Roy Miller's Blog, page 310
January 1, 2017
81 Damn Good Reasons to Read The Guide to Literary Agents Blog in 2017 (and a Giveaway Contest)
Recently, the Guide to Literary Agents Blog passed 2,700 posts. Thank you to all my readers—both long-time and new—who continue to make this one of the biggest blogs in publishing. Now with the blog in its tenth year, as well as with the recent release of the 2017 Guide to Literary Agents book, I wanted to pass on 81 damn good reasons to keep reading this site in 2017 as you continue your journey on how to find a literary agent and build your writer platform.
The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent updated edition online at a discount.
Reason #1: A FREE GIVEAWAY CONTEST! I’ll pick three random commenters off this post after three weeks and the winners can have any of my writing books that they want. Take your pick:
The 2017 Guide to Literary Agents : This book is the biggest database of literary agents anywhere—telling you what genres they seek, what books they’ve sold, and how to submit.
The 2017 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market : This book is a big database for writers of young adult, middle-grade, and picture books. It lists literary agents, book publishers, contests, kidlit magazines, and more.
Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript : This book is a great resource for beginners in that it shows you how to make any submission look professional.
Create Your Writer Platform : You want to market yourself and sell more books? Learn the basics about building your author platform and connecting with people online and in person.
Get a Literary Agent : This book is filled with practical step-by-step advice on how to get an agent—with things like query letter breakdowns, submission FAQs, research tips, advice on how to protect yourself, and much more.
Comment below for your chance to win! Just say anything nice about any website, blog, or product that comes from WD. (The contest closes at end of day, Jan. 22, 2017.) By the way, if you share this contest via Twitter and include your handle below for me to check that you did, you get not only one entry in the contest, but three! So spread the word via Twitter. Here is a sample tweet for you to use: Writer’s Digest is giving away free books to celebrate the new year. Enter their new contest here: http://tinyurl.com/j99rrln.
The Other 80 Reasons:
Hear From Those Who Came Before and Succeeded
1. Veronica Roth, author of the New York Times bestseller DIVERGENT
“I checked the GLA Blog every day when I was going through my agent search! It actually saved me from making several really embarrassing and potentially harmful mistakes, and taught me a lot about the whole process. Anyway, I’m grateful for your site and I’m a big fan.” [Veronica’s agent is Joanna Volpe of New Leaf Literary & Media.]
2. Erin Morgenstern, author of the New York Times bestseller THE NIGHT CIRCUS
“I visited the [GLA] blog many times when I was on the agent hunt.” [Erin’s agent is Richard Pine of Inkwell Management.]
3. Sabaa Tahir, author of the New York Times bestseller AN EMBER IN THE ASHES
“I used to read your ‘successful query’ series before I began querying, and have found the advice you’ve given on Writer Unboxed to be quite helpful.” [Sabaa’s agent is Alexandra Machinist of ICM Partners.]
4. Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of GOOD CHINESE WIFE: A LOVE AFFAIR WITH CHINA GONE WRONG
“My memoir was just published by Sourcebooks in late July. I found my agent, Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency, through your Guide to Literary Agents Blog two years ago. Thank you so much for featuring her. It was truly a life-changing post! Not only is Carrie a fabulous agent, but she also quickly became a great friend.”
5. Karen Harrington, author of SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY
“I’ve been a long-time follower of this blog for years. Your WD posts helped me so much over the years.” [Karen’s agent is Julia Kenny of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.]
6. Amy Gail Hansen, author of THE BUTTERFLY SISTER
“I was not so long ago an aspiring author without a literary agent. I read and looked at your blog over the years as a source for info on agents. It served as a source of inspiration and knowledge for sure.” [Amy’s agent is Elisabeth Weed of The Book Group.]
Check Out These Great Upcoming Writers Conferences:
Feb. 11, 2017: Writers Conference of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
Feb. 16–19, 2017: San Francisco Writers Conference (San Francisco, CA)
Feb. 24, 2017: The Alabama Writers Conference (Birmingham, AL)
Feb. 25, 2017: Atlanta Writing Workshop (Atlanta, GA)
March 25, 2017: Michigan Writers Conference (Detroit, MI)
March 25, 2017: Kansas City Writing Workshop (Kansas City, MO)
April 8, 2017: Philadelphia Writing Workshop (Philadelphia, PA)
April 22, 2017: Get Published in Kentucky Conference (Louisville, KY)
April 22, 2017: New Orleans Writers Conference (New Orleans, LA)
May 6, 2017: Seattle Writers Conference (Seattle, WA)
May 19-21, 2017: PennWriters Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 24, 2017: The Writing Workshop of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Aug. 18–20, 2017: Writer’s Digest Conference (New York, NY)
7. April Tucholke, author of BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
“I queried my agent Joanna Volpe [of New Leaf Literary + Media] after reading her interview on the GLA Blog.”
8. Ashley Elston, author of THE RULES FOR DISAPPEARING
“Your blog was super helpful when I was looking for an agent.” [Ashley’s agent is Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency.]
9. M.M. Vaughan, author of THE ABILITY
“I know your GLA Blog very well—I think I read pretty much every article when I was looking to submit my first manuscript (and it obviously helped!).” [Vaughan’s agent is Tina Wexler of ICM Partners.]
10. K.M. Walton, author of CRACKED
“It was Chuck Sambuchino’s informative ‘New Literary Agent Alert’ blog post that prompted me to query Sarah LaPolla [of Bradford Literary], who ended up offering representation.”
11. Tim Federle, author of BETTER NATE THAN EVER
“I read your blog columns on my literary agent hunt.” [Tim’s agent is Brenda Bowen of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.]
12. Diana Renn, author of TOKYO HEIST
“I consulted the Guide to Literary Agents Blog frequently when searching for an agent, and I always reference it when I do workshops and conference talks for aspiring writers! Thanks for the wealth of information and inspiration there!” [Diana’s agent is Kirby Kim of William Morris Endeavor.]
13. Kathy Leonard Czepiel, author of A VIOLET SEASON
“I’m familiar with your blog, and in fact it was very helpful to me in my search for an agent. I’m now with Lisa Bankoff at ICM Partners—she’s terrific!”
14. Valerie Geary, author of CROOKED RIVER
“As for using the GLA Blog, it was practically my Bible for writing query letters. The ‘Successful Queries’ posts? Gold mines. I also used the blog to help make my list of agents to query. I also still really enjoy reading author interviews and the ‘7 Things I’ve Learned So Far’ posts. I am always looking to glean wisdom from those who have come before me! Long story short, GLA is an invaluable resource for writers.”
15. Augusta Scattergood, author of GLORY BE
“I followed your blog when I was trying to find an agent.”
16. Christian Schoon, author ZENN SCARLETT
“During my querying process, I checked in with Chuck’s GLA Blog more or less every day. The tips and agency info he offered, and the insights from both agents and other writers, were invaluable. By helping me ensure my queries were professional and appropriate-to-agency, this blog certainly contributed to the number of requests I received for partials and fulls. And Chuck’s ongoing attention to areas like author marketing and promotion mean I’m still stopping by on a regular basis.” [Christian’s agent is Adam Schear of DeFiore & Company.]
17. Dana Bate, author of THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO LOVE AND SUPPER CLUBS
“I read the GLA Blog regularly when I was trying to score an agent.” [Dana’s agent is Scott Miller of Trident Media Group.]
18. Carrie Clickard, author of VICTRICIA MALICIA: BOOK-LOVING BUCCANEER
“I’m a regular reader of your blog.” [Carrie’s agent is Tricia Toney Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency.]
19. Michele Jakubowski, author of SIDNEY & SYDNEY: THIRD GRADE MIX-UP
“Your blog most definitely helped me on my publishing journey, thank you!”
20. Peggy Eddleman, author of SKY JUMPERS
“I spent months and months and months poring over your Guide to Literary Agents Blog before I started querying! It was an incredible help to me. Thank you!” [Peggy’s agent is Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger.]
21. Matthew Ward, author of THE FANTASTIC FAMILY WHIPPLE
“First of all, you should know I have both your Writer’s Digest books sitting prominently on my bookshelf. Your books and your blog played an important role in how I ended up with my agent and eventually got my first book published.” [Matthew is represented by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.]
22. Dawn Klehr, author of THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
“I think your blog is one of the best. In fact, that is where I first heard about my agent, Jessica Sinsheimer [of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency].”
