Writers in the Storm

By Chuck Sambuchino

Literary agents are full of great advice for writers. That’s why, whenever I am concluding an interview with an agent, I always end the encounter by asking “Is there any other piece of advice you’d like to discuss?”

This open-ended question often draws a fantastic answer, as the agent’s most passionate advice will pour out.

That’s why I’ve gone through a whole bunch of literary agent interviews and cobbled together some of the best writing tips that agents have passed on over the years. There was so much good material that I had to break it down into multiple columns. This is Volume I, and you can check out agents’ helpful and inspiring advice below.

And I want to take a moment and say that I’m excited about being a recurring new contributor to Writers in the Storm. You will be seeing more columns from me on WITS in the future. Thanks for reading!

“Read and share. I think it is critical to really read and analyze published books that are similar to what you want to write and really study them to see how the successful authors are doing it. How do the successful authors in your area develop characters? Give backstory? Create tension? Keep pacing up? POV? Voice? Develop setting?”

- Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

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“Go to writers’ conferences! Conferences are where the art of writing and the business of publishing intersect. They’re great places to network and become part of a larger writing community. And they give writers incredible access to the insights of top editors and literary agents. I’ve had the good luck of meeting several of my clients at conferences. Having that face-to-face contact can tell you so much about how you will work with someone.”

- Elizabeth Evans of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency

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“One of the things I stress is persistence. When submitting query letters, persistence is key, but authors must be smart about their approach as well. Make sure you have a well-curated list of agents you are going to query. Make sure they are truly a good fit for you. Keep meticulous notes during the process. And if you get any constructive criticism, do not be defensive and shrug it off—see if you can use it to make your pitch better. So many people give up after a few rejections. Keep the process moving by honing your letter as well as your manuscript/book proposal. And stay positive! This is a hard one, I know, but bitter and frustrated authors send out that vibe and I can always sense it–in person and even in query letters. You are selling your project, so sell it with a smile on your face.”

- J.L. Stermer of N.S. Bienstock

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“Be well read in your genre and know the market. Don’t give up! In particular, don’t get stuck on one project. Sometimes you need to put a book aside and start something new.”

- Jessica Alvarez of BookEnds, LLC

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“The best advice I can give to an aspiring author is to get serious about your career. It’s more than a hobby. You have to be focused and educated. Join writers’ organizations or a critique group. Read, read, read and read some more in the genre you want to write in and search the web on the proper way to format a manuscript and query an agent way before you start submitting. Our agency gets 300 submissions a week. In order to stand out, your query letter has to be beyond reproach and when we ask for sample pages—they need to be A+ shape. If you’ve done your homework, you will be successful.”

- Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency

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(Hi, everyone. Chuck here chiming in for a second. I wanted to say I am now taking clients as a freelance editor. So if your query or manuscript needs some love, please check out my editing services. Thanks!)

“Trust yourself. Trust your instincts.”

- Katie Shea of Donald Maass Literary

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“I think that it’s important to remember that book publishing is a professional as well as creative business. Most agents are inundated with submissions. In order to stand out from the crowd, therefore, everything about your submission must be outstanding, from the way it reads to the way it looks to what you bring to the table in terms of credentials. It is increasingly important to educate yourself about the publishing industry and understand the importance of selling and marketing yourself and your ideas. If I had to name five things I’d look for in a prospective writer, they would be:

1. Professionalism—ability to divorce your ego as much as possible from the process
2. Sufficient understanding of books and the book market to know whether your idea works as a book-length narrative as opposed to a magazine article or short story
3. Creativity and understanding of narrative form
4. Willingness and ability to take editorial direction
5. Willingness to do whatever work is necessary to make the work saleable.”

- Deborah Grosvenor of Grosvenor Literary Agency

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“Woody Allen said 80% of success is just showing up. It’s different for writers. Eighty percent of success for a writer is working hard. You can’t underestimate how important it is to put in the hours. Read, write, study the business. Repeat. Day after day.”

- Howard Yoon of Ross Yoon Literary

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“Read as much as you can, especially in the genre you are writing in. You need to know your market and your competition, as well as what has already been done and what new things you can bring to the table. Do not just write about what you know, because that can often be boring. Write the book you want to read, then figure out how to pitch it when you finish writing. Join a critique group so you are not writing in a vacuum. Keep revising your manuscript until it is in the best possible shape before you start querying agents, but stop sending agents revisions after a requested material has already been sent. Be courteous in your dealing with agents, as we have very good memory and will remember you when you contact us again. Be patient, be realistic, but be persistent.”

