Slicing and Dicing Writing

First things first…I’m back baby! So, hey everyone. For how long am I back? I have no idea. I felt no urge to blog for months and then suddenly I wanted to blog again.

Second, this might be due to my good friend Katie Hayoz’s new blog applause. She is a fantas…fab....err….totally fantabulous YA writer. See Katie, one adjective cannot contain you or your writing.

So, anyway Katie wrote this awesome blog post and it made me want to re-start blogging too. So here I am, blogging again. Katie wrote a funny and lovely post about being both a YA reader and a wonderful writer. Well, she says she writes YA and that’s the label under which her creative, fun and well-written book is making its rounds.

I would say though that she is a writer. A good writer, not merely a good YA writer, or a YA writer at all. Why, you ask?

It’s because I’m old-fashioned, not just plain old. I remember when there were no genres really except fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes I would hear that a book was a classic or that it was contemporary…a ‘novel.’ Sometimes there were some kids books thrown into the mix.

And then marketers got their paws on the industry and suddenly around the time I started writing seriously, what was once a wonderland of words and phrases became chopped up and divided into genres. So, just in fiction (forget the non category for now) there is literary fiction, commercial fiction, commercial womens’ fiction, romance, children’s fiction, young adult (YA) also known as juvenile fiction, horror, science fiction, mystery, crime, fantasy, and western. In fact there are many other ways to slice and dice fiction. Each genre has sub-genres and the whole thing makes my head hurt.

 Of course, the word genre has been applied to the written word before but the boundaries were more fluid. They were looser generalizations but in the modern marketing machine, genres have become set in stone almost. So much so that sometimes even writers become genre-ized.

When my first novel, The Burden of Foreknowledge, was making the rounds of publishers it was almost sold to one of the big ones. The acquisitions editor loved the book but it got shot down in the board meeting. They had already made their quota of, “female Indian authors,” for that publishing cycle. Yes, this is how publishing decisions are made…sometimes.

I remember when I was a child my parents went to meet the Dalai Lama. For years afterwards my mother would quote something he said. “There are only two religions in the world. The religion of the good people and the religion of the bad people. There is no other religion.”

And for me, there are only two kinds of books in the world, good books and bad books. If a book is good the genre becomes irrelevant. H.G. Wells’ books are classics not because they are science fiction but because they’re great books. Little Women is still loved for the same reason. Huckleberry Finn remains a much-read book but not because it was jammed into an obligatory genre.

To me, genres limit us, as readers and perhaps as writers. Writing is supposed to expand our minds, our creativity, and our imagination. As does reading. But putting ourselves in a little box and saying, ‘here this is your writing/reading arena. Stay within the lines and you’ll do well,” is counter-productive to that in my opinion.

Readers become entrenched within the genres they read. Think about this, a man might pick up Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights but would they be likely to do that if these two were packaged as romance novels with the obligatory lurid bodice-ripper (neck-biters, the Germans call them) covers?

As far as I am concerned genres should not be tools to guide readers or writers. They are merely marketing categories that have grown to encompass and, in my opinion, strangle the way we read books. I read Little Women and all the other Alcott books but I never knew I was reading YA. I read Invisible Man without knowing that it might be classified as horror or science fiction.

Good writing is good writing. It spans boundaries and breaks them. It defies genres and goes beyond defining them. So…bring on some good writing and screw the genre.

Rejection Dejection

So, probably a couple of hours after the last post, I got a rejection of a full from one agency. Before I could crawl away and properly lick my wounds, one of the agents who had requested a partial three days ago, requested a full.

Aaah, the universe is in balance again. She is the ying to the other agent's yang. Meanwhile I feel like I'm standing on a log in the middle of a freezing lake, trying not to fall over. Because...you see I can't swim. Really.

Update: Rejection Dejection

In the couple of hours since I last blogged my querying journey, one agent emailed me for a partial and another for a full. Both are big names for what that's worth...so I am excited and even hopeful. Until, of course, the rejections start rolling in and I crawl away to lick my wounds.

Rejection Dejection

To avoid the fate of the author in this cartoon I've decided that for every rejection of a query, partial or complete manuscript I received I will send out at least one new query. Yes, my complete manuscript was rejected from two major agents but then, hey, this was the first time that these two agents had asked for the complete manuscript. I had gotten prompt HELL NOs from them for Burden.

I guess I feel more like the third runner up in a pageant and not the girl who never even made the first cut. Still hurts, but at least you can console yourself with, 'hey, at least I made it thus far,' and not feel like so much of a loser. Humpphhh

This strategy is keeping me going. *And* I've had three more requests for complete manuscripts, two just from the query, without even reading a partial (which is good and bad: i.e., did I just write a good query for a crap book? Yikes!). Here's the tally now:

Total queries: 27
No responses after 8 weeks: 6
Rejection on query: 5
Request for partials/rejections: 4/1
Request for complete/rejections: 4/1
New queries sent: 8


Onward ho!

