SCBWI & The Author-Agent Relationship

Day 6 of the SCBWI spring conference re-cap. Yes, the re-caps are finally coming to an end. After Elana Roth's excellent session (photo shout out to Okie Book Woman again!), there was a panel discussion, but the meat of what I learned in the conference was in the previous lectures, so I will not drag this re-cap along any farther than today. 

Agent Elana Roth from Caren Johnson humanized agents for me. She took the agent "ahhhh" in the sky with angels singing in the background and brought it back down to someone who is there to work for you and with you. She continually emphasized that you, the author, are the commodity, and the agent should never forget that without the author, there is no job.

That said, Elana went on to parallel the agent/author relationship with that of a marriage. 

Stage 1: Dating

Just as in a relationship with a significant other, before you go on a date, you make sure you yourself are in the best state possible, the same follows for your mss. It should be in the best state possible--revised, edited, etc. before you put it out there.

She also advised to know what you're looking for and make sure you "woo" the right agent. Elana suggested making a list of first-round and second-round agents, so once you're through the first list, you have even more you can query.

Her final point was to make sure you talk to the agent and ask questions (have them prepared ahead of time) to make sure you and the agent have similar expectations (eg. response time, vision for your career, possible editors to submit to, how you like to communicate, level of editorial work the agent will do, etc.)

Stage 2: Marriage

This is when the legal and business terms come into play--the contract. Elana emphasized that you should read the contract and make sure your rights are protected. She referred us to aaronline.org's FAQ section for a handy resource.

In a marriage, one of the challenges is the balance of power; the same follows with an author/agent relationship. The Author provides the product. The Agent provides the guidance and facilitates movement in the marketplace. In this relationship, as with marriage, communication (2-way) is vital. Trust is also indispensible.

Stage 3: The Divorce

If the passion for your writing dies, the relationship won't always work out. Elana's suggestions for when you need to part ways included these bits of advice: A) Talk it through--be curteous B) Terminate the agreement before you look for a new one C) Find out the book's status with all editors before you terminate D) Contract should cover all details pertaining to money.

Bonus agent info: In a recent lecture by Nathan Bransford at the University of Tulsa, he

 addressed a question about how common it is for great authors to be passed by numerous publishing houses before someone picks them up (citing J. K. Rowling as an example). Nathan said that it's not as common as it's made out to be, and more importantly, something like Harry Potter may not have been the phenomenon it was if it had been taken by the wrong agent. You want someone who LOVES your book. If those people who passed on it didn't have the passion

to make it what it is today, then you don't want an agent like that anyway. 

Back to SCBWI, all-in-all, I really enjoyed Elana's humor and wit as she presented her topic. Considering she was up against a rough time slot (an hour after lunch), she did a great job engaging the crowd and informing us about the harsh and happy details of reality. 

As the conference wrapped up, I finally got the guts to pull out my camera. I got a single shot of the panel, and I made sure to get a picture with Stacy Nyikos who is both an accomplished author and my seat neighbor for the bulk of the conference. 

SCBWI & The Role of the Editor

Day 5 of the SCBWI Spring Conference Re-cap. Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of Abigail Samoun, so you will have to simply enjoy the tragically beautiful tulips wilting under the heavy snow that fell that day. Ahh, classic Oklahoma weather. We always have a random snow in March before spring is allowed to officially arrive.

That being said, when I wasn't looking longingly out the window and wishing I was back at home with my baby girl enjoying her first official snow, I was learning and growing under the able tutelage of Abigail Samoun, editor at Tricycle Press (an imprint of Ten Speed Press). 

Abigail's speech painted a concrete picture of what an editor actually does. She began with a candid photo of her desk (well, we had to go on faith that the desk was there, it was not actually visible under her piles of books, letters, computer, slush piles, etc.) and continued through her job description, a motivational speech about rejection letters (and a tasty tidbit--if the editor personally signs their name, follow up!), and finally ended with some insight into the process of editing a manuscript. 

Abigail told us that they generally receive 150 submission a week which amounts to 7500 a year  (only 3-4 of those are actually chosen for publication). She did encourage us to submit since Tricycle is one of the few publishing houses that still accept unsolicited manuscripts. 

As an editor, her job responsibilities include guiding a project through the development stage; championing projects (this point was brought home with an example of a book that wasn't immediately accepted in acquisitions, but she fought for and won); offering guidance and suggestions; keeper of the story's logic and clarity; helper to find the perfect illustrator, art director; and communicator with production staff. 

Abigail made it clear that a relationship with an editor can be a work in progress. While you may not hit it off or get accepted right away, if there are signs of interest, you should definitely continue to reach out. It may take years, but developing a relationship with the editor can pay off in the long run.

Most of Abigail's illustrations centered around a book she worked on called The Day We Danced in Underpants. With a title like that, I was immediately sold.

