Hooray for new books!

And editors? I’ve got some fantastic new submissions just waiting to go out to you. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, in honor of those three manuscripts, let’s answer three questions, shall we?

Deserae asked, “I have been wondering, though, what you do look for in those first three pages. Voice, seems to me to be a given, but are there specific turn ons and turn offs that hit you, specifically?”

I actually answered part of this question back in the archives in October. Specific turn-offs include:

1. The main character waking up.
2. The MC looking into a mirror to describe themselves.
3. The narrator telling me how ordinary the MC is.
4. An opening line that references the weather.
5. A prologue with characters that aren’t our MCs.

Turn-ons are harder to describe — it’s that old trope, “I’ll know it when I see it.” But in general, anything that makes me eager to know what happens next, beyond those three pages, is a very good thing.

Alwyn asked, “Do you think it’s a faux pas to start a query letter with the same first line as the MS? (Assuming the first line is a general statement/quote and not a line of dialogue or description etc.)”

No, especially not if your opening line is a killer hook. Because that’s what your query letter is for — not just to wow the agent with your writing, but to hook them and entice them to read more. A serious faux pas would be opening with a rhetorical question — no one likes those.

Ella asked, “How important is it to define the genre of a novel? I am struggling to define my MG novel. It definitely has elements of fantasy, but it can also be categorized as action adventure. Can I define my novel as fantasy/adventure?”

Honestly, I have a hard time thinking of fantasy novels that don’t have an element of adventure. If you’re querying, I think the best thing to do is look at your novel in term of the big-picture genres: romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy. There’s tons of sub-genres within each, but genre as a term is really useful at this stage in painting your novel in broad strokes. I think I once advised to keep the hyphenation of classification to a minimum, anyway. Don’t pitch a “middle grade action adventure fantasy with realistic elements,” just call it urban fantasy, or whatever. Keep it simple.

And thanks to the Fug Girls for the image of Emma Stone’s shoes, above. I’m looking forward to reading their YA novel SPOILED!

But what about since then? A search of my query mailbox shows 2,130 queries received and responded to since July, with another hundred or so that went right to my spam folder. I requested 41 partials, which is a better average than the first half of the year, but does include material from a conference, as well as just emails. And I asked for three full manuscripts.

So who did I say yes to? Well, I signed Erin Danehy in July, with a YA urban fantasy. And I may have more news to share next week, on something I’ve been asking for all year. We’ll see.

But roughly, you’re looking at .04% odds. And… wow. That’s tough. It’s stark, seeing those numbers. But you know what? I’m still looking. Ok, not right now — any queries received after midnight tonight will be deleted unread. But I have no doubt that next spring, when I reopen to queries, I will be starving for something great to read, and I have no doubt you guys can bring it.

What other stats can I share that may be of interest? I closed new domestic deals for Josie Bloss, Matthew Cody, Trish Doller, Stephanie Perkins, and Ransom Riggs, plus several more that I’m excited to officially announce soon. I finalized foreign deals for rights in Chinese (both simplified and complex characters), Croatian, Germany, Hungarian, Indonesian, Portuguese (in Brazil), and Australia and the UK, and closed on a film option for Matthew Cody’s Powerless.

We got some great reviews, including several stars, and a lot of love from the internets for for our books and our authors — I couldn’t be prouder. Tom Sniegoski’s Fallen series hit the New York Times bestseller list, and over a million nerdfighters heard John Green praise Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

What else? Sara Beitia’s debut The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon came out to much praise, Kater Cheek’s weekly webcomic brought chicken-related laughs, S. Terrell French’s Operation Redwood continued to win awards, Sara Raasch got a tattoo and finished college, Susan Steward went to the Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s TweetUp program, Daniel Blau Rogge moved back to NYC, and Amy Spalding rocked the improv stage at LA’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

And what can we look forward to? LOTS!!

January brings the release of XVI by Julia Karr, Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem, and the US release of Pink by Lili Wilkinson. Looking beyond that, Spring sees the long-awaited release of The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson, the sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, while Summer brings us Carrie Harris‘ debut Bad Taste in Boys. Fall takes us to London for The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton and The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, the first in her new series, and gives us Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Faking Faith by Josie Bloss, and The Dead Gentleman by Matthew Cody.

Plus, my own long-expected debut of BabyUn.

I can’t wait to have even more things to celebrate! In the meantime, I hope you all have a very happy, healthy, and book-filled holiday season. I’ll check in here occasionally with more news as I have it to share. Merry merry!!!

Trish Doller’s THE NEW NORMAL, about a young Marine home from Afghanistan, dealing with PTSD and trying to find his place in a life that no longer fits, to Michelle Nagler at Bloomsbury, at auction, in a nice deal, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (World English).

Some of you may recall Trish’s guest blog from my earlier vacation this year where she talked about having that first deal for your debut novel get cancelled, and the pressure that can place on an author for the next book. Well, I will admit now that I, too, felt a little of that pressure, which is why it was so gratifying, as an agent and as a huge fan of Trish’s, to not only have strong interest in THE NEW NORMAL from several editors, but ultimately, to close the deal after an auction.

This is when being an agent feels AMAZING.

I can’t wait until the whole world meets Travis, the incredible hero of THE NEW NORMAL. You’re going to fall in love.

But there’s got to be some good news we can share, right? (Besides the arrival of my new boots from Duo, which I ordered in London, pictured above.)

