Yesterday was a #MSWL day on Twitter! Whether you're a seasoned Twitter-user or terrified to even poke your head in, this is an incredibly useful tool for writers who are seeking agents. Here's a quick primer.
#MSWL stands for Manuscript Wishlist. Agent Jessica Sinsheimer conceived this several years ago as a way to connect agents who wanted to see specific things in their inboxes with writers who could provide them.
When an event is scheduled, agents (and sometimes editors, but mostly agents) tweet things they're interested in seeing—say, YA sci-fi with aliens or adult romantic suspense—and because they include the hashtag, it's all collected into an easily searchable list. Writers can get as specific as they want with their searches. Use twitter.com or your favorite third-party Twitter app, like TweetDeck or HootSuite and type "#MSWL" and your keywords into the search.
A few cautions:
-This event has been running since 2013, so be sure to check the dates on any matches you find before you submit your work. Agents usually aren't looking for the same things they were a few years ago.
-Anyone can post on the #MSWL hashtag, so you should always do your research before you send a query and make sure they're someone you'd want to work with.
-Don't ever tweet a pitch for your book using the #MSWL hashtag. It's reserved for agents and other industry professionals, so it's a major faux pas to blunder in as a writer looking for representation. If you need to ask a question to clarify someone's MSWL tweet, that's fine—just do a direct reply and don't use the hashtag, and that way it won't show up in searches.
If you think this #MSWL thing is pretty cool, check out the website! Manuscriptwishlist.com is a huge repository of agent information and should be a writer gearing up to query's first stop.
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
How to Find Writer Friends
My family is moving across the country in a few weeks, and a few days ago, we got together with most of the writer friends we've made here to say goodbye. While we're planning to keep in touch with everyone online, it's tough that we won't be able to get together in person anymore. There's no substitute for face-to-face time to talk about the writing and publishing journey.
With that in mind, I'm already thinking about ways to connect with writers in my new city. Since everyone can benefit from finding writer friends, not just those who are moving, here are some of the first places I'm going to look:
1. SCBWI
As a MG/YA writer, I get to take advantage of the great resource that is the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Although my current city doesn't have a very active chapter, my new city does—which means I'll definitely be checking out what they have to offer.
2. Conferences
Writing conferences are a fabulous way to connect with like-minded people. In fact, I met most of my local writer friends through a local conference (and if you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that we co-bloggers all met at a conference as well!). There are several large conferences every year in my new city, so I'm going to try to attend one as soon as possible.
3. Twitter/Other Social Media
I follow and am followed by lots of writers on Twitter, and I'm also a member of several writing-focused Facebook groups. I mentioned where I was moving in one of these groups and was thrilled to find that several of the people I'd been talking to for months lived right in my new neck of the woods! You may find that announcing your location on your favorite social media channels brings nearby people out of the woodwork.
4. NaNoWriMo
One of the fun things about signing up to participate officially in National Novel Writing Month each November is local meet ups. I'm nearly always revising in November, rather than drafting, but this year I'm going to try to be ready for a new project. My new locale is famous for its independent coffeeshops, and what better way to try them out than drafting parties?
Would you add anything to this list? How have you made writer friends?
With that in mind, I'm already thinking about ways to connect with writers in my new city. Since everyone can benefit from finding writer friends, not just those who are moving, here are some of the first places I'm going to look:
1. SCBWI
As a MG/YA writer, I get to take advantage of the great resource that is the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Although my current city doesn't have a very active chapter, my new city does—which means I'll definitely be checking out what they have to offer.
2. Conferences
Writing conferences are a fabulous way to connect with like-minded people. In fact, I met most of my local writer friends through a local conference (and if you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that we co-bloggers all met at a conference as well!). There are several large conferences every year in my new city, so I'm going to try to attend one as soon as possible.
3. Twitter/Other Social Media
I follow and am followed by lots of writers on Twitter, and I'm also a member of several writing-focused Facebook groups. I mentioned where I was moving in one of these groups and was thrilled to find that several of the people I'd been talking to for months lived right in my new neck of the woods! You may find that announcing your location on your favorite social media channels brings nearby people out of the woodwork.
4. NaNoWriMo
One of the fun things about signing up to participate officially in National Novel Writing Month each November is local meet ups. I'm nearly always revising in November, rather than drafting, but this year I'm going to try to be ready for a new project. My new locale is famous for its independent coffeeshops, and what better way to try them out than drafting parties?
Would you add anything to this list? How have you made writer friends?
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Twitter Pitch Contests: The Basics
If you follow people in the writing community on Twitter, you may have noticed some of them participating in Twitter pitch contests. These are organized a few times a year and are an opportunity to pitch your work to agents and editors (some of whom are closed to queries, so you might not be able to pitch them another way!).
Twitter pitching can seem intimidating at first. Once you get the hang of it, though, it can fun and beneficial—just ask the writers who've signed with agents or publishers thanks to a well-crafted tweet.
Here are six basic rules for Twitter contests.
1. Take the time to craft your pitches.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because the pitches are short, they'll be quick and easy to dash off. In fact, it can be much harder to come up with 140-character pitches for your book than longer ones. You'll usually want to come up with a number of different pitches, too, since Twitter doesn't allow you to tweet the same thing twice (and you'll want to try out different angles to see which ones get more bites).
