Welcome to the latest issue of my newsletter. Sending newsletters regularly is a good way to stay in touch with readers. I advise authors to follow a schedule for theirs. I'm committing to weekly news and fun, now that I have three in a row under my belt. Let me know if you've missed one — or I have. Pass this along to an author friend, and ping me if you'd like less frequent updates. There's so much happening and so much to learn. Let's get started. Agents versus self-publishing In an author’s world, agents and self-publishing can lead to one another. Maybe you’re querying agents, once you’ve completed your fiction. You probably can skip to just completing the sample chapters if you’re querying nonfiction. (If you’re writing a memoir, see the advice for fiction.) After a lot of research in places like QueryTracker and Manuscript Wish List, your queries might not land you an agent. You’re not done yet. Many publishers accept un-agented material. What they’re unlikely to do, though, is pick up your self-published book. Most agents will only represent subsidiary rights for a self-published book. That movie or series option, or the audiobook that’s still to be negotiated — those are possibilities. No agent, no outside publisher? You’re at the self-published part of the Game of Authorship. It’s a good bet, though, that an agent won’t be swayed for your future books by what you’ve self-published in the past, even if the self-pub book sold well. It might not count against you, but it’s a good bet it’s unlikely to help. Agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan explain why self-publishing doesn’t make it easier for them to say yes to a new author. As the principals at Bookends Literary, these agents say, “Today when you're self-published, you are instantly receiving the reach to a mass audience. So even a lot of sales can actually be somewhat problematic." "The bar for what's impressive has gone up, and also the ability to reach beyond that bar is difficult. Today, the minute you put your book out there, you are reaching the same market that the book publisher is going to reach with your book.” It’s a bit more complex than that. A publisher will get your book noticed in places a self-published book has got little chance of reaching. Library sales, for example, or that review from Booklist or the starred review from Kirkus. If your urban fantasy book becomes published by an Amazon imprint like 47 North, you can imagine how much farther the reach will be for online sales. Publishers can get a book closer to those mile markers on the path. These agents also say that the amount of editorial work your self-published book receives can be a drag on success. “Not much editorial” was the hallmark of the old vanity press books. Even today, not investing in enough editorial — like a development edit as well as line editing — can hobble a book. The high tide of a genre’s fans can only lift a novel so much above the reading horizon. According to Faust and McGowan, a self-published book’s massive sales make a pickup of that book a possibility. “But there's also that fine line where publishers might say, well, you have amazing sales, but you've already reached the market,” Faust says. “Like you've almost bypassed the point that they could achieve.” And at that point, McGowan, adds, “everything just gets pivoted to something new, like, what is next for you?” Agents and self-publishing lead to one another when that thick sheaf of agent rejections or no-responses piles up — and the other publishers won’t pick up the book directly, or their deals aren’t suitable. Some agents will read a query for a self-published book to represent its subsidiary rights, so a French version of your mystery can be published. Or your book in English gets published outside of the US. Any book’s chances are improved by better editorial — and after that, a marketing plan driven by the author’s enthusiasm to promote themselves and their story. In any case, keep writing. Agents consider if an author is already reaching out via a newsletter, website, and more. Ask them anything Ask Me Anythings are a popular feature to connect authors with readers and to deliver information to authors. The AMA can be a part of a good marketing program, usually delivered via a live outlet like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Zoom, and sometimes WebEx. You invite readers to bring along friends, so you get more people under the tent. The AMA becomes an AUA (Ask Us Anything) at the Writers' League of Texas once a month. For a taste of what the WLT's AUA delivers, check out the Middle Grade or Young Adult session from earlier this month. Agent Jim McCarthy delivered a tour of all things youth fiction, including a genre called New Adult. Turns out NA is for readers 19-25 who grew up reading YA and haven't found adult fiction they like. MG, YA, NA — they all give publishers a way to find an audience for a book. The differences are subtle and the definitions have wiggle room, McCarthy says. This coming Thursday on Oct. 22, the WLT also hosts Off the Beaten Craft: Fanfiction at 8 p.m. Sounding off on author expertise The WLT delivers a lot for free, although membership is only $45-50 a year. One less well-known resource is the group's Third Thursday podcast talks. From 2019 and earlier, these panels assembled advice on memoir, editing, and most recently, The Dreaded Middle. Early in the series, I was invited to be on a panel about critique groups and workshops — one of the foundations of development editing. The podcast also includes talks on the business of writing. It's hosted on Soundcloud, a platform that's free and also has an app for your phone.
Tropes are story elements we know, love, and come to expect. They are building blocks of storytelling. TVtropes.org is the treasure chest of tropes, explained, indexed, identified in movies, TV, and books. For example WALL-E is a science fiction love story. See the movie if you haven't yet, then come back to the WALL-E trope page. Great stuff, so very much fun, all the way from Action Girl to Worthless Rocks. Greatest last sentences Ron Charles at the Washington Post writes a fun books column. Last year he chose 23 unforgettable closing lines from novels. "Are there any questions?" is from The Handmaid's Tale. Indeed, a book’s final lines can make or break the experience. Light yourself up on Zoom with Lume When I meet with authors via Zoom, I turn on my little Lume light that I've clipped to the screen of my desktop. A great investment, especially if you Zoom in places where a ring light won't have a place to fit. It clamps with a useful suction cup so it can move from your laptop to desktop and back. The Lume Cube Panel Mini (not an affiliate link) lights up your Zooms. It's a keystone for my Zooming. Get in touch if you have a book you'd like to light up with my help. It's World Series time, so I'm at my TV for all games because I love the sport. I also used baseball as a bedrock for our 3000 Newswire newsletter, which we celebrate this month as publishers on its 25th anniversary. My column about its origins includes the design above, care of my partner Abby, a publisher and muse who lured subscribers (think readers) with such art. Do your best to be good every day.
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Grab hold of a trope when you can
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