editor

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Setting Up Your Agents and Editors Page

Posted by george on January 4, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 13 comments

From: mburkert.wordpress.com

When I did the recent redesign of my author/writing home page, I knew I wanted a page aimed squarely at any wayward agents or editors who happened across my blog.  I didn’t want it to replace my “about” page, I wanted it to be a place to espouse my writing philosophies and to talk a little about my work.

I’m sure a lot of you are sitting there thinking, “George, are you daft?  Agents and editors don’t come looking for you.  You have to go find them!”  Okay, point well taken.  I’ve no plan to sit on my haunches and let the world come to me.  With that said however, it makes perfect sense to have all of my soldiers in place.  Just in case the sneaky little devils try to get in from my flank.

Last I checked, agents and editors are human and most are apt to have a computer, no?  Who is to say there might not be one or two on a late night surfing expedition.  Not necessarily looking for the next NYT Bestseller, just poking around.  Suppose they came across my blog through one of my posts.  Do you think it’s possible they might click on a page titled, “For Agents and Editors“?  I think it is possible.

Here are the ingredients to bake the perfect Agents and Editors page:

  • Author Picture – You want an outstanding picture at the top of the page.  A picture that would look great on a book jacket.  It personalizes you, makes you a real person.  It may also allow the person viewing the page to picture what you would look like at book signings.
  • Writing Philosophy – Just a few paragraphs about what drives your writing.  Avoid long dissertations about theory and the long, troubled journey that you have trekked in your mission to get a book published.  Write as if the person were sitting in a coffee shop with you and has just asked you to tell them a little about your writing philosophy.  Here is a snippet from my page:  I guess I’m like a lot of authors in that I really do love to write.  In some ways I’m not like a lot of authors out there.  My philosophy about getting my books published is simple:  I have a product (book) I’d like to sell.  Your efforts to reach that end goal should be complemented and bolstered by my efforts to accomplish the same.
  • Current Projects – Outline the current writing projects that you have on your plate.  Divide them into fiction and non-fiction.  A sentence or two about each is sufficient, and be sure to include a genre for each.
  • Other Writing – If you have any e-books out there, or magazine articles this would be a good place to list them.  Think of it as your list of clips.  If you have some web content out there, be sure to hyperlink to it.

That’s it, really.  Relatively short and sweet.  Don’t make the thing 10,000 words or anyone who does stop by will quickly get outta Dodge.  It should take you no more than an hour to get the page up and running.

Finally I’ll just ask, “What could it possibly hurt?”

I’d be interested in any thoughts you may have on this.  Also, if you are an agent or an editor what are your thoughts on this topic?

I think the Editor was asleep

Posted by george on July 7, 2009
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , , , . 19 comments

I pulled this up from the archives today because there is some relevance and new info to discuss.  When I wrote this post back in October of last year, I blamed the editor.  I’ve learned a lot and after painfully working through yet another poorly written book, I’ve decided the blame does not belong to the editor.  Well, okay.  Maybe they have some of the ownership, but I think the whole darn publishing system is to blame – including the writer.

The book that prompted this latest rant was written by a relatively known writer with more than 30 novels under his belt.  I’ve not read anything else by the author so this one may be the exception, but somehow I don’t think so.  here’s the scoop:

  • He moves the entire story along though dialogue almost exclusively.  I don’t have a problem with that necessarily but I think a balance of narrative and dialogue works best.
  • His dialogue rings hollow and seems stilted and untrue.  I could overlook moving the story with just dialogue if the conversations had some kind of substance.  Part of the problem is that it makes any foreshadowing stick out like a sore thumb.

With that said, I’ll let you folks get back to the original post:

As a writer, I also read.  That’s what writers do.  I mean, besides the whole writing thing

I ordered up some books from the Mystery Guild Book Club to replenish my reading material for what should prove to be a long, cold, dark winter.  I chose the books based on little more than the one or two paragraph description.  I wasn’t familiar with most of the authors but I figured that was ok.  After a week or two, the ubiquitous pale orange parcel slip from my friends at the Post Office was hanging out in the ol’ mailbox.

