How to Prepare a Book Submission for Literary Agents – Part 3

Posted on by taniacreations

Part 3 – Getting the Material Ready

See how to build your shortlist of agents in part 1

See how to list the contents you will need in part 2

There is no consensus about anything, I’ve researched the details on how to format manuscripts, how to write book proposals, how to write query letter or a bio, etc. But in the end, there are just many different suggestions. You must do your own research and choose what resonates with you.

In the end if you make any decision and go with it, it is better than leaving your book in a drawer, virtual or real.

The important part is that you will need to research step by step, read on how to write each piece, how long it should be and decide on the voice and tone.

 

Query Letter

There are many articles about how to write a good query letter but I have here a few things that I think all query letters should include:

  • In the subject, include the word “query”, the name of your project, and who it is in attention to (if you are sending to a generic email address).
  • A bit about you, including where you are from or based at, whichever is relevant.
  • How many words your manuscript has.
  • The number of agents you are submitting in total.
  • Note if the manuscript has been self-published before and how did it go.
  • Make it adaptable as a submission letter if the agent wants to see a submission in the first instance.
  • Make sure you address it to the right person and add something in the letter to make it personal for them.
  • Add at least one paragraph for the specific agent mentioning something that either they have represented or their agency represents that is relevant to your project.

 

Other Material

  • Short overview
  • Synopsis
  • Complete Synopsis

Prepare a few different sizes of summaries, I would recommend a one-page overview; one three-page synopsis, and a complete synopsis of about 5-7 pages. You will probably need them all.

  • Format the full manuscript
  • Save it in the different sample sizes requested (3 pages, 3 chapters, 50 pages, 30 consecutive pages, etc.)
  • Prepare a full Book Proposal including:
    • Author Bio
    • Competition
    • Market (WHO will read the book)
    • Promotion (HOW readers will learn about the book)

Put all the material together in an organised way and make sure you have it edited and proofread.

I use online freelancers to proofread and edit my material because it is what I can afford for now.

 

This is my checklist for the reviewing process:

  • Prepare all material in a MS Word document
  • Include an updated table of contents
  • Write detailed add for freelancer online community
  • Post the advert
  • Shortlist the freelancers
  • Chat with favourite freelancer and ask a few questions (it’s a good way to see how they actually write)
  • Make a choice / Engage the freelancer and send material
  • Once the material is back, go over track changes, change by change (never, ever click accept all)
  • Format the final material into the pieces you need (for attachment, in pdf or word; or to add to body of email)
  • EXCITING TIME: Ready to submit!

Only then you are really ready for submission. Reserve quality time, when you are not too tired, to make the submissions. The attention to detail —following each agents rules and double checking nothing has changed since you noted them — is essential to your success.

Good Luck!

How to Prepare a Book Submission for Literary Agents – Part 2

Posted on by taniacreations

Part 2 – Listing the Content you Will Need to Prepare

Once you have your shortlist of agents (see how to build your list in part 1) you would like to submit to, you must create a list of what they ask for in the first and second instances.

First Instance – Query Letter

Most agents do not accept submissions, they accept queries. They state in large bold letters WE DO NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICITED MATERIAL, or something of the kind.

But even these, sometimes, accept queries. This means they allow you to ask them if they want you to send them your material. I know, it feels like a begging process where they have all the strength and you have none, but don’t get discouraged, it is what it is and it is important to follow their rules to give you a chance to get through.

As you have seen in Part 1, I am willing, with boundaries, I won’t send my work to aggressive and grudging people, for example. But for the rest, my project deserves the best of me and I am happy to do what is necessary to get it out there. That means queries.

Each agent states what they want in their queries or with their queries. Sometimes they only want the Query Letter, sometimes they ask for a short summary or a few chapters of your book. Make a list of everything all of your agents want from you.

Second instance – Book Submission

From my research I have realised that if the agent likes your query letter and wants to see more, they want it straight away and that is not a simple matter.

Some of the agents will tell you what you should have ready if they want to see your book submission, it can be the full manuscript or part of the manuscript, it usually includes an author bio but they might ask for other book-related aspects.

Again, make a detailed list of what they might ask following. It is important to note that agents and agencies may have different demands if your project is fiction or non-fiction, screenplay or illustrated book. Make sure you note the right demands for your type of material.

