Len Joy's Blog, page 5
October 30, 2020
How to Get an Agent and become Rich and Famous
On January 7, 2009 I sent out my first query letter – to uber agent Jeff Kleinman no less – seeking representation for my first novel, American Past Time. All my writer friends warned me that trying to get an agent is really difficult.
Hah. Kleinman responded in two days and asked me to send three chapters. A request for manuscript (partial) on my first at bat! This was going to be easy.
But Kleinman declined. So did the next 221 agents I queried over three years (as a former CPA, I keep very good records). Not so easy, I guess. Finally, after my fourth rewrite, I found a startup publisher interested. I had to rewrite the novel again, but I was finally published in April 2014.
In July 2016, I started querying agents for my second novel, BETTER DAYS and I was confident I would get a warm reception this time. After all, I wasn’t a newbie any more. AMERICAN PAST TIME had won awards, (okay, not the Pulitzer, but I had cool gold medal stickers I could put on the cover) and the novel had great reviews. Nevertheless, I wasn’t taking any chances. I hired Jane Friedman, a former literary agent to help me with my query. Jane is a literary entrepreneur who offers a variety of useful webinars and other services for aspiring writers. Her webinars and advisory services are a great value.
But the literary world had changed. Agents had become overwhelmed with email submissions. I used to get pleasant form-letter rejections, now I got no response. 129 times.
Jane suggested it wasn’t necessarily a problem with my query, it was just that agents weren’t interested in the kind of stories I was writing. I think she was right.
I finally got an acceptance from another small independent press (my previous publisher had closed), but I wanted to take one more shot at landing an agent, so I signed up for the San Francisco Writers Conference as they offered an opportunity to pitch agents face-to-face using a one-minute speed dating format.
I don’t know what made me think that would be a good opportunity for me. I’m a slow talker and I seldom get close to a minute of talk time before my wife, ,coach, or training partner, interrupt me to finish what they think I’m going to say. It turns out that seeing the agent’s look of pained, indifference is not more satisfying than getting no response. After three excruciatingly bad pitches, I gave up and went to the bar.
The next day I signed the deal with the indy press and BETTER DAYS was published in the fall of 2018.
When I started querying for my third novel, EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS, I no longer had high expectations. I sent out 24 letters to agents but got no response. I did have interest from three hybrid publishers and I decided to go with BQB Publishing. It’s been a very satisfying experience. Even with COVID, they were able to get the book launched on schedule in August. The reception has been gratifying.
I have now finished another novel. DRY HEAT is a crime novel about a boy who loses everything but his heart. Tagline: “On the last day of the century, Joey Blade turns 18, learns his ex-girlfriend is pregnant, and is arrested for the attempted murder of two police officers. Then things get really bad.”
I would be happy to have DRY HEAT published by BQB – they’ve been great to work with. Publisher Terri Leidich and her team do a great job for their writers – but I still want one more shot at making it to the majors. So, I hired Janet Reid (a literary agent who has the popular blog, Query Shark) to help me with my query letter. I highly recommend her service.
I was ready to start the query letter bombardment when I stumbled on an article by author/writing coach Tiffany Hawk: “How to Find an Agent: The Ultimate Six-step Strategy”. She made sense. I decided to try it her way.
Step 1 – Identify the right category for your book. Hmm. Dry Heat is a coming-of-age/legal thriller/love story /action-adventure. That’s a lot of slashes and there is no category like that.
Steps 2 & 3 – Develop a list of agents to query
Hawk outlined a detailed and deliberate approach for developing the list of agents. She recommended utilizing Query Tracker to find the subset of agents who have checked boxes indicating what kind of books they represent. Then go to Publisher's Marketplace (which costs $25 per month, but you can cancel anytime) and find out what deals those agents have actually done in the last few years.
I was rolling and then I got to…
Step 4 – Personalize the query letter
When I started ten years ago, I was chatty and personable, finding all sorts of ways to let the agent know I wasn’t just sending this letter to anyone with a pulse. But somewhere along the way, after a couple hundred rejections, I gave up on that feature. I figured, agents are smart and they don’t have much time. They just want to read the query and the five or ten pages of the manuscript I have attached. So, I stopped personalizing.
