Breaking into Mags - A New Question

How do you begin writing for magazines? Do they ask you, or do you submit material? Do you need to be an expert at a particular topic? How does that work?

There are some good posts in the archives of the blog on smart strategies for getting started, but generally, unless you're an established book author or something similar, you're going to have to submit. And by submit, I mean you're going to have to come up with some unique ideas - editors are always looking for "fresh" angles on the same-old, same-old subjects - and email them to the correct editor. You'll probably have to do this at least several dozen times before you crack anything. Sorry! That's just the truth. How do you craft an idea? Again, there's more detail in the archives, but basically, think of something that would make an interesting story, then come up with an angle that hasn't been covered to death, then toss in some interesting research. Or maybe go at it the reverse way: find a cool new study, then fashion a pitch around it.

You don't have to be an expert in the field, but it's certainly easier if you have some level of familiarity with your subject. For example, of late, I've been doing A TON of parenting stories. Why? I have two kids. But I didn't start writing for parenting magazines until I got pregnant because I simply had no knowledge about what would or wouldn't be interesting to editors/readers, and furthermore, I had no knowledge about any of those potentially interesting subjects. In other words, even if I knew that a story on vaccinations might be interesting, I didn't know anything about the vaccinations themselves, so the learning curve and level of research required would have been huge and too time-consuming to be worth my while. To that end, I do a lot of health and fitness writing because, well, I'm a pretty fit and health-focused gal, so it doesn't take a lot for me to develop story ideas OR to research said articles. Make sense? It's not that I have to have a Ph.D or M.D to write these stories, but I should have a good working base of knowledge. Besides, I'll interview those Ph.Ds and M.D.s for my story.

Does that help? What about you guys? How "expert" are you when it comes to the stories you write?

The Magic Ticket

In your opinion, what's the key to getting an agent and then a book deal?

Okay, not to sound like Miss Snark here because as we know, I don't always agree with her, but honestly, there's no special key, secret handshake or magic ticket. The key is to write a good book. Period.

Actually, I'll amend that. There are SO many agents out there, I'd say that the key to getting an agent is to write a pretty good book. These days, some agents are willing to take on diamonds in the rough and work with writers until the ms is ready to send out. But there's just no way that you're going to get a book deal if you write a crap book. Too many people have to approve the purchase of said book (see a previous blog entry on how difficult it is for a book to get bought - usually upwards of 5-7 people have to agree on the purchase) for it to be drivel.

Now. All of that said, an enormous amount of shitty books are published, and honestly, I have no idea how or why. But I'm guessing it's because these books appeal to a market and the publisher knows that even if the novel isn't going to win any awards, people are going to read it because, let's be honest here, book preferences are totally subjective and while I'm not likely to buy, for example, a romance novel, hundreds of thousands of others are. So what I might consider crap, others - and this includes agents and editors - might consider good writing. Or at least marketable writing.

So...how do so many bad books get published anyway? And how do they find agents and editors?

Hi, I'm Allison, and I'm a Writer

I'm curious how you deal with people who don't consider what you do to be a real "job." I'm so tired of the little ribbing comments by friends and even a few family members who think that "writer" is the same thing as "unemployed."

Ah yes, the old dinner party conversation of, "oh, you're a writer? What sort of things do you do?" Cue: smug glances to the rest of the party, suspecting that the answer will be penning love letters in my Strawberry Shortcake journal or such.

I have to say, after years of answering such idiotic questions, I still get immense satisfaction out of saying, "Well, I have a novel coming out this year, and I write for X, Y, and Z magazines." I dunno, call me immature, call me competitive, call me someone who likes to one-up people who try to one-up me...whatever. I still enjoy it. If only because they're so intent on assuming that what I do is nothing more than a hobby. Yes, in fact, I remember one friend of my in-laws asking me just that: how my writing hobby was coming along and then stating how nice it was that I had something to fill my time. As if she were referring to gardening or something. Snort.

Anyhoo, I deal with folks who make these snide insinuations by a) letting them know that I'm a professional, as indicated by my comments above. As soon as you firmly let them know that you're not a hack, their smugness usually turns to tail-between-the-legs admiration pretty quickly, and there's little I enjoy more than watching these asshats try to dig themselves out of these holes. I also b) shrug off the fact that people judge what I do for a living. (Yes, I really do shrug it off, despite the enormous satisfaction I derive from proving them wrong.) I mean, what am I going to do - go around changing the minds of people who assume that "freelance writer" is synonymous with "freeloader?" Indeed, I'm not. If people want to think that I waste my days away watching Days of Our Lives and Oprah, well, what can I do about it? They don't see the checks coming in or the phone ringing or my Outlook inbox filling up. I think changing their impressions of you only matters when they're interfering with your writing time: the neighbor who assumes you don't have anything to do all day so keeps stopping by; your child's friend's mom who keeps trying to set up playdates during office hours. To these folks, I just say, "you know, even though I work from home, I treat it like any other office job, so I really can't be available during this time. I'm sorry." Period.