23. Sara Polsky, author of THIS IS HOW I FIND HER
“I’m familiar with your site, because it was a great resource for me when querying.” [Sara’s agent is Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary + Media.]
24. Emily France, author of SIGNS OF YOU
“I’m very familiar with your blog and your books. In fact, it was your Guide to Literary Agents that I studied like a textbook and that ultimately helped me land my agent. I’ll be forever grateful for your guidance!” [Emily’s agent is Jennifer Unter of the Unter Agency.]
25. Sonja Stone, author of DESERT DARK
“I’ve been a huge fan of your blog for years (and you’re one of 200 people I follow on Twitter).” [Sonja’s agent is Logan Garrison of the Gernert Company.]
26. W.B. Belcher, author of LAY DOWN YOUR WEARY TUNE
“I think we met in passing a few years ago at [a writers conference], and actually, I found my agent on your blog. Soon after you posted a new agent alert for Christopher Rhodes [of the James Fitzgerald Agency], I queried him and one thing led to another. So, a belated thank you for that as well. Truly, I think your advice to look for new agents who are actively building their client list is right on, especially for those writers who fly a little under the radar like myself.”
27. Jennifer Pashley, author of THE SCAMP
“I’ve been following your column for years!” [Jennifer’s agent is Christopher Rhodes of the James Fitzgerald Agency.]
28. Lisl H. Detlefsen, author of TIME FOR CRANBERRIES
“I am very familiar with your name and your work. I am a frequent visitor to your website and found it particularly helpful when I was searching for the right agent (who, I’m happy to say, I signed with about a year and a half ago!).” [Lisl’s agent is Jennifer Mattson of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.]
29. E. Katherine Kottaras, author of HOW TO BE BRAVE
“I relied on your site and your books while I was in the drafting and querying stage. I recommend you to my creative writing students all the time!” [Katherine’s agent is Courtney Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary.]
30. Aline Ohanesian, author of ORHAN’S INHERITANCE
“I’ve been reading your blog for years.” [Aline’s agent is Eleanor Jackson of Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.]
31. John A. Connell, author of RUINS OF WAR: A MASON COLLINS NOVEL
“I’ve been reading your blog articles for a number of years.”
32. Mia Alvar, author of IN THE COUNTRY
“I’m very familiar with your blog and have landed on your extremely helpful posts/insights pretty much every time I had to Google a publishing-related question!” [Mia’s agent is Julie Barer of The Book Group.]
33. Mary Lawrence, author of THE ALCHEMIST’S DAUGHTER: A BIANCA GODDARD MYSTERY
“I subscribe to your blog! I’ve read it for years.”
34. Trina St. Jean, author of BLANK
“I have read the GLA Blog and always enjoyed the wide variety of interesting, useful, and entertaining topics it covers.”
35. Jenny Martin, author TRACKED
“I’ve always loved your GLA columns and I turned to them often when I was in the query trenches.” [Jenny’s agent is Sara Crowe of Harvey Klinger.]
36. Camille Griep, author of LETTERS TO ZELL
“Thanks so much for reaching out. Your timing is a wonderful coincidence—just yesterday I recommended the GLA Blog to a couple of friends who are starting the process of agent hunting. It’s the best resource out there for authors wanting to keep a pulse on the who, where, and how of agenting. I’m thrilled to be able to say thanks directly!” [Camille’s agent is Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.]
37. Fonda Lee, author of ZEROBOXER
“I’ve read your GLA Blog very often.” [Fonda’s agent is Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich.]
38. Shannon Kirk, author of METHOD 15/33
“BTW, Chuck, I have read your columns and they have motivated me in the course of my journey to publication to not give up.” [Shannon’s agent is Kimberley Cameron of Kimberley Cameron & Associates.]
39. J.M. Frey, author of TRIPTYCH
“I just wanted to let you know that because of your wonderful blog, I am now represented by Evan Gregory of the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency.”
40. Aminta Arrington, author of HOME IS A ROOF OVER A PIG: AN AMERICAN FAMILY’S JOURNEY IN CHINA
“I followed the Guide to Literary Agents Blog daily when I was in the querying process.” [Aminta’s agent is Alexis Hurley of Inkwell Management.]
41. Martha Brockenbrough, author of DEVINE INTERVENTION
“I used the Guide to Literary Agents Blog along my writing journey. I love the tips from successful writers and find the agent-quest tales to be fascinating and heartening.” [Martha has two agents: Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency and Erin Niumata of Folio Literary Management.]
42. R.F. Sharp, author of NO REGRETS, NO REMORSE: A SYDNEY SIMONE MYSTERY
“I read your blog regularly and in fact got my agent, Sara D’Emic, after you identified her as a new agent for Talcott Notch Literary.”
43. Gwen Hayes, author of FALLING UNDER
“I found [agent] Jessica Sinsheimer [of Sarah Jane Freymann Literary] through your GLA Blog interview last August. She signed me in September and we sold Falling Under in December. Quite the whirlwind!”
44. Trevor Shane, author of CHILDREN OF PARANOIA
“I’ve been a near daily visitor to your site since 2007 when I started writing Children of Paranoia. Much of what I learned about querying/agents/editors, and the business in general, I learned from your website. You really do provide a great service for all of us frustrated and frightened aspiring writers.”
45. Bethanie Murguia, author of BUGLETTE, THE MESSY SLEEPER
“I followed The Guide to Literary Agents Blog religiously as I prepared to submit work to agents. The blog contains invaluable information about specific agencies, the process of querying agents, and what to expect when working with an agent. I’m now happily represented by my first choice agency and agent.” [Bethanie’s agent is Elena Giovinazzo of Pippin Properties.]
46. Caroline Starr Rose, author of MAY B.
“I found Michelle Humphrey [of Martha Kaplan Literary] on the Guide to Literary Agents Blog and fell in love with her upbeat attitude about the publishing process. (‘Make rejection pie!’ she said.) She responded to my query the next day. Less than two weeks after reading Michelle’s GLA spotlight, I had an agent.”
47. Mike Martinez, author of THE DAEDALUS INCIDENT
“I’m a big fan of your Guide to Literary Agents Blog. It was an invaluable resource when I started querying!” [Mike’s agent is Sara Megibow of KT Literary.]
48. Jess Haines, author of HUNTED BY THE OTHERS
“I found my agent [Ellen Pepus of Signature Literary Agency] through a GLA spotlight.”
49. Dennis Mahoney, author of FELLOW MORTALS
“If you’re stuck in the circle of hell commonly known as the slush pile, this site [the Guide to Literary Agents Blog] is your Virgil: a guide to help you out.” [Dennis’s agent is Jim Rutman of Sterling Lord Literistic.]
50. Sarah Tregay, author of LOVE & LEFTOVERS
“I’ve always had your blog to thank for helping me find my wonderful agent, Danielle Chiotti [of Upstart Crow Literary]—so it’s always had a special place in my heart.”
51. Kristen Callihan, author of FIRELIGHT
“I trolled the GLA Blog often when I was in search on an agent, and found the blog so helpful.” [Callihan’s agent is Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency.]
52. Carol Rifka Brunt, author of TELL THE WOLVES I’M HOME
“I am very well acquainted with the Guide to Literary Agents Blog. I read and reread so many of the interviews and articles during my agent search. It is an amazing resource, and I often recommend it to other writers. It’s really nice to get a chance to tell you how much I’ve appreciated all the work you put in there.” [Carol’s agent is Mollie Glick of Creative Artists Agency.]
53. Amanda Sun, author of INK
“The Guide to Literary Agents Blog is a great resource for writers. The posts were encouraging and informative as I searched for my agent [Melissa Jeglinski of the Knight Agency], and the blog helped me build my knowledge of the publishing world.”
54. Mary Glickman, author of HOME IN THE MORNING
“When I was lost and agentless, the Guide to Literary Agents Blog was like a lifeline pulling me into a place where I could say: It can be done, it can be done. And sometimes, a little bit of hope can go a very long way.” [Mary’s agent is Peter Riva of International Transactions.]
55. Delilah Dawson, author of WICKED AS THEY COME
“My rock star agent is Kate McKean of the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, thanks to GLA. I can’t tell you how much I learned reading your blog posts.”