I love books.  I’m always excited to see a new batch arrive.  I got this bunch home and spent a little bit of time reviewing the jackets and the first few pages, trying to decide which to delve into first.

With my first selection in hand, I cozied up in the chair and prepared my self for a good reading session.  At least, I thought it would be good.  I ground through the first dozen pages.  The story line was ok, but the writing style, well it sucked.  Much of the dialogue was done in sentence fragments.  Now, I think for dialogue that’s ok, because that’s how a lot of folks talk.  The problem is that it was peppered throughout the narrative as well.  And I don’t mean a light peppering either.  Darn near every paragraph had a non-sensicle fragment.

That’s cute and effective if used a few times throughout the book, but it was apparent in this case that it was part of the style.  Frankly, it did more than just irritate me.  It pissed me off.  How could an editor believe for an instant that this was acceptable for publication?  The style is so distracting that the story line is lost.

I’ve put the book up on the shelf and I have no intention of opening it again.

That got me thinking about social norms and book reading.  How many of you have slugged your way through the first chapter of a book and then just walked away?  I’ll bet most of you have.  Library books don’t count because you’ve no vested interest.    Now, how many of you have ever walked out of a movie theater ’cause it was terrible.  I’ll bet if you looked at the ratio, you’ve suffered through a lot more movies then you have books.

Why is that, I wonder?  Is it because it’s considered rude to walk out of a movie theater?  Maybe.  After all, ditching a book can be done under the cover of night, when no one is watching.

So that’s my query to you.  Do you book ditch?  If so, what makes you give up?

Oh, and I don’t want to slam the book I just tromped all over in public, but if you’d like the author/title then just comment or shoot the moose an email.  (I can’t believe I just wrote, “shoot the moose”)

An open letter of apology to all of my editors

Posted by george on March 10, 2009
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 25 comments

One of my clients I write for sent me a 2000 word article for editing by proxy the other day.  I was glad to do this project because it was a break from the normal writing that I do.  I opened the document and activated the track changes feature and got right on it.  This ended up being the inspiration for this open letter of apology to any editor to whom I have submitted or will ever submit anything I write.

Dear Editor,

I want to take a moment to personally thank you for looking at my work.  I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for my writing.  Specifically, I would seek your forgiveness for:

  • Writing a 30 word sentence when a ten word one would do.
  • Including my very clever hyperbole at every opportunity (parenthetically, of course)
  • Creating numerous opportunities to use an ellipse
  • Using acronyms that I am familiar with and assuming that everyone else is, too
  • Not understanding when to use numerals versus their word counterparts
  • Hyphenating the cliche’s I use
  • The generous sprinkling of quotation marks around emphasized words
  • Having at least one bolded sentence in each paragraph
  • Meandering around my point without ever really reaching it
  • Starting as many sentences as possible with “and” or “but”

I would also like to apologize for not really taking the time to proofread several times what it is I’ve sent you, even though that is what an editor is for, right?

As a token of my sincerity, please find an enclosed check for $20 to help defray the cost of your red or blue pencil supply.

Sincerely,

George Angus

OK readers, now that I’ve got my tongue pulled back from my cheek I can move forward.  The lesson here is simple, really.  When you are sending something off to an editor, take a good, hard look at what it is that you are sending.  Get another set of eyes on your prose if possible.  While I would never advocate squelching your natural voice, remember the old adage “Kill your darlings”.

Let ‘em rip, readers.  What are your experiences and thoughts?

Query me this, Batman Part 3

Posted by george on November 18, 2008
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , , , . 9 comments

In the first two posts of this series, I hounded folks about the importance of getting all the pieces of the puzzle in place for the all important query letter.  This third and final chapter of the query letter story will discuss the outline of the letter itself.

Now that you’re ready to go, let’s look at the elements of a successful query letter.

First Line:  Today’s date

4 hard returns and then,

Editor Name, Title

Publication Name

Publication Address

Dear: Unless you are certain of gender, use the full name

First Paragraph:

If you’re going to sweat over any of the paragraphs in your query letter, it better be in this paragraph.  This is the hook.  This is the paragraph where you capture the interest of the editor and demonstrate a little of your writing style.  Think of it as an excerpt of your article that contains the essence of the whole piece.  It does NOT have to be pulled directly from your article but it should have the flavor.  Remember that it is a hook, so make it sticky.  Make it so lively and interesting that someone would HAVE to continue reading the rest of the letter.  As if that’s not challenging enough, try and keep it down to two – four, short – medium sentences.