What's in a Name?

Since I am on the giant hamster-wheel of querying and rejections right now, I am prepared and ready for the "nays" to roll in. Even though each fresh "no" is like a spike through the heart. But I wasn't prepared for this one. Like every other time I queried the big-hitting, large agency on the west coast. This time their "no" arrived promptly.

Except, it wasn't for my new being-shopped-around novel, An Incomplete Universe. Nope the header and the generic, form email said it was a rejection for The Burden of Foreknowledge. Obviously I had mentioned my previous novel in the email but they had claimed to read the submission with "careful consideration." Maybe it was just a typo, maybe not, but despite my disappointment this one gave me a chuckle, like they exhumed my poor Burden from its grave.

Here, for your amusement, is the letter, with the agency's name stripped out:

Dear Jawahara,

We were pleased to receive your submission and have now had a chance to consider
it closely. We appreciate your patience in allowing us to completely evaluate
your material, giving it the ample attention it deserves.

While your work is interesting and well-written, after careful consideration, we
feel that your project is not right for us. However, as you know, these
decisions are largely subjective, and another agent or editor may have a
completely different opinion.

Thank you for inviting us to consider your work. We wish you well in placing
your manuscript.

Sincerely,
The Big-Name West Coast Literary Agency

Publish At Your Peril (Part Deux)

You know the build-up. The inevitable rounds of emails, snail mail submissions, the thick packets, keeping the postal service going with the sheer volume of mail you send? TO AGENTS? I know people who've sent our 100's of queries. They keep at it, month after month, sometimes year after year. If persistence were a prerequisite of success there names would be household ones.

So, eventually, when after the 30th query I got THE PHONECALL I wrote about in part 1, you can't blame me. The way this whole process is set up to make you believe that landing an agent should lead to that oh-so blissful feeling of acceptance, the Sally Field like exuberance (you like me, you really like me)is like some kind of prize. The pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. The happy ending.

Nope. The truth is that this landing an agent is the beginning. That's where you really begin on your publication journey. There's writing and there's the publishing. Writing ends at your last successful draft, publishing begins when you find an agent. So take a deep breath, revel in the knowledge that an experienced publishing professional likes your work, breathe in that sweet scent of validation...and then get over yourself. Nothing has really happened. Yet.

The other thing no one tells you...or they tell you and you think to yourself, that's not me, won't happen to me...that you might have bypassed the slush pile but a publishing contract is not a given. More often than not even agented manuscripts never make it into publication. And more often than not, that manuscript is yours.

The way the whole thing is set up once you get that call, especially if you've been trying forever, you want to collapse into a thankful heap at your agent's feet. But the agent is not doing you a favor. In fact, they are your agent, your employee, when you sell they make money. Keep that central fact in mind.

I didn't remember that. I felt diffident asking my agent to send me updates. I didn't want to bother her. What if I irritate her and she drops me? Horrors! What will I do then? I should have trusted my instincts. She needs me as much as I need her. I didn't have to live in her pocket but I could have been more assertive on my own behalf.

Remember this. Your agent has dozens of manuscripts s/he's sending out to publishers at any given time. You only have one. Yours. You have to be your own advocate. Ask to see the list of publishers submissions go to. Ask for a periodic update on yays and nays. Ask to see the actual refusals. Yes, there are agents who have been known to not submit but to tell the writer about all the publishers who have rejected the manuscript when the publisher never even saw your book. It's true.

Now agents do belong to the very reputable AAR but there really is *no* governing body overseeing how they operate. Yes, the web has made it easier for people to disseminate information about scam agents, bad agents, and yes, even good ones. But that's just folks like you and me. There is no regulation. And perhaps there shouldn't be.

I find agenting itself a rather artificial barrier between reader and book creators but that ship has sailed. Putting a quasi-governmental body in place would make it even worse.

But that does mean that we as writers wanting to be published need to change our mind-set. *We* are the reason publishers, agents, and editors stay in business. We make them money. Sometimes I find that agents and publishers forget that. Or at least they try to downplay this to us writers who must come across as deer caught in the headlights.

In an ideal world they would be the ones querying us...please let us publish you...please. But we live in this world and we owe it to ourselves and to our fellow-writers to be conscientious about our role in this continuum that begins with us and ends when someone plonks down money to read what we wrote. Everyone else in between including agents are just links in a chain.


So this is what we should do to remain in control of the process and not let others drive us. We might or might not get published in book form. We might not become AUTHORS. But, we will (I know I will) always be WRITERS. To me that is the most important part. I write. I am a writer. I am an author when someone pays me money to print my words and put them out there. Being an author, to me, is a commercial thing. Being a writer is sublime and spiritual and real. However, I don't believe anyone can teach you to be writer. So this list is really about being an author.

