POTPOURRI

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December went by so quickly--I had elective surgery to correct a hernia (of all things!) on December 9. Publishing typically grinds to a halt between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, so I figured I'd take advantage of the lull and get this thing done. Everything went swimmingly and I was back on my feet the next day. On my feet SOME of the time, but on the couch MOST of the time watching terrible daytime television and sleeping.

The weirdest thing is that I thought I was of sound mind. I wasn't. I really can't remember much about that week except that Oprah really looks nice and the "Real Housewives of......." are just addictive! Jon, sweet man that he is, took very good care of me and discouraged me from working much. I couldn't face the stairs down to the office, so I set up my netbook on the dining room table to keep up with queries somewhat.

I'm embarrassed to say that I took advantage of my invalid condition. When my son Frank called to see what I wanted for Christmas I said, "I want a wireless modem and I want you to hook it up for me--this Sunday."

Now, I'm not that kind of mom, really I'm not. I blame the post-anesthesia-haze on that kind of cheeky request. But, the worst part is, Frank was over Sunday afternoon, modem in hand and we are now a wireless cottage. (Thanks, son, I really appreciate it!)

All's well now and we're very excited about new projects upcoming. The second book in the Candy Holliday series will be on sale next month. The title is Town in a Lobster Stew--look for it!

SUPER-QUERY-WRITER-FOR-YOU

Just when I think I've seen everything, I discover, ta-da!! SUPER-QUERY-WRITER-FOR-U!!

Let me back up. I've been on a magnificent roll for the past week--dealing with a huge back-up of emailed queries and getting my responses down to under 4 weeks. (I'm now finishing up my November queries and am so proud of myself.) But, for the past few days I've been noticing an interesting phenomenon. I've been receiving clumps of queries for different books from different authors using different email addresses. HOWEVER, these clumped queries (sometimes as many as 8 0r 10 in a row) are virtually identical in their format, font and type size. Even the writing style of the queries is the same.

Let me explain how this works. I open query #1 for the day sent on November 10. It's a nice book, but not for me. I email my standard rejection and close and discard the rejected query. I open query # 2 from a different author with a different email address. BUT it's the identical format!! Same thing for queries # 4, 5, 6 and so on. Tonight I was really on a roll--I opened 10 of these in a row!

So what's the problem?

It seems to me that some nice authors are getting ripped off. I am assuming that these authors are paying someone to write their queries. And, to be fair, the queries are pretty good. They are brief and to the point. BUT the person writing them is sending them one after another to the same agent. Didn't that person think that it would begin to look a little fishy that all the queries look the same?

The problem is that this is annoying to this agent. I don't like it. I feel like I'm being played and soon, I stopped reading these queries and just rejected them because they were in that same confounded format!

I really don't have a huge problem with authors getting help with their queries. And, if they want to hire a pro to write a query for them, I can't complain. But, whoever is sending these queries is a bonehead. A great business idea, writing queries for a living. But, for heaven's sake, be professional about how you send them out!

Does anyone out there know more about this?

FLORIDA DAZE, WRITERS CONFERENCE & MICHAEL CHABON

Quiet on the blog front for oh-so-many reasons. Jon and I took a week plus to travel to Florida and check on his mom's property there. Between watching the sunrise over the river, feeding the turtles in the marina, and taking walks on balmy mornings, we oversaw the installation of new carpeting and a kitchen floor and spent hours in Bed, Bath & Beyond buying kitchen necessities like shelf paper, cutting boards and zesters. The home has no Internet access and we found ourselves reading more, going to bed earlier and calming down quite a bit. I can't remember when I've been so relaxed!

We got home in time to vote and now we're both ratcheted up to cope with the real world.

Last weekend we enjoyed attending the Montgomery County Community College Annual Writers Conference in Blue Bell, PA. The keynote speaker Friday night was Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize winning author of novels including The Yiddish Policemen's Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. I have never heard a more inspirational, powerful, or entertaining speech in my entire life. Chabon, who claims to truly enjoy the Q&A format, asked himself questions, a most clever way to tell us what he wanted to tell us. His comments ranged from the value of an MFA program (for him, it meant everything) to where he gets ideas (the easiest thing about writing--they are everywhere!). I felt myself tearing up during his speech as he talked about the magic and agony of writing. If you ever get the opportunity to hear him, don't pass it up.

I sat on the agent's panel where the audience of writers lined up to ask questions of me and six other agents. The questions don't change too much in my experience, although sometimes they are quite bizarre. There seemed to be much interest in self-publishing and many of the questions related to that: I've self-published a novel--will publishers still be interested? (Yes and no. It depends on you, the topic of the book and how many copies have sold.) I want to write a very nichey book on real estate fraud. Should I self publish? (Yes.) Other questions included one about a cookbook memoir, a very hot topic now, even without star-quality.

