Kristine C. Asselin: Don't Throw in the Towel!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!! I have a guest post with a great message to share with you today. It's by Kristine Carlson Asselin from Writing. For Real. who recently signed with an agent for her YA novel, THE SWEET SPOT. You can read Kris's agent story on her blog, QueryTracker, or at the Backspace blog (links also available below). Here's Kris!

Thank you to Casey for having me on the blog today. As some of you might know, I recently signed with Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management. And while it’s very exciting (incredibly, wonderfully exciting), it hasn’t exactly been an overnight success. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to throw in the towel.

What does that mean, really, to throw in the towel? Well, from phrases.org—it’s a boxing term. Literally boxers threw a towel into the ring to indicate when they were giving up the fight. Stopping. Quitting. Throwing in the towel.

How many hits to the head do you have to take to throw in the towel? Depends on the day. Depends on the fight. Depends on your strength. I’m willing to bet, though, most fighters who throw in the towel one day, turn around and fight again the next.

I didn’t start out this post to write about fighting. Really. Not sure how I went there. Circle back to the querying process, Kris.

How many queries do you have to send before you’re willing to throw in the towel? Ten? Fifteen? 150? Elana Johnson (you know, author of the we’re-all-dying-to-read POSSESSION) sent over 150. Read her query story here. It’s incredibly inspiring.

I sent 67. Over the course of eight months. Really.

The query changed a bit during those months. Heck, so did the manuscript. But the point I’m trying to make is I DIDN’T THROW IN THE TOWEL. I know some people hit it right out of the gate—we’ve all heard the stories of people who sign their dream agent in five queries or less. But more typical, I think, is the dedicated, determined, and confident writer who BELIEVES in her own story and queries until she can’t query any more.

I don’t mean query people who don’t rep your genre. You have to do some research. But not every agent is tweeting or blogging—even though it seems like they are. I promise there are more than twenty agents who rep your genre, but you might have to dig. And you DO have to write a good book—make sure you’ve read, reread, proofread, and beta-read every word. There’s nothing more embarrassing than sending out a query too early (we’ve all made that mistake—that’s not just me, right?)

My agent, Vickie Motter, is relatively new. Honestly, she wasn’t even an agent when I started querying. If I’d quit at 50, I might not have found her. So it’s part confidence and determination, part good-timing, part luck of the draw. There’s no part throw in the towel. Quitting is NOT an option.

http://krisasselin.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-agent-story.html or
http://querytracker.net/kristine_carlson_asselin.php or
http://backspacewriters.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-writers-path-to-signing-with.html.

-Kristine Asselin

A.W.'s Agent Success!

I get e-mails semi-frequently from writers who have just landed an agent and want to thank me for the info I provide on my blog. I LOVE these e-mails because they remind me I'm helping people, often people I don't even know, and I get to celebrate their success with them. I received one such e-mail earlier this week from A.W. Parson's at Words of a Feather and I wanted to send you over to read her agent story. It's in two parts and is just overall fun and inspiring, a great reminder that you could very well end up with the one agent on your list you thought was "un-gettable."

Manuscript Meets Agent: A Love Story - Part ONE, and Part TWO.

Good luck to everyone out there in the query trenches! And if you're entering THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE chains, my winner, Paula McLaughlin, already has her post up. Enter here!

Leigh Bardugo: From Query To Book Deal in 37 Days

 

Good Monday, everyone! I'm in a super good mood because I get to share another amazing success story with you today. Please welcome Leigh Bardugo to the blog! Make sure you’re holding onto your computer chair (or couch cushion!) - Leigh has an incredible story and some GREAT tips to share.

WILD RIDE: FROM QUERY TO BOOK DEAL IN 37 DAYS

How does a first-time author go from query letter to three-book deal in just over a month? Luck, an amazing agent, and more luck.

After a a year of writing, research, revisions, and paralyzing bouts of self-doubt, I felt I had a manuscript that was ready for agents’ eyes. I wrote the best book that I could and did my best to query wisely. After that, the story belongs to the afore-mentioned amazing agent, Joanna Volpe of Nancy Coffey literary. Once she took over, I didn’t do much but keep my fingers crossed and avoid freaking out.

Here’s the tale of our wild ride, as well as a few tips that may have stacked the deck in my favor and that I hope will do the same for you.


LETTERS & LEGWORK

Tip #1: Query in small batches.

Querying is so stressful that it’s tempting to just go with a shotgun blast, but I recommend sniper fire. Why?

– Quality control. When you mail/email in bulk, you’re more at risk for making silly mistakes like misspelling a name.

