Managing Expectations

It’s not easy to be an author. In addition to all the writing and rewriting we discuss on this blog, there is a whole separate world that a lot of people downplay – acclimating to the publishing business. I’m not talking about getting an agent, or working with your editor, I’m talking about being a published author and having to manage expectations about what that means.

Here are some things new authors might think will happen as soon as they sell their first book:

• They’ll get a big marketing and publicity plan from their publisher
• Every bookstore will carry their book, and will carry it indefinitely
• The phone will start ringing with offers of school visits and paid speaking gigs
• Big media will review the book and ask for interviews
• The book will win awards and get a lot of buzz online
• People will have heard of your book, or you

In reality, these things happen to very few debut authors. Thousands of children’s and teen books are published every year, and publishers have to promote sometimes forty or more books per age group per season. Yours is not always (or maybe ever) going to be their lead book.

If you aren’t prepared for the reality of being an author, which often means working for many years on several books, slowly building an audience and a name and relationships with booksellers and librarians, and stomaching a lot of disappointments as you watch other new books come out and get more attention than yours, then you need to ask yourself if you really want to be a writer, or if you just want the cache of being published.

My first book has been out for over a year, and I have another coming out in the fall. And I feel just as new and inexperienced in this business as I did when I started graduate school. Sure, I know a lot more now, but the more I learn about how books sell and how authors build a name, the more I realize authors are running a marathon, not a sprint.

And for those that have only warmed up for a sprint, it’s going to be a tough one.

*caroline hickey

A Funny Question

There are so many wonderful conversations you get to have once you’ve sold a book and there are certain questions I could answer a million more times and not get tired of, like people asking how I sold the book. (It’s not some great story but I worked a long time on it and some part of me still can’t believe it was actually bought by a publisher, so retelling that story is always a pleasure.) But here's a question that always puzzles me:

People always ask me if the girl on the cover is me. Maybe it’s because she has reddish hair and I do too, but she is clearly a teen whereas I am on the older side of 35. Plus our faces don’t look alike, though maybe at a glance if you just see the hair and see that she’s tall you could think she’s me? Or maybe people think I handed the design people at Harper a picture of me when I was a teen and asked them to put it on the cover? I guess that's possible but then has that ever happened? It would be cool to see some of my favorite authors as teens, though in my case it would really date the book: when I was the cover girl's age I had a bad perm and wore Flashdance sweatshirts (I'm sorry to have to admit this but there it is). But I really have never heard of an author being on the cover of her book unless it was a memoir or possibly a cookbook.

So now I'm wondering, has there ever been a YA or MG book where the author's photo was used as part of the cover design? And to other authors, do you ever get this question?

#daphne

attention BEA go-ers!

Please stop by the Chronicle Booth (2401, 2501) and check out VUNCE UPON A TIME

it's their featured children's book!

Is It Weird That This Kinda Bums Me Out?

From today's Publisher's Marketplace Deal Report:

Television rights: Ian Falconer's OLIVIA series, to Nickelodeon in association with Chorion.

I liked that sassy Olivia only existed in book form. Oh well.

What do you think?

-=siobhan=-

looky looky!

These amazing teens from Irondequoit Public Library's Teen Advisory Board made this book trailer for Shug. Thanks dudes!!! You guys rock. You are totally inspiring me to do one for my next book. But, I won't have these great actors for it...

Chatting with Adrienne Maria Vrettos!

SIGHT by Adrienne Maria Vrettos is the story of fifteen-year-old Dylan, a nice, friendly teenage girl who is average in every way. Well, except for one thing – she’s psychic! She’s not your every day run-of-the-mill psychic, either. Oh no. Dylan can “see” how people die, especially children. As you can imagine, her gift is more like a burden, as she is often called upon by the police to help in their investigations of missing children, a fact she actively keeps from her group of friends. Because, as a teenager in a small mountain community, Dylan doesn’t want to be different. But that all gets threatened when a new girl moves to town, and a child Dylan knows goes missing.