56. Joe Oestreich, author of HITLESS WONDER: A LIFE IN MINOR LEAGUE ROCK & ROLL
“I found my agent, John Rudolph at Dystel & Goderich, by reading the Guide to Literary Agents Blog.”
57. Mike Mullin, author of ASHFALL
“Your [GLA] blog is one of the primary sources I rely on for day-to-day news and inspiration.” [Mike’s agent is Kate Testerman of KT Literary.]
58. Kerrie Hollihan, author of THEODORE ROOSEVELT FOR KIDS
“As a published author of nonfiction for kids, I felt ready to take the next step in my career and find an agent to represent me on a YA project. After hearing Chuck speak at a local meeting, I checked out his GLA Blog and read up on Jeff Ourvan, an agent with Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency. My query was ready to go, and after some helpful and informative discussions, Jeff signed me late last year.”
59. Barbara Claypole White, author of THE UNFINISHED GARDEN
“If you’re looking for an agent, you must follow Chuck Sambuchino’s blog. I did, which is how I found the agent who landed me a two-book deal.” [Barbara’s agent is Nalini Akolekar of Spencerhill Associates.]
60. Lynne Raimondo, author of DANTE’S WOOD: A MARK ANGELOTTI NOVEL
“Many thanks to the Guide to Literary Agents Blog for helping me find my agent [Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management]. If you’re an unpublished author and you’re not reading this blog daily, you should be!”
61. Tamara Ireland Stone, author of TIME BETWEEN US
“I’m very familiar with the Guide to Literary Agents Blog—I spent a lot of time there when I was stalking agents! What a fantastic resource you offer to writers. Thank you!” [Tamara’s agent is Caryn Wiseman of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.]
62. Jay Kristoff, author of STORMDANCER
“I read the Guide to Literary Agents Blog when I was looking for an agent! It was a huge help to me, so thanks very much!” [Jay’s agent is Josh Adams of Adams Literary.]
63. Kat Zhang, author of WHAT’S LEFT OF ME
“I read the GLA Blog a lot back when I was querying agents.” [Kat’s agent is Emmanuelle Morgen of Stonesong.]
64. Jeanne Ryan, author of NERVE
“I’ve enjoyed your GLA Blog and Twitter for ages.”
65. A.J. Colucci, author of THE COLONY
“I was so glad to receive your [invitation to write a guest column]—I just happen to be a huge fan of your Guide to Literary Agents Blog.” [Colucci’s agent is Adrienne Rosado of the Nancy Yost Literary Agency.]
66. J.A. Souders, author of RENEGADE
“I’ve been reading your GLA Blog since I started writing!” [Souders’ agent is Natalie Lakosil of the Bradford Literary Agency.]
67. Emily Saso, author of THE WEATHER INSIDE
“Chuck is the reason I landed my thoughtful, supportive agent, Linda Epstein of the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. I didn’t just discover Linda through the Guide to Literary Agents; his blog also taught me how to write a quality query that would catch her eye. Thanks, Chuck! Keep up the great work!”
68. Nina Berry, author of OTHERKIN
“I just wanted to add my thanks to you and your wonderful blog for helping me get Tamar [Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency] as my agent. Thanks to you, I now have a two-book deal!”
69. Emily B. Martin, author of WOODWALKER
“I am agented thanks to your new agent spotlights.” [Emily’s agent is Valerie Noble of Donaghy Literary.]
70. Writer Jen Corkill Hunt
“After you posted Kimberley Shumate [of Living Word Literary] as a new agent, I contacted her and was signed. You’re awesome, and I send as many authors to you as I can. Thanks!”
71. Writer Joanna Haugen
“I’ve been reading your blog for a while, and when this post about Bree Ogden [of Red Sofa Literary] came through my RSS feed, I decided to try querying her with my picture book. Within a week I had signed on as a new client. Thank you for featuring new agents—I never would have found Bree without your column!”
72. Writer Danielle Winston
“Your blog has been enormously helpful! Through your new agent alerts, I connected with Marisa Corvisiero [of Corvisiero Literary], who is now representing my children’s picture book.”
73. Writer Traci Borum
“I used the GLA Blog extensively during my agent search. So helpful, mainly because I knew I could trust what I found on your blog. I knew these agents would most likely be legit—and—the personal interviews with them always helped me personalize my query letters to them. I have an agent now: Steven Chudney [of the Chudney Agency].”
74. Writer Richard Thomas
“Chuck’s GLA Blog led me to sign with my agent, Paula Munier [of Talcott Notch Literary].”
75. Writers Jay and Michelle Brock
“I’ve been reading your articles for about four years now…great advice for the writer life! I did, indeed, sign with a lovely agent, Ann Spangler [of Ann Spangler and Company]. Anyway, keep up the great work, Chuck.”
76. Writer Loretta Torossian
“I’ve been following your blog for years.”
77. Literary Agent Debbie Carter of Muse Literary
“I recently signed a writer [Alison Stegert] who came to me via posts from your GLA Blog!”
78. Writer Wendy Greenley
“I learned a lot from reading the GLA Blog. Now I’m represented by Red Fox Literary and received my first picture book contract.”
79. Writer Rodney Wilson
“I wrote a novel. And that’s when I turned to Guide to Literary Agents—your blog—as a guidepost. I made spreadsheets and carefully contacted agents, paying close attention to your ‘New Agent Alert’ posts. And you know what happened? I signed with Kirsten Carleton of Prospect Agency. And she’s great! So thank you for your blog, Chuck. I recommend it to my writer friends now that I’m not using it to compile agent spreadsheets for myself anymore. It’s an invaluable resource for those of us who want to give the whole novelist thing a whirl but don’t know what to do with our bulky tomes.”
80. Writer Mimi Cross
“The spotlight on new literary agents is a great way to find out who’s out there, and what they’re looking for. This site is great introduction to a whole community of literary agents, and it definitely helped me on my search for the right agent! Thank you.”
Comment below for your chance to win! Just say anything nice about any website, blog, or product that comes from WD. (The contest closes at end of day, Jan. 22, 2017.) By the way, if you share this contest via Twitter and include your handle below for me to check that you did, you get not only one entry in the contest, but three! So spread the word via Twitter. Here is a sample tweet for you to use: Writer’s Digest is giving away free books to celebrate the new year. Enter their new contest here: http://tinyurl.com/j99rrln.
The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent updated edition online at a discount.
Other writing/publishing articles and links for you:
Want to build your visibility and sell more books?
Create Your Writer Platform shows you how to
promote yourself and your books through social
media, public speaking, article writing, branding,
and more.
Order the book from WD at a discount.
You might also like:
The post 81 Damn Good Reasons to Read The Guide to Literary Agents Blog in 2017 (and a Giveaway Contest) appeared first on Art of Conversation.
December 31, 2016
LitHub Daily: December 31, 2016
The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day
TODAY: In 1894, essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno dies.
Lenny Letter’s second poetry issue features work by Natalie Diaz, Aziza Barnes, and more. | Lenny Letter
“People often say they feel like they know me, but I know they don’t—they’re just responding to an effect created by artifice.” An interview with Maggie Nelson. | The Creative Independent
“Zama takes up directly the matter of Argentine tradition and the Argentine character: what they are, what they should be.” J.M. Coetzee on Antonio Di Benedetto’s novel. | The New York Review of Books
17 books to look forward to next year, from Han Kang’s second book to be translated into English to Colm Toibin’s retelling of the Greek legend of Clytemnestra. | The New York Times
Matthew Salesses curates 12 great books by immigrant writers “in a year where an anti-immigration candidate rode a virulently xenophobic campaign to the White House.” | VICE
“I am sure that the dead are alive, but I don’t know what they are doing precisely.” An interview with Alice Notely. | Los Angeles Review of Books
Both poetry and democracy derive their power from their ability to create a unified whole out of disparate parts: Reexamining Walt Whitman’s claim that the United States “are essentially the greatest poem.” | The Atlantic
The damage done to the Hong Kong publishing industry is unprecedented: On the aftermath of Xi Jinping’s crackdown on free speech. | The Guardian
Utopia is Europe turned upside down: Reflecting on Thomas More’s Utopia on the 500th anniversary of its publication. | Hyperallergic
Photographs of the “private spaces” of 10 notable people who died in 2016, including Jim Harrison, Elie Wiesel, and Edward Albee. | The New York Times Magazine
Did I understand what it meant to renounce my mother tongue? Yiyun Li on her decision to write in English. | The New Yorker
From Memoirs of a Polar Bear to Ema, the Captive, five great works of literature in translation published this year. | NPR
“But here’s the thing. Maybe it’s time to get uncomfortable and upset. Maybe those feelings can be acted upon.” An interview with Emily Raboteau. | The Rumpus
Publishing can’t keep living off the fumes of the boy wizard: Why publishing needs a blockbuster book in 2017. | The Los Angeles Times
Threshold Editions has offered alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos a $250,000 book deal. | Hollywood Reporter
The post LitHub Daily: December 31, 2016 appeared first on Art of Conversation.