Here are some good resources to help you write your pitches:
Dan Koboldt's Brief Guide to Twitter Pitching
Literary agent Carly Watters' Guide to Twitter Pitch Contests
How to Win a Twitter Pitch Contest from Writer Unboxed
2. Follow the rules.
Each Twitter pitch contest is hosted by someone, and they'll have a post up with the rules for that particular contest. This is where you'll find out things like how many pitches you can do total, how often you can pitch, and what types of manuscripts are included in the contest.
Don't be the jerk who thinks they're above the rules. People who pitch too often get noticed by contest organizers and industry professionals—and not in a good way.
3. Use the hashtag(s).
Every Twitter pitch contest will have a unique hashtag that marks the pitches as part of the contest. These will generally be short to give you as much room for your actual pitch as possible. Some examples include #pitmad (Pitch Madness), #WVTP (Writer's Voice Twitter Pitch), and #DVPit (Diverse Pitch, designed to showcase work that's about and/or by marginalized voices).
You can also use additional hashtags, like #YA for young adult, #SF for sci-fi, #R for romance, etc. These can help agents and editors filter the contest feed. Don't get carried away, though—you need to leave room for the specifics of your pitch.
4. Support others.
One of the best things about these kind of contests is finding pitches that sound intriguing and connecting with other writers. If you see pitches you like, most contests allow retweeting or quoting those pitches to increase their visibility. An important note: don't favorite pitches you like, because this is normally the way agents and editors indicate their interest. It's a terrible letdown to see that favorite notification and then realize it's just a fellow contest participant.
5. Do your homework.
You're not under any obligation to submit your work to anyone who favorites your pitch. Take the time to research agents and editors who request. If you see red flags, trust your gut.
6. Don't take it too seriously.
Twitter contests can be a lot of fun, but they're just one more way to get eyes on your pitch. Even if you don't get requests, you can still query the agents who participated in the contest. It's often a lot easier to hook someone's interest with a full query than a one or two line pitch.
Twitter pitching can seem intimidating at first. Once you get the hang of it, though, it can fun and beneficial—just ask the writers who've signed with agents or publishers thanks to a well-crafted tweet.
Here are six basic rules for Twitter contests.
1. Take the time to craft your pitches.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because the pitches are short, they'll be quick and easy to dash off. In fact, it can be much harder to come up with 140-character pitches for your book than longer ones. You'll usually want to come up with a number of different pitches, too, since Twitter doesn't allow you to tweet the same thing twice (and you'll want to try out different angles to see which ones get more bites).
Here are some good resources to help you write your pitches:
Dan Koboldt's Brief Guide to Twitter Pitching
Literary agent Carly Watters' Guide to Twitter Pitch Contests
How to Win a Twitter Pitch Contest from Writer Unboxed
2. Follow the rules.
Each Twitter pitch contest is hosted by someone, and they'll have a post up with the rules for that particular contest. This is where you'll find out things like how many pitches you can do total, how often you can pitch, and what types of manuscripts are included in the contest.
Don't be the jerk who thinks they're above the rules. People who pitch too often get noticed by contest organizers and industry professionals—and not in a good way.
3. Use the hashtag(s).
Every Twitter pitch contest will have a unique hashtag that marks the pitches as part of the contest. These will generally be short to give you as much room for your actual pitch as possible. Some examples include #pitmad (Pitch Madness), #WVTP (Writer's Voice Twitter Pitch), and #DVPit (Diverse Pitch, designed to showcase work that's about and/or by marginalized voices).
You can also use additional hashtags, like #YA for young adult, #SF for sci-fi, #R for romance, etc. These can help agents and editors filter the contest feed. Don't get carried away, though—you need to leave room for the specifics of your pitch.
4. Support others.
One of the best things about these kind of contests is finding pitches that sound intriguing and connecting with other writers. If you see pitches you like, most contests allow retweeting or quoting those pitches to increase their visibility. An important note: don't favorite pitches you like, because this is normally the way agents and editors indicate their interest. It's a terrible letdown to see that favorite notification and then realize it's just a fellow contest participant.
5. Do your homework.
You're not under any obligation to submit your work to anyone who favorites your pitch. Take the time to research agents and editors who request. If you see red flags, trust your gut.
6. Don't take it too seriously.
Twitter contests can be a lot of fun, but they're just one more way to get eyes on your pitch. Even if you don't get requests, you can still query the agents who participated in the contest. It's often a lot easier to hook someone's interest with a full query than a one or two line pitch.
Monday, September 26, 2016
Writer Tip: Don't Be an %&# on Social Media
There's a big but, though. It's important to keep in mind that there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed on social media. For one thing, a steady stream of nothing but self promotion often comes off as desperate. It's better to have real conversations and share content from others far more than you promote your own work.
This week, VOYA magazine (a journal of YA literature) provided a stunningly terrible example of something else to avoid on social media. There's a more extensive summary of the whole garbage fire here on SorryWatch, but the general gist of it is that VOYA published a review with an offensive line in it. When the issue was (politely) pointed out, the person handling VOYA's social media responded with an escalating series of defensive, angry posts. Instead of handling the situation quickly and responsibly, they drew more and more attention to themselves and their mistake.
It's generally not hard to avoid offensive speech or language on social media, but there's always the chance that you might inadvertently upset a person or group. If this happens, the correct thing to do is always to apologize—immediately and sincerely. Listen to what people tell you. Learn from your mistakes.
