Archive for July, 2011
Query queries: Should I compare myself to other writers?
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on July 29, 2011
A lot of info I’ve read about writing great queries suggests doing this, because it gives an agent/publisher an idea of where your book might sit in the store. It also shows you’re up to date with the market, and if those others work to the same agent/publisher, then you’re clearly a good match.
But I, like others, struggled with this because I don’t know any other book ideas quite like mine. And it’s potentially risky to say you’re completely unique, because then where in hell is a publicist supposed to place you? You’re either the new voice everyone’s searching for, or a marketing nightmare. Or both.
I tried to do it close-enough, but if the agent couldn’t see the connection between the works, I could come off lost and confused. It didn’t sit well with me.
Then I came across the guidelines from the reader at London agency Conville & Walsh (whom I’d love to work with, btw). He said, “don’t do it – let the agent decide this”.
Phew!
I also came across some fantastic query letter deconstructions by agent Kristen Nelson on her blog pubrants.blogspot.com and at the Guide to Literary Agents blog - and a good deal of them don’t make comparisons. Oh yay!
I’m coming to realise there are not hard and fast rules in this querying business. It’s certainly a load off, and I’m back to my old faithful mantra: “If in doubt, take it out”. I’ve already got some quick positive responses.
You can see the query as it currently stands, here. I’d love some feedback.
Where is the line between YA and adult fiction?
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on July 27, 2011
At some point someone must decide which shelves our books occupy.
I understand this is mostly the publisher/publicist’s task but for the book to get to them we authors must decide how to accurately pitch it and to whom. I’m sure I’m not the only writer for whom this apparently obvious decision is not so obvious.
I’m pitching my novel as YA because, though the MC is over 18 (she’s 21), her development is arrested by childhood events and it’s about her coming-of-age.
An agent once told me it was YA because it doesn’t spend time on “adult themes” – presumably like parenting, marriage, employment, sex, etc. (In fact, they prompted me to rewrite a lot because it started with no adult themes, but ended with adult themes and so confused itself. I believe this was good advice, and the rewrite actually improved a lot of things by a long way.)
However, the process of my MC finding herself is one that a lot of adults go through later in life – and I therefore believe the MS has cross-over potential for an adult audience.
However I’ve read it’s a bad look to claim in a query that your book crosses genres – it makes it seem confused or hard to place.
However, I’ve recently come across several agents who claim to be very interested in cross-over books… Perhaps this is a hangover from popularity of YA books like Harry Potter and Twilight?
However… ? What do you think: Where is the line between YA and Adult fiction? Have other writers had similar quandaries?
How I first got noticed by an agent
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on July 25, 2011
I feel compelled to share my first attempt at approaching an agent because, though successful, it’s so Bean-ish it’s got to make someone feel better.
By the time I handed my query letter to NameWitheld Agent, I actually apologised for stalking her.
I’d gone to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival to make contacts for the novel I thought was finished (error 1 – that’s another blog). I knew NameWitheld was presenting and I’d already researched her agency and knew I wanted to work with her. I went equipped with a personally addressed query letter.
In her seminar NameWitheld disappointingly said her books were closed, and my confidence went into a tail spin. But let’s not give up. I approached her after her seminar with a mundane question, scolded myself for being mundane, clutched the envelope, and slunk away.
What?! That’s it, brain? Seriously?
I turned my lame derriere around, back up the stairs to the seminar room. NameWitheld was on her way down. I smiled and nodded. She smiled and nodded. I kept walking.
AGAIN!? Oh come on! Agents are not gods. Agents are not gods…
I found poor NameWitheld in a bar in Federation Square, by now at a table full of delegates and publishers. Oh, FAB-ul-ous. I loitered at the bar looking sus, took a swig, walked over to NameWitheld and said, “I’m really sorry if it looks like I’m stalking you, but I brought this letter especially and I’ll kick myself if I don’t give it to you. At least you’ll remember me when you open it”.
Thank god NameWitheld is a great sport. I got a letter from the agency within a fortnight, wanting a sample, then another requesting the full m/s.
(In the end, her agency and my book weren’t the best fit, but that’s another story.) Note: This post is in no way recommendation for stalking anyone, especially not busy agents (talk to them the first time)!
Welcome to ClumsyCourage
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on July 25, 2011
I’ve called my blog ClumsyCourage because that seems to be the approach I and lots of others take to this process of getting represented and published as an author.
Sure I’m doing my best at professionalism (for those agents and publishers reading!) but from what I can tell I also seem to try things that others often don’t, push myself harder, and therefore make embarrassing choices and mistakes – and sometimes get away with it.
I’m by no means an expert. I’m not blogging to give advice so much as share my own experiences and hear yours, and hope others get something out of it because I love it when other bloggers do that for me.
Where am I at in the process? Right now, I’m trying to get agency representation for MS1, while researching and drafting MS2. There’s a bio on my website.
Talk soon.