– Adaptability. You only get one shot with most agents and agencies. If you’re not getting the response you want, you have a chance to tweak your query and your sample pages before you’ve blown your way through your whole list.

– Keeping it personal and up to date. EVERYONE tells you to personalize queries but this can be tough, so use every advantage. Small batch querying means that you can keep up on changes to submission requirements, newly posted sales, and blog updates.

I first saw Joanna’s profile here on Casey’s blog. That led me to Nancy Coffey Literary and then to Confessions from Suite 500 where Joanna blogs with two other agents. Jo is a self-confessed fantasy nerd and she’d written a post in which she waxed ecstatic over LOTR, so I knew she was a true high fantasy fan.

I queried Joanna on October 27, 2010. She requested a full later that same day.

THE CALL

I was standing in line to return our Halloween costumes when I got Joanna’s email telling me that THE GRISHA had caused her to miss her subway stop and that this was the epic fantasy she’d been waiting for. I can only describe the sound I made as something between a sob and a yelp.

“Are you okay?” asked the clerk at Valentino’s.

I don’t think it helped ease his concern when I turned to him with tear-filled eyes and declared, “I am AWESOME.”

Joanna and I spoke that night and she officially offered me representation.

Tip #2: Choose... wisely.

I asked for a week to consider Jo’s offer and to give a heads up to the other agents who had requested fulls. This is professional courtesy. Even if you think you know which agent you want, if you’re lucky enough (see above) to have more than one agent interested in your work, then at least give the others a chance to make their pitch. They may surprise you.

When you choose an agent, you essentially put your future into his or her hands. Joanna sent me an editorial letter that made it clear that she really got my characters and my story. (She also called me out on what I knew might be weak elements in my MS.) But in the end, it was her enthusiasm for my work and, honestly, the full on geek-out of that LOTR post. I knew that Jo would pitch THE GRISHA with a fan’s passion.

GOING OUT

After I signed with Joanna, we went through a quick round of revisions. On November 12, we went out to editors.

Joanna warned me that we could have a wait ahead of us and I prepared myself. I would clean my office, start on my next project, bake a pie or twelve. But through some combination of timing, luck (see above), and Jo’s sparkle magic, editors started calling just a few days later. By the following week, we had our first offer.

Tip #3: Be prepared.

The calls I had with editors were great fun. I even chatted with one editor via gchat since she was traveling in France and Israel. (That was Noa Wheeler, the woman who would eventually become my editor.)

Mostly, we discussed writing, my career as a makeup artist and the inspiration for THE GRISHA. I got progressively better at these chats (relaxing, asking my own questions, not babbling about Russian folklore). Here are a few things to keep in mind when you get to this stage:

– Be familiar with the imprint. Check out their online presence and their authors. Think about how your book might fit in with their other titles. This is also something you can ask about during your call.

– Get used to talking about your book and yourself. If you’re a solitary sort like me, then you may not have had a chance to talk about your stories or your characters at length. I recommend practicing on your commute. One of my favorite things about the advent of cell phones is that no one looks at me like I’m crazy when I talk to myself anymore.

– Take the chance to ask editors what elements of the manuscript might need work or if they have any major revisions in mind. This is not the time to debate plot points or character development, but you may get a better sense for how an editor relates to your work.

THE DEAL

THE GRISHA went to auction on December 1. For the next three days, I lived on New York time as Joanna updated me on bids and walked me through the language of a deal memo.

On Friday, December 3, 2010, THE GRISHA sold to Holt Children’s/ Macmillan. Just 37 days after I queried Joanna, I had a three-book deal.

My debut novel will be published in Fall 2012. Now, all I can do is keep writing, pray that readers embrace my work the way that Joanna and Noa have, and hope that my luck holds. Fingers crossed.

Leigh Bardugo lives in Los Angeles. Her debut novel will be published by Holt Children's/Macmillan in 2012. Follow her on twitter (http://twitter.com/Lbardugo) or visit her shiny new blog at http://leighbardugo.wordpress.com.

Love this story!!! Congratulations Leigh and Joanna! I'm thrilled for you both and cannot WAIT to read THE GRISHA.

Guest Blogger Jenny Sanchez: Lit Rambles Success!

 

I love when writers find their agent one way or another through my blog. The lovely Jenny Torres Sanchez e-mailed me recently with those precious words "found my agent because of you" and I couldn't have been more thrilled. I always find success stories inspiring and know there are a lot of writers still looking and waiting for their future agent, so I asked her if she'd be willing to share her story here on Lit Rambles and she said YES. Enjoy!