The Very Best of the Best Books of 2016
A couple more notable "best of 2016" lists may still trickle in (USA Today tends to run at the very end of the year) but with a wealth of lists already out -- we have counted 65 in all -- it's time for our final, comprehensive aggregation of the very best…
The post The Very Best of the Best Books of 2016 appeared first on Art of Conversation.
Why I Love Audiobooks: A Print Publisher’s Confession
I’ll confess: I’m an audiophile. I love listening to audiobooks. And for five years, I’ve tried to keep it quiet, as though it were a drinking problem.
Why would someone who has a degree in literature, who runs a distinguished 160-year-old publishing company, secretly ingest so many books on audio? But I’m not the only one who’s turning to audio: recent stats show that while e-books are in a slow but steady decline, audiobooks are popping, with 20% sales growth in 2015, to over $1.7 billion. In 2015 there were 35,574 audiobooks published—9,630 more than in 2014.
And yet almost everyone I know (except, of course, those as addicted to audio as I am) has contempt for listening to a book. Isn’t that what children do, those who can’t read? Why would an educated adult want to have a book read to them? It’s so unsophisticated. It isn’t reading, my friends and family members pronounce with clear disdain. Don’t say you’ve read a book if you’ve listened to it!
And, by the way, they will also say, this isn’t what the author intended: the book is meant to be read by an individual, in her or his own head; when you listen to it, someone else is interpreting the text.
True. I concede that. On the other hand, I would argue that the great tradition of writing can be traced to an oral tradition of storytelling (see Homer). Much the same argument was made when Bob Dylan got the Nobel.
And while it’s true that most of us heard books read to us before we could read ourselves, that doesn’t necessarily infantilize the experience of having a book read to you: some of us can’t read a print book (for any one of dozens of reasons, including a spectrum of disabilities); many of us continue to love the experience of hearing the text.
That great tradition of reading aloud continues in stage performances and bookstores across the country, even if it has slipped away in Cuban cigar factories (a pity). Of course there’s the unmatched experience of having a poet read her own work—or his in the case of Seamus Heaney (and what great fortune that we have his voice and wonderful accent preserved on audiobooks). Audiobooks read by the poets themselves are not simply recitations of the poems printed in the collections, but rather a replica of an actual poetry reading, with the poets introducing each poem and chatting about context and process. And there you certainly get the experience that the author intended.
But it isn’t really reading: reading requires work, listening is lazy, someone else is doing the hard part. And I like to read real books, not digital matter; the look of the words on the page is important. Again, these are valid points, I would concede. And it’s true that I often find myself turning on an audiobook at the end of a long day, when my eyes are too fried to stay open. It’s lazy, I recognize, but I am getting in 20 or 30 more minutes of a book when I would otherwise simply have to close my eyes and sleep, or pry them open with toothpicks to zone out in front of another episode of Transparent.
I never fold laundry or chop onions anymore without a book playing in the background. Cruising the aisles of the grocery store has never been so much fun (in truth, until audiobooks, it was never fun at all). Long walks and—above all—long car or train rides (for those of us who can’t read in any moving vehicle, even if we’re not driving it) have now become precious book time. I’ve literally welcomed traffic jams. They get me to the next chapter. So yes, lazy is one way to look at it. The other is making the most of your time.
I haven’t stopped reading print books (because I’m fortunate enough that I can—I can afford them and access them and make time for them), but I’m reading more than twice as many books, now that I listen to them. In fact, I end up buying print copies of most of the books I listen to if I love them, though I don’t know yet whether, when it comes time to reread them, I’ll want to pull down the print copy or pull up the digital audio. Maybe both.
Helene Atwan is the director of Boston-based Beacon Press, which has just launched Beacon Press Audio.
A version of this article appeared in the 11/21/2016 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: But Is It Reading?
The post Why I Love Audiobooks: A Print Publisher’s Confession appeared first on Art of Conversation.
Own up
My first novel was a flop. Intentions were good: I’d never seen a girl like me in a YA paranormal, star-crossed romance like the ones I loved to read, so I wrote one. (Well, she was half-black, but still.) Unfortunately, that particular trend was on its way out the door, so despite the non-whiteness of my main character – which I thought made the story stand out – no editors were interested.
Fine. On to the next thing: a contemporary YA novel about a black girl with bipolar disorder. I don’t have bipolar disorder myself, but I studied psychology as an undergrad, and I’ve always been bothered by mental illness stigma – especially in the black community. So I researched and then I wrote a thing. My agent submitted the finished product to editors, and though a handful showed some interest, none would bite.
As it turns out, that’s a very good thing.
There’s been a lot of hullabaloo recently about who’s allowed to tell what stories. The conversation about the lack of diversity in kidlit has reached a fever pitch (Shout out to weneeddiversebooks.org. You da real MVP!). But as more authors attempt to write “diverse” characters – including racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA, gender diverse, people with disabilities, and those who are neurodivergent like my girl with bipolar disorder – questions of ownership and opportunity have come into play.
Enter #ownvoices, a hashtag created by YA author Corinne Duyvis. Originally used to promote existing diverse books by diverse authors, #ownvoices has expanded into a movement aimed at increasing the number of diverse authors on publishing rosters.
And this is valid. Think about it: If the majority of published books about girls were written by men, women would (justifiably) be ready to burn the world down.
How would it look if most “diverse” books were written by authors who are white, straight, cisgendered, non-disabled, and neurotypical? (Spoiler alert: Not good.)
Authors might literally “own” the books we write, but we don’t always “own” the experiences on which those books are based. At a time when phrases like “institutional racism,” “privilege,” and “cultural appropriation” are on the tips of so many tongues, people from marginalized groups have become fiercely protective of the way they’re portrayed in various forms of media, books included. Say, for instance, a person of color feels misrepresented in a book by a white author. Thanks to the internet, said author can be taken to task in a very public way nowadays.
Many take issue with this. It’s FICTION, they say. It’s not REAL! We should have creative license to write whatever we please!
But isn’t it true that fiction is only successful if a reader is able to “suspend disbelief?” Even when every facet of a story is imaginary, there must be an element of believability.
As such, fiction informs. Especially when it comes to narratives rooted in reality. Fiction can be a vehicle to empathy…but if a marginalized individual’s existence on the page doesn’t reflect the existence of people like them actually moving through the world, that empathy will be flawed.
Hence the need for authenticity.
And what of “diverse” children looking for themselves – and consequently, what the world thinks of them – in what they read? Growing up, the only black people I saw in books were slaves, stupid, or both. Could I be a detective like Encyclopedia Brown or a secret agent like Harriet the Spy? Or would I only ever be viewed as an inferior?
Representation matters. And who better to write an authentic diverse character than a person living that particular diverse experience? #Ownvoices makes perfect sense.
But what does that mean on a larger scale? Should people “stay in their lanes”? Write only what they know?
Should people “stay in their lanes”? Write only what they know?
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I personally don’t think so. Matter of fact: As a person who prefers to write characters who differ from me, it’d be pretty hypocritical of me to admonish others who want to write beyond the confines of their own experiences. But – and this is a big but – I do think there’s a right and wrong way to go about it.
The first thing to be considered is motive. While I can’t tell you the “right” motive for writing outside your experience, I can list a couple I think are…iffy.
First: “Helping (insert marginalized group) be more visible.” This might seem like an honorable intention, but it’s faulty in a number of ways. For one, it presupposes “holes” in the market that don’t actually exist. #Ownvoices stories are out there in every genre. The best way to help with visibility is to find them, buy them, read them, and promote them to others.
