How to Pitch Your Book

I've been a terrible little blogger. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Of course, in my defense, I've also had a lot of work to do and such. So, I'm sorry it's taken me this long to update. But anyway ...

As you may or not know, I made it through the pitch round of ABNA. Hooray! This happened like ... a month ago. In fact, in two days the quarterfinals will be announced. So ... we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime, I would like to write a post about why pitching your novel is so important.

This subject was mostly brought to my attention by the ABNA forums. There was one thread in particular discussing whether or not pitches were important. Several entrants kept arguing that pitches are unfair, since they're a marketing tool and don't actually demonstrate your writing ability. So basically, in this point of view, pitches only show how good you are at marketing and not how good of a writer you are.

In my humble opinion, this is untrue. Being able to write a good pitch does indeed convey your writing skills. Yes, it also involves your marketing abilities, but that's also a part of being a good writer. As I wrote in my responses in the ABNA forum:

Being able to pitch your book is an important skill. It compels you to really figure out where the heart of your story is. ... 

... You can't just like to write novels. If you want to be skilled at any kind of writing, you need to learn many different techniques. Creative writing, analytical writing, persuasive writing ... It's all important to know how to do. Writing novels may be your specialty, but that doesn't mean you should ignore all other types of writing. And yes, being able to write a pitch is very different from writing a novel, but it's equally important. It's about getting to the point--establishing main character, setting, stakes, etc. And being able to choose your words carefully is a skill that carries over into any type of writing. 

... If you write a horrible pitch, you most likely can't write a good novel either. Agents/publishers/etc. want to see that you know how to use the rules of grammar, that you know how to make a point, that you make proper word choices, etc. If you can't do this, it's a sign that your manuscript might not be well-written, either. After that, it comes down to a matter of taste; the story may or may not appeal to the agent/publisher, but that's beyond your control. It may not be particularly fair, but that's the way it works.

And, I stand by that opinion. I believe writers should learn to write in any form––whether it be creative, analytical, or persuasive. As for writing pitches––it's not just about marketing, either. It conveys certain writing abilities such as pacing, transitions, style, word choice, etc. that are going to carry over into your novel. If these things are lacking in your pitch, they're probably lacking in your manuscript. No, I don't think querying to agents is a flawless process; as with all writing, it's very subjective. But I still think pitching is still an extremely important skill to have.

You need to be able to convey what your story is about in a concise matter. Setting. Characters. Plot. Stakes. Market. Bam.

Here are the things you should include in your pitch:

1. When/where is this taking place––especially if it's a different world, time period, etc.?

2. Who is the main character? You must make it clear who the main character is. Be careful of dropping too many names, or the agent will get confused as to who's important and who isn't. Only include the names of characters who are vitally important to the plot.

3. And what is the plot? What must the main character do? What is his/her objective?

4. WHAT ARE THE STAKES? I can't express how important this is. Basically the question here is, why on earth should the reader care whether or not the protagonist achieves his/her objective? Ask yourself, what bad thing will happen if the main character doesn't succeed?

I'll use my story Walking Shadow as an example ... So, Cassandra has to make a journey through the Underworld in order to get her curse removed. Okay, cool. So why does it matter? Well, if she doesn't succeed, the curse will drive her insane until she kills herself, which is what has happened to a long line of her female ancestors. You see what I'm talking about? You can't just describe the plot ... you have to make it clear what the consequences of failure are.

5. Now, the market. Make sure it's clear who you're marketing to. Kids? Teenagers? Adults? You can compare your book to other books, but ... just be careful about doing that. Try not to compare your book to books that are too big/popular. For example, you don't want to write something like, "I think my book will be as big as Harry Potter!" That's not the point. If you're going to do this, try to use only one book or two as an example––but make sure you also include why you're book is different from these books you're using as comparisons. You don't want to seem like you're just copying someone else.

6. And make sure this is all concise. This is probably the hardest part. I read on agent Nathan Bransford's blog recently that most good pitches are about within the 200-500 word range. More than that, it's probably too long. And less than that, it's probably too short.


So really, learn how to pitch your book. It's essential. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

First Page Contest with Victoria Marini

So, here's what's up.

Fellow blogger and YA writer Shelley Watters is hosting a contest on her blog, "Is It Hot In Here Or Is It This Book?". The idea is, writers submit the first 250 words of their manuscripts, and the entries will be judged by literary agent Victoria Marini of the Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency. The winner will receive a full request from Victoria, as well as a partial critique. Victoria will also select runners-up, who will receive partial requests.

Awesome, right?

Full contest rules are here.

