THE POWER OF A PERSONAL MEETING

I haven’t traveled much in the last six months, but I’ve just returned from a three-day conference. Though I fully registered for it, I only attended two conference events, but my time there was incredibly valuable and enriching regardless.

Aside from the three-hour-thaw-by-the-pool-mini-sabbatical I scheduled for myself on Friday afternoon before boarding the plane home, I spent every waking hour while there in pre-arranged meetings with editors and authors. In the end, when responding to questions about how my trip went, I heard myself say “I really enjoyed connecting with everyone!” And I today, I added several items to my task list newly motivated by an urge to help each of these people succeed in their roles.

Sure, when I requested time together, I had a project in mind. But as usual, I found that holding “my” agenda a bit loosely, and taking the position of investigator vs. sales person always returned a rewarding and gratifying encounter that will begin, or enrich, a long-term relationship.

There’s so much more to personal meetings than just “putting a face to a name.” When I meet an editor or other prospective associate in person, the encounter requires real listening. I’ve learned that more often than not, my “canned” speech goes out the window in favor of personal dialogue once an editor or prospective author and I start talking about whether what’s working well for them and how/if what they’re hoping to publish next aligns with the project(s) I’m interested in.

A side perk of meeting in person is that, unlike with email, I must also practice the art of keeping the conversation going in both directions. I’ll admit, I’m still working on controlling my tendency to be so terribly interruptive – an inexcusable habit that I still give into when I’m especially enthused about something.

As anonymous, and bottom-line, and impersonal as this business can sometimes feel, in the end it’s still about relationships. Part of our culture as an agency is that we tend to do business with people we like and trust. And we want to always like and trust the people with whom we do business.

Cultivating that culture requires time. And there’s no substitution for personal meetings.

There is no arguing that the chance to build rapport with someone while face to face just can’t be matched to a Facetime or Skype session, email exchange, or even a phone call. In my view, those are tools best used to further a relationship, not establish one.

As conference season approaches, take every opportunity you can to spend some personal time with editors, agents, other authors. You’ll find lots of information about how to craft the perfect pitch, how to nail your hook, or deliver the premise of your book in 30 seconds, but I’d like to encourage you to think beyond what people have to offer you. Challenge yourself to avoid coming to the encounter thrusting your well-rehearsed pitch into first position on the agenda. Instead, as you can, take some time to find out who these people are, what they like, what motivates them, how they cultivate their taste, and if your particular project might help them succeed.

I think you’ll find that approach far more gratifying in the end. I always do.

Sandra Bishop

If you could only ask one question of an editor (not related to your project) what would it be?

What is the Benefit in a Contest?

Today’s guest post is by Nancy J. Farrier, IRCA Coordinator

Published authors may wonder about the advantages of entering a contest. As a finalist or winner, there are the accolades, possible increased sales, and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, but without the win, does anyone care? What good comes from spending the money to put your “baby” in a contest?

The Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award is a unique contest for authors published in Inspirational fiction. The judges for the IRCA are readers of inspirational fiction, but are not involved in the publishing industry. They don’t write, edit, or do book reviews. These judges simply love Inspirational fiction. They love to share books and authors with other readers. They are the readers authors want to reach.

Our readers are from across the United States and as far away as Australia. Most are people of faith who attend church regularly, but not all of them do. Some of our readers appreciate a wholesome story, or are what some might term “seekers.” If the judge is a Christian, they will often think of someone when reading a book, someone your book might benefit.

For the past thirteen years I have coordinated the IRCA. I read many comments from the judges. Comments that we promised to keep private, but are often so exciting I want to send them to the author as encouragement. I’ll share a few of those comments anonymously below:

Tremendously wonderful read!…I had to have [the author’s] other books, so I ran out and bought them.

…I would definitely recommend this book and will be looking into other books by the author…

New author for me to read, but I will look for more of her books.

As a published author, think of the possibilities for reaching new readers if you entered the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award. Fans this excited would love telling everyone else about your book.