Additionally, this motive tends to backfire as most of the authors who think they’re “helping” seem to have it in mind that they’ll garner applause/appreciation for their efforts. Just to be clear: There is no Good-Try trophy for writing diversely. If people are unhappy with the way they’ve been presented, they will make a fuss about it – as is their right. To be frank, white/straight/cisgendered/non-disabled/neurotypical people aren’t doing us diverse authors any favors by occupying spaces on publishing lists that we’re fully capable of filling ourselves. Write what you want, but don’t expect unconditional acceptance of what you’ve written, let alone gratitude or a pat on the back.
Another iffy motive: chasing a perceived trend. “Well, ‘diverse’ stories are selling right now…” isn’t the best reason for writing one. As of late, this particular motive has led to disappointment because some agents and editors won’t even consider a work with a marginalized protagonist if the author isn’t #ownvoices. “Well that’s censorship and it’s not fair!” has been the rallying cry of those who feel slighted. But white/straight/cisgendered/non-disabled/neurotypical people have been paid for telling their stories for as long as paying-people-to-tell-stories has been a thing. Shouldn’t #ownvoices creators be afforded the same opportunity?
“Okay, Nic,” you might be thinking. “You’ve made some good points. But this character is still presenting as (insert diverse characteristic you don’t possess)! Do I ignore that?”
No. But do your homework.
We live in a time where it no longer flies to “imagine” yourself in another person’s shoes without first asking them how the shoes fit their feet. My debut features a 17-year-old African American male who gets racially profiled by a police officer and begins a journal of letters to the deceased Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a means of processing his experiences moving through the world as a young Black man. While it is #ownvoices with regard to race, it’s Other with regard to gender. So, I had some work to do (and it wasn’t always fun, let me tell ya).
If you want to write a diverse character, do some research beforehand. Set up interviews and ask questions – most marginalized people are more than willing to talk if you’re willing to listen. Read works by people of the type of diversity you’re seeking to write. If you can, hang out in the spaces people of that particular marginalization inhabit.
Learn as much as you can, and then after the project is drafted, submit it to people – known as “sensitivity readers” – who share your character’s diversity. Not only do these readers check for things like harmful stereotypes and turns of phrase that might be misinterpreted, they can also offer little nuggets that make the character – and the character’s journey – more authentic (yay for good rep!). Listen to these readers. Take their comments and critiques to heart. Pay them in some way. After all, you stand to profit from a story rooted in experiences that belong to them.
Do this when writing diverse protagonists as well as supporting cast members (who are just as important). Let’s be honest: If you take issue with the Other you’re writing wanting a say in how you write them, you probably shouldn’t be writing them at all.
Lastly, once all is said and done, put on your big kid undies and brace for impact. No matter how thorough you’ve been or how great a job your sensitivity reader(s) says you’ve done, someone will take issue with what you’ve written, often solely because you, person-who-has-not-lived-the-experience-of-your-character, had the audacity to write it. Be OK with this. If you’re allowed to write whatever you want, others are allowed to say what they want about it.
Which brings me back to my girl diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I recently handed that manuscript to a couple of sensitivity-readers – something I didn’t do before it went on submission (gasp!). They really ripped the manuscript a new one. The representation was good in a few places, but the number of unchecked stereotypes on the page was shameful.
Thing is, this character won’t let me go. I can’t not tell her story. So with the assistance of these incredible readers, I’m fixing it. Slowly, humbly, and often painfully, but fixing it nonetheless.
It’s the least I can do, don’t you think?
Nic Stone was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, GA, and the only thing she loves more than an adventure is a good story about one. Her debut YA novel, Dear Martin, is out Oct. 17, 2017 from Crown Books for Young People, and you can find her on Twitter and Instagram at @getnicced or on her website: nicstone.info.
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Registration for BookExpo Opens
Just before many publishers broke for the holidays, ReedPop announced that registration has opened for BookExpo 2017, taking place May 31–June 2 at the Javits Center in New York City. The organizer has made a number of key changes to BookExpo to create what it calls “a focused professional environment to [help visitors] discover emerging authors and the next blockbuster titles, engage with the world’s most influential publishers, and learn from industry leaders and peers.” Among the changes that are being implemented are the following:
● Wednesday will be mainly dedicated to conference and networking, with the remainders area of the show floor opening at 1 p.m.
● The entire show floor will be open Thursday and Friday.
● The ABA Celebration Luncheon moves to Wednesday.
● The Global Market Forum will be Wednesday and is expanding to include sessions on rights, translation, children’s and YA books, and case studies to grow business internationally.
● Self-publishing will be highlighted at the new Author Market, where education sessions, author exhibits, service providers, and the New Title Showcase come together.
For more information or to register for BookExpo go to bookexpoamerica.com/register.
Immediately following BookExpo at the Javits will be BookCon, set for June 3–4. Authors already committed to appear include Dan Brown, Cassandra Clare, Shannon Hale, Jenny Han, Ryan Higa, Marissa Meyer, Danielle Paige, and others.
A version of this article appeared in the 01/02/2017 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Registration for BookExpo Opens
The post Registration for BookExpo Opens appeared first on Art of Conversation.
Agent Pet Peeves: Review These 34 Submission No-No’s Before You Query
(This is Part 3 of a three-part series to kickstart your awesome 2017. Part 1 is a list of tips concerning what to do before you submit, and part 2 is a roundup of query letter advice.)
Ah, agent pet peeves. They’re like land mines — dangerous, and out there hiding from you. Step on one, and your submission may go kaboom (in a bad way).
It’s with that in mind I searched online for agents spelling out their dislikes, pet peeves, and personal vexations. To help you, I’ve cobbled together some amazing advice straight from literary agents in the publishing trenches — reading through years of hashtags of agent info on Twitter so you don’t have to. I’ve also expounded on their points here and there.
Below find 34 notes on what to avoid as you progress forward into the valley of queries and submissions.
Good luck submitting in 2017!
The more typos & mistakes in your ms, the longer it takes your agent to read/edit it. Do a good proofread before sending, please! #PubTip
— Jessica Alvarez (@AgentJessicaA) August 15, 2016
Typos and other similar errors in your query and manuscript are a sign of a writer who isn’t giving his work enough attention and time. Such mistakes are not a sign of professionalism, and that is what an agent seeks — professionalism.
Whiny agent request: please, please don't send your sample chapters as 8 million different Word attachments. One doc! One doc! Waa #pubtip
— Anna Sproul-Latimer (@annasproul) December 9, 2015
A query letter to an agent or publisher without a salutation will get you nowhere. Always address to a specific person. Personalize.#pubtip
— Joelle Delbourgo (@JLDelbourgo) February 6, 2015
Each query should be tailored and individualized for a specific agent. But besides that, know that you’re not querying an agency; you’re querying a specific agent at that agency. So you can’t just say “Dear Andrea Brown Literary Agency agents.”
Dissing books in your pitch isn't only rude, you may be talking to an agent/editor/fan of that book. Be positive w/ comps! #querytip #pubtip
— Rachel Brooks (@RachMBrooks) February 15, 2015
As always, avoid negativity in a query letter — in all forms.
#pubtip Don't respond to initial request w/ pitches for 5 other books you're working on. Wait until agent asks about other work.
— Kim Lionetti (@BookEndsKim) February 17, 2015
The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent updated edition online at a discount.
No agent I know accepts attachments in unsolicited queries for fear of viruses, hacking, etc. #pubtip
— Eric Ruben (@TheEricRuben) March 3, 2015
Well, some agents out there will request initial unsolicited work be sent to them in Word or PDF attachments — such as for nonfiction book proposals. It’s just exceedingly rare. Almost all agents want text pasted into the e-mail body when sent to them. This includes the query letter text, the synopsis text, and the sample pages text. (I know that pasting your sample pages text into an e-mail can mess up formatting sometimes. See what you can do about cleaning it up, but in the end, agents understand if there are some wonky formatting issues. They seem to put up with such issues in an effort to protect themselves against viruses.) If an agent ever does not make it clear whether they want your initial submission as an attachment vs pasted material into a query, always go with the latter to be safe. Once an agent responds to your initial inquiry and requests more work, the material is now solicited, and you can use Word and PDF attachments freely without worry.