If you’ve ever wished to be psychic, SIGHT will make you think twice! This book is sooo good. It’s beautifully written with great characters and an exciting ending. And it’s a story that will definitely stay with you for a long time.

Recently, Adrienne was interviewed by two of The Longstockings. Here’s how it went:

DAPHNE: The setting in SIGHT — the town, the landscape, etc. — is such a great presence. It's almost like another character. Was it inspired by a real place?
Totally! It’s inspired by the small mountain town I grew up in, called Lake Arrowhead, in Southern California. I lived there from when I was three until I was twelve. It was an amazing place to live, a forest in the sky. I was so at home in the thick groves of trees in our neighborhood. I would go to visit my ‘tree friends’, and never felt alone when I was in the woods.

I remember there being this tension between the locals and the people we called “flatlanders” or “weekenders” – they were most easily identified by their obnoxious houses and the fact they couldn’t drive over twelve miles an hour on the mountain roads. It was always a little fun to get stuck behind a flatlander when we were in the family station wagon, because then I could groan dramatically about how slow they took the hair-pin turns. Also, flatlanders’ houses were left empty during the week, so a certain YA author may or may not have convinced her older brother and his (curly haired and adorable) best friend to let her tag along on one of their exploring expeditions, which basically meant breaking into an empty house, climbing into the attic, and watching as that curly haired cutie fell through the roof and almost landed on the cleaning lady.

We put the rubble in trouble with that one.


COE: SIGHT is about a psychic girl. What inspired this character? Are you a believer in psychic abilities?
I’m such a believer in psychic abilities that I avoid eye contact with any and all store-front psychics I pass in my Brooklyn neighborhood. I’m terrified of them. They can see the future! Seriously, the thought chills me to be the bone. I don’t WANT to know the future. It’ll get here soon enough.

In 1984 one of the most amazing books in the history of the world was published. It was called The Third Eye, and it was written by Lois Duncan. This book was AWESOME. It was about a psychic girl that [spoiler alert] helped to rescue a bunch of kids kidnapped from a daycare center. I’ve basically been counting down the days since I read that book to when I could write my own book about a psychic girl.


DAPHNE: The narrator in your first (amazing) book, SKIN, is a boy while Dylan in SIGHT is a girl. Did you find it harder to write from either perspective, and what were the differences you noticed writing each?
I actually didn’t really feel a difference at all between the two – though when I was writing Donnie (in SKIN) I didn’t include anything about the physical stuff a 14-year-old boy is going through. I was worried I’d get it wrong and have a zillion letters from boys saying, “Your description of wet dreams was bass ackwards, lady!” When I write, the things I’m drawn to are the things that transcend gender – happiness and fear and crushes that bruise the heart.


COE: What is your writing process? For example, do you outline or dive right in? Do you set daily or weekly writing goals? And where do you do most of your writing?
Because I’m a new mom and work out of the home full time, I don’t have a set writing schedule. My goal for most weeks is to squeeze in several hours of writing time – usually one afternoon a weekend, an evening or two during the week, and the occasional lunch break.

I get itchy if I try to outline before I write – I’m too anxious for the big show to start to spend my time with Roman numerals. I do, however, spend a lot of time imagining before I actually sit down to write a book. This usually means staring out the window on the subway and getting a feel for whatever new story has taken hold in my head. I LOVE this part of the writing process – everything is possibility, and the story is so, so alive. Sometimes it feels that writing a story down is like transplanting a heart – if you rush it, the heart will stop on its way to the page, and what you’ve written will never have the life of what you had imagined.

I write in a couple different places – one of my favorite places is at home on our bed, but only if it’s made. If it’s not made it’s likely to send me into a tale spin guilt-induced cleaning/procrastination. If I’m not writing at home I’m likely at a local coffee shop, drinking vanilla lattes and eating raspberry cake with lemon icing. Oh, and also writing.


COE: Do you have any writing advice you'd like to pass along?
Tell the truth.


