One of the deciding factors in my going to
Worldcon (beyond the whole actually being able to get there thing), was my
decision a few months back that I needed to get serious about my writing. With
150,000 words written in the last three months, a first draft novel sitting
maturing on the shelf and several other projects underway, it was clearly more
than time to start getting professional advice. So when it came to picking
panels to attend, the choice was almost universally related to my writing
needs, and fell into three groups: Young Adult Fiction, as one of my projects
is clearly YA, but it's not an area I've been extensively exposed to recently;
Diversity, as I'm clearly a diverse author writing diverse fiction (I'm disabled,
and my writing tends to reflect that); and the pure Business of Writing.
I took a bunch of notes, though choosing to use
my tablet without its keyboard wasn't ideal - it insisted on trying to
spellcheck anything it didn't recognise as it was entered, which it doesn't do
when used with the keyboard, and that drastically reduced my notetaking -
particularly as my lousy coordination combined with needing a new pair of
glasses meant I was hitting the wrong key on the screen more often than not.
I'd have taken a whole lot more notes given the option, and next time I know to
use the keyboard. This piece expands on those notes I did manage to take and
hopefully it will be helpful to people who couldn't be there as well as being a
vehicle for organising my own thoughts. As I was primarily focused on logging
ideas, and fighting a word-processor that barfed over any name not in
spellcheck, a lot of this is unfortunately going to be unattributed points, and
quotes shouldn't be assumed to be verbatim. I wish I'd been able to get
people's names tagged to points, it feels slightly disrespectful not to have
them identified, but I'm stuck with my notes and my memory, so apologies to
anyone whose points I'm using without appropriate attribution, and especially
to anyone whose points I've mangled.
Finding An Agent
Betsy Mitchell (m),
A great query letter is all you need! Write a
great manuscript and the rest doesn't matter! Network at conventions and you're
in good shape! These nuggets of advice and dozens like them float around the
writersphere as gospel. How many of these have a ring of truth? What is the
secret to finding an agent? And what does an agent do once you have one? Our
agents will decrypt the process.
The Finding an Agent panel featured a
stellar line-up of editors, and when asked the question whether people in the
room were looking for an agent, pretty much everyone in the room held up their
hand, which made for a very focused session.
When it comes to genre publishing, John Jarrold
has pretty much done it all, and listening to him speak you could understand
why. If he is remotely as forceful in his opinions of why a book should be
published as he is in saying what he expects from a prospective writer, then I
want him in my corner! Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky was more soft-spoken, but
made a whole bunch of interesting points. Ian Drury seemed the quintessential
agent's agent, everything about him confirming that his agency has been doing
this for over a century, and knows the business inside out. Betsy Mitchell kept
everyone in order as moderator, while Jacey Bedford was stuck with being the
token writer on a panel of agents.
JJ: told us he wants a submission to "Wow
me." And that when you're done with that first draft, put it away for at
least a month before you even think of editing it.
JB: said he wants writers to 'Be interesting as
a person'. As agents are effectively choosing workmates, I guess that makes an
awful lot of sense.
It was emphasised that you need to be willing to
work with the agent and chop entire characters and chapters if that is what
they think the work needs. (And if you aren't willing to work with the agent,
why do you really want one?)
The Absolute Write Water Cooler forum was flagged up as a useful resource - it's
an online community of writers, editors and agents.
Research, research, research was emphasised in
selecting agents to make a pitch to - there's little point in pitching a YA
fantasy to someone who only handles factual books. Make appropriate choices.
A particularly interesting suggestion (from John
Jarrold if memory serves) was to go and check the Acknowledgements in recent
works. Not only does this identify agents working in the field, but it lets you
see who they're handling and areas where they work.
Building on that last point, referencing what
you found in Acknowledgements in your query letter will then help establish
that you have done the research and have the genre background - but that
doesn't mean you can make it longer than a single page!
It was heavily emphasized that you should
individualise queries, and the need to get the agents name right was equally
heavily emphasised - which suggests a lot of people are falling at this most
basic of hurdles. A less obvious point was to tell the agent how many other
agents the pitch is going to in this round. John Jarrold suggested half a dozen
agents at a time is an appropriate number.
If an agent asks for exclusive submission then
it was agreed that the writer should expect, and if need be demand, quicker
turnaround.
There was pretty much unanimous agreement that
agents should reply to a pitch, even if just to say 'no thanks', though it was
clear that there are agents out there who don't.
Don't resubmit a reworked manuscript to an agent
unless they explicitly say they want you to resubmit it given certain changes.
