'Twas a year ago this coming week that I did my first book deal as an agent. I've learned A LOT since then. Here are a few things that come to mind …

At first, nearly every project I looked at had potential. Now, generally, I recognize potential for what it is — something which requires an investment of time. And time, like never before, looks like a precious resource I have only so much of to invest.

A year ago, digging in and helping authors shape and mold their projects seemed fun and exciting. Now, I understand that in order to serve all of my authors, I do need to guide authors as much as I can, but I can't do as much as I'd like.  Though performing some editorial work is certainly part of the job and one I enjoy, my role as an agent requires that though I may help an author figure out what needs work, actually doing the work is not the best use of my time.

Negotiating my first contract was exciting, and it's still a thrill to receive offers and notify the authors I represent when we land a deal. Now, though, the best part of the job for me is in looking ahead and helping authors plan their futures.

My initial desire to find and work only with literary authors whose inspired works of genius would change the world has been somewhat toned down by the reality that authors who write commercial fiction work very hard, and probably more consistently than those who are waiting around for their muse to inspire them. 

In the same light, I've realized that those who write category fiction probably better understand the needs of their readers than do most authors. And that they also are those who are most willing to do what it takes to make a living in this industry.

I've come around in my somewhat nose-in-the-air attitude toward romance and realized that not only is it the the bread and butter of publishing, but a topic which meets an innate need in all women — and that by working with authors who are filling this need in a way which honors God, I am participating in an important mission.

I've also learned that I can be a bit cynical and critical at times. And that I work best with people who have a sense of humor.

And I've learned that working under the guidance of Chip MacGregor is even more the honor than I thought it would be.

You take a week to go to books shows and writing conferences, and you suddenly discover you are DAYS behind in blogging. Sorry.

Last week was the International Christian Retail Show (also referred to as "ickers"), and I've already had several people write to ask what it was like. Surprisingly, I found the show very upbeat. I mean, I was expecting to see doom and gloom. Christian bookstores are closing, the numbers at the show are down again, some publishers have pulled out completely, and I thought this might be the last year we saw a CBA show.

I was wrong. There was good energy at this show. It was certainly smaller, and again it is no longer a "book" show exactly, but the folks who were there seemed to give it a thumbs up. Some houses were writing orders, which was a nice surprise (selling books on the show floor had become a rarity, since most stores order books online or through sales reps nowadays). While the overall number of international guests seemed way down due to the economy, international sales orders were still being written, according to everyone I talked to.

There are still struggles. Several publishers have pulled out and the ones remaining are far less engaged than they used to be. No publishing house brought many authors. The days of lavish publisher parties are over (dang!). In many ways I still think this could be done on a weekend, instead of taking the better part of a week. And I wonder if we might all be better off with a big meeting of publishers, authors, agents, and media at a nice hotel some weekend — sort of a longish wine-and-cheese where we can all talk business and get stuff done. But still, ICRS surprised me with some vigor this year.

A trend: A new look in book covers. Take a peek. We're seeing a new vision for CBA novels. More texture. Fewer creepy looking evil guys. Fewer models looking off into space with the wind blowing their hair into a rat's nest. Check out the covers at Zondervan and Tyndale and Baker at their corporate websites. It's a positive step.

And, as always, I've had at least a couple dozen people write to ask about the dopiest thing I saw at the show this year. Longtime readers will recall that past winners of my coveted "CBA Weenie Award" have included:

-Gospel golf balls (complete with John 3:16 printed on them!)

-Armor of God Pajamas (complete with "Helmet of Salvation" nightcap)

-Standing on the Promises Insoles (your feet NEED bible verses)

-Pope Soap on a Rope (gave me no hope, I couldn't cope, was the color of taupe, sold by a dope)

-Vials of ash from Sodom & Gomorrah  (don't wait! get one for your gay friends now!)

-Praise Panties (preferably the red ones, embroidered with "His Love Endures Forever")

But none of these were there this year. Last year's winner, Heroin Jesus, was back (if you don't know, it's a truly tasteless painting of a junkie shooting drugs into his arm, with Jesus standing over him and extending his own arm, so that the drugs are shot into Christ's veins… um, no, I'm not kidding, and no, it doesn't make any sense, even with the out-of-context bible verse about "he who has done this to the least of these has done this to me" as an attempt to sanctify it, and no, I have no idea why this particular dipstick was allowed to return). But it was back for a repeat, complete with a sign about how his art has "changed the face of Christian art." I'm not sure how, unless it's turned Jesus into a shill for crappy art with faux depth. (True story: The guy also has painted pictures of Jesus in the ring, wearing boxing gloves. Beating the devil into submission, no doubt. I'm dubbing that one Rocky Jesus. Yo, Adrian!)