DAPHNE: What is your favorite way to procrastinate writing?
Ohmygosh the answer is absolutely playing with my daughter. I will sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider a gazillion times in a row if it means I get to tickle her belly and make her laugh. And, if the baby’s napping when I need a procrastination break, then it’s HGTV all the way. House Hunters (Suzanne Whang!), Divine Design, and my new obsession – Myles of Style.


DAPHNE: What is your favorite book?
Holy cowtail that’s a hard question! I’ll tell you the first book that comes to mind, and that’s Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. That book gives me the happy sighs. Quick on Ramona’s heels are The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Pride and Prejudice, and A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss.


COE: What's the last book you read?
I just read and really enjoyed The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante.


DAPHNE: What's next for you?
I’m finishing my third book THE EXILE OF GIGI LANE, which comes out Spring 2010 (right around the corner!), and then it’s on to new projects that involve amnesia, pirates, and the walking dead.


To find out more about Adrienne, you can check out her beautiful website and LiveJournal.

She even has a MySpace page!

Thanks so much for stopping by, Adrienne!

:-)

--Coe

An interview with agent Stephen Barbara

Today we're lucky enough to have the awesome Stephen Barbara of the Donald Maass Agency stop by for a chat. Stephen is not only my agent (yay!) but he is also an official hottie of publishing (word up). So obviously a well-rounded bundle of radness. Here's what he had to say in response to our questions...

Please talk a little bit about how it is you became an agent. 

I’d love to tell you that ever since the age of three I dreamed of growing up to be a literary agent, but it didn’t quite happen that way. I was an outgoing kid – “outgoing” is the polite term adults use when you’re really pushy and argumentative – and my parents told me I should put that quality to use as a lawyer.

I liked that idea, until, around the age of 15, I developed a voracious book reading habit. I ended up studying English in college, wrote my BA paper on literary criticism (to this day, Edmund Wilson is a hero of mine), and decided that after graduation I would move to New York and enter the publishing fray. And that’s exactly what I did.

I’ve worked brief stints in the magazine and editorial world, but it’s here on the agent-ing side that I’ve found the perfect fit. I’ve been with the Donald Maass Literary Agency since January of 2006 and I love it. I get to read a lot, and no one minds too much if I’m pushy now. The fifteen-year old version of me would be proud.

What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the job?

I think the basic theme of my career so far has been discovering – and launching – debut authors, particularly first novelists. I have established clients, some of whom I took on mid-career, but I haven’t inherited any authors and generally speaking I’ve been less interested in writers coming to me after working with other agents and editors.

My first client ever was your very own Longstocking, the fabulous Lisa Graff (who I met at a reading at the New School), and my most recent signing is NYU MFA student Lauren Oliver, whose teen debut IF I SHOULD FALL I sold to Brenda Bowen at HarperCollins. Between Lisa and Lauren there have been twelve other debut writers I’ve sold to major trade houses – 14 in the 28 months I’ve been at DMLA. I think I can put that record of discovering new talent up against a lot of other agents; it’s something I’m very proud of and it’s been my favorite part of the business.

I honestly can’t complain about any aspect of my job. Most days you feel like a water carrier – you’re just happy to be working with these wonderfully talented people and you’d be crazy to dwell on the negatives.

Have you ever not taken an author on because you met them in person and didn't like them?

There haven’t been any unpleasant situations like that. I’m lucky to have clients who are terrific writers in addition to being fun, nice, and charming people. But I like to think I could deal with an off personality if the talent was there. You can’t work in a creative field like this one and avoid the phenomenon of personality altogether.

Have you ever taken someone on not because you loved their stuff but because you knew it would sell?

I’ve done so once or twice in the past, and never with a brilliant outcome. What I’ve learned is that when I love a writer I can offer a high-quality type of representation, because genuine passion is a very convincing thing which people respond to. And without that passion it’s a grind – it’s not as effective.

