Is at Romancing the Blog.

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… Are the Luckiest Writers in the World.

So I’ve been having one of those weeks where the writing has not been going well. At two separate times, with two separate projects, I threw my hands up and entertained those insidious ghastly thoughts. The ones that say:

“… your a hack. you suk.”

The insidious ghastly thoughts always speak ungrammatically and with misspelled words.
I couldn’t tell you why.

Each time I curled into a little ball and spent a little while contemplating what I was going to do if my book was broken, or if I’d lighted on exactly the wrong essay topic. What I would do if, in fact, I had to admit that I’d totally screwed things up, and was a big sucky hack.

And then I yanked myself up by my bootstraps, swallowed my pride, and emailed my editors, saying, “Hi, I have a problem.”

And this is why my editors (Kerri, for SSG; and Scott, for the Philip Pullman anthology) rock.

Kerri read the scenes I was having a problem with, and agreed with the problem I was having (I had plot needs that were difficult to wrangle, given the personality one character had been displaying for two books, and thus I’d written him a bit out of character). We discussed why I wanted the plot to go the way I wanted it to go, and brainstormed ways to get there without sacrificing established character traits. And the solution she came up with was elegant and simple and actually made the plot and timeline even STRONGER than it had been before. Why couldn’t I see that by myself? I don’t know, but man, am I grateful that I have Kerri.

I’ve also been pulling my hair out over my essay for the anthology. Sometimes, I felt like I had a really fun idea. Other times, I felt like I didn’t quite have the linchpin that would hold it all together. naturally, this inspired a panic spiral (did I mention that the deadline is upon me?). I panic-whined to Scott, and without even knowing he was doing it, he fired back my linchpin quote. I’m actually mildly concerned about how much of His Dark Materials the poor guy has memorized, but that’s neither here nor there. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: thank goodness for Scott Westerfeld.

So, crisis averted, I go back to meeting my deadline. Speculation like Justine’s about how much my epic blog entries of late have been inspired by my artistic frustration shall be heartily ignored.

Speaking of epic blog entries, I have my first blog post up at the urban fantasy LJ community, Fangs Fur Fey. I’ll probably be doing the bulk of my killer unicorn posting there, but I’m undecided about whether or not to simulcast on blogger. What do you think? Killer Unicorns everywhere? (I can see my heroine shuddering now…) I think it might be tough to keep track of two different comment threads, so if I do simulpost, I might close the blogger one for comments. FFF is an amazing blog, by the way, and I encourage everyone to visit. I’m thrilled to be a part. It’s my only “author group blog” (I don’t count RTB, since it’s not just authors, but readers and industry folks).

I realize I don’t often talk about the sucky writer days. In fact, I think I’ve blogged about my reticence to discuss such matters in the past. But yeah. This last week has been one of those, “Does trepanning help, I wonder?” weeks, but maybe I just had trepanning on the brain, given my immersion into His Dark Materials. In fact, earlier this week, I had written a blog post in my head that went like this:

You Know You’ve Got Philip Pullman on the Brain When…

SSB is telling you about this World of Warcraft bug that makes hunters lose their pet, permanently, and your response is “intercission.”

But, obviously, that was too short for a proper post. Especially when I’m on deadline.

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Thanks, everyone, for the kind words, the links, and the lurkers yesterday. I had no idea that people would actually be interested in this, which just shows what I know, since I think I had more hits yesterday than I’ve ever had before.

Hi, guys! Jump right in, the water’s fine!

I really hope that this information is useful to people, and if you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and if I don’t have the answers, I’m sure someone else who reads this blog (i.e., Julie the Genius) will. Yesterday, we even discussed a scam agency that Writer Beware has been blogging about, so good has already come of this. Love it when that happens. And of course, if there’s something I left out or that you think I got wrong, there are free wet noodles in the comment section.

The first part of the primer is here.

Moving forward with the glossary:

outline: (n.)

• In most cases, indistinguishable from a synopsis. Many editors and agents use this interchangeably.
• In some cases, distinguishable from a synopsis in that, instead of being in paragraph form, an outline will be in list/outline form, with each scene/chapter being a different entry/number/bullet point on the list.
• If asked for this, you’re probably safe sending a synopsis.

partial: (n.)

• The first three chapters of your manuscript, up to ~60 pages. If your book has a prologue, include the prologue. Start with page one of your manuscript, and go from there.
• Often, agents and editors will ask for “three chapters” or “fifty pages” or similar. This is what they mean. They mean the FIRST three chapters, or the FIRST fifty pages. Resist the temptation to send fifty random (or “best”) pages. That’s not what they want.
• This is not exact science, people. If your book has super short, James-Patterson-style chapters, do not just send three. Send about 50-60 pages worth.
• If page 60 ends in the middle of a sentence, don’t stop there. Go to the next scene or chapter break, or only send the first 55 pages if that’s where you have a scene or chapter break. It’s better to end in a good place than to get the exact page count.
• See more information in “manuscript format.”

proposal: (n.)