While it's completely acceptable (and encouraged!) to be yourself and express your opinions on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and the like, make sure it's your best self you're putting forward.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Tweets Heard Round The World: What You Tweet Can Haunt You
If you have not read the New York Times article "How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco's Life" I suggest you click the link and check it out now. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Now take a deep breath and think about the last thing you tweeted, posted or blogged about. Could something like this happen to you? What would happen if your Twitter fans read your Facebook posts? Saw those pictures of you from that party?
We all know by now that we should be careful what we tweet, but the article provides a good reminder about the speed at which a single tweet can make its way around the web. More than that, it's important to remember that all of your social media interactions are public. No matter how selective you are about accepting Facebook friend requests or how few followers you have on Twitter, people can still screen shot, share and retweet all of the things you put out into the world. Which means you're always one retweet away from going viral.
I use different social media platforms for different things: Facebook and Instagram for friends and family, Twitter and Blogger for author/writing connections, and LinkedIn for my day job and alumni networks. The topics I tweet about are completely different from the things I post on Facebook. But what's to stop that old friend from high school I haven't talked to in ten years from turning my funny Facebook post into a tweet, or sharing it with her Facebook friends I've never met? Nothing. Nothing at all. Which is why I have to ask myself how I would feel if that Facebook post landed on Twitter or LinkedIn before I put it out into the world.
This is even more important because I am about to be a published children's book author. Yes, I'm entitled to have social media conversations with my adult friends, post funny jokes and share pictures from parties, but I have to remember that the information can be accessed by my younger readers as well. Even if I think the platform I'm using is private, I need to be mindful of the entire potential audience, not just the intended audience.
So consider this my PSA: think before you share things online, and remember that everything - no matter how private you think it is - can go viral if posted.
How do you think about your public vs. personal personas on social media?
How do you think about your public vs. personal personas on social media?
Monday, February 9, 2015
Do You Need a Break from Social Media?
I'm going to start out by saying this: our modern social media outlets are awesome. I've met some of my closest friends through them, and I can't even count the number of times I've been feeling down about my writing and gotten much-needed support through social media. I even wrote about my love of Twitter for writers a while back.
However.
I also firmly believe it's important to take regular breaks from social media. For one thing, you won't get any writing done if you're spending all your time chatting about TV shows and news articles with your buddies. It's also easy to get discouraged and feel like you don't measure up if you're exposed to a constant stream of everyone else's greatest hits. And like many corners of the internet, the anonymity can sometimes bring out the worst in people.
Wondering if this applies to you? Obviously, if your social media time is interfering with your writing, it's a good idea to step back. This Huffington Post article lists some other signs (and includes some tips on how to accomplish the break).
Author Janice Hardy also has a good post here that explains why you should stop stressing and give yourself a pass to take it easy.
I've been on something of an enforced social media break since my son was born seven months ago. Now I'm feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into more active participation. But I'm going to keep an eye out for signs that I need a social-media time out.
However.
I also firmly believe it's important to take regular breaks from social media. For one thing, you won't get any writing done if you're spending all your time chatting about TV shows and news articles with your buddies. It's also easy to get discouraged and feel like you don't measure up if you're exposed to a constant stream of everyone else's greatest hits. And like many corners of the internet, the anonymity can sometimes bring out the worst in people.
Author Janice Hardy also has a good post here that explains why you should stop stressing and give yourself a pass to take it easy.
I've been on something of an enforced social media break since my son was born seven months ago. Now I'm feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into more active participation. But I'm going to keep an eye out for signs that I need a social-media time out.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Be Mindful of Your Social Media
You may have seen the story last week about the bestselling author who threw a public fit on Twitter after she didn't make it onto an end-of-year "Best Of" list. (I recommend skipping the comments section on that article, by the way!)
After reading reactions to this author's behavior, both from authors and non-authors, I have some mixed feelings. First of all, I think those end-of-year lists can have much more impact on a book's popularity and sales than the article linked above says they do. But I also don't think this justifies the author's behavior. While she later backed down and said "For better or worse (and certainly worse today), I made the foolish mistake of venting in public about my disappointment," her rant is preserved on the internet for anyone to see.
Only time will tell if the outburst loses this author readers, but either way it's a good reminder of the fact teachers and parents attempt to drill into the heads of young people: what you put on social media can stick around for a long, long time. Your Facebook status updates, tweets, and blog posts will likely be floating around in one form or another ten years from now. Personally, I'm taking this as a reminder to be mindful of the impression I want to project to my future readers.
Has an author's social media persona ever turned you off (or conversely, made you want to pick up their books)?
After reading reactions to this author's behavior, both from authors and non-authors, I have some mixed feelings. First of all, I think those end-of-year lists can have much more impact on a book's popularity and sales than the article linked above says they do. But I also don't think this justifies the author's behavior. While she later backed down and said "For better or worse (and certainly worse today), I made the foolish mistake of venting in public about my disappointment," her rant is preserved on the internet for anyone to see.
Only time will tell if the outburst loses this author readers, but either way it's a good reminder of the fact teachers and parents attempt to drill into the heads of young people: what you put on social media can stick around for a long, long time. Your Facebook status updates, tweets, and blog posts will likely be floating around in one form or another ten years from now. Personally, I'm taking this as a reminder to be mindful of the impression I want to project to my future readers.
Has an author's social media persona ever turned you off (or conversely, made you want to pick up their books)?
Monday, November 24, 2014
Don't Sweat the Social Media
I had a great time at the Western PA SCBWI conference a few weeks ago. I signed up for four different informative sessions with editors and agents. My favorite of the four ended up being the one I was least sure about signing up for beforehand: Social Media for Writers.