Second Paragraph:

Tell the editor what this article is about.  Make certain that this is written from an angle that demonstrates you have read the submission guidelines and you are familiar with the publication and the readership.  Brevity is important here.  Remember you want to give a taste, not set up a buffett.

Third Paragraph:

Describe where and how you believe this article may fit in the publication.  If you believe it fits in a particular section, outline why you believe so.  This demonstrates again that you have done your home work and are familiar with the publication.  Use this paragraph to put forth the anticipated word count and any ideas for possible side-bars.  If you have photographs, let the editor know that in this paragraph.

Fourth Paragraph:

Yay me paragraph.  Describe previous publications that have accepted your work.  If you don’t have any clips then that’s ok. Don’t dwell on it, don’t plead and don’t beg.  C’mon.  Get off of your knees and stand proud.  This query letter speaks for itself and gives the editor a fine feel for your capabilities.

Closing:  Short and sweet.  Thanks for your time and consideration, I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Best, Regards – Whatever you like.

Your name

Address

Phone number

email address

That’s all there is to it.  I know there are a lot of ways to skin this cat, but this format has garnered a positive response each time I’ve used it.

I hope you enjoyed this series.  Query letters are very important and it’s important that you understand the concepts presented here.  If you have any thoughts about what you think makes a great query, then comment and let’s start a discussion.

Query me this, Batman Part 2

Posted by george on November 11, 2008
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , , . 2 comments

Welcome back.  In the first post I discussed the importance of writing a good query letter and I hammered home (I hope) the importance of obtaining the 2009 Writer’s Market.  Let’s continue on with this query letter best practices post to see the next chapter in the story.

Now that you’ve got your intended target in sight you essentially have one of two paths from which to choose.  Which path you take is dependent to some extent on the information you found either in Writer’s Market or by reading the submission guidelines at the publisher’s web site.  You can query by email or query/submit the manuscript via regular mail.  There are other options but these are probably the most common.

Query by email

This is becoming a more and more popular way for an editor to receive your query.  First and foremost, do not be fooled into thinking that just because you’re doing this in an email that the format should be any less formal then a regular letter.  This means you start with the date, four hard returns followed by the name, title and complete address.  Dear so and so is next, followed by the body, followed by the closing.

Some email pointers:

  • Make certain you turn off your spam filter or specifically allow email from whoever you are sending your query letter to.  See this great post from an editor.  You want to read this.  I’m serious.
  • Include your contact information in the email, just as you would on printed letter.
  • If the submission guidelines say “no attachments”, guess what?  DON’T ATTACH ANYTHING!  I can’t even believe I had to make that point.  Put your stuff in the body of the email.
  • Do not hound the editor.  If the guidelines indicate a 4 – 6 week response time, don’t you dare email that editor until maybe 8 weeks have passed.  The convenience of email is no excuse to not follow directions.

Query by regular mail

The first thing you want to do is to go read this post from an editor.  While it is specific to submitting a novel, many of the points here are important for any query or submission.

Did you read the post?  Good stuff isn’t it?  See, stick with the Moose and I’ll get you to where you’re going.

Regular mail pointers:

  • Every component of your mailed query is advertising for you and who you are.  You cannot be too professional, you cannot be too perfect.
  • The envelope is clean and crisp.  Use a standard stamp (save your “Nuke the Gay Whales for Christ” stamps for your Christmas cards.
  • I know you wouldn’t dare forget to include the SASE.  If you’re submitting an entire manuscript and you’d like it back, make sure the envelope is the correct size with the appropriate amount of postage.
  • If you are including the manuscript, do not bind it in any way.  No fancy page protectors, no cute butterfly hole-clasps – nothing!

In the last post of this series, we’ll get into the specifics of the query letter itself.  I’ll share the format that has worked for me every time I’ve used it.