• Disclaimer: I only know about fiction proposals. Non-fiction proposals are a whole other animal and I have absolutely no information about them. Sorry. I’m sure there’s good info somewhere.
• A proposal is a partial manuscript (see above) plus a detailed synopsis of the entire book (see yesterday’s post). Some proposals can get fancy, such as including a one-page overview of the book series, or a family tree for the characters, or a list of rules for the fantasy world, or a bio and relevant sales history for the author (when an agent is sellign an author into a new market), or etc. But that’s the basics.
• In most cases, you aren’t going to be dealing with proposals until you are published and/or you have an agent. the vast, vast vast vast majority of first time writers get agents and sell their manuscript on the basis of a full manuscript.
• “Selling on proposal” means that the writer got a book contract on the basis of the proposal for the book, rather than the complete manuscript. This is how most multi-published authors renew book contracts with their publishers, or move to different publishers, or etc.
• In the interest of full disclosure, I now admit that this is how I sold my first book. My agent sent my editor 79 pages (five chapters), a seven page synopsis, and a one page series overview. THIS IS NOT COMMON. I can’t tell you how to do it. Not a month has gone by, however, since selling my first manuscript, that I don’t get an email or two from a writer asking me how to get an agent and sell a novel without finishing it first. And the answer is, I don’t know. I didn’t plan it. I don’t recommend it. Finish your book, then send it out. You have a much better shot that way. We’ll be talking about this more in detail later.
• Seriously, forget about this whole proposal thing right now. Concentrate on this next entry, because it’s how 99.9% of first time authors sell.

full manuscript: (n.)

• Still with me? Drag your eyes away from the proposal thing. I know, it looks tempting. You know why? Because it looks like less work. But looks are deceiving, because you are going to have to have a full manuscript eventually, so let’s get on with it.
• This is pretty self explanatory. A full manuscript starts with page one, and goes until “The End.” (Some people say not to put “The End” on manuscripts, that it looks amateurish. I put “The End” on every single book I write. It’s a gift to myself. Even if they delete it later. Screw the haters. It’s not going to make anyone upset.)
• A full manuscript does not include dedications and acknowledgments, nor fancy photoshopped covers. The cover page should include the title, your name, your address, your phone number, your email address, and the word count. (You do not need copyright marks.)
• Do not bind your manuscript. No folders, no spiral binds, no art projects at kinkos. Stack of paper only. Use rubber bands to hold it together.
• The only thing that tends to trip people up with fulls is formatting, so let’s move on to that…

manuscript format: (n.)

• Disclaimer: I’m talking about print publications, here. I know nothing about submissions to electronic publishers, which is different from electronic submissions to print publishers (confused yet? See info on electronic submissions, below).
• Manuscript format is the leading cause of wasted time and pointless debate on writer boards. Seriously. If I had a dollar for every time I had the old Courier vs. Times New Roman debate, I wouldn’t need to write books for a living. Honestly, it’s not as hard as it looks. Make your manuscript look like some rough approximation of this and you’ll be fine.
• The main idea behind standard manuscript formats is to make it easy on overworked editor eyes (remember, they are reading hundreds of pages per week), and to get some sort of at-a-glance method of word count. Today, with the prevalence of electronic submissions, the word count reasoning isn’t as important. The key is to make it easy to read.
• Remember the following maxim: Typed, not typeset. It’s not supposed to look like a book.
• Here are the absolute musts:

1. Print on one side only.
2. Double spaced. (Note: this does not mean leaving an extra carriage return between paragraphs, as one would on a blog or an email. Format your paragraphs as you see them in a book, or in the above link, with indents at the start of each paragraph.) Do not double space by pressing return at the end of each line. Your word processing program has a “line spacing” notation. Set it at double.
3. One inch margins all around.
4. 12 point font.
5. No fancy font. Courier or Times New Roman is fine. Use a serif font/typeface. (They are the kind that have the little “caps” on the ends of the letters.) This is a serif font. This is a sans serif font. Here’s a funny article about famous writers and the fonts they use. (Note: If you are writing in Courier, you may want to underline the things that you want to “appear” in italics, because it’s hard to see italics in Courier.) If you are one of those people who insists that they think these fonts are ugly, then write in whatever font you want, and then, before you print out your manuscript, change it. That way, you never have to look at the book in that font. Then, get over yourself, because when you sell the book, you’re going to have to start getting used to looking at the book in Times New Roman or Courier during edits, copy edits, etc. Welcome to the business.
6. Put your name, the book’s title, and the page number on the top of EVERY SINGLE PAGE. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the left or the right or the center or all three, but it needs to be there. This is why: it’s a stack of paper, and sometimes people drop stacks of paper. If your info is on every page, it will be less likely to get lost or mixed up with someone else’s book. There is a really easy way to do this in most word processing programs. It’s called a “header.” You probably have an “insert header” function on your word processor right now.
7. Start each chapter on a new page. Leave some extra space at the top (half a page, a third of a page, etc.) because it helps signal to the reader that it’s a new chapter. Number or title the chapters as you wish.