As part of the contest, writers are posting their entries on their blogs for critique. So, without further ado, here is my entry. Critique away!

brigidrgh@gmail.com
Walking Shadow
YA Fantasy
99,000 words

Everything is a lie––their faces, their words, the books on their desks, the clothes they wear. It's a barrier as fragile as a bubble. Underneath it, there is only emptiness.

I know their fears, their secrets, the feelings they hide. I know their loneliness; it emanates from their minds, building from a whisper to a murmur to a scream that ricochets around in my skull.

One of the shrieking souls is my own. I may not be normal, but I'm still human. I share their pain. On the inside, we're all screaming.

But I've learned that I'm different. I accept the scathing mess of words their minds throw at me: freak, girl, freak, witch, goth, freak. I don't care what they think, as long as they never know the truth. They can think I dyed my hair blood-red, that my reflective eyes are contacts. They can think I wear long sleeves because I cut myself, even though I'm hiding something very different from the furious red slashes they'd expect.

I don't blame them. It's human to make judgments. If I had a choice, I would make them, too.

Instead, I have to know everything about everyone––who hates who, who's sleeping with who, who's doing drugs, whose parents hit them. Thoughts and dreams and memories and fears all burst inside my head like fireworks … and someday, I won't be able to take it anymore.

I never asked for this. I sure as hell never wanted it. My whole life, I've kept it inside. And it's killing me, crawling through my veins like a disease.

How long before it takes over––before it takes me, like it took my mother?

What I learned from Query Shark

In case you've never heard of it, Query Shark is a wonderful blog created by literary agent Janet Reid. The idea is, writers send in their query letters, and some of them get critiqued on the blog. A literary agent critiquing query letters, you say?! Yes. Very useful stuff. It's an extremely helpful and eye-opening blog.

Ms. Reid suggests reading through all the posts––which I did, and learned a lot of things about queries I didn't know. I recommend looking through the blog and reading all the posts if you have the time. But I figured that most people didn't have the time, so I thought I'd give an overview of the notes I took while I read through the blog. Some of these things I already knew, but others I'd never thought of before.

I know I said I'd try to cut down on such lengthy posts, but, this one required a lot of detail. And trust me, I cut it down a LOT. A lot of stuff goes into query-writing.

So, here we go. The rules of writing a good query letter.

- Remember: the query letter should not only tell what the book is about, it should also show how well you write and how your professional you are.

- DON'T put contact information at the top of the query letter, and don't include it in the query letter. Put it at the bottom, after you sign your name. (Include your full name, address, and phone number.)

- Don't put your title at the top of the query letter. It will be included within the query letter.

- Start off with a normal salutation. Not "Greetings!" or "Good evening!" Just plain old "Dear Mr./Ms. [agent's last name]. And NEVER "To Whom it May Concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam"; these just show you don't know who you're querying, and therefore you did not do your research.

- Immediately get into the story. Don't start with an introductory paragraph; don't put the title and word count in the first paragraph. Put this information in the last paragraph. Agents seem to be split about this, but according to Ms. Reid, "A quick drop into cold water is EXACTLY how you want to start a novel (and thus a query.)" She says the very first word in the query should be the main character's name. Describe what he/she wants and what is preventing him/her from getting it.

- Don't start with a log line––aka, a one-sentence summary of the entire plot.

- Don't start your query with a quote or random fact. (i.e. "Did you know that a thousand elephants turn purple every year?" ... Obviously this is just an example, and not actually true.)

- Don't start with a rhetorical question. (i.e. "Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be a purple elephant?")

- Don't start with clichés. (i.e. "In a world ...")

- Don't start off by saying what kind of agent you're looking for; if you're querying an agent, it's understood that said agent represents the genre of your book. (i.e. "I'm looking for an agent who represents fantasy.") Yes, it's good to personalize queries, but you should cite specific articles/blogs/interviews/etc., not just mention what genres the agent represents, because that's vague and impersonal.

- Open with the important event, not with backstory. Don't start with a setting. Start with a character and an action/choice he/she must make. Also, don't start with a clause rather than the subject. (i.e. "Prancing through the daisy fields one day, Mary Sue makes an unexpected discovery.")

- Don't quote the book in the query letter.

- Make it clear who the main character is; don't mention too many characters, or it becomes too confusing. Focus on one or two characters; mentioning three or more characters is pushing it. Query Shark says, "Think of characters as headgear. One thing on your head is fine, two might work, and but three is too many. Plus three and you're past calling the Fashion Police, we're calling the guys with nets."

- Don't put the names of characters in ALL CAPS or put their ages in brackets; that's the format for scripts, not for query letters.

- Don't write in first person point of view of your characters. Avoid this and all other gimmicks. To an agent, a gimmicky query signifies crap writing; that is, you have to write a "quirky" query because your book is not good enough to speak for itself.