#Protip: Maybe don't try to tear down the agent you're querying in an attempt to make yourself more appealing. O.O #pubtip
— Jennifer Azantian (@jenazantian) March 17, 2015
"Dear Agent: I read on your blog that X doesn't work 99.9% of the time, but I believe my novel might be the exception." #doubtit #pubtip
— Angie Hodapp (@angiehodapp) June 30, 2015
If an agent ever speaks plainly, such as saying what genres they like and don’t, or what submission guidelines they request or don’t, then by all means listen. Read the writer’s quote in Angie’s tweet again. An agent translates it to mean: “I know you explained things clearly, Ms. Agent, but frankly, I’m not sure you’re smart enough to know what you want or how you want it…” It’s insulting. I have never heard of this approach working.
#pubtip: When talking to an agent, don't make digs at other agents, even if it's subtle and even if you think you're flattering us. (1/2)
— Molly Jaffa (@molly_jaffa) May 1, 2014
Writer Dave Barry said “Someone who is nice to you but mean to the waiter is not a nice person.” An agent is probably thinking something like this when a writer bestows compliments on them, but then is unkind when speaking of others in the industry. Remember that a lot of bitterness shows itself in the queries that agents receive, so they are finely turned to it, and get turned off at any sighting.
Unless you have an offer on the table, don't specify to an agent when you'd like to hear from him/her. #wrongfoot #pubtip
— Lucienne Diver (@LucienneDiver) July 18, 2014
Writers who send unsolicited submissions are in no position to make demands of any kind or size. Not only that, but try to avoid any language that makes you sound impatient or that you’re annoyed in general with the publishing submission process. Even a line like “Thank you for your prompt response” comes off passive aggressive, like you’re saying Please respond quickly. You won’t keep me waiting like the last agent, WILL YOU??
#pubtip Be Nice! Negative query letters and responses won't win over an Agent. When in doubt think Sugar vs. Vinegar … (Sugar wins!)
— Nancy Yost Literary (@nyliterary) March 8, 2012
It’s unwise to burn bridges. If an agent rejects your book, do not send any kind of negative response to their decision, even something like “I wish you would reconsider. Please? I don’t think you gave my work a long enough look.” If you respond in any sort of negative or unprofessional fashion, then you won’t be welcome to submit any of your future projects to that agent or even their entire agency. This does not help your chances.
Just got query for animated film idea. You do know what "literary" in "literary agent" means, right? #pubtip
— Emily S. Keyes (@esc_key) July 19, 2013
Literary agents represent completed books. They do not represent film/TV, or stage plays, or poetry, or magazine articles. 98% of them do not represent short story collections. 100% of them do not represent individual short stories.
There are other, different agents out there who represent film scripts, TV projects, animated projects, stage plays, life rights, and book-to-film deals. Most or all of these agents do not represent books, too. So only send books to literary agents.
It must be said. Perhaps the easiest way to piss an agent off is to not be up front about having another agent. #pubtip
— Gordon Warnock (@gordonwarnock) September 13, 2013
Agents hate this. If you have an agent, it’s advised that you completely sever all ties with her before seeking new representation. Otherwise, it seems terribly duplicitous. Put yourself in Gordon’s shoes. How does he know you won’t be looking for a new agent after he signs you?
When you sign an author-agent contract, there is language in the contract explaining how you can sever ties with the agency. Typically, there is a line that says something like “If you wish, you can get out of the agency agreement by requesting the relationship be terminated, and then enduring a waiting period, such as 60-90 days.” So the correct way to leave an agent is to write them a formal email that clearly ends your partnership. Something you’ll want to have when you leave is a list of all the submissions an agent made with your work in the past — because your new agent will want to know where your books were submitted to. You might not be able to get this, but at least try.
Check Out These Great Upcoming Writers’ Conferences:
Feb. 11, 2017: Writers Conference of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
Feb. 16–19, 2017: San Francisco Writers Conference (San Francisco, CA)
Feb. 24, 2017: The Alabama Writers Conference (Birmingham, AL)
Feb. 25, 2017: Atlanta Writing Workshop (Atlanta, GA)
March 25, 2017: Michigan Writers Conference (Detroit, MI)
March 25, 2017: Kansas City Writing Workshop (Kansas City, MO)
April 8, 2017: Philadelphia Writing Workshop (Philadelphia, PA)
April 22, 2017: Get Published in Kentucky Conference (Louisville, KY)
April 22, 2017: New Orleans Writers Conference (New Orleans, LA)
May 6, 2017: Seattle Writers Conference (Seattle, WA)
May 19-21, 2017: PennWriters Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 24, 2017: The Writing Workshop of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Aug. 18–20, 2017: Writer’s Digest Conference (New York, NY)
Before you query an agent, please make sure you're not writing in a teeny-tiny 4 pt. font that I can barely see. #pubtip
— Jennie Goloboy (@JennieGoloboy) January 21, 2014
Twitter, I love you, but please don't tell me about your books via twitter UNLESS there's a pitch contest going on. Queries only! #pubtip
— Laura Zats (@LZats) August 27, 2016
Unless it is the day of a specific pitch party (such as #PitMad or #DVpit), you should follow submission guidelines and send your work via e-mail.
Authors: A query is your email to me introducing your book. It is not a notification you shared a file with me on dropbox. #querytip #pubtip
— Moël Fera-la-la-la (@inthesestones) September 21, 2016
You can always hyperlink text in your query letter in case an agent wants to see more material. For example, you may say: “My articles have been published by several newspapers and I have appeared in more than a dozen TV interviews.” In this situation, instead of explaining all the details about your past, such as which newspapers you’re talking about, you hyperlink the mention to a website (usually your own) that has all details laid out. Agents understand your hyperlinked text means I don’t want to get into all the details, but if you want to know the specifics of all this, click the link and everything is laid out nicely.
That said, when people share links without much query letter text, that is a lazy approach and not advised. A common example is simply saying, “I self-published a book — check it out, yo. [hyperlink]. Let’s get rich together $$$.”
"Dear Agent, I am submitting to you because your name came up in an agent search." Wow, so flattered. (Don't do this.) #querytip
— Arielle Datz (@ArielleMarla) November 4, 2016
One thing that I recommend you do is try to explain to the agent why you have picked them out of all the agents in the world to contact. You can do this with a line such as “I read on Twitter that you’re looking for an Indiana-Jones-type adventure for teen girls. That’s why I’m submitting my novel, [Title].” But at the same time, trying to establish a connection with an overly generic line can actually work against you. Avoid lines such as “Because you represent romance, here is a romance,” or “Because you’re an agent who is open to queries, here is my query.” If you can’t come up with a good/unique connection line, just don’t include a connection line.
#pubtip #querytip #lifetip save terms of endearment for those to whom you are actually endeared. I'm not "darling" if we've never met.
— Victoria Marini (@LitAgentMarini) April 26, 2016
Be professional. Don’t use words like honey, darling, sweetie, or babe.
#QueryTip: Don't email agents asking for query instructions or re whether they accept x genre. That research is your job.
— Shannon E. Powers (@S_E_Powers) November 30, 2016
Agreed. Also, do not ask them for referrals to other agents who may be interested in your genre. Again, research is your job. In the event that you cannot find basic agency submission online — for example, you find an agency online but nowhere do they reveal what genres they represent — that is a pretty clear sign that they do not want cold submissions in the first place. I would just not query them, rather than contact them to ask for their list of preferred genres.
The over-enthusiastic use of the exclamation point can spoil a query #querytip
— Jacquie Flynn (@BookJacquie) November 22, 2016
This is true! Exclamation points are almost never a good idea! And just because you’re writing a fun adventurous children’s book doesn’t mean this guideline goes away!!
When a query begins with "Dear Agent," it makes me sad. I have a name, and this is my time you're asking for. #querytip
— Vanessa K. Eccles ☕️ (@VanessaKEccles) November 15, 2016
This is one of the first submission etiquette things you learn. Personalize your salutations and your submissions.
I know this has been said millions of times, but starting out your query with a "What would you do if" question is not great. #QueryTip pic.twitter.com/0y77X9SGHn
— Agent V (@VeroniKaboom) October 1, 2016
Starting or ending your query pitch with a rhetorical question is an overused and ineffective technique. Avoid it.
Another #querytip this week: your historical fiction query should say in what era of history it is set! No prizes for obfuscation here.
— Abby Saul (@BookySaul) October 7, 2016
Historical fiction is a massively broad genre. Sometimes you have stories set in the times of the Bible. Sometimes you have stories set in the Roaring ’20s. So yes, listen to Abby here and don’t hide your era. Be upfront about it.