- Sandy Lu of L. Perkins Agency

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“1) Don’t quit your day job! With advances getting smaller as the publishing industry doldrums continue, most authors should not expect to make a living solely by their writing.

2) Learn how to market yourself and create a platform—a website, a blog, write a column for a newspaper, etc. Publishers need authors who can bring a built-in audience to their books.

3) Write about things people want to read. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

4) I don’t believe in writer’s block. If you write every day, even if it’s a page of crap, the very act of writing (or typing) will begin to get the creative juices flowing. So sit your butt down in the chair and start hammering away at those keys. Books don’t write themselves.”

- Doug Grad of the Doug Grad Literary Agency

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“Don’t take rejection personally.”

- David Dunton of Harvey Klinger, Inc.

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“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up. Any dream is achievable if you work hard enough.”

- Nicole Resciniti of the Seymour Agency

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GIVEAWAY!!

Chuck is excited to give away a free copy of either the brand new 2014 GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS or 2014 CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET to a random commenter.

Comment within 1 week; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail.

Click here for the rest of Chuck's posts here at WITS.

Do you have any questions you'd like to ask? Please give him a warm welcome down in the comments section!

About Chuck

Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest Books edits the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN'S WRITER'S & ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog is one of the largest blogs in publishing.

His 2010 humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck has also written the writing guides FORMATTING & SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT and CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM

Besides that, he is a freelance book & query editor, husband, sleep-deprived new father, and owner of a flabby-yet-lovable dog named Graham.

Find Chuck on Twitter and on Facebook.

photo credit: Fernando X. Sanchez via photopin cc

By Chuck Sambuchino

One of the most common reasons why agents and editors stop reading sample pages is simply that the story starts too slow. Gone are the days when a book could “get good on page 12.” We also can no longer compare our writing to classic works or even books written 30 years ago that started slow and found marketplace success.

Today’s novels — especially debut novels — must grab readers from the first page, the first paragraph, even the first sentence.

Despite the fact that the importance of starting strong appears to be well known by most aspiring writers, people still have a hard time with it.

I was freelance editing a client’s first 15 pages last year and was dismayed to see that all 15 pages simply described a mystical woman walking across the desert heading for task at a faraway location. There was no question that the writer had talent — this was good, descriptive writing. But it was also boring as hell. 15 pages of essentially nothing happening.

That is kind of an extreme example, sure, but this problem — starting too slow — also exists in smaller, more subtle forms.

This past summer, I sat with two literary agents on a “Literary Idol” panel at a writers’ conference where people read their first page and we would raise our hands when we would “stop reading” the submission, as if we were considering a real page one in the slush pile. I specifically remember two participants and the agents’ similar feedback to both.

One story started out with a man stewing in his apartment about something. At the end of the (fairly boring) first page, there was a great, jarring line about how the man set down his gun on the windowsill — a gun that we did not know he was holding. The two panel agents both told the writer that this mention of the gun should be the book’s first line.

The second memorable submission had the same issue. A fantastic potential first line — something like “I was forced to grow up at such an early age that I have no true memories of my childhood” — was pushed too far down in the text.

These great opening lines were buried — all because of the simple fact that writers simply do not start their book with the best, carefully chosen words and hook us in immediately.

Then it hit me: Holy cow. Maybe examining the start of James Cameron’s TRUE LIES could help writers understand a simple fix to their problem. I discussed my thoughts then and there on the panel, and want to share them with you here.

(Hi, everyone. Chuck here chiming in for a second. I wanted to say I am now taking clients as a freelance editor. So if your query or manuscript needs some love, please check out my editing services. Thanks!)

How TRUE LIES Figures Into All This

This is how the 1994 film TRUE LIES begins (I’ll be a bit broad):

It’s dark. We see tall dark trees at night. So it’s not just dark — it’s nighttime, outdoors. More specifically: an empty wintery landscape. White snow everywhere. In the distance is the only real thing to see: a big mansion — a grand chateau with warm yellow lights seen from a distance through the windows. The moonlight reflects off the white surface (snow) everywhere.

Closer to the mansion now: There is an iron gate that seems to run alongside a river or lake. That water is frozen over. Patrolling the snowy grounds near this gate are guards — but a closer look reveals that the guards have machine guns, and some of them walk with snarling guard dogs. Away from the guards along the ice, the frozen top of the water cracks in a tiny spot as a very big knife cuts through the ice from below. From the tiny hole in the ice pops the head of a secret agent in black scuba gear.

