kt literary

Just a quick note here for the record, since I got an email about this recently: I do not expect to reopen to queries before the end of the year. Since I usually close to queries for most of December anyway, and I’m still partly on maternity leave, I’d rather wait until the new year before diving back into the query trenches.

If you haven’t already hear the great news, congrats to Tom Sniegoski, whose Remy Chandler novels were just ordered to script by NBC! Deadline has the deets:

NBC has ordered a script for a procedural from 20th Century Fox TV, based on Thomas Sniegoski’s Remy Chandler urban fantasy novels. The six-volume series is about an angel who, having grown weary of celestial warfare, chose to embrace earthly life and develop a deep appreciation for humans and their vices. The project is described as a procedural with humor, questions of faith and fate, and a very distinct partnership. Bill Chais is attached to write and exec produce. Fox-based Jonathan Levin is EP. On Sniegoski’s Remy Chandler website, the Boston private eye is described as a guy with many useful talents, including but not confined to, making himself invisible speaking any language (including the language of animals), and thought-reading.

Fingers crossed this gets made! And if you want to catch up on the series before it’s a monster tv hit, the latest Remy novel, Walking in the Midst of Fire, just came out in August!

I’m back! Again, not completely, but just enough to share another post in my series of author profiles, this time on Trish Doller. Trish is a former radio personality and newspaper reporter with a B.A. in Journalism from Ohio State University. She lives in Florida with her husband, two teenagers and The Cutest Dog in the World. She divides her time between working at Barnes & Noble and writing young adult fiction. Her favorite band is The Slackers. Her debut novel, SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL (Bloomsbury, June 2012), about a Marine home on leave, was named to the Best Fiction for Young Adults list and received numerous accolades. WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE was just published by Bloomsbury in September 2013. Take it away, Trish!

What are you working on now?
I’m finally finishing up the psychological thriller formerly known as Arcadia Falls and I’m super excited to get started on two new projects: a young adult romance set in Berlin (possibly a dual POV story) and an epistolary adult novel set aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean.

What was your favorite book as a child/teen?
My favorite book was actually the same as Callie’s favorite book in Where the Stars Still Shine. It’s a children’s novel called Mandy, about a little girl who lives in an orphanage and wants most in the world to have a home of her own, and it was written by Julie Andrews. My mom’s best friend gifted it to me and I passed it on to my daughter when she was old enough to read it on her own.

What are you reading now?
I’m about to start Lady Thief by A.C. Gaughen. I was a huge fan of her first book, Scarlet, so I can’t wait to dive into this one!

Do you work with a critique group/partner?
I have a couple of critique partners I rely on for bouncing ideas, troubleshooting, and sympathy Coronas. I also have a couple of great blogger friends who beta read for me.

Are you a pantser or a plotter?
A little of both, really. I’m terrible at writing outlines but when I start a project I generally have an idea of where the story is heading. Then I turn the characters loose and see what happens. Sometimes we veer widely from what I had in mind, but sometimes that works.

What’s your memory of how we started working together?How did our first submission go, etc.?
I was querying agents when I heard about the “look at the acknowledgements of books you like” method. At the time, my manuscript was 13 Little Blue Envelopes-ish, so I thought Maureen Johnson’s agent might be a good fit. Except when I actually looked at her acknowledgements it said Daphne Unfeasible and I was like, “That can’t possibly be her real name!” So after I tracked down your true identity, I sent off my query. You requested first a partial, then the full manuscript, and while you had the full, I received an offer of representation from another agent. It was just before Thanksgiving weekend, but when I emailed to tell you about the offer, you said you’d read over the weekend and get back to me. You called on Monday or Tuesday and to this day I’m not completely sure what we talked about because a) I might have been freaking out a little bit and b) I was under the bleachers at my son’s soccer game so my brain was in two places at once. But here we are, so clearly it was a good conversation.

Also, when you gave me some editorial feedback on that original manuscript, you said, “Remember how in Return of the King there were too many endings? I feel like there are too many endings to this story.” If I wasn’t already certain that you were the right agent for me, that would have been the moment. (You were right about that, by the way.)

What other hobbies to you have?
Is tumblr a hobby? Let’s say it is. I also love sailing when we are not sailboat-less (which we are right now, sadly) and kayaking, and I read like a fiend.

What’s a random weird fact about you?
I sleep on the couch in our sunroom. Not because I don’t like my husband––I totally do––but because with all the windows open it’s like camping, but without being outside where there are bugs and other creepy crawlies.

And, of course: favorite pair of shoes?
I live in Florida, so nearly all my shoes are flip-flops, but I do have a pair of black-and-white polka dot peep-toe wedges that are super cute!