- No second or first person in the plot summary. Don't use "I". Don't use "we". As the Query Shark herself says, "There is no 'we' in querying, much like there is no crying in baseball."

- Make the main character sound like someone the reader can sympathize with, even if he/she is not a "good" person. If his/her motivations just don't make sense, the agent will lose interest. And if you can't make the motivations make sense, there might be something wrong with more than just your query; there could be something wrong with your book.

- The reader of the query should feel a connection to the main character. You have to do more than tell "what" the main is. (i.e. "Mary Sue is a teenage girl.") You have to show what the main character is like. (And I mean show, don't tell! Don't write, "Mary Sue is a very determined person." It should show, through her actions, that she is determined.) But don't spend too long describing what your main character is like. The letter is primarily focused on plot.

- Show and don't tell, and be specific.

- Only mention characters' choices if they are relevant to the central plot.

- Focus on the plot in the query letter. If you can't describe an actual plot, then there is something wrong with the novel itself.

- Sense of stakes and sense of choice are important. What choice does the protagonist have to make, and what consequences will follow?

- Basic form of the plot summary, provided by Query Shark: - Basic form provided by QS: "What does the protagonist want? What's keeping him/her from getting it? What choice/decision does he/she face? What terrible thing will happen if he chooses ____; what terrible thing will happen if he doesn't." OR "The main character must decide whether to ____. If s/he decides to do (this), the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are ____. If s/he decides NOT to do this: the consequences/outcome/peril s/he faces are ____." And don't just fill in the blanks; use it as an outline to get your information in the proper order. Don't give a list of events.

- Entice readers with what happens at the start of the book, not the end. That is to say, don't give an entire plot summary and definitely don't give away the ending.

- Keep it short and sweet, but long enough that the agent feels a bit of a connection with the main character (that is, understands why readers might sympathize with the main character). It should have a clear sense of voice.

- Story comes first. Don't sound as if you're trying hard to make a point or convey a certain message.

- Don't put random words in quotes. Query Shark says, "Quotes imply something is NOT what you say it is. Example: Oh yes, Cruella DeVill is a real 'dog lover'."

- Write in present tense, and don't switch tenses!

- Don't use showy, overcomplicated writing. Write in short, declarative sentences. Start by writing sentences that are 10 words or fewer, then revise into longer sentences only for the sake of clarity. Avoid rambling, jumbled sentences. And try not to use metaphors.

- Write the title in ALL CAPS (not in italics or underlined or anything like that) and try to avoid punctuation in the title besides commas. Don't say your book is "named" anything. It is either "called" or "titled". Also, do some research and make sure your title is not too similar to other popular titles.

- Read a lot of books in the category you're writing in; understand the audience. Make sure you know your genre. For example, YA books have teen protagonists. If your book does not have teen protagonists, don't call it YA––especially if you just want in on the YA market because it's hot right now.

- Genres should be one or two words, no more. Don't say your book is a "paranormal romance thriller", for example––choose either "paranormal romance" or "thriller".

- Don't say your full manuscript is "complete" or "immediately available"; it's expected that if you are querying, your manuscript is complete and available.

- Agents are skeptical from the start with unusual word counts. It varies based on genre. But generally, under 70,000 words is probably too short, and more than 100,000 words is probably too long. Some agents might even auto-reject based on word count alone. So before you start querying, check out your word count. You might not be done editing.

- Don't try to excuse or justify your word count. (i.e. "I know it's long, but ...")

- Writing credit has to be relevant. Publication is writing credit; nothing else is. Writing for your school newspaper and such is not enough. If you don't have any credit, it's fine. But don't struggle to make it sound as if you do. If you have none, don't mention anything, and don't tell the agent that you are inexperienced.

- Don't mention self-published or vanity-published books. Like it or not, agents generally don't respect self-publishing.

- You don't need to be qualified to write a novel; that is, you don't have to go through the same things as your characters in order to write about them.

- Don't tell the reader what your book will make them think or how it will affect them. And don't make your novel sound like a self-help book. That is, don't talk about how much it will "empower" readers.

- Don't compliment your own book. Query Shark says, "Telling me your novel is an altogether soaring tale is like telling me your kid is good-looking. I'm sure you believe it (I hope you do in fact) but I'm not going to believe you until I've seen the kid myself. In other words: show me, don't tell me."

- Don't mention test/beta readers. Sorry, but the agent really doesn't care what they think.

- Don't say how you think/hope readers will respond to your work. Don't say your book will appeal to both male and female readers. You don't actually know these things.

- Don't compare your book to other books; that's someone else's job.