I'm fairly active on Twitter (@trionabmurphy if you want to say hi!), I contribute to this blog, and I use Facebook to stay connected to friends and family. I'm social-media savvy, right? But little things sometimes crop up that make me doubt myself. Should I be vlogging in addition to blogging? I don't have a Facebook author page—but I'm not published yet so I don't need one, right? Is it a bad thing that I'm ignoring all those "X added you to their circle on Google+" notifications that I keep getting? What about LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram?
The social media session (hosted by the very smart and funny Tricia Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency) calmed me down. Ms. Lawrence's advice was to pick social media platforms that are comfortable for you to use and focus on those. Don't worry about being everywhere, because that will only cause you to spread yourself too thin and leave you with no time for the one thing you should be doing—namely writing. You won't drive yourself crazy trying to do everything. You might even have fun.
While a social media presence definitely makes you more visible to potential readers, the truth is that there's very little evidence that a big social media following translates directly into sales. So if social media's not your thing at all, don't worry. If you write good books, readers will find them. You might want to dip your toe into a platform or two for other reasons, though. (See this Twitter for Writers post for a few of them.)
My takeaway from the session? I'm going to keep blogging and tweeting, and I'm not going to worry so much about the other social media platforms. I'll take the time I would have spent on those and use it for getting those words on the page.
Do you have a favorite social media platform? How do you use it?
The social media session (hosted by the very smart and funny Tricia Lawrence of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency) calmed me down. Ms. Lawrence's advice was to pick social media platforms that are comfortable for you to use and focus on those. Don't worry about being everywhere, because that will only cause you to spread yourself too thin and leave you with no time for the one thing you should be doing—namely writing. You won't drive yourself crazy trying to do everything. You might even have fun.
While a social media presence definitely makes you more visible to potential readers, the truth is that there's very little evidence that a big social media following translates directly into sales. So if social media's not your thing at all, don't worry. If you write good books, readers will find them. You might want to dip your toe into a platform or two for other reasons, though. (See this Twitter for Writers post for a few of them.)
My takeaway from the session? I'm going to keep blogging and tweeting, and I'm not going to worry so much about the other social media platforms. I'll take the time I would have spent on those and use it for getting those words on the page.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Writer's Resource: Twitter Pitch Contests
But did you know that you can regularly find pitch contests on Twitter, where agents and/or editors peruse a certain hashtag at a certain time to find material they'd like to request?
One of the big Twitter pitch contests, the one affiliated with the blog contest Pitch Madness, is coming up next week on March 25th. If you're interested in participating, the details are on the contest organizer Brenda Drake's blog here (scroll down to find the section about the Twitter contest).
I've personally participated in three Twitter pitch contests, and I received several agent and editor requests to see my partial or full manuscript. Even better, I connected with like-minded writers when they complimented my pitch, or when I saw one that looked similar to mine and complimented theirs. I got a great critique partner that way!
Of course, a Twitter contest means that the entries have to be formatted so they're under the 140-character limit for a tweet. If the very idea has you screaming in terror, this post might be helpful: Writing a Short Pitch.
Twitter contests are often associated with blog contests like Pitch Madness. Follow writers like Brenda Drake (@brendadrake) or read threads like this one on the Absolute Write forums to find more!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Writer's Resource: #MSWL, Agent and Editor Wish List
If you're writing a novel or nonfiction book and hoping to get it traditionally published, there's a good chance you'll be submitting it to agents and/or publishers. It's important to be selective when putting together your list; sending a query for a YA sci-fi novel to an agent who only represents adult literary fiction, for example, only wastes their time and yours.
Today, we have the advantage of agency and publisher websites that often give an idea of what they're seeking. There are also sites that compile this type of information such as Literary Rambles. But wouldn't it be great to get even more current and specific information about what agents and editors wish they were seeing in their slush piles?
Enter the Agent and Editor Wish List.
An active Twitter user had the bright idea of a manuscript wish list for agents and editors. Using the hashtag #MSWL, agents and editors can tweet a short description of the manuscripts they wish they were seeing. Searching this hashtag on Twitter will bring up months of these tweets (and a few other people trying to capitalize on the popularity of the hashtag--as with anything on Twitter, make sure to check the source of the tweet).
Not a Twitter user? Or maybe sorting through all those tweets seems too overwhelming? Don't worry. Some extremely helpful person started the Agent and Editor Wish List Tumblr to collect these tweets in a user-friendly, searchable format. You can click on the keywords in any post to bring up all of those entries. For example, you can search for YA, urban fantasy, or romance.
Make sure to check out the Tumblr's excellent FAQ page before sending a query to any of the agents or editors you find.
Happy querying!
Enter the Agent and Editor Wish List.
An active Twitter user had the bright idea of a manuscript wish list for agents and editors. Using the hashtag #MSWL, agents and editors can tweet a short description of the manuscripts they wish they were seeing. Searching this hashtag on Twitter will bring up months of these tweets (and a few other people trying to capitalize on the popularity of the hashtag--as with anything on Twitter, make sure to check the source of the tweet).
Not a Twitter user? Or maybe sorting through all those tweets seems too overwhelming? Don't worry. Some extremely helpful person started the Agent and Editor Wish List Tumblr to collect these tweets in a user-friendly, searchable format. You can click on the keywords in any post to bring up all of those entries. For example, you can search for YA, urban fantasy, or romance.
Make sure to check out the Tumblr's excellent FAQ page before sending a query to any of the agents or editors you find.
