Awareness of A Fine Line
By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
Within publishing as you approach
or pitch editors and agents, there is a fine line between being creative and
interesting in your pitch—and being strange (asking for rejection). Editors and
literary agents are
actively looking for creative and interesting submissions. Even if you are
getting rejected with your pitches, I know they are actively reading their
emails and looking at their mail submissions for excellent submissions.
Recently a novelist approached me
to possibly edit their book. As I reviewed the book, it was a clean,
well-written novel but had several issues. First, it was substantially longer
than a novel I could publish at Morgan James Publishing. We have a limit of 100,0o00 words
which is typical for many publishers and based on our experience (sales) and the
price point for the novel and other elements. This particular novelist had
written a 145,000 word novel (way over our limitation). I pointed out this
challenge to the novelist but I also told him about another “different” feature
in his novel. Throughout the book for emphasis, he created words from his
characters with extra letters. For example, he took the word “buzz” and would
add letters so it became “buzzzzzz.” While such action was creative, it also
bordered on strange and gave the gatekeeper (agent or editor) a reason to reject
the novel. In the rejection process, we don't give such reasons to the
author (not our role or responsibility). The author will likely never learn the
reason for the rejection. This author was asking me for a critique or edit. As I
examined the work, I didn't find anything worthy charging or critiquing so
instead I sent a brief email with a few observations and suggestions.
The experience reminded me of
several important principles that as writers we need to be aware:
1. We need to pour
creativity into our submission but not cross into strange. Don't give
that editor or agent a
reason (even if unspoken) to reject your work. Instead give them reason to keep
turning the pages and reading. This process is a careful balancing
act.
2. Follow the
guidelines from the agent or editor and even take a few minutes to
review them before sending off your submission. Does your submission fit what
they are looking for? If not, don't send it and find another place.
3. Your pitch or proposal
is important and needs to be complete and excellent. Every publisher is
looking for authors who are connected to their readers or what some people call
their “tribe.” If you are beginning or don't have this group of readers, then
start immediately to gather it. As I've written in the past, every author should
have their own email list. You
also need to have a social media presence (not every social media place but
select a couple where you will work at building your presence). For example, I
have invested a great deal of energy into Twitter and LinkedIn.
Admittedly these sites are “rented” and not anything that I control or own. Any
editor or agent with a few key strokes can check out your presence or lack of it
on these places. The look and numbers are important to these editors and agents
as they make their decision about working with you (or not).
Publishing is a complex business
that looks easy and simple on the surface but isn't. As a writer, you are lookng
for the right connection. Finding this connection will take effort, education
and insight but can pay off to advance your publishing career and also garner
sales of your book. From my decades in publishing, it much better to work
with others and produce excellence, than to do it on your own
(self-publish). This simple principle explains why there are so many strange
self-published book. There are plenty of companies that will take your money,
publish your book and not give you honest help in the process. My advice is to
choose carefully, ask many questions and avoid the missteps.
Are you aware of the fine line
between creative and strange? What steps are you taking to get help from an
editor or agent? Let me know in the comments below.
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Labels: creative, guidelines, literary agents, Morgan Jams Publishing, novels, publishing, rejection, strange, submissions, Terry Whalin, writers
