Tag Archives: Nathan Bransford

What MTV Understands About Young Adult Lit

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*Short posts for the next several days because I’m headed to Florida today for an entire week*

…But, as I was lying on my death bed Sunday night (small exaggeration), feeling, well, deathly ill as one does on a death bed, I got to watch an extraordinary amount of MTV and you know what I learned? MTV uses the exact same tactic for successfully targeting teens as most YA authors do.

Okay, so back up for a second. Awhile ago, I read a post by Nathan Bransford defending dead parents in young adult and middle grade fiction. While many critics consider it a major YA cliché unrepresentative of real teen life, Bransford said the trope was defensible since cutting out the parents paved the way for the teen protagonists to take on adult roles—a natural element in YA novels that tend to have coming-of-age type themes.

So, I’m lying in bed, with Shade open on one side (another absent parent book) and MTV on in the background and on comes “True Life: I’m Supporting My Family.” The episode followed young adults whose parents were dead or incapacitated and who had to provide for their large families. And I thought, what better example of kids taking on adult roles than that? No wonder this appeals to the teen audience.

Then there is the new MTV phenomenon “Teen Mom.” Again, teens forced to come-of-age within a short time period and take on an enormous amount of responsibility. Add to that “True Life: I have a parent in prison,” “True Life: I have broke parents,” “True Life: I’m living off the grid,” and “True Life: Married Young” and…I’m sensing a pattern.

So, while I’m not saying you need to kill off the parents in your YA/MG novel, it doesn’t hurt to find a way to force your protagonist to stop depending on adults. The old Dead Dad Syndrome isn’t necessarily lazy. It’s exciting.

*Examples of popular YA/MG stories with dead/absent parents:

Hunger Games
Harry Potter
James and the Giant Peach
The Lion King
Bambi
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Shade
Huckleberry Finn
Dicey’s Song
Coraline

Publishing Turnover

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As the entire blogosphere knows, Curtis Brown Agent Nathan Bransford announced his departure from agenting on Friday via his popular publishing blog. I think for most, the news came as a shock. Bransford has been known as a devoted author advocate and a newer, but influential force in the publishing world. It seemed an awfully quick exit, after all.

Still, this is publishing and, let’s face it, there is pretty rampant overturn. It’s a fact of life. In fact, author Hannah Moskowitz listed “People Leaving Publishing” as one of the top issues we should NOT worry about. Moskowitz gets that people leaving the industry sparks fear that publishing is on the downward spiral, but addresses these concerns by noting that “new agents are appearing all the damn time.” Recent examples include rising new agents like Mandy Hubbard, Taylor Martindale, and Suzy Townsend.

But does this mean that we shouldn’t worry about publishing overturn on the more macro level? I’m not sure. Of course, overturn in personnel happens in every industry and I don’t know where publishing ranks in this. Intuitively, I would think that while professionals often change jobs, they also generally develop an expertise in a given industry and remain somewhat attached to this industry, building on a specialized base of knowledge.

There are certainly some key benefits that have been shown to stem from stability in personnel within other industries. Minimizing overturn and increasing personnel stability can increase “unit effectiveness,”  encourage long-term planning, foster innovation, promote cohesiveness, and allow  personnel to better learn the company and/or the industry at large.

So sure, it might not matter that Nathan Bransford left or that Colleen Lindsay left (although I guess she stayed in publishing so maybe not a great example), but as a whole, we might have some concern if publishing overturn is higher than in other industries, especially when publishing is an industry so dependent on people and ideas.

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AgentFail

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I’m reluctant to comment on Wednesday’s #agentfail–twitterspeak for those unaware–but, hey, what is the internet for if not sharing perspectives, right?

Background: On April 1, the Bookends Blog (see my sidebar), hosted an #AgentFail in response to the recent twitter phenomenon called #queryfail. During #queryfail, agents voiced live the blunders they came across while reading their slushpiles. There were different views on the appropriateness of #queryfail. Some thought it mean-spirited and others thought it was helpful. I’m just thankful to be beyond querying! So, I won’t comment. 

Anyway, AgentFail gave writers the opportunity to soundoff on what bugs them about agents. I know some agents were hurt by the apparent bitterness behind many of the posts while others thought it instructive. 