Plus, bonus lightning round!
Dog or cat? Dog. I have two.
Coffee or tea? Tea. Usually iced.
Coke or Pepsi? Both!
Wheat or White? Wheat.
MG or YA? YA.
Morning or night? Night.
Star Wars or Star Trek? This one is so tough because I love them both! But…Star Wars.
Hogwarts or Narnia? Narnia.

And finally, six word memoir. Go!
Live to write. Write to live.

I wish I were in Florida right now. Trish, mix up some daiquiris, I’ll be there soon!

Checking in from my version of maternity leave (which is to say, checking email at 4am, watching a lot of Supernatural, getting caught up on my pleasure reading, and as always, paying my clients) to answer this question from a reader. Lee writes:

Hi Daphne, there’s an agent who has had my full for a couple of months, but not excessively long. She’s one of those agents who responds to every query and who keeps her blog updated with where she is on queries and requested fulls and partials (which is great).

Here is the problem. I checked her blog about two weeks ago, as I periodically do, and she said she was up to a certain date on queries and up to another date on requested fulls and partials. She said to contact her if you hadn’t heard back. Something seemed odd, so I checked my archived email, and I had sent my requested mss five days before the date she said she was up to, if that makes sense. Checked spam folders, double-checked the dates, double-checked that I’d gotten her auto reply when I submitted the requested full…everything was kosher.

So I sent her an email including all our previous correspondence and a short “checking in because you said to” kind of note. I got the auto-response to that one, too.

But then…..nothing. She never wrote back to that email either.

so now I’m wondering, is my ping lost in a see of queries? I left the subject headers from our previous emails on it, was that a mistake? Should I send her another email that says “checking in on a manuscript sent XXX date” or something? This agent actually read some previous work of mine and was totally responsive and cool, so I feel like this might be a tech glitch, but I’m still freaking out a little bit.

What’s my next move?

I would try another email with a more specific subject line, and if you don’t get an answer to that in a week or so, try again from a different email address. Sometimes, our email programs think they’re smarter than us, and hide things we’d normally want to see. Good luck!

And since the likelihood of my posting twice in one week is very slim right now, congrats to Matthew Cody on the pub of his latest middle grade adventure, Will In Scarlet!

This might be my last blog post for a while, unless I have some more exciting news to share (hint, hint, I do!), but I couldn’t let the official pub week of TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD by Ellen Booarem go by without celebrating! If you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, you’ve seen some of Ellen stops on her blog tour, but here’s a little bit more about the book:

Conor O’Neill always thought spiders—and his little sister, Glennie—were the worst kind of monsters life had in store. That was before an inexperienced young banshee named Ashling showed up in his bedroom.

The arrival of a banshee, as Conor soon learns, means only one thing: Someone in his family is going to die. Not only will Ashling not tell him who it is, it turns out that she’s so fascinated by the world above that she insists on going to middle school with him.

The more Ashling gets involved in his life, the harder it becomes to keep her identity a secret from his friends and teachers—and the more Conor worries about his family. If he wants to keep them safe, he’s going to have to do the scariest thing he’s ever done: Pay a visit to the underworld.

If only there were an app for that.

We’ve already gathered some great reviews, from Kirkus, which gave it a STAR, Publishers Weekly, and The Horn Book. And now I’m giving you a chance to win a copy! I actually have FIVE prize packs — four runners-up will get a galley of the book, with a pack of “Fruity Foolers” and several bookmarks. One grand prize winner will get a finished copy of the book, a pack of “Fruity Foolers”, bookmarks, AND several temporary tattoos! It’s easy to enter — either leave a comment below, reblog this on Tumblr, +1 it on Google+, or retweet a link to this post with the hashtag #TTUcontest. I’ll randomly pick the winners on Friday, just before I go on maternity leave, so hurry and enter!

Congrats to Amy Spalding, whose new novel, KISSING TED CALLAHAN (AND OTHER GUYS) just sold to Elizabeth Bewley at Poppy/Little, Brown! Here’s the official PW announcement:

Elizabeth Bewley at Little, Brown’s Poppy imprint has bought Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding, an improv comedian and author of The Reece Malcolm List. The story tells of a 17-year-old rocker girl and the boys in her life – a science nerd who’s a secret Casanova, a music fiend from another town, and a guy so cute he can only be called “the crush.” Publication is planned for spring 2015; Kate Schafer Testerman at KT Literary did the deal for world English rights.

I’m so thrilled to have helped Amy find a new home for her fantastic contemporary YA voice. And I’m delighted to have a new deal in common with Elizabeth, who was the editor on the very first YA deal I ever closed as an agent. Amy’s blog has even more information about KISSING TED CALLAHAN, including musical inspiration. Check it out! And please join me in celebrating!

Any queries timestamped after 12:01 am on August 1st will be deleted unread until further notice. That is all. Here, have a picture of my puppies.