The first time I learned about queries, I remember getting a sinking feeling. Why? Because all this time I thought the hard part to becoming an author was actually writing the novel. I had no idea that you could do all that work, write all those words, only to never even have your novel considered because you don’t have an agent. I understand the reason for queries but writing them is pretty darn hard—an art almost. And getting agents to pluck yours from the hundreds they get every week and then actually request your manuscript—well, let’s not go there. I almost, almost, succumbed to the odds but I didn’t. Because...well, I was almost finished with my YA novel and just couldn’t bear to give up at that point.

So, I hitched up my sleeves, and started researching agents and how to write queries. Once you start doing that, it’s very easy to get lost in the whole business side of things and forget about the most important thing—your manuscript. So, I made one rule for myself. Work on my manuscript (and ONLY my manuscript) in the morning while my kids where at school, and research queries, agents, the industry at night when they were in bed. And I stuck to it.

Luckily, very, very, very luckily I came across Casey’s Literary Rambles Blog. I thought I’d hit the jackpot! Here was everything—agent interviews, agent likes and dislikes, links to agency websites, links to authors they represent, what they prefer to see in queries, in short, the most in-depth information in one place. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait for each agent spotlight post. I kept notes of agents that represented YA contemporary literature and made a list so once I was ready to start querying, I’d know where to send my manuscript.

In this time, I also learned about marketing and trying to develop a following and blogging and a whole bunch of other things that give fiction writers the heebie-jeebies. And I thought, oh man, writing is sooooooo much more than, well, writing. I was hesitant to start blogging and tweeting because I wasn’t sure I’d be any good at it. I mean, I wasn’t even sure how Twitter worked. And as far as blogging goes, it took me forever to develop a good writing schedule that I could stick to so I wasn’t sure I had it in me to blog regularly. But again, I figured if I really wanted this, I had to be willing to tread unfamiliar ground and keep going. So I did. And honestly, Casey’s site was pretty inspiring. Every time I visited Lit Rambles, I was blown away by the amount of information Casey compiled, and she did it all just to help other writers, so I figured if she can do that and work on the gazillion other things she does, then surely I can post a blog entry every now and then.

I created a blog account, wrote a silly post about Tyra Banks getting a book deal (which then hit me like Snooki’s book deal hit us all later on), wrote another one about the day I met Jay Asher and Lisa McMann at a conference, and put Lit Rambles on my blogroll. And voila, just like that, I was officially a blogger (even if nobody was visiting my site, which was kind of a bummer). But then one day I got a comment, and it was from Casey thanking me for the blogroll link. And I thought, this girl rocks! Casey—I think you where the first visitor to my site and you gave me the hope that eventually, others would come!

Anyway, as a Lit Rambles follower, I eventually came across an agent spotlight on Victoria Skurnick from Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. I clicked onto the link to the agency website, read their submission requirements, and checked out the online submission form. The online form doesn’t give you the option to address a specific agent, but I read all the agent bios and saw that several represented YA so I filled out the form, attached the sample of my manuscript, and hoped (but didn’t quite expect) to hear back from someone.

I got an email informing me they received my query and would contact me if interested. By this point I’d already gotten rejections from other agents, so I didn’t hold my breath. I thought, yeah, yeah, and went about my life. But then one day I received an email from Kerry Sparks of Levine Greenberg requesting my full manuscript. I was cautiously thrilled. I sent along the full, figuring I’d soon get a thanks but no thanks. Instead, I got an email requesting a phone call. Okay, at that point I sort of kind of maybe had a mini heart attack. Because this was a PHONE CALL! A LEGITIMATE, REAL, PHONE CALL...FROM A LEGITIMATE, REAL AGENT! But I’d also read (in my tireless research) that a phone call did not necessarily mean an offer of representation. So I stifled that excitement, sat on pins and needles for four days, fantasized about being signed, would again remind myself of the dream-crushing but sensible warning that a phone call did not necessarily mean representation, and...waited. And as we all know, this profession will definitely teach you the art of waiting.

After what seemed like forever but was just four days, Kerry and I finally talked. The more we discussed the manuscript, the more I knew she and I would work really well together. She made great suggestions, made me consider things I hadn’t before but now totally made sense, understood the story and characters, and most importantly—was excited about my manuscript and believed in it.

So I signed with Levine Greenberg and the whole experience has been amazing and, truth be known, something I wasn’t sure would ever really, really happen. I feel incredibly lucky to now have such an insightful, patient, and talented agent like Kerry. And I am forever grateful to Casey and this blog since this is where I found the agency, inspiration, amazing and accurate information, and a supportive community of writers.

You can follow Jenny on Twitter (@jetchez) and at her blog, Read. Write. Suffer. Please do!