At times writers have come to me with an offer in hand asking me to be their agent, and I’ve had to turn them down if I wasn’t passionate about their work. My feeling is that my list is going to be very select and small, and I want to make each writer count, so I don’t feel I’m doing anyone a favor by rubber-stamping his or her deals or bringing lukewarm advocacy to the table. I want to be very selective, very passionate, and very good.

Is a deal for more money always a better deal? Why or why not?

Well, I think the best deal can be defined by all sorts of different criteria. You might define it as, for instance: “the right editor at the right house at the right time,” and that has nothing to do with money. But the question is a little academic because agents – and writers – almost always go with the higher advance. I mean, I don’t think anybody ever turned down a big advance because someone else wrote a great editorial letter. That would be a rare case.

When you take on a client, it's generally with the intent to represent them for their career and not just one project. Therefore, what happens if you "fall out of love" with an author's work? Has that ever happened to you?

Perhaps I can suggest that it’s quite important for an author to sign with the right agent from the get-go. If you’re certain you’ve found the ideal arrangement and your representative is truly enthusiastic, I think you may reduce the chances of hearing these sort of trite excuses for parting ways, down the line. I get the feeling that a lot of these messy relationships you hear about between agents and authors are the result of a lack of communication up front. There has to be a, “so, what can I expect?” kind of discussion. And that should come at the front end of it.

What is a sure sign that you have gotten an awesome manuscript? And what is the surest sign that you are going to pass?

You know, I have this background in literary criticism but that’s not how I read now. I’m not using much analytical skill, sorting through these queries. I’m impatient and fickle in how I read. I want to be engaged from the first page and I want to hear a strong new voice. I want to see a really good concept in place. And little details can have a very big impact. For instance, analogies to long-dead writers never fly very well. “My friends have compared my writing to the work of Voltaire and Thucydides!” Erm, good company no doubt, but can we get closer to this century? You don’t want to sound too try-hard in the query letter.

Are you currently looking for new clients? What is your submission policy?

Absolutely. I have about 25 clients under contract, but there are parts of my list I’m still looking to build. I’m especially keen to add a great picture book author – perhaps even an author/ illustrator – and I’d like to see some new novels as well. (Middle-grade is a favorite category.)

As for submitting: a brief query to sbarbara AT maassagency DOT COM with the first 5 pages pasted into the body of the email will do nicely. I like to read and try to be fast, so don’t be shy. Thanks for having me here!

And thank YOU for visiting, Stephen!!

~lisa graff~

Cover Vamp!

BOY OH BOY, did I get an awesome piece of mail from my editor Andrea @ Chronicle Books. Look which cute little vegetarian vampire made the cover of the Fall 2008 Children's catalog!!!

It's DAGMAR in all his Halloween glory! From my very first picture book called VUNCE UPON A TIME! *beams*

The cover image is taken from my absolute favorite spread in the book, where J.Otto Seibold goes buck wild October 31st style! You can seriously spend an entire hour looking at those two pages. Lots of ghouls and costumes and pumpkins and candy. J.Otto = amazing.

I can't even express how thrilling it is to see our little vamp on the FRONT PAGE! It's really a dream come true. And the book will be out so soon! September 1, which usually means sometime in August!

Here's a peek inside the catalog. Page 3 baby!


Hooray for Daggy! I'm going to chow down on some chocolate to celebrate!

-=siobhan =-

I love this jacket!!!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!
xo
Lisa GW

Why I love my agent

Today, we got a piece of mail from one of our favorites, Mother Reader. She wants us to talk about agents versus publishers, and why it's important to have an agent rather than looking directly for a publisher.

The first person to really impress upon me the importance of this was Sarah Weeks, our old writing teacher from New School. She told me that it was VITAL that I have an agent before stepping into the big bad publishing world. If you're just starting out, an agent will be able to navigate those rocky waters for you and with you. For one thing, if a manuscript comes from an agent, it will get looked at a whole helluva lot faster than if it comes from little old you, via slush. For another, agents have connections and relationships with publishing people, and your agent can help you find your best fit. Also, only an agent can put together an auction, should the situation arise. In case you're wondering, an auction is when more than one publisher is interested in your book. And this is all the stuff that happens before you even find your editor!

