Our contests generally have a lot of submissions. However, the August 2009 Poetry Contest has only had a few people enter thus far. Does adding a theme to a contest make is less desirable? Has the contest been scheduled too far in advanced? Why are fewer poets interested in this themed contest?
Jacob
Part 1 of this series - The Publishing Process
Part 2 of this series - Preparing a Proposal
Getting the attention of the right agent is hard. Many good books languish in purgatory because their author can’t get an agent to even glance at it. As the days tick by waiting for an agent to respond don’t be surprised if you lose some hair or can’t resist eating an entire box of chocolates in 5 minutes. Don’t get down on yourself, waiting for a stranger to tell you if your baby is cute or ugly is truly maddening.
You can increase your chances of landing an agent by getting to know the agent before introducing your work to them. Agents divide themselves into groups, the most obvious being fiction and non-fiction. Look for agents that love the kind of work you are writing. If you are writing a the History of Harvard don’t send it to an agent that has only represented romance novels with a western twist.
Get a copy or the Guide to Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino to help you get to know some agents. Use this book, or another one like it, to find out what books agents have represented in the past and what each agent expects in a query letter. Work smart and work hard and you will eventually get an agent to seriously consider your novel.
Do you want to discover what your peers think of your novel? Upload a chapter and let us critique it for you.
We have been carefully monitoring the Review Fuse community. We have determined that we can now offer premium members three critiques for every two they give.
This announcement does not affect free members. They will still receive 3 critiques for every 4 given.
This change has been implemented for all of our current premium members as well as new premium members. If you sign up for a premium account under this offer you will receive three critiques for every two you give for the duration of your premium membership.
Create a free trial account to learn more about the benefits of premium membership or login if you are a current member to learn about additional benefits of premium membership.
Jacob
See Part 1 of this series - The Publishing Process
Before you send your query letter to an agent prepare a proposal. Whoa! Why do I need a proposal before I send out query letters? If an agent follows up with you and you are not prepared, you lose your best chance at getting published. Nothing reeks of unprofessional and unorganized more than unpreparedness.
A proposal is a thorough outline of your book. The proposal should contain the following elements:
Overview
The first two to three pages should be summary of your idea for the book. Provide a synopsis of your fiction work or an explanation of the topics you intend to write about for a non-fiction piece.
Market
The next three to four pages should be a description of the audience your book will appeal to. This should include the age, education level, socio-economic status, and general reading habits your target audience.
Competition
Description other books that cover similar topics. Agents can easily discover if you’re omitting something so be honest. A crowded market is not necessarily a bad market. A crowd is one indication that people are making money in that market.
Author(s)
Briefly description yourself and the co-authors of the book. Brag and boast about yourself and the other authors. Convince the agent that you are the best author for this book. If you don’t convince the agent to support you, he will never convince a publishing house to back you.
Chapter Summaries
The majority of the proposal should be a chapter by chapter outline of the book. For fiction pieces include up to twenty pages of text from your book. For non-fiction provide a minimal outline summarizing the heart of each chapter.
Delivery
End with a short paragraph stating the length of and deadline for completing the book.
To learn more about preparing a proposal and how to get published I recommend reading either The Complete Starter Kit for Aspiring Writers or 100 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, both by Scott Edelstei.
Find out what your peers think about your book by uploading a chapter for critique.
Jacob
I have come across a few different categories of writers. The first set writes purely for the joy. For them the joy can come from the creation of something new, the excitement in others who read what they have written, or even from the anticipation that comes with hoping to be the next best selling author. These authors can spend 10 years on a single book and love every minute of it.
Another set seems to be all about business, constantly looking for ways to bring in new money and constantly finding themselves working on projects that are not necessarily their dream. Writing articles for magazines, editing for other authors, and doing everything to get the money in the here and now. Often, this group seems to move between genres depending on where the money is at the time.
The last group seems to be concentrating only on getting the big payout. They will generally pick a very main stream genre and topic. Like those writing to make the money now, they write more for the reader than for their own enjoyment in writing. When it pays off, it pays off big but is also much harder to succeed at.
What type of writer are you, what type would you like to be? Did I miss any types that you have met? What type of writer do you think we have the most of here at Reviewfuse (if you haven’t met our writers yet, join our forum and/or submit your own work to get reviewed)
steve
Why do books with contrived plots and tired characters fly off of the shelves of book stores while a publisher won’t even open your masterpiece? Because a crappy book backed by a literary agent will go a thousand times farther than a masterpiece without an agent. .
The first step in the publication process is to not write your book. STOP the presses! What? The goal is to get a book published not to write a book. Start with the end in mind not the beginning.
The second step is to find an agent. I am sure it happens, but I don’t know anyone who has been published without landing a literary agent. If you have already created your work of genius, don’t fret all is not lost.
You need an agent because the publishing world is a closed community. Publishers only accept books through specified channels, namely agents. Publishers let agents dig the diamonds out of the dregs people write every day. Getting an agent to support your work is your best avenue to publication. Sending a manuscript to a publisher is the quickest road to rejection.
Publishers consider manuscripts only after agents with solid track records recommend them. This makes agents picky about who they work with. It is not easy to land an agent, but once you do they will work tirelessly to get your book published. In return agents generally get 15% of the deal. Before you go ballistic at the thought of parting with a small fortune, remember 85% of something is a whole lot more than 100% of nothing.
I will talk about what to send an agent in more detail in part two of this series. For now remember agents don’t want to read your 500 page manuscript, they want to read a one page query letter that summarizes your idea, tells them who you are, and explains why you are qualified to write this book. The query letter is important because if you can’t write a good one page letter how can an agent trust you to write an entire novel?
