Anyone can call in and ask questions: At the appointed time, dial 1-857-232-0155 (long distance charges may apply, depending on your phone plan). Enter the Conference Code: 245657. To raise your hand and ask a question, dial 5*.To Mute yourself, dial4*.
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New interviews are being scheduled. Watch this space for details.
Becca Stumpf is one of the nicest, most personable agents out there--but she still requires authors to send a synopsis as part of the query package. The synopsis isn't the most important part of Prospect Agency's query package, and it rarely makes-or-breaks the submission, but Becca finds it helpful--and it turns out she knows what she's talking about.
For the first half of the call, Becca gave us the skinny on what sort of submissions she's looking for, what goes into a great query letter, and what she does with those three chapters she asks for. For the second half, she treated us to an insider's view on exactly what she uses the synopsis for, what it should look like, what it should include, and why we should all stop worrying about it so much.
Some highlights:
For agents like Becca, a synopsis should be between 2-3 pages long. She doesn't want to read a lengthy synopsis for a query package--save the longer ones for when you're trying to sell your book on a proposal.
What Happens is the most important part of a synopsis--but include enough motivation so you don't lose the reader. It's usually not good if they have to stop and wonder why that happened.
There are good ways to sneak in sub-plot tidbits (just don't go crazy)
Include the ending, and don't worry about spoiling it. If she likes the book, she'll probably forget the ending while she's reading, anyway.
If she really likes the writing sample, she can overlook a less-than-brilliant synopsis. (Though it's probably better to be good all around.) She knows successful writers who aren't good at writing a synopsis.
Lisa Mangum was our first editor guest. That's okay, though, because she's also the award-winning author of THE HOURGLASS DOOR, THE GOLDEN SPIRAL, and THE FORGOTTEN LOCKET. We talked to her tonight about her decade wading through the slush pile for Deseret Book and Shadow Mountain, where she still works as an Assistant Editor (with her own Editor's Assistant!).
She broke her advice down into ten simple tips regarding what we can and can't control about the publishing industry:
Five Things You CAN'T Control:
Publishing is a Business
Publishers want a book they can sell to hundreds of thousands of people--not just your mother and your neighbor
Authors who aren't willing to be business-like make it easier for the publisher to take a pass on their book
The number of manuscripts submitted in a given year
At Deseret Book, out of over 2000 yearly submissions, they will only publish around four
80% of those submissions aren't ready for publication
30-40% of those that aren't ready didn't follow the guidelines
The number of available slots a publisher has for new writers
Lisa has seen a debut author published every year she has worked for Deseret Book
If a publisher doesn't have room for a book, they can't publish it even if they love it
Other submitted manuscripts that are similar to yours
If they get four books on Themes in the Book of Revelation, they can only publish one
They will publish the one that they like best
An editor's mood
Lisa tries to do her critical work in the morning or after lunch
Don't put the editor in a bad mood by making your manuscript hard to get to
Five Things You CAN Control:
Do your homework
Think about the kinds of rights (foreign, movie, ebook etc) that are available so that you're ready to enter into a discussion about them
I first heard about Elana Johnson last year, soon after she'd signed her book deal to publish her debut novel, POSSESSION, a fun, snarky, YA dystopian. I was at a conference with her when she was awarded the prize for "Most Query Rejections in a Calendar Year" or something like that. To win the award, she had submitted 189 queries over the course of about 8 months and was rejected 188 times (you only need one agent to say yes, obviously). Through all the querying and rejections, she learned a lot about querying. Enough to write a book, in fact. So she did! Her free ebook FROM THE QUERY TO THE CALL is a wonderful compilation of what she learned.
On this call, Elana reviewed the basic parts of a query and explained what elements should be in each one. She used examples from real-life query letter drafts submitted by callers beforehand, and described what worked and what didn't.
The basic elements are as follows:
Introduction: Here, you show off your industry knowledge, and demonstrate that you know what THIS agent is looking for.
Hook: Should sum up the novel in one sentence, not be a question, and propel the reader to read the rest of the query.
The Set-up: As the bridge between the Hook and the Conflict, the Setup provides a few details about your world, your main character, and your setting, but is short (75-100 words). This is the catalyst that moves the main character into the conflict.
The Conflict: Tell what your character wants and what is keeping him/her from getting it.
The Consequence: What will happen if your main character doesn't solve the conflict? Leave the agent on a cliff-hanger, hungry to read more (in your manuscript). Try to craft this as a complement to your Hook, so your hook and your Consequence can work as a mini-query, and bring the query full-circle.
Everything else: I can't possibly summarize all the great advice she gave us on Marketing, Publishing Credits, word count, etc. You'll have to listen to the call. :)
I'm including Elana's own query blurb for POSSESSION, so you can see how a master crafts a query letter:
In a world where Thinkers brainwash the population and Rules are not meant to be broken, fifteen-year-old Violet Schoenfeld does a hell of a job shattering them to pieces.
After committing her eighth lame ass crime (walking in the park after dark with a boy, gasp!), Vi is taken to the Green, a group of Thinkers who control the Goodgrounds. She’s found unrehabilitatable (yeah, she doesn’t think it’s a word either) and exiled to the Badlands. Good thing sexy Bad boy Jag Barque will be going too.
Dodging Greenies and hovercopters, dealing with absent-father issues, and coming to terms with feelings for an ex-boyfriend—and Jag as a possible new one—leave Vi little time for much else. Which is too damn bad, because she’s more important than she realizes. When secrets about her “dead” sister and not-so-missing father hit the fan, Vi must make a choice: control or be controlled.
You want to read it now, don't you? Of course you do!
Thanks go to all those brave souls who sent in their queries, and extra thanks to Elana, for critiquing each one.
Tonight, we took time for a word from our Sponsor, David Farland. Dave shared with us five key factors an aspiring author or newly published author must have for a novel that sells. Those five factors are:
Make sure your novel is as good as it can be stylistically and grammatically before you try selling it.
Research prospective agents and editors for your work.
Crafting well written query letters.
Where (and how) to best meet agents and editors who will properly market your work.
Personal persistance and tenacity, how much is too much?
Dave took ample time to field questions from our Forum members. If you desire to astound the world with the brilliance of your prose, amaze humanity with your heart-rending flights of literary fancy, why haven't you stopped reading and started listening to what Dave had to say?
You can listen to it here on our handy-dandy player:
Or, you can listen to it on your computer's Window's Media Player by clicking here. (If it's not downloading, switch to Internet Explorer.)