After you and your editor are married to this book together, your agent will help you get settled. Agent will do the heavy lifting with the contract, will negotiate for better terms, will be the tough guy so you don't have to be. Like in a real marriage, nothing ruins the mood like money talk! My agent has helped me IMMEASURABLY, and I've been lucky to have two of them, who work in tandem. They hold my hand and answer all my crazy questions, they offer advice, they inspire, they are there every step of the way. They pretty much have my back. This is not to say that the publisher is the big bad (I could write a love letter to my editor in a whole other post): but I am saying that everybody has a job to do, everybody has a bottom line and somebody to answer to. Your agent is just for you. There is no reason NOT to have an agent, none that I can think of anyway. Let me put this way: 15% of nothing is nothing. Get an agent, if you can. They are the gatekeepers of this industry, the first line of defense, all in the name of making sure GOOD BOOKS are published for our readers. And that, I think, is the goal in all this.

XOXO
Jenny

Maybe she had some magic beans

In this interview with PW, Catherine Gilbert Murdock says a dream inspired her new fantasy novel PRINCESS BEN, and that from when she had the dream, it only took her 16 days to write the first draft.

16 DAYS.
16 DAYS.
16 DAYS????????????????????


I cannot appropriately express my feelings on this statement, so I will remain silent. However, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

*caroline hickey

Final Book Jacket!

I got my final book jacket for ISABELLE'S BOYFRIEND and I looooove it! It has everything I wanted for the book: fun, sass, girl appeal, and a dash of irreverence. Oh, and a bichon frise. That was crucial.



You can click on the image to view it larger. I can't wait for it to come out in September! (Meanwhile, yes, I am still struggling with my WIP. But we must take time to celebrate the fun things like awesome book covers even while we are slogging through the most difficult chapters we ever dreamed possible. This allows us to continue to wake up in the morning and want to write.)

*caroline hickey

Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuun

I think we've all long suspected this might happen, but it's still really scary to think about.

-=siobhan=-

An Interview With Rosemary Stimola!

Rosemary Stimola is my fabulous agent and I love her more than words! She's a PhD, a former bookseller...she knows this business inside and out!

I remember when I first queried her...she responded in a matter of SECONDS with the nicest note, asking to see my partial. And the signature at the bottom of her email--Ro Stimo. Hello fierceness! I knew that anyone with a sassy nickname like that (doesn't it just roll off the tongue?!) would be the perfect agent match for me. And I was soooooo right.

Here are Ro's answers to our Agent Questionnaire.

1. Tell us how you became an agent.
For me it was an evolving role...I began as an academic, a PhD linguist, teaching language and literature at City University. I then owned and operated an independent children's bookstore for 10 years. after closing in 1995, I combined the aesthetic experience of teaching with the business experience of selling books and opened the studio in 1997. A perfect blend for me.

2. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the job?
I love the book parts...finding, reading, sharing with editors, watching an acquired book come to fruition. I'm less thrilled with the mountains of paperwork that comes as part of the package!

3. Have you ever not taken an author on because you met them in person and didn't like them?
Yes. I do believe it is important to connect personally as well as on a project. If you don't see eye to eye, don't get along, don't "like" each other, just makes the road much harder on both sides. And honestly, life is just too short to work with people you don't connect with, for whatever reason.

4. Have you ever taken someone on not because you loved their stuff, but because you knew it would sell?
No. If I don't love it, I can't advocate for it as needed. Can't compromise my integrity and reputation that way. I have actually had writers come to me with an offer in hand and chosen not to represent them because I did not thrill to the work.

5. Is a deal for more money always a better deal? Why or why not?
Not necessarily. You don't want to over-burden a book (firsts, in particular) with a too-heavy advance. If it doesn't earn out, makes the the path to subsequent books more difficult. and there are ways to build in back end monies. On the other side, you want enough upfront to warrant some more than basic marketing attention. It's like walking a tightrope and it varies from book to book.