I can understands both sides, I guess, but yanno…I think the whole AgentFail thing? Not that productive. 

Call me a control freak if you want, but I am a big fan of feeling like I drive my own outcomes. 

Many writers claimed annoyance at agents twittering excessively or doing twitter races to the bottom of their slushpiles. Fine. But, I think that’s a challenge. Write a premise or a query so compelling that the agent can’t help but sit up and listen..or, er…read! Because after all, we can only control what’s goin’ on along our side of the railroad. Does it matter whether the agent is interrupted by twittering or by answering phone calls from their clients? From the writer’s perspective, it really shouldn’t. Either way, assume an agent is likely to be distracted while reading slush. Querying writers aren’t clients yet. 

Also, let’s remember, that social networking, even when not used to just talk about writing, has been a valuable tool for up-and-coming agents. Look at Kristin Nelson. I am almost certain her popular blog has enabled her to attract and snag clients to which she might not have had access in years before. And Nathan Bransford? I’m almost certain his internet notoreity has enhanced his client list. 

But maybe blogging isn’t every agent’s chosen form of communication. I know a lot of writers know and respect who Colleen Lindsay is because of her twitter presence. While, she can’t twitter about writing and publishing every second, I think the direct exposure twitter has offerered her might have something to do with the fact that a relatively new agent has quickly become a relatively common name in writers’ circles. 

 

But here is what I really want to stress:

The writing community is possibly one of the coolest communities I’ve ever been a part of. It is one of the rare places where folks can all be part of the same industry and, in fact, be competitors yet genuinely be supportive of one another. 

I know most people deeply involved in this crazy publishing game deeply cherish the comraderie that helps us all stay sane. The second we allow bitterness and bad attitudes to start seeping into our little niche of the world is the second that it permeates the rest of our collective communication. 

So, in keeping in mind that we can only, only, only control the writer side of the fence, I hope that we can agree to defend our little fortress of positivity and mutual companionship that we know and love. It might feel cathartic to let off some steam and no doubt it is. I don’t mean to imply that the concerns and complaints are ungrounded or even aren’t useful, but I, personally, worry that more is at stake when we engage in exercises such as #agentfail.

Friday Five

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My Friday Five is short this week but a couple points carry a lot of Pow! So Happy Friday, y’all. 

 

1. The Fabulous Gretchen McNeil was mentioned today on Nathan Bransford’s blog. Very cool. Y’all will want to check out her interview with Tina Wexler. 

2. Fellow Purgatorian Kari Stewart got her first book deal this week. Not one, not two, but a three book deal!! So exciting. Definitely go congratulate her. We love to hear about those debut sales!

3. Film rights for Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games sold to Lionsgate this week. If you haven’t read it here’s the back cover copy. I know a lot of folks are excited about this movie.

 

COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?

Twenty- four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

 

4. Still waiting on agent notes. I’ve dipped into the the WIP again. And am about done with Chapter Eleven. I’m thinking of trying Write or Die. Have y’all tried this program? Any thoughts? Right now, I think it just makes me nervous!

5. I got a job with the Dallas Cowboys today and will be working there this summer! Hooray for good news. Momentum? Let’s hope. 

Friday Five

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Ohmygoodness, my SECOND Friday Five. I feel so hip and in-the-know. Kinda. Because it’s actually Saturday (*oops*). So I can’t really claim to be on top of it. Anyway, here we go!

1. It’s Valentine’s Day! I happen to love Valentine’s Day and am not cynical one little bit. I think the story of St. Valentine sending a letter signed “Your Valentine” to his sweetheart from within the confines of jail is, well, sweet. And I refuse to think of it as just a Hallmark holiday. That said, Nate and I are just getting Indian takeout. But I’m actually really excited about that. The whole restaurant on Valentine’s thing is really fun but kind of stresses me out and I’d just rather go get more for my money another night. Plus, I haven’t had Indian since leaving Philly almost 6 months ago!

2. I’m very sad to hear about Bowen Press’s closing this week. I wish it had more of a chance to get off the ground before the decision was made to cut the imprint. But obviously it is hard for me to know the full story behind anything and I recognize that publishers have had to make difficult choices in these economic times. That said, I’m glad that it seems *most* of those editors will get to stay on with HarperTeen. On a related note, how weird is it that the Collins was cut from Harper? Do we just call it Harper now??? Rather than HarperCollins?

