The Artist

“We really write to understand
More about ourselves
And if we’re lucky maybe then
We touch someone else.”
           –Jerry Jeff Walker

I was listening to Jerry Jeff sing this song about a singer who stopped his singing and writing. In the song, he wonders if the artist-friend had enough of the “rip-offs and the jive” or if he lost the will to write. There is another stanza:

“It seems to be much more than art
When the art you sell is you
Be careful how you play the game
Or else the game plays you”

To Agent or Not to Agent

I apologize for using agent as a verb, but the questions of whether to get or not to get an agent and (if you answered yes, I want one of those) how to get an agent is a topic that often comes up in conversations about publishing. What are the advantages of having an agent? Do I really want to give up 15% or more of the small amount I make? What do they do? How do they do it? Can I do it for myself? How do I find one?

I have been told that it is as hard (perhaps harder) to find an agent as it is to find an editor to publish your book. There are more editors than agents. For editors, agents act as first readers. They save them time by weeding out the schlock. Agents also know which editors like what and what the different publishing houses are looking for. In essence, they do the research of where your book would fit for you. They also negotiate the contracts. Some agents claim that their negotiations make the author more money and therefore pay for their fee.

Some authors/writers prefer to handle their own negotiations. (There are literary attorneys that can help with this.) These authors/writers don’t want to give up their money or the control. At least in children’s literature, there are still ways to approach publishing houses without agents. (Even when the size of slush piles have caused a publishing house to refuse unsolicited manuscripts, editors speaking at writing conferences usually will accept manuscripts from the participants after the conference for a period of time.)

What do you think? Do you have an agent? Do you like your agent? Do you publish without an agent?

We can talk about finding agents in another post. In the meantime, I will do some research, so I welcome comments about this too.

Best,

Mara

On Word Counts

A few months ago, I got a manuscript back from Enslow for revisions. It had been months since I turned it in and mentally I was far away from the project.

For the most part, the comments were positive, but my editor told me (in red pen) that he wanted chapter three expanded into two chapters and my last two chapters condensed into one.

I have to admit, I have a bit of an issue with my editor’s red pen. His writing isn’t that neat and it sort of feels like he is yelling at me. I become petulant and complain a lot. Fortunately, he can’t hear me.

However, adding to the text made sense. It took a while, but I expanded my chapter 3, broke it into two, and answered my editors questions throughout the manuscript.

It was the condensing that hurt. These curriculum books have very specific word counts. When I had finished expanding, I needed to cut more than 4,000 words–about a fifth of the book. Ouch.

To cut, I had to look very carefully at what was necessary. What did I think was really important. I had to cut large sections and then more large sections. Then, I line edited and cut more large sections.

I guess it was like cutting down a roster for an Olympic team (an appropriate metaphor since the Olympics start tonight.) The first cuts weren’t that hard, but the last ones were painful. I had grown fond of the players (writing) and thought they added something to the team (text), but in the end they weren’t needed.

I still wish I could have about 500 words back. Word counts feel a bit artificial and I hated cutting that last player. But the red pen was right, and I have to admit, the book is better.

Perhaps there is something good, important even, about being forced to cut and make tough decisions about your writing.

Thoughts?

Best,

Mara

Cool Links

As a part of my intro into blogging and more specifically the concept of Web 2.0, I was given this video link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g  It’s worth watching if you are interested in Web 2.0.

Also, editorial anonymous is running a pitch clinic. A few weeks ago, EA ran a contest for pitches (good and funny/bad) Now she has taken the time to analyze them so others can learn from them.

Best,

Mara

Internal Vs. External Rewards

Recently, I was talking with a friend about internal vs. external rewards. The conversation came up when we were talking about why I pay my daughter for good grades and also why I think there is a “right” amount–not too much so that her grades become about the money and getting less than an A would be devastating, but enough so that there is a worthwhile, tangible appreciation of her work.

In psychology, (I was a psych major) we learned that internal reward was inversely related to external reward. For example, if payment is too high, people will work for the money but often feel less intrinsic value. If payment is too low, people may feel good about their work but often feel under appreciated. People were usually happiest when there was a balance between internal and external rewards.

