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Barratt Miller asks:
1) Is there such a thing as querying too soon? 2) Although I expect that it’s something one just “knows” instinctively, are there a set of guidelines to follow? 3) When did you know you were ready to start querying? 4) What sort of writing had you done up until that point? I’m Sweating With Sven as well, and I’m wondering if I should even bother sending out queries for this project once it’s completed. I don’t think I’m ready, but I tend to be my harshest critic. While I want to trust my gut and wait until the next project, I don’t want to “wait until the next project” for the rest of my life.
Sometimes I’m really happy there’s a link to the blog. For instance, now I know how to pronounce “Barratt” — it’s not like “Barack.”
In this case, I wasn’t quite sure what the question meant, because the simple answer is to start querying when you’re done writing the book. Chapter One all the way through to The End, revise, get second reads, polish, then query.
But now that I’ve read your blog, I don’t think that’s what you’re asking. In this post, you talk about how you think this book isn’t ready for prime time. You know it even while you are writing it. You are clearly much better at seeing that sort of thing than I was. As I mentioned the other day, I didn’t know my “under the bed books” weren’t publishable when I was writing them. If I did, I probably wouldn’t have finished them. It doesn’t fit with my personality. But it was necessary for me to write “training” books, even if I didn’t know that was what I was doing. They taught me how to get to the point where I could write something publishable. Other people are fine with the idea of writing books just for practice.
Back to the questions:
1) Yes, there is such a thing as querying too soon. Querying projects before they’ve properly developed is way too soon. If you’re a new author, that means you don’t query until you have a complete book, polished, vetted/critiqued. However, I’d like to clarify that there’s only “too soon” on any given project. It’s not like you get one chance to be a writer and that’s it. If you feel like you have a good book, go ahead and query it. Or even if you want to see if what you’ve got is a good book. There’s no drawback. If you get a rejected everywhere, you can still query everywhere with your new book. Seriously, get used to the idea of rejections. I think a lot of the “we only get one chance” mindset is really fear of rejections in disguise.
The only time I think it’s too soon to query as a writer is when you’ve never finished a book. You need to have a product to sell, and that’s what a query letter is — a sales pitch. So yes, it’s too soon to query until you have a completed, polished book. (I wonder how many times I can use that phrase in one blog post.)
2) Guidelines vs. gut instinct. I think this varies from writer to writer. If you’re the kind of writer who is into entering contests, you might take your contest feedback as a good guideline. If you are getting great scores and/or finalling, you might be ready to submit. If you write short stories and have sold a lot of those, you might be ready to submit. If you have critique partners that you trust and they are all saying “get it out there, you silly girl!” (hint hint, person that reads this blog and has been sitting on her awesome book for weeks) then you might be ready to submit. And yes, listen to your gut, but don’t let the doubt demons keep you down.
3 and 4) I think I answered this above. When I wrote my first novel, I was doing it specifically for the purposes of publication. It wasn’t for practice. I knew I could write, I just didn’t know if I could write a whole novel. So when I finished it and polished it, I queried it. It wasn’t even a question for me. I’m not writing fiction for fun, so when I had something to submit, I submitted it. Since everyone’s process is different, it really is impossible for me to answer this question. Some folks write hundreds of short stories (some even publish them) before tackling a novel. Some just sit down one day and write a novel. There’s no way to compare.
Do you have a critique partner? I’m also my harshest critic (actually, no I’m not, the nice reviewers at Amazon are!) but having a critique partner is great — they have distance from your story, so they can see the things you’re missing, and help you get a more objective handle on your work.
But whether you are writing books “for practice” or “for publication” you need to HAVE a book before you can query it.
Hope that helps!
A new review for Secret Society Girl, from Coffee Time Romance. This site apparently gives out “cups” instead of stars. (SSG got four.) Cute idea, huh? An excerpt:
Ms. Diana Peterfreund has written a quirky glimpse into the life of a typical college woman trying to navigate through campus politics while managing to have fun in the bedroom without getting too serious. Amy is a sharp witted heroine who chooses to stand up to the powers that be while inwardly quaking. Brandon is a sweet brainiac who loves Amy enough to back her up in the name of sexual equality. The minor characters are a diversified group of students from various backgrounds seen on many campuses. I enjoyed this book immensely.