3.  I finished the first 50 pages of the WIP, edited several times and sent them off for betaing. I have still been trying to wrestle those flashbacks to the ground, but I think they are shaping up slowly but surely. My goal is to send those pages to my agent on Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

4. Lots of the 2009 Deb books are beginning to pop up on Amazon for pre-order. Remember how awesome they are? I think I’ve seen Megan Crewe, Cindy Pon, and Jackson Pearce up. Let me know if there are others already available.

5. Did you see Nathan Bransford’s this week in publishing article? I really want a potbelly pig now! So badly. I did research on them last night and I genuinely think I’d like to have one as a pet. Nate said “no,” though. But, hey, he’s not the boss of me!!

Virtual Book Drive

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So this has been a super fun week in publishing. No denying that. Posts from Nathan Bransford and Moonrat, while informative, have left me wanting to tear my hair out a bit. Their silver lining? Publishing isn’t going to wither away completely. Great. Their advice? Buy new books.

Sure, you might feel that, as an individual, you don’t have much to offer. To which my response is not “See a therapist” but “Buy a book!”

I promise you can skip the chinese takeout this weekend and go out and purchase one book. Because as much fun as nibbling at your nailbeds whilst mulling over the future of your publishing career might be, proactivity is almost always more satisfying. (I’m very grassrootsy today)

Give book stores your vote of confidence today (or any time in the next two weeks). Go buy a book and slow down returns to the publisher.

 

First, click the poll and tell me how many books you plan to buy. Second, feel free to add the poll above to your blog and to ask people to buy books. If you have a book out that you’d wouldn’t mind people checking out provide a link to amazon in the comments section. If you have decided to ask others to buy books, link to your blog in the comments section.

 

I will add any links I get to my sidebar.

 

Today, I bought the first House of Night book, Marked, for  a friend, and Nate bought Chosen, the third book in the series for himself.

 

Get out there and buy those books!

Friday Forecast: Before You Go All Debbie Downer…

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My responses to the Tuesday’s Publishing Election Day Questions…

What is your favorite agent blog? Probably Kristin Nelson’s. I read hers every day. But, I do like the Bookends Blog an awful lot. I just forget to check.

What is your favorite editor blog? Evil Editor, but I’m going to check out Editorial Anonymous now because I’ve never seen it before.

Which agent offered you the kindest rejection letter? Hmmm…Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident.

Who do you think the most popular agent is? Blog-wise…I think the commenters are right…It’s got to be Nathan Bransford. The second he posts he has one million–not exaggerating–comments. I dream of such a day. I’m not sure who the most popular agent would be to query. Maybe Donald Maas?

 

Back to the Friday Forecast:

Some of you might be down on the publishing industry…what with Creative losing $6.5 million and profits at Harper plunging from $36 to $3 million—yeah, you probably don’t want to think on that one too long–but, I’m hear to point out that a lot of good is still goin’ on in the world of debut authors today.

 

I want to take a second to congratulate Kasey Mackenzie on her THREE BOOK DEAL WITH PENGUIN/BERKELEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

“Kasey Mackenzie’s RED HOT FURY, to Jessica Wade at Berkley, in a good deal, at auction, in a three-book deal, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown (NA).”

So Awesome! Kasey was incredibly helpful to me while deciding which agent offer to accept. She took the time to write incredibly detailed responses and has still been kind enough to respond to each of my submission process questions. I couldn’t be happier for her and I think I’m seeing a 2010 debut author interview series coming on

Im more good news:

Morrigan on AW (aka Nicole Peeler) has just sold her urban fantasy series to Orbit in pre-empt for a three-book deal. TEMPEST RISING, the first book in the series will debut in Fall/Winter 2009!

 

Moral of the story: While, yes, like the rest of the economy, publishing has taken a hit. But great things are still happening to great people. The fact of the matter is that houses still have to buy books in order to make money. So, before we get all doom and gloom. Let’s try to appreciate the good news happening. (Do I sound like Hugh Grant in Love Actually or what?)