Happy querying!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
How I Got My Agent!
I am so, so, so excited to announce that I'm now represented by Jennifer Azantian of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency!
I've always found "how I got my agent" posts to be very motivating--so in the hope that others might feel the same way, here's mine. (Fair warning: it's long!)
THE LONG-TIMERS is the third novel I queried. I started writing seriously in 2010 and banged out what I thought was a pretty decent YA paranormal novel by the end of the year. I sent off a whole bunch of email queries (75 or 80, maybe? I remember it was a lot!), to pretty much anyone who represented the genre. This shotgun approach resulted in a handful of requests to read fulls and partials, and while every single one ended in a polite form rejection, it was enough to convince me I wasn't completely nuts.
Figuring I'd probably do better with another genre, one that wasn't quite so saturated, I decided to try writing a MG sci-fi novel next. As with my first manuscript, I got a handful of partial and full requests, but each one ended with a polite rejection.
But around this time, I lucked into my first real critique partner (hi Laura!). We met through our husbands and discovered we both wrote YA, so we decided to meet once a week and work through our previously completed manuscripts, critiquing a chapter a week.
Holy crap. Seriously, if you've never had a real CP, one who's also a writer, one who's willing to dig into your work and discuss it with you for hours, you NEED ONE. My writing improved immensely after just a few months of weekly meetings.
In late 2011, I figured I'd try my hand at another YA manuscript. I'd just finished the first draft of THE LONG-TIMERS when I stumbled across an agent's blog post promoting the 2012 Big Sur Writing Workshop--which was only a six hour drive away from where I was living at the time. The idea of going to an actual writing conference terrified me, to be honest. I wouldn't know anyone there. I'd never had more than one person actually critique my work. I'd have to meet (and talk to!) live agents. But somehow I screwed up my nerve and signed up. And I'm so glad I did! The conference was amazing. Not only did I meet my future Thinking to Inking co-bloggers there, but I also had actual conversations with several agents and got amazing feedback from editors and fellow attendees.
Just as I was finishing up the revisions from the conference and getting ready to start querying, I found out about a Twitter pitch party and signed up for an account. Suddenly (seriously, I still can't believe how fast this happened), I was a member of a thriving, awesome, incredibly supportive Twitter writing community.
I started querying THE LONG-TIMERS in June of 2012. This time, I was determined to query in small batches. This turned out to be really smart, because I got some tremendously helpful feedback early on which helped me make the manuscript much stronger. While I was waiting for responses, I entered contests--and to my surprise and delight, I started getting lots of requests! One of these was the Gearing Up to Get An Agent (GUTGAA) blogfest pitch contest, hosted by the lovely Deana Barnhart. I was thrilled when I made it to the agent round of the contest and even more thrilled when I got multiple agent requests to read partials--one of them from Jennifer.
I had over three times more requests to read material for THE LONG-TIMERS than my previous two manuscripts combined, but then the rejections started to roll in. Most of them were personalized--a big change from my first query attempts--and they were incredibly nice (I'm convinced literary agents are some of the nicest people on earth). But almost every rejection said the same thing: I really like these specific parts, but I'm not connecting with the whole thing/don't love it enough to represent it.
Well. As you can imagine, I felt a little discouraged. At the end of November, Jennifer emailed me to say she had loved the first fifty pages of the manuscript and wanted to read more, but I told myself not to get my hopes up. She probably would be another in the string of agents who liked it, but didn't like it enough.
So when I got Jennifer's email telling me she loved it, I just about fell off my chair. When she called me to offer representation, I was bowled over by her passion and excitement for the manuscript. I am beyond thrilled to be working with her and so happy that I finally found the exact right advocate for my work.
The moral of this particular story: get yourself out there! If I hadn't gotten together with critique partners, gone to conferences, and hooked up with a larger writing community, there's no way I'd be writing this post today.
I am incredibly grateful to the friends who helped me get to this point: my wonderful first CP Laura; Jenn, Stacy, and Lauren (seriously the nicest co-bloggers/critique partners I could ask for); Erin and Andrew for the great critique notes; Dee and Summer for being amazing and awesome and incredibly supportive; and my husband Gavin, who's stuck by me through all this craziness and makes everything possible. I love all of you guys!
Stats (because I know I always like to see them, heh):
Queries sent: 55
Rejections: 31
No-response: 13
Partial requests: 14 (9 from contests, 3 from queries, 2 from in-person pitches)
Full requests: 15 (8 from queries, 3 from contests, 4 upgraded from partials)
I've always found "how I got my agent" posts to be very motivating--so in the hope that others might feel the same way, here's mine. (Fair warning: it's long!)
THE LONG-TIMERS is the third novel I queried. I started writing seriously in 2010 and banged out what I thought was a pretty decent YA paranormal novel by the end of the year. I sent off a whole bunch of email queries (75 or 80, maybe? I remember it was a lot!), to pretty much anyone who represented the genre. This shotgun approach resulted in a handful of requests to read fulls and partials, and while every single one ended in a polite form rejection, it was enough to convince me I wasn't completely nuts.
Figuring I'd probably do better with another genre, one that wasn't quite so saturated, I decided to try writing a MG sci-fi novel next. As with my first manuscript, I got a handful of partial and full requests, but each one ended with a polite rejection.
But around this time, I lucked into my first real critique partner (hi Laura!). We met through our husbands and discovered we both wrote YA, so we decided to meet once a week and work through our previously completed manuscripts, critiquing a chapter a week.
