful article about the difference between marketing and promotion, and how big publishers are getting it backward. One traditional publisher describes taking a nontraditional approach and how it's benefitting everyone.



Literary Quote of the Week:

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice and then going away and doing the exact opposite." GK Chesterton

Thanks for stopping by, and keep sending those queries!

---
 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 crocheting inappropriate objects. 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, June 18, 2014

Advice from Carolyn Kaufman, Part 1: Professionalism

It is such a joy to blog here again after several years away. My name is Mary Lindsey, and I was one of the original Querytracker bloggers, along with H.L Dyer, Suzette Saxton Fisher, Elana Johnson, and Carolyn Kaufman

It was a tremendous loss, not only to me, personally, but to QueryTracker community, her college students and fellow professors, her family and friends, and to aspiring and established authors when Carolyn Kaufman died unexpectedly in September 2013 of a brain aneurism.

When I mentioned to Patrick McDonald, (owner/creator/designer of QueryTracker.net) that I had come across an old interview I did for Carolyn's first book, we agreed it would be a nice tribute to Carolyn, and all the hard work she did on behalf of aspiring authors, to post some of her wisdom as a tribute. So, here we go!

Here's the first bit of advice she had for aspiring authors (second tip will be posted on July 2):

What I’ve Learned: Advice for Writers Who Aspire to Publish 
Dr. Carolyn Kaufman 1973-2013
 1. Treat everyone well at every step along the publishing path. That includes your crit buddies, agents and their assistants, editors, publicists, and anyone else you encounter along the way. How well you write is important, but I genuinely believe professionalism is nearly as important. If you’re arrogant, entitled, mean, petty, or refuse to be a team player, nobody is going to want to work with you. There’s a reason most authors’ Acknowledgements page is lengthy – they didn’t reach the finish line (of publication) alone.

It seems like such an obvious suggestion: Be professional and treat people well. And it is… until the drama begins. Bad reviews. Inflammatory blog posts or Tweets. Flame wars on forums. The online drive by nastiness can suck a writer in and under and make Carolyn's advice nearly impossible to follow.

But follow her advice.

The professional contacts and friends I've made over the years have been one of the most important aspects of my success as a writer.

Carolyn lived up to her own advice, setting an example not only as an author and expert, but as a personal friend and critique partner. I was fortunate enough to have her as a critique partner for several years, and though her critiques were often harsh, they never came across as anything other than honest and professional--like Carolyn herself. She is terribly missed by all of us at QueryTracker.

Carolyn Kaufman's bio and articles on psychology for writers can be found on the Psychology Today Blog, where she was a contributor. Her book, The Writer's Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately about Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior, is available for purchase and is an excellent resource for established and aspiring writers.


***
Mary Lindsey is one of the founding members of the QT Blog. 

She writes young adult novels for Penguin USA and is the author of Shattered Souls, Fragile Spirits, and Ashes on the Waves. She also writes adult romance for Entangled Publishing as Marissa Clarke. Love Me To Death is scheduled for publication October, 2014. 

Mary is represented by Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency and can be found the following places: Twitter, Facebook, MaryLindsey.com and MarissaClarke.com

Monday, June 16, 2014

When Are You Going to Write a Real Book?: The Art of Genre Fiction

"I accepted that I could not be a true artist and that my future lay in amusement."--Garrison Keillor

When I read those words a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times Book Review, I was struck by a variety of sensations: amusement, a bit of shock at Keillor's honesty and modesty, and last but not least, a sense of recognition.

As a teenager, I had my writing future all mapped out for myself. A four-year degree with a minor in education (had to have a day job, right?) followed by an MFA program somewhere after which I'd win grants and hone my craft at places like Breadloaf. Before the age of thirty, I predicted, I'd have a book reviewed in, yes, The New York Times. I even had the pull quote which would appear in the review, one which danced around my naive little head for years: "A luminous work of love, loss, and redemption," a blurb which would be emblazoned across the back of a shiny trade paperback.


Yup, love, loss and redemption, that was going to be me. And it was, but not at all in the way I thought. The love ended up a in a passion for my day job, teaching. What was supposed to be a stepping stone in my brilliant writing journey, instead ended up a beloved (and if I do say so myself) and successful career. Also a long one. And that's where the loss comes in. Teachers don't have a whole lot of free time, at least during the school year. And teachers who come home to three boys aged 15, 10, and 8 have even less. So while there were a few fits and starts on my magnum opus during the summers, none of them amounted to much.

But there was, eventually, redemption. The boys got older. The teaching grew more instinctive, and I found a professional groove that served me and my students well. And the job energized me to the point where I got a real start on a novel, during the school year, yet. But it wasn't a Breadloaf-y kind of thing. (Ann Patchett it was not.)