- Don't say your book is part of a series––or if you must, say it's part of a "potential" series. Saying you've written a series makes the agent think you've written several "okay" books; it makes you sound less focused on revising one, good novel.

- Don't write about how your own story makes you feel, or about how attached you've become to your own characters. You think it will show the agent how passionate you are, but instead it makes the agent think you will take rejection too personally and that you are not a serious writer who will be willing to make revisions.

- Never offer exclusivity. And you don't really want exclusivity, either. It's best to query widely.

- Don't "recap" at the end of the query. It's not an essay, so you don't need a "concluding paragraph". Never repeat what you've already said.

- Don't dismiss yourself. Don't say you would be "humbled" if the agent asked to see your novel, etc. Just a plain old, "Thank you for your time and consideration" will do.

- NEVER, NEVER attach materials unless it's in the agent's guidelines to do so. Copy and paste excerpts, synopses, etc. into the body of the email. Attaching anything might make the letter end up in the agent's spam folder. Also, agents just plain don't want to have to open anything.

- Proofread. Don't misspell anything. Have other people proofread your query to make sure there are no stupid mistakes. Or at least read your query out loud to yourself a few times.

- Keep queries short but not too short. Around 250 words is a good length.

- Cut down your word count as much as possible. Start off by taking out all the uses of the word "that" which you don't need. Then change all the instances of "was [verb]-ing" to "[verb]ed" and you'll probably cut out a few thousand words. (Use Ctrl+F, aka "find") Take out adjectives and adverbs.

- Never use emoticons in queries. Ever. :)

- Only use plain text. No italics, no bold, no underlining. No weird fonts. No weird colors.

- Don't send in a huge-ass block of text. There should be double spaces between paragraphs, and there should be about 3-4 paragraphs, with the plot summary being the longest one. Make sure there is a lot of white space. Query Shark says, "White space is CRUCIAL."

- For e-queries, don't use weird subject lines. Include the word "Query" and your book's title in the subject line. Email to different email platforms to make sure the letter doesn't show up in a weird color.


Well, folks, that's about it. Of course, you don't necessarily need to follow all these rules, and sometimes breaking them might work in certain cases. This is just a general guide. I know it's overwhelming, but after drafting your query a few times you'll realize it may not be bad at it seems. I wish you luck!

As always, I appreciate your feedback. So if you thought this was helpful, or you have any comments/questions, let me know! :)

Rejection, Rejection, Rejection … (I was hoping that saying it a bunch of times would make it sound less scary. It didn't work.)

Hi there, people. As I mentioned in my last post, I am now going to dedicate an entire post to the idea of REJECTION! And don't run away screaming, because this is important. It's a tough topic, and everyone hates it. But all writers go through it, also––a lot of it. So I'm going to share my experience with rejection, and all my lovely thoughts on it.

So, I believe I mentioned in some post, from like a billion years ago, that some literary agent had requested my manuscript. REJECTED. Since then, another agent requested a partial of my manuscript. ALSO REJECTED.

Now, that's a good 40 or 50 rejections I have, by now. I don't know how "normal" that is. I think it varies for every writer. Some people are rejected 10 times, and some are rejected 100 or more times. You never know. Writing is a tricky business like that.

But whether you get rejected twice or a million billion times––if you are a writer, you're going to experience rejection. So, you have to have a thick skin. If you don't have one, get one. Rejection is hard, of course, but it's not an entirely bad thing. Now, I'm not saying I like rejection. It's not fun. It's very frustrating.

My first piece of advice: allow yourself to have those silly emotional breakdowns. I have one every two months or so. I think that, in a weird way, it's healthy to have those moments where you're like "OH MY GOD! WHAT IF I NEVER GET PUBLISHED? WHAT IF I NEVER BECOME AN AUTHOR? OR WHAT IF I ONLY BECOME AN AUTHOR AFTER I DIE?" I mean, every writer has those moments and it's perfectly fine. I find it sort of motivating, actually. So, when you've suffered rejection after rejection, you don't have to hold it all inside. Rant to somebody. And usually that person will assure you that you do not fail at life, and that you're going to be fine, and that someday you will be published (hopefully before you die). Yes, breakdowns are annoying and embarrassing, but at least, once you come out of them, you feel a little bit better about yourself, because you know you can take the rejection and keep going.

Secondly, don't take rejections personally. Believe it or not, literary agents are human beings too! They have those days when they wake up and think "You know what? I hate today." And maybe that means they're going to reject everyone who queries them that day. It could be that your book just doesn't fit with the agent's personal taste. Plus, these days, when the economy is so messed up, literary agents are especially reluctant to offer representation unless they're REALLY sure the book is going to sell.

