Q = Rejecting Agents You've Queried

Is it even possible to think of such a thing happening as having to reject an agent? It seems like it's usually the other way around with the rejection letters streaming in. But, once you have an offer of representation you do have to let the other agents know. Here's how you can do it politely.

Congratulations! You’ve received an offer of representation!!!

But there are more agents considering. Possibly agents you submitted to at midnight on a Friday after a glass of wine or two and noticed your rejection pile was growing and your submission list thinning and good GOD you need to GET IT OUT THERE MORE AND INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF AN OFFER JUST TO KEEP UP THE HOPE….!

I.E: definitely not dream agent material, but worthy of settling for.

Yeah, yeah; maybe I should have rose-colored glasses on here and say that EVERY agent an author submits to is TOTALLY his/her dream agent but…I know better. And it’s ok; this business is so subjective, just as not every author is right for every agent, not every agent is right for every author. Doesn’t make either party less awesome – just not the best professional fit.

So what do you do when you receive an offer and (as you should) want to be fair and notify any other considering agents to give them a chance…but don’t necessarily WANT to give some of them that chance, or KNOW that even if one of those agents you were being fair to offered, you wouldn’t go with them?

Maybe this is just a problem in MY eyes; I certainly can’t fault an author for wanting ANYONE to read his/her manuscript and fawn all over it, even if s/he doesn’t really intend to go with that agent. But truly, it’s a waste of time; and it really sucks to let an agent possibly fall in love with your manuscript if s/he doesn’t stand a chance.

So what’s the best approach?

Click here to continue reading at Adventures in Agentland.

Click here to enter the giveaway for Angel Eyes!

O = Over-utilization of Character Names

We all use them constantly, have to, but character names can be sorely over used. I've discovered this problem plagues my 1st person POV writing. Here's a literary agent's perspective on the problem.

A common, first-manuscript-page mistake: referring to what your protagonist is doing so much that your first page soon reads like (if you have a female protagonist named Jane):

• Jane didn't like Mondays.
• She rolled off her bed.
• She had already eaten all of the cereal.
• Because it always had mold, she disliked her shower.
• She toweled off and put on her shoes.
• She thought shoes were the most important part of an outfit. 
• Today, Jane wore gladiator pumps. 
• She was looking forward to meeting her boyfriend. 
• After turning off the light, she picked up her bag, and left her house.
• She got into her Prius, gunned the engine, and promptly flattened a squirrel.
• She disliked squirrels.   
• That said, the homeowners' association, of which Jane was a member, would not be pleased about scraping squirrel off the asphalt. 
• She frowned. 
• Reapplying her lipstick, Jane screeched over the center dividing island--after all, what else was four-wheel drive for?--and pulled into her favorite parking space. 

It's not even that so many sentences begin the same way--or that many are of similar length and rhythm, which is another thing to avoid--it's that your fictional world will automatically be fuller if you describe things without always attaching them to the protagonist. (That is, without doing the fiction equivalent of writing "I think" before every statement in an essay.) No bueno.

Continue reading at AgencyGatekeeper.

Don't forget to click here to check out and enter the new giveaway for Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore!

E = Excel is Your New Best Friend, Self-Publishers

After the writing, editing, layout and publishing in general is done, the sales begin. Hopefully, that is. But let's assume that you're selling a few here and there at least. But you're a self-published author without a sales or marketing department to keep track of your sales. What do you do so that you have a track record to show to literary agents, convincing them you're a best seller in the making? Why, you make best friends with that helpful tool known as Excel!

I’ve discovered that in general, authors are not numbers people. They tend to have vague idea of sales and revenue earned. In fact, most authors probably don’t scrutinize their royalty statements like they should (with a few exceptions of course). And I get it. Authors are creative folks. Math uses the other side of the brain. But if you are digitally self-publishing, then you are your own publisher. And given that, you should be generating your own royalty statements in an excel spreadsheet. Here’s what you should track and why.