That first book was, in fact, a romantic comedy based on Much Ado about Nothing. It was told in the first person. It was funny, one might even say entertaining. And it was--and I say this proudly--unabashedly chick lit. Once I finished that book, I realized that I could do one of two things: I could spend my life straining for brilliant. Or I could perfect clever. And it was really a no-brainer. Clever got me an agent. Clever got me my first contract. Because I was--and am--much better at entertaining people than I am at making them think.

My mysteries are considered cozies, a genre beloved by many thousands of people, most of them women and most of them loyal to series they love. And I know that Certain Factions (slipping into Miss Rosie here) malign those readers and this genre, much as they malign romance writing and romance readers. Every now and then, one of them even asks me the question that forms the title of this post: When are you going to write a real book? You know the kind--they are serious. They are literary. They win prizes that are not sponsored by the Romance Writers of America or named after Agatha Christie. And they get lots of ink in the Times.

And now I'd like to share a story. Not long ago, a reader contacted me through Facebook to tell me that her mother loved my first mystery, Murder and Marinara. But because her mom has Alzheimer's, she keeps asking her daughter to read the book with her over and over again. Each time she denies she's read it before. "And you know what?" her daughter told me, "She loves it every time."

Honestly, who needs The New York Times? Not me. Not anymore.

A Jersey girl born and bred, bestselling author 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 by Suspense Magazine and is a finalist for a Daphne Award. 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 the youngest of her three sons.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Publishing Pulse: June 13, 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.
 
Ready to write your own success story?
Remember--you'll reach success when you find the agent who is perfect for your work. Be sure to read each agent's profile carefully and visit other links such as company websites and blogs. Follow them on social media sites and get a feeling for what they really want. The better you know the agent, the better you will know if they are the right representative for your work. Blindly querying agents without regard for their guidelines or repped genres only delay the process--not only for you but for other writers.

Using QueryTracker.net will help you become a well-informed querying writer. Use the resources to your advantage and seek the fastest, straightest path to finding your ideal agent today.

This Week in Publishing
Ever wonder if your extravagant word count is keeping the agents away? Writer’s Digest takes a look at long novels and their chances of selling.

Agent Noah Lukeman shares 15 tips to keep in mind when trying to sell your ebook series.

The Worst Social Media Advice ever. Enjoy the entertainment, folks…

The Passive Guy blog discusses out-of-print clauses and rights of first refusal, as well as their inherently troublesome natures.

And This Weekend in Publishing...
WOLF'S BANE, the third book in my urban fantasy series, The Books of the Demimonde, releases on Sunday. Three cheers for demivamps, rockstars, and werewolves. (These are a few of my favorite things.) The blog tour kicks off from the Demimonde blog on June 15. Wish me luck!

Rejection slips, or form letters, however tactfully phrased, are lacerations of the soul, if not quite inventions of the devil—but there is no way around them.-- Isaac Asimov
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 available June 15, 2014.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Six Things Your Book Publicist Won't Tell You

Whether you're paying for independent publicity services, or your publisher is providing publicity support, there are quite a few points of logic that almost nobody will admit aloud.

1. You're Paying Me to Do a Lot of Grunt Work

While the most valuable thing your publicist has is her proprietary list of contacts, the job is messier and more clerical than you'd think. Plenty of bureaucratic admin goes into a publicity campaign: sending out the blitz / cover reveal / galleys / teasers, then following up with crucial contacts, then keeping track of who has responded and who has not. Unfortunately, unless your publicist has a crack team of minions, (and she probably does not) there's no separating the brain work from the grunt work.

2. If You Did This Job Yourself, You'd Learn a Lot

When you're the one contacting bloggers and reviewers, there's a lot of understanding to be gained. You'd read first-hand the bloggers' wants and needs. You'd find a few supporters out there who would prove to be invaluable as your career progresses. You'd understand just how difficult it is to break through to the voices who matter. It's uncomfortable to pimp your own book, but sometimes discomfort brings wisdom.

3. If You Did This Job Yourself, You Might Not Make Your Next Writing Deadline

The tradeoff is always time. No matter how easy it seems to be to hit "send" on an email list, good follow-up is time consuming. Authors who do their own publicity work understand this, and make time for it.

4. I Didn't Read Your Book

Publicists are overworked. They need to spend most of their time working the old email chain gang. Don't hold it against her if she hasn't read your book. In fact, don't even ask. Instead, be very clear each time you have a publicity suggestion that relates to the narrative. "Dear Becky, since my main character is a contestant on a Survivor-like show, let's make a big push on the reality show forums on Yahoo." Etc.