How do you guys handle folks who assume you're nothing but a loafer?

The Persistence Payoff!

Taking a break from the Q/As today to bring you a real life example of how tenacity in this business can really pay off. Some of you might peruse the hilarious musings of Manic Mom over on her blog, and after a looooong agent search, she landed an agent! Whoohoo! Send her good vibes because her ms is out on submission now. Here, her story...

How many agents did you query before you found one?
I queried approximately 152 agents.

Did you ever feel like giving up?
I did feel like giving up plenty of times, but someone from a writer's loop I belong to wrote that it takes Talent, Persistence and Timing in this biz. I pasted this little note on my computer desk that says TPT--Talent, Persistence, Timing and I look at it every day. Also, underneath it, I found a quote I wrote down too: "A published author is an amateur who doesn't quit." I had said to myself, "I'll quit at 100 agents" but then that came and went and I didn't want to give up.

How did you sustain the belief in both yourself and your work? How many drafts of your ms did you go through? Did certain agents give you feedback and if so, did you listen to it and incorporate it into your drafts?

Sustaining the belief: I think because I received great feedback from the very first query I sent out, and kept getting the queries that made suggestions, and that kept me going. In terms of how many drafts, I would say about three or four times I made major revisions, and most of these revisions were inspired by agents who didn't take me on but offered great advice, which was invaluable to me (is invaluable the correct word? LOL). So, yes, the feedback I got from other agents I totally took to heart. One suggested it be cut by 100 pages. I did that. She was absolutely right. Others said there needed to be more conflict. I amped up the conflict. Many said they weren't too compassionate toward my main character, or she wasn't believable--some of that type of stuff I just let ride, because just like how one person loves war movies, another one may hate war movies, so I knew that some things couldn't be changed to make everybody happy.

How did you know that this agent was the one?
I knew this agent was right for me because she called me! LOL... seriously though, she has a great background and comes from a well-known agency, she has sold six-figure non-fiction deals, but she is just now getting heavy into selling fiction, so it might have been a risk, but no matter who a writer goes with for an agent, there's always some risk involved...

And in terms of the wanting to give up... when I told my mom I got an agent, she said, "I thought you were going to quit searching after 100 queries." Then I said to her, "And if I had quit, mom, I wouldn't have an agent now!"

Foreign Rights Dinero

I was just wondering, since your publisher sold your book rights in Spanish, do you see any money from that deal? Or does it all go to HarperCollins?

Good question, and for it, there's a quick and easy answer (which I already emailed back to you). But I'm posting it publicly anyway because I think it's important that people know what to expect when they get their contracts, AND that they read said contracts.

The answer is that yes, I see do see money from the deal - generally, the author sees 50-80% of the money from the sale. The even better news is that the money that Harper keeps works toward fulfilling my advance. I also get royalties for every book sold. Foreign rights royalties usually fall somewhere around 10%, give or take a few points.

See? Quick and easy, as promised.

Co-authoring Complications

A few months, I was approached by a scientist who wanted to explore the possibility of my working on a book with him. We made no commitments to each other, other than to discuss his general idea and to toss around some title ideas. When we parted, he was still deciding if he wanted to work with me, or even do the book at all. Coincidentally, during this time, he met with a former employer of mine who now runs a foundation whose work is related to his field. He had a long conversation with her about ways they might collaborate to help their ideas reach a broader popular audience. He mentioned to her that he was "thinking" of writing a book with me.

A month or two passed, during which I contacted him about the book, to see if he had come to any decisions. He didn't respond to my e-mail. Then a few days ago, I received a call from my former employer. She spoke glowingly of her conversation with the scientist, then asked if I
would be interested in developing a series of interviews or white papers for her foundation on him and other scientists working in the same field.

I followed up with the scientist to let him know about the foundation's offer, and that I was considering it. I told him it did not preclude my working with him on the book if at some point he decided to do so. He was incensed, and indicated he felt the foundation had stolen his idea. He didn't accuse me of impropriety, but the suggestion was there. I can't see that any proprietary idea has been stolen; the articles the foundation requests are quite different in nature from the book idea and would likely be complementary, if anything.

But now what? I am clearly obligated to keep the scientist's creative ideas confidential, and of course I will do so. But am I obligated to turn down the foundation's offer of work (which is
likely to be better-paying and more of a sure thing than the book)? Is it possible to rectify my relationship with the scientist, or is that bridge forever burned?

So...let me make sure I have this all straight: a scientist contacts you about potentially co-authoring a book. At the same time, he contacts your old boss at a foundation about ways that they can mutually help and promote each other. Your old boss asks you to write about said scientist and his specialty in order to do just that. And when you call him to find out if he's interested, he implies that you've acted unethically?? Oh, and he doesn't return your emails in the lag time?