As you consider whether to enter, or not to enter a contest, check out the IRCA, run by the Faith, Hope, and Love Chapter of Romance Writers of America. Enter your book in one of our seven categories: Long Contemporary, Short Contemporary, Long Historical, Short Historical, Women’s Fiction, Romantic Suspense, and Novella. I look forward to hearing from you. http://www.faithhopelove-rwa.org/irc.html

While on an agent’s panel at ACFW in September, I sat next to Lee Hough, one of the smartest and hardest working agents in the business. While we all fielded the typical questions we get as panelists, someone asked a question about the current state of affairs in publishing, and how agents are faring.

Sandra Bishop

How Do You Persevere?

Last week we were flooded with stories of remembrance. I keep thinking about an article I happened to stumble on from The Destin Log about Bob Horner of Destin, Florida who began what has now become his way, each year, to pay tribute to the heroes of 9-11.

In 2002, on the first anniversary, “The Piper of the Sand,” stopped to play his bagpipes at locations where he saw that flags had been lowered to the half-staff position. By 2006, Sept. 11 had been declared “Patriots’ Day” and the observance of lowering the flag had become commonplace. Bob didn’t have to search as hard for places to play his new tune “Perseverance” – the one he had written a year earlier in response to the courage of people who stepped in to help after Katrina.

Photo credit: Kathy Harrison, The Log

I wonder what people must have thought about Bob’s efforts at first. What did they say about this kilted fellow who kept at it for years, rain or shine, looking for places to blow his pipes in tribute? I’ll bet he didn’t care what they thought. I’ll bet he did it because it was the thing he had to offer. His way to honor and inspire perseverance. Truth be told,  I’ll bet he didn’t care whether folks showed up to support him or not. in the end though, they did.

Last Tuesday, Bob was a featured guest at over a dozen locations around Destin where he was invited to blow his pipes and play his tune.  From sunup to sundown, Bob paid tribute to those who persevered on 9-11. To those who refused to give up, some to the point of giving their lives.

How about you? How do you keep going when it seems like no one is watching or listening, and you wonder if anyone cares? When you worry about what others think of your writing efforts, how do you persevere? What, specifically, keeps you playing your tune?

btw, no article byline was provided or I would have noted it. Thanks Destin Log, for the inspiring story.

Someone wrote to ask, “How does a critique group work in the real world? What should one of our meetings look like?”

I love this question, since writers are often encouraged to start a group, but don’t have specifics on how to do so. Some thoughts…  Let’s say you have a group of four to ten people. You agree to meet once per month, somewhere in the middle of the month. On the first of the month (roughly two weeks before your meeting), everybody submits their work to the other members of the group. All the documents are emailed to one another in a Microsoft Word attachment, double-spaced, 12-point font, with plenty of margin space around the words. You may want to limit the page count to five or ten or even fifteen pages (though I know of one group that asks for a chapter per month, leaving the page count to the individual writer’s notion of what a chapter length should be.) There’s a hard and fast rule that you receive it by the first of the month or you ignore it until next month. So you receive everyone’s writing, print it out, read each one, and edit it. You ask questions. You point out things that aren’t clear. You write comments at the end. You try to be polite but honest. If you really want to be professional, you all use the “track changes” feature to make your comments, so that everything is legible.

Keep in mind that the criticism is of the work, not of the writer. And, as my friend Cecil Murphey likes to say, “Members do not make value judgments — they don’t say ‘this is bad,’ but instead offer suggestions for improving the work.” Participants in a critique group are criticizing your work.They are NOT criticizing you. And on each piece you say at least one nice thing, since everybody needs to hear an occasional compliment.