A busy week for questions here at KT Literary! Today’s comes from Hope, who writes:

I’ve been polishing my MS for 6 months now and finally got up the nerve to start querying last night. I decided to start with a small batch, a couple of my top tier dream agents, and a couple with less experience but who sounded really compatible with my style and genre. While reviewing the submission guidelines for the first house I was querying I ran across this line:

“You are free to submit to agents at other agencies at the same time, but it is a professional courtesy to let us know, up front, that yours is a multiple submission.”

So, wanting to be courteous, I dutifully noted in my query letter that mine was a “multiple submission.” In the next 4 query letters I sent out I included that line, because I wanted to continue being professional and courteous. Then on my 6th query I went to review that agent’s submission guidelines and found this little gem:

“Multiple submissions will not be accepted — if you submit to more than one agent [at our agency], your materials will be discarded.”

And then I got an instant migraine. I know that querying more than one agent at the same agency is a big no no. I would never ever do it. And now this agency is using the term “multiple submission” to designate said heinous crime. And I just sent out five query letters using that term. But the first agency uses that term to indicate querying multiple agents in DIFFERENT agencies.

So now I’m afraid I just possibly screwed myself on several agents since I don’t know how they define “multiple submissions.” And I don’t know if I should switch to using the term “simultaneous submissions” or just not say anything at all as other websites indicate that most agents assume you are querying more than one agent at once anyways.

Please help!!

First of all, take a deep breath. It’s not the end of the world, I promise. To be perfectly frank, most agencies assume you’re submitting to multiple agents at the same time, at least among the agents I’ve polled recently. Now, if you should choose to submit exclusively, then I think it’s important to call that to the agent’s attention as obviously as possible. As for the agent that refers to “multiple submissions” as those within his own agency, I’d have just added a note to your query for that specific agency that he was the only agent at [agency] to whom you’re sending your material.

Does that help?

Photo above by Flickr user Andy Wilson, used under a Creative Commons license. For more great examples of this style of photography, search Flickr for the tag “multiplicity.”

Time for another question for Daphne! This one comes from Erin, who writes:

I’m getting to the point in my work-in-progress where I’ve started thinking about writing the synopsis, and I’m not sure where to begin. I know the basics for synopses, but the difference is that this story is told out of order. (The first comparison I can think of is Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR, though in my case, my narrator is fairly truthful, and the novel is contemporary with no fantasy elements.) Do you have any advice on how to write the synopsis when the story does not have a linear plot line? It does ultimately tell a story start to finish, but in a two or four page synopsis, when I need to give all the details in a succinct manner, I’m not sure where to start. Do I try to tell the story as if it was told in a linear fashion, giving my protagonist’s experiences in order from point A to point B, or do I write each paragraph from the different points in time, transitioning between them? What advice do you have, and what would you, as an agent, appreciate/be expecting to see?

I think you could definitely do it either way, although my inclination is to split the synopsis between the two timelines. Something like, “The story is told in two alternating timelines from the points of view of characters A and B. In the first timeline, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, character B [whatever].” That being said, for your own use, it’s probably useful to have a more straightforward synopsis to refer to that tells the story from point A to point Z, chapter by chapter.

My client Krista Van Dolzer is currently working on a manuscript with a similar structure, so I shared your question with her as well, for her opinion. She responded:

The most important element of a synopsis is clarity. Queries are for hooking readers with indelible characters and pitch-perfect voice, but synopses are much more about communicating the mechanics of the plot in a succinct, straightforward way. So if it will be clearer to the reader to explain what happens in a linear fashion, then write it that way. On the other hand, if it will be clearer to reveal the plot points in the same order you revealed them in the manuscript, then write it that way.

That’s not really an answer, is it? I guess my advice would be to try writing the synopsis both ways, then share both versions with some people who haven’t read your manuscript and see which one makes more sense to them. At the end of the day, agents are just readers, so whichever one makes more sense to your reader friends will probably make more sense to agents, too.

Hope that helps!

Photo above by Flickr user Irem Sen Gunaydin, used under a Creative Commons license.

Clearly, I should go on maternity leave more often, since I always seem to have a flurry of deals to celebrate right before I do! Congrats to A.L. Sonnichsen, whose debut RED BUTTERFLY just sold to Christian Trimmer at S&S. Here’s the official PW announcement:

Christian Trimmer at Simon & Schuster has bought world English rights to Red Butterfly by debut author A.L. Sonnichsen. The middle-grade novel in verse tells of a Chinese girl raised in solitude by her American mother, who must navigate China’s strict adoption system when she is torn away from the only family she has ever known. Publication is set for winter 2015; Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary was the agent.

I have to admit, I never would have thought I’d rep a novel in verse, but I just fell so deeply in love with RED BUTTERFLY that I had to represent it. I’m so gratified and thrilled that Christian agreed! For more on the book, check out Amy’s post, and follow her on Twitter! And if you’re visually inclined, check it out — the fan art is already pouring in!

By @psmith03