To be honest, I'm not sure why you'd WANT to work with this guy on a book. I can't speak to the series of papers for the foundation because, well, I guess if the money is good and ultimately, you're working for your boss, not the scientist, then it might be a bearable situation. But one thing I CAN speak to is co-authoring situations, and this one has red flags waving from left, right and center fields.

I can't tell you how many co-authoring situations I've heard of (and in one instance been involved with) in which the writer is basically abused - taken advantage of because she's the lowly "writer," while the expert is the revered "source," (usually revered only by said source, I should note). Yet, funnily (don't know if that's a real word, but work with me here) enough, the writer is the one who is usually doing all the work. Go figure. Most times in situations like these, the expert views himself as a goldmine, a virtual godsend, and someone for whose book the world salivates. And I'm sorry, I can tolerate a TON of BS from editors, co-authors, etc, but this scientist strikes me as a major pain in the ass already. And you haven't even started writing! What happens when you guys have a disagreement over something small in the book or you start contract negotiations and you want a higher percentage of royalties?

I guess what I'm saying is that I can't see what you've done wrong. A) not only did you not sign a confidentiality agreement with this guy, but B) he approached the foundation looking for more publicity. So I really don't even understand why he blew a gasket. And if something like this will set him off, I'd be very wary of collaborating with him in the future. I suspect you'd always feel like you were walking on eggshells...a horrible feeling when you're supposed to be in an equal partnership with your co-author. I think that writers too often take work with the hopes that it might help their career or even just to have work period, but they don't give a lot of thought as to how it will affect their sanity and self-esteem. The bottom line, at least for me, is that entangling yourself in demoralizing and stressful situations simply isn't worth it...nearly every writer who does this has come to regret it. I'm sorry that you've found yourself in this position - truly - but I'd ask yourself how a long-term relationship with this guy would realistically play out, and if you sense that it might be difficult, I'd count your blessings that you figured this out before proceeding with him, and not give it a second thought.

I know others out there have co-authored books. What say you? Should she move forward with this project?

More Cool News of the Week

Just found out that HarperCollins sold the Spanish rights to my book! Whoohoo! So if you're in Spain and dying to get your hands on the book (erm, in which case, you're probably fluent in spanish and not reading this blog), it will be yours!

Happy weekend all! I'm off to take the little gal for her 7-week check-up!

Juggling Corporate and Editorial Work

I am also trying to divide my time between getting corporate clients (I have a background in marketing writing) and pitching to consumer magazines(no clips yet). I was wondering if you ever had editors question you about conflicts of interest because you were pitching stories and representing PR clients. I would never mix the two, but i don't want any perceived conflicts either. This is most relevant in terms of how I should set up my website. Should I have 2 separate sites for corporate writing services and freelancing? Should I link between the two? How do you toe the line, so to speak?

I've never had editors question my conflicts of interest, but then again, I've never had editors question anything other than something related to the article at hand really. (Other than, say, shooting the shit and just gabbing when we're on the phone.) Honestly, I don't think that editors have the time to worry about this sort of thing. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't give it a thought, because, in fact, these conflicts can definitely arise...there was a very recent example of a writer for the NY Times, I believe, who was publicly reprimanded for writing a story on a company for which she'd done PR. (I might be screwing up some of these details - this is from memory - and I do remember that it wasn't as clear-cut as what I'm laying out here, and the writer might have not done any of this intentionally, but you get my point.)

I'm really not an ethics expert or the ethics police, but really, I do think you have to exercise some common sense here. As you know, you simply can't write a story on a client who is paying you. That's not objective journalism, and yeah, then editors would give you the justifiable stink eye. But as long as you're able to compartmentalize your various jobs, it shouldn't be a problem.

As far as the website, most writers I know have both their editorial and their corporate clips on one. Because, as I noted above, I don't think editors care, and really, just because you're a magazine writer doesn't mean that you're not any other type of writer. I no longer do PR writing, but when I did, I certainly had it up on my site and never ran into any trouble.

So...what am I saying here? Don't sweat it! :) Just write as much as you can for whomever you can, and police yourself as you go.

How do folks out there sell themselves as both journalists and corporate writers?

Do "Sponsored" Clips Count?

Some of my clips are from "sponsored sections" of magazines and are labeled "sponsored section." Are these okay to send to national consumer magazines like Parents when the editors request clips? (They are usually funded by corporations like Target for causes such as kids and nutrition or promoting reading.) I research and report them the same way as other stories I do. In other words, there are no obligations to interview sources that are sponsoring the section. But I have always felt funny about that little label on the front.

Great question! I gave this one a good deal of thought, and this is where I came out. I'd send them if you didn't have other clips to offer, but if you did, I'd probably leave the "sponsored section" ones out. Here's why.