• Everything else people insist upon re: manuscript format is pretty much bullshit. Do your best to avoid getting into petty squabbles with folks about italic vs. underline, double-spaced vs. “25 lpp”, two spaces or one after a period, or the relative merits of putting the page number at the top right, the bottom center, or etc. IT DOESN’T MATTER. As long as it’s clear, consistent, in readable font with decent margins, double spaced, and on one side of the page, people will read it. If you want more info than this, see this article, because that dude goes into depth. I don’t do a lot of that stuff, though, so really, I say don’t worry about it too much. Concentrate on the actual WRITING.

word count: (n.)

• Most full length print novels for adults are in the 80,000-110,000 word range. Go beyond this by 10,000 words or so in either direction, and you may be limiting your market. There are, however, many exceptions. There are also shorter books that are published for adults, like category romance novels or novellas. Children’s books have a vast range, from slim, 40,000 word books to doorstoppers like Harry Potter. Longer books are more likely to be fantasy novels in children’s books.
• Why this matters: Especially long books are difficult to publish because really heavy books require stronger and more expensive glue to keep the pages bound. People don’t buy books if they are too expensive. That’s why a lot of long books are split up into volumes (cf. The Lord of the Rings). Really short books are also difficult to publish because readers wonder why they should pay 14 dollars for a slim volume when they can get a big fat book for the same cost. Sometimes publishers hide the fact that a book is really short or really long by printing it in huge font with big margins or miniscule font with tiny margins. Both of these things piss readers off.)
• How to figure out your word count is the second biggest waste of time debate on writer’s loops. It’s a waste of time, because really, industry people are only looking for a ballpark figure.
• How to figure word count:

1. First method: Look at your word processor’s “word count” feature. Round it to the nearest 5,000.
2. Second method: If your manuscript is in Courier, look at the number of pages and multiply that number by 250. Round to the nearest 5,000. If your manuscript is in Times New Roman, look at the number of pages and multiply that number by 300. Round to the nearest 5,000.

• (These two methods will probably result in the same word count. I am really anal, and I keep a running excel spreadsheet of my word count using both of these methods and they are always the same. So there’s no point in debating it.)
• Example: If your book is 83,692 words, write down that the word count is 85,000. It’s totally close enough.

Electronic submission: (n.)

• Also, “submit electronically”. This is when you send an agent or editor your submission over email instead of through the post office.
• Pros: free, instantaneous, no need for SASE or standing in post office lines.
• Cons: not everyone accepts this method, danger of file corruption or funky formatting on the recipient’s end, danger of responses going into SPAM boxes, compatible file issues.
• When you are submitting electronically, you are probably pasting your query or cover letter into the body of an email. and attaching your chapters, synopsis, or full manuscript. When you paste things into the body of an email, make sure that there is no formatting like “smart” or “curly quotes” (the apostrophes or quotation marks that are angled to one side or another) or italics, etc. These might make a big mess on the recipient’s screen, and that’s not the best first impression. It’s best to type it out in an ascii text program like Notepad.
• Get a professional email address to submit electronically. Something like Firstname.Lastname@suchandsuch.com, or FLastname35@soandso.net or even FirstLastwrites@emaildomain.com. Do not use something cutesy or unprofessional like “hotsexychk@dominationdomain.org.” You can get email addressees for free from Yahoo or Gmail if you need to. This is a business. Think of your first impression.

Okay. That’s all for today. Stay tuned tomorrow for pitches, simultaneous submissions, and exclusives (and anything else I can think of).

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Sometimes I get into industry conversations with brand new writers where I feel like I might be unintentionally scaring the crap out of them. When you’ve been in the business for a while, it’s easy to forget that terms like query, pitch, partial, proposal, etc. are industry-specific jargon. I know that if I hear a lot of unfamiliar jargon all at once, it can be pretty intimidating.