It was emphasised by several people that the
industry is very subjective, agents will reject stuff others are desperate to
represent, and rejection doesn't necessarily mean the story doesn't work.
Even if you're trying to market a book, you
should always keep writing something new, though one suggestion was that you
probably shouldn't write a sequel until the first volume is sold.
JJ: It took Iain Banks 14 years and six novels
to sell his first novel.
JB: Younger/junior agents may be more willing to
take a chance on an author, but eventually become more selective as they learn
what will sell.
JJ: 70
per cent of the market is still print, and while epublishing is growing,
self-publishing is a turn-off to agents.
Less obvious advantages of agents are that they
know the business, and can cover you versus business errors, because they know
the mistakes publishers make. Ian Drury noted he will sit down with a
calculator and check what sales should translate to in royalties, and that in
doing this he has caught errors being made by publishers in payments to his
authors. Agents also provide access to foreign markets , which can add up to be
multiples of the original deal, and can save you rights to sell elsewhere that
you might not get if you try to deal directly with a publisher. John Jarrold
noted that while publishers have standard contracts that will be offered by
default, they will often have customised contracts with individual agents.
Some agents don't get heavily involved in the
editing process, others do and are better for it.
JJ: sees 30 books a week, but only takes on 4
authors a year
If an agent wants exclusivity on a manuscript
then three weeks is about appropriate.
Even if an agent wants to take on your work, it
was suggested that you need to be sure that you want to work with them. The
Writer's Market has a list of questions for agents, take a look at it and pick
the ones that are most appropriate to your needs - but don't demand the agent
answer all 20 of them.
We were reminded that agents are facing the same
issues in dealing with publishers that writers can face in getting and dealing
with agents. It can be 18 months for an agent to get a reply to a pitch from a
publisher, and that reply can be a sale.
It's about a career, think about your long term
strategy. In trying to develop our careers we can write all over different
genres, but only until we're dealing with agent and publishers, at that point
we will be locked in by the market.
Asked how many authors they represented, John
Jarrold said 40, Ian Drury 34, while Joshua Bilmes said JABberwocky represents
about 50 spread over four staff.
You can look for an agent and send publishers
submissions in parallels.
In answer to a question I asked - how can we tell
where the market is going, for instance the comment that Urban Fantasy is
oversubscribed and contracting, when we're only seeing decisions 18 months to
two years after the publishers have made them when the books appear on the
shelves - John Jarrold suggested analysing publishers' release listings
specifically for books by new authors in order to determine market directions.
Many publishers no longer have slush piles and
will only take agented manuscripts. This is pretty much across the board for
the major UK houses, though some US publishers will still buy from the slush
pile.
Master of Dark Arts: an insight into editing for
writers
Stephen Jones is interviewed by Lynda E. Rucker
about editing short dark fiction, providing insight for new and current
writers. Pointers and pitfalls will both be covered, as well as how the
writer/editor relationship works, and what professional writers and editors
should expect from each other.
Unlike the other sessions this was set up as a
one on one interview, with Stephen Jones being interviewed by fellow writer Lynda Rucker. As a result all comments below are by Stephen
Jones. The discussion opened with SJ discussing his career before moving on to
talk about the details of publishing and being an author and an anthology
editor.
You're not published until someone else
publishes you!
It may no longer be possible to have a career as
a writer, or at least as only a writer - so don't give up the day job when
you make your first sale!
Think of your long term career goals. SJ noted
in the opening discussion of his career that his initial goals had been to be
published author, to be a published cover artist, and to be an award winner,
all within his twenties - which he achieved.
Publishers no longer build author careers in the
way they once did.
There's not a lot of money in writing.
Authors used to get a percentage of the cover
price, they now get a percentage of what the publishers receive from the
bookseller.
The lead time for a book is at least 7 months,
mostly you're selling projects two years ahead
In constructing a story:
- What do you want to achieve with the story?
- Have an ending in mind.
- Always a compromise (unfortunately I didn't note down what it is a compromise between, apologies)
- Need subtext - Horror (and other genres) should reflect society around us. SJ says he isn't seeing a societal subtext in recent stories. Your aims should be 1. Entertainment, 2. subtext.
- Your target audience is a 13yo who doesn't read
books and who you want to change to an active reader
Always have a professional goal
You need to read in the genre.
You also need to read outside the genre, we're
not a ghetto.
When you're starting out, you don't need an
agent - it isn't a difficult job to get one if you have a deal.
Short stories are a great calling card.
If you have a chance, don't be afraid to pitch
in the bar, but buy them a drink!
Follow Locus Online.
Make it as easy as possible for editors and
agents - get spellings and punctuation right.