 

Finally, I wanted to respond to a few questions I’ve gotten from commenters lately:

1. Where will the Qanta Ahmed author chat be? The author chat will be over at the LibraryThing Website on November 10. Post questions for her over there. Membership to the site is free.

2. Where do you find out the categories for deal? I suggest everyone invest in a free subscription of Publisher Lunch. Yes, I know the opportunity cost there is high, but go ahead, take the plunge. Publishers Lunch is a newsletter that arrives in your inbox daily to tell you what’s going on in the world of books.

3. How do you audition for Working Partners? Go here: http://www.workingpartnersltd.co.uk/pages/writers.html# and fill out a form.

 

 

Coming up…

 

Tomorrow I’m going to discuss Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. If you haven’t read it, you could pick it up tonight and finish it by tomorrow and comment. Seriously.

Also, I’m giving you fair warning because Cindy Pon (aka Xiaotien) will be interviewed on Monday…and everyone loves her, so definitely check her interview out.

 

Status: I have an article due to Sprouts tomorrow on submitting graphic novels. So, yeah…I probably oughta write that.

Skip the Nitwitticism, Know Thy Industry

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There were points where I felt like researching the industry was a huge waste of time. I’m not gonna lie, I often used researching the industry as a means of procrastination. I mean, reading agent/editor blogs is fun, right?

But while it might have been a way to avoid doing real work, it wasn’t a waste of time.

I’m so thankful that I read up in advance because it all happened so fast. If I hadn’t spent the time reading up earlier and internalized the process, I’d have been a bumbling idiot when the time came to actually make decisions.

Do you accept an offer right away? Do you tell other agents? Are you allowed to ask questions? Or contact clients?

These things aren’t exactly intuitive. That’s why I can’t stress enough how important learning the industry is.

Luckily, the internet has made it easy for it and agents have been kind enough to make their blogs both informative AND amusing.

I could not have gotten to this point without the following resources:

Miss Snark -Thank dog for being whacked with the clue gun, kept from being a nitwit, and snapped at by Killer Yap. If you haven’t read this entire site, don’t continue reading, just click and go.

Pub Rants -So many things to learn from Agent Kristin Nelson. Like what the heck is a boiler plate? And what does an agent’s submission letter look like? She usually posts 5 days a week and I’ve never read a post that wasn’t worthwhile.

Nathan Bransford’s blog -I love his This Week In Publishing posts. I use them to keep me current as to what’s happening in the industry. But more than that, he’s just really funny and wants to help.

Lisa Shearin’s blog -This is the perfect place to go find out what happens after you get an agent and then what happens after you get a book deal. Check out her Things I Didn’t Know Before I Was Published series

Absolute Write Water Cooler and The Blueboards -Communities of supportive authors who love to see each other succeed. My favorite parts of these forums are the Good News forums because they show/ed me that writers really can be picked out of the slushpile Ask questions and make friends. And for those of us who have ants in our pants, you can check the response times for agents, publishers, and magazines.

I’m incredibly thankful for the people that take the time to teach us newbies about the industry. I’m pretty sure the real work is about to start now, but I can’t believe that I’m that much closer to my dream.

Yay for good times!!

 

Status: Still incredibly happy, but getting ready to buckle down and do some work that needs to get done. I have tons of work for law school and tons of writing work also. I contacted one of the agent’s clients and received a glowing report. That made me excited!

I’ve been notifying the other agents that had my work that I have received an offer and asking them if they would still like to consider my project. I told you I heard back from one yesterday. Then today I remembered a couple agents still had WEIRD TATTOOS! So, I emailed one agent who had been reading a partial of WEIRD TATTOOS. I told her the situation and she said that she had just finished reading the partial and wanted a full of WEIRD TATTOOS plus SCOUT. I’m thrilled with everything right now. I can’t believe how many fabulous agents are out there.

Friday Forecast: Stop The Presses OR The Show Must Go On?

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I’ve seen the subject of this post around quite a bit lately. Yahoo Publishing News, Pub Rants, and most recently on Nathan Bransford’s This Week in Publishing. And I thought that since I’m about over my Olympic-themed kick, I could move onto another hot topic: terrorism.