The first question to the panel was rather blunt: You all say you get 100s of queries a week--why are you here? It seemed obvious to me that the author was sick and tired of being whined at by busy agents and wanted to know how we had the gall to take time off from reading queries to immerse ourselves in the rich literary stew of the writers conference. One of the agents answered in kind: "You need to know most queries are crap!" The rest of us added that you can only read queries for so many hours a day--you need to take frequent breaks to recharge and get your head on straight. A writers conference gives agents the perfect opportunity to talk shop, hear new ideas and maybe find new clients.

After the agent panal Jon and I and the other agents interviewed authors in the typical writers conference "speed dating" format.

The MCCC Writers Conference is a classy affair, always held in November. I encourage you to think about attending next year.

CAN SELF-PUBLISHED NOVELS BE SUCCESSFUL?

Last month Angela responded to our post about self-publishing and asked this perfectly reasonable question about the publicity side of our business.

Angela said...
I agree with Alissa that there is more than one way to get published. I also agree with Julie that the business is really subjective.People often recommend self-published books to me and don't even know the books are self-published. They could care less who the publisher is, they just want to read a good book. That being said, I think it's hard to put a good self-published book out there and be successful without the benefit of editors, readers, proofreaders, a marketing and PR team, and sales team. Kae, do you and Jon do PR for self-published novels? And if so, I'm curious if you have a different strategy for promoting self-published books.


Jon brought this question to my attention this morning and we spent some time discussing it. While we have worked with self-published authors in the past and continue to do so today, these are authors of nonfiction. Publicizing fiction is very difficult, even if the fiction is published by a standard publishing company. Fiction benefits from the distribution, advertising, marketing and sales efforts provided by large companies. But, other than sending out review copies, most publicity efforts for first novels are minimal. When a novelist gains a name and reputation, there is the opportunity for a much wider publicity campaign. That's why you see famous novelists on "Today" and "Oprah."

I would never advise an author to self-publish his or her fiction. (Unless, of course, the author is famous, lectures widely, has a built-in audience of potential buyers, and is already a veteran of countless media interviews.) Without the support a publishing company provides, it's next to impossible to get a fiction book out there in the numbers required to make an impact. Now, I am sure there are exceptions. Perhaps you are a successful self-published novelist or know someone who is. If so, please let us know. I'd love to hear how you did it and so would our readers, I'm sure.


Publicizing self-published non-fiction is a different matter. We've been very successful with our nonfiction self-published authors. Because these authors are experts in their fields, they have the option of selling their books when they do lectures and programs, on their websites, and online. These people have a "platform" (a built-in audience) and can use that audience to promote and sell their books. Typically we will send out review copies, schedule radio and television interviews, set up book signings and pursue online opportunities for our nonfiction authors. Our campaigns for self-published nonfiction authors are the same as for published authors and are limited only by budget constraints.

Bottom line is, publicity for ANY book, published or self-published is tougher than ever as media channels morph and shrink.

FOR WHOM DO YOU WRITE?

My friend Phyllis is an avid journal-writer. She has been keeping a journal for as long as I've known her and she's saved the day on a number of occasions. What year was it when we bought our house in the country? When did we all take that great trip to Bethany Beach? When did we take that long bicycle ride and get lost in the rain? Who gave us that recipe for "Oven Stew?"

I think of Phyllis as a domestic historian, the keeper of our families' combined memories. But, at the heart of it, Phyllis is not writing for me or for anyone else. She writes for herself and that's the real value of a journal.

But, if you are writing for publication, you are most certainly writing for others. If you still write for your own enjoyment that's fine. Just understand that if your mind is set that way you probably won't find a publisher.

Michael Cunningham, the author of The Hours, explored this topic beautifully in the Sunday Opinion section of October 3rd's New York Times. His article, "Found in Translation," is a must-read for would-be authors. I love his description of the students in his writing class:

"I teach writing, and one of the first questions I ask my students every semester is, who are you writing for? The answer, 9 times out of 10, is that they write for themselves. I tell them that I understand--that I go home every night, make an elaborate cake and eat it all by myself. By which I mean that cakes, and books, are meant to be presented to others. And further, that books (unlike cakes) are deep, elaborate interactions between writers and readers, albeit separated by time and space.

"I remind them, as well, that no one wants to read their stories. There are a lot of other stories out there, and by now, in the 21st centruy, there's been such an accumulation of literature that few of us will live long enough to read all the great stories and novels, never mind the pretty good ones...I should admit that when I was as young as my students are now, I too thought of myself as writing either for myself, for some ghostly ideal reader, or, at my most grandiose moments, for future generations. My work suffered as a result."