This seems relevant in the discussion of writing (internal reward) and getting published (external reward). It is hard to make money as writer and often writers need to take writing jobs. Liken it to a painter being hired to paint a portrait. Jackie Woodson wrote a book for the PBS series Ghost-Writer. At times, Lousie Hawes seemed almost apologetic for writing Sweet Valley High books, but they paid for her kid’s college and the kids who read them loved them. Other writers have worked for newspapers or in advertising, etc.

I agree with Trent’s comment that the writing can suffer if a writer writes solely with getting published in mind–if he or she tries to write what he or she thinks someone else may like or to a trend that is not what’s in his or her heart. However, if you are trying to make ends meet as writer, what kind of writing gigs would you consider or have you taken? Do you think it is better to have a job unrelated to writing so that your writing is keyed to what you want to write and you don’t come home thinking I’ve written things all day now I just want to watch TV? Or is it better to be in a writing career and take writing related jobs because all writing is practice?

Let me know your experiences with different types of writing gigs? How have outside writing projects helped your writing or writing career? How have they hindered it? What kind of writing gigs are out there for people interested in more externally rewarding pursuits?

And as an aside, which external reward is more important to you from getting published: recognition or income?

Best,

Mara

Taming the Mean Voice

In a lecture at Vermont College, Carolyn Coman (award-winning author) once talked about her “mean voice”; it was the voice in her head that said mean things such as, what you are writing sucks or it will never get published, etc. She also noted that her mean voice was smart. She knew this because when she proved the voice wrong, the voice was able to adapt and come up with a new mean thought. For example, You will never get published, changed to You’ll never get published again. It is hard to imagine someone of Carolyn’s writing caliber having a mean voice inside her head, (She doesn’t have a mean bone inside her body) but perhaps it is inherent in writers–we tend to spend a lot of time alone with our thoughts.

Recently, my mom watched a TV special with a psychiatrist who studies brain (SPECT) imagery. He said that “negative thoughts inflamed brain areas often involved with depression and anxiety.” And that we needed to “kill” the Automatic Negative Thoughts (“ANTs”). He even talked about different types of ANTs: mind-reading (thinking someone else is thinking something bad), fortune telling (thinking bad things will happen), Thinking in absolutes (always, never), guilt, shoulds, etc. You can read one of his articles about optimizing your brain here.

My dad, a psychologist, talked a lot about a person’s power to change their perspective (i.e. Edison’s view that he didn’t fail with every unsuccessful attempt at making a light bulb, rather he had discovered another way not to make a light bulb. One more attempt down in a pursuit he believed would ultimately be successful. An optimistic and positive belief.) Or in writing, that we should focus on each success, the fact that we have completed a manuscript or taken the steps to send it out, etc.

Carolyn Coman also told us how she tamed her mean voice. She made a deal with it: The mean voice had to be quiet for an hour or some amount of time while she wrote, but after she was done, it could say whatever it wanted. The interesting thing was that after she wrote, the voice rarely had anything mean to say.

How do you tame your mean voice?

Best,

Mara

deadlines and contracts

“I don’t need time; what I need is a deadline.” I think it was Duke Ellington who said that. I might add that I also need a publisher.

I write curriculum nonfiction for Enslow Publishers. These are nonfiction books sold mainly to the school- library and library markets. (They’re the kind of books a kid would take out to do a report or learn about a subject of interest.) Usually, the topics, reading level, and length are decided by the publisher. My first two books with Enslow were written “for hire”, which means they paid me a fee up front and now the publisher owns the copyright. My next three contracts have all had a royalty attached. I don’t know how much the books will make ultimately, but I can guarantee, they aren’t going to make me rich. More importantly getting my fiction published is what would make me happy.

Recently, a  friend of mine asked if my fiction writing was suffering because of my curriculum book projects. It is. But there is something very comfortable about having a contract before I write the book and knowing that what I write is going to get published. Another Marion Dane Bauer quote comes to mind; she said that there is a difference between wanting to write a book and wanting to have written a book. This quote comes to mind a lot when I am playing Spider solitaire instead of writing. But it is an important point. Are you writing for the writing or are you writing for what comes after? I don’t mind doing the work of writing, but I do get frustrated when my work sits on a shelf.

So, how important is it to know that your writing is going to make it out into the world?