So you gather in the middle of the month at someone’s house, the leader or host puts all her copies of the month’s manuscripts into a basket, and pulls one out. That’s the first one you will talk about. You set a time limit of ten-to-thirty minutes (depending on the number of people in your group), and you all share your thoughts on the work. Don’t repeat criticisms — if one person notes that “Dweezil Gooschitz is a bad name for a character,” nobody else needs to echo that. Just move quickly through the thoughts and responses people had. Consider starting with general comments (like structure and plot and lead), rather than spending time on the obvious minor stuff that will show up in everyone’s edits (like misspelled words or misplaced quotation marks). After making general comments, you can do a quick page-by-page discussion, noting things like clarity and word choice.

Many groups use the Right Hand method of leading — the person to the right of the author will lead the discussion and keep things on track. That way nobody dominates the evening by leading all the discussions, and everybody is forced to lead once.

And here’s a hard and fast rule: When the group is discussing your work, you may not talk. Let everyone have their say — you don’t have to accept all the ideas. Use what is helpful, discard what is not. There’s not an assumption that everything said to you is going to be correct — it’s just helpful to get other sets of eyes reading the words. After everyone has had their say, you may open your mouth to ask questions. But don’t spend time arguing, refuting, or offering explanations. That’s a waste of time.

Hope this helps you know how to do a good critique group.

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

I have a few workshops I offer, in which I discuss many of the topics that I’ve touched on here at Thursdays with Amanda. One is a “Writing for Social Media” class. The other is a broad look at the digital world and how it pertains to authors.

After each of these classes, I always get people coming up to me, wanting me to take a look at their webpage, their blog, their facebook group. I can give them all the theory, all the practical application, all the ideas in the world when I’m standing up front, lecturing, and still, you’ll have those people who don’t know where to start. They want to be told what to do in a way that applies to them specifically. They want a bit of hand-holding.

So for all of you hand-holders, this one’s for you!

Just like those people come up to me after class, I want you to do the same. In the comments below, post links to the social media or website pages that you want some feedback on. Then, the coming weeks will be spent going over each submission. You’ll get my two cents, and probably a lot of other valuable feedback from the wonderful people who read my posts.

Sound like a plan?

If you’d like to participate, just leave a comment below with some links to the social media or website pages that you’d like feedback on the most. It’s that simple.

I hope to hear from you!

If you’re new to Thursdays with Amanda, the archives is a great place to get caught up.

UPDATE: We’re getting lots of comments, which is great. I won’t be shutting things down until my next Thursdays with Amanda post on the 14th. So don’t be shy! There’s still time.

Years ago, in another life, I made my living doing dopey magic tricks and telling jokes. (Really.) I played some nice places (the Comedy & Magic Club of Hermosa Beach was one), and I played some awful places (insert the name of any smoky bar on the west coast where the customers are more interested in Budweisers, Camels, and the opposite sex). One thing I noticed about the venues: Even if the place was a dive, there were lessons to be learned. Being in front of a living, breathing audience forces you to change your act. You have to work really hard to get people to laugh. All the rehearsal in the world wasn’t going to cause me to perfect my act — for that, I had to be bad in front of people.

There’s a lesson for writers… A lot of potential authors are simply too sensitive. As a writer, you need a place to bad, so that you can learn to be good. So if your ego is too fragile to allow someone else to read your work, it’s time to learn this lesson. Allow yourself to be bad. Give somebody else (preferably not your mom, your spouse, or your best friend) the permission to be honest with you about your writing.

Yes, this takes courage. And it means you’re going to have to find a couple people you trust. If you get into a large crit group, chances are you’re going to have one person you don’t like, who always hammers you for something. Learn to live with it. Paste a smile on your face, say “thanks very much,” and move on to somebody whose opinion you actually care about. BUT somewhere, in the midst of all that fake niceness, be willing to at least hear what that individual has to say about your writing. A fresh set of eyes is exactly why you joined the group, so at least listen to the criticisms others have, even if you think they’re all morons and you’re above this sort of thing.

I remember there was this one magician I couldn’t stand. He was a twerp, made biting comments, and acted like a know-it-all. One day he mentioned something to me about my act — he said I mumbled on stage, and made wisecracks to the side that nobody heard. I hated what he said. I rolled my eyes. And then, as I thought about it, I realized he was completely right. Dang.