5. Once I Get a Satisfactory Number of Publicity Hits for You, My Attention is Elsewhere

Some books are just an easier sale than others. But the publicist has to look good to all her clientele (or in-house editors.) If she's lucky enough to score a bit hit for you (say... People Magazine. Let's dream big.) her next burst of effort will be spent elsewhere. We all need to rest on our laurels from time to time, because there just aren't enough hours in the day. An author who wants to be sure that she's still on top of the pile will stay in touch, making helpful (but not pushy) suggestions.

6. If You're a Sweetheart, I'll Try Extra Hard For You. (The Converse is Also True.)

It's just human nature. So check your ego at the door. Always be polite to your overworked publicist, and never lose your temper. Even when your publicist drops the ball on something. Even when your Amazon rank makes you want to cry. Punch a pillow, and then be kind to your publicist.


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.

Monday, June 9, 2014

12 Tips for Balancing Summer Fun and Your Writing



In the Northern Hemisphere, summer will be commencing in just a few weeks. A welcome fact given the brutal winter most of us struggled through. But with the summer comes a new challenge: a writing schedule that ends up like the winter—unpredictable.

Now this is especially true if the weather is gorgeous and you’d rather spend time outside, making up for being stuck indoors during the winter. And those of you with kids don’t need me to remind you of the challenges we face with the kids at home. Here are a few suggestions for dealing with writing during the summer:

1. Unless you’re dealing with a deadline, give yourself permission to ease back on the writing. It will still be there in the fall. You don’t need to get in the same daily word counts that you aimed for during the winter. If you’re unpublished, enjoy this freedom while you have it. Once you’re an author on contract, you can pretty much say good-bye to your summer vacation. That’s right. I received my developmental edits while on vacation last summer. I didn’t have a choice. I had to do it.

2. Create a schedule and stick with it. For example, I write in the mornings from 6 am till 10 am during the summers. The bonus of this time of the year is that I don’t have to spend two hours in the morning getting my kids up and to the bus stop. That’s extra writing time in the morning for me. I also write in the evenings and before dinner. Fortunately, I’ve trained my husband to make dinner.  Two years of the same pasta and jarred sauce every day will do that.

3. Make sure your kids know that they should not disturb you while you’re writing. Okay, I know that’s not realistic, but it’s worth a try. Reward them if they let you write without interruption.

4. See if a friend will do a kid swap with you. They take your kids for a few hours and you return the favor. That’s like free babysitting.

5. Enlist family help. This is what saved me during my developmental edits last summer. My mother-in-law entertained my youngest two so I could write. Fortunately, I have a very supportive mother-in-law.

6. Enroll your kids in summer activities. That will buy you some extra writing time.

7. Pay attention to the time. Set a timer if you have to. It’s so easy to say, “Five more minutes,” and end up spending thirty minutes because you’re writing or catching up on your social networking.

8. Give yourself permission to cut back on your social networking time. This gives you more time for your writing (tweets don’t count as part of your daily word count) and for your kids. And it also sets a good example.

9. Enjoy your favorite activities. This will ensure your brain is refreshed when you get back to writing.

10. Have pen and paper (or whatever you write notes on) always with you. That way when you’re out enjoying summer, you’ll be ready if an idea hits.

11. Write outside!

12. Take a break from writing and catch up on your reading pile.

How do you maintain a balance between writing and everything else during summer?



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, June 6, 2014

Publishing Pulse for Friday, June 6, 2014

Success Stories

Congratulations to QT's latest success story, A.M. DeCarlo!
(Click the link for details.)

Around the Web

PW covers a story that can only be filed under Why Didn't We Think of This Sooner? The article is about BookReels, an interactive website that allows publishers and authors to post multi-media visuals such as animated book covers and book trailers. The new site is being touted as "MTV for books."

Even Stephen Colbert has weighed in on the Amazon/Hachette kerfluffle. See Salon's take on it.

As if in reply, the Huff Post provides a defense of the retail giant, slyly titled "Sympathy for the Devil."

Literary agent  and all-round guru Janet Reid provides a thoughtful answer to the question: Should I be putting my unpublished work on the web?

Have a great weekend, everyone! (And happy writing.)


A Jersey girl born and bred, bestselling author 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 and is a 2014 Daphne Award finalist. An English teacher by day and novelist by night, Rosie also writes women’s fiction as Rosemary DiBattista. She lives in central New Jersey with her husband and the youngest of her three sons.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Fallbacks

I'm cooked. I'm cooked because one of my children ended up in the hospital on May 6th, and after the hospital stay, doctor visits, referrals to other professionals, school meetings and a step-down program, we're still not back to normal. So how does a writer keep creating under the circumstances?

They say "writers write." I don't think it's that easy. Given that nothing is easy at the moment, I'm going to say sometimes writers don't write. But we're still writers, and this is what we're doing when life gets a whole lot knottier than we anticipated.