Holy crap. Seriously, if you've never had a real CP, one who's also a writer, one who's willing to dig into your work and discuss it with you for hours, you NEED ONE. My writing improved immensely after just a few months of weekly meetings.
In late 2011, I figured I'd try my hand at another YA manuscript. I'd just finished the first draft of THE LONG-TIMERS when I stumbled across an agent's blog post promoting the 2012 Big Sur Writing Workshop--which was only a six hour drive away from where I was living at the time. The idea of going to an actual writing conference terrified me, to be honest. I wouldn't know anyone there. I'd never had more than one person actually critique my work. I'd have to meet (and talk to!) live agents. But somehow I screwed up my nerve and signed up. And I'm so glad I did! The conference was amazing. Not only did I meet my future Thinking to Inking co-bloggers there, but I also had actual conversations with several agents and got amazing feedback from editors and fellow attendees.
Just as I was finishing up the revisions from the conference and getting ready to start querying, I found out about a Twitter pitch party and signed up for an account. Suddenly (seriously, I still can't believe how fast this happened), I was a member of a thriving, awesome, incredibly supportive Twitter writing community.
I started querying THE LONG-TIMERS in June of 2012. This time, I was determined to query in small batches. This turned out to be really smart, because I got some tremendously helpful feedback early on which helped me make the manuscript much stronger. While I was waiting for responses, I entered contests--and to my surprise and delight, I started getting lots of requests! One of these was the Gearing Up to Get An Agent (GUTGAA) blogfest pitch contest, hosted by the lovely Deana Barnhart. I was thrilled when I made it to the agent round of the contest and even more thrilled when I got multiple agent requests to read partials--one of them from Jennifer.
I had over three times more requests to read material for THE LONG-TIMERS than my previous two manuscripts combined, but then the rejections started to roll in. Most of them were personalized--a big change from my first query attempts--and they were incredibly nice (I'm convinced literary agents are some of the nicest people on earth). But almost every rejection said the same thing: I really like these specific parts, but I'm not connecting with the whole thing/don't love it enough to represent it.
Well. As you can imagine, I felt a little discouraged. At the end of November, Jennifer emailed me to say she had loved the first fifty pages of the manuscript and wanted to read more, but I told myself not to get my hopes up. She probably would be another in the string of agents who liked it, but didn't like it enough.
So when I got Jennifer's email telling me she loved it, I just about fell off my chair. When she called me to offer representation, I was bowled over by her passion and excitement for the manuscript. I am beyond thrilled to be working with her and so happy that I finally found the exact right advocate for my work.
The moral of this particular story: get yourself out there! If I hadn't gotten together with critique partners, gone to conferences, and hooked up with a larger writing community, there's no way I'd be writing this post today.
I am incredibly grateful to the friends who helped me get to this point: my wonderful first CP Laura; Jenn, Stacy, and Lauren (seriously the nicest co-bloggers/critique partners I could ask for); Erin and Andrew for the great critique notes; Dee and Summer for being amazing and awesome and incredibly supportive; and my husband Gavin, who's stuck by me through all this craziness and makes everything possible. I love all of you guys!
Stats (because I know I always like to see them, heh):
Queries sent: 55
Rejections: 31
No-response: 13
Partial requests: 14 (9 from contests, 3 from queries, 2 from in-person pitches)
Full requests: 15 (8 from queries, 3 from contests, 4 upgraded from partials)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Writer's Resource: Search Twitter for Relevant Information
Hello out there! This is our first Writer's Resource post in a while, but it's a good one.
I talked about how useful Twitter can be in a previous post (Twitter-ific: Twitter for Writers), but did you know you can also use it as a tool to find specific information?
I learned about this method from one of the Literary Rambles website's brilliant Tip Tuesday posts.
You can use Google to search through an agent's posts to see if they've said anything recently that might be relevant to you or your manuscript (such as "Even though my website says I like contemporary, I'm not the right agent for contemporary romance" or "You can send me queries, but I'm really not looking for new clients right now"--both statuses I've actually seen!). Often you'll find much more up-to-date information via Twitter than on an agency website or blog.
Here's how it works: in the Google search bar, type site:twitter.com/[twitter user name, without the @ sign]. Then type your search term.
Here's an example. Let's say I wanted to find out what Janet Reid (one of my favorite Twitter agents!) has been saying about mystery novels recently. I would type the following:
This takes me to a list of her recent comments on Twitter that include the word mystery.
I talked about how useful Twitter can be in a previous post (Twitter-ific: Twitter for Writers), but did you know you can also use it as a tool to find specific information?
You can use Google to search through an agent's posts to see if they've said anything recently that might be relevant to you or your manuscript (such as "Even though my website says I like contemporary, I'm not the right agent for contemporary romance" or "You can send me queries, but I'm really not looking for new clients right now"--both statuses I've actually seen!). Often you'll find much more up-to-date information via Twitter than on an agency website or blog.
Here's how it works: in the Google search bar, type site:twitter.com/[twitter user name, without the @ sign]. Then type your search term.
Here's an example. Let's say I wanted to find out what Janet Reid (one of my favorite Twitter agents!) has been saying about mystery novels recently. I would type the following:
This takes me to a list of her recent comments on Twitter that include the word mystery.
Pretty cool, huh?
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Twitter-ific: Twitter for Writers
Once upon a time, I kind of looked down on people who were obsessed with Twitter. Guess they don't have anything better to do than tell a bunch of people what they're eating for breakfast, was generally how my thought process went.