Now, I'm reading this book called How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead by Ariel Gore. 'Tis a great book with a lot of good advice. One passage that especially caught my attention was one on rejection. If this doesn't make you feel better about rejection … I don't know what will:

"… Classics famously and repeatedly rejected: War and Peace, The Good Earth, Watership Down, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Fountainhead, To Kill a Mockingbird, Remembrance of Things Past, and Joy of Cooking. Doris Lessing was once rejected by her own publishers when she submitted a novel under a pseudonym. And, in early 2006, the Sunday Times of London took two Booker Prize-winning novels … and submitted them as works by aspiring authors. None of the agents or editors queried recognized the manuscripts as prizewinners … of the twenty-one replies, all but one were rejections. … All this to say that if you get a rejection slip, you're in pretty good company." (p. 187)

So, there you have it. Just because your book gets rejected doesn't mean that it sucks. It could be amazing prize-worthy material. You just have to wait for your lucky day. Because a lot of getting published has to do with luck. Yes, of course it helps to have an awesome query letter/synopsis/excerpt/etc. But like I said, literary agents have moods and such. So it depends on a lot of things that are beyond your control––which is aggravating, I know.

But the thing is, you gotta keep trying. Odds are, one out of the a million literary agents in the world is going to want to represent your novel. Just keep sending out those queries like there's no tomorrow. And keep revising your query, too; ask friends/family for feedback. In the meantime, try to get some recognition. Try publishing some short stories, or entering contests, or starting a blog (wooo!). That way you'll have more to brag about in your query letters. ;)

I strongly recommend checking out this website, Preditors & Editors, which has a great list of agents, publishers, contests, critique groups, etc. and notes on how reliable said agents/publishers/contests/critique groups are. (http://pred-ed.com/)

Personally, I interpret all the rejections I've received as a wake-up call. After getting feedback from a couple agents, I've decided that my book isn't really ready for publishing and needs some revisions first. Maybe your manuscript has been rejected a gazillion times (more or less) and you're starting to feel the same way. No problem. This is another good thing about rejection. When you start off trying to get published, you're sort of in denial … like, "Okay, I am SO done with this book. I've already rewritten it ten times, so I'm just going to get it published and it will be out of the way forever!" Well, of course things can't be that convenient. The more your book gets rejected, and the more it sits around, the more you think about it. And the more you think about it, the more flaws you see in it. And you start thinking, "All right, maybe this means something. Maybe rewriting it a couple times wouldn't hurt …" It's not a good feeling. It's pretty overwhelming. But writing and editing and rewriting and begging for feedback––these are all the painful parts of being an author.

If you don't know where to start, there are a lot of great writing feedback websites you can try. Now, I've only just started using these sites, but they seem very helpful and organized to me, and P&E has them listed as recommended critique groups. So, check 'em out!

WEbook: http://www.webook.com

(This site has a lot of different sections. You can post any writing for feedback, chapter-by-chapter. People can leave feedback for different categories––general, plot, character development, etc. There's a section called PageToFame where people submit the first pages of their novels, then other members rate them, and literary agents look at the ones with the best ratings. You have to pay to submit––this is the ONLY section you have to pay for––but rating the pages is free. And fun. There's also a feature called AgentInbox that helps you put together a query letter, synopsis, excerpt, etc. Then it gives you agents who represent your genre and you can send your submission to agents right from the website. I've used it and it seems like a great feature. There are also groups and discussion forums on the site.)

Critters Workshop: http://www.critters.org/index.ht

(This site is only for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. You can submit both short stories and manuscripts, and it sounds like submissions are supposed to get approximately 10 critiques or so. I haven't submitted anything yet, but I've read through the website and it has a ton of information. So, I won't go on a long rant describing the whole thing. I recommend checking out the website for more of a description, rules, guidelines, etc. Anyway, I'm impressed with its level of organization and I'm looking forward to using it.)

Critique Circle: http://www.critiquecircle.com

(Looks pretty similar to Critters, except it accepts all genres [except poetry]. Once again, it looks very organized. The website claims: "At present time there are 2,463 active members.
We have processed 48,260 stories and 220,558 critiques." Sounds good to me. I'm just waiting for my application thingie to be approved, and then I can say more about this one.)

Note: the best way to get feedback is to give feedback first. If you join any of these sites, it's important to give some other members some good, honest, and constructive feedback, and they will be likely to return the favor. :)

So, that is my advice for the day. Stop wallowing in your self-pity and go do something productive. ^_^

Woohoo! Publishing is fun fun fun! Really.