TO TRACK:

1) All Price Points – sales especially

2) All editions — including audio/shorter works

3) Copies given away for free

4) All distribution venues where editions are available

5) Percentage splits/royalty

6) Cumulative totals

Continue reading to find out why at Nelson Agency.

Enter The Eye of the Sword Giveaway until the 14!

Weekly Roundup for 2/4/13

Did you enter the contest I mentioned last week? I did. Sent it in less than two hours from the deadline. I do hope my email made it through on time. If you entered, tell me in the comments! I'd love to find out.

But you're here for some useful links. Today's post features several helpful articles all the from the same person. I became "acquainted", to a certain degree, with John Yeoman through a fantasy group I joined on Yahoo ages ago. I've posted links to his site before, but I thought I'd mention this time the quarterly writing contest he runs. It costs fifteen pounds (he lives in the UK) to enter but you get personalized feedback no matter if you win or not. Consider looking into it! Here's more information. If you don't win, this might be a helpful post.

John posts many articles on wooing readers, and this one is no exception.

Here's his take on how to write a bestseller. Don't think it has anything to do with writing just anything you like.

A while back, he ran a mini-contest for the worst sentence in a published book. Want to know the winners? They certainly are hilarious!

And finally, try downloading and reading his free ebook "21 Wicked Ways to be a Better Writer" for 20 + "recipes" for writing better.

Looking to wow an agent? Why not try branding yourself?

I hope you enjoy his posts as much as I do!

Until next time.

Weekly Roundup

3 DAYS TILL NANOWRIMO! It seems like yesterday that I was logging onto the newly refreshed site at the beginning of October. Where has this month gone...

So, this will be my last regular "Weekly Roundup" until the end of December/new year. NaNo will take over this blog as usual during November and then I've got something interesting planned for my Christmas Picture Countdown in December. I'll still try to post links once in a while, but I can't promise anything.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to teach writers to turn off their inner editors and allow themselves to write a really terrible first draft. Carolyn Kaufman over at Query Tracker gives her input about the first "Skeleton draft" in her article here.

But on the other hand, is NaNoWriMo for every writer? Jane Lebak thinks not and isn't doing it this year for herself. Hear her out and read her reasons though. You just might find yourself agreeing.

Once you have this novel done at the end of NaNo (or whenever you finish editing), what do you do with it? Pursue traditional publishing? Hang it all and self-publish? However, you might want to think ahead about the consequences of choosing the latter. Many agents, like Janet Reid (the famous query shark), aren't too happy about not having first bite at your novel. Janet explains why poor sales can sink any possibility of a second book.

Until Thursday and the beginning of NaNo!!

Overcoming Writer's Block (And More!)

Since I was lazy enough to forget to post on Sunday, I shall dump my writing update into this post instead. As you might have noticed, there's a shiny, new WIPs page *points up*. That should serve as an up to date list of all the projects I'm working on (even when I forget to post updates on Sundays).

I'm so close to the end on Novella #2 that I can smell it! Or rather smell the bad guy swooping in for one last attack.

The Story Within contest is still running and week 4's prompt is "Make a list of 10 things you know by heart and then write about the person who taught you those things". How vague can you get? In other words, I still haven't written my entry and it's due tomorrow.

And now, onto the links!

Don't forget to stop by Book Luvin' Babes for a multi-blog giveaway. It's specially themed for Valentine's Day!

On Writing:

Danyelle Leafty explains the causes and cures for Writer's Block.

On Publishing:

Ever wonder what happens to your book proposal once it's sent to the publishing house? Michael Hyatt lists the 5 hurdles of publication.

But before that, is the agent you're submitting to legit?

For some people, though, being herded along with all the other sheep just doesn't jive. What to consider before breaking out of the pack.

And once you have made the break, what on earth are you supposed to do with that copyright page?

Also, is a print self-published book even a viable option anymore?

On Blogging:

And finally, what's the best use of photos in a blog post? Here are 3 tips for using them wisely and effectively.

Until next time!