And for anyone in the Washington DC area:
I’ll be reading from Under the Rose, talking to fans, and signing copies of both of my books on Tuesday, August 21st, at 7 p.m. at the Borders Book Store in the White Flint Mall, Rockville, Maryland. Love to see you there!
Are you looking for a signed copy of Secret Society Girl or Under the Rose? Try here:
Borders Books
400 S. Baldwin Ave.
Arcadia, CA 91007
Borders Books
8518 Fenton Street
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Borders Books
2683 Gulf to Bay Blvd.
Clearwater, FL 33759
(As of yesterday, SSG was available as buy one, get one half off).
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
23654 US 19 North
Clearwater, FL 33765
And, right now, BarnesandNoble.com is having a buy-two-get-one-free sale on paperbacks, including Secret Society Girl.
Patrick asks:
How did you become a Cover Model? Have you done other modeling?
I’ve actually answered this in detail elsewhere. But the quick and dirty story is as follows:
I know a woman, Tara Kearney, whose mother is an author friend of mine (Susan Kearney). Tara and I were both aspiring artists: I wrote, she took pictures. Tara needed models for some book covers she was designing on spec. I volunteered. The photo sessions were a blast and I really enjoyed doing them (I was into drama in high school and college). I actually did several before she sold any, but one session I did resulted in a bunch of covers. We worked on trade: I posed for her, and she took author photos for me. My publicity shot is done by Tara. I’m not a professional model in the sense of having ever been paid to model. I could still be in the modeling Olympics, I guess.
Other modeling? Well, I posed for photos in a couple of issues of my newspaper when I worked there, when we needed art of whatever it was the article was about (there was one of me eating a grouper sandwich, for example). Does that count? My mother tells me that once when I was six, I played the “daughter” in a family shot for a promotional brochure of my local hospital (my dad was a physician there). I bet I was paid in popsicles.
That’s it. Sorry it’s not juicier. Try Robin Hazelwood for some real scoop on modeling.
Vicki asks:
Do you normally write everyday or most days until you hit the end before you edit? Or do you pick one day each week to go back and edit what you’ve written?
Actually, Vicki knows the answer to this, since she’s on a writing loop with me where we check in with our progress everyday, and she knows i don’t always check in.
No, I don’t write everyday. I wish I did. I wish I were more disciplined. I’m a “work to the deadline” kind of girl. I’m trying to change that, but life keeps getting in teh way. Like this summer: first it was a family emergency, then I had to chuck a whole bunch of plot and restart, then I was out of town for five weekends straight.
Regarding the writing/editing divide, I edit as I go. Always have. Just my process. As a result, I don’t usually have a whole bunch of drafts. I hear this can be a problem for many writers, since they keep working and working on making the beginning “perfect” and never move forward, but that was never a problem for me. I also like regularly re-reading the book up to the current point (I write in order) so as to keep the pacing solid and the one consistent.
However, it’s easier to do this when you aren’t on deadline, and since I’ve been writing to very firm deadlines I’ve started training myself to move on even if I know I’m going to have to go back and edit a bunch of stuff later. Using this technique is pretty much a work in progress. It’s definitely not my favorite way of doing things, but if this were fun all the time it wouldn’t be a job, right?
I know others who are all about the drafting process, though. There’s no right way.
Kristin asked:
I am trying to do the seventy days of sweat with sven, but I have just hit a wall…I have not written in about 3 days. What do you do to get back in the saddle? Besides “just write”?
Unfortunately, that’s the only answer I have. If you ever find a better one, please do let me know! I’m dying for a magic trick!
I used to not believe in writer’s block. I thought if you were serious about writing, you just did it. Later on in my development, I believed that writer’s block is a symptom that something is wrong with your story. When you’re stuck, it means that you’re making a mistake with your plot, or your characterization, or etc. Some of my friends say that writer’s block is a writer letting her internal editor get the better of her.
I think it’s can be all three. Sometimes, when I’m stuck, I just have to put my butt in a chair and do it. Set a timer and say I can’t do anything else until that timer goes off. Can’t do anything but stare at a blank screen or sheet of paper. It’s amazing how a lack of distraction can get those sentences coming. Other times, I go back and try to figure out what I’m doing wrong. (This is probably my most common approach.) As soon as I figure out what I was doing wrong, I come unstuck. And then sometimes I follow my friends’ advice and just “give myself permission to write crap.” (I think that line might be Nora’s, but I don’t think she uses “crap.”)