I've written these things too. I totally agree with you: I report them exactly as I would any other story, and other than the fact that they're "sponsored," they're no different than any other contracted piece. In my eyes. But I've heard from another writer or two that editors don't always agree - that, if you've written for the promotional part of the mag (which is assigned by different folks than the editorial side), editors aren't likely to take you seriously and assign you stories for their depts. Now, I'm not really sure that I agree with this, but I am passing on the rumors that have been whispered down the lane, so if you could avoid putting yourself in this situation, you probably should.

That said, if these really are your best clips and demonstrate excellent writing and reporting, I'd suggest sending them along with the exact same caveat that you wrote to me: that you know they're from "sponsored sections," but you're still certain that they're shining examples of your work, and they'd be lucky to have you produce the same quality material for them.

Anyone have better advice or a different opinion? I think this is a really good question, and I'm truly not sure of the answer.

Cool News of the Day!

Okay, I have had a spectacularly crapola day, I mean, we're talking really crappy, thanks to a ridiculous edit on a story that I filed almost nine months ago. (See, even the experienced among us can find themselves mired in nightmarish situations.) I was just about to throw myself out the window when my agent called.

Turns out that the Literary Guild, as part of Bookspan, has selected The Department of Lost and Found, as their alternate book club pick for the month of May!! I don't really know how this all works or the process behind it or really, what it means in the end (feel free to explain it to me if you know more!), but it seems to me that they recommend a pick of the month to all of their members, and if the members don't like that one, the Guild says, "also consider picking up TDLF too." (Does anyone get the Bookspan emails? Is this how it works?)

Holy moly! Out of all the books coming out in May, they chose mine! (Well, first they chose someone else's, but then they chose mine. I'll take a silver medal any day, especially when I didn't even know I was in the competition!)

Wahoo!!

(For those of you not interested in my horn toots, I'll be back tomorrow with a question of the day.) :)

Finding Financial Success

My question today is regarding pay rates. I have freelanced for the past two years (part time) for a trade magazine and have been getting steady increases with every article that I write for them. My problem is that I am currently freelancing full-time now, and trying to get my feet off the ground by sending queries to other magazines, but the bulk of my writing (about four articles per month) is still for the trade magazine. At $450 per article, that's only $1800 per month. When I read the other day that your first year you made around $35,000, I was wondering how you managed to do that. Obviously you were either writing more articles per month than I am or getting paid more for the ones you were writing.

So now the question...If I'm going to be able to make the kind of money I'm hoping to, how many articles per month should I be writing? How many queries should I be sending out each week? How fast should I be able to finish an article of say around 2000 words? Should I be concentrating on FOBs and not so much on feature articles at this time?

Obviously I'm not going to quit writing for the trade magazine right now, since I have steady income (though paltry), but I would like to know what I need to do (in your opinion) to get "up to speed" to see an income of about $35,000 this year.

Good - and complicated -questions. To answer your first one, during my first year freelancing, I took on a variety of work, and certainly, the bulk of the 35k that I brought in was NOT from magazine work. As I've mentioned in the past, to really earn a living at freelancing, most writers expand their business beyond the mags. So that year, and for about two or three years that followed it, I also did a lot of PR and marketing work for small businesses, as well as worked on retainer for one of the larger PR firms in the city. This supplied me with a steady stream of checks and also gave me time to keep pitching mags, which was what I really wanted to do.

How do you get to your desired income level? Well, in addition to expanding your client list with some corporate work (if possible), I'm going to suggest something scary. But it has worked for SO many writer friends I know. And that's to pare back on the trade writing. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of writers who are tied to lower-paying jobs finally saying, "This isn't my end goal, and I need to focus on that end goal, and in order to do that, I need to ditch the ball and chain that's tying me down." And once they do this, their careers really soar. The problem with these trade assignments is, I assume, that they're cutting into the time that you'd spend pitching other places, AND they might lull you into a sense of complacency...after all, you have this steady stream of work coming in, do you really need to get your ass out there and find new markets? In your case, I don't know that you need to cut ties entirely, but maybe take on one or two less stories a month. Or, better yet, only pitch (or accept) those stories that already cater to your area of expertise and thus will take less time to write. I started doing this a few years ago: these days, I rarely tackle a story for which I know squat. It simply takes too long for me to research. Instead, I pitch (and accept) articles for which I already have a list of contacts, am already familiar with the general research, and already have a relatively good idea of the tips that need to be provided. And this saves an enormous amount of time.

Which gets back to one of your questions: how long should it take you to write a 2000 word story? Really, there's no concrete measure of this. What I think is a better question to ask is: how much per hour should I be making so that this story is worth my time? When I was doing PR, I got paid about $100-150 an hour for my time. (Keep in mind that I live in NYC, so these rates are probably higher than standard.) So this set the bar for what I needed to earn with my magazine work as well. If a $300 dollar FOB took me 4 hours, it simply wasn't worth it. But if a $2000 feature took me ten hours, then it was. See where I'm going with this? If that 2000 word story takes you weeks on end to write, it's probably not earning you enough to be worthwhile, even if it seems lucrative upon accepting it.