6. When you take on a client, it's generally with the intent to represent them for their career and not just one project. Therefore, what happens if you "fall out of love" with an author's work? Has that ever happened to you?
I am more about building careers than selling one project. I want to see an author grow and blossom and move along with them through different stories. Want to be a part of that ascent. It has happened that subsequent work may start out weaker than that first book, but that's when you get to know more about an author's process and how s/he writes. So, no, have not fallen out love with an author's work.

7. What is a sure sign that you have gotten an awesome manuscript? And what is the surest sign that you are going to pass?
It's true that first pages have a lot to do with it. How quickly voice and character grab me. If I am compelled from the start...a good sign. If I see nothing in the first 50 pages that warrants further reading, I simply stop.

8. Are you currently looking for new clients? What is your submission policy?
In the words of Mae West, “I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”


You can visit stimolaliterarystudio.com for information on how to query my beloved Ro Stimo.

-=siobhan=-

The hazeet! moment

Three weeks till finals! As the school year draws to a close, and my brain dribbles out my ears, I thought I'd share with you some of the writing-related lessons my students have taught me. The most important writing lesson, by far, is what my fourth-period class has started calling The Hazeet! Moment.

I should explain. Most of my students come from Middle Eastern families, and a lot of them speak Arabic at home. ALL of their slang is (loosely) derived from Arabic, and way back at the beginning of the school year, they taught me the key words I'd need to know. One of them was "hazeet," which means "I feel so bad for you/him!" ("hazeeta" means "I feel so bad for you/her!").

I read aloud to the kids a lot. A couple of weeks after they taught me the new words, we got to the part in Johnny Tremain where Johnny burns his hand, and all over the room I heard little peeping cries of "oh, hazeet!" It was the first time the book really grabbed their attention, and from then on I had much less work to do convincing them to get on with reading--they felt so bad for Johnny, and they wanted to see what would happen next.

It's been the same all year: as soon as we hit The Hazeet! Moment, I know they're hooked. The Outsiders was my favorite book ever to teach, because they were calling out "hazeet!" by, like, page 2, and that book never lets up with moments to feel bad for the characters. Pretty much everybody who shows up rates a "hazeet!"

This will come as a surprise to no one, but I tend to approach things brain-first, with a heavy emphasis on intellectual engagement and aesthetic appreciation. If my brain's not into a book, my heart won't go there, either. Contrariwise, if a book is well-written and gets me thinking, I don't always notice whether or not I actually feel much for the characters.

The Hazeet! Moment has changed all that. It's not that I'm reading heart-first, all of a sudden, but now I have a new tool for reading through a kid's eyes. Well-written? Check. Intellectually engaging? Check. That's all well and good, but before I start passing it around among my 7th graders, I need to find The Hazeet Moment.

--Kathryne

Another Take on Publicity

This cracks me up more everytime i watch it.



As someone obsessed with a book coming out and doing what I can to publicize it in non-overbearing ways, this is the funniest thing ever. I think the part I love the most is that his only friend on myspace is Tom, the guy in the T-shirt.

The thing about all this stuff is that in some ways it was like learning this whole new language. I remember my agent trying to explain myspace to be and I was like "why would anyone want to do that?" And now I have to admit I kind of love it. It's such a fun, easy way to connect to readers and librarians, not to mention other writers. But it's also time and work and I love this guy's take on it!

Thanks to Nancy Viau for the link.

#daphne

The New Golden Age of YA Lit???

Well, it's official. There's a boom in YA literature! Read all about it in this article from NEWSWEEK.

Then come back here and let's discuss why we think this boom exists... and what those of us involved in the world of YA literature can do to keep it going! (Because we must keep it going!)

:-)

--Coe

Is It Procrastination or Writer's Block?

Slate has a really interesting article talking about the differences between procrastination and writer's block, as seen through the struggles of Capote and Ellison.