A few other things that help:
1. Change the medium. Write on a computer? Try longhand. The very act of using different muscles and nerves might jiggle your neurons awake.
2. Change the setting. Write in your office? Grab a pad of paper and head outside. Try under a tree or near a coffee shop. I really like to write on the metro. The other day I hadn’t written in several days and I got on the metro and words started pouring out and I wrote eight pages. True story.
3. Play some music which makes you think of a particular scene.
4. Take a shower. I swear this works.
5. Give yourself a writing prompt. Say you must put something particular in your next two pages — like the word “indubitably” or a spork. You can edit it out later, of course, but sometimes forcing your mind to think about something particular that isn’t a plot point can help you move forward. It’s the same principle which guides creative writing teachers: when you say “write” people won’t be creative, but if you say “write about purple mushroom caps” you’ll get a dozen different stories.
Of course, all of these are variations on the theme of “just write.”
Anyone else have a method?
Color me shocked:
Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!
Keep reading and comment below… who are you?
PS: For those of you who have just emailed me prior to their morning cappuccinos, that was sarcasm about the shocked bit.
NO SPOILERS BELOW
Bill asked:
Question one: did you see the NY Times review that appeared earlier in the week of publication? [snip] I was intrigued by the reviewer’s mention of all Rowling’s literary sources and antecedents, some of which I’d caught and some of which I hadn’t. The reviewer seemed to treat her writing as “literature”. So my real question (query two, et seq.) is, Do you think of Rowling’s Harry Potter cycle as “literature”? What do you like about it? And what (if anything) don’t you like?
Bill, you’re asking the Lit major who wrote her senior thesis on James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. What do you think?
I love the Harry Potter books. I started reading them my senior year in college and I loved them from the first. My favorite book is the third one, Prisoner of Azkabaan. There is a scene near the end of that book which remains one of my favorite moments in all of literature. I think Rowling is a top-notch storyteller, and the world she writes about is richly drawn, endlessly imaginative, and a gorgeous reinterpretation of cultural legends.
It owes to much to an entire tradition of children’s literature that came before it (boarding school stories, Roald Dahl, fairy tales) and spawned an enrmouse explosion of children’s literature. I read the New York Times article today (link — WITH SPOILERS: here) and I found it very interesting. I agree with much of what the reviewer said. I’ve actually been talking about her Dickensian way with names for years. I doubt it will surprise anyone that I think taking something and remixing it and making it new is one of my favorite things about great literature. (Once again, I reference Lost Horizon.)
I’m also in awe of her ability to write sport. I remember skipping over action sequences and “battle scenes” in books when I was a kid because I just never found them very interesting. Not so with Rowling’s Quidditch matches. They were so well-written, so thrilling!
Are there things I don’t like about the books? Certainly. Nothing’s perfect. There were plot developments that weren’t my favorite and there are certain aspects of Rowling’s writing style
that I’m not fond of (she really likes adverbs in her dialogue tags). But I don’t know how much was me thinking about it as a storyteller and going, “Well, I wouldn’t have done that.”
Now, about “literature.” I’m really glad you put that in quotes. I hate that question. How silly is it? What’s literature? Who decides? Haven’t we gotten over the whole “but is it art?” thing in the last century, or do we need new mind game artists to come in and skewer critics on their own biased kabobs? Does it depend on what particular branch of literary theory you’re hanging out on today? A few weeks ago, I hung out with a young woman who was writing her master’s thesis on Harry Potter and reader response theory.
Here’s what I think about “literature”: I think it’s decided by posterity, who is in a much better position to figure this stuff out. I wonder if Harry Potter shall be viewed in the future much like Robinson Crusoe is now, as a seminal turning point in its time for the development of the novel.
What do you all think? (Please refrain from revealing any spoilers in the comments section.)
Please add to the list at the original Questions post here.
Shelley Tougas asked:
Has Hollywood come knocking yet? I think SSC is ripe for adaptation.
I’m so glad you think so! I’m a big movie fan, so I take that as a high compliment. The short and technical answer is no, I have not optioned the book for film, television, or other performance media yet.