Hey, you people. Sorry I haven't posted in, like, more than a month. I've been crazy busy starting junior year and all … Gah. Stupid homework. *Cries*

Well, anyway. I promised to keep y'all updated about the whole "publishing" thing I'm trying to do. Soooo let's talk about that. :)

Okay, so, good news. :D After my query letter was rejected by – oh, I don't know – sixteen literary agents or so, I finally got an e-mail response from Lindsay Ribar – assistant to literary agent Matt Bialer – asking to see my full manuscript.

O_O !!!! OMG! Well first of all, I totally freaked out and started screaming. And my mom got all scared because she thought there was a psycho kidnapper in our house or something. But yeah, that's not really relevant.

So, this was approximately a month ago. Since then I've been frantically editing the last few chapters of my book. I finished at last, about a week ago. And the day afterward, I submitted my manuscript. *Whew* I haven't gotten any response yet ... not even a "Thanks for submitting your manuscript!" And I'm kind of flipping out because I don't know if that's a bad sign or whether I'm being paranoid. Oh, well. When I hear back I'll let you guys know. ;)

Now, I'm thinking that some of you are probably reading this and saying, "Uhhh yeah, what is a query letter? What is a literary agent? What is a manuscript?"

So this would be a great opportunity for me to tell you all about publishing, wouldn't it? :] Now, I'm not an expert; I've never been published. But I've learned a lot about publishing in the past few months, so I'll share what I know and any advice I have.

Here I go. *Ah hemmm*

Let's start with the three simple things you should do before you even consider getting published. I know a lot of this will seem like "No, duh". But while these things may seem obvious, they are important!

1. Your book should be finished. Yeah, anyone can get a good idea for a book, or a good first half of a book. What you need, to begin with, is a full manuscript. If you have a complete draft, literary agents will be more interested – because they'll know that you actually have the motivation to write books, not just think about writing them.

2. Your book has to be edited. I know, I know. You're probably rolling your eyes and saying, "Well DUH!" But here's the thing: I see a lot of young writers trying to get published before they're really ready for it. You can't just write one draft and expect that it's good enough to be considered for publication. I know that the first time you finish something, you're really proud of it and it may seem flawless. But if you give it a break and come back to it, you'll see that there are a lot of mistakes and plot holes that you missed before.

No worries – just take a deep breath and EDIT, EDIT, EDIT. We love editing! YAY! ... Okay, actually editing is a pain in the butt. But we need it. And no, editing it once isn't enough. I'm talking three to five drafts – and don't just fix all the typos and call it a day. I mean, you've got to rip it apart. Write new scenes, take pointless/boring/stupid scenes out. Develop your characters and plot as much as possible. Be honest with yourself; you want your book to be GOOD, not just "good enough". If editing doesn't make you so frustrated that you cry, you're not editing hard enough. Seriously.

3. You need feedback. Editing your book by yourself isn't enough. You need someone else's opinion – preferably more than one person. The more feedback, the better. And no, it doesn't necessarily have to be a professional editor (of course, if you can get one, that would be great). I mean, hey – I edited my book with my mom. But whoever edits your book with you, it should be someone you trust, and someone who will be totally and completely honest. It needs to be someone who will do more than fix your typos. He/she should tell you if there are plot holes, clichés, etc. He/she should be scribbling notes all over your manuscript like crazy, holding nothing back.

And when you receive feedback, don't take it personally. Yes, some of it will be hard to deal with – if, say, someone points out some huge gaping evil plot hole that you never noticed before. But if you made a mistake, it's not because you're stupid (well, maybe you are, but that's probably not the reason). I've written five books and I still think writing books is hard. In fact, the more I write, the harder it seems.

But I've learned that feedback is essential. Take that feedback and use it! Other people usually see the problems you never thought about. Although it's really hard to fill in those holes sometimes, it pays off in the end. You just have to keep whacking away at it.

Oh, and if anybody here ever needs some honest feedback, I'm willing to give it. But I warn you – I'm a pretty hardcore editor. I get it from my mom. :]

So, once your book is finished and edited and all that jazz ... IT'S PUBLISHING TIME!!! BOOYAAHH!!! But just FYI – as you're trying to get published, you'll probably find yourself doing some more editing, reshaping your idea, etc. And literary agents/publishers may request rewrites/revisions. So be warned: your book probably isn't done yet.

Anyway. As for publishing … It's not a simple process. You would think it would be easy. I mean, a couple years ago, I thought it was like 1. Write a book, 2. It gets published miraculously, by some unknown force.

