Tag Archives: submitting novel

Topical Tuesday: Email Snafus Can Happen to You

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“One of the most embarrassing moments for me is an email flub. I met an agent at a conference and queried her soon after we met. Several months later, I had signed with my agent, then six months later, on New Year’s Day I got an email from the conference agent. She loved the samples I had sent her and was requesting fulls of two of my manuscripts. I then quickly emailed my friend and said can you believe this agent took one year to get back to me! Ah, except I sent the email back to the agent and realized a second after hitting send. I felt so awful, but she was very nice and actually wrote back apologizing for taking so long and wished me best of luck with my agent. So the moral of the story is, always check the address before hitting send.”

 

 

“I once wrote an author I admired, raving about her latest book.  Which wasn’t out yet.  She was lovely about it and told me it wasn’t out yet, not even in ARC form and that I could buy it when it came out.  I realized in a major Dolt Moment that I had written the wrong title when I was emailing her.  I’d read one of her other books (and loved it), but written the title of the one that hadn’t been released yet.
 
Of course, I couldn’t write back and say, *embarrassed giggle* “The book I meant I read was . . . ” without it sounding totally lame.
 
That was only one of my horrible experiences with email.  It is an amazing medium and yet, potentially very dangerous.” 

 

“I have my basic query letter that I keep in a word document and copy and paste into the body of an email before sending it off to agents. I always personalize from there. But one time, while I remembered to personalize the body, I left the heading for a previous agent in. It said Dear X, then under it Dear Y. Needless to say it was an instant rejection!”

 

We’ve all done it. It’s so easy. That itchy, little pointer finger ready and rearing to hit “Send.” I’ve done it. Don’t lie, you’ve done it, too.

So I’d like to prescribe the “Don’t Screw Up” Method:

Step 1: Compose your email in a word document.

Step 2: Check for red squigglies and green squigglies, too. Sure, spell check and grammar check aren’t right 100% of the time, but do make sure you understand why you are disregarding your trusty computer’s sage advice.

Step 3: Paste the text into the body of an email. Check formatting.

Step 4: Re-read your email. I know, it’s perfect, of course, and you don’t want to re-read it because it takes a whole one minute, and you could have done something important like chugged a glass of milk, but do it anyway. For me.

Step 5: Double check your greeting. Don’t say Mr. if it’s Miss (unless you are writing to me because I’m used to it so I don’t care anymore.) Don’t use the wrong name or spell it incorrectly. Also, make sure your greeting makes sense. “Yo” might not be the wording of choice when writing to Dream Agent #1. Just sayin’.

Step 6: Sit on your hands for 10 Mississippi. I know, I know. You’ve spent like two extra minutes on an important email. I’m so strict. But it’s ok. You’ll make it up on the apology email you’ll inevitably have to write afterward.

Step 7: Make your finger happy; hit send!

 

Now…to get myself to follow my own method….

 

Any personal anecdotes???

Keep on Fumbling!

 

Status: Stressed. The end.

10 Things An Agent Might Not Wanna Hear

By Posted in Uncategorized, Writing: The Process Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

 An agent calls to talk to you about your project. Yay! But there might be another reason he wants to talk to you on the phone. Here’s 10 surefire things you can mention to make him regret ever dialing your number.

 

1. So, when will my movie be made?

2. You can guarantee me a $200,000 advance, right?

3. Alright, so when I call you every twenty minutes, you’ll get back to me within five, ya?

4. You’re so lucky to have me. I mean, you’ll really thank me when I make the bestseller list.

5. Thanks for offering, I’ll get back to you in ten weeks, k?

6. I took thirteen years to write this novel, but don’t worry I’ll cut it down to ten for the next.

7. Oh shoot, did I forget to tell you? I already accepted an offer. Thanks for reading my entire novel in 2 days though.

8. Yeah…um…can you just hold that thought while I query a dozen or so other agents? No offense, but I queried by third tier choices first.

9. So, have you sold anything in my genre? I didn’t bother checking because I figured you could just tell me when we talked. Time management. Smart, huh?