(I was recently in a conversation with a new writer about how to pitch to agents at conferences, and in the middle of my intended fear-allaying comment about how conference pitches weren’ta big deal, I realized that she thought it was the only way to get an agent. She wasn’t aware that she could query. No wonder she was nervous about the pitch!)

Usually, when I post writing advice on this blog, I’m dealing with topics that I’m thinking about myself, and often on stuff that’s making the rounds in the lit blogosphere. I never really covered the basics, because I never meant this blog to be a place for newbies to come and learn about publishing. (We had Miss Snark for stuff like that.) But I do get emails from folks who stumbled across the blog and want advice about the industry, starting from Step One.

There is SO MUCH great information online for new writers — most authors have blogs of their own where they often post about craft or industry topics; several agents have blogs where they do the same; and there are helpful forums like Romance Divas, Absolute Write, and eHarlequin; websites like P&E, Writer Beware; the list goes on and on. But some people don’t know that kind of stuff is even out there, and others have heard bad information and advice from scammers or people pushing the “secret handshake/magic ticket/gotta know someone/there are no debut authors” mythology. Or maybe not, but even those with their eyes on the industry sites might have some mistaken ideas (like the recent poster on the Writer Beware blog who thought that a $10,000 advance for a first-time novelist was “too good to be true.” It’s not.)

So, to start:

• There is no secret handshake.
• There is no magic ticket.
• You don’t need to know anyone.
• Every author was once a debut author. New authors sell books all the time.

When I first started writing, I did a lot reading on how the biz works. There’s nothing here that can’t be found at a hundred other industry sites or books. I don’t have any kind of secret “for published people only” info, I’ve just been studying up on it for six years.

And in all that time, I’ve met several dozen authors who have gotten agents and made first sales. Only one or two of them “had connections” or made their first sale though some magic fashion like winning a contest (Janice Lynn and the American Title, for example). It’s just not how it happens.

This is how it happens: Write a book; edit a book; do research into how the industry works; look up information on agents and what makes a good agent and how to contact an agent; contact an agent, keeping a stiff upper lip; make it through rejections and rewrites and close calls; sign with an agent; work on the book more; wait while the agent sends the book out to publishers; repeat keeping a stiff upper lip through rejections, rewrites, close calls; sell a book; edit the book more; watch as it comes out. That’s it. There’s no magic. It’s all quite prosaic, which, surprisingly, detracts not a bit from the awesomeness.

So, a little bit of straight dope for those just starting out.

First, a few basic terms:

PUBLISHING INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

agent: (n.)

• An agent is an author’s representative. Their work consists of submitting work to publishing houses on their author’s behalf, negotiating contracts, handling payments, and acting as a go-between for the publisher and author.
• Agents get paid only on the basis of what they sell for their authors — 15% of all monies received (usually 20% for subsidiary rights like foreign, film, etc.). Agents only get paid when the author receives the money, Usually, a publishing house will send all the money they owe to an agent, who will turn around and cut an author a check for 85%. Other agents will arrange it so that the publisher sends 15% of the author’s money to the agent, and 85% to the author.
• Legitimate agents do not charge fees of any sort: no manuscript evaluation fees, no “marketing” fees, no “retainers”, no nothing. Period.
• Yes, it’s much much easier to find an agent if you’ve already published a novel. (It’s also really really hard to publish a novel without an agent. And yet, both happen. What can I say? This biz is tough.) But many first time writers do indeed find agents. You just have to be persistent and professional. It’s how I found an agent. It’s how dozens of writers I know found one.
• Good agents are agents who have a record of multiple sales to advance-and-royalty paying publishers. (Or they are new agents who work at an agency that does.) This should be easy to discover. I’ve yet to hear a reasonable justification for agents who are deliberately cagey about what they’ve sold and to whom.
• Some agents have contracts, others work on a handshake, or only contract once a book is sold. When you enter into an agreement with an agent, you are their client.
• For how to find an agent, see below entries on query and submission. The most common way of finding an agent is to send a query.

publisher: (n.)

