Writers in the Storm

Julie Glover

I’ve come to enjoy pitching my story to agents. Not because I’ve landed a seven-book, multi-million-dollar deal, but because I relish the opportunity to talk about my book and learn how to better present my story. The feedback I’ve received has helped me hone the answer to “Am I ready to query?”

Here are five questions you should ask before sending out a query.

1. Do I know what my story is really about?

How do you pare down a 400-page novel into a five-minute or 50-word summary? It’s tough, but if you can’t tell someone what your story is about within a minute or two, you’re not ready to query.

An agent, publisher, or reader doesn’t need a meandering explanation of your world, your characters, and the plot to get hooked by your story premise. If you wonder how others successfully condense, head to the Internet Movie Database to peruse the single-sentence summaries of various movies or go to your local bookstore or your personal library to read back cover copy.

Once you think you have your book’s basics—who’s involved, what’s at stake, what’s the conflict– write it down and have others take a look. If your spouse or your hairdresser or your coworker or your critique partner doesn’t get it, an agent, publisher, or potential reader won’t waste their time trying to understand. Know what your story is really about.

2. Are you able to convey your writing voice?

I received this question at one verbal pitch: “Who would you compare your voice to?” My answer went something like, “Um…uh…I haven’t received that question before…let me think…” Nope, not exactly a shine-like-a-newly-minted-penny moment.

You must be able to describe your voice. Are you descriptive? Funny? Dark? What adjectives could you use? Come up with a few writers to compare your voice to, others who write similarly—even though, of course, you’re all unique. Also, your voice should come through when you query, so that even from the cover letter, an agent gets a taste of the spice that is you.

3. Can you name comparative titles?

Although I’d pitched several times, this was a new question I received at RWA National. Agents and publishers used to make the comparisons, write marketing copy, and sell your book accordingly. But in the days of agents doing-more-with-less-time, you’ll have a leg up if you can do some of the sales work in advance. That means knowing your genre and subgenre and what titles your book could be compared to.

With that information in hand, an agent or editor can approach potential publishers and say something like, “I’ve got a fabulous book that’s Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet meets Kafka’s Metamorphosis!” Not that anyone would actually read about cockroach love, but you get the point. The publishing pros then know who your book would appeal to and how to market to that audience.

4. Have you received feedback from valued critiquers?

Some writers have been known to keep their stories so close to their chest that they only reveal their book to an agent. Bad. Idea.

Yes, it’s unnerving to put your work out there for others to bleed their commentary on. It may feel less like receiving constructive criticism and more like receiving firing-squad bullets. Your book is your baby, but we all get a case of Ugly Baby Syndrome—unable to see our story flaws as clearly as others might. Beta readers, critique partners or groups, and/or a quality editor can provide valuable feedback and save you getting rejected over and over for things you can fix.

So find people (sorry, not just family) who will comment honestly and helpfully about your story. You don’t have to adopt everything they say, but if more than one person points out a specific problem, you likely have that problem in your book. And it’s better to know now…before you waste your time and an agent’s time with querying.

5. Have you made your story as good as you can make it?

I could re-label this recommendation as simply “Don’t send crap.” Too often, we writers think good enough and press send on the email to an agent or publisher. But publishing professionals are inundated with queries and pressed for time. If your book is sub-par, they’ll toss it aside like rotten fruit and move to the next manuscript in the pile.

Most verbal pitches occur at conferences, but you should only sign up to pitch if your book is finished and polished. That said, at the same time your manuscript is getting requested at a conference, you may also be having aha moments about how to improve your book in workshops and conversation with other writers. Suddenly, you realize your book’s not quite as ready as you thought. In that case, you may have some work to do before sending out your query.

Sure, you could miss the boat by taking time to make those edits. My last rejection from an agent came in the form of “since I requested this manuscript, I’ve taken on a project that would compete” and a rather blunt statement that I should have sent earlier. But while I missed that opportunity, I think I was right to wait. Because my book wasn’t as good as I could make it. It needed another round of edits for me to proudly, happily click send.