More info: Up until Jan. 1, 2017, there is a free contest going for writers of historical fiction.
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#querytip before you decide to query multiple agents at the same agency, remember that we all sit near each other and will know immediately.
— Alec Shane (@alecdshane) October 14, 2016
Standard protocol is to only query one agent at an agency. A no from that agent is a no from the entire agency for that particular project. What Alec is saying here is that if you choose to break this rule and query multiple reps from one agency, they will likely find out and not be impressed with your decision.
When you send me a query featuring a disabled character, please don't refer to them as handicapped. #querytip
— Penny Moore (@precociouspenny) October 15, 2016
Talking about political correctness can be difficult, but this is important, so let’s try and gently touch on the subject here.
Writers should be aware that agents tend to be quite educated and also politically correct. (Not all, but certainly most.) Plenty of them are vocal proponents of diverse books and #ownvoices. So keep in mind that your word choices matter. For example, if you have a line in your pitch such as “Then Joey makes a new Asian friend at school,” an agent may think Wait. “Asian friend”? Is this new friend Korean or Chinese or Japanese or another nationality? Does this writer not understand that these are different countries with different peoples and cultures? Words or phrases that you may have grown up around/using — from “mulatto” to “handicapped” to “retarded” to “hobo” — are now not politically correct, and thus not advised for being used in a query.
This gets into a tricky area. Because what if your main character is not politically correct, and thus uses terms like “handicapped” or an expressions such as “That’s so gay.” In this instance, I suppose my advice is to be careful and perhaps avoid any such language in the query letter text. In the novel text itself, do what you like and be true to your characters. Readers understand that characters are flawed, and don’t always say or do the politically correct thing. (Watch any Quentin Tarantino movie and this becomes obvious.) But in your query, the text could reflect back more on you the writer rather than the perspective of your character. So be a bit cautious here, and educate yourself.
More info: Here is a small list of agents looking for diverse books as of 2017.
Don't open a query with, "you've never seen anything like this before!" #querytip #pubtip
— Sara Megibow (@SaraMegibow) October 25, 2016
Any self-praise for your own work is almost never advised. It comes off as egotistical. If your short story won an award, by all means mention that. But don’t call your own work “enthralling … brilliant … one of a kind,” etc.
Personally, I'm not a fan of queries written from the perspective of the main character. Not my thing. #querytip
— Leon Husock (@LeonHusock) November 1, 2016
Resist the urge to try gimmicks. If pitching in person, don’t sing your pitch. If pitching over email, don’t write the query from the perspective of the main character.
Note: I just got done watching a football documentary that focused on a particular game in history. In this game, one of the teams attempted an unusual trick play that failed. The winning coach later commented on the maneuver, saying that trick plays were/are usually a sign of weakness — a signal that a team cannot win by playing straight up, so they have to revert to gimmicks and trickery. Keep that in mind with query writing. If you have an interesting story and you write well, you don’t need gimmicks or unusual approaches.
#querytip If you find yourself thinking, "I'll use this super FUN font!"…resist the impulse.
— Lucy Carson (@LucyACarson) August 11, 2016
Standard manuscript fonts to use include Cambria, Times New Roman, or Arial. Almost always, these are your default fonts when you open Microsoft Word. I would avoid others.
Don't tell me that you JUST finished your novel. This makes me concerned you haven't properly workshopped it before querying. #querytip
— Hannah Fergesen (@HannahFergesen) August 17, 2016
In my opinion, the number one impediment to a writer composing something great is impatience. They just get tired of working on something and decide to send it out, pretending that it is still a work in progress.
Be patient. Get it edited by others. Go through drafts. Resist the urge to finish something and send it out soon after.
New #querytip. Do NOT center the text in your query. Makes it very difficult to read! Especially in outlook.
— Shira Hoffman (@ShiraSHoffman) August 30, 2016
Don’t do anything weird or strange concerning font and formatting.
When you mention in your query that your book is copyrighted, it tells me you think I'd try to steal it. Insta-rejection. #querytip
— Leon Husock (@LeonHusock) September 20, 2016
1) Legitimate agents and editors do not steal work. 2) All work is copyrighted the moment you write it down.
Getting a formal copyright from DC just gives you more protection; but you already had protection in the first place. So once you understand those two points, you should realize that mentioning how the work is copyrighted is both amateurish and also a bit insulting, because, like Leon says, it implies that the agent is a possible thief.
"Recently completed" is a red flag–all it tells me is that you haven't spent enough time revising before sending out your project #querytip
— Annie Hwang (@AnnieAHwang) September 24, 2016
don't send queries in comic sans. life is hard enough as it is. #querytip
— Ashley Collom (@Ashohley) June 22, 2016
You don’t need to tell me your story is interesting or original. I’ll hopefully see that for myself when I req pages. #querytip
— Saritza Hernandez (@epubagent) July 26, 2016
Like Saritza says, let the writing speak for itself.
Check Out These Great Upcoming Writers’ Conferences:
Feb. 11, 2017: Writers Conference of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
Feb. 16–19, 2017: San Francisco Writers Conference (San Francisco, CA)
Feb. 24, 2017: The Alabama Writers Conference (Birmingham, AL)
Feb. 25, 2017: Atlanta Writing Workshop (Atlanta, GA)
March 25, 2017: Michigan Writers Conference (Detroit, MI)
March 25, 2017: Kansas City Writing Workshop (Kansas City, MO)
April 8, 2017: Philadelphia Writing Workshop (Philadelphia, PA)
April 22, 2017: Get Published in Kentucky Conference (Louisville, KY)
April 22, 2017: New Orleans Writers Conference (New Orleans, LA)
May 6, 2017: Seattle Writers Conference (Seattle, WA)
May 19-21, 2017: PennWriters Conference (Pittsburgh, PA)
June 24, 2017: The Writing Workshop of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Aug. 18–20, 2017: Writer’s Digest Conference (New York, NY)
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The post Agent Pet Peeves: Review These 34 Submission No-No’s Before You Query appeared first on Art of Conversation.
The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: The Final 5
See our picks for 15 to 6 over here.
5. Poetry is Relevant, Again
By now, it is both common knowledge and a no-longer funny joke that 2016 was an exceptionally bad year. To cope with its continued indignities, its cruelty, people turned to poetry. After the election, poets.org saw its biggest surge of shares in four years, with “Still I Rise,” “Let America Be America Again,” and “September 1, 1939” remaining the most popular poems on the site. As the editor of Poetry Magazine Don Share explained, “When people are under pressure of any kind, they turn to poetry. That’s why poetry is with us at the most important occasions in our lives: weddings, funerals, anniversaries. When Kobe Bryant retired, the first thing he seems to have done was write a poem.” Many poets used new technologies to adapt the form—for instance, Melissa Broder’s Twitter and Rupi Kaur’s Instagram. Among other young poets, they have been credited with making the form “cool” again. And in the most famous example of pop-culture/poetry crossover, Beyoncé collaborated with poet Warsan Shire’s when writing her visual album Lemonade.
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4. After the Election, People Turn to Books
The result of November 8th’s presidential election also led to significant changes on the Bestsellers list: Trump’s The Art of the Deal jumped from No. 1,107 to No. 24 on Amazon, while Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance’s memoir of his white-working class family in rural Ohio, soared to No. 2. The third edition of Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit’s George W. Bush-era manifesto against the war in Iraq, sold out after the election, while digital downloads—which Solnit offered up for free—topped 33,000. Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 political satire It Can’t Happen Here also sold out—on both Amazon and Books-a-Million (as did Richard “I also predicted Trump” Rorty’s Achieving America). A week after the election, new books by Megyn Kelly and Bernie Sanders became hot sellers. And the New York Times reported on “a coming deluge of postelection analysis, as agents, editors and publishers race to acquire books that explain the forces that propelled Mr. Trump to victory . . . ” Some of which are awful.
Several prominent literary voices also emerged post-election, in elegies and calls to action, with pieces from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Zadie Smith, Teju Cole, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Roxane Gay, Marilynne Robinson, and Junot Diaz, among many, many others. In addition to her New Yorker essay, Ngoi Adichie also appeared on BBC Newsnight alongside American Spectator EIC R Emmett Tyrrell, with whom she clashed after he alleged president-elect Donald Trump had not been racist on the campaign trail. “I am sorry, but if you are a white man, you don’t get to define what racism is. You really don’t,” she told him, with an eyeroll heard round the world.