After reading it, I think it's safe for me to say that I've almost never suffered from true writer's block. Certainly, I've reached points where I didn't know exactly what was coming next, but they've never lasted for very long. I think I'm a pretty good brainstormer, and even if I take a few wrong turns, the right path arrives in front of me eventually.

I think my problem lies more on the procrastination side. Some people procrastinate out of laziness. Not me. I put off writing because of fear.

I suffer from a truly paralyzing level of self-doubt and self-loathing I have about my writing. It zaps my inspiration, my confidence. Some days, I feel almost afraid to sit down at my computer, fearing the bad writing that is sure to pour out. A telling quote from the article:

"The procrastinator thinks, 'If I never finish, I can never be judged,' " says Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University.

Now, I'm not sure I have it that bad. I am currently working on revisions for my new YA called SAME DIFFERENCE, and while I am really nervous about how the manuscript will turn out, I am also excited for it to be born to the world! This one is a much more personal story than ALFA was. Maybe that's part of the problem...or the saving grace. Depends on how I look at it, I guess.

What about you? Are you a procrastinator, or just a victim of writer's block?

-=siobhan=-

At the Agent's Desk: An Interview with Alyssa Eisner Henkin

Alyssa Eisner Henkin is a Children's Book Agent at Trident Media Group and she represents two of the Longstockings, Daphne Grab and me. Alyssa is smart, personable and all around awesome.

Thanks for chatting with us, Alyssa!
xo
Lisa GW

1. Tell us how you became an agent.
I had been an editor for about six years when it occurred to me that my favorite part about my job was the initial enthusiasm of signing up a project and enabling my publishing colleagues to see a projects’ potential and its place in the market. It was that passion and also the entrepreneurism inherent in agenting—the ability to have my hand in dozens of projects that I believed in—that drove me to the other side. And so the next year I made the job switch.

2. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the job?
I love signing on a client who I believe in, seeing the enthusiasm in editors’ e-mails or hearing the lilts in their voices when I pitch a book and they say “that sounds awesome”! And of course I love the sale and being a part of the wonderful books that result.

3. Have you ever not taken an author on because you met them in person and didn't like them?
No.

4. Have you ever taken someone on not because you loved their stuff, but because you knew it would sell?
I’ve never taken on a project that was commercial but not well-written (in my opinion!). But often when I see the commercial potential or timeliness of a project, it fuels my enthusiasm.

5. Is a deal for more money always a better deal? Why or why not?
Sometimes it is. Sometime it’s not. It totally depends on the subsidiary rights at hand, the sales expectations, the royalty escalations, and a slew of other variables.

6. When you take on a client, it's generally with the intent to represent them for their career and not just one project. Therefore, what happens if you "fall out of love" with an author's work? Has that ever happened to you?
I’m new to agenting and thus I haven’t had to encounter this yet. But I think it’s important that agents advise clients in such a way that marries the authors’ creative passions as far as what they are dying to write next, while still being mindful of the sales climate in which they are writing.

7. What is a sure sign that you have gotten an awesome manuscript? And what is the surest sign that you are going to pass?
Awesome is when I blink back tiny tears of optimism and potential in regard to what I’m reading. Pass is when I just can’t get into the writing. It’s such a subjective business.

8. Are you currently looking for new clients? What is your submission policy?
Yes. I’m actively looking for more mystery, adventure, and narrative nonfiction for young adults, and anything else that I fall in love with. I urge potential clients to send me a query letter via e-mail (my e-mail can be found on the Trident website) and if it sounds like a right fit for me I will request the manuscript, or a partial of a manuscript.

Note: For some reason Blogger/my computer at school is not agreeing with me and changing the fonts as I have requested. Sorry there are a few different fonts in this post...

An Interview with Agent Rebecca Sherman

Over the coming weeks, The Longstockings will be interviewing several agents on the nitty-gritties of their job. Rebecca Sherman is a Senior Agent at Writers House and a very fine lady indeed. (Disclaimer: She's my agent so I can say stuff like that.)