Your final question deals with FOBs vs. features. I've advocated pitching FOBs in the past because I think they're an excellent way to break into the major markets. So sure, definitely devote some time to those pitches. But again, I think it's really about being able to juggle a variety of things: pitching FOBs, writing a few trade articles that won't suck up all of your time, drumming up some well-paying corporate work, and networking with editors and other writers. Freelancing is really about being a master juggler - you need to have a lot of balls in the air in order to be successful. It sounds like you're well on your way - getting those crucial first clips are key, and congrats on that! Now, just brainstorm ways to expand your business and make better use of your time, and you'll be hitting your target income in no time.

So...how did some of you guys make that leap from fledgling writer to being able to pay the bills? I know there are a lot of successful freelancers out there...chime in!

Whenever I Come Up For Air

Ah, weekends used to be for...well, honestly, I can't remember what on earth I used to do with my time before I had kids, but I do know that I got a lot more reading done. I'm hoping that things will slow down soon (ha!) because I've had Cindy Bokma's A Thousand Dollars For A Kiss on my nightstand for, since, like forever. The plot - all about Hollywood and its false promises and pretenses - sounds just like something I could (when I actually can) dive into. (Cindy runs the wonderful Conversation With Famous Writers blog, fyi.)

I also bought Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects to bring with me to the hospital when I gave birth to Amelia, thinking (double ha!), I guess, that I'd have some free time there. I read the first chapter, and it's marvelously excellent, but I haven't had another moment to pick it back up. I don't know Gillian personally, but she works for my favorite magazine, and that's a good enough for me.

Oh, and I'm also anticipating Mia King's Good Things, which comes out in a few weeks. I do know Mia, and she's fabu, so I'm sure her book will be the same.

What's on your nightstand? And what have you read recently that rocks?

Separating Fact From Fiction

When writing fiction, how close to the truth should it be? For instance, if writing a novel based in Los Angeles, how important is it to have REAL street names, locations, etc? Or if writing a mystery/suspense, how important is it to give REAL details of what the LAPD office looks like, REAL LA laws and regulations, etc?

Great question. And I think the answer depends on what specifically you're writing about. Though, I think when in doubt, it's best to stick as close to the truth as possible, since, even though you're creating a fictional world, you still want readers to believe that it's a reality.

What I mean by that is this: when writing TDLF, it was very important to me to try to be as factual as possible about the process of chemo and what a cancer patient endures. Not only out of respect for real life cancer patients, but also because it was important for the reader to go along this realistic journey with my heroine. To that end, I spoke with doctors, did a lot of research on the web, and also relied on my personal experience with both survivors and my friend who succumbed to the disease. And from what I understand from people who have read the galley, I did, indeed, do a pretty good job of mirroring the cancer process. So, in that case - something medical or scientific or even something like LAPD regulations, which you mention - I do think it's important to try to be as truthful as possible. After all, you don't want people to read the book and think, "There's just no way that this is realistic." You lose reader interest right there.

That said, I also have a scene in the book that's set in the world of showbiz. (I'm being purposefully vague because I don't want to give anything away!) Now, this scene was intentionally comical and slightly slapstick, and while some of the details might be off, I think that's okay: do readers really care if I nail 100% what happens behind the scenes of a show or whether or not a character's Blackberry would go off in the green room? I think - and this is solely my opinion - that in situations such as these, conveying an overall sense of the scene and the emotion that goes along with that scene (in the TDLF's case - joy, humor, elation) might be important than nailing all of the minutiae. That said, when drafting this scene, I certainly tried to adhere to reality as close as possible, or as close as I imagined it to be.

So what am I saying here? If you're setting your book in LA, I'd imagine that it's entirely fine to make up say, the name of a nightclub or a restaurant or a movie studio. Writers do this all the time, and readers - since, after all, this is fiction - expect it. But when it comes to specific standards or guidelines, like police rules or scientific facts, well, I think readers are less inclined to suspend their disbelief. And frankly, it might help your writing to do the necessary background research.

I don't know if I'm expressing this very well - maybe someone can do a better job. :)

So writers out there...how closely do you stick to the truth? What can authors get away with and what can't they?

Publicity Plans

I'd love to hear about your publicity efforts for TDLF. Did you hire an outside publicist? What made you decide to/not to? What is the timeline of pre-publication efforts? Will you do a launch party? A tour? A dance routine like Andrea Seigel? (Okay, just kidding on that last one...it's been a long afternoon of editing and I'm a bit punchy.)

Well, one thing is for sure: there will be no dancing. Unless, of course, it will help sell books, in which case, I'll dance my ass off.

