An Agent Requested My Manuscript. Now What?

An Agent Requested My Manuscript. Now What?

by | Dec 1, 2020 | How to Publish | 0 comments

An Agent Requested My Manuscript. Now What?

One of the questions writers often ask me, especially at writers conferences or after they’ve done a pitch slam, is:

 “I’ve gotten a request for a manuscript, but I’m not quite sure if my manuscript is a hundred percent ready, because it either needs a content edit or a copy edit. What should I do?”

This is a great question, and this is my response:

When an agent requests your manuscript at a conference, keep in mind what’s happening from the agent’s point of view.

This agent is meeting with probably up to a hundred writers, some of whom he or she has requested pages, and they’re not going to remember every person. At the end of a whirlwind day, the agent may remember a couple of key moments.

This means if he or she requested pages, and you don’t submit those pages to that agent until three months later or a year later, the agent is not going to notice.

First of all, we as writers hold ourselves accountable, right? We’re like, “Oh my gosh, the agent asked for those pages, what am I going to do? I don’t have the pages ready, and they’re expecting them.” We put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

Stop, pause, and take a deep breath.

The agent doesn’t remember who you are.

If he or she does, that’s great for you! I hope they reach out and ask for your manuscript. Likely, the agent has talked to a lot of people and forgotten some.

It’s more important that you have a quality product you can stand behind.

A product that makes that agent jump up and down. A product that’s ready to send to the publishing house.

This is the paramount element of this experience: the polished manuscript gets to the agent right away.

If you’re debating between “send now though it’s not quite ready” or “send later when it looks much better,” I always recommend “send later when it looks much better.” Why? Because the chances the agent will reject any given manuscript are always high.

The goal is to give that agent fewer reasons to reject a manuscript. 

I’m glad to be working on the revisions of so many of those manuscripts with members in the Writing Gym. If you’re looking to pitch to agents, and you want to make sure that you have a high quality product, I’d be happy to talk to you about what that looks like for you.

You can put yourself right into my calendar. We can talk about where you are ready to go and how you can get there.

Until next time, happy writing.

Get Rid Of Your Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

Get Rid Of Your Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

by | Nov 19, 2020 | How to Publish, Writing | 0 comments

Get Rid Of Publishing Anxiety Once and For All

 

One question people ask me a lot is, “Is publishing a do-it-yourself activity?” “Why do I need help, can’t I get published on my own?”

It’s true, people get published all the time on their own, but often I see a lot of wasted time and effort.

When people try on their own, they struggle because they don’t know how to start, what the standards of the publishing industry are, or they’re not familiar with the industry itself.

They’ll bang up against the wall again and again, eventually giving up. Or, they’ll self publish and have mediocre results, only selling a couple of hundred books.

For the people who get help, for the people over in the Writing Gym, what I see is they’re having a whole lot more fun.

When you’re working with other people who are doing exactly what you’re doing, are as serious about publishing as you are, and have the same dreams, goals and aspirations as you do, “you’re in your tribe” as one of our writers said. (Shout out to Stephen!)

Those are your people. They want what you want. They’re a great sounding board for you, and it’s wonderful.

And while they are having more fun, and fun is good, fun doesn’t get published necessarily.

What else is great about getting the help that you need?

Well, if you’re working with the right professional, as the people over in the Writing Gym do, things happen.

I am making phone calls on behalf of my writers to literary agents and publishers, fast-tracking them to publishing and avoiding that slush pile.

Somebody said to me recently, “Oh, you know, I saw one of your Facebook lives, so I decided I could do it on my own. I’m going to call the publisher, and it’s going to work.”

Maybe it will and maybe it won’t, but I can tell you that I spend a lot of time getting lunch with publishers, agents, and so on. By doing that, I can pick up my phone and say, “Hey I got this great YA novel, here’s a brief synopsis,” and then give them the elevator pitch and ask, “How would you position this?”

Nine times out of ten when I’m on the phone with them, they say they’d love to see that project, and ask to send it over right away. 

The other day, I was on the phone with an acquisitions editor, chit-chatting with her about the industry, and got talking to her about one of our writers. She said “Please send me both manuscripts,” and off those manuscripts went.

So working with others brings you more fun and better results.

Writers in the Writing Gym get together, write on a regular basis, and receive a specific kind of feedback based on the way your brain learns and creates the best.