Scottish people have a saying: Learn to unpack a rebuke. In other words, don’t reject a criticism out of hand. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to agree with it. But give it a little time. Take it out and play with it. Be willing to at least examine the criticism and see if, just maybe, there’s an ounce of truth in it.

Of course, sometimes you’ll get a rebuke that’s wrong. Somebody will tell you “that idea will never sell” or “you shouldn’t do that novel in first person,” and your only response is to smile, say thanks, and ignore the dipstick. That’s okay. At least you got another perspective. But you gain an immense amount of wisdom when you allow other people you respect to look at your words.

So I want to suggest that handing around a bad first draft for people to read is EXACTLY the thing to be doing. Let others see what you’re writing and offer some direction. You may not agree with all of it, but the point is that you’re getting another set of eyes to review your work. I’ve seen thousands of pages of paper wasted on under-written book proposals. Sometimes these were good ideas, they just needed more work. But I rarely see an over-written book proposal – one the author simply over-designed, over-thought, and over-wrote. So my sense is that you probably need to spend more time on your project.

Having a critique group can help you move forward. Besides, having writing friends gives you somebody to share your success and failure with. When those rejections come in, they’ll pat you on the back and tell you that, yes, you’re a fine writer, you just need to stick with it. Maybe they’ll buy you a Guinness. (Another reason to like critique groups.)

By the way, if you want to really make this work, send the writings out one week  and talk about them the next week. That keeps you from simply getting off-the-cuff reactions. And by all means ask people to WRITE their comments. It’s too easy to weasel out of a tough criticism when we’re all sitting around the living room, drinking tea and commenting on Daphne’s stupid prairie romance. (“Um…I don’t know…but since this is set in the 1830′s, maybe you shouldn’t have your heroine eaten by intergallactic space aliens.”) Instead, ask people to write their criticisms onto the page, then you can talk through them, before puling out (1) a kleenex to wipe your eyes, and (2) the number of a good suicide prevention counselor.

Look, don’t think about trying to make it perfect. Seeking perfection in writing is what freezes people and keeps them from writing (or even from participating). Look for progress, not perfection. You aren’t going to make it perfect. So try to make it “better than last week.”

I keep getting one question over and over again from authors — “Should I blog?” Technorati tells us they are already following more than 20 million blogs, so it ought to be clear that adding one more generic blog to the world of cyberspace isn’t necessarily going to get you a lot of attention. If you decide to blog, it ought to be because you think you can create something different, that will speak to a need and gather readers. May I make some quick suggestions?

First, make it easy to read. Too many blogs are indecipherable. That means the font and the overall design of the page should be easy on the eyes. It also means the reader should see some text right away, not have to scroll down to find something valuable.

Second, have a theme. You may balk at this a bit, thinking that people are there getting to know YOU, and not focused on your topic. To a certain extent, that’s true. But just as your books help create a “brand” in the minds of consumers, so your blog helps solidify your brand with readers.

Third, have a bio handy. Remember that new readers will sometimes stumble upon your site, or they’ll read about it in one of your books. That means every day you could conceivably garner a new reader — and he or she wants to know who you are. So have a short bio at the ready, in a place that’s easy to spot on your blog.

Fourth, give stuff away. I mean it. Give away good content. Give away books. Give away prizes or goodies or all kinds of stuff. Offer help to people. Sure, the blog is aimed at helping you market yourself, but remember that none of us purposefully go view advertising online. If your blog seems like nothing but a commercial, people won’t want to visit. Make your blog focused on sharing important stuff that others can use.

Fifth, use social media. Get involved with Twitter and Facebook and the other places where people congregate. Remember, you’re not trying to sell a product, you’re trying to make friends. Once you make friends with people, they’re far more apt to buy your book.