Create two lists:

1) List by Agency

Agent Name

Agency

Country

  • Note if they want to receive a query or a direct submission

Query Letter

  • Email address or form-on-website address
  • Specificities about the subject line (yes, they are this detailed)
  • Note if the email is for a specific person/agent, if not, you need to add the agent name in the Subject Line
  • Any specificity of what the letter should contain
    • (e.g. a paragraph about the writer)
  • Specific demands that you fulfil
    • (e.g. that you are Australian for an agent that only represents Australian writers)
  • If they want or refuse attachments and want you to put everything in the body of the email

Submission

  • What you should have ready for the next stage, if they want to see a full submission

 

2) List by Material Needed

Separate what you need to have ready for the first and second instances. List everything all the agents are looking for and get to work.

 

See below an example of what my lists looked like.

Continue reading How to Prepare a Book Submission for Literary Agents – Part 2

Angry Agent’s & Publisher’s Sites – Are they endangering their own industry?

Posted on by taniacreations

I get it, it must be frustrating to be a literary agent and receive hundreds of unsolicited, poor-quality material, but I’m here wondering if these angry Agents and Publishers aren’t creating their own demise. It is not all of them but still more than I expected.

In my research on how to submit my recently finished book to an agent, I’ve learned that the proper process is to send a Query Letter, and see if the agent wants to receive a submission; if and only then, you send a cover letter, with summary and submission and many other details; then you wait, possibly for months. If no agent wants to represent you, you may try to send directly to publishers, the reason being that it seems that if all the publishers have already rejected you, no agent will agree to represent you.

While reading the agents and publishers website I kept being assaulted by exasperated people right and left.

They sounded like angry teachers:

  • Do not send unsolicited material.
  • We repeat: Do not send mail that needs to be signed for.
  • WE DON’T OPEN ATTACHMENTS!
  • We do not look at work which is under submission to any other agent or publisher.
  • Do not send the whole work.
  • Do not send cassette tapes, CDs, or video tapes.
  • Binding: please don’t. We prefer that the material should be in the form of loose sheets, unbound, held together by string or cotton tape.

‘String? Cotton Tape? Printed sheets? What?’ If we writers test the patience of the agents, I’d say they do it right back at us. String?

The general tone of many Agents and Publishers websites is that we, the writers, are basically the scum of the Earth and we will be immensely lucky if they deem us worthy of their time.

There are lots of rules and regulations screaming at the reader with a thousand rules. There is a tone of lack of patience, of tired people that will take months to look at your query or manuscript but, in quite a few cases, want you to only submit to them.

I felt empathy for what they seem to go through but doubt that this is the best way to go forward in the long term.

We have to consider the changes in the publishing industry. No wonder so many authors are Self-Publishing, it is not encouraging to have to sift through angriness just to learn how to submit your work.

I have heard of many books that first made best sellers then were picked by the publishing world, it might not take long for authors to prefer going their own way. With many publishing houses and book stores closing down and going through serious restructure, I think professionalism and curtesy would be a better strategy.

I am finding harder and harder to pick which books are publishing mainstream and which are home-published, in e-books and at Amazon I simply search for what I like and don’t even look at the publisher. It is not impossible that Agents and Publishers could make themselves superfluous.

I do have the utmost respect and love for the job Publishers and Agents do. I miss the quality of the writing world before the self-publishing advent, which I’m guilty of. I miss going through a list of books knowing they are all professionally edited, proof-read, and picked as the cherries of the written word. But the reality is that that world is gone.

On the other hand, becoming a self-publisher is also a lot of work, and I’m not good at promoting and selling my books, getting freelancers to help me out every step of the way is time-consuming and at times, frustrating. That is why I am choosing to submit to agents and publishers and hope for the best. I did manage to pick some good agents and create a healthy list [see here how to create your own list].

My point is that maybe it is time for these angry Agents and Publishers to find a friendlier way to interact with their potential Authors. I find it strange that they are willing to treat badly the same people who will bring them their income. Instead I would suggest they should find better processes, include checklists for authors to follow before submission, for example. Interactive forms, where the applicant has to add the essential information, processes that would guide the aspiring writer to do it right, creating a healthy relationship from the start.

How to Prepare a Book Submission for Literary Agents – Part 1

Posted on by taniacreations

Most agents and publishers advise against trying to sell an idea for a book or a manuscript that is just partially written. With so many writers sprouting everywhere, you should not only have a full manuscript but have it thoroughly checked and edited in advance.

