Ask Daphne!: March 2008 Archives

J.A. writes

I've noticed that writers who are published with HarperCollins don't seem to have their own websites. All they have is an official HarperCollins page. Is this a contractual requirement? If my book ends up at Harpercollins, will I have to shut down my writer website?

Not at all! Look at Neil Gaiman and Meg Cabot, just to name two of my favorite HarperCollins authors. I don't know specifically whose sites you were looking at, but perhaps you found a couple of authors who aren't the genius bloggers that Neil and Meg are. Harper wisely put up a portal for their fans on the web, even when the authors themselves didn't want the responsibility of keeping them up.

For the most part, I'm not aware of any publisher who would ask you to take down your website in order to put up one that they write and control. We love your websites! And honestly? Most publishers are busy enough publishing books -- they don't want to have to worry about keeping your blog up to date as well!

Now, I have heard of cases where an editor may work closely with an author about a specific blog posting, and I have, on occasion, given a look-see to one of my client's posts before they put it up, if there was anything they were writing that they thought might be inappropriate. Usually, I find writers are their own best censors -- if you think something might be taken out of context, and you're already thinking twice about it, that's a good sign you might want to find another way of saying it.

Jocelyn over at Teen Book Review contacted me the other day, shortly after I read her interview with Andrew Karre (editor for our own kt literary client Josie Bloss), and asked if I'd be willing to answer a few questions, and help her readers better understand the world of the literary agent. Mais Oui! That's what we do around here! Check out the full interview on her site, and let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

May asks

I recently wanted to return to one of your older blog posts...only to find that it was no longer on the the blog page. Furthermore, I could not find any links to a blog archive. Is this something you plan to set up in the future?

First of all, May, I'm thrilled you wanted to go back and read one of my posts again. I'm enough of a n00bie professional blogger to love that people are reading and enjoying my posts enough to want to go back and read them again. And speaking of being a n00b -- yes, you're right, there isn't a link to the archive on the main Ask Daphne page.

However, every post has its own individual page, and if you click on any one of the posts on the main page (down at the bottom of each post, on the date/time stamp), it will take you to a permanent link for that post. And on the sidebar of THAT page, you'll find links to the previous post, as well as to the archives. As well, at the bottom of the post, you'll find links to other posts that use the same tags and categories.

It's not the most perfect system, but it's what we have right now. I'll see if Rexroth and I can put some work into making a more obvious link to the archives on the main page.

Scott writes

In the AuthorMBA interview, you said every author should have a Web site and blog. I agree, and have had Web sites since before most people knew there was such a thing, and I've had a couple blogs. I've coached a few other authors on creating or improving their own Web sites. Because of this, I'm very interested in your thoughts.

What would you expect or hope to see on a writer's Web site, especially a new writer who might not have books or articles to promote? You mentioned not wanting to see information about agents and editors who've been queried and have rejected the writer's work. What else do you not want to see?

Scott, I'm going to be lazy and throw this over to Kristin Nelson, who I feel had a great post the other day on the same subject. She suggested what you should have up on your author website, and also echoed my own thoughts and said

What you might not want to include is a whole play-by-play of your current editor, agent, or publisher search. This could backfire. I have seen sites where an author has clearly outlined all the rejections (sometimes the letters are posted there verbatim!). It would make me think twice about asking for the full.

Besides that, what else shouldn't you have on there? I'd be leery about extremely personal stuff. Do you really want to put up that picture of your spouse in an embarrassing situation? Or yourself? Daily minutia of your life is fine for a personal blog, but if you intend to publicize your site to agents and publishers, they likely don't care about what you had for breakfast.

I think the important thing to do when writing a blog or creating your author website is to be very aware of the impression you want to make. You're not going to go wrong by erring on the cautious side -- it's easy enough to add more personal stuff when you're more comfortable writing, and you want to share your impressions of tv shows, and tell your readers every detail of the previous evening, but if you put it up too early, it can be hard to erase. The internet doesn't forget. I read a great article the other day about cleaning out your blog archives, and it's a worthwhile read even before you start keeping a blog. The author shares

When I looked back into my archives, I was actually a bit embarrassed by some of the early mistakes. I also felt that these posts would detract from the overall message of Zen Habits, and so I took them out of the archives. Did I delete them? Some of them I did, and with others I found a compromise: I just marked them as private, so that only I could see them.