I asked Janet Reid about the issue. For her, personalization was a waste of time, but she said many agents want it, and some insist on it. Unfortunately, no agent mentions in their bio what their position is on personalization, so I decided I would have to personalize the letters. (Except Janet’s).
So last week I was finally ready to roll. I used QueryTracker to search for agents interested in Upmarket fiction in the Crime/Police and Action/Adventure categories. The database came up with 19 agents. That seemed like a good number. My agent was in that list, I was confident…
Until I went to the Publisher’s Marketplace. Most of the agents had not represented any books even remotely similar to mine. After that review, I was down to three agents. I scanned those finalists’ bios, interviews and tweets, trying to find a non-creepy way to personalize my query. My best effort:
“I am querying you because you have represented books about athletes overcoming obstacles and that has been the focus of all my fiction.”
Okay, I know I should not write this blog until I actually find an agent and become rich and famous, but that might take awhile and I wanted to do something besides read more agent bios. Now I need to go back to work, because I know three query letters is not going to be enough.
September 16, 2020
Do Not Go Gentle - Part 4 - Humility
The video shown here is four seconds long. My coach, Heather Collins of Heather Collins Training wanted a longer video to use as part of her video training for clients. It looked so simple when she demonstrated it - it's just a row with a fifteen pound barbell and one foot on a bosu - but I could only manage four seconds that was video-worthy.
Actions that are so easy when the foundation is firm become ridiculously difficult when the ground beneath your feet is squishy. (If I were better at metaphors I'm sure I could make that observation more profound.)
While trainers claim they use the bosu to help their clients improve their stability, the real reason is to teach humility. And humility is a valuable commodity to have in abundance when you are trying to compete as an aging athlete or as an aspiring writer.
August 9, 2020
August 6, 2020
Tom Sumner Radio Program - Interview with Len Joy
I was interviewed by Tom Sumner for his internet radio program today (August 6, 2020). This link takes you to the archived recording. The actual starts about minute 5 and ends about minute 45.
August 2, 2020
Book Review: Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
,Paris Trout is a loathsome character. He shoots and kills a 14 year old Black girl for no reason. Not a crime of passion, but more chillingly a crime of indifference. She’s simply in the way when he tries to collect his debt so he shoots her. Well-drawn novel villains often have some, if not redeeming qualities, at least qualities that make them seem more human. They love their children or their dog. Or they have some charming roguishness.
,Paris Trout has none of that. If he had a dog, he would beat it. He simply has no redeeming qualities. It is a testimony to Dexter’s writing skill, that even in all his loathsomeness, Paris Trout is still a compelling character. However, if this were simply the story of a racist sociopath it would be hard to endure and probably not worth reading. Definitely not National Book Award worthy.
,But it is, of course, much more.
,We see the story of Paris Trout unfold from not only his perspective, but from the point of view of the girl he killed, his lawyer, his wife, the prosecution and a host of supporting characters.
,Dexter creates what feels like a very realistic feeling portrait of redneck Georgia in the early 1950s. It feels honest, not patronizing or apologetic. Paris Trout: A Novel, is at times an uncomfortable reading experience, but worthwhile. Highly recommended.
July 29, 2020
Book Review: Five Minutes, Mr. Byner
,Reading “Five Minutes, Mr. Byner” was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Byner’s book is like a walking history of the entertainment industry. Over the course of his four-decade career he worked with or for almost everyone that was anyone in show business from Steve Allen to Elvis to Henry Fonda.
,Byner's had a very successful career and it’s refreshing to hear a professional reflect on his life with honesty and humility. This is not an “I’m great and this is why tale,” nor is it a gossipy even-the-score tell-all. Byner has hundreds of interesting anecdotes, but he doesn’t take any cheapshots. About the only entertainer who doesn’t come off well is Woody Allen.
,I suggest that anyone who reads the book ought to check out the Youtube videos of John Byner performing (there are hundreds). It makes his story even more memorable.