1. Never lose sight of the reason(s) for which you write. Examine them thoroughly and don't delude yourself.

2. If your number one reason is not because you love to write (or some derivation of that sentiment) but that you want to be published then focus on that. Work on being the best damn author there is even if you are not the best writer in the world.

3. Get yourself published. My first short story was published in a national magazine when I was 13. I've tried to have at least 1-2 publications every year. That's not much and I am the lazy queen of procrastination. You can get even more publications. Query the hell out of every publication you can, submit to whichever journal takes submissions, get your name out there.

4. Remember, it's very rare that a book publisher will sign you on if you've never had anything published anywhere. So work on this. They want to know you have chops and range, and that you are persistent, and that you continue writing.Agents and publishers really do look at these things. Your query is not just your book, it's also you. How saleable are you? Are you at all known? Do you bring readers with you? Why else do you think Nicole Ritchie got a novel published? Trust me, she ain't no Jhumpa Lahiri. And Pamela Anderson? Yes, she too wrote a novel and got it published 'Nuff said.

You don't need silicone devotees but if you were published somewhere you have a better chance of getting a book contract.


5.If you are lucky enough to get an agent (a good one) don't harrass them but do set up an agreed-upon interval (every two weeks, once a month, etc.) where they either send you an update email or you talk on the phone. Be polite but let them know unequivocally that you will be a tireless advocate for yourself. If the agent is not right for you, get out of the contract. You will know when/if the time is right....or wrong. Don't be afraid of taking this step. Be true to yourself and to your work.

6. Be ready to make changes that your agent and/or editor asks you to make. Now if the change is so drastic that it changes your work you need to decide whether you are an author or a writer. Which persona would make those changes?

7. Create your own marketing plan. Remember this. Your new book gets about 3 months in the bookstore and 3 months of promotion. After that it departs to make room for newcomers. Unless, of course, the sales are so brisk that the 2-3 copies per store fly off the shelf. In which case the stores put a replenishment cycle in place. So...apart from what the publisher does (for you and for the *new* Dan Brown/Stephen King/Salman Rushdie...where do you think they will focus?) figure out what you will do. This can include a book launch party with some media, interviews and stories in local, regional or national media. Postcards and posters, radio interviews. More importantly, mine your contacts to see how you can get into said media.

8. A website or a blog is invaluable. What you're looking for is a following. Create yourself as an online entity, people who will *always* buy your new book.


So, here are my 8 points to becoming an author and navigating your way through the publishing minefield.

Add your own. Please share your take with me...and with my 1.5 readers ;-)

Publish At Your Peril: Part 1

Inspired by the mighty mom's excellent and very useful post on the whole finding-an-agent ordeal....errrr...process.

Agents are the guardians of the gateway of book publishing. There are no two ways about it. If you don't want to be self-published and are not a vanity press kind of person, you have to find an agent to get a respectable deal. And finding an agent is generally composed of three or four steps, depending on the agent:

1. Research the agent(s) for you in Publisher's Marketplace or online.
2. Submit an initial query letter: this is really just a one-page an intro, a short summary (one paragraph, I know the pain, I do, and a bio). More and more agents now take emailed queries but the older agencies with star clients still prefer snail mail.
3. Depending on the agent (see how crucial research is?), some of them want the first 30 or 50 pages or three chapters along with the initial query. Some don't.
3. If the agent wants to read more s/he will write back asking for the first 30 or 50 pages or 3 or 5 chapters.
4. If they like your work still, they'll ask for the entire manuscript.

And then the agent comes back with a yea or nay. Most of the time it's a nay.

To get an idea of how this really works. Most good agents usually take 1-3% of all authors who submit to them (and they get queried by thousands). You think the hard part is over right? You have an agent. S/he submits your book to HarperCollins or FSG and the good times start rolling. Wrong! Just because you have an agent doesn't mean you have a publisher. Discovering that acceptance rate is an elusive quest but even if it is as high as 50% (I am sure it's not) that's 50% of 1%. Phew!

Okay, now on to my story.

Like every second person in the world (okay, I totally pulled that number out of my ass but it really does seem so) who seems to be writing a book I too completed mine. The Burden of Foreknowledge. In 2005. I workshopped it to within an inch of its life. My group seemed to like it. Heck, I'd even been published before. From academic journals when I was in graduate school, to newspapers, magazines, even pieces in anthologies. For four years I'd written a weekly column and was read by about a million people. If I was an agent I'd want me. Yeah sure!

Off went my queries. Responses flooded my mailbox. Little cards. That said thanks but no thanks. SASEs that came back way too thick (meaning that my submission was safely nestled inside and had just made the trip from one envelope to another), submissions came back with the paper clip indentation unmoved. I came back to earth.

