Getting the Call: Olivia Hinebaugh
Ready for your dose of inspiration? Here is a Call story that is a direct shout-out to twitter. You can't deny that twitter is useful after this post. (I met Olivia there during Query Kombat!) And if you don't have an account yet, well, what are you waiting for?
Also Olivia is going to be a mentor in Sun versus Snow. So this is a little sneak peek on the mentors.
Most of us writers after agents and publication have been writing forever, so I’ll skip my origin story (there were lots of horse stories and fan fiction and screenplays I hid under my mattress due to embarrassment) and jump straight to when I got serious.
Three and a half years ago, I became a stay-at-home mom and suddenly my creative bone got really itchy. It began with a lot of daydreaming, living in stories, and wondering if the work of putting pen to paper was worth it.
My wonderful friend D.M. Stinson really encouraged me. At the time, she was on submission with agents. It was immensely helpful to have a friend who understood what was involved. And so I set out to write my first “real” novel, which was a YA fantasy with 4 POVs about Celtic Mythology, namely Selkies. I loved these four characters. I polished that book and decided to query it.I knew pretty quickly that this was not “it.” It was a tough book to pitch because of the POVs. It wasn’t quite fast-paced enough. Out of seventy-some queries I got only one full request. I’d like to credit my background in theater with having a thick skin. I really wasn’t that discouraged and I had already jumped into PLAY IT COOL, CLAIRE, a YA book about a snarky and smart fifteen-year-old who finds herself suddenly being able to communicate with spirits. The voice was easy for me to slip into it. Claire was funnier than I thought I could be. I was confident that this book could get me an agent.
Sidenote: it’s a little weird to admit that I was confident. It may sound cocky or naive, but I think I believed in it and I think that that’s crucial.
With a polished draft in hand (thanks again to DM Stinson) I began testing the waters with contests. I did a 100 word pitch contest over at Adventures in YA Publishing. I don’t remember how many entries there were, but I made it into the top 25 and I got an awesome critique from Brenda Drake. I crafted my 100 word pitch into a full query letter and cautiously began querying. The biggest help that contest was to me, was that I started following all the judges on twitter. I “discovered” so many other blogs and writers, all of whom were there to help and offer advice. (Take note: twitter is important in how I got representation.)
I had pretty good stats out of the gate. About 50% of my queries earned requests. I think this was because I queried agents I thought were a good fit first. While I waited on these subs, I entered QueryKombat. And made it through to the tournament only to be knocked out in the first round. It was through that contest that I really started to make “friends” and enjoy supporting other writers.
I did PitMad after QueryKombat and got three more full requests out of it. I felt like I was really on a roll. But then it was the waiting. You know how that is. A few fulls came back without offers, so I sent out a few more batches of queries.
My stats got less impressive as time wore on, so I figured I should only submit to agents I thought really would be a great fit, like only the top 25% of my query list.
I had gotten two rejections that invited me to submit again after extensive revision, but I still believed in the story the way it was and I wasn’t quite ready to go down that road.
I knew Eric Ruben was at the top of my list. And it so happens that I had connected with a few of his clients on Twitter. I asked his client Jessie Devine if he thought he could take a look at the book and tell me if he thought it was a good fit for Eric. I asked Jessie for a couple reasons. First, I was being more cautious about who I was querying and Eric represents a really diverse group of artists so it was a little harder to get a handle on what he might be like. Second, he often closes to submission and from research I saw that a lot of his clients came from referrals.
I wasn’t being devious, I didn’t expect Jessie to essentially be my agent in securing an agent, but that’s what happened. Jessie was busy but said he’d take a look. Two days later, he had gobbled up the book and was excited about it. I definitely had someone on my team. Jessie asked if he could send it to Eric, so I (giddily) said yes. A day or two later, I got the email. The one that says: When can I call you?
The call was awesome. And it was great knowing I had Jessie in my corner. There was a lot of DMing on twitter, and general being excited. When I got to talk to Eric I was pretty sure that this was it. He “got” the things that were important to me about the book. He liked the voice. He thought it was funny. He loved the diversity of the characters. He thought I handled the paranormal elements naturally. He didn’t make the offer until he got a good sense that we would get along. And not for nothing, but I’m a (somewhat) flaky writer and he’s a together business man, which is exactly what I need. I had to nudge a couple agents, but I was dying just to say “yes” right away. That week was tough. I got a lot of nice words from other agents who had my book, but mostly they bowed out. So after a week of waiting and hitting refresh on my inbox every few minutes, I accepted the offer.