But, no. You thought writing your book was hard? HA! Publishing is just as, if not more, difficult. It's a long, annoying, and frustrating process. But the key is to keep trying. Face it: you're going to go through tons of rejection, and you are not alone. At all. Thousands of other aspiring authors share your pain and suffering. Think of any amazing, award-winning author, and I promise you – he/she went through rejection too, probably dozens of times. It's the writers that keep trying and don't give up that get published. When you get rejected, don't take it personally. Literary agents have to read tons of queries a day, and most of those are badly-written or formatted wrong or for the wrong genre … You see what I'm saying: it's a hard job. And you might have been rejected because the agent happened to be in a crappy mood that day, not necessarily that your query was bad. You never know. Besides, it's subjective; the book you've written isn't for everyone. So it will appeal more to one agent than another (or twenty others).

So, where do you start? Well, it helps to know the basics of what you're getting yourself into. Like I said, it's complicated – plus, I'm sixteen, and not very experienced, so forgive me for not knowing every single detail. But I'll tell you what I know. :)

Ok. So here's how it works (ideally, anyway): You submit query letters to literary agents. You get rejected by a bunch of 'em. One finally agrees to represent your book. He/she writes to publishing companies, asking them to publish the book. If a publishing company likes the book, they publish it. YAY! I know, sounds easy. But it takes a loooong time.

Anyhoooo. Here's the steps you should take, once you're ready to publish:

RESEARCH! LOOK UP LITERARY AGENTS!

Literary agents are the fabulous people who represent books. No, you don't necessarily need one, but most authors highly recommend getting an agent. Some small publishing companies will consider unagented manuscripts, but the big famous publishing companies won't – and if they do, you have a very small chance of getting published.

So, before you do anything, do your research. I suggest using agentquery.com or 1000literaryagents.com.

First of all, find agents that represents the genre of your book. If your book is a fantasy and the agent only represents nonfiction ... guess what? He/she isn't going to consider representing you! The agent will specify what he/she represents on his/her website. And on sites like agentquery, you can narrow down the list of agents to those who represent your genre. Compile a list of lots and lots of agents!

Secondly, do a background check. Google-stalk the agents you're considering. If the agent asks for any sort of advance payment, it's a SCAM!!! RUN AWAY!!! Preditors & Editors is a good site to do background checks on agents (http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/).

And finally, once you have a good list ... IT'S QUERY TIME!!!!

WRITE A QUERY LETTER!

Query letters! Yaaay! We love query letters!

Yaaay ... Wait, Brigid. What's a query letter?

Well, a query letter is basically a letter saying, "Hiya literary agent! I wrote this book and I think you'll like it! It's awesome so you should represent it!" But it's a lot more formal than that.

There is no "right" way to write a query, exactly. But typically, there are four important parts, sometimes five.

1) The Hook

The hook is a single sentence that summarizes what your book is about. It should be relevant, concise, and it should catch the agent's attention.

According to agentquery.com, the best way to come up with a hook is to use what they call The "When" Formula, which goes something like this: "When [event happens], [main character's name] – [short description of character (meaning important stuff like personality and age, not the character's eye color)] – must [face a conflict and resolve it in some awesome way]."

Huh? I know, that looks confusing. Lemme give you an example. Here's the hook I used for my query for Reborn:

"When an evil spirit endangers everything she’s ever known, immortal seventeen-year-old Kami must make a decision between her feelings and the safety of her universe."

There! That's not so bad, is it? Now, come up with your own. :)

2) Introduction:

Say why you're querying the specific agent – show off that you've done some research. The agent wants to know that you queried him/her for a particular reason, not that you're sending out queries randomly. It can be something as simple as "I understand that you represent [genre], which is why I think [my book, from that genre] will interest you." But if, say, they've represented a book similar to your book, you might want to mention that too.

Also, make sure that you mention the genre and basic setting of your book, and the approximate word/page count.

3) The plot summary:

Next, you're going to write a short synopsis of your book. That doesn't mean that you have to write every single last thing that happens. Keep it very, very concise; I would say less than 200 words – you want your entire query letter to fit on a single page. Think of it as the blurb that you read on the inside cover of a book. It should tell the agent a) what the book is basically about, b) who the important characters are, and c) what the main conflict is. This isn't the place to give everything away.

Always write the summary in the present tense!

And never ever ever ever ...

- Put extraneous details in the summary. Like, "And then Bob walks down the street. The sky is blue. He eats a ham sandwich for lunch." Snooorrre. Focus on writing about the conflict.

- Put empty questions in the summary. Ex: "Will Bob be able to defeat the evil, talking doughnuts from Mars???" Umm, I don't know. Will he? I don't think I care ...

I would care if you wrote it more like, "Bob will have to face his deepest fears in order to defeat the evil, talking doughnuts from Mars!" I know it's a bad example, but you see what I'm saying?