Then I joined Twitter to participate in an agent contest, about three months ago.
Ahem. 1900 tweets later, I would like to sincerely apologize for those uncharitable thoughts. I get it now.
The thing no one told me: how many writers were on Twitter. How many talented, hilarious, kind, and - above all - supportive writers. I now am an active member of a large group of awesome people. We cheer the good news and boo the bad news together.
I had a very rejection-filled day a few weeks ago and was feeling pretty low.
I tweeted about it - nothing too hopeless, just something like, "Why do all the rejections have to come at once?" Within minutes, I had a dozen replies from other writers, some who are right there in the query trenches with me and could completely relate, some who have agents and book deals and just wanted to tell me to hang in there, it gets better. It was the best pick-me-up I could have imagined.
Beyond the support system, Twitter is also an excellent source of valuable information for writers at any stage of the process. I follow many agents and editors who are founts of tips and inside scoops on what they're looking for (and what they're rejecting). Even if a Twitter newbie didn't feel comfortable putting out tweets of their own, there's a whole lot to be learned just by following a bunch of reputable agents and editors and doing some "listening."
My advice to new writers who want to be Twitter-ers (I'm still not totally hep to the lingo, obviously!) is to first follow as many industry-professionals as you can. They usually list their Twitter handles on their blogs or websites.
Then keep an eye out for Twitter contests. Even if you don't participate, it's a great way to find other writers who are at the same stage of the process as you. One of my best Twitter friends (now a real-life friend who I met up with at a recent conference!) made the first contact by telling me she loved my contest entry. I've now done the same thing to others several times.
So if you're an aspiring writer and have been wondering if Twitter can help you: the answer is yes. Try it out and see if you like it!
And for the record: I'm @trionabmurphy if you want to say hi.
Then I joined Twitter to participate in an agent contest, about three months ago.
Ahem. 1900 tweets later, I would like to sincerely apologize for those uncharitable thoughts. I get it now.
The thing no one told me: how many writers were on Twitter. How many talented, hilarious, kind, and - above all - supportive writers. I now am an active member of a large group of awesome people. We cheer the good news and boo the bad news together.
I had a very rejection-filled day a few weeks ago and was feeling pretty low.
 |
| This was me. |
I tweeted about it - nothing too hopeless, just something like, "Why do all the rejections have to come at once?" Within minutes, I had a dozen replies from other writers, some who are right there in the query trenches with me and could completely relate, some who have agents and book deals and just wanted to tell me to hang in there, it gets better. It was the best pick-me-up I could have imagined.
Beyond the support system, Twitter is also an excellent source of valuable information for writers at any stage of the process. I follow many agents and editors who are founts of tips and inside scoops on what they're looking for (and what they're rejecting). Even if a Twitter newbie didn't feel comfortable putting out tweets of their own, there's a whole lot to be learned just by following a bunch of reputable agents and editors and doing some "listening."
Then keep an eye out for Twitter contests. Even if you don't participate, it's a great way to find other writers who are at the same stage of the process as you. One of my best Twitter friends (now a real-life friend who I met up with at a recent conference!) made the first contact by telling me she loved my contest entry. I've now done the same thing to others several times.
So if you're an aspiring writer and have been wondering if Twitter can help you: the answer is yes. Try it out and see if you like it!
And for the record: I'm @trionabmurphy if you want to say hi.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Writing a Short Pitch
I'm currently in the middle of querying my third novel, and this time I'm doing it right--sending out queries in small batches, waiting for responses, and tweaking my query and pages based on the feedback I receive. But as I'm sure Tom Petty would agree, the waiting is the hardest part.
One of the things that helps pass the time is entering writing contests. These are a recent discovery of mine. Fabulous people in the online writing community generously donate their time to run contests on their websites, blogs, or even Twitter.
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I've participated in four contests over the past month and have gotten several requests from agents to see partial or full manuscripts, which is super-exciting (and helps ease the pain of waiting for query responses!).
A lot of my waiting time has been taken up with putting together pitches that fit the guidelines of each contest. I thought it might be fun to take a look at a few of them.
Long Pitch:
Remy Bardin’s parents invented a drug that extends human life by two hundred years—as long as you can pay the Company for those daily pills. Society has fragmented into the long-timers who live in constant fear of losing everything, and the short-timers who would do anything for a few extra years.
Remy isn’t worried—he’ll have a guaranteed supply of the drug when he comes of age next year. But his perfect life dissolves when an old man who threatens to expose his father’s secrets winds up dead. Remy can’t help but wonder what his parents had to do with the old man’s death, and what secrets they could be trying to protect.
After breaking into their lab in the heavily-guarded Company stronghold, he finds out things that make him question the morality of his existence… and he must decide if a few hundred years can possibly be worth the price.
I've gotten a decent request rate on my queries, so I know this pitch isn't too bad, but way too long for most pitch contests.
Three Sentence Pitch:
Remy Bardin's parents invented a drug that extends human life by two hundred years, which is why society has fragmented into the long-timers who can afford the pills and the short-timers who would do anything for a few extra years.
Seventeen-year-old Remy's got a guaranteed lifetime supply of the drug, but his perfect world falls apart when an old man threatens to expose his father's secrets and then is murdered.
After breaking into his parents' lab, Remy finds out the horrible truth behind the drug... and he must decide if a few hundred years can possibly be worth the price.
I took out a few details from the first paragraph and combined two sentences into one. Not too bad.