Read the 2009 Guide To Literary Agents by Chuck Sambuchino to learn more about how to find a literary agent and stay tuned for part two of this series.
Jacob
If your stories keep coming back with polite rejection letters or consistently get low marks from your peers look for these fatal errors.
It’s Dull
Dull characters leading dull lives make dull stories. Imagination and creativity should permeate your work. Clichés are the most common culprits of dull. Lawyers in league with the devil and abusive drunks from trailer parks have been written about enough. Put the lawyer in league with the angels of heaven and make the beer drinking guy from the trailer park the most kind and compassionate man alive. Mix it up and make it different.
Poor Editing
The best writing is not written, it is rewritten. Your first draft should form the lump of clay you need to sculpt your writing into a master piece by rewriting it several times. Once you are “done” with your story, put it away for at least a week then rewrite it one more time. Don’t spend a lot of time looking for spelling errors and typos until your last edit.
Just Do It
Keep adverbs and quantifiers on a short leash. Calling something small or large lacks originality and is undescriptive. Don’t waste your time writing about things the almost happen. Instead write about what actually happens. “She almost cried” doesn’t tell anyone what she actually did. Did she choke back the tears, burry her face in a pillow, or slap the two-timing jerk?
Make more with less
Quality counts. Quantity distracts.
Irrelevant Details
Details should always help develop the plot, setting, or characters. Subtly provide background information throughout the story. Don’t bother giving minor characters need names and rich full lives. Instead let them perform their job and bow out.
Shape and Structure
Fiction tends to works best when it concentrates on one character in one situation. The moment of change in the story should happen early, the rest of the story should be a carefully planned journey that helps the reader and character learn, grow, and develop because of the moment of change. Let the journey create tension and slowly reveal important information about the protagonist. Writing is an art. It should take on the shape and structure it needs to stand on its own.
Dialogue
Dialogue needs to sound real even though it’s not. Concise dialog keep readers engaged. Dialog should reveal new facets about the characters and plot.
Jacob
I started a forum thread about ebooks last night, but I want to discuss my experience with ebooks in more detail.
When I was first offered an ebook reader I said no. I actually had the offer extended to me three times before I decided to try one.
The first ebook reader I tried was from Sony. It was unintuitive, had very limited battery life, the digital rights management system on the reader made me feel like I was committing a crime every time I tried to read something, and the screen was hard on my eyes. Strike 1.
After the Sony I wrote off ebook readers again. At least until I was offered a Toshiba reader three times. I finally took it because I wanted to prove how bad it was. It was bad. Strike 2.
Then I was offered a Kindle. One of my colleagues who hated the Sony and Toshiba readers told me the Kindle was different. So I decided to look at it to see if ebook reader would strike out. I was surprised to discover that the Kindle was actually decent. It was not perfect. The button placement could have been improved by a monkey with an etch-a-sketch. However, the screen was easy on my eyes, materials where transferable between Kindles, the wireless network made it easy to find and buy books, and the battery life was fairly impressive.
The next generation Kindle is here, from what I have seen it solves a lot of the problems the original had for readers. But does it help authors? Will ebooks and epublishing make life better or worse for authors? If anyone can publish how much harder will it be for readers to find the stuff worth reading? Are ebooks a step forward or backward?
Jacob
*See all of our writing contests
Purpose: Have fun, enjoy the competition, and become a better poet by participating in our peer critique process for this contest.
Who Can Enter: This contest is open to all poets. All submissions must be posted and assigned critiques completed by August 31, 2009. Poems must be 50 lines or fewer. You may post additional poems to this site for critique, but only one poem will be eligible for this contest.
Subject Matter: A Bull Fighter. The poem should adhere to our content policy.
Prizes: The winner of this contest will receive $50.
How to Enter: It’s pretty easy
Decisions: There will be 3 rounds of judging.
Entry Fee: There are no entry fees or purchases of any kind required to enter and win the contest. After you submit your poem to the contest you will be required to complete assigned critiques of other poets (4 for free members and 3 for premium members). You will receive 3 critiques of your poem in return. Those who do not complete their critiques will not be eligible to win the contest.
Rights: All poems remain the sole property of the author. After we have selected the winner we will seek permission from the author to publish the winning poem on our blog. The author is under no obligation to allow this.
Notification: The prize winner will be notified by email on September 12, 2009. We will announce the prize winner on our blog on September 14, 2009.
*See all of our writing contests
Purpose: Have fun, enjoy the competition, and become a better author by participating in the peer critique process portion of this contest. Learn more about flash fiction.
Who Can Enter: This contest is open to all authors. All submissions must be posted and assigned critiques completed by July 31, 2009. Stories must be 1000 words or fewer. You may post additional stories to this site for critique, but only one story will be eligible for the contest.
Subject Matter: You choose. The flash fiction should adhere to our content policy.
Prizes: The winner of this contest will receive $100.
How to Enter: It’s pretty easy
Decisions: There will be 2 rounds of judging.
Entry Fee: There are no entry fees or purchases of any kind required to enter and win the contest. After you submit your work to the contest you will be required to complete assigned critiques of other authors (4 for free members and 2 for premium members). You will receive 3 critiques of your work in return. Those who do not complete their critiques will not be eligible to win the contest.
Rights: All stories remain the sole property of the author. After we have selected the winner we will seek permission from the author to publish the winning work on our blog. The author is under no obligation to allow this.
Notification: The prize winner will be notified by email on August 8, 2009. We will announce the prize winner on our blog on August 10, 2009.
