Just came across this photo of me at a Romance Writers of America conference, holding one of my favorite book covers. I don’t remember who took the picture or what happened to the blown-up book cover, nor do I remember what I was thinking with that goofy expression on my face. Care to suggest captions, anyone:
I occasionally get questions from people about the process of selling one’s first novel, so here’s a quick and dirty explanation. I’ll go into further detail in future posts.
First and foremost, you need to have written the novel. This may seem obvious, but it’s very common for aspiring writers to have an idea for a novel they’d like to sell, but an idea is not sellable, at least not to publishers of fiction when your name isn’t Stephen King or Nora Roberts.
And really, why wouldn’t you want to write the book first? If your hope is to get rich or at least considerably less poor by selling a book, you might want to try collecting recycling as a more lucrative pass-time. Presumably, you want to write a book because you love to write, you are driven to write, the demons in your head insist that you cannot be content unless you write, and/or you can’t not write.
I can’t think of any other good reasons for writing fiction.
So you’ve risen before dawn every day to slave for a year–or ten–over your first novel, and now you want to sell it. You’ll first need to write a query letter that describes, in a paragraph or so, who you are and what your book is about. It should be such a compelling paragraph that agents can’t help but ask to see a few chapters or the entire book.
Some agents will also accept partial manuscripts. This is the first three chapters of your book, along with a synopsis of the entire story. In this case, your query letter should still be entertaining and compelling, but you also have a chance to dazzle the agent with your actual manuscript.
The next step is to query agents who represent the kind of book you’ve written. You can do a google search for agents of fiction, and thank goodness plenty of agents these days have websites with their client lists and preferences stated. This makes finding an agent, at least theoretically, easier than it used to be.
You should look for agents whose client list includes books you enjoy, and you should probably target newer agents over the established heads of literary agencies. The more established agents tend to have fuller client lists, making them far more selective about whom they represent. Newer agents are looking for authors whose careers they can grow along with their own careers, so it can be a beneficial relationship for you both.
A few publishers, such as Harlequin, do accept unagented submissions, and it is indeed possible to sell to them without an agent. But should you? Maybe. I have always had an agent partly because I found a few willing to represent me and partly because I didn’t want to sell only a single book–I wanted to build a writing career. An agent can help with that. An good agent can help you navigate contracts and can get you access to all the editors who don’t give serious consideration to unagented manuscripts.
I think it’s always smart to approach agents first. That will help you get a sense of whether your book is ready for the world. If you query a handful of agents and get nothing but form rejection letters back, you might want to rewrite your query letter and/or revise your proposal. You are not going to be a good judge of your own work, and while it’s possible you’ve written something that won’t sell, it’s also possible you’ve written something that will be so in demand by publishers that your new agent will have to oversee a bidding war. You can’t do that yourself.
If you find an agent, that agent will then discuss with you options for submitting your work to publishers. A submission plan will be developed, the manuscript is submitted by your agent, and you just sit back and bite your nails while you wait to hear responses from editors. This is the part where writers must develop nerves of steel. Many editors will not like your work and will not want to buy it. That’s just a fact of publishing. In fact, all the editors may not like your work and may not want to buy it, even though your agent likes it.
(This is why it’s important that you write because the demons in your head command you to and not because you fully intend to retire at the age of 30 on your book sales.)
So what if you can’t get an agent? You might want to read some books on the craft of writing and figure out if you’ve got some revising to do on your manuscript before you continue trying to sell it. You can also submit directly to publishers. Another option is to attend writers’ conferences where you can meet agents and editors, learn more about the craft of writing, and commiserate with other writers in the same plight as yourself.
At the same time, you should be getting to work on your next novel, because really, the more you write, the better your chances of writing something worthy of publication.
This is a general overview of the process of selling a novel. Stay tuned for more posts on specifics of the process.
Anne Lamott’s brilliant book on writing, Bird by Bird, reminded me last night about the importance of the shitty first draft. There is no such thing as getting it perfect–or even nearly perfect–the first time around, so give yourself permission to write stuff you’ll never show the outside world. I was a much more productive writer when I kept this in mind daily.
I don’t let anyone see my writing in first draft form. I barely let anyone else even touch my computer for fear that a first draft might be read by curious eyes.
I write a lot of unusable stuff, but this is the only way I know to get to the material that is worth reading. It’s also how I get to know my characters intimately.
Do you give yourself permission to write crap? If not, you should try it.