  • We write other things. That may mean blog posts. That may mean a novelist writes his first poems or an essayist experiments with short stories. It may mean that if your friendly local newspaper editor calls with a business profile on quick turnaround, you say, "Sure! That sounds like a co-payment right there."
  • We edit. That novel you've had hibernating for several months, or a year, or since you were eighteen? Blow the dust off it and see what you can do. Manipulating words that already exist is a whole lot easier than coming up with ideas and creating brand-new ones.
  • We end up writing anyhow while editing. You know, when you think to yourself, "Why is this scene over so quickly? We've been building up to it for ten pages, and the climax is like a paragraph." Voila: words you didn't have before
  • We read. Going on "intake mode" is just fine, and if you're worried you're not a writer if you aren't actually working on words you created, reassure yourself that writers read in different ways than non-writers. Go ahead and pick up a book or two. Or six. It's research.
  • We critique our writer-friends. Actually, in my case I discovered I'm much better at reading the piece than actually sending the friend my critique. (I'm very sorry, CB.)  But it keeps you going.
  • We stockpile. This stress right now, this experience? It may never end up in any of your work, but it's forming you as a person and therefore it's also forming you as a writer. Stress (and even tragedy) will help you form compassion and new perspectives, and those alone will help your future work.
  • We create in other ways. Ivy Reisner said on KnitSpirit that while you need to engage your spirit to write, in some ways knitting or crocheting is "pure craft." Having knit a sock all the way down to the ankle during an ER stay, I agree. You can move a hook or a needle over and over without involving your heart at a time when your heart is already working on too many other issues. So find a "pure craft" way to create: cooking or woodworking or knitting will help you be creative without taxing your creativity. 
When stressors hit, we need our fallbacks. Use them and don't feel bad. The stress won't last forever, but you'll always be a writer.


---
 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, June 2, 2014

14 Tips to Surviving Your Book Signing


One way to promote your book is through book signings. These events can range from solo events where you are the only person signing, to group events with several other authors who write the same genre, to convention-sized book signings. I recently attended the Romantic Times Convention (RT) and here are some tips I learned to help make your first or tenth signing go smoothly.

1. Talk to other authors who have attended the book signing in the past (if you’re attending a convention/conference that includes a book signing) so you know what to expect.

2. Make sure you know ahead of time what is expected of you. If your book is only available as an ebook, and they expect you to sell copies of it at the conference, make sure you know this ahead of time so that you can figure out how to do this.

3. If you are traditionally published, check with your publisher about your options when dealing with #2. Some publishers reach out to their authors to find out who is going to the major conferences. In the case of my publisher, they create postcards for our books that we can sign.

4. Bring swag but don’t go overboard. Swag can get expensive and it doesn’t guarantee returns on your investment. It often ends up in the garbage. Pens with your author tagline and website are less likely to be thrown away. Who doesn’t need pens?

5. Bring plenty of pens to sign with, just in case. Sharpies are great for signing swag and come in many different colors, including metallic.

6. If you use your real name, you don’t want to use the same signature you use to sign important documents.  This is for security reasons.

7. Bring candy to entice readers to stay long enough for you to chat with them. The other benefit of the candy is it will provide you the necessary energy to survive the long book signing session, and you will be popular with the authors near you when you share it.

8. Find out ahead of time how much room you will be allotted at your table. I can guarantee it won’t be as much as you need, especially if you have print copies of your books. And please be considerate of your fellow authors sitting next to you. They have the same amount of space as you and would rather you didn’t inch into it and make yourself at home.

9. Shower and use deodorant/antiperspirant before the signing. Yes, you and your fellow signing authors will be that close to each other. The room will get HOT, which doesn’t make for a pleasant time for the authors next to you if you ignore personal hygiene.

10. Chat and joke around with the authors sitting next to you. I did this at RT. Not only did I have a great time, we came off as approachable to people walking past. Meanwhile, the authors across from us pretty much ignored each other the entire time. Those authors looked bored and readers tended to avoid them. I swear at one point I thought one of them was going to fall asleep.

11. Hit a craft store and find creative ways to display your swag so that it isn’t just lying on the table where no one can see it as they walk past.

12. Be prepared for changes in the guidelines. A number of authors had brought portable display stands to show pictures of their books. These tall displays were placed behind the table but were visible to those walking past. Unfortunately the fire marshal deemed them unsafe for the signing (because they posed a hazard if we should have to evacuate), and they had to be taken down. Make sure you have a plan B in case something like this happens to you. Word to the wise, complaining at the injustice of it all is not considered plan B.

13. If you anticipate you’ll be busy with a long line of eager readers, see if you can have someone assist you. This might be as simple as having the person find the title page for you to sign while you’re signing the book for the person before that. This will save time.

14. SMILE and be friendly.

Have you been to a book signing as an author or reader? Do you have any other tips to add?







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.