This process allows you to gain more confidence so when you get those rejections, you can see okay, it’s not what that particular publisher is looking for, rather than taking rejection as a setback. You’ll understand how to process feedback, integrate it into your writing, when to listen to and when to say “Thank you very much, but that’s not for me right now.”

These are all the advantages that writers have over in the Writing Gym. If this sounds like something you’d like to explore, let’s chat.

Until next time. Happy writing.

You Too, Can Get the Attention of a Major Literary Agent with the Right Query

You Too, Can Get the Attention of a Major Literary Agent with the Right Query

by | Nov 12, 2020 | How to Revise a manuscript, Why is publishing so hard?, Writing | 0 comments

You Too Can Get the Attention of a Major Literary Agent with the Right Query

 

 I want to talk about Aaron, a fantastic writer who has done some amazing work in the Writing Gym. He has put together a 90,000 word literary fiction novel that tackles themes such as identity, achievement, attraction, and incest. 

Before joining me, Aaron completed his novel after dedicating six months to it. After completing his novel, he went into the querying process thinking, “Oh, the hard part is over. I’m just going to send out my letter. Who wouldn’t beg to read this?” 

Aaron even had a personal connection to an agent, and sent this agent his first query. The agent responded asking for the manuscript. Aaron sent it, and twenty minutes later, got rejected.

He was shocked.

In hindsight he felt foolish, but at that moment he felt his understanding of the world had completely turned on its head. He set out to research and understand what the issue was, whether it be the substance of his query, improving his network, getting in touch with agents, or figuring out how to access more resources. 

Then he found me. 

 

“I could tell that you care about the writers. It’s really immeasurable and hard to describe, but I felt like that was completely there. You had devised a system where you spent time working with authors, but also spent time networking with agents, which is exactly what I needed.”

Aaron and I began working together right away, and I read his manuscript. I invited him to join small group sessions to think about writing and craft, which he found helpful. 

Afterwards, we started thinking about our marketing strategies. Whom were the agents we were going after? What was it that we were going to use as the hook? How are we going to convey to them in a page that, essentially, this is a story that’s right for them? 

Aaron went into the querying process hesitantly, because of his initial experience with that one agent. He believed agents don’t reply to blind submissions or cold query submissions, because they have enough of a pipeline from their clients or other networks. 

He found that while that belief may be 80% accurate, there are definitely exceptions, and he was one of them.

After working with me, he found a number of letters he sent out received same day responses asking for full manuscripts, and he got positive feedback on the content of the query itself. 

Aaron’s full manuscript requests are huge, because the typical pattern is sending the query, getting the agent’s interest, and then the agent says, “Okay, send me ten or fifty pages.” Oftentimes, the manuscript gets better as the story progresses, so getting a full manuscript request is important.

Not to mention, the content of Aaron’s work and query were both relatively polarizing, but he was met with success, even getting a response in under five minutes.

Eventually, Aaron got in contact with Jeff Kleinman over at Folio Lit, who offered to share the manuscript with his colleagues if he wasn’t interested. Since then, Aaron has been getting requests from high-quality agencies, the “Harvards” of the literary world. 

 

I asked Aaron what he thought about his experiences in the Writing Gym. 

 

“Based on my personal experience, I can’t recommend the Writing Gym enough. It was the kind of catalyst that helped me actualize the potential of my writing.” 

Well, there you have it folks. We’re so proud of Aaron here at the Writing Gym, and look forward to celebrating his future accomplishments.

I help writers transition from the art of writing into the business of publishing. If you are ready to accept the guidelines of publishing and are ready to sell your book, let’s chat.

Until next time. Happy writing.

Don’t Waste Any More Time. Finish That Book Today.

Don’t Waste Any More Time. Finish That Book Today.

by | Oct 15, 2020 | Overcome Writer's Block, Uncategorized, Writing | 0 comments

Don’t Waste Any More Time. Finish That Book Today.

Today, I’m focusing on Steve Cummins, a member of the Writing Gym. 

He has just completed the VIP Program where writers finish their novels, and I’m excited to share some of his amazing celebrations.

Steve is working on a character-driven medieval fantasy novel. The book touches on themes of sexual inequality and racial inequality, both of which are very relevant today. 

Now 48, Steve began his journey with this book when he was 22. He couldn’t sit long enough to write, and the novel sat neglected for a good decade before he picked it up again in his 30s. 