1. Lose the adverbs. Slowly, haltingly, feverishly–whatever. If it has an -ly on the end of it, ask yourself if you really need it, or if there is a better verb you could use.
2. Speaking of verbs, in dialogue, keep it simple. Use he said and she said whenever you need to make it clear who’s speaking, and cut out as many of those as possible. The trick is to allow your reader to get lost in imagining the actual conversation, not puzzling out how “she murmured breathlessly” would sound. The descriptors in dialogue should be minimal to avoid jarring your reader out of the scene.
3. Read your work out loud to check for good rhythm and to avoid awkward pacing. Better yet, have someone else read it to you.
4. Don’t go with your first idea. When you’re plotting and planning, brainstorm as many courses of action as you can–ideally, 20 or so–and choose the best of your ideas.
5. Open up to a random page of one of your favorite books and study what works well about it. Take note of what the author does to draw you in. The more you repeat the reading of a passage, the more you can notice things you didn’t catch in your first or second or fifth pass. Don’t just note what works though–take note of anything that jumps out at you as a fault, too, because even the best of writers make mistakes. Now, take what you’ve learned and apply it to your own writing.
Are you an eavesdropper? I am. I can’t help but tune in to the conversations around me. It’s part of being a writer to take everything in, to notice, to study human behavior. I have a bad habit of becoming more tuned in to the conversation at the next table than I am to the one at my own–if, of course, the one at the next table is more interesting.
Among the many fascinating snippets of conversation I’ve overheard, I was walking my dog in the park the other day and heard a woman say to her friend as they passed me, “…And then I told him he’d better get that woman the hell out of my house…” Oh how I wanted to change directions and hear the rest of that conversation. But I didn’t, so I’m left to imagine the rest.
That particular snippet, if it’s about what I imagine it was, confirms for me the reliability of human nature. We tend to do what we tend to do. We make the same mistakes again and again, person after person, and we react the way one would expect, time and time again. We aren’t so different, any of us. Except, occasionally, people do say unexpected things and behave in unexpected ways. These people are worth writing stories about.
When we imagine fictional characters, we must strike a balance between believability and uniqueness. A memorable character is someone we can identify with but whose actions may take our breath away with their freshness, bravery, and originality. Such people cause the plot of a novel to twist and turn in unexpected ways.
I recently read The Little Known by Janice Daugherty, and the main character, Knot, struck me with his bravery and generosity in the face of incredible adversity. He didn’t buckle, as most of us would have. He made unexpected but believable choices, and he proved himself to be a hero even though that wasn’t a word he would have ever used to describe himself. The contrast between how he sees himself and how the reader sees him adds to his originality.
For writers, eavesdropping can create interesting little opportunities to craft such characters. Most of what we hear is predictable, but a snippet of conversation is a chance to say “what if?” What if that overheard conversation isn’t about what you think it is? And what if an ordinary conversation could lead to extraordinary actions?
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, but others judge us by what we have already done.” –Leo Tolstoy
This quote caught my attention because it’s such an interesting reminder not to allow our dreams for ourselves sidetrack us from the actual accomplishing of the dreams. It’s so easy to fritter away our lives with “Someday I’ll write that novel,” and “When I have the time I will…” Thinking about the dream and planning to someday accomplish the dream can be a powerful sedative. These habits in themselves are a form of procrastination.
The only moment we are guaranteed is this one, so what are we waiting for? Get to work!
My last Harlequin Blaze novel, Made You Look, is available as a Kindle ebook now.
Actually, some of my other Harlequin novels too have been released again as ebooks. More links to come.
Do you have a Kindle or any other ebook reader? I bought one this summer, reluctant to spend so much money on yet another electronic device, and it has quickly become one of my all-time favorite possessions. My reasons to love it are many: it’s sturdy and lightweight, so I can pack it easily in my purse and don’t have to worry about it being damaged in transit. Buying books on it is ridiculously easy–too easy, actually. This is both a plus and a minus, since it can lead to more book purchases than my budget allows.
I also love that I can download a free sample of any book I’m interested in, and this has led me to far fewer disappointing purchases. If the book hasn’t grabbed me by the end of the sample, I don’t buy it. There are still a few books I’d rather have in hard copies–mainly reference books–but for most of my reading purposes, I love love love my groovy little Kindle. The most pathetic reason? It’s easier to hold than a regular book. Yes, I admit it, I’m too lazy to hold a book open sometimes.