Another great thing about twitter: I got to “meet” his other clients and get welcomed into the family. It was a very very happy day. And now we’re gearing up and getting ducks in a row for submission and it feels a little surreal. You work and you work and you work. And you know you want an agent and then you get one, and then you realize it’s still just the beginning. But now you have someone on your side, and it’s awesome.
So I didn’t get the offer through the slush. But I did get requests that way. And I got requests out of contests too. Ultimately the referral was the way to go. And you have to know people to get a referral. So my advice to those in the query trenches is to make friends, and offer to read stuff for people, and they’ll likely return the favor. No one in “real life” knows what it’s like to have devoted so many hours to your book, and possibly to a few books before the one you’re querying now. You need people to vent to, to smile and nod sympathetically when you make the crushing realization you’re book is actually considered paranormal and a lot of people are “over” paranormal. (This was the point that I got a lot of criticism for during Query Kombat when I claimed it was Contemporary. To be fair: it reads a lot more like contemporary, because the paranormal element is fairly naturalistic...but, okay, I will stop defending myself.)
Advice now that I’m through that process: Make friends. Be confident in your work--if you aren’t, move on to the next thing. Be patient. Know you’re not alone. Actually prepare those questions to ask during The Call because you may need them with only a short notice. Work on your next thing. Always work on your next thing, you’ll need it whether you get agented or not. And be excited! Writing is amazingly fun!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My bio:
I’m a mother to a 3 year old and 6 month old, which means I do a lot of writing to the soundtrack of baby snores. I write parenting articles for mothering.com, though making up stories is by far my favorite hobby. I like stories that are quirky, funny, and romantic. Add in a dash of the absurd and some dark humor, and I’m in heaven. My ultimate aspiration is to be a combination of Melina Marchetta and the Coen brothers. I’ve been told my celebrity doppelganger is Zooey Deschanel, and I love trying to figure out other peoples’ doppelgangers. (Based on limited data, Michelle’s is Rose Leslie.) Find me on Twitter. @olivejuicelots and on facebook.
Also Olivia is going to be a mentor in Sun versus Snow. So this is a little sneak peek on the mentors.
Most of us writers after agents and publication have been writing forever, so I’ll skip my origin story (there were lots of horse stories and fan fiction and screenplays I hid under my mattress due to embarrassment) and jump straight to when I got serious.
Three and a half years ago, I became a stay-at-home mom and suddenly my creative bone got really itchy. It began with a lot of daydreaming, living in stories, and wondering if the work of putting pen to paper was worth it.
My wonderful friend D.M. Stinson really encouraged me. At the time, she was on submission with agents. It was immensely helpful to have a friend who understood what was involved. And so I set out to write my first “real” novel, which was a YA fantasy with 4 POVs about Celtic Mythology, namely Selkies. I loved these four characters. I polished that book and decided to query it.I knew pretty quickly that this was not “it.” It was a tough book to pitch because of the POVs. It wasn’t quite fast-paced enough. Out of seventy-some queries I got only one full request. I’d like to credit my background in theater with having a thick skin. I really wasn’t that discouraged and I had already jumped into PLAY IT COOL, CLAIRE, a YA book about a snarky and smart fifteen-year-old who finds herself suddenly being able to communicate with spirits. The voice was easy for me to slip into it. Claire was funnier than I thought I could be. I was confident that this book could get me an agent.
Sidenote: it’s a little weird to admit that I was confident. It may sound cocky or naive, but I think I believed in it and I think that that’s crucial.
With a polished draft in hand (thanks again to DM Stinson) I began testing the waters with contests. I did a 100 word pitch contest over at Adventures in YA Publishing. I don’t remember how many entries there were, but I made it into the top 25 and I got an awesome critique from Brenda Drake. I crafted my 100 word pitch into a full query letter and cautiously began querying. The biggest help that contest was to me, was that I started following all the judges on twitter. I “discovered” so many other blogs and writers, all of whom were there to help and offer advice. (Take note: twitter is important in how I got representation.)