But what you really want to know are what are this year's weiners?

-So you want to play the drums, but are worried that you don't have enough bible verses plastered on your hat, your t-shirt, your pants, your jewelry, and your shoes (to say nothing of your insoles)? Now you can get Stick with Jesus Drumsticks for all your performing needs. I think they come with special powers, so that white people who use them can actually keep the beat.

-And, of course, you want to brush your teeth, but worry that, unless standing there in your Armor of God Pajamas, you might be doing an activity without spiritual value. Not any more, now that you can buy a Jesus Loves Me Toothbrush. Let no unwholesome words come out of your mouth, except it's been brushed by a verse-covered toothbrush.

-For those who are completely incompetent when it comes to music, you can now get karaoke for Christmas carols, called Christmas Caroloke. I know I really struggle trying to remember the tune to "Silent Night."

-One of the big sellers on the floor was The Message Ball — which is a soccer ball covered with bible verses in very small print. That's it. I'm not kidding. The eager young sales team was tossing them around, and stores seemed to be buying them. Uh, I'm not sure how they would work in an actual game ("I was going to kick it, coach, but suddenly I saw the words 'repent and be baptized,' so I decided then and there to fall to me knees…"), but it certainly made for lively conversation on the floor. Remember the rainbow-haired guy who used to show up with "John 3:16" signs in the endzone of every big game? Now you can take that can-do spiritual attitude onto the field with you, and share the gospel right before kicking somebody in the shins. Yes!

-However, this year's winner of the CBA Golden Weenie Award goes to the I Love Jesus Zipper Pulls! It just wasn't close. The idea of being able to have Christ on your zipper, and to gauge your spirituality by whether or not the zipper is up or down, trumps all the other finalists. So there you have it. Only 163 more shopping days until Christmas! Get your religious crud now!

-chip

That was the heading of yesterday's email from PW Daily, a daily digested version of Publishers Weekly.

What? Good news? In publishing?

I'll admit that as I (Sandra, here) prepared for and traveled to ICRS this year, I was hoping for a more upbeat experience than last year's episode of gloom and doom.  Not expecting, necessarily, but hoping.

I was relieved to find that my optimism was rewarded. Attendance on the floor seemed up from last year despite a
report from PW of a 20% drop in attendance from 2008. Maybe it was because there were fewer exhibitors. Or maybe it was because the overall exhibit space was smaller. But, it at least gave the impression of increased activity and attendance. And at events such as this, impressions matter.

I recall a dismal scene from the show floor last year when I rounded a corner and saw one of CBA's most noted authors sitting at his signing table … doodling.  I happened upon this scene at time when I was wandering the floor, seriously praying about the future of CBA, and wondering what had compelled me to enter the industry just as a tsunami was threatening to hit.

A good sign this year, though, was that signings seemed steady and well attended. There were lots of lines, a few even snaking around the aisle-ways. One of my authors was there at the invitation of her publisher and they had to pull books from the shelves to meet demand. One house intentionally held four signings at one
time; one on each corner of their booth – an example of
the kind of new thinking which probably helped in giving the show a more
upbeat and positive feeling.

Most industry professionals I talked with sounded authentically hopeful about the show's survival – even in spite of lower retail customers in attendance. The handful of sales people I spoke with reported they were taking modest but steady orders. Lean times call for modest expectations, and I think, for the most part, this is how publishers approached the show. They sent fewer staff, kept their expenses down, brought less product with them in the first place.

As far as meetings with editors (always my favorite part of any industry event) most expressed that publishing spots are still fewer and pushed out, and that decisions are still taking longer to make with far more deliberation than ever before. But, a majority of the folks I met with said they are actively looking for fresh approaches to perennial topics and strong voices in fiction to lead the way by taking our message of hope and invitation into the general readership.

This is strictly from my gut (and I've not had breakfast yet at the time of writing this, so consider yourselves warned) but I think the tide of CBA is shifting away from being dominated by the Bible Belt sentiment of what's acceptable material for Christians and what's not.  (Please read carefully that I said Bible Belt, not Bible!)

