So You've Queried: Now What?

One of the things that separate a successful commercial writer from an unsuccessful commercial writer is their query discipline. Querying an agent or publisher is like applying for a job in a tough economy.  One doesn't have the luxury of waiting around for answers (particularly from individual "dream" organizations) one has to constantly keep improving and reinventing the product, in this case your writing.

What does that mean? Ok, that means the day AFTER you finish querying you take maybe a three day break from writing. I wish I had written this before the Memorial Day holiday but that doesn't mean you have to wait until the 4th of July to follow this advice. During that time your only job is to mentally put your finished queried project on a mental shelf. This will be difficult, especially as responses begin to trickle in. Don't get too high or too low. If your work is rejected within three days of querying, despite what the form rejection letter says you came into the system on a day where everything was regulated to the slush pile and its unlikely human eyes rested on it. If an agent asked to see more within three days they are experiencing volume below their normal capacity or a green agent has solicited materials before getting the proper blessings from senior staff. Neither is cause for celebration or panic.

Now your focus should be on another project, one that is in the writing stage. Shy away from new projects in the planning/development stage if you have something that already has some text behind it. Similarly, if you have a project in its third draft that could be ready for query well before the optimal time of year then you also might want to leave that on the back burner.

Projects conceived of or planned during the Summer tend to lose momentum when the Summer is over. Many failed novelists diligently put pen to paper from Memorial Day to Labor Day only to create 60% of a manuscript that sits yellowing in a desk drawer only to be thrown out by a significant other years later during a move.

Projects critiqued over the summer tend to become obsessions.  They say you can never edit a work too many times.  Well "they" are wrong.

Finally, if you are writer it shouldn't be presumptuous to assume you ENJOY writing.  Other stages in the creative process are necessary but nothing should be as satisfying as seeing the manuscript file of your project grow by the page.

This is your time.  Enjoy it.

Summer and the Writing Calendar

It's almost summer.  If you're new to the writing game or trying to get that first novel published there are two mistakes I'd like you to stay away from for your own good.  First, you might be under the impression that you can write or edit an entire work in a handful of long weekends, early Fridays and that coveted week in August that you have all to yourself, minus family responsibilities of course. Next, if you've been sitting on your novel for awhile summer might be the time you've chosen to strike.  Between sitting in summer traffic and standing in line for summer movies and amusement park attractions you've probably already typed your query letter into your phone. Both are mistakes. You can't write a novel in a summer during the brief respite from a normal day job and summer is not the best time to query, just like its not the best time to apply for any other job.

 

In order to understand this you must be aware of 1) the agent/publisher calendar and 2) the calendar you should be keeping as a writer.  First, as I have stated in past posts, agents/publishers operate on a normal business calendar. Memorial Day is the beginning of vacations for important people, and the slack is taken up by already over-worked mid-levels who are "assisted" by a meager intern staff that is paid little to nothing and often does as much damage as meaningful work. A lot of smaller presses and literary magazines don't even accept queries in the summer. Now, that said, when do you think most queries come in? Given that most queries are from unpublished authors who probably are attempting to do the same thing you are, the answer would be summer.  So Summer is the low point of quality agent time and attention and the high point of submissions.

 

Next there is your own calendar.  There is a certain type of writer who is not really serious about his craft, but enjoys the title "writer" who writes sporadically, usually in-between jobs, has several unfinished products and is generally the sort who looks at the summer as a time to finally finish X project because he has run out of people who will consistently humor him by feigning interest.  Then there is a certain type of writer who writes everyday at a certain time without fail, keeps a journal of progress, and measures that progress against monthly, quarterly and six-month milestones to keep themselves on track. The first writer looks to summer as a time to catch-up on a half-year's worth of writing.  The second writer simply looks at summer as a deadline for ready-to-go projects and as a working period for fall submissions. 

Literary Fiction: Behind the Veil

It's an accepted premise that most genres have formulas, certain rules that if followed lead to a recognizable work of a particular kind (though this speaks not at all to the quality).  Literary Fiction on the other hand is considered by many to be the simple product of divine inspiration. Not so. A work of "literary" fiction can be achieved by picking a crystallizing moment in a long series of events that spans 1) multiple generations and 2) an event of historical significance.  Finally, most Literary Fiction will contain an almost shocking lapse of character by the protagonist who is otherwise a moderately decent human-being.