This is how the movies get to start a story. This is not how a novel should get started. A movie can go outside-in. A novel should go inside-out.

If this story were a novel and you wanted to get the audience’s attention, what would your first line or two be? I’d guess something like, “Harry’s knife cut through the ice from below. His eyeline ascended above the frozen water, and he could make out guard dogs in the distance even before the fog in his scuba mask cleared…”

From there, once the audience is hooked, slowly move outward, engineering the beats of the movie in reverse. The whole start to your novel could look like this:

1. Harry’s knife cuts through the ice / intrigue.
2. Harry secretly emerges from the freezing water / danger.
3. Mention of the guard dogs / more danger.
4. Mention of the men with automatic weapons / more danger.
5. Mention of the chateau (Harry’s desired destination).
6. Mention of the nighttime.
7. Mention of the snow, the reflection, the darkness, the beauty of an European countryside in the winter, etc. Perhaps here you would even mention that the location is actually Switzerland.

That’s how you take an opening and make it go inside-out. If you begin your novel with 2 paragraphs describing the trees and night and moonlight, then spend another 2 paragraphs describing the chateau and the yellow light and the winterscape, then the reading editor or agent will never even get to the semi-good part (the guys with guns) let alone the true “hook” line about the man/agent cutting through the frozen river on a secret mission.

I hope that my watching of James Cameron’s movies a million times over through high school & college has helped you somewhat. (Sidenote: ALIENS is awesome. It holds up so well.)

(I talk about a writers’ conference in this column. If you are interested in conferences, check out Writer’s Digest’s recurring events.)

Note:
This post is Part 6 of Chuck's debut series here at WITS: Take Your Writing By Storm.

Part 5 was How To Support An Author's New Book: 11 Ideas for You. Please return at 1 pm ET for his stellar new post here at WITS: Advice For Writers From Literary Agents.

About Chuck

Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest Books edits the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN'S WRITER'S & ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog is one of the largest blogs in publishing.

His 2010 humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck has also written the writing guides FORMATTING & SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT and CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM

Besides that, he is a freelance book & query editor, husband, sleep-deprived new father, and owner of a flabby-yet-lovable dog named Graham.

Find Chuck on Twitter and on Facebook.

photo credit: Jonno Witts via photopin cc

By Chuck Sambuchino

My Writer’s Digest coworker, Brian A. Klems, recently geared up for the release of his first book — a humorous guide for fathers called OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL: A DAD’S SURVIVAL GUIDE TO RAISING DAUGHTERS (Adams Media). On top of that, my coworker Robert Brewer (editor of Writer’s Market) recently got a publishing deal for a book of his poetry.

So I find myself as a cheerleader for my writing buddies — trying to do what I can to help as their 2013 release dates approach. I help in two ways: 1) I use my own experience of writing & publishing books to share advice on what they can expect and plan for; and 2) I simply do whatever little things I can that help in any way.

This last part brings up an important point: Anyone can support an author’s book release by doing different things to help the book sell and get noticed. So, in no particular order, here are 11 things — some big, some small — that you can do to support a writer friend when their book comes out:

1. Buy their book.

An obvious point, sure, but important nonetheless. Naturally, we must buy new copies of books, not used copies, for the sale to “count” and the author to get a royalty. So buy new. Heck, consider pre-ordering the book. Publishers pay attention to pre-orders to help get a sense of what titles are getting buzz and attention. Impressive pre-orders help the author.

2. Buy their book for others as a gift.

Think of which friends and relatives would enjoy the book/novel. Buy it for them as either a birthday gift or holiday gift. You get to support your author friend and give cool gifts at the same time! Get copies signed if possible to make gifts special. Even people who don’t read many novels will still take note if a gifted book is personalized and autographed.

3. Face the book out at bookstores.

Simply rearrange a bookstore shelf so that your friend’s book faces out to make it much more noticeable. (The theme begins: It’s all about getting noticed.)

4. When you actually read the book, read it where people can see it.

Read it in public. Read it on the subway. Read it in the aisle seat of a plane. Read it on the deck of a cruise ship. After all, don’t you find yourself looking at what others are reading when you pass by? I do! And if I see 3 different people in 3 different places reading the same book, will I start to investigate it out of curiosity? Yes. It’s all about building public knowledge of something to the point where people are curious and discuss it.

5. Ask a bookstore employee where the book is located.

When entering a bookstore, do not look for the book, even if you know exactly where it is. Go to the bookstore customer service clerk and ask them about the book. They will find it in their system and lead you to the book.