• A publisher is a company that edits, prints, and distributes books.
• There are many different kinds of publishers, and no two operate exactly the same way. Some are huge corporate conglomerates, some are small independent presses, some only put out books in electronic or print on demand form. There are good and bad stories about every kind of publisher.
• A publisher pays the author for the right to publish a book in a given market in a given form. (for instance: North American paperback rights, electronic rights for 12 months, World English print rights, etc.) An author puts up no money at all. (Any time an author is expected to “pay to publish,” this is considered a “vanity press.” This also goes for requirements that the author guarantee a certain number of books sold, which is paying in a slightly different format.) Remember this maxim: Money flows towards the author.
• Publisher’s payments usually come in one of two ways: advance and royalties. See below for further information about those.
• One of the most important things a publisher offers is distribution. All books are sold at consignment to bookstores, which means that if the bookstore doesn’t sell a copy to a customer, they can return the book to the publisher for a refund. Because of this system, bookstores will often only books from publishers they are used to and who will guarantee that they will accept “returns.” Many bookstores will refuse to stock books that can’t be returned, which is the case with many vanity published or self-published books.
• In addition, an established publisher has many bookstore contacts. If a publisher has no form of established distribution, it is unlikely to sell any copies. Just calling itself “a traditional publisher” does not make them so. Self publishing’s main hurdle is not getting the book printed, it’s getting the book stocked in a bookstore (or more than one bookstore).
• Publishers do have marketing budgets for books, but they vary wildly. All publishers expect that their authors will do marketing on their own dime, to various degrees. More discussion about this topic is beyond the scope of this glossary. (Trust me, this topic will form the bulk of your writerly discussion for many years to come.)

advance: (n.)

• The money that a publisher pays an author for the right to publish a book or books. Advances are often determined by the publisher based on the publisher’s speculation about how much the book will eventually earn.
• Advances are often split into parts and paid at different points in time, such as signing the contract, acceptance of the final manuscript, and publication.
• It’s called “advance” because it is viewed as an advance against the royalties that the author will receive upon the sale of the copies of the book. An author will not receive royalties until they have “earned back the advance”: i.e., earned as much money from royalties as they were paid in the advance. If you do not “earn out your advance” you are not expected to pay the money back; it’s a risk the publisher took.
• Some publishers (electronic, and a few mircopresses) do not pay advances, but instead give a larger royalty rate.

royalty: (n.)

• For every book that is sold, the percentage of the cover price that belongs to the author.
• Royalty rates can vary by publisher, author, book format, and number of copies sold (called “tiered” royalty rates, i.e., x% to y copies sold, z% thereafter). Common North American rates: Harcover: 10%-15%, trade paperback: 6-8%, mass-market paperback: 4-8%.
• Royalties are usually paid twice a year by print publishers, in timeframes set out in the book contract. The royalty check comes with a print out called a royalty statement (or the statement comes without the check, if you haven’t earned out the advance) which details the sales of the books covered in the time period.
• Electronic publishers often give a larger royalty rate, which varies widely. They can do this because they have much lower production costs (no printing, shipping, warehousing, etc.) and never have to deal with returns. I have never been involved with epublishing, nor have I done much research into it, so I know little about the actual numbers involved. For more information about e-publishing, this is an excellent essay.
• Higher royalty rates are not always the best choice. Remember, the key is distribution. An e-publisher might pay you 35% on a $6.99 book and sell 100 copies ($245, total) whereas a print publisher might pay you 8% on a $6.99 book and sell 10,000 copies ($5,592, total). These numbers are not uncommon. See the above-linked essay for more. Books that are available in only electronic format are likely to sell more electronic copies per title than books that are available in both electronic and print format. I only sold a handful of electronic copies of my debut, which was available in e-book form as well as hardcover.
• For an in depth look at royalties and advances for one category romance (Harlequin) author, see this excellent blog post.

submission: (n.)

• The actual item under consideration by an agent or an editor at a publisher. It can take many forms: a query, a partial, a proposal, a full manuscript. See below for more information.
• Many publishers will not accept unagented submissions. This means that they won’t read anything that does not come through an agent. This is why it’s very hard to publish a book without an agent.
• Some publishers will not accept unsolicited submissions. This means that they will not accept anything without having first requested it. (Many publishers or agents who say this will still read one page queries, however.)

query: (n. or v.)

• Noun: A one page description of you, and your novel. Also: “query letter.” Think of this as being similar to the cover letter you would send with a resume to a potential employer. Be concise and professional.
• Verb: “To query” someone means to contact them with a query letter. (see above)
• Format for a query (varies widely, but this is the basics):

1. First paragraph: State reason for sending the query (i.e., searching for a representative for you novel, how you found out about the agent, why you think this agent would be a good fit for your book). State title of your book, genre (general, not specific), and word count.
2. Second paragraph: Description of your book. Do not talk about themes. Short description is: Character, character’s problem, complications, main plot thrust of book,etc. think of story descriptions on the back cover of published books.
3. Third paragraph: Talk about yourself in terms that are relevant to the query letter. Do you have any unique experience that makes you a perfect person to write a book like this? (Note: if you are writing a romance and have been in love, this doesn’t count. If you are writing a romance about a fighter pilot and you are a fighter pilot, then it does count.) Have you had anything else published? Have you won any awards for your writing? Do you have anything that could be considered “platform?” (i.e., you’re actually an international pop star, or your family owns Barnes & Noble).

• Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (for snail mail queries) for the agent or editor to return a response. this is often called a SASE.
• You can query anyone, unless they have given specific instructions that they are not accepting queries.
• Query widely, but research who you query. This helps in that first paragraph.
• Try to avoid being rude, whiny, grovelling, or desperate in your query letter. This is not the place to discuss what is wrong with publishing today, why your book is better than any other book they publisher/represent, that they probably won’t like it, but you thought you’d send it anyway, that you don’t care if they take all the money, you just need to see your book in print, or that if they reject you you’ll hurt yourself. I’d like to say that I’m joking here, but I’ve seen each of these in people’s query letters, and I’m not even an agent.
• Unless you have published a book under your pseudonym of choice, use your real name to sign the letter.

synopsis: (n.)

• A longer description of what exactly happens in your novel and why. An indispensable sales tool for writers at all stages.
• Synopses are usually several pages long (from 2-20, though one page for every 10,000 words of a book is about average).
• Includes major plot points, twists, and the ending. It is very important to include the ending. “If you want to know more, you’ll have to read the book,” is not acceptable.
• Good website for information on writing a synopsis is Kathy Carmichael’s synopsis workshop.
• The synopsis will be used by every department of your publishing company, from the person in charge of writing the back cover copy of your book to the art department who is choosing your cover to the marketing people who decide how to pitch it to bookstores or for promotion. This is why it’s important to havea good one.
• A good way to practice synopsis-writing is to write a synopsis for a book or movie that you’ve seen or read. You’re more likely to focus on the main characters and storyline if it’s someone else’s project. Then, apply those tools to your own story. Alternately, force yourself to write one sentence/two lines about every chapter in your book.

Okay, that’s enough for tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll do the glossary for partials, proposals, fulls, pitches, group pitches, simultaneous submissions, and exclusives.

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From Julie Leto’s excellent series on finding an agent:

If all requests for book one are answered with rejections, start the entire process again with book two. FORGET BOOK ONE. Move on. I don’t care if it’s won contests. I don’t care if your mother loved it. The only time you go back to book one is if an agent says, “If you do a, b, & c effectively, I will represent this book.”

Read it, learn it, live it, love it. Read the whole series.

As I have posted before, I didn’t get an agent with the first book I sent to agents. I actually sent one agent, on request, my third manuscript, but she passed. My first real agent search was for my fourth manuscript. Over the course of a month or so, I sent out 21 queries/proposals (some agents will accept chapters straight off).

I got 18 rejections and three requests. Over the next few months each of those requests turned into requests for the full manuscript. Seven months after my original queries, I had one more rejection.

At that time, I started querying Secret Society Girl — not because I’d given up on manuscript #4 (since there were still two more chances), but because people who had heard about it in passing seemed interested. (As I’ve reported before, my critique partner, Marley Gibson, pitched it to an editor during dinner at a writing conference, and it snowballed from there.)

I queried four agents. All four requested the partial. I sent out three partials, over email (the fourth agent wanted hardcopy, but because I was literally in the process of moving apartments, I had no printer and no time to get to a Kinkos that day. I’d planned on going the following week). I had an offer in a half an hour, and two more within a few days. The fourth agent never did get the manuscript.

Do the math. 21 queries, 19 rejections with one book. 4 queries, no rejections, 3 offers with the next. Write the next book. Move on.

Another great piece of writing advice I once got (unfortunately, I can’t remember the source) said something to the effect of: “People often ask if it’s difficult to find an agent. The truth is, if you have the right book, finding an agent is a relatively straightforward process. If you don’t, it’s very very very very hard.”

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FINALLY!

Justine’s Great Australian Cricket Mangosteen Monkey Knife-Fighting Fairy YA Novel has found a home at Bloomsbury Children’s. YES! I can scream it.

So excited. No words. I read this book and it’s INCREDIBLE, folks. Very out of the ordinary. She deserves every molecule of that Norton Award.*

Yay, Justine! Set your calendars for Fall ‘08 and The Ultimate Fairy Book.

In other news, will be drawing the winner of Colleen’s book in the morning.

In yet other news, saw a poster for The Golden Compass movie tonight. Looks perfect so far, though all I’ve seen is Lyra and Iorek. No glimpse of Pan, oddly enough.
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*How obvious is it that I don’t know what Norton Awards actually look like?

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Updated to Add:

The winner of the RISES THE NIGHT Giveaway is: CATSLADY. Please email me with your address to receive your prize.

Recent prize winners: Your prizes are on their way. With all the traveling, I’ve been a slacker at the P.O.

