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

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!

At the recent Writers’ Conference, I went to a workshop on writing a one-sentence synopsis, or log line. This sentence will be used to sell and promote your book, and it is incredibly important. I am certainly no log line guru, but I’ll share with you what I learned (and feel free to send tips back to me!).

Writing a good log line is incredibly hard and equally crucial. In general, it should mention the main character (but NOT by name – that’s TMI for a log line), the conflict, the setting, the action that’ll take place, and what makes the book distinctive. Ohmahgod, that’s a lot for one sentence. If you can’t figure out how to get started on your one-sentence, you can start out with a word like “while” or “when,” as in:

When Ruby, a brilliant misanthrope, falls in love with a young woman living in the subway tunnels under New York City, she learns that beauty and adventure can be found amidst violence and destitution

That’s my log line for Shadow Swans. It’s not great – let me know if you can help me make it better! “Beauty” and “adventure” are kind of nebulous words for a log line, but I just can’t seem to get more specific without going into detail. Also, the only reason I used a first name (“Ruby”) in my log line is that a same-sex love story makes a log line more difficult to write. If I’d said, “When a brilliant young misanthrope falls in love with a young woman…,” you’d assume that I was talking about a male misanthrope. But it would be repetitive to say that a brilliant and misanthropic young woman falls in love with a young woman living in the subway, so I just used the name Ruby. In this case, I think it’s ok to use the first name. But if you can avoid first names in your log line, that’s best.

Here’s my log line for my new novel:

In the face of worldwide drought, a teenage girl kidnapped by neo-Mayan extremists struggles to escape before she’s sacrificed rain gods.

I think that log line is probably better than the one for Shadow Swans, because it’s more specific. It mentions the main character, her conflict, the setting, and the action.

Here’s a good website on writing a log line:
http://www.archetypewriting.com/artic...

If you have suggestions on how I can improve my one-line synopses, please let me know!!