Your manuscript need not be unmatched perfection, but inasmuch as your talent and time allow, make your story as good as you can make it.

Still lost on querying? I highly recommend Laura Drake’s online Submissions That Sell course. This amazing rejection-survivor and RITA-award-winner helped me get my own query to the point that I read it and said, “Hey, I want to read this book! Oh wait, I wrote this book.”

Soon, I’ll be sending out my manuscript. And happy to sign that seven-book, multi-million-dollar deal.

How's your querying savvy? Do you have query stories--or questions--to share?

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About Julie
Julie Glover is the author of “Color Me Happy,” a young adult romance story in the Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior anthology, and My Sister’s Demon, the first of a series of young adult paranormal shorts. She is also working on a novel and lives with her wonderful husband and two sons in her beloved Lone Star state. (That’s Texas, y’all.)

Find Julie at her website or on Twitter. She loves to tweet.

Susan Spann

Happy Holidays!

‘Tis the season to stay off the copyright “naughty list,” so I’m here to share a few #PubLaw tips for avoiding copyright infringement in your holiday blogging and social media celebrations!

When celebrating online this holiday season, keep these helpful rules in mind:

SONGS (AND LYRICS) ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

At the holidays, it’s tempting to re-post the lyrics to favorite carols or celebratory songs, either on Facebook, on a blog, or on other social media sites. Unfortunately, lyric-sharing often violates the copyright of the lyricist or songwriter, because lyrics are protected by copyright, as are novels, short stories and poems.

Posting an excerpt (no more than 2-3 lines) is often permitted as “fair use,” especially when the quoted work runs at least 30 lines. However, there is no absolute test for fair use, and no definitive test for when you’ve used too much of a copyrighted work. The legal test is “facts and circumstances,” based on several factors (so anyone who tells you “X lines is ok, but more is not” isn’t telling you the absolute legal truth_.

If you want to share a favorite song, it’s better to quote a line or two and link to a website containing the lyrics, or to a YouTube video showing an authorized performance of the work.

RECIPES ARE NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT…EXCEPT WHEN THEY ARE.

Copyright exists to protect creative expressions, and does not protect “functional items.” To the extent a recipe consists of ingredient lists and basic steps to combine them in a way that results in a specific type of food, the recipe is merely functional–and not copyrightable. Any functional element of a recipe, including the ingredient list and the basic instructions, can’t be copyrighted—which means you can share the recipe at will.
(Note: For this purpose, a “functional item” is any part of the recipe that’s mandatory to create the food itself. For example, yeast in a risen bread.)
Courts have ruled that ingredient lists – even for unusual recipes – are merely a “statement of facts,” and  not copyrightable. Courts have also ruled that the factual parts of the recipe’s directions (the instructions themselves) are not copyrightable.

However, creative portions of recipes – meaning the way the instructions are given and any anecdotes, humorous add-ins, and “tips and hints” included with the recipe – may be copyrightable. In other words: you probably can’t just reproduce a creatively-worded recipe verbatim and call it your own. However, you probably can legally post a recipe in your own words, as long as you stick to the functional elements of the original recipe and make sure any hints, tips, and “bonus material” is your own.

Remember: when sharing recipes, ethics are also important. It may be “legal” to lift and reproduce someone else’s recipe without violating copyright, but it’s not very nice to take someone else’s recipe without attributing it to the creator. If you love a recipe someone else created, it’s better to share your experiences and photos, and attribute (and even link to the source) if you can. You could also share the ingredient list and “functional” directions, and then link to the source for tips and creative content. If there is no link to the recipe, go ahead and share it and simply mention the name of the cook or chef who created the recipe (if you know who claims it!). Cooks appreciate the attribution.

PHOTOGRAPHS – OF FOOD AS WELL AS EVERYTHING ELSE – ARE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT. GET PERMISSION BEFORE RE-POSTING IMAGES.