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This article is an Onion-style parody, right? Observe:

My Book Deal Ruined My Life:

And even before the potential post-publication humiliation, there’s deadline pressure; crippling self-doubt; diets of Entenmann’s pastries and black coffee; self-made cubicles structured with piles of books, papers and unpaid bills; night-owl tendencies; failed relationships; unanswered phone calls; weight gain; poverty; and, of course, exhaustion.

So forget the American dream! Getting a book deal seems more like a nightmare.

Someone confirm for me that this is a joke. I was all agog at the extreme examples in the article — one writer complained about being forced to work on a book revealing his family secrets… a book he chose to propose, sell, sign a contract for, and receive money for. Maybe he didn’t realize how hard it would be on him, but in this case, the problem doesn’t seem to be the book deal, but the book itself. Another whined about how his advance was not enough to sustain him for the half decade or so it took for him to write his book. I recognize that some books take longer to write than others. But I find it hard to believe that he’s BICHOKing sixteen hours a day for four years. And once again, I ask, how is it the deal that’s a nightmare?

Folks: this job rocks. Even when it’s the worst writing day, it better than any other job that I can imagine. Unless you can make a career out of, I don’t know, visiting spas or riding amusement park rides or tasting new kinds of Godiva truffles… it’s about at good as it gets.

Best part was the comments and the way they tear into the subjects of the article.

“The examples selected for the Observer article are hardly typical. If the authors cited share anything with the failed lottery winners, it’s an inflated sense of reality and very poor abilities to manage their opportunities.”

Now, for some COOL writing articles, starting with one about Cecil Castellucci, one of the coolest cats I know. A screenwriter, singer/songwriter, young adult book writer, and now graphic novelist, Cecil was recently interviewed by CNN about her new book, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes:

Something of a high school rebel herself, Castellucci’s own artistic journey began with the creation of a nom de guerre, Cecil, a very tongue-in-cheek homage to Cecil B. DeMille. “My real name was kind of blah,” she recalls, “and so I would turn in school work like ‘A Book Report by Cecil B. DeMille.’ “

“The Plain Janes” is Castellucci’s first experience creating comic books, but it’s far from her first experience with the form. (“I have a really huge crush on Superman right now, so I’m obsessed with reading everything Superman,” she observes.)

And who isn’t, I ask you?

My pal Wendy Roberts has the cover to her new book, THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD. Check it out! I had the good fortune to read an advanced copy of this book, and it’s fabulous. It’s about a woman who works in a specialized field of crime scene clean up (dead bodies) who can also, by the by, talk to ghosts. Move over, Medium!

Finally, my hometown newspaper, The St. Petersburg Time, has started to cover this all-important epidemic of our time, the re-emergence of the long-forgotten unicorn:

Have you seen me?

Mythical? Come, now. Rare sightings of this magical beast, missing since the ’80s, give hope to believers everywhere.

Over the last few years, the unicorn has slowly and quietly crept back into popular culture. It has popped up on trendy retro-style T-shirts, often with sayings like “Unicorn Power!” and “Free Unicorn Rides.” It has appeared in television ads, flooding MySpace and gaining popularity on YouTube cult video clips. There’s a hip indie band called the Unicorns and countless Web sites devoted to unicorn awareness. It’s hard to say exactly why this sacred beast has made a comeback, but we’re hoping it’s here to stay. For those who missed the unicorn craze of the ’80s, here are the answers to some of your most burning unicorn questions.

And so it begins…

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WINNERS OF RISES THE NIGHT WILL BE DRAWN ON FRIDAY.

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My buddy Colleen Gleason’s amazing RISES THE NIGHT released yesterday, and in honor of that momentous event, I’m giving away a copy today. You know the drill: leave your name in the comments section to enter.

RISES THE NIGHT is the follow-up to Colleen’s marvelous debut, THE REST FALLS AWAY. It’s the story of Victoria Gardella, a young vampire slayer/debutante in Regency England.

Get your hands on what Publisher’s Weekly called “a fast paced, carnival ride of a book!”

Here’s more:

The glorious nineteenth-century city of Rome gives rise to a new threat from the Immortal Undead…

Victoria Gardella has been a vampire slayer for just over a year, balancing her life as a peer of Society with the dangerous role that takes her out on moonlit streets, stake in hand.

As Victoria races across Europe to stop what could be the most deadly army the Gardellas have ever faced, she is accompanied by the unlikely Sebastian Vioget, a man as tempting as he is untrustworthy. But when Victoria discovers that she has been betrayed by one of her most trusted allies, the truth will challenge all her powers as a Venator – and as a woman.

Fab, huh? Leave your comment here to enter.

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Next up. Regular blog visitor, and talented young writer Jessica Burkhart has just made her first sale!