He got halfway through, and then set it aside for 5 more years.

Until he and I started talking.

Steve is obviously passionate about his novel. So why did it take him so long to finish?

Time and fear. 

Steve was frustrated with his writing experience. He spent hours trying to reacquaint himself with the characters and what they were doing in a particular section, resulting in only getting 45 minutes of writing done.

 Setting aside time to write is hard, folks. You have a lot more free time in your 20s, and then you start to make bigger commitments as you move into your late 20s and 30s. By the time we get to a certain age, we have a lot of commitments.

Despite all his commitments, Steve found the time to write—which is a huge celebration. I want to commend him on that.

How did he find the time? 

Steve’s personal life was so busy, and the friends he talked to about his novel would say, ”Please, you’re never going to finish.” His parents knew he had dreams of being an author, but they probably thought, “Okay, we’re going to die without seeing that happen.”

 

So, he just had to commit. In terms of finding the time to write, Steve told himself, “I’m going to write in the mornings,” especially because his brain is clear in the mornings.

 

What Steve found was that if he didn’t get an hour every morning like he wanted, he found 45 minutes in the evening to continue working. He gave himself a weekly goal, and if he missed a day, he carried that hour over to the next day. 

What Steve utilized was the power of decision.

We are going to have moments where things are happening- recessions, natural disasters, and other events out of our control. I mean, we’re in a pandemic. It is a unique time.

Taking the power to decide to write and standing with that power is so important.

 

 

I asked Steve, “What are some of your experiences in the celebrations you have, things that you were able to see that you hadn’t ever thought of before?”

He said there is a theme with the mindset, both relinquishing control and taking control. There are circumstances where your best-laid plans won’t go the way you want, because life gets in the way. 

Instead of letting circumstances defeat him, Steve tries to recognize the parts that can’t be controlled and remember that it’s okay. 

“Instead, I focus on how I am I going to respond and what I’m going to do? I think about it, and then I move on and focus on what I’m going to do in the present.”  

“It’s about getting rid of the resentment for the things that happened outside of my control, and focusing on what I can control for my next steps.” Such an amazing philosophy.

Through joining the Writing Gym, Steve rediscovered the fun of writing, and also realized his dream of writing a book was not something he gave up on 15 years ago, but a dream he could actually fulfill.

What else did Steve get out of the Writing Gym? He got a community and the personalized help he needed to fully commit to writing his novel.

Writing is a solitary endeavor, but as an extrovert, Steve had a hard time on his writing journey alone. Through the Writing Gym Facebook page, he was able to see all the different celebrations on the page and feel a sense of camaraderie with his fellow writers.

Our Writing Gym coaches, Gretchen and Jill, allowed Steve to share his thoughts and ideas with other writers, and get personalized comments on his writing while also creating room to build his creativity.

Steve loves the Writing Gym, and would recommend joining as a solution to any writers out there who feel stuck. 

Why is the Writing Gym so helpful?

  1. It creates commitment to make the time to write, instead of using the excuse of “I don’t have enough time.”
  2. The neuroscience behind the writing process helps writers remove fear from their writing and embrace creativity
  3. Weekly writing sessions focus on building creativity, and receiving personalized help on whatever writers are working on.
  4. There is a sense of community

All these reasons help Writing Gym members speed up the writing process to get you to publishable- fast. 

Steve has grown so much as a writer during his time in the Writing Gym, and I can’t wait to continue working with him and help realize his dreams of becoming a published author. 

Don’t put your writing dreams on hold. Let’s work together to get to publishable. If you’re interested, let’s chat. I’m happy to help. 

Until next time, happy writing.

 

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How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

by | Aug 30, 2020 | How to Publish, how to we help authors, Publishing Opportunities | 0 comments

How To Turn Your Writing into a Real Career

 

As many of you may know, we run a Facebook group called “Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel” where I share many of my publishing and writing tips.

I’ve been going through some of the pending posts, and I was really surprised at how many “Buy my Book” kind of posts there were along with questions about our process. 

Now, here’s something that you need to know about this Facebook group, Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel. We are about one thing, and one thing only, and that’s real results.

What are real results? Real results mean successfully turning your writing into a career and creating an author lifestyle that attracts readers and allows you to publish time and time again.