10. You want me to…REVISE!? How dare you doubt my genius!

 

Moral of the story: It’s usually a good idea to avoid sounding arrogant, psycho, cracked out or all three. Good talk. See you out there.

 

 

Status: Taking some suggestions from incredibly fabulous AW members. Will be thinking hard these next 2 days. It’s a tough life, Charlie Brown. (Kidding! Kidding.)

6 Ways To Quit Wasting Your Time

By Posted in Uncategorized, Writing: The Process Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

If you’re like me (and I bet you are), when you are in the midst of submitting your novel/short story/query to agents or editors your day goes something like this:

 

Wake up, check your iPhone for emails before you so much as roll out of bed, go to your computer to check the response times of agents/editors at the Blue Boards, compare with your excel spreadsheets, brush teeth/do hair/try to act like you are about to be productive, go check inbox, check blogs, check inbox, open your Word document, check inbox, stare at screen, check inbox, hit refresh, hit refresh, hit refresh…

 

Ok, so first thing’s first. Take your mouse off the refresh button. Navigate away from your inbox. Close the entire window. Yes, I promise it will be ok. Your emails will still be waiting for you in an hour’s time. I swear.

Now, here’s how we can better spend our time:

 

1. Edit. You might be too wound up to write anything new. Fine. Sometimes that happens. But think about what you can do that is productive. I mean really, really productive. Editing! Go back a few pages and read. Fix any glaring errors or maybe flesh a scene out. This activity is well worth your while, somehow feels less intensive, and is completely guilt free.

2. Grab your notebook. Not your laptop, the kind that involved killing trees. Thanks. Now, go sit on a couch, away from your computer and work out a plot point. If that’s too intensive for your little, wound up mind, think of snippets of dialogue. Again, this takes fewer brain cells, removes your from temptation, and yet is an activity related to your next WIP. Feel good about it.

3. Research. Anything to add realism or depth to your new project. Unfortunately, this places you closer to your computer, but, luckily, your inbox is not just minimized but closed, so resist! Plus, research is fun. Who doesn’t like to learn new things? Plus, the knowledge needed to write novels is usually the useless kind and that’s the best stuff to know anyhow. Take notes.

4. Storyboard. This takes a bit more brain power, so to do this activity you’ll need to not be entirely consumed by the anticipation that comes with waiting for an agent/editor’s verdict. Get a big piece of cardboard and a bunch of post-its. Use different colored post-its because that’s more fun and a ruler to draw the lines because it will look prettier when you finish. Make it look like a weekly calender. A margin on top and then divide into smaller column units. The smaller column units will be labeled as chapters. Different colored post-its should signify different things like characters introduced, clues given, or red herrings thrown in. This way you can visualize how everything is coming together. Plus, with post-its you can move things around as necessary. This will help you to identify plot holes and to see where the story climaxes and mini-climaxes.

5. Go to the library. I know, you probably already have your coat, keys, and are halfway out the door. But, really, reading within your genre is incredibly important and should never be considered a waste of your time. This is also the best way to forget about the milliseconds passing in which you’ve received no emails from Dream Agent #1. Read the book for fun, but pay special attention to what worked in the book and what didn’t. Note what scenes you loved and the ones you hated. As you read more within your genre, try to figure out the trends. You shouldn’t necessarily write for the market, but you should understand it. Of course, if you can afford to do this all at the bookstore, then more power to you. But, hey! We’re trying to decrease stress, so if spending a billion dollars on books doesn’t make you feel great, don’t feel bad. Use the library, it’s the American way! (Also, libraries are great customers for publishers and therefore your favorite authors because they often by multiple copies in hardcover. A great way to help your favorite authors is to request that the library order the book if they don’t have it already!)

6. Finally, if you really can’t handle writing related activities–Attend to Real Life. Writers always complain about real life getting in the way. Well, maybe washing your socks and running the dishwasher is exactly the diversion you need.

 

Status: Just got back from Happy Hour and am about to do some reading. Waiting, waiting, waiting for a page from SCOUT. I’ve got ants in my pants and probably need to take my own advice.