I had pretty good stats out of the gate. About 50% of my queries earned requests. I think this was because I queried agents I thought were a good fit first. While I waited on these subs, I entered QueryKombat. And made it through to the tournament only to be knocked out in the first round. It was through that contest that I really started to make “friends” and enjoy supporting other writers.
I did PitMad after QueryKombat and got three more full requests out of it. I felt like I was really on a roll. But then it was the waiting. You know how that is. A few fulls came back without offers, so I sent out a few more batches of queries.
My stats got less impressive as time wore on, so I figured I should only submit to agents I thought really would be a great fit, like only the top 25% of my query list.
I had gotten two rejections that invited me to submit again after extensive revision, but I still believed in the story the way it was and I wasn’t quite ready to go down that road.
I knew Eric Ruben was at the top of my list. And it so happens that I had connected with a few of his clients on Twitter. I asked his client Jessie Devine if he thought he could take a look at the book and tell me if he thought it was a good fit for Eric. I asked Jessie for a couple reasons. First, I was being more cautious about who I was querying and Eric represents a really diverse group of artists so it was a little harder to get a handle on what he might be like. Second, he often closes to submission and from research I saw that a lot of his clients came from referrals.
I wasn’t being devious, I didn’t expect Jessie to essentially be my agent in securing an agent, but that’s what happened. Jessie was busy but said he’d take a look. Two days later, he had gobbled up the book and was excited about it. I definitely had someone on my team. Jessie asked if he could send it to Eric, so I (giddily) said yes. A day or two later, I got the email. The one that says: When can I call you?
The call was awesome. And it was great knowing I had Jessie in my corner. There was a lot of DMing on twitter, and general being excited. When I got to talk to Eric I was pretty sure that this was it. He “got” the things that were important to me about the book. He liked the voice. He thought it was funny. He loved the diversity of the characters. He thought I handled the paranormal elements naturally. He didn’t make the offer until he got a good sense that we would get along. And not for nothing, but I’m a (somewhat) flaky writer and he’s a together business man, which is exactly what I need. I had to nudge a couple agents, but I was dying just to say “yes” right away. That week was tough. I got a lot of nice words from other agents who had my book, but mostly they bowed out. So after a week of waiting and hitting refresh on my inbox every few minutes, I accepted the offer.
Another great thing about twitter: I got to “meet” his other clients and get welcomed into the family. It was a very very happy day. And now we’re gearing up and getting ducks in a row for submission and it feels a little surreal. You work and you work and you work. And you know you want an agent and then you get one, and then you realize it’s still just the beginning. But now you have someone on your side, and it’s awesome.
So I didn’t get the offer through the slush. But I did get requests that way. And I got requests out of contests too. Ultimately the referral was the way to go. And you have to know people to get a referral. So my advice to those in the query trenches is to make friends, and offer to read stuff for people, and they’ll likely return the favor. No one in “real life” knows what it’s like to have devoted so many hours to your book, and possibly to a few books before the one you’re querying now. You need people to vent to, to smile and nod sympathetically when you make the crushing realization you’re book is actually considered paranormal and a lot of people are “over” paranormal. (This was the point that I got a lot of criticism for during Query Kombat when I claimed it was Contemporary. To be fair: it reads a lot more like contemporary, because the paranormal element is fairly naturalistic...but, okay, I will stop defending myself.)
Advice now that I’m through that process: Make friends. Be confident in your work--if you aren’t, move on to the next thing. Be patient. Know you’re not alone. Actually prepare those questions to ask during The Call because you may need them with only a short notice. Work on your next thing. Always work on your next thing, you’ll need it whether you get agented or not. And be excited! Writing is amazingly fun!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My bio:
I’m a mother to a 3 year old and 6 month old, which means I do a lot of writing to the soundtrack of baby snores. I write parenting articles for mothering.com, though making up stories is by far my favorite hobby. I like stories that are quirky, funny, and romantic. Add in a dash of the absurd and some dark humor, and I’m in heaven. My ultimate aspiration is to be a combination of Melina Marchetta and the Coen brothers. I’ve been told my celebrity doppelganger is Zooey Deschanel, and I love trying to figure out other peoples’ doppelgangers. (Based on limited data, Michelle’s is Rose Leslie.) Find me on Twitter. @olivejuicelots and on facebook.
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