This is what I am writing here about, this post is on preparing a submission for a fully-written-manuscript , not a concept, or a partial product. You should look for other advice if that is your case.

Part 1 – Who to Submit to

I have finished a book that gives me this deep weird sensation in my body. It warms up my gut. I am interpreting this warmth as meaning that the work is good, making me decide to send it to the publishing world.

I enjoy the writing process immensely; the re-writing, editing, proofreading, not as much, but I can find strategies to make myself do it. What I cannot find time to do, is to promote myself and my writing, and I find little inspiration in social media, it requires endurance.

I work full time, giving me limited spare time, that is why I like to concentrate on the actual writing which gives me pleasure and is my core strength. That is how I got to the conclusion that I should get either an agent or a publisher, who are professionals dedicated to do what I don’t do well: selling and promoting the writing.

I will still have to sell the writing to them, but writing a book proposal is still writing. At least more than the daily marketing the self-publishing approach requires.

It has taken me seven months to get my book proposal ready, even I didn’t know why so long until I looked at all I actually did to get there. Here are the steps I have gone through to prepare my book for submission:

1) Get it ready

I read in many agents and publishers websites: get the book ready. Read, proof-read and edit it, ask someone you trust to give you feedback. But at a certain point, declare it ready. You can’t keep working on it forever, you need to put a stop to the reworking. You may also want to not over workshop it, too many external opinions can drown your own voice.

A good tip is that when people start discussing their views on the content of the writing rather than helping with the structure, it is time to stop showing your writing to others. Opinions about the colour of your character’s hat are not important, only precise feedback on how to make what you are writing clearer and better is.

2) First question: agent or publisher?

I knew that I didn’t want to self-publish this book straight away. I wanted it to have a good chance at an agent or publisher first.

I started my research defining if it was worth having an agent or not. I concluded that it was a good place to start. I read in may sites that if you first try sending your work to publishers and they reject it extensively, no agents will want to evaluate it because it already has been rejected by the publishers they would send it to. Therefore, between the two, the strategy is clear: start with an agent.

A best seller writer gave me his opinion that agents can do little for you and it is worth going to publishers directly. He may be right and when receiving the offer of an agent, I’ll make sure to do another research and ask all the questions and negotiate the contract to both of our advantages.

Meanwhile, I have decided to send to agents, I’m sure that having a champion with straight lines of communication to publishers and extensive knowhow of the industry can only help. Lower margins of profit but with much higher possibility of success still attracts me. If none of the agents I have chosen decide to choose my work, I will make another decision, but I’ll cross that bridge when and if it appears.

3) Research and choice of agents

I defined that I didn’t want to submit to angry agents. During my research I found many websites with an angry tone, a dictatorial and impatient discourse, repeating instructions in capital letters, and I chose to stay away from these. I cannot believe that people that are constantly irritated at the submissions they receive will give me the best of their analytical skills.

What I have looked for (to create my agents shortlist):

  • A current website
  • A cordial and professional tone
  • Agents open to receive queries or submissions
    • (double check at the time of submission, things change quickly and agents open and close from time to time)
  • Clear instructions of how they want to receive submissions
  • Open to receive submissions by email
  • Open to receive my style/genre’s submissions – VERY IMPORTANT
  • The agent’s name inside the agency, if applicable
  • The agent’s preference and link to my project
  • Agents that accept multiple submissions

 

Electronic submissions

My book isn’t limited to one market and will possibly be sold world-wide. There aren’t many agents accepting my genre’s submission in Australia and I’ll submit to a few agents overseas. All this make it important that my agent be electronically enabled.

 

Style / Genre

Agents and agencies have preferences, specialties, styles they work with or not, for example, some don’t take screenwriting, some exclude poetry, others define genres they don’t want to see, for example fantasy or  young adults stories.

You must find the agency that is open to accept your book and if they have more than one agent, choose the person best suited to receive your material.

Don’t worry, there is always someone who not only accepts your type of project, some are specialised and prefer it, if not in this one agency, in another company. I read everything, from agents who are about Christian writing, others who only read children’s stories, some that love LGBTQ books, others specify they only work with fiction, or non-fiction. In conclusion, there are agents for almost every combination.

