Laura Thomas's Blog: Self-Publishing: A Mean Old Dog (who loves to cuddle) (and might just make you rich) - Posts Tagged "rwa"

I went to a Writers’ Conference this weekend, and learned lots and lots and not nearly enough. Mainly I learned that I know virtually nothing, but I still have a glimmer of hope that I might find my way in the mean old publishing industry. Below is some of the stuff I including:
-odds of getting an agent
-how to write a query letter
-whom to submit queries to

1. Well, first and foremost I learned that almost nobuddy gets published, so we shouldn’t feel snubbed by rejection letters. Each of the agents and editors present at the conference said they get something like 250 submissions each week, and they take 2 or three new writers PER YEAR. So, even a brilliant writer will have a hard time getting an agent. Still, I plan to send out my new novel (when it’s done – hopefully this fall) to agents/editors. But I won’t get all depressed and self-critical when the rejection letters start pouring in. At least that’s what I tell myself now. ☺

2. I also learned what’s expected in a good query letter. And ohmahgoodness was I underinformed. After I wrote Shadow Swans I sent it to about 20 agents, several of them gave me great constructive feedback, and one even said his agency almost took me on as a client. Looking back, I should’ve felt VERY proud of that track record, given the incredible volume of material agents review, and given the fact that my query letter sucked nails.

What I now know is that a query letter should be concise, and contain exactly the right information. That info should be: word count of novel, genre, synopsis, platform (see my last blog post re: what a platform is), thanks very much, bye. Here’s a site about what a query letter should include: http://www.charlottedillon.com/query..... And this fantastic site contains some real examples of good query letters, along with analyses of the letters: http://www.nelsonagency.com/faq.html.

3. Also learned how entirely crucial it is to make sure you submit to agents/editors who work within my exact genre (which is Women’s Fiction for the adult and YA markets. For Shadow Swans, it’s more specifically Lesbian Fiction for the adult and YA markets). So, before you submit your query letter to anyone, research the agency, what types of books it reps, and be able to tell the agent why your book fits in with that catalogue. These days a writer can also submit directly to editors (this was not the case 10 years ago). But, similarly, writers should only submit to editors who rep their exact genres.

Next week I’ll write more about my one-on-one meeting with an editor, and some other thangs I learned, like how to write a synopsis. ‘Til then, I hug you. xo

So, as promised, a little bit more about my meeting with an editor at the writers conference:

First of all, if you’re looking to attend a writers’ conference, I recommend that you look for one that offers pitch sessions. These are short (the one I had was 10 minutes) meetings with actual agents and editors. Don’t even bother with conferences that offer Pitch Slams – these are big chaotic events where lots of people get like 60 seconds to pitch to a room full of editors. All the editors and agents at the conference said these were worthless. I’ll never attend a Pitch Slam – only the one-on-one pitch sessions are useful at all (and even these are MAJOR long shots).

Before a conference you can get a list of the agents and editors who’ll be attending, and you should look at what types/genres of novels they rep, and pick the agent/editor that best represents your genre. I attended the Romance Writers of America Writers’ Conference, even though I don’t really write traditional romance, because that conference offers pitch sessions with agents. Some of the editors/agents at that conference represent Romance as WELL as other genres. I applied to the conference EARLY so that I could get my first choice of agents/editors for my pitch session, and I was assigned my number one choice.

Before the pitch session, I went to some agent and editor panels in which people could ask questions of these publishing gurus. I learned that agents and editors do NOT want to even TALK about an unfinished manuscript. They’re tired of hearing about manuscripts that never get finished. So, my new (unfinished) novel was off the table for my pitch session.

I also learned that of the 10 agents and editors at the conference, 9 of them were not open to talking about self-published novels. Luckily, the editor who I was assigned for my pitch session was the only one who would at least entertain a conversation about a self-pub novel. He did, however, indicate that there’s not much he can do with a self-pub novel - since it’s already out there, a publishing house wouldn’t really benefit much from re-releasing it. But since his publishing house is interested in working with long-term authors, he was willing to at least talk about Shadow Swans to see if he’d be interested in me as an author.

So, here’s how the pitch session goes: You walk in, say hi, and give your one-sentence or one-paragraph pitch for your novel. You should have that honed PERFECTLY. Next week I’ll write more about what I learned re: writing a synopsis. After you present your short pitch, the editor will ask more questions as he/she wants. The editor I met with was incredibly kind and patient and had really good energy, and he seemed impressed with my ideas and requested a full manuscript of Shadow Swans. This, I discovered, is a very good thing – if an editor/agent is only mildly interested, he/she will request only the first few chapters. So, although I wasn’t afforded much hope of reeling in an editor with a self-pubbed novel, I was at least happy to have had my full manuscript requested.

I gather that most editors/agents will read at least a few chapters of everything that they’re sent within their genre (they will NOT read books that do not fall within the genre that they rep). But they take 6 weeks or a few months to get through submissions, so they’re clear about the fact that writers shouldn’t wait by their inboxes for responses.

For me, personally, I was very pleased with my editor meeting. Since I didn’t have a completed manuscript to present, I don’t expect anything concrete to come out of the meeting, but I will CERTAINLY send this editor the manuscript of my new novel when it’s completed. And so the process continues.

More next week on Writers’ Conf revelations. Mwwwwah!