Sixth, interact with people on the web. Don’t just blog and let your post sit there. If somebody comments, write back to them. Go visit their blog and comment on it. You’re being polite, but you’re also you’re developing relationships.

Seventh, create blogs that can quickly be scanned. This advice came to me from my webmaster, who helped me see that using bold and italic, as well as causing some words to stand out by themselves, would make my posts more appealing to people who do a quick overview before digging in to read every word.

Eighth, talk to your web master about RSS feeds and search engines. An RSS feed will make sure readers receive all your blog posts, and by using key words and imbedded lengths, your blog will be easier to search and will show up more frequently when people are looking for something interesting on a topic. (Here’s an example: A few months ago I did a post entitled “The Basic, Basic Questions of Publishing.” That phrase was picked up by search engines, and it turned into hundreds of new readers.)

There’s a lot more to say on this, of course. Some writers really enjoy being part of blog groups, and there’s a big debate going on right now about the benefit of posting a chapter from your book on your blog. But this should help you think through the work involved with getting a blog going. (And believe me, it’s a lot of work. I regularly question if I need to keep my blog going.) Feel free to talk with me about my own experience with a blog — I’ve learned a lot. Or talk with Amanda, who I find does an amazing job with her Thursday posts.

Hope this gets you started thinking about it… 

Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary. Every Thursday, she posts about growing your author platform. You can follow her on Twitter @amandaluedeke or join her Facebook group to stay current with her wheelings and dealings as an agent.

I’m heading to Chicon today…for those of you not in the know, Chicon (or WorldCon) is the 70th World Science Fiction Convention. Now an invitation to this event didn’t magically fall into my lap. I mean, MacGregor Literary hasn’t historically done much in the SF realm, so I’m sure we were far from making it on their “I hope they attend” list. Another interesting note, is that this event is pretty big and pulls REALLY big names (George R.R. Martin is the name I’ve been dropping right and left). So it wasn’t like getting an invite would be as easy as calling up a friend of a friend and then voila!

Nope, it was a bit more complex than that. And it involved aggressive Internet research, consistent follow up, and a willingness to do whatever, whenever.

The reason I’m explaining all of this is that agents have to build a platform, too. Or maybe it’s more of a rapport (?). But either way, we need to get our name out there so that we meet authors, so we can sign those authors, so that we get to know editors, so that we do deals with those editors and then somewhere along the line…put food on the table.

So for this week, I thought I’d share a bit about what I’m doing to build my platform.

There are lots of literary agents in publishing. I mean LOTS. And not all of them are the real deal. Some are there to scam unsuspecting authors. And most will fizzle out in a few years. So when you’re new to the business, there’s all this suspicion surrounding you. Will she last? Will she be any good? Will she actually turn deals? (In the past 12 months, Publisher’s Marketplace shows that there are eight agents who have turned 30 or more deals. That’s it. Eight. Granted, not everyone reports to Publisher’s Marketplace, but it still says something about the job).

Since becoming an agent, I’ve had to do a number of things to establish myself, aside from teaming up with a great agency and having a knack for telling people what’s wrong with their books. So, in no particular order other than the order in which they pop into my brain, here’s a baker’s dozen of what I’ve done to promote myself THIS YEAR:

1. I’m going/will have gone/am in the process of going on 15 business trips. That’s at least 75 days spent away from the puppy and husband.
2. I created an Amanda Luedeke – Literary Agent facebook page that I maintain as faithfully as possible.
3. I created a “Books I Represented” Pin Board that I update when cover art is available.
4. I blog here every Thursday (and have been doing so since January).
5. I contribute a column to the Advanced Christian Writer publication.
6. I’ve been interviewed on podcasts.
7. I’ve been interviewed on blogs.
8. I’ve Skyped in on small writing workshops.
9. I put together a pitch letter to sell myself as a faculty member to potential conferences…and it worked.
10. I’ve maintained my personal/professional/yet-to-be-defined Twitter account @amandaluedeke.
11. I’ve KEYNOTED. Yes, keynoted!
12. I’ve taught 1-3 workshops at nearly every conference I’ve attended, along with participating on panels, taking appointments, and run the occasional group critiques.
13. I’ve networked my a$$ off. Like I said above…MacLit hadn’t done much with SF in the past. Nor have they done much with YA or Fantasy or some genres of fiction. So I’ve been blazing the trails, meeting as many editors as I possibly can on each trip, and FORCING them to be my friends.