The best example of a crystallizing moment is a trial. Funerals are also a solid choice or you might want to go for a horrible accident or sudden death. Trials are the best because you can provide the reader with detailed bits of information under the guise of providing evidence for the trial and slowly let your reader get used to the necessity of not telling the story chronologically.  Funerals work as well.  Individuals speak at funerals and it also gives the characters a less formal (with respect to the nature of the proceedings no the gravity of the occasion) setting to interact.

Literary fiction almost always spans generations even if the protagonist has no immediate family.  The dying and birth of new characters in the protagonist's world and their interaction are necessary elements of the story.  The arc of the story is long and almost always encompasses several generations.

It is no surprise then that the backdrop contain events of historical significance and how these events impacted people with no historical significance. If one's story takes place in the last 500 years it would be almost impossible to pick a place in the Western World that didn't have an event of some note over the course of several generations.

Finally, the protagonist must do something awful without being awful. Betray a life-long friend because they remind you of your own cowardice or fail to exonerate an innocent man because you covet that man's wife, this is literary gold and adds form to a genre where the antagonist is not necessarily another person or if it is someone that the author can credibly have defeated or in some way harmed by the hero.  This character flaw takes some of the burden off the enemy in the story and frees the medium to have more realistic outcomes for villains SO LONG AS the author attempts to bring closure on the protagonist's failure of character.

So there it is folks. That's literary fiction.  Don't be intimidated by it.

Helping Self-Help Authors

We've recently received a higher than normal volume of self-help book submissions.  Authors are of course looking for a marketability analysis of their work, are intrigued by the First Read Impression (FRI) analysis and want to know if it is something we can do for them.  The answer is it depends.  Allow me to explain.

First, one has to understand the PQLS philosophy towards marketing self-help books.  A self-help book in our view is simply a book where the reader is the hero, the antagonist is weight-gain, depression, society or whatever obstacle the book is designed to help you overcome, and the steps to overcome this obstacle are the plot. We believe that 1) self-help books that closely adhere to this construct are the most marketable and 2) self-help books that do this can benefit from an FRI analysis.

Self-help books are extremely marketable.  Recently Steve Harvey made his self-help book "Act Like a Lady but Think Like a Man" into a blockbuster movie. Self-help books were regularly featured on Oprah Winfrey.  This is big business.

How to Tell When E-Publishing Hits the Tipping Point

Here at PQLS we counsel first-time authors to submit their work to traditional agents before they think about self-publishing. We are aware that 26% of adult fiction was in e-book format and yes we follow the anti-trust cases. We've already written about the stigma of e-publishing and the problematic situation that arises from doing your own marketing so instead we thought we'd take a different route.

First ask yourself: How many traditional books v. E-books do I own? Keep in mind by E-book we mean book that is ONLY available in digital form. Ok. Now ask yourself: in what form were the last 10 books you purchased?

Think that's unfair? Alright, apply that analysis to CDs v. Digital Music.  Now apply it to regular cell phones v. smart phones. Regular TV v. HD.

E-publishing is is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3D movies and Blu-ray DVDs with respect to the technology catching on. It has a firm foothold, but doesn't seem poised to become dominant or phase out the old system.

So for now submit your work for the dominant platform. Don't worry, we're watching trends and will tell you when things change. In addition to wider usage, there would need to be an established method of quality control before people abandon the old system.

That said, if you're dead set on self-publishing PQLS is still here to help.  An FRI analysis is an extremely useful tool because in lieu of a traditional publisher it may be your only chance to check yourself against the market.  Each buyer of your self-published book is like a mini-agent whose positive review you are counting on to get to that next sale. 

Deciding What to Write: Looking at the Market

Here at PQLS we have a simple motto: write what sells.  Extrapolating on that, we have: write what your publisher can sell.  Taking it a step further we have: write what an agent can convince a publisher he can sell.  Finally we arrive at: write something you can convince an agent that he can successfully pitch to a publisher with enough marketing dollars to make it sell whether the original sales theory is correct or not.