This was perhaps forecasted by my agreement with a June 4th Newsweek article by Lisa Miller in which she noted "evangelical Christians are less willing to identify themselves as a coherent group embodying one set of values."

If that's the way the tide is turning, I'm glad I dived in. Hooray and Hallelujah! Change is coming and I, for one, think embracing it instead of fighting it always brings good news!

Writing is solitary. We are often so much in our own heads that sometimes we can forget we are writing for an audience. That's not always a bad thing.

There are times when, in writing fiction, for example, your characters run away with your story and you feel like your role is to just hit the keys and try to keep up. Unless you're under a tight deadline and your agent or editor is breathing down your neck, I think the worst thing a writer can do at times like these is to stop and let your internal editor step in and begin analyzing what you've written. There is a time for this, but not here. At times like these, my advice is to forget your internal editor and your external audience and enjoy the ride.

Such experiences are freeing and powerful for authors because these are the times when the editor in your head gives up, gets out, and lets you, the writer, take the wheel. It's a great feeling. Like driving on a sunny day along the 101 with the top down, the wind in your hair, no other cars on the road, and no one in the passenger seat fiddling with the radio or telling you they gotta stop and go whiz.

One of my favorite writing quotes is from Stephen King who said (about what, I'm not sure) "No, it's not a very good story – its author was too
busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have
to the one coming from inside."

Whether you like Mr. King or not, I think you can agree when it comes to writing he knows what he's talking about here. How many authors are guilty of deciding they want (literally) to be the next John Grisham, Karen Kingsbury, Michael Chrichton, Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Brandilyn Collins, Tom Clancy, Beverly Lewis, or Stephen King for that matter? If that's your mission as an author, good luck to you and let me know how that turns out. It's not that I'm opposed to encouraging authors to believe in their eventual success to the levels of these authors, it's just that if a writer sets out thinking they are going to follow the road these folks took, I think they don't consider one very important thing. That these authors blazed their own trails, followed their own directions, did their own thing and worked hard to develop their own voices along the way. And it's precisely because they did so that they found success.  Commercially successful authors rarely become overnight successes without putting a lot of time behind the wheel.

Back to the point about kicking the editor out, though. The good news is that not only is it fun to write without the editor constantly telling you where to turn, or questioning if you're headed in the right direction, it's important. These are the times when authors typically find their unique voice – and often surprise themselves with their abilities.

Some who experience this kind of writing high say they've been visited by a muse and that it's a near celestial thing; one which cannot be forced. I think that's a big load of hooey. Writing is hard work – not magic. I think writers are destined to reach such zones if they stay after it. Maybe for some it's after a certain length of time at the keyboard, others find they can better access writing freedom at particular times of day. The key, I think, is to not wait for times of inspiration to get to work, but to work until the inspiration comes.

Of course, as Christians who write, we have direct access to one whose Voice we can and should listen to without reservation. I think, though, that there are times when even God himself knows the best thing He can do for his writer-kids is to let us take the wheel, exercise the creativity with which we were trusted, and learn on our own how to do it well.

Steve asked, "What writing blogs do you enjoy most?"

I'm trying to catch up with a bunch of questions on the basics of writing and publishing. Here's another batch of questions I've had sent my way…

"How many words does a typical book have?" — That depends on the genre of the book you're writing. A contemporary genre romance novel has about 55,000 words. A historical romance will have about 75,000. A novel outside of the genre houses will probably run between 85,000 and 90,000. Some literary fiction and family sagas can be as long as 110,000 (but I don't recommend starting there). With nonfiction, we see some shorter business books, mom books, and self-improvement books in the 45,000 range, but 55,000 to 65,000 is more common with commerical projects. I keep having people send me 23,000-word books — which I can do nothing with. There's no market for that short of a book. In a lousy economy, people want value for their money, and that means a big chunk of dead trees.  

"I write both fiction and nonfiction. Should I have two agents?" – I rarely see this work. I've shared a client on occasion, when there was a clear delineation of markets (for example, I worked with a humor writer who had a separate agent for the textbook market). But for the most part, it's too messy. Both agents want to help shape the author's career. And since I do a lot of business in the Christian market, I'll tell you that, yes, some people have one agent for their Christian books and another for their general market books — but that's always seemed awkward to me. I represent both religious and non-religious books, so working in both CBA and the general market isn't mutually exclusive.