Well, I’ve been pitching new novels by Amy Spalding and Trish Doller, both of which I love to pieces. And I’m always optimistic about being able to share more good news about those in due course!

I’m also only a day away from meeting Carlos Rosas, one of the two founders of Nia, and continuing my study of that with training towards my Green Belt.

What about you? What good news do you have to share with the world? Let the comment section ring!

In additional to just the normal stuff of getting caught up after a week away, I’m also prepping for my trip to the Bologna Book Fair later this month, where I’ll be meeting with dozens of foreign editors and talking about my authors and my books. Things are going to be busy busy busy around here for the next few weeks! I’m thinking of another round of guest posts while I’m in Italy — what do you think? Do you want to hear more from my authors (and maybe a few additional guest bloggers) or do you want me to just set up some scheduled posts of my own? Let me know in the comments!

And speaking of European trips, have you seen the gorgeous cover to Stephanie Perkins’ debut novel Anna and the French Kiss? Love!

Except, it doesn’t always work like that.

Sometimes that first book never finds a publisher. Sometimes the project dies along the route to publication, and you and your agent have to go back to square one–which is what happened with my first book. My deal died in the pipeline and we had to go back out on submission, which hasn’t proved as successful as the first time around.

So what do I do now? Well, I write another book. Only this time it’s not so easy.

With book one, I had no clue about “the market” and whether or not my book would fit. I just wrote the story that was buzzing around my brain and it turned out to be a pretty good one. But now–having had a brief taste of what it’s like–I’m keenly aware that my next book should be something editors will want. Oh, I still believe I have to write a story that calls to my heart, but I have lots of ideas. The trick now is to find the one that can keep its head above water in a market swamped with zombies, angels, demons, werewolves, and vampires. Yeah. No pressure there.

It also seems like I’ve got a lot of other people in my head while working on book two that I didn’t have with book one. Writing partners who are so much better than I am. An agent who is certainly going to dump me if I don’t finish this project immediately. And that imaginary editor who will reject the entire book if I make the main character’s dad a cheater instead of a chronic gambler. Instead of being motivating, it can be sometimes paralyzing.

And finally, when I first sold my book, I joined a group called The Tenners, whose books are scheduled for publication in 2010. Now I’m watching their books hit the shelves and while I’m happy for them–no, I really am!–their successes make my disappointment that much stronger. Sometimes it’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel.

I’m not telling you all this because I’m looking for a pity party–although I’d take a cupcake if you’ve got one. I’m just here to serve as a real life reminder that publishing is full of pitfalls.

So what do I do now?

I pick myself up, dust myself off, log off the Internet, and write.

Trish Doller is hard at work on her next novel, and is a fantastic cheerleader for her fellow Tenners. Learn more about her and other kt literary clients here.

So let’s have another contest for the holiday weekend, shall we? I’m going to list three phrases below. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick one and write something based on it, however you want to interpret “based on.” It can be a scene, a poem, a song, a short story, whatever length you want — although I’m going to assume no one’s going to be a writing a full novel! And to make this more of a community effort, and tie it in with a more common theme on this blog, I want you to write it on YOUR BLOG or website, and comment below with the “hook” for your story, and a link to it.

The better the hook (a one line summary of your piece that entices me to read more), the more traffic you’ll drive to your site, and perhaps we’ll all find a new blogger we enjoy reading! You’ll have until Sunday Monday to write, post, and add a comment here with a link. On Monday Tuesday, I’ll read all the pieces, and pick one winner of a book from the kt literary stable of brilliantly talented authors, winner’s choice. Got it?

Without further ado, your prompts:

- I didn’t expect to actually go swimming…
- As American as apple pie…
- The heat from the grill made it seem a mirage…

Have fun!

If one is lucky enough to snag an agent, what is the etiquette on pitching new books? Do you send in a normal query and assume you’ll be given a little more leeway than non-clients? And, from an agent’s point of view, do you feel pressured to take on a novel you normally wouldn’t because a client wrote it?

Thanks for the question, Lily! For the most part, when I sign a client, I may already have a sense of other projects that they’ve been working on besides the one I’m signing. With Kiki Hamilton, for instance, she actually contacted me on a more traditional fantasy novel, then told me about her historical urban fantasy. I ended up signing both at once, and went out first with the second manuscript. With other clients, when we talk about one project and my offer of representation, we also chat about other things they’re working on.
Basically, I’m hoping to not just sign a client for a single book, but for their whole career.
So, etiquette-wise, say I’ve sold Book #1 for Client J, and it was a one-book deal. There’s likely going to be some revising the author will need to do for the editor and publisher, but afterwards (or concurrent with), we’re likely to chat about what else Client J is working on, and where she may want to focus her energy next. To take another recent example, Trish Doller just turned in a draft of My Way or The Highway to her new editor, and followed up with a list of no less than 7 projects she had percolating. We talked about each of them, and I helped (I hope!) steer her towards the two that I thought would make the best follow-ups to her debut.
I don’t like to think I’m pressured to take on a book just because a client wrote it, but if I thought it weren’t up to snuff, I might work more diligently with the author on revising it before sending it out. Then again, if your first book was a black-patent leather kind of pump, and your next project was more akin to the paisley wedges pictured above, we might have a serious talk about what direction you want for your career.
Hope that helps!