Great questions, and I'd love to hear others weigh in on what they did or didn't do to gear up for their own book launches.

As of now, I've opted not to hire an outside publicist. For a few reasons. I'm in a pretty unique position of having excellent magazine contacts - I know a lot of editors personally - and I really don't think an outside publicist could bring that much more to the table, at least in that realm, than I can. I've made a point to send galleys to all of my editors, and have asked them, with the understanding that they are under no obligation, to consider featuring the book in some capacity. A publicist might find a cute way to package this to these same editors, but still, at the end of the day, we're more or less doing the same thing. In addition, outside publicists are pricey - from what I understand, you're not going to get much real help for less than 10k. Now, certainly, I could shell that out - my advance would allow for it - but would I really sell THAT many more copies to justify dropping ten thousand dollars?? I really can't imagine it. Really can't imagine it. The thing about publicists is that there's no guarantee that they'll have success. They might - and often times they do - but geez, what if you paid that sort of money and they didn't end up landing many hits for you? Can you imagine how furious you'd be? (This isn't to point a shady finger at publicists: their job is to try to generate press, and really, there are simply no 100%s when doing that.)

Case in point: there has actually been a lot of mag interest in TDLF. I've been lucky. Through both my efforts and the efforts of my fabulous in-house publicist, we've gotten some really positive feedback. But none of these mentions are slam dunks until the magazines close and are printed. An outside publicist wouldn't have any more luck securing these plugs than we have.

I guess what I'm trying to say, and from what I understand from other authors, is that you really have to weigh how much impact you think an outside publicist will have on your sales vs. how much they're going to cost you. You also need to assess how involved your in-house person will be. As I've mentioned before, I've been very fortunate to have a great team at Harper. If, however, I wasn't getting internal support - and that might be something that you just have to gauge when the time comes - maybe I'd be more likely to look elsewhere for help. I've heard in the past though, for what it's worth - and I really don't know if this is correct or not - but that your publisher probably won't put a whole lot of effort into promotion if your advance is less thank 50k. Again, I have no idea if this is a publishing urban myth or not: I'm just passing it on.

One possibility I *have* entertained is hiring someone to generate some radio and TV coverage. I have no contacts in that arena, so maybe that would be a smart move, but again, nothing is guaranteed, and who knows if a debut fiction author would really generate much interest.

In terms of a time line, we started really making an effort about a month ago. The monthly mags usually have about a 4-6 month lead time, so galleys were sent, and follow-up calls were (and still are) being made. I've also placed an essay in one of the mags, set to correspond with the book's release, about the experience of losing a friend to cancer. So I'm working on that right now. I think things will be relatively quiet for a month or so, and then we go back out (with the actual book, not the galley) to weekly mags, newspapers and websites. Once the book comes out, things can really get nuts: I'll be driving around to local bookstores to introduce myself, trying to drum up interviews with papers/websites, and will probably head out to a few cities for readings. Oh, and I'll most definitely will be throwing a launch party, though I haven't given any thought to the details. (Other than copious amounts of alcohol.)

So that's my general plan.

Folks who have gone through this already - what was your game plan? Did you hire a publicist? How was your in-house support? Thoughts to add?

I'm a Guest Blogger

Hey guys,

The fabulous gals at The Debutante Ball asked me to guest blog for the day, so for today's post, check out their grog. And fyi: for those of you who aren't regular readers of the grog, the Deb Ball is a group blog made up of seven wonderful authors, all of whom will have debut novels published in 2007. They pick a topic each week, and then each author weighs in with her thoughts.

This week - my entry included - they're chatting about the writing process.

Go for my post, stay for their wonderful insights.

Does Geography Matter?

Many successful writers live in New York City and while there are obvious advantages to proximity to this major media market, NYC is prohibitively expensive for some writers and seems like the internet may have leveled the playing field on some level. Do you think its feasible for a writer in a secondary market like Boston or Philly to make a decent living writing full-time?

Great question, and one, I think, with a surprising answer. Which is this: I really don't think that NYC-based writers have much of an advantage at all. If anything, given our high cost of living, we might actually be disadvantaged.

When I got your question, I took a quick look at my address book to determine where most of my writer friends live. Here's what I came up with: several in Chicago, several in New England, a few in Philly, D.C, LA, SF, various random parts of California and the Midwest, Long Island, and Brooklyn. A paltry number of us actually live in Manhattan. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Hell, some of my friends even live in Europe.

As you hinted, the internet has become the great equalizer. I can count the number of editors I've met in person on one, okay, maybe two hands. Nearly all of my relationships have been built via email, and nearly of my correspondence is carried out this way too. So most editors don't give a flying fig where you live, as long as you're accessible. Another bonus? Many of the writers who do live outside of the city plan visits to NYC and make a point to schedule meetings with their editors, something I don't do nearly enough because, well, I live here, so both my editors and I fall into the trap of thinking, "Oh, we can do coffee at any time." And meeting with your editors is definitely a great way to land assignments, so if you live in Timbuktu, just plan an annual trip, and you're set.