But how?

In classic consultant form instead of telling how to do something we are going to tell you two ways NOT to do it, and hoping you stumble on the right answer in-between the two wrong ones.

The first mistake authors make is to write whatever they want without the slightest regard to who might buy or sell their work.  Now, one might think they are extremely creative because the idea that popped into their head is actually a hybrid among several genres.  Actually, we at PQLS would wager most ideas start like that, then the published author shapes into a neat genre so his publisher can sell it.  Remember, genres are not like biological classifications in the animal and plant kingdoms.  Books don't naturally come in genres, genres are a marketing tool.

The second mistake authors make, usually after failing to sell their second book, is to look at what IS selling (The Hunger Games for example) and write something that is essentially exactly like that. This fails for a number of reasons.  First, everyone is doing that, even authors who have already published works and therefore have better credentials than you. Second, books aren't like purses or jeans where knockoffs are much cheaper to make and distribute.  Who is going to buy your work when they could just as easily get the one that everyone is talking about and that is getting made into a movie next year?

Instead what one needs to do is look at the market over a set period of time, say five years and look at where trends are going.  Are books in your particular genre getting darker? Are protagonists increasingly female/minorities?  Is there a part of the formula that is seems to be getting more and more contrived/cliched?  Has changes in technology fundamentally altered what readers expect in terms of plot or protagonist credentials? 

Before beginning a new project think months or years ahead to the query letter.  In that second to last paragraph before you thank the agent/publisher for their time, what criteria are you going to use for stating your book meets the traditional marketability tests in this area and how are you going to contend that your book takes one additional step?  That's what agents want.  That's how you land a book deal.

Commercial Writing: Writing for Mass Consumption

Every creative mind that desires to compose art goes through a fundamental shift in thinking as their desire to express themselves is overcome by their desire to be heard above the din of others whose motivations may reside elsewhere. Every successful writer goes through this transition, and you can go through yours more quickly with the help of Professional Query Literary Services (PQLS), specifically in the form of a First Read Impression (FRI) Analysis.

For a writer, the successful shift occurs when she adjusts her perception of her reader's point of view from the point of finishing her manuscript to the point of first encountering her manuscript. This is the first step toward being able to successfully write for mass consumption.

Let's assume for a moment you possess a typical day job.  The first co-worker stops by your desk and simply starts talking, telling you about something that happened to them yesterday.  You listen out of politeness for a few minutes, quickly lose interest, and when the phone rings you hold up your hand and pick it up, even if the caller ID clearly reveals a telemarketer.

The second co-worker stops by your desk in wrinkled clothes with lipstick on his collar.  You give an inquisitive look and he shrugs and says "I interceded in a fight last night." He then walks away to grab a cup of coffee.  What do you do?  You follow of course, wondering if the lipstick on his collar are the remnants of a kiss preceded by the words "my hero."

Now let's take a step back.  The first co-worker could have been telling you a story about how he foiled a terrorist plot when he reported an unaccompanied bag on the subway left by a shady-looking character and was about to go have lunch with the President.  The second co-worker could have eventually told you a story about an argument he got sucked into in line at the grocery store while buying flowers for his wife, who in turn thanked him in the customary manner.  But you'll never know because the only story you'll ever hear is the second co-worker.

Now let's change the hypothetical somewhat.  Suppose instead of co-workers we are talking about managers, close friends or someone else where you have an obligation to listen to what they have to say beyond the natural limits of your interest. Obviously the outcome is quite different.  Now, can you guess which group agents and publishers fall into? Exactly.  But what about people who critique your manuscript?

Sadly, whether you pay to have your book professionally edited/critiqued or you ask a close friend and confidant to do it, this individual will treat your book the way a subordinate or a close relative would.  The reason is simple: the exchange of money or relationship to you causes them to read beyond their natural interest without even being consciously aware.

This is why an FRI Analysis performed by PQLS is necessary. This is the only way to get the kind of useful feedback you need to transform your work from writing to commercial writing by getting a step-by-step guide that will fundamentally change the way potential readers initially perceive your work. It takes most writers years to make this transition naturally, but it must occur before one can land their first book deal.