I hope you'll take a few minutes to read Cunningham's entire article. And next time you sit down to work on your book, remember your readers. Think about them and how you can best reach them. It's a good exercise and it will make you a better writer.

ARE TODAY'S BOOK PUBLISHERS LIKE GM?

Our reader "Julie" posted this message here today in reference to our recent post on Bowker's new service for authors. I appreciate the time and effort Julie dedicated to this post and I think she brings up valid points that resonate with many authors and others in the book world. I'm going to attempt to answer and/or comment on some of the points she makes.

Julie: I agree that this sounds like a way for this company to make money. However, as an unpublished author, I find it frustrating that a very small group of literary agents gets to decide which books are shown to publishers.

KT: Yes, Julie, there is a small pool of agents. But not all publishers require that you submit your work through an agent. I'm always lecturing authors to learn about the book publishing industry. One of the things you should investigate is the publishers who accept unagented submissions. You'll find them listed in references such as Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents. You can also find this information on publishers' websites.

Julie: I’ve been sending queries out for at least 12 years. Over that time, I’ve been struck by what a small pool of agents we have and how many of them are based out one city.

KT: Ahem!! Not ALL literary agents are based in Fogelsville!

Julie: I can’t count the number of times that an agent has told me that he or she likes my work but doesn’t know how to market me. I understand why they don’t want to waste time on a writer who may not sell, but I wonder why we all assume that this small group of agents has their finger on the pulse of American readers more than anyone else.

KT: It's not the agents' fingers you should worry about--it's the publishers' fingers or other items they use to judge what Americans and others want to read. Agents are at the mercy of publishers. I just had my heart broken again last week when an editor at a major house emailed me that she'd fallen in love with one of our books and was taking it to the editorial board. She called a week later to report that the board said the author was "too close to the topic." They turned it down. I still don't understand why, but it illustrates that even when an agent is high on a book, and even when an editor shares our enthusiasm, we have to deal with editorial boards at publishers who must SELL, SELL, SELL. (Book publishing, like any other business, MUST make money to survive.) The editors who make these decisions are just human beings like you and me and, as far as I can tell, they make their decisions based mostly on what they've sold in the past. They are not perfect and they make mistakes and they take very few risks these days. An agent must temper his or her own feelings about a book with the reality of the marketplace.

Julie: It reminds me of how GMC and Chrysler keep building gas guzzlers because they think Americans want big cars. (I don’t want a big car. I want a fuel efficient car and I don’t think I’m alone, but I don’t own a car company).

KT: I don't want a big car either, Julie, but those guys are all morons, IMHO. We've all seen what happened to these companies.

Julie: I think that self-publishing to Kindle and other sites will democratize the publishing world and I’ll be interested to see if it alters the kind of books that become popular in the future.

KT: I would agree with you EXCEPT that most self-published books are simply not that good. There, I've said it. Although the book publishing system in place is inefficient, often unfair, unimaginative, and cumbersome, it still provides a structure for separating the wheat from the chaff. (Love that figure of speech--my mom used it all the time, but then she was born in 1911.)

Back to the point--self-published books do not have the benefit of: tough readers and editors who make them sing; proof readers to catch grammatical errors and misspellings; marketing and publicity teams who will get the word out about them; sales forces who will push them out to major retailers, Amazon and others. Is that to say a self-published book will never rise to the standards of The Great Gatsby or The Prince of Tides? No. It could happen. Maybe someday it will. But...don't hold your breath.

Agents and editors, today's "gatekeepers" for mainstream book publishing, are there for a reason. They love books. They've educated themselves about literature and most of them have developed a good instinct for identifying good writing. I believe they still have an important role to play in the publishing world. But time will tell. Self-publishing is here to stay and is a powerful force. Self-publishing and traditional publishing will operate on parallel tracks in the foreseeable future. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

What do the rest of you think? Will self-publishing eclipse the traditional model or is it more likely that the two will meet the needs of different kinds of authors and books?

MORE ON SELF-PUBLISHING VS TRADITIONAL

I've been following a fascinating discussion on the "New Authors Need Marketing Ideas" group at LinkedIn over the past few days. A new author posed a question about which self-publishers were most attractive to traditional publishers. It may not have been right way to pose this question, but it certainly brought opinions out of the woodwork!

The best thing I've gotten out of the discussion thus far is a link to a HuffPost article, "To Self-Publish or Not" by Boyd Morrison. Mr. Morrison gives one of the most complete and well-stated overviews of this topic I've ever read. I strongly recommend it!

Enjoying a quiet Sunday, listening to old jazz music. Happy Labor Day!