If you're keeping a blog, you already know it can be a lot of work to go back in and fix things, so consider if you want them up there in the first place.

Ultimately, I think the most important distinction an author needs to make in their website is that it is a professional site, not a personal one. Let everything else flow from that decision, and you should be fine.

Need MORE impetus to donate to the Dewey Donation System? If you donate today -- either money for the library in Jamaica or books for the one in Los Angeles, you can win galley copies of Maureen Johnson's forthcoming SUITE SCARLETT and Alyson Noel's forthcoming CRUEL SUMMER. The prize is specifically for donations made today, so good luck! Give a book to someone else -- get two for yourself. Talk about a win-win!

Putting one out there to the general readership here. R.E. asks

I have a group of friends that are reading the second draft of my book and helping me with problems by discussing ideas with me and editing chapters. Because I've heard that once you put something up online it is considered "published" I have locked all the entries for these chapters and scenes on the blog I use to show it to my friends. I finally have chapter one to a place where I am happy with it, and I wanted to put it up online without locking it so only my friends could see it, but I'm afraid that if I do the book would already be considered "published". Is there any rule about this? Would agents and publishers be less likely to sign me because there is a one chapter "excerpt" somewhere on the web? I have a much shorter excerpt on my website - would it also be wise to remove this? I want to get my work out there and get people interested, but I don't want to ruin my chances.

Now, I think there's a huge gap between putting something up on a website for purposes of critique and actually being "published" online, but then again, I haven't really come up against this particular problem. And I'm not quite sure what you mean by "locked" -- is it locked for comments or edited, or can only certain people with passwords see it? If you need a password to access it, I don't think you have any problem.

Actually, I'm not sure you have a problem at all -- it's not like your blog is McSweeney's, which draws a readership expecting unique published content. It's a blog. And there have been loads of blog-to-book deals in the past.

As an agent, I wouldn't consider a short excerpt or a chapter of your book online to be considered published. At some point in the future, if you get an agent interested in your work and they want to sent it out to publishers, I would likely recommend that you remove the excerpt from your website, and take down the blog -- or rather, use it for some other purpose. Basically, when you're submitting, you want to make the best possible impression. If you query me about your novel, and I can do a basic Google search and find sample chapters strewn about the web in various stages of revision -- well, that's not the impression you want to make. If your writers group is so far flung to make hard copies difficult and emailing is, for some reason, tricky, then consider a private blog, group, or message board.

Readers, what do you think? What's the general consensus on what is "published" online?

Before the unread emails in my inbox get too overwhelming, let's clear some of them up with another Ask Daphne patented speed round! Please keep your hands and legs inside the car at all times. J.B. asks

Since you're just getting started with your own literary agency now, are you looking around for any hired help to assist you around the office? If not, do you have any other ideas of where I could potentially look for publishing jobs that exist outside of New York City?

Ah, J.B., I kind of wish I was! I'm afraid though that for now, kt literary remains just me and my alter ego, and we do our best to get to all the work that comes across our desk. You're on the right track for seeking publishing jobs outside of NYC, though. Find those agencies or publishers that operate outside New York, and contact them! At the same time, keep an eye on the job boards at Publishers Marketplace and Media Bistro -- I've seen postings from all over the country, although the bulk are in New York. And maybe my readers have other suggestions. Good luck!

Gogirl writes

I've queried several agents for my novel and received several requests for fulls and partials. One agent called me a few weeks ago to talk about my novel and what types of changes this agent would like to see. The agent didn't offer representation at that time. Since then, I've made the changes and the agent said she liked what I did. Now she wants more changes--and still no offer to rep. In the meantime, I don't know whether I should say something to the other agents reading my novel or not. I don't have an offer or anything tangible to discuss or do I? I also had another agent ask for the full last week based on a large partial, and she asked me if I'd accepted representation "yet." What is the appropriate protocol in this type of situation?