3. The Boy Who Lived . . . Forever
J.K. Rowling, as it turns out, is not done with Harry Potter. Between the Cursed Child play and the Fantastic Beasts series (which, even the actors were shocked to learn would continue for another five movies), it seems that there is much left to milk out of the franchise—at least two bestselling scripts, to start. Original content (and, quite frankly, stunning personality quizzes—anyone who claims to not want to know their patronus is lying) continue to be released on Pottermore, including a questionable depiction of Native American magic. And although Rowling has, yet again, declared herself to be done with the boy wizard, she has also announced that she is working on two new novels—one under her own name and one under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The main takeaway from all of this, however, is the certain fact that Harambe is not a patronus.
2. The Unmasking of Elena Ferrante
On October 2nd, the New York Review of Books—in conjunction with Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore and German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung—published a months-long investigation by journalist Claudio Gatti in which he purported to reveal the true identity of the infamously anonymous Elena Ferrante. Gatti, aided by public real estate and financial records, connected the Ferrante penname to Rome-based translator Anita Raja, wife of Italian novelist Domenico Starnone. The report was greeted by an immediate uproar, with criticism of Gatti taking several different forms: Malcolm Harris questioned the supposed journalistic imperative animating Gatti’s work; Dayna Tortorici mourned the loss of the “solitary psychic space” of Ferrante’s novels, another step in the devolution of our authorial expectations (“What is it we want from our authors? Too much, and of the wrong sort.”); Alexandra Schwartz wrote of the importance of the radical mystery at the heart of Ferrante’s novels as an artistic choice; while Charlotte Shane and Jeanette Winterson considered sexist malice to be the driving force behind Gatti’s report. The Times Literary Supplement even went so far as to why they wouldn’t have published the investigation, had they been given the chance. Gatti, despite the backlash, refused to back down: “[M]y feeling is they violated the privacy, because you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You are fueling the frenzy, the curiosity about her personal life, by the pieces of information that you are giving, and then you complain when somebody finds the real information. Explain to me how that works?” he told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview in which he purported to have “absolutely no regrets” about his choice.
1. Bob Dylan Wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
Some have speculated that the World Series victory of perennial losers the Chicago Cubs, coupled with Bob Dylan being awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, tore a great hole in the fabric of space and time, leading us into this dark alternate history in which we now find ourselves. And while that is likely not the case, Dylan’s Nobel Prize victory did feel a bit like a massive, worldwide prank, as media outlets woke to the news on October 13, scrambling up hot takes by the thousands, puzzling over the age-old question of lyrics vs. poetry, wondering if Dylan would show up to the ceremony (he didn’t), decrying the Nobel committee’s apparent pandering to mass culture… Regardless of how you feel about Dylan, this was the rare kind of “literary” news that made its way to front pages everywhere, and while it still does feel a bit silly, perhaps it fits perfectly into 2016 and all its unlikely scenarios.
The post The Biggest Literary Stories of the Year: The Final 5 appeared first on Art of Conversation.
December 30, 2016
Briefs – Publishers Lunch
The Costco Pennie’s Pick for January is Amy Stewart‘s Girl Waits With Gun (HMH) while the company’s book club pick for the month is The Tumbling Turner Sisters (Gallery) by Juliette Fay.
Updating our very best of the best books of 2016 report, Jacqueline Woodson is represented now by Kathleen Nishimoto at William Morris Endeavor. Also, USA Today weighed in with their top 10 books of the year (now added to our vote count), also naming Colson Whitehead as their author of the year.
Announcements
The Ward & Balkin Agency is being acquired by Roam Agency as of July 1, 2017, when Rick Balkin retires after more than 40 years as an agent.
All Romance eBooks announced on their website that they will shut down at the end of the year, after having “accepted that there is not a viable path forward.” The posted message says they incurred a loss for the first year since opening in 2006 and “the financial forecast for 2017 isn’t hopeful.”
UK literary agent David Miller of Rogers, Coleridge and White suffered a heart attack on Christmas Eve and is in intensive care, still in “very serious” condition, Gil Coleridge tells the Bookseller.
Obituaries
Co-owner of Blue Marble Children’s Bookstore in Fort Thomas, KY Tina Moore died Wednesday. She had served on the board of the Association of Children’s Booksellers and was a founding member of the organization.
Actress, screenwriter, and author Carrie Fisher, 60, died December 27 from complications of a heart attack suffered four days earlier on a flight from London to Los Angeles. Fisher was most recently promoting her new book, The Princess Diarist, published in November by Blue Rider Press, and also published two other books of nonfiction, Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic, as well as four novels.
Richard Adams, 96, author of the classic children’s novel Watership Down (1972) and many other books, died December 24. An animated adaptation of the book is set to air on the BBC in 2017.
The post Briefs – Publishers Lunch appeared first on Art of Conversation.
Getting It Right
When I began writing news stories about Mexican immigration a long time ago, I quickly learned that every word is a potential land mine.
In Memphis, where I live, some advocates for immigrants harshly criticized me for using the phrase illegal immigrant (which was standard at the time) rather than undocumented. The advocates quoted Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who said, “No human being is illegal.” The AP Stylebook changed, and I eventually switched to the term unauthorized.
Meanwhile, opponents of illegal immigration blasted me for telling the stories of unauthorized immigrants. Some said I was glorifying lawbreakers. One reader said I should call federal agents and get the immigrants deported. “Whose side are you on?” he asked.
I remembered these negative reactions as I sought permission to work as an embedded reporter at Kingsbury High School in Memphis, which enrolls hundreds of children of immigrants. A couple of young immigration advocates advised the principal not to let me in.
I understood their concerns. I was a white outsider; the Mexican-American experiences I was writing about were not my own. Unauthorized-immigration status was just one of many serious social problems affecting the community I was writing about. Families were dealing with domestic violence, imprisoned loved ones, teenage runaways. But the principal said yes, the paperwork cleared, and I began my year inside.
I soon met 18-year-old Isaias Ramos, a brilliant high school student trying to decide whether to go to college or work as a housepainter alongside his parents, unauthorized immigrants from Mexico. He was so bright that he went on TV to represent the school in a quiz-bowl competition, and his unusual ability illustrated the bigger story I was trying to tell: the potential contained in this huge generation of children of immigrants coming of age in America today.
I followed Isaias through the corridors of his high school, on to painting jobs, and into smoky bars where he played gigs with a punk rock band called Los Psychosis. I interviewed his parents in Spanish (which I speak fluently) at their kitchen table. Then I traveled to Isaias’s hometown in Mexico, where I visited his old house and tracked down his friends and relatives, including his childhood best friend, Ponchito. I attended the burial of his mother’s sister. On my return, I kept up with Isaias and other students for more than two more years.
The Book of Isaias touches on sensitive subjects such as child abuse and drug trafficking, and before publication I took steps to check the accuracy of my text. I reviewed tricky parts of the Spanish-language interviews with a professional interpreter and shared the manuscript with many of the people I wrote about. Overwhelmingly, they supported the work.
The central person in the book, Isaias, agreed to speak at the book’s launch. Now 22, he told the audience: “I was a teenager at this point. I wasn’t the smartest person; you’re going to read about that. It’s nerve-racking, but it’s me. It’s honest. It’s really an honest story. So I appreciate that Daniel did that.”
I received the same warm reception from Hispanic audience members at other talks. In Mississippi, at Off Square Books in Oxford, a Hispanic high school student bought a copy, and at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, a young man told me the book resonated with him, because he was born in Mexico.
The We Need Diverse Books movement has highlighted the fact that the publishing industry produces few works about people of color compared to their numbers in society. And today, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, the proportion of Hispanics among young people in America is roughly one in four, or well over 17 million.
I’m grateful that many Hispanics respect the work I’ve done. But I didn’t write this book only for them. When Donald Trump takes office next year, large-scale deportations might become a very real prospect. Big swaths of our society and economy are bound up with the lives of Mexican immigrants and their children. Understanding their stories will matter for everyone.
Daniel Connolly is the author of The Book of Isaias: A Child of Hispanic Immigrants Seeks His Own America (St. Martin’s) and has reported on Mexican immigration for the AP.
A version of this article appeared in the 01/02/2017 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Getting It Right
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