Finally, don't forget that some of the biggie magazines don't even operate from NYC these days. Many of Rodale's mags are housed in Emmaus, PA (where???) and Southern Progress, now an arm of TimeInc, operates out of Birmingham.

I often beg my husband to give it all up and move to Southern Cal - nude babies on the beach, lingering warm afternoons, lazy work schedules. Alas, he's a New Englander (never more so during Red Sox season, sigh) and just won't cave. But if I could, I'd happily move anywhere in the world (anywhere that's warm, that is), and I'm confident my career wouldn't be affected one bit.

So...where do you all live? Think it affects your success?

The Bottom Line

I'm am ravenous (I love that word) for knowledge of the publishing industry! I have 3 stats that I'm curious about and just would like some ball park figures? 1) How many books sold would constitute a successful first book? 2) What would constitute a nice yearly income of a successful author starting out? I know this is a tough question, but I need to have some idea as I plan my career. I cannot find anything on the internet! 3) What would constitute a nice advance for a first book?

Side note: I, too, love the word ravenous! I remember learning it in one of those SAT books and using it as often as possible.

Anyhoo.

Ah, great questions that every writer wants to have concrete answers to. If only I had them, and if only there were concrete answers. But alas, there aren't. Here's why.

1) What constitutes a good numbers of books sold? Well, that all depends on print runs and expectations. (FYI: Diana Peterfreund ran a recent poll on her blog to assess general print runs for new and established authors, and I'm anxiously awaiting her results.) If, for example, you have a 10,000 print run, and you sell all of them, well, then this is a fantastic sell through number and your publisher will be pleased. If, say, your name is Nora Roberts, and you only sell 10,000, your publisher is pissed. I think the thing to focus on instead, rather than number of books sold, is the sell-through and the percentage of books printed to books sold. That's what your publisher will focus on too.

2) What is a good income for a writer? Well, again, there's nothing concrete to say here. Why? Because what's more important is what's a good income for YOU. For example, I live in NYC, perhaps the most expensive place to live in the country. (Yeah, yeah, I hear you SF-ers - I know your rents are high there too.) So, what just covers my mortgage is going to be a FAT income for someone in Topeka, KS. Similarly, I probably wouldn't get by on that Topeka writer's income. Not to mention the whole other slew of factors: are you supporting only yourself? Are you the primary or secondary breadwinner? Do you drop dough faster than P. Diddy? And on and on. But I will say this: speaking from experience, it is certainly possible to earn 6-figures as a writer. But it probably won't happen the first year out (I think my first year freelancing, I earned something like 35k), and it probably won't happen if you don't spread your skills as far as possible. What I mean by that is that most 6-figure writers I know don't write exclusively for magazines - they might do corporate work or they might write books or whatever. That said, most writers don't make 6-figures. In fact, there was a recent survey as to what the average freelance writer makes, and I *believe*, though I'm not sure, since I'm citing this from memory, that the figure hovered somewhere around 40-50k.

3) Again, what would constitute a nice advance and what would constitute an advance that you'd dream of are two very different things. The average book advance is - breathe deeply - less than 10k. Yep, really. (Insert tears of sorrow here.) You're not going to get rich - most likely - writing books. At least not your first one. And probably not your second one. Write books because you really passionately want to, not because you're going to end up in an Aaron Spelling-like mansion. If you land a huge advance, it's the cherry on top. But don't count on it.

So...anyone want to add in specifics that I've overlooked? Maybe there's more concrete info out there than I think?

Messing with Multiple Queries

(Yo- my spellchecker isn't working, and I'm running the baby to the doctor, so please ignore any mistakes in this entry!)

As someone who is new to the magazine publishing world, I am soaking up as much information as possible, particularly on querying and marketing myself. Everything I've read so far says it's a no-no to pitch more than one editor the same query at a time. But, my marketing common sense says that the more bait I put out, the more fishies I will catch-- or, the more articles I will ultimately write. Then, last night, I read a book by a freelancer who says it is ok to send your query to several editors at once and take the offer that best suits you. What gives? As someone new, the last thing I want to do is create a bad reputation for myself. But also, as someone new, the first thing I want to do is get as much work as possible. What is your advice?

I've blogged on this before, so definitely search the archives, but I think it's such a valid question that I thought I'd revisit it.

Ask most new freelancers if they multiple-query, and most will tell you "no." They fear the wrath of editors, and they suspect that their idea will be coveted by more than one magazine.

Ask most seasoned freelancers if they multiple-query, and they'll smile slyly and say, "If it serves my purposes, then, sure."

What's the difference? A couple of things.