It’s tempting to copy not only a tasty recipe but also the lovely photographs that accompany it. Careful! ALL photographs are subject to copyright, and like the copyright on other creative works, it belongs to the creator—in this case, the photographer who created the image. Reposting or reproducing someone else’s photographs without permission is illegal, unless you have permission from the photographer or image owner. Don’t be Copyright Infringement Elf this winter. Take your own holiday pictures or get permission from the person who owns the photo.

Don’t forget: sometimes the most disastrous photos add the most to your blogging. Anyone can offer boutique cookie photos glittering with a perfectly-spaced assortment of frosting and sprinkles. It’s the “cookies-with-faces-for-radio,” Toddler-Decorated Cupcakes, and “Pumpkin_Pie_Bonfire_101” photos that give a holiday blog real seasonal cheer.

Happy Holidays from #PubLaw – and I’ll see you all next year!

Do you have other holiday copyright "gray areas"? Do these copyright laws surprise you?

 

Susan Spann writes the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. The second Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, released on July 15, 2014.

Susan is also a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium.

You can find her online at her website, http://www.SusanSpann.com, and on Twitter (@SusanSpann).

 

 

Show of hands …
How many WITS readers exercise every day?
How many of you read every day?

Sir Richard Steele said, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”

I think about exercising every day. But I can almost always find a promising excuse not to exercise—I need the time to work or I have to clean the toilets (wait, scrubbing counts as an upper body workout, doesn’t it?).

I do, however, read every day. BC (Before Child), I would read for hours during the weekends. These days I read before bed or in the tub (sorry for that bit of TMI) or on those rare weekend days when hubby and child are off doing boy things.

And I usually have several things going at the same time because, like exercise, there are different types of reading.

Reading to learn
Craft books, blogs, writing magazines. Every writer should have a library of craft books and a “bookmark” with favorite blogs.

Sadly, reading and exercise have one more thing in common—you don’t get stronger without doing it. Having that treadmill in the basement won’t get you fit (although I keep hoping). And having those pretty books with pristine spines won’t help either.

Read them. Take notes in them. Tab sections you know you’ll come back to. Reread them until they fall open automatically to those special sections.

At least your brain cells will be svelte. ;-)

Reading to keep up
If an agent you’re eyeballing to query is raving about a particular book, read it. It’ll give you great insight into what that agent likes.

What books are hitting the bestseller lists? Read them, and not just because everyone else is. What about those books stands them above similar books?

What books are your favorite authors recommending?

Reading for inspiration
Read authors you admire and take notes about what moves you, why something worked, phrases that made you sigh with longing for a smidgen of that talent.

If you’re an aspiring writer, read debut authors in your genre. Think about what made that book stand out to an agent and editor for it to be picked up.

And if you’ve started reading a book that you really are not enjoying, don’t shelve it yet. Read more. I know, I know … why waste your time reading something you don’t like? Because you can learn from these books as well. If you were that author’s critique partner or beta reader, what would your revision notes look like?

Reading for the sake of reading
A few weeks ago I was reading a blog post from Off the Shelf. The book being reviewed sounded interesting but it was the following quote by the reviewer that did me in: “I am constantly on the prowl for something that will distract me from the ‘task’ of reading and remind me of the joy of reading.”

Right? Remember those days?

Curl up with a beautifully written book. Don’t take notes and don’t analyze. Yes, I just told you to take notes and analyze. Go with me here. Read to read. Read for the love of words. Read to lose yourself. You can always go back, reread, and take notes.

I walk away from craft books and blog posts/articles with a determination to apply what I’ve learned. But it’s the books that make me forget everything around me that truly inspire me to get back to my own writing.

In On Writing, Stephen King wrote, “The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing.”

If Stephen King says it, who are we to question it?
Now if he’d just write about the importance of exercising …

A question to WITS readers: Do you read while you’re in the middle of a WIP? If yes, what do you read—books in the same genre? Different genre? Craft books? Do you shy away from books that are similar to the project you’re working on?

About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet. When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.