CHILDREN’S: MIDDLE GRADE

Jessica Burkhart’s HIGH JUMPS AT COLLINS ACADEMY series, pitched as Saddle Club meets Mean Girls, about a small-town girl who attends a boarding school and must learn to compete with the equestrian elite, to Molly McGuire at Aladdin, in a four-book deal, in a very nice deal, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group (NA).

Hope you all read that right. Four. Book. Deal. Holy crap, Jess! Go congratulate her. Do it now.
I’m so excited for Jessica, and so proud of her, too. A few months ago, she emailed me about contacting her first agent, and now she has a four book deal with Simon & Schuster. Folks, it can happen. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

(What does that make, three first sales I’ve posted here in a little over a month? Don’t believe folks when they say no one is looking for new writers!)
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Finally, alert blog reader and super-genius Julie Leto (whose new series may have the most delicious tagline I’ve ever heard), sent me this photo, which I believe might be the definitive Secret Society Girl-on-the-shelves snapshot:

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UPDATED ON FRIDAY TO ADD: THE WINNER OF RISES THE NIGHT GIVEAWAY IS:

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Today is the release date of Everything I Needed To Know About Being a Girl I learned From Judy Blume.

Sadly, I haven’t actually been able to get my hands on it yet. I pre-ordered from Amazon, but it hasn’t come. By contrast, my mother, who pre-ordered, received her copy on Saturday. (I probably should have warned her that I’d written about us.)

We’ve been getting great reviews:

From Library Journal:
By turns funny and poignant, this essay collection captures the essence of YA author Judy Blume’s appeal. Pieces were contributed by a raft of women writers—many firmly established in chick lit—who were deeply influenced by Blume’s works in their youth. Many focus on dealing with changes in bodies, relationships, and situations….This uniformly well-written title will be warmly welcomed by those who had epiphanic experiences upon first reading Blume’s titles. Although a collection of this sort runs the risk of being dismissed as fluff, the essays are substantive and thoughtful. A recommended purchase for public libraries; academic libraries may also wish to consider

From Publishers Weekly:
This collection of 24 essays edited by O’Connell (Plan B) pays tribute to the influence of Judy Blume and her work about coming-of-age as a girl in America. In each piece, the writer reveals what O’Connell calls her “Judy Blume moment,” telling a heartfelt and revealing story that reflects the same social awkwardness and true-to-life experiences Blume conveys in her novels, from menstruation to childhood bullying to masturbation… Readers who similarly found solace and support in Blume’s work should relate easily to these writers through the Blumian characters and themes they evoke. Writing in the spirit of Blume, these women present their experiences as a series of personal truths: “girl moments. Woman moments, Human moments.”

From Booklist:
In stories contributed by many well-known female writers, this anthology pays homage to the “guru” of female adolescence… Funny, poignant, honest, and reverential, these stories will resonate strongly with the legions of readers who, like the authors, are grateful and lifelong Blume devotees.

Pick up your copy today!

(In passing, it blows my mind that I’ll have four books out by the end of this year — five if you count the two versions of SSG.)

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Tropical Depression Barry meant that sunny Florida wasn’t so sunny last weekend. Our hotel room was right on the beach, but we couldn’t even see the waves through the rain. Oh well. Next time. Still had a great trip! Naturally, as the bus pulled away from the resort the sun came out and it was gorgeous. And when we landed in DC, it was pouring rain.

On the upside, I found the most fascinating book at the airport bookstore, and I’m just devouring it. Totally worth 25 bucks. It’s non-fiction, which I rarely read, but should probably go for more often.

We watched a bunch of movies this weekend. Sky High, which is adorable and fun and one of those “wish I’d written it” things, and Casino Royale, which is long. Wow, long long long. And I kept thinking it was over and then it wasn’t. My favorite scene was the “urban gymnast” chase sequence. I really don’t understand what happened at the end, though SB tried to explain it to me.

Busy work week coming up for me, so I may be blogging light.

In other news, Scalzi mentions that he doesn’t have a printer. This surprises me quite a bit. There are certain pieces of office equipment that I don’t have and have no intention of ever using again (fax machines: in this world of scanners and email, why would we still be using something so monstrously inconvenient that doesn’t work half as well?) but a printer is not one of them. I use my printer constantly. I print labels to send out mailings, I print directions, I print pages to read them aloud and edit. I love editing on hardcopy. I think the very act of changing up the medium by which I make changes — actually crossing stuff out and writing over it and circling things and making arrows to show where i’m moving them too — makes me see things I wouldn’t if I was just looking at paragraph chunks on screen.

Who is with me? Do you edit on hardcopy? Why or why not?

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