My hope is that if several people do this at the same bookstore, then the employee(s) will begin to take notice of the title, wondering what all the buzz is about. If you’re lucky enough that an employee finally picks it up and reads it, then they might put it in the “Employee Picks” section or refer it to people who come in and ask “What’s something good I probably don’t know about?” or “What book makes a good gift?” Let bookstore employees help sell copies!

6. Leave a review on Amazon or BN.com or Goodreads or all.

Reviews are still very important. Think about it. If you come by a new book and see it has 2.0 stars on Amazon, would you buy it? On some level, that silly rating does affect me and my decision — and my guess is that it affects you, too. So it’s crucial that, when you read a book and enjoy it, you leave a review on Amazon or BN.com or Goodreads or all. Those first 10-20 reviews really matter and can set a book on the right path. (Note: You can leave the same review on all sites to save time.)

7. “Like” the author’s Facebook Fan page.

Getting your personal friends to “Like” another friend’s page is an easy favor to ask, as it requires no money.

(Hi, everyone. Chuck here chiming in for a second. I wanted to say I am now taking clients as a freelance editor. So if your query or manuscript needs some love, please check out my editing services. Thanks!)

8. Reserve a copy at the library.

An employee here at Writer’s Digest Books once told me that if all copies of a book are reserved from our county library before the title came out, the system has a way of noticing this popularity and marking the book as one for “more orders.” (Also: Use the bookstore method above and ask librarians about the book — simply to draw attention to it and get the title on the mind of staff.)

9. Attend the book release party (if there is one) and bring a warm body or two.

This task isn’t so much to help the author as it is to help the author’s self-esteem. It’s lonely to have a book release party or local signing with low attendance. If you already bought a copy, bring that book to be signed.

10. Spread news of the book through your social media channels.

When the author mentions it on Facebook, share the news with your social circles and include a small note about what the book is and why they should buy it. In other words, spreading the word by saying “My friend got published!” is nice — but it’s better to say, “This new book by my hilarious friend is a great gift for dads who are raising daughters. Laugh-out-loud-funny stuff for all fathers to enjoy!”

See how the second one targets people in a simple-yet-specific way? Do this kind of targeting when you spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or blogs.

11. If you have media contacts or know people of influence, arrange a connection.

This is one of the best things you can do and probably the biggest way you can truly influence the life of the book and the success of the author.

If you’re married to the cousin of a local news personality, it’s exactly that kind of connection that serves as a great introduction between author and TV host. If you know a book reviewer at a newspaper in Boston, say so. If your old college buddy now runs the biggest reading club in all of Central California, try and help your author friend’s book be a future choice in that club. Utilize your network!

My own example of Point #11: When Brian’s parenting book was being edited, he was told to seek out blurbs for the cover. The top two people on his list were humorist Dave Barry and 8 SIMPLE RULES FOR DATING MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER author Bruce Cameron. Brian got the Dave Barry blurb, but not Cameron. Then I remembered: Hey. Didn’t I teach with Bruce Cameron at a writers’ conference in 2010? Yes I did. Maybe that will be enough to help. So I wrote Cameron personally and mentioned our past meeting and how he and we shared a hobby because we both authored dog books, etc., etc. And then at the end of the e-mail, I nicely asked if he would blurb Brian’s book. I was careful to explain that Brian’s work would be worth his time, and that the title was not some kind of small book that would only sell 17 copies in its lifetime. “This book has buzz,” I told him. Cameron replied back a few weeks later with a tremendous blurb. Success!

This last, large point touches on something very important. When you do approach someone of influence and ask them for a favor or suggest a book to them, have all your ducks in a row.

Tout the book’s accolades or blurbs or interesting aspects to quickly convey that this connection/suggestion is worth their time. Don’t just say, “My friend has a new novel — check it out!” Say, “My friend has a new murder mystery novel and the Vanity Fair review comes out soon. She also just got a cover blurb from Michael Connelly.” Now you’ve got their attention…

Help writers sell books. It’s that simple. Just help them and support the publishing industry. Good karma will befall you, and the hope is that others will help you in return as your big release day comes.

Note:
This post is Part 5 of Chuck's debut series here at WITS: Take Your Writing By Storm.

Part 4 was  The Difference Between Your “Current Platform” and “Future Platform.” Please come back at 12 pm ET for Part 6: How to Start Your Novel.

About Chuck

Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest Books edits the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN'S WRITER'S & ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog is one of the largest blogs in publishing.

His 2010 humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck has also written the writing guides FORMATTING & SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT and CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM

photo credit: Grand Canyon NPS via photopin cc