 

Agents preferences

I chose the number 6 randomly, as the number of agents I’ll send my project to. It means I am being selective, I can keep track of them and it shouldn’t scary them off to know I’m submitting to six people in total.

Because my style/genre is more or less well accepted I was able to choose my agents (who fulfilled all the items in my list above) by the ones who seemed more inclined to be open to my project.

I researched what other books their agencies had, what where their personal preferences, if they were likely to take the risk of accepting my work. Then, I created specific letters to each of the agents using the information of what my project and their declared preferences have in common.

 

Multiple submissions

I rejected, in the first instance, agents that did not want me to submit to others at the same time as them. It can take months for them to reply. Some state they won’t even send any reply if they don’t like the material. The usual stated time is between 4-8 weeks. I don’t find it very efficient to submit to one agent at a time. If I need to make another decision in the future, so be it, for now, this is my strategy; you must choose yours knowingly.

 

It is like job seeking

From my life’s experience in looking for jobs, I think you are better off choosing a few, very specific people to send your application and doing specific cover letters and preparing the submission exactly like they are asking for, than sending it to everyone without second thought.

In reality it is much more time consuming to adapt your project to each agent than to send to everyone but it may increase your chances exponentially.

Keep reading:

See how to list the contents you will need in part 2

See how to get the material ready in part 3

Amazon Eats Reviews

Posted on by taniacreations

Many self-published authors are complaining about the same thing: Amazon deletes reviews.

The issue is, Amazon keeps eating the reviews from the people I know, I had about 8 reviews on my book Simplesmente Gerva and they deleted them all.

I don’t agree with their system. I know people that are related to me or are my friends are biased, but where do you start?

To attract unbiased reviews, you need reviews! With reviews from people you know, you will attract people to buy the book. Some will like and some won’t, but it doesn’t matter as long as you start the ball rolling.

With Amazon policy of deleting reviews I’m left with no starting point.

I’m retorting to begging, and selling my soul, https://taniacreations.com/2016/05/27/lucifer-the-amazon/, the next step might be a bit more drastic…

There I am at a corner, mini-skirt, trashy top, more make-up than I ever used, twirling my purse. A car comes along, a man opens the window and leans to speak to me.

‘How much?’

‘1 review for one hour, 2 reviews for four hours or 3 reviews for the night’

‘Hum, okay, I’ll take the four hours option.’

Cool! The make up certainly paid off! I give him a card with some web addresses.

‘Payment first! Go home, read the books, make the reviews, come back tomorrow, I’ll be waiting’.

Save me from myself, review my books!

Sideways Reality:

www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01DRNHT4G

www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01DRNHT4G

www.amazon.com/dp/B01DRNHT4G

Simplesmente Gerva:

www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00M5NICLY

www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00M5NICLY

www.amazon.com/dp/B00M5NICLY

Fio da Meada:

www.amazon.com.br/dp/B007XAJOFM

www.amazon.com.au/dp/B007XAJOFM

www.amazon.com/dp/B007XAJOFM

Radar Magazine and me: A Love Affair

Posted on by taniacreations
If you don’t know Radar you have to see it. It is a magazine about the Brazilian culture for the Australian market. It is special. It has an amazing quality in all senses, good printing in a glossy paper, with a layout that is almost sexy, the pictures are artistically chosen and distributed, the writing is not only journalistic, it is almost literary, like chronicles of life’s best. All done in two languages: English and Portuguese.

I have great news! Radar Magazine is opening a new Latin Dance Section from the August edition. I’m very excited as I’m the writer and reporter. http://www.radarmagazine.com.au
I fell in love with the magazine when I first read it and contacted them saying: I want in. That is how I ended up writing for them about the Sydney Salsa Congress and a few tourism pieces.
The Latin Dance Section will have one or two pages full of pictures and information from the scenes in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The intention is to draw the attention of the Latin scene to the magazine so we are doing this as a trial. I intend to make this section so good people will salivate looking at it.
To know more about my writing check all my blogs.

(Orble Votes: 52)

Welcome to 2009 Written Life! New Author, New Ideas!

Posted on by taniacreations

This is my new Blog and my idea is to use the name of the site as its theme: writing about life. Mine and in general.
This is the best time to start something new: beginning of the year, just after vacations, writing about life now will be even easier…

(Orble Votes: 44)