The second paragraph was harder--I spent a good long while trying to figure out how to get all the details into one sentence. I had to cut the part about Remy wondering what secrets his parents are keeping, but I felt like it was at least implied by the shorter sentence.
The last paragraph was technically only one sentence already, but I felt like it was a bit long for a short pitch contest, so I tightened it up.
I must have done something right, because this pitch won me a blog contest and a full manuscript request from an awesome agent at a top agency!
When a privileged teenage boy learns the horrific truth behind a miracle drug that prolongs the life of the rich, he must try to bring down the all-powerful Company from the inside.
Here's where it starts to get reeeallly tricky. Distilling the whole plot of a book down into a few paragraphs is hard enough--but when we're talking one sentence, it seems impossible.
What worked for me was to really think about the core of the story--what did I say when someone asked me what my novel was about? I wrote a line or two off the top of my head to answer that question.
A teenage boy learns the horrific secret behind a life-extending drug and must try to bring down his parents' company from the inside.
And you thought the last one was bad... this pitch, for a Twitter contest, had to be no more than 135 characters long (Twitter allows 140 characters, but 5 were needed for the contest's hashtag-identifier).
I started with my one sentence pitch and started cutting. But even after I got rid of all the extra words, I still had too many characters. Then it was time to look at shorter ways to say the same thing. "A miracle drug that prolongs the life of the rich" became "a life-extending drug". "The all-powerful Company" became "his parents' company", because I saved 4 characters!
This pitch also got me a request for material. Despite its length, I think I spent just as long on it as any of the others.
One of the things that helps pass the time is entering writing contests. These are a recent discovery of mine. Fabulous people in the online writing community generously donate their time to run contests on their websites, blogs, or even Twitter.
.jpg)
I've participated in four contests over the past month and have gotten several requests from agents to see partial or full manuscripts, which is super-exciting (and helps ease the pain of waiting for query responses!).
A lot of my waiting time has been taken up with putting together pitches that fit the guidelines of each contest. I thought it might be fun to take a look at a few of them.
My comments on each pitch are in blue.
First, for comparative purposes, here's my long pitch (the one that goes in my query letter).
First, for comparative purposes, here's my long pitch (the one that goes in my query letter).
Long Pitch:
Remy Bardin’s parents invented a drug that extends human life by two hundred years—as long as you can pay the Company for those daily pills. Society has fragmented into the long-timers who live in constant fear of losing everything, and the short-timers who would do anything for a few extra years.
Remy isn’t worried—he’ll have a guaranteed supply of the drug when he comes of age next year. But his perfect life dissolves when an old man who threatens to expose his father’s secrets winds up dead. Remy can’t help but wonder what his parents had to do with the old man’s death, and what secrets they could be trying to protect.
After breaking into their lab in the heavily-guarded Company stronghold, he finds out things that make him question the morality of his existence… and he must decide if a few hundred years can possibly be worth the price.
I've gotten a decent request rate on my queries, so I know this pitch isn't too bad, but way too long for most pitch contests.
Three Sentence Pitch:
Remy Bardin's parents invented a drug that extends human life by two hundred years, which is why society has fragmented into the long-timers who can afford the pills and the short-timers who would do anything for a few extra years.
Seventeen-year-old Remy's got a guaranteed lifetime supply of the drug, but his perfect world falls apart when an old man threatens to expose his father's secrets and then is murdered.
After breaking into his parents' lab, Remy finds out the horrible truth behind the drug... and he must decide if a few hundred years can possibly be worth the price.
I took out a few details from the first paragraph and combined two sentences into one. Not too bad.
The second paragraph was harder--I spent a good long while trying to figure out how to get all the details into one sentence. I had to cut the part about Remy wondering what secrets his parents are keeping, but I felt like it was at least implied by the shorter sentence.
The last paragraph was technically only one sentence already, but I felt like it was a bit long for a short pitch contest, so I tightened it up.
I must have done something right, because this pitch won me a blog contest and a full manuscript request from an awesome agent at a top agency!
One Sentence Pitch:
When a privileged teenage boy learns the horrific truth behind a miracle drug that prolongs the life of the rich, he must try to bring down the all-powerful Company from the inside.
Here's where it starts to get reeeallly tricky. Distilling the whole plot of a book down into a few paragraphs is hard enough--but when we're talking one sentence, it seems impossible.
What worked for me was to really think about the core of the story--what did I say when someone asked me what my novel was about? I wrote a line or two off the top of my head to answer that question.
Then I started looking at the individual words. In a pitch this short, every word counts. At first, it said "a spoiled teenage boy", but then I thought about the exact concept I wanted to get across and changed it to "privileged"--which really is a better representation of the character's background (and bonus: a less generic word).
Twitter Pitch:
Twitter Pitch:
A teenage boy learns the horrific secret behind a life-extending drug and must try to bring down his parents' company from the inside.
And you thought the last one was bad... this pitch, for a Twitter contest, had to be no more than 135 characters long (Twitter allows 140 characters, but 5 were needed for the contest's hashtag-identifier).
I started with my one sentence pitch and started cutting. But even after I got rid of all the extra words, I still had too many characters. Then it was time to look at shorter ways to say the same thing. "A miracle drug that prolongs the life of the rich" became "a life-extending drug". "The all-powerful Company" became "his parents' company", because I saved 4 characters!
This pitch also got me a request for material. Despite its length, I think I spent just as long on it as any of the others.
Have you had to work up short pitches for your manuscripts? Do you find them easy or difficult?
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