1) The chances that your query will be snapped up by more than one market are extremely unlikely. Hell, the chances that your query will be snapped up by ONE market aren't that high either. This isn't a cut on your query or writing skills: it's simple odds. For the average freelancer, the ratio of rejected queries to accepted queries is probably at least 25 to 1, and only sky-rockets from there.

2) It makes good business sense. In just about no other industry would you pitch your wares to solely one person...then wait...then wait...then wait some more to see if he or she is interested. I mean, could you imagine if this is how electricians or doctors or whomever earned their livings? (I realize that this isn't entirely analogous b/c a story idea is a unique item, but the general principle applies.)

3) We know to whom we're loyal. Look, I have a crew of editors who get first dibs on story ideas. I'd never dream of sending them an idea and then sending it elsewhere without hearing back. BUT, if you have a new-to-you editor who might take eons to respond and most likely won't respond with a "yes," you owe this editor nothing. Zilch. Nada. If the idea is a good one, then the editor should snap it up asap. And if she lollygags and loiters, her loss - you've sent it elsewhere. In other words, she snoozes, she loses. In this sense, it might serve you well to pitch the idea to one place, wait a week or two, then send it to another. You've given your top choice the chance to respond, and after that, all bets are off. If she later comes back to you with a "yes," and you've sold it to a different magazine, you certainly have a valid excuse that she didn't get back to you in a timely manner.

Here's the thing about multiple-querying. I don't recommend it for every pitch, and it's not a practice that I employ very often, really because as I mentioned above, I primarily work with a specific set of editors whom I'd never want to piss off. But if you're breaking in or if you're trying to boost your clips or if you have a really timely idea or if or if or if...there are countless reasons why sending the same query to a few outlets might serve your purposes. You have to assess what these reasons are and if they're valid. Of course, don't forget, you can always slightly tweak a pitch and send it out to non-competing magazines: this is entirely kosher and will never land you in editorial hot water.

So...do you multiple-query? Yes, no, why not?

Great Tips for New Writers

I was doing my usual quick blog tour this morning and saw this post from Nadia Cornier, the agent who founded Firebrand Literary. Scroll down to her past few entries for some great insights on the revision process and writing process in general.

Revision Rules

A few months ago I emailed you about my WIP. At the time I had about 100 pages completed. I'm now happy to report that I have a completed rough draft! I wanted to get your thoughts on the revision process. How do you go about it? Do you have a writing group or trusted friends you show your rough draft to?

First of all, congrats on finishing your WIP!! What an accomplishment!

Everyone has his or her own way that he or she likes to revise, so take the following with a huge grain of salt. I'm sure that others will weigh in on what works best for them in the comments section. But my process is generally as follows.

To begin with, I tend to revise as I go along. Once I've completed a few chunks of the WIP, say, 5 chapters or 50 pages or whatever feels like a good breaking point, I go back and reread. Not only does this allow me to tighten up the prose as I go along, but it also brings me up to speed on what I've already written...something that I might have lost track of. Honestly, I'll reread certain passages and have completely forgotten that I'd written them! (This is why some writers map out all of their plot points, etc, but that doesn't really work for my process.)

Once my WIP is complete or half-done, I shoot it to my agent. If you don't have an agent or if your agent isn't interested in reading a WIP, this is when, I'd guess, you'd pass it to a trusted reader. This doesn't include: your mom, your husband, your best friend, your therapist. The purpose of this read isn't for your reader to tell you how brilliant your draft is because, honestly, at this point, nearly every book needs work. I remember reading a best-selling novelist's blog a while back in which she noted that one of her huge sellers required something like four drafts. So even if you think your WIP is perfect, it's not. So hand your WIP to someone who can not only be objective, but will also ask you questions that require you to probe deeper into your characters and tweak your plot, etc. My agent does these things for me exactly, so I don't feel the need to bring it to a critique group or partner. Honestly, I'm also not sure how I'd find someone else whose opinion I trusted so much...but if you can find that person, then go for it.

From there, I rinse, lather and repeat. Meaning, I really don't expect to revise the WIP just once. Even reading the galley of TDLF, I see sentences that make me cringe, and we fine-tuned the last chapter only recently to tighten it up.

One other thought: a lot of people suggest that you take some time off from the WIP in order to step back into it with fresh eyes. I say to this: do whatever works for you. When I was revising TDLF, I dove into the new drafts without any time off - the time from the first word I typed to the last revise was no more than four months. But on the other hand, now when I reread my first novel (the one that didn't sell), I see SO many problems with it, problems that I was totally immune to when I wrote it. So I guess my advice here is that if you're stuck or if you're not getting any agent bites, maybe it is wise to step away, but if you're really in the writing groove and the creative juices are flowing, then keep at it.

So...what's your own writing process? I know that a ton of readers have writing partners. How did you find someone whom you trust?