,Highly recommended.
Book Review: River People by Margaret Lukas
,This is a remarkable novel. I wasn’t certain how engaged I would be in a story about two young women trying to survive in a shack on the Missouri River in post-civil war Nebraska, but it didn’t take long for me to be caught up in their epic struggle to survive in a man’s world.
,The author’s mastery of details on every aspect of 19th century life from farming to education to transportation to race and gender relationships was impressive. There are many scenes (like the horrific description of a wild stallion being broken) that would be unbelievable if they weren’t rendered with such authority.
,The two young women, Effie who is eighteen and forced to marry a disturbed itinerant preacher and twelve-year old Bridget a “half-orphan” who the preacher “adopts” are left on their own to survive in a shack that is nothing more than a hunting shed. Effie haunted by her own demons and innocent Bridget who still holds on to her belief that she will find her parents “out west” have a realistically contentious relationship. This is truly a survival story with many poignant moments. The scenes between Bridget and her beloved friend, Jake the ox, are heartbreaking. Yes, an ox.
,Highly recommended.
Do Not Go Gentle...Part 4 Strength Training
Even though it looks like all the races I had planned for this year have been cancelled I still have to train. In this video, I'm working on a flow combine exercise. As my coach, Heather Collins (
",,The flow fluidly combines exercises. The I,ndividual exercises are highly functional, requiring strength, conditioning, agility, and mobility all at the same time.The smooth transition from one exercise to the next requires coordination, concentration, and the ability to rapidly transition from one movement to the next. "
, I wore my spiffy TEAM USA trisuit because all my regular workout gear was in the wash. Godzilla (Heather's cat) helps me work on my concentration.
July 21, 2020
Do Not Go Gentle...part 3 StoryStudio Chicago
In the next several posts in my “Do Not Go Gentle…” series I plan to talk about some of the services, books, and people that helped me in my pursuit of a writing career.
A workshop environment is especially useful if you are writing short stories (fiction or non-fiction.) The standard procedure is for each participant to read everyone else’s story and provide written comments. Then the class discusses each story. With a well-run workshop most participants will come away with a good idea of what is working and what is not.
It's much more difficult to workshop a novel. It’s not feasible for everyone to read ten or more work-in-process novels so most workshops ask each participant to submit no more than fifty pages. That kind of workshop can be useful if you are in the early stages of your novel, but what do you do if you think the novel is ready to submit?
That was my problem. I had been working on Everyone Dies Famous for over two years. I thought it was ready, but I wasn’t positive. I decided to hire a story editor to help me polish the final draft. I contacted
Rebecca is the author of the novel The Great Believers, a finalist for the National Book Award and one of the New York Times’ top ten books of 2018. She is also the Artistic Director of
I was reluctant. I didn’t want to spend another year revising. I was on the ten-yard line. But as anyone knows who has watched the Bears play, the ten-yard line is not good enough.
I decided to enroll. My primary reason was that the format offered a comprehensive review of the entire manuscript by the workshop leader and feedback on fifty pages of the novel from the other participants in the workshop. In addition, there was class time devoted to the “launch” aspect of finishing the novel: writing a query letter and a synopsis, mini-craft lectures on writing, and opportunities to meet other aspiring writers. StoryStudio also organized a fall festival where we had a chance to meet with agents and publishers.
The feedback from the class was very helpful. It’s invaluable to get the observations and reactions of excellent writers who are also serious readers. The editorial critique by the workshop leader,
The workshop helped me to make Everyone Dies Famous better.
Here’s one example. I had a scene where my main character encounters the three artists who live next door. The scene didn’t work well and as I digested the class comments, I realized I didn’t need three artists. The scene worked better with two characters. Nobody said get rid of one of those artists, but their comments led me to that decision.
A good workshop isn’t going to tell you how to fix your novel, but it can be extremely valuable at identifying the elements of your story that don’t quite work – and also what aspects really resonate with readers.
The StoryStudio Revise and Launch workshop was an excellent value and I highly recommend it.