4) Comparison:

This part is ... optional, I guess you could say. Some people say you should include it, and some say you shouldn't. I would say don't include it unless the agent says on his/her website that he/she wants you to include a comparison with another book.

Anyway, here is where you would compare your book to a couple other other well-known books. The point of this is to make your book sound relevant – but you don't want to sound unoriginal either. Why would an agent want to represent a book that's been written/published before? If you must include the comparison, I would advise mentioning how your book also differs from the "similar book". Or at least say that your book has some elements similar to one book, and some elements similar to another book.

5) Conclusion:

Tie it up with a short paragraph or two.

If you have any publishing experience, mention that. And no, the agent won't care if you got a poem published in your school newspaper – I mean, like, if you've had something published in a literary magazine or something. If you've never been published, then don't say anything. If you say that you've never been published, then it seems like you're putting yourself down, and if you don't mention being published, the agent will assume you're unpublished. Instead, you might want to say what makes your point of view unique, or relevant to the topic of your book.

If the agent wants a sample chapter, synopsis, or both, then mention that you've included them.

If it's an email query, DO NOT include sample material/synopses as attachments. Never ever ever! Ever! Unless the agent specifically asks for them to be sent as attachments. Include all sample material and the synopsis in the body of the email.

If you have a full manuscript – which you should – then mention that the full manuscript is available. Then end the letter with something along the lines of "Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you."

If you're still confused, I recommend reading this: http://agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx

And, as an example, here's the query I wrote for Reborn ... The one that got Lindsay Ribar to ask for my manuscript, that is. Woot woot. :]

Dear Matt Bialer:

When an evil spirit endangers everything she’s ever known, immortal seventeen-year-old Kami must make a decision between her feelings and the safety of her universe.

I understand that you represent fantasy and that you are seeking unique new voices, which is why my novel, Reborn, may interest you. It is a young adult urban fantasy and the first book in a proposed trilogy, consisting of approximately 130,000 words (236 pages). The story takes place in an imaginary dimension of our own, modern world.

Kami is one of the Protectors: a race of immortal teenagers whose purpose is to protect humankind from a rival group of immortals, the Destroyers. The Protectors and the Destroyers are trapped in an ongoing battle and an endless cycle of death and rebirth. Kami's five hundred years as a Protector have made her a fierce and confident fighter, but when she meets mysterious and unpredictable Jack, she starts to question her purpose in life. Eighteen-year-old Jack is a “Reborn”, or the newest reincarnation of an immortal spirit. Kami forms an immediate friendship with Jack when he joins the Protectors, but as her feelings for him grow stronger, so do his dark and terrifying powers. When Jack and Kami learn the disturbing story that connects their past lives, they find out that a demonic spirit, Ravi, is raging inside of Jack. Seeking revenge, Ravi threatens to take over Jack’s mind and, through him, conquer the immortal world. Although Jack struggles against Ravi, Kami knows that he is slowly succumbing to his evil self. If Kami wants to save herself and the other immortals, she will have to kill Jack. The only problem: she’s falling in love with him.

As a teenager myself, I can relate to young readers through my writing. Reborn explores themes about the futility of violence, but it is also a tale of dangerous romance – like a cross between S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.

I have included the first five pages of Reborn. A full manuscript is available at your request. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Brigid Gorry-Hines

WRITE A SYNOPSIS!

Now, not all agents will ask for a synopsis. In fact, a lot of them don't. If they do, it means they want a longer, more detailed summary of your book – besides the one included in the body of the query letter.

The synopsis shouldn't be longer than three typed pages or so. It should summarize everything: beginning, middle, end. YES, that means you should "give away" the ending. And you should summarize all the most important events in the story. Note the "important" – once again, no extraneous details!

At the top of the synopsis, use this heading:

Synopsis of [Title]

Genre: [genre]

Word count: [number] words

By [your name]

Other than that, there's not really a format. I would post the one I wrote for Reborn … but, um, it's hideous. I don't like writing synopses; they're hard. Personally, I haven't queried many agents that asked for a synopsis. But it's good to have one in handy, just in case.

SEND THAT QUERY!

When you have a good query letter, start sending it out!

I like sending queries by email, because you tend to get a faster response (and you kill less trees!), but not all agents accept email queries; some prefer queries by snail-mail. The agent will specify whether he/she wants an email or snail-mail query on his/her website.

Like I said, you'll get rejected bunches of times. But keep going! Send that query to agent after agent. Unless an agent only accepts "exclusive" queries, I recommend querying multiple agents at once. But as you go along, make small changes in the query to appeal to the specific agents. And keep revising the letter – make it a little better every time you send it. ;)

Other than that ... That's pretty much all my advice on publishing. Wish me luck on my publishing endeavors. And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. :)