I think I sent off about 30 queries. Three agents requested the full manuscript. One came back with a very gracious no thanks, and listed the good and the bad about the manuscript. A lovely letter but still a no. Then came THE CALL.

Hi, Jawahara, this is so-and-so. We love your novel and would like to represent you.

I was draining pasta in my lovely kitchen in Thousand Oaks, CA. I almost dropped the boiling water on myself.

OMG. OMG. OMG.

A respectable agent in the business for a couple of decades. Many sales under her belt. Helloooo publishing contract!

Nope. The agent sent out queries. She sent me updates. Harper said no, so did FSG and Penguin. The acquisitions editor at St. Martins *loved* the book but when she presented it to marketing they said they had enough female Indian authors. Damn! And I hadn't written about mangoes or pickles or arranged marriage or being rescued by an all-American cutie.

Years went by. One day on a whim I decided to query publishers in India who still take usolicited manuscripts. HarperCollins India, Penguin, and Roli Books.

Harper and Roli asked for the complete manuscript. My mail to Penguin disappeared into some deep, dark hole for nothing was acknowledged. My agent continued to submit. We continued to gather the negative responses.

And then, after months of waiting, Roli finally got back to me. I sent along the contract to my agent. I got a respectable royalty rate, which I'll never see because I doubt I'll earn out my advance. Yes...I had an advance, but once my agent took her cut I got about 500 bucks. And I remember being shocked when an author at the LA Times Festival of Books a few years ago said that his first novel had earned him an advance of $3000.

Okay, at one level that is satisfying because *someone* is paying for your work (that's 10 years of thinking about the book, three months of three hours a day writing, three months of editing/workshopping, and almost a year of waiting. what's that like .0000001 cents a word?) and in ruppees $500 is quite a decent amount of money.

I gave Roli the rights to India only, while retaining world-wide, including U.S. rights. Yes, you can do that if you want. My agent continued to send out queries long after the book was finally launched and published.

Then I realized that as an editor myself who had done a stint as an agent for a year I could have negotiated the deal myself. My agent was (and is) very professional and wonderful so this is not to diss her. But since the novel was not selling in the U.S., there was really no need for an agent.

In the meantime I started communicating with B.J. Robbins an L.A.-based agent who was the third agent who'd wanted to see my manuscript. She was sort of interested but since is very professional would only want to see my next work if and when I was no longer in this other relationship. Okay, this is sounding more and more like a steamy love triangle and it is in some way.

So, even though I was mired in the quicksand of my second novel that seemed to be going nowhere...I severed contact with my agent who was gracious and charming and wonderful. I continued to write, without being attached to an agent.

And this is where I am today. In the next instalment I will talk about the rather self-evident lessons learned, what to do and not to do, how I should have researched my agent(s) better, etc.

Btw, here are some invaluable links. I have only bought one Publishers Marketplace in my life in the year 2000 I think. These days I find information about agents online. I tend to prefer the slightly more subversive sites but the official ones are great too. Here are some of my faves:

Preditors and editors: I love this site. It gives info on scams, assessments of agents and other useful info.

Gerard Jones list: No longer being updated, this list of agents (including emails and rejections) was put together by an author going through the agent finding process himself. Funny at times.

Association of authors representatives: Searchable and useful.

Publishers Marketplace: Also searchable, easy to read and well put together.

An agenting we go...

Not that anything amazing has happened, but for some reason this time I am feeling more confident about querying agents. Now watch the universe guffaw and proceed to give me a thorough ass-kicking. But until that happens I am going to revel in my fragile, new-found, transitory sense of confidence. Tomorrow the little voices will come back. You know the ones that say...you can't write, stop writing now and do the world a favor, good lord could you be more puerile? you call that writing? I wish your dog had eaten the manuscript.

Some might say that this paranoid neurosis is part of being a writer. I am one of those people. :-)

So, today I decided to start my query process. Not in a formal manner but just going through to see which agents take e-submissions, just doing a little refreshing and re-acquainting with the agenting world. Will start the snail mail process soon, perhaps Wednesday. Need to stock up on toner and paper before I do that though. I *love* email submissions and queries. Can I say that again? I *love* email submissions and queries.

So here are the stats for today:

E-mail queries sent: 4
Replied received (yes, already, can you believe it?): 1
Request for first 30 pages: 1 (Yessss)

And it's not some fly-by-night scammy person wanting me to pay 5 bucks a page to do some crappy analysis. A *good* agency.

Now it's time to send out more, and then sit back and wait for the nays to come floating back in. Until then, it's...well not exactly party time....but at least a kinda good, kinda confident, totally mmmm feeling.

Cheers all!