Gogirl, while you're in an enviable position, at this point, it's still a waiting game. Without a firm offer of representation, I don't believe you're under any obligation to inform other agents of your dealings with the first agent -- unless they won't look at anything unless it's exclusive, but then, you wouldn't currently be in touch with them, would you? You could ask the first agent point blank if an offer is forthcoming, mentioning that you've had other interest, but seeing as she's already requested additional changes, you might not get the answer you're looking for if you press her. I would recommend making the revisions, if they interest you, and waiting to hear her reaction then. If an offer is forthcoming, at that point I'd recommend you tell the other agents reading your material, and try to give them a reasonable amount of time to get back to you with a decision. I hope that helps!

And finally, OneBittenTwiceShy asks

What do YOU define as "middle grade novel"?

Roughly, I'd call it a book aimed for an audience of 8-12, although there can be low middle grade books for readers on the younger end of that range, and high middle grade books that may feature older situations.

OK, that's it for today! Keep those questions coming.

I'm back! And as promised, since EM was quick enough to get an email off to me before my lunch today, I asked my good pal Emma Lollipop

What's one piece of information you wish a debut author would know before you take his or her books on?

After some careful thought, Emma Lollipop replied that she wishes all authors recognized that their publisher wants their book to do well. This may seem common sense, but I'll admit, I've heard any number of authors state the erroneous belief that publishers don't really care about their book, and are just throwing it out there, and don't care how it does. LIE!

Publishing costs money, people, and nobody wants to waste an advance and production costs on a book that tanks. Your editor and the whole house they work for want your book to be a huge success, and they will market it as best as they can. That being said, Emma reminded me that some things, like front-of-store placement, can't be guaranteed even if a publisher WANTS to pay for it. Remember that you're in this business WITH your publisher, and you're both working to achieve the same ends.

Now, because I am an energetic duck (and I don't have room in my suitcase for another pair of shoes, or I'd have totally been shopping), I also took coffee this afternoon with another editor. When I put EM's question to her, Editor #2 said she wished authors understood the length of the publishing process from the get-go, and that moving a book from Fall to Spring, or otherwise rescheduling it, doesn't necessarily mean ANYTHING about the quality of the book. Scheduling is one of those things that has so many different aspects, and a book could get moved because the editor has a really full list one season, and a light list the next; because she has too many debut novels and wants to move yours to better allow it to stand out; because she's already got three epic fantasies and doesn't want yours to get lost; or because the book would be best released in conjunction with a holiday. Lots of reasons, none of which has anything to do with the book's quality.

So I hope that helps.

A question came up this weekend about internet advice. Now, I realize that I'm one of many purveyors of said advice, at least on the topic of publishing, but I think it bears repeating (and repeating, and repeating) that you should always be aware of WHERE your advice comes from. Say, for instance, you have a question about a query letter. You can go to some of your favorite publishing sites, maybe revisit the blogs of several agents who spend all day looking at query letters, check out the SCBWI boards, etc. You may also post a question about queries on another message board, or a local writing group, or even google your question. And yes, all of these are options, and you may very well get some answers.

Will they be good answers? Will they be true for you? Maybe, maybe not.

If you're asking about one specific agent's policies on query letters, and what they want to see, and you check out their website, then yes, you're likely to get a pretty straightforward answer. But then again, you may find another aspiring writer's page who queried the agent, who shared their letter. And maybe they think it's the greatest query letter in the world, and are prepared to tell everyone about it. Does that mean it's the right query form for you? Not necessarily.

Same with other topics of advice. You may stumble across a writer's blog and because you see that she has a publishing deal, you assume that every bit of advice she offers is gospel. Ummmm... no. A publishing deal means nothing more than that her book is well written or tells a great story, not that she went about seeking publication in the best way, or that she knows anything more about the publishing process than what is directly related to her own title. Don't assume a signed contract conveys any kind of expertise.

I'm not saying that you should only get advice from board certified advice-givers. For one thing, there's no such thing. Just be aware that anyone can say whatever they want on the internet, and just because it's up here, doesn't mean it's true. This is one of the many reasons I'm happy to answer any questions you want to send me. Not because I'm the smartest person in the world as it relates to publishing, but that I have 12 years of experience in this field, and if I don't have an answer, I will tell you, not make something up or guess. And if I know someone who'll be able to give a better response than I, I'll get them to answer you.

In fact, I'm having lunch today with an editor. The first person who emails me with an appropriate question about YA publishing will get their reply posted from an experienced editor's perspective. Go!