The Portland Book Festival is this Saturday! November 10th, from 9am-6pm At and around the Portland Art Museum I will be signing books at the Willamette Writers booths 39 & 40 from 1:30-3pm. Come enjoy the Festival and stop by the booths for a visit.
I wrote this post as a guest writer for Malcolm Campbell. So drop on by Malcolm’s Round Table and check it out!
Of course we all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and of course we all do. We can’t help it. We pick up a book and there’s the cover, giving us a picture, a glimpse, into the pages and pages of the story that we are considering spending hours of our limited time reading. We grasp at every clue we can to decide whether that time and money will be well spent. A good cover is really important. It’s actually in CreateSpace’s list of factors that determine how well a book sells. I considered having a friend, who is a graphic designer, put together a collage type cover for me and she came up with some marvelous designs. The problem was that she couldn’t find a picture that came close to what my main character looks like, and since YA fantasy is totally character driven, it’s important to give the reader an image to take with them into the story. I was… Read More »
Over a year ago I received my seventy-fifth and last “Sorry, this isn’t for us.” letter from an agent. There is an old saying that defines insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.” Granted, I had been constantly rewriting the manuscript and the present version is very different from the first, but the concept and plot haven’t really changed. It’s an adventure story about a sixteen-year-old who gets trapped in a parallel universe and her struggle to return home. It is also a Fool’s journey through the tarot major arcana, beginning with The Fool, Chapter 0, and ending with The World, Chapter 21. The agents saw nothing new and therefore exciting about the story and weren’t sold on the concept of using the tarot major arcana to create the plot-line and so they decided it wasn’t worth selling. But whenever I give anyone the “elevator pitch” for the book, their eyes light up and they say something like “I’d… Read More »
If you want to make even the most seasoned writer tremble whisper the words “query letter” in his ear. The dreaded query letter is the inescapable bane of every writer’s existence—at least every writer that is looking for an agent. There are blogs with ominous names like Query Shark whose sole purpose is to help writers navigate these dangerous waters. Not only is the required format rigidly precise, it is also subject to change at a moment’s notice. Author Sean M. Chandler comments that he knows several agents who won’t read a query letter if the writer’s contact information appears at the start of the query. According to some agents, it’s now supposed to appear at the end of the letter below the closing. I was also told several years ago that in a pitch or query the writer should always reveal how the story ends. Now we’re supposed to keep the agent guessing. The list of conflicting information goes on and on, but the… Read More »
I was just reminded in no uncertain terms that to become successful in almost any endeavor, it’s not just what you know, but who you know. Back in December I wrote a post about possible reasons why over 44 agents have rejected my manuscript and ended with the thought that I might have to self publish it. A friend of mine, Kier Salmon, immediately e-mailed me. “Talk to me before you do anything,” she said. “I work in the business and it’s easy to get burned.” The next day I got another e-mail from her telling me that Linn Prentis, the agent she works for, loves tarot decks and wants to see the manuscript. I was thrilled to the tips of my keyboard tapping fingers. I waited until after the holidays and then e-mailed it to them as an attachment. And waited… And waited. Last week I finally found the reply in my in-box. It was a rejection letter, but of a very different sort.… Read More »
After years of denial I have come to recognize this sad and bitter truth: Writers must market their books if they want them to sell. They must do this even if HarperCollins is their publisher. The better an author is at marketing, the more books he or she will sell. As I was scrolling down my latest Willamette Writers newsletter I came upon Tonya Macalino’s ad for her book marketing workshop at Jacobsen’s Books & More, a cozy independent bookstore in Hillsboro, Oregon. OK, I told myself, bite the bullet. You’ve gotta learn how to do this. It was a cold, foggy morning on Main Street when I pushed open the bookstore door balancing a latte that was too hot to handle on my notebook. Tina, the owner of Jacobsen’s Books & More, escorted me past rows of books to the back of the bookstore. The books kept calling to me, but I ignored them and settled down at a table with several other middle-aged… Read More »
I just received the final rejection letter from my last batch of queries. It was my forty fourth. So why don’t agents and publishers want it? There are several possibilities: The writing isn’t good enough. Since I’ve never published anything before or won any writing contests, this was a big concern for me. However, my editor, Jessica Morrell, says I’m as good as or better than most of the writers she works with (she works with several best selling authors) and that Forging the Blade (old title: The Remaking of Molly Adair) is a publishable book. The pitch isn’t good enough. The pitch is a quick description of your book. It says, in a few short paragraphs, what the story is about, why someone would want to read it, and why you are the best person to tell the story. It is even more difficult to write than the book itself. I’ve taken several pitch classes and written and rewritten it at least… Read More »
I got good news and bad news at this year’s conference. The good news was that Miriam Kriss, an agent with Irene Goodman Literary Agency, asked to see a synopsis and the first ten pages of Forging the Blade. She was the only agent I pitched to because I’d already pitched to all the other agents there that were looking for YA fantasy. The bad news also came from Miriam Kriss. After carefully listening to my pitch she said: You’re book isn’t really young adult fantasy because you’re main character doesn’t have the same concerns and problems that young adults have and she spends most of her time with adults. Your book is high fantasy, which doesn’t sell as well as urban fantasy. Your second book should never be a sequel to your first book (mine is), because if you don’t sell your first book, or if it sells poorly, you’ll never be able to sell your second book. Ah well, maybe… Read More »
When I arrived at the Hallmark Inn & Resort last Friday the receptionist looked at me in that particular way that tells an experienced traveler that they’ve screwed up your reservations. Rats, I said to myself, mimicking Molly Adair, my main character. And then I asked myself, What Would Molly Do? If Molly felt as desperate as I did at that moment, she just might have clobbered the receptionist with her practice stick. Fortunately for the woman, whose look had darkened even further, I’m not Molly. I smiled sweetly and waited for the verdict. Several minutes and many key tappings later she informed me that I was supposed to have arrived on Thursday and was scheduled to leave on Saturday. They’d already rented my room for Saturday. “Why would I do that?” I asked. “The conference goes until Sunday.” “I’ve found you another room,” she continued. “We won’t charge you for the upgrade. It has an ocean view, Jacuzzi, and fireplace.” Yes! The conference was… Read More »