**Due to my desire to finish up my SCBWI re-cap in a timely fashion, I have taken a break this week from the Wednesday Walkthrough series, but they will be back in full form next week!**

A little of this . . . a little of that

There's a lot playing around in my head right now. If I were to throw up some "brain puke" for you (my graphic term to engage high schoolers in trying their hand at true brainstorming), here's what would come up:

1. Why am I always the youngest (or close to the youngest) of the writers at my local writers' meetings? I read a blog recently (can't find the link, sorry) discussing if $50 is too much to charge to draw a younger crowd to a writer's conference. For me, money's not the issue; it's my time. I hate hate hate paying money to go somewhere that's a waste of my time. That said, I hate going to a free meeting that also tends to be a waste of my time. It's been hit and miss with local writers' group meetings. Part of the problem is most writers are not public speakers, so they may have a wealth of knowledge to contribute, but it comes out all Charlie Brown "Wah, wah wah wah wah wah" like. 

Along this line, I'm realizing how much knowledge really is available online. You really only have to follow a few key blogs, and you can stay up on national or even worldwide news in the publishing industry. Most of what I've heard in meetings I already read on someone's blog. And, to be honest, much of what I've heard in meetings I already know to be outdated and untrue. This all goes back to the age thing. A majority of the writers populating the meetings are well on their way into retirement which means generally they don't use a computer much and surfing the Internet is very limited. I almost fell out of my chair the other day when a 70+ year old man told the group about the Kindle 2.0. The funny thing was, he was announcing the bonus that it reads the books aloud to you, completely oblivious to all the controversy for authors' rights and losing commissions for audio books. 

Where are the young writers? Are they just staying home because they know they can get all they need off the Internet? Should I join them?

2. Something's gotta give. I recently consulted one of my successful entrepreneurial moms to talk about the balance of running a home-based business and raising a family. One of her many nuggets of wisdom was that it's okay to let some things go from time to time and catch up on them later. Sometimes it's the laundry. Sometimes it's cleaning the house. Sometimes it's a playdate. I find that very comforting. I'm not the only one struggling to balance it all while trying to keep my title of SuperMom.

3. Goals: I'm already ready to review and adjust my goals for this year. Part of it is that reality has shown me I overshot a lot. Part of it is that I'm already way behind, so I need to find a way to catch up. And part of it is just going back to that beautiful word, BALANCE. I haven't figured it all out, but I do know enough that I can admit that I can't do everything, all in moderation, and even if things don't go the way I planned, they still go and good things happen. (Since I wrote this post, I found this. It resonates with exactly what works for me.)

As I've quoted before, if you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. Even though I may be aiming at the impossible, when I take a breath and look at all the "little" things I've accomplished along the way, I realize I'm already doing way more than I did just last year. Yay!

Well on my way

I have read the experiences of many an author. I have concluded that there is no set way to get published. The only commonality I find among all successful authors is that they wrote something and stuck their neck out and gave it to someone else to read.

So, maybe I should par my resolutions down to this. 

1. Write something

2. Submit it

Sounds easy enough, but others' experiences tell me that there's a writing demon out there that does his darndest to make sure one or both of those things don't happen. And I'm pretty sure his major weapon is busy-ness. Keep people busy with "important" things, and neither of those two will happen. 

Writers are . . .

The more research I do into the writing and freelance business, the more information I'm bombarded with. It's really incredible how much I can pull up on the computer that is applicable to what I need to know today and can use right away. I'm astounded that there can be such a wealth of information and still writers who send out random queries or manuscripts without an ounce of knowledge as to who their audience is and what they require. 

Having said all that, the more I research and listen to other writers, the more I see that there are no rules. Well, there are rules, but they're more like common sense things--find out a publisher's genres and submission guidelines before you query, don't just show up on an agent's doorstep with a manuscript--act like a professional, etc. But there are also rules out there that writing books tell you to follow that people break all the time and are still successful. For example, there is no perfect "process" to follow to writing a great novel--everyone has their own style. Also, queries should give the publisher/agent what they want, but you can break the format rules (renegade writer's blog says 1 page isn't necessary). 

I believe every writer has their own style and way of doing things because we're creators. If all creators were the same and were inspired the same way, we'd all come up with similar creations. The uniqueness of a project comes from the individuality of the creator. There's something we can glean from every writer, but for me, it seems that the most valuable "advice" I find is hearing things other writers do that affirm what I've already discovered for myself. Earlier I posted some comments from Louis Sachar. Here's some new things I learned at the SCBWI monthly meeting from published author Ally Carter.

"Writing is like running an old hose. First the dead stuff and dirty water comes out. To get to the good water, you have to let it run. My first drafts are "dirty water" that I work on until the good stuff flows out."

"Contests are good to gauge when you're ready for querying an agent."

"My writing process is to start with the character and ask, 'What's the worst that could happen?'"

"It's (publishing) a small business."--that's actually very comforting to me because I don't feel like I have to conquer the giant; I just have to get my foot in the door.

"Don't get it right, get it written."--this isn't Ally's personal quote, she got it from somewhere else, but it's one of the mantras of my writing career right now.

Writers

Best advice I've ever received as a writer is simply this, "If you don't write everyday, you're not a writer." When I had Baby Andie, I put my "writer" title down and focused 100% on being a mom. Now that she's a little older and I can get up a little earlier, I'm back to writing everyday. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to say that I am a writer.