Always have an interesting title
Always have a hook in the opening, and then
another hook...
Get the best cover you can.
What Does an Editor Do?
Publishing is like Rubik's Cube, only with more
words and less logic. What exactly goes on in one of these publishing houses?
Do editors do more than edit? How do sales and marketing interact with
editorial? This panel will take a look into the hallways of publishing, pulling
back the curtain to reveal the mysterious Oz that controls all the books. Is it
a grand mysterious wizard behind there or just a bunch of word gerbils spinning
their hamster wheels like the rest of us?
My notes for the editors' session somehow ended
up split into two sections, with other stuff in between, I think I've gotten
everything put back together as should be, but it's just possible something may
have slipped in from another session. On the other hand everything seems
relevant.
The session was helmed by Ginjer Buchanan, fresh
from winning the Hugo for Best Editor - Long Form. Alongside her were Jane
Johnson Publishing Director at Harper Collins, Lee Harris, who heads the new
novella imprint at Tor.Com and is the former Senior Editor for Angry Robot (and
was a 2014 Hugo nominee for Best Editor - Long Form), Abigail Nathan, who is a
British freelance editor now operating out of Australia, and Steve Staffel,
senior acquiring editor with Titan Books.
There was a discussion of the decisions in
buying a book, estimating sales, involving production and sales staff, etc.
Unfortunately my notes here are unintelligible, so I'm stuck with just the
broadest brush of memory and no detail. Mea culpa!
Margin: Publishers used to aim for 53%. That's a
dream nowadays.
You can have a massive ad campaign and
associated reviews in the press all ready to roll for a book you're convinced
will be massively successful and then the Queen Mum dies and your publicity
campaign crashes and burns.
Editors/Publishers are thinking a year and a
half ahead, they are already setting their 2016 releases, 2017 for series.
Bestsellers: the numbers required to make a
bestseller list are very variable and depend on factors such whether the latest
Pratchett is in the list. There is a big fall off in numbers between the Sunday
Times number 3 and number 10.
The best-selling fantasy book last year was
George RR Martin's latest Game of Thrones and sold 166k copies, the bestselling
non-genre book sold 600k copies. The best-selling SF book sold 51k copies. ISTR
it was noted in one panel, probably here, that Amazon (and other e-publishers?)
won't release their sales figures, so these figures are print only, without
e-publishing.
Epic fantasy is 43% of the market
For British publishers, the Commonwealth market
is important, Australia and New Zealand represent up to a third of sales.
A lot of authors have day jobs....
E-books are now 40% of market, probably more for
SF/F
Of books bought from Amazon for under a pound,
82% are never read further than page 10.
Lee Harris talked a little about Tor's new
novella line, which he had literally just taken charge of, they are looking for
work in the 17.5 to 45k word range and seriously looking at serialization.
It was noted (admitted!) that not all editors
are good copy-editors
Editing was defined as a three pass process.
- Global edit pass - the acquiring editor will talk about the plot and characterization, so looking at structural changes rather than grammatical ones.
- Line edit - this looks at consistency, overuse of particular words, and may make minor textual adjustments
- Copy-editors - this is a detailed pass looking at grammar, spelling, continuity
In addition to Acquiring and Copy Editors, big
houses may also have a Managing Editor who oversees and passes stuff around
between the staff.
Abigail Nathan noted that copy-editors can end
up doing a lot of fact checking, including physically going to places. Google
Streetview was mentioned as something very useful for checking
landscape/environment facts, which made me smile as I've been using it in my
own writing for a while.
When we say 'Editors' we generally mean
acquiring editors
We were pointed at Stephen King's Misery as a
masterclass in characterization
Junior editorial staff are building a rep, so
possibly a more accessible target. At the bigger US publishers they often have
to look at the slush while senior staff often only take agented manuscripts.
The agent relationship is very intimate, the
agent needs to be the right person for you. Editors can also be focused on
being the right person with respect to the author.
Lee Harris commented that Angry Robot have an
annual 30 day submission window for unagented manuscripts, last time they got
991 novel submissions
End Notes
There were other business of writing panels, but
there were times I had solid arguments as to why I should be in eight different
panels at once (I'm not exaggerating, though mostly it was only three or four)
and it was just impossible to get to more than a fraction of the panels I wanted
to attend, particularly when I was trying to satisfy three different strands of
interest. I found the three panels I did get to tremendously valuable and I
hope these notes will be similarly useful for people who couldn't be there.
I've linked each participant to their bio page on the LonCon3 website and if
you're at all interested in becoming a writer then I'd strongly suggest taking
a run through their websites and following those of them who are on Twitter.