Best, Mara

blogs, and facebook, and twitter, oh my!

So in my first post, I mentioned a couple of reasons for starting this blog. The main reason was that I wanted to start a conversation about publishing. (Thank you to everyone who has commented!) The secondary reason was that I wanted to learn the ins and outs of blogging. After all, blogging is a type of publishing.

To this end, Marc (Thank you, Marc) sent me a link to problogger, a blog about blogging. The first post I read was about a medical doctor who traded in his medical career for blogging. More than four-million people go to this guy’s technology website each month. Wow. Yesterday, I had my highest number of views at 28. Better keep my day job.

Marc also told me about blog rolls, which unfortunately are not like caramel rolls. He says, “the reason blogs have really long blogrolls is because quality links will increase your google ranking. Cross-linking helps too…. You should be able to divide your blogroll into sections, like Children’s Publishers, Poetry Publishers, etc. “

Okay…. I can do that… I think…

Please pass on any good publishing links or blogs that you think are valuable and/or would be valuable to others trying to get published. Let’s stick to the publishing theme. I will look forward to checking out your suggestions and passing them on through my blog roll and in my posts.

As always, feel free to offer your thoughts about publishing, or trying to get published, or getting rejected, or trying to get published again, or, hopefully, finding success. Or feel free to offer blogging critique. We’re all in this together.

BTW, School Library Journal is encouraging us to get our Web 2.0 groove on with their “All Together Now, a Web 2.0 Experience” blog. (Just to be clear, Web 2.0 is a philosophy not an upgrade…. blogs, and facebook, and twitter, oh my.)

Waiting

 

On Wednesday, I wrote a picture book. It has been years since I attempted a picture book. I think they are hard to write well. But this one was like picking ripe fruit or seeing the end game in chess. It was right there and the more I wrote the more I knew what came next. I have tried to write picture books in the past and have managed a few that aren’t bad, but they’ve never been quite good enough to break through to the top of the slush. (Rejections with nice comments, but no sales.) I am hoping this one is.

 

Marion Dane Bauer talks about how a picture book is like an iceberg. The story is the part that is showing but you feel the depth underneath. Like all literature, a picture book needs character, setting, story, tension, and a satisfying ending that isn’t predictable. Unlike other literature a picture book also needs room for the artist, active scenes to illustrate, rhythm and repetition that doesn’t make you want to tear our hair out, and it must, above all, appeal to kids. This all needs to be done in around 500 words.

 

Charlotte Zolotow once made a comment that the difference between writing for adults and writing for children was the difference between looking back to childhood and feeling back. I think I felt back to childhood this time and with great hope I have decided to send it out to publishers.

 

I went back through my old rejection letters and picked out the ones in which the editors said nice things and encouraged me to send other manuscripts their way. I made sure those editors were still at those houses. (Some were; some weren’t; many had been promoted. As I said, it has been a while) Then I looked at the respective submission guidelines, wrote my short cover letters, and bravely sealed the envelopes.

 

So now I wait. Of course the best advice when waiting is to pass the time writing. But as someone who once cut the bridge of my nose by dropping a mailbox lid on it, does anyone know other ways to cope with waiting?

 

I also sent my middle grade novel out again. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Slush Piles and Wait Times

Check out Editorial Anonymous, a blog by a children’s book editor. She gives advice about submitting and occasionally just bitches about her slush pile. There is one post in which she and other editors talk about the strange things that have been found in their slush pile and another in which she explains what a 15,000 manuscript slush pile would look like in your kitchen. Thank you Jamie for giving me the heads-up!

A slush pile, for those who are new to publishing, is the pile of unsolicited manuscripts that publishers receive. When I was interning at Milkweed, the slush pile was in a back room area. Interns wrote the date on which the manuscripts were received in large permanent marker and the manuscripts were reviewed basically in that order. (Solicited/agented manuscripts took precedence.) Interns were encouraged to read and comment on the manuscripts for the editors. As I recall, there was a form for intern comments. Milkweed also had a reader come in to initially review their middle-grade novel submissions.

Milkweed’s current guidelines say they do our best to respond to submissions within six months of receipt. I just talked to an editor at Marshall Cavendish who also said they were six months out on responses.

Any thoughts about piles of slush or wait times?