And as an added bonus, not only will this be a “Friday Forecast” post, but it will also be a “Here’s a Question For Ya.” I know, TGIF, right?

Ok, so here’s the story:

Random House decided to cancel the publication of The Jewel of Medina after an Islamic scholar speculated that it would draw strong reactions and potentially spark acts of violence. Renowned novelist, Salman Rushdie, condemned the cancellation saying that the publishing giant gave into “censorship by fear.”

Now, Mr. Rushdie is probably a guy who knows what with his attempted assassinations by Hezbollah and death threats from the Ayatollah. I mean, we don’t negotiate with terrorists, right? But should we censor our books to keep them “happy?”

On the other hand, is it really worth publishing a book if the cost of publication could be human life? And we can’t exactly say that Random House’s choice was selfish. The publishing house could have certainly made money off the book. I must assume that Random House was doing what they thought was right.

 

A sticky situation for sure.

 

So my question for y’all is: Should Random House have published The Jewel of Medina?

And further, what does the cancellation of this publication mean for future controversial books? If books are the main medium of presenting detailed information, will stopping publication of tough-topic books be akin to forbidding the dissemination of Galileo’s theories for fear of the Inquisition?

 

 

Status: Finished Breaking Dawn. Thank goodness because I really, really need to start reading for school. But I can’t because I’m waiting for another page from Scott and then I’m going to double check my submission package and then send a few off to agents who have requested.

Also! Did you notice? Over 10,000 hits! Having had this blog since the last day of May I feel pretty good about that number. Page views are gradually growing. I have a Google Page Rank of 5, so hey! not too shabby.

Query Roundup

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I’m still playing the agent waiting game with WEIRD TATTOOS and I’m about to start a new round with SCOUT. I figure a lot of you are also in the midst of your own games whether it be to hear from publishers, literary agents, or magazine editors. And I understand that patience runs thin within the first…oh, I’d say…2 minutes after you send that first query letter.

 

One of my favorite things to do while waiting for responses is try to act like I have some control over the process once the submission is out of my hand. I do this by researching the agent response times on Verla Kay Blue Boards, by learning more about the agent, by trying to figure out which days I am most likely to hear news. Do rejections come on Sundays while requests come on Thursdays? I’m the Rain Man of query letters.

I wish I had more data to go off of. When I query Scout my sample size will get much larger. Maybe y’all can add some data, too. But right now prepare to be amazed by my ultra-scientific, completely precise query submission survey.

 

First some sobering query statistics courtesy of Agent Nathan Bransford:

Nathan says that he requests more material from 5% of the queries he receives. From there, he requests one full manuscript per every 25-50 partials. That means he requests 2-3 fulls out of every 1,000 query letters!

Back to the survey:  

Tuesday is far and away the most popular day for rejections to come in.

Wednesday comes in second for rejections followed by Monday then Sunday.

Moral of the story? Beware of Tuesdays!

Friday is the most popular day for agents to request materials, but not by much. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are tied closely behind Friday.

TGIF takes on new meaning.

I have not gotten a request for material on Monday or Saturday.

Average response time for e-queries has been about 5 days. (If you want more agent response times, hop on over to the Verla Kay Blue Boards on my sidebar. They have a whole forum devoted to response times!)

I’m sure we could all come up with reasons why certain days of the week seem to garner more rejections of acceptances. Any ideas? Any data to add? I’m still waiting to hear back on several queries, so as I get ready to query SCOUT and hear back more on WEIRD TATTOOS I will be able to make even more exact predictions. Hard to believe, I know.

Do y’all engage in this obsessive behavior? Or do you actually possess patience as a virtue?

 

Status: Today is another crackdown day with my SCOUT script. I didn’t quite meet my goal set for yesterday but I did get a bunch of work done. Ben will be sending me some sketches of SCOUT to put up on the blog on Friday afternoon. Yay!!!!!!

New Moon came in for me at the library. It’s the sequel to Twilight. Nate bought it last weekend. We didn’t feel like we should purchase two copies, but usually having only one book between us that we both want to read is not a good situation. There was a Harry Potter incident in ’06. So, now that I have my very own copy you all can breathe easy knowing that my relationship with Nate will survive–at least until we are ready to read Eclipse.