Members of the Writing Gym are getting real results.

They’re writing, revising, and publishing books. They’re getting on national television, gaining readers, doing book signings and events. They’re doing the things that makes them able to call themselves authors. This month, we got two publishing contracts for members of the Writing Gym. 

So, how are we getting real results?

I’ll focus on what we don’t do, because there’s a lot of practices that you’re going to see in other groups that we don’t do here in Write to Publish. 

First and foremost, what we don’t do are beta readers.

We believe in real, personalized feedback that gets results and is based on the way that your brain learns and creates. Beta readers are not going to help you get the kind of feedback you need, feedback that’s going to move your piece to successful publication, and eventually to selling many books and having readers. Rather, beta readers may derail that effort, and that’s why we don’t do them.

Secondly, we don’t focus on questions such as “what should my character’s name be?” in this group.

Those are fine questions to ask, but we take care of those questions over in the Writing Gym during the revision phase of the process. This phase is when we look at questions around characters, plotlines, place names, character names, possible titles, etc.

Why don’t we talk about these kinds of questions in Write to Publish? Because those kinds of questions ultimately have to do with personal preference, which is an opinion.

For example, feedback such as “I don’t like Jennifer, choose Mary for the character’s name” is arbitrary. Opinions aren’t helpful if you want to create a publishing career. What we want are results. 

Lastly, another thing that we don’t do in this group is post “Buy my $0.99 ebook” posts.

I’m sure your $0.99 ebook is fabulous, but let’s focus on what’s really important here, which is results. Our goal is to turn your writing into a career, and you are not going to create an author lifestyle based on $0.99 ebooks.

Let’s just do the math and think about your grocery bill for this week. Think about how many books you’d have to sell just to buy groceries. Or think about your mortgage, your rent, your car — a $0.99 ebook is not going to cut it.  But, we do care about $14.99 paperbacks. We do care about $24.99 hardcovers. We do care about publishing with the Big Five, and we care about creating an author lifestyle.

We care about quality.

If you want to create the author lifestyle and get real results, you’re in the right place. This is what our Facebook group, Write to Publish and Sell Your Novel, is all about. 

If that sounds like you, I would love to chat with you. Good luck and until next time.

Little Known Ways to Grab the Attention of a Literary Agent

Little Known Ways to Grab the Attention of a Literary Agent

by | Aug 28, 2020 | How to Find a Literary Agent, How to Publish, Publishing Opportunities, Writing | 0 comments

Little Known Ways to Grab the Attention of a Literary Agent 

 

Before COVID, I spent a lot of time speaking with literary agents over lunch or coffee. Nowadays, we do those virtually. 

One of the things I can tell you across the board is: Yes, they still want an engaging story, and yes, your piece still needs to have a marketability aspect. 

But what are agents acquiring these days?

What kind of author really gets their attention? One of the things agents look for when they are looking at an author is if he or she is a part of the industry. 

What does that mean? 

Literary agents want to see if you are actively putting out your writing. Have you published recently? Have you been publishing poetry? Are you keeping a regular blog? 

They want to see if you are active in your writing life. 

Here’s a really big hint that you might not know: literary agents are taking a gamble on you when they take you on as a client. See, you’re not paying the literary agent. They’re earning money by what they negotiate with the publishing house on your behalf. 

So, they want a long-term relationship and not just a one-time client. They want to help you, as we do here in the Writing Gym, create the author lifestyle and have a long-term career. 

Where do you start before querying? Or, if you’ve already started querying, have you already submitted short stories, poems, personal essays, and more to smaller publications?

You need to be publishing and creating a nest for yourself that says you’re serious about writing and you want to be a part of a writing community. 

What have I been doing to help authors’ visibility, and help them find literary agents that are interested in their writing? 

One of the things I do is I send out weekly publishing opportunities. These are hard to find. If you google “publishing opportunities” or something along those lines, you are likely to be directed to expired contests, contests in which you are not eligible for, contests that are in another country, and scams disguised as contests. 

All of these are nonsense. What we do over in the Writing Gym is vet these publications so we know that they are legitimate. 

We send these newsletters out every week. If you are serious about publishing and creating that author lifestyle,  I strongly suggest that you get on our list of vetted publishing opportunities. 

Drop your email in this form and we’ll send you the list right away. 

Keep up the good work and until next time. Happy writing.

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