Obviously, I’d be thrilled if I did, but it’s not something that is making me lose sleep at night. It’s not something I think of. I’m a writer, and more particularly, a novelist. So I want my books to be books, and I’m happy when they are. And I hope that if my books are made into a movie or a television show or who knows what else, that they will bring new readers to my books.
I have no desire to write screenplays or get into the movie business. I remain undecided about television but there are no current plans there. I’m happy to write books and let Hollywood be Hollywood. If I do someday sell my books to Hollywood, I’m going to take Hemingway’s advice about driving to the border of California and lobbing your book across, grabbing the money, and driving like hell back. My book is my book and I like that.
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I start to answer questions below. Please add to the list at the original Questions post here. And away we go!
Jessica Burkhart asks:
I’m curious about what level of promotion you did for SSG. With a four-book series, did you hire a publicist or handle everything yourself with the help of your publisher? I’m trying to figure out the best approach for me, so I’d love to hear what worked (or what didn’t) for you. 
Level Seven. Sorry, Buffy the Vampire Slayer moment.
It’s worthwhile to keep in mind that SSG was not a four book series until a few months ago, when I sold the second two books. I think it’s great to sell the series (and my publisher has been doing an excellent job of that with the connected covers and the excerpts for each subsequent book in the back of the previous), but when I was promoting my first book, that’s what I was doing. Promoting a book. There was only one. Now that there are two, I promote two. When there are three, well, you get the idea.
I did not hire an independent publicist. I considered it, and I even talked to a couple of them. The (very) few who deigned to return my phone calls quoted me outlandish prices. The kind that would pay my living expenses for a year. That was obviously out. I spoke to a couple of writer friends who had hired (cheaper and not so much cheaper) independent publicists and though I got both good reviews and bad, in the end I decided it wasn’t for me. You’re going to have to talk to others about it.
Luckily, I have one of the best publicists in the business right at my own publisher, and she’s been great in helping me develop and implement my book promotion plan, not to mention arranging lots of great opportunities for me. But there’s not much I can speak to there because not only does every single publishing house handle this differently, but every single publishing house handles this differently with every single book. At some houses or with some books, an editor might handle certain aspects, or a publicist, or a marketing department, or the author herself. It all depends.
What works? It depends what you mean by “work.” You’re more likely to get reviews if you send out ARCs, quotes if you ask for them, etc. But if by “works” you mean “works to bring in readers…” then I don’t have a clue. The only thing I can think of that I know “works” is distribution and co-op. People are more likely to buy a book if they see it. So what all those other things, articles and appearances and etc. are designed to do, in my opinion, is to make the book more visible.
But you can make yourself crazy trying to do everything out there that you can do, or spend all your money on the different ways to promote your book, or spend all your time promoting, and none of it writing. Not good. Pick what you want to do based on what is easiest, cheapest (or at least most reasonable), and appeals to you — because it plays to your strengths, or you think it’s fun, or you like it from the consumer side.
I designed and made secret society pins because they were such an important plot point in the books and I thought they’d be fun. My publisher loved them too, and actually incorporated them into the paperback covers. My friend Marianne Mancusi made pins because the cover of her book already had a pin on it. But that doesn’t mean I think “pins work.” It wa somethign I liked that tied in well with my novel. To compare, Marianne is a big fan of MySpace and its networking potential with her readership. But I don’t like MySpace. I have a hard time using it, and I hardly ever go to MySpace pages. So I’ve never gotten into MySpace, even though I can understand that it works for others.
So those are my current feelings about promotion. I love doing the stuff I do, but I think to prevent driving yourself crazy over it, you need to treat your promotional efforts as ends in themselves. Don’t blog because someone has told you to. Blog because you like blogging. Otherwise, you will be disappointed in your effort/results ratio. Same thing when you are looking at the cost/results ratio. Maybe I’ll feel differently when I have more books out, or when I expand into the YA fantasy field in the coming years, but that’s where I’m at now.
Hope that helps!
Don’t forget to keep asking questions at the original question post.
I’ve got few working brain particles right now, between my lingering illness and my deadlines, so I’m taking a page from the Dystel & Goderich blog and opening the floor to questions. Ask in the comments, I’ll answer in posts. Craft, industry, my books, golden monkeys, whatever.
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