"Should I write a proposal before approaching an agent?" — Absolutely. In fact, in this sort of lousy economy, you will probably want to create a proposal and sample chapters. When times are hard, do as much as you can in order to keep the prospective agent from saying "no thanks."

"I just submitted my proposal to an agent. How long will I wait before hearing from them?" — Everybody's different, but it's certainly reasonable to think you can expect a response in two or three months.

"Should I include my age when I query agents?" — I don't know why you would. I just turned 51, in case anyone is keeping track.

"I just submitted my project to a publisher. If they agree to publish it, what are the next steps?" — The next step for the publisher is to send you or your agent a deal memo, which starts the negotiation process. The next step for you is to jump up and down and scream with excitement. Then talk over the deal memo with your agent, so that you can begin to create a writing calendar.

"My book was published by my local newspaper, but they've now gone out of business. Who owns the rights to it?" — Check your contract — it should tell you what happens if the publisher goes out of business. Most likely the rights revert to you, but if not, rights to the book will be considered an asset of the company and will go through probate. In that case, buy yourself a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. You're going to need several stiff drinks.

"My book has gone out of print. Is it possible to get it republished with someone else?" — In theory, yes. In reality, you'll discover there's not much of a market for reprints these days. If your book was with a small publisher, and received very little distribution, you might be able to sell it as a new book. Otherwise, your best bet may be to self-publish, talk to an e-publisher, or simply use the content on your website.

"Are there any writers' organizations you think authors should belong to?" — The Writers Guild. You may also be close to a regional or local writers' group that could prove valuable. If you write Christian fiction, by all means join ACFW (and Chi Libris, if you're already published). If you write Christian nonfiction, check into TheWritersView, an online Yahoo group that is really good. There are doubtless others.

"I'd like to submit some of my blog posts as part of my book proposal. Will an editor frown on that idea, since the material is already available on my blog?" — It used to be that editors didn't care much about material taken from blogs, but now that's generally considered "previously published material," so be sure to reveal what has already seen the light of day. Your book contract will ask you to warranty that the material you submit is unpublished, so you'll want to be up-front with them about what's been widely read.

"How can writers find security when publishing electronically when there is so much piracy going on in other countries?" — Publishers are working to keep e-books from being widely pirated, but yes, that's a concern. Piracy really hurt the music industry — specifically the performers. What can an author do about it? Not much. If you don't want it stolen, don't post it. I've learned not to worry too much about piracy. It's happened to me in the past, and doubtless will in the future. When I catch someone using my words without my permission, I threaten to whack the person with a board. If they ask politely, I generally say yes.

"On my royalty statement, there's a line that says the publisher is holding a 'reserve against returns.' Can you tell me what that means?" — Your publisher sells books, puts your earned royalties into an account for you, then holds back a percentage in case retailers return books and expect a credit. That's the publishers' way of protecting themselves against high returns.

"What is the industry standard for the reserve taken out of my royalties?" — Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20%.

Regarding my statement that "an unearned advance does not mean the publisher lost money, " two publishers wrote to say that tax laws require publishers to write off unearned advances within a specified period of time. That means the unearned advance is taken out of the profit, therefore they're arguing the publisher does lose money on an unearned advance. Um… in a way, that's true. I mean, an unearned advance means the publisher makes less profit. But there's a difference between "making less profit" and actually "losing money." My point was that a publisher can still make a profit on a book that did not earn back its advance. The Hillary Clinton book a few years ago is the perfect case in point — the publisher paid a huge advance, with no intention of earning that back, but they still found the book to be profitable. In one sense, they simply treated the advance as a cost of doing business. (That said, you still want your books to earn back their advances. As one publisher noted to me, "Regularly having books that don't earn out will get you into trouble with the Powers That Be.")

Finally, someone wrote to ask me, "Is it true you see really awful proposals?" — Good grief. Absolutely. I just had someone send me a proposal that states, "I have published several pomes." (No kidding.) I state clearly on my website that I don't represent poetry, children's books, or fantasy novels, but yesterday I had someone submit a children's fairy tale book to me (and yes, it was filled with poems — or maybe "pomes").  I'm constantly amazed that people won't take five minutes to research a project before sending it out. However, you'll be happy to know that I'm about to make a killing, since yesterday I had someone write to me these words: "I have written a novel about everything." That pretty well sums it up, I think.

I regularly get some basic questions on writing and publishing, so I've culled a dozen to help those who are just getting started. All of these are actual questions I've received recently, though I'm not going to attach names to them since they've come in from more than one source.