That’s it. That’s what I’ve done to grow my platform. And it’s working.

So I’m curious…what are you doing to grow yours?

A few more thoughts that came out of my conversation with some marketing people at a recent conference…

4. Another step in selling your book, and one that relies almost completely on the author, is that there needs to be a successful and growing internet presence surrounding your title. Right now we’re seeing too many novelists visit the same 30 or 40 blogs, shilling their book (and, in my view, not selling many copies). But in a successful marketing campaign, the discussion of the book grows beyond that same chat-fest of blogs. The author seeks out new groups, who share an interest in her stories or topics, and finds ways to talk about the basic ideas in a wider setting. Let me offer an example: If a crime writer can get law enforcement sites to talk about his book, or can link into some networks where people discuss crime and culture, the book is much more apt to take off, and that allows the marketing people to reach more potential readers. For a nonfiction writer, I would venture a guess that your speaking and media platform is vitally important toward making this piece of the equation work. Again, this is an area that is almost the exclusive domain of the author, since publisher helps in this area have a tendency to be a bit flat. YOU know your book best, so YOU should be doing this. Doing regular work in creating an internet presence will require a significant investment of time and energy.

5. In discussing fiction marketing with this group, they came to the conclusion that space advertisements were an important piece, but ONLY if they reach a targeted audience.Here’s an example: If you’re doing a historical novel set in 17th Century Scotland, getting some ads into the magazines and websites subscribed to by those who love Scotland and its history is crucial. (Okay…I’ll admit that I subscribe to a couple Scottish magazines. Thus the example.) In other words, a general ad in the LA Times might not be as effective as locating a hotbed of people who share an interest in your story or topic and telling them about your book. And there’s a lesson to keep in mind here: your publisher can’t be an expert on everything, so you may have to educate her in terms of the best magazines and websites and blogs to target. If can’t buy an ad in a print magazine, take a look at the cheap prices in an e-zine. And if you can’t buy an ad in an e-zine, try writing articles for print or e-zines in order to get your material in front of their readers.

6. The last thing we put on our list was that your basic story MUST resonate with readers.Sooner or later, the success of most books comes down to a great concept and good writing. For all the talk about what works and what doesn’t with fiction marketing, it still comes down to writing and story. The readers hear about it, and have an immediate positive response. Then they read it, love it, and start telling others about this great book they just read. All of this means your basic story will appeal to a wide readership — either it speaks to an immediate need, or answers an important question, or garners some immediate attention, or follows a very popular format (for example, you’re writing an Amish book). And, of course, this means you must write a good book. I know it can get depressing at times, seeing weak books on the bestseller lists, but the fact is, over time good writing trumps bad writing. Over time, big ideas trump small ideas.

Now… I argued with the people in this discussion group that there is a seventh item I believe is necessary to make a marketing campaign work for a book: Buying space up front at Barnes & Noble. To me, that’s one of the most important steps, though I’ll admit my evidence is more anecdotal than scientific. The marketers didn’t agree with me — they said they could point to dozens of expensive “table buys” that didn’t move copies of the book. I told them that may be so, but given the pace at which stores dump new products, I’d still put this on my list of essential steps. I was out-voted, but wanted you to hear my thoughts. It costs big bucks to have a publisher put your book up front at B&N. In my view, it’s worth the investment.

Just some thoughts to consider as you being to plan your future fiction marketing. I’d love to know what you’ve found to be the essential ingredients to getting your book selling in the marketplace.