1. Tell us how you became an agent.
I began my career in publishing the day after Labor Day in 2001 as Susan Cohen's assistant. After years of working with Susan, I took on my first clients, then became a Junior Agent when I began to sell my own projects (including Caroline Hickey's CASSIE WAS HERE) as I continued to assist Susan, and on June 1st, 2006 with a stocked client list of my own and enough sales under my belt, I stopped being an assistant and was promoted to Senior Agent.

2. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the job?
It may sound cheesy but I truly love my job. I get to be involved in
all stages of an author (and/or illustrator's) career. I love working
with a client editorially before submission, being the one to connect an
author with an editor, and enjoying all the steps that follow (seeing
the advance reader's copies, final books, reviews, etc.).

My least favorite aspects of the job are waiting as editors are
considering a manuscript or coming up with an offer and rejection. I
know rejection is tougher for the client, but it still hits me hard
when a project I love gets negative feedback.

3. Have you ever not taken an author on because you met them in person and didn't like them?
No, I haven't had this particular experience. Of course, the quality of
the work itself is of utmost importance in my decision-making. However,
it is important to me that clients are communicative and collaborative.
If I have a sense that a client wouldn't be a team player with me, I
have to wonder if they would be able to work with an editor. It is
something that I think about, but if I absolutely love a manuscript, I
would talk to the potential client about my expectations beyond the
page and see how they react before deciding not to take them on.

4. Have you ever taken someone on not because you loved their stuff, but because you knew it would sell?
Perhaps early in my career, but I have found that as much as I have
studied the market and know what publishers and editors are looking for,
you can never be 100% certain that something can sell. I would hate to
be stuck with something that is difficult to sell that I can't really
stand behind. When projects prove to be difficult to sell, but that I
love, I am determined to keep trying to find it a home. I know the
latter is a much better position to be in and with a client list that
keeps me busy, I only take on projects and clients that I feel strongly
about, that I cannot say know to.

5. Is a deal for more money always a better deal? Why or why not?
It is always nice to get a big advance, because it signifies that a publisher is greatly invested in the book(s) from the start. There is a greater chance of marketing and publicity supporting a book that is noted from the start to be a "big" book. However, with more money comes more responsibility. A book that sold for a higher advance has a great chance of not earning out its advance and making a profit for a publisher, which can make it very challenging to make the second deal. As an agent, I am not interested in one deal, but in the client's entire publishing career, and I always want to see that career growing. If a client only intended to publish the books sold in the first deal, then the most money would be the best deal. For clients who plan on a career in publishing, my goal is to reach a number that accurately matches the value of the work presented and shows a commitment from the publisher. For most of my clients who plan to publish many books, I want to reach a number that can be earned out.

6. When you take on a client, it's generally with the intent to represent them for their career and not just one project. Therefore, what happens if you "fall out of love" with an author's work? Has that ever happened to you?
I have never fallen out of love with a client's work completely, but I
have been sent projects that I didn't feel were as strong as previous
works by a client. In all cases, I am working for the client to do
what I believe is best for their career. In these cases, I give my honest
feedback and explain why I don't think that the proposed work should be
their next book. If a client feels strongly that the project should be
presented to editors, I am happy to submit it so that the client has
feedback from editors as well. Being an agent is NOT about my ego,
and I would have no problem being proven wrong.

7. What is a sure sign that you have gotten an awesome manuscript?
When I cannot stop reading the manuscript despite an overloaded inbox and ringing phone. Audible gasps at art are a great sign that I have received awesome illustrations.

And what is the surest sign that you are going to pass?
If I feel like I have read the manuscript before, but
better, I am going to pass. I don't want to see a lesser than version
of Harry Potter or Gossip Girl or another story of the author's dog. I
always point to books like PUNK FARM by Jarrett Krosoczka as wholly
original work which is what I am looking for. I fall head over heels
for projects that could only come from the mind of that creator. I definitely skew towards humor and originality over edgy or trendy.

8. Are you currently looking for new clients? What is your submission policy?
While I have a client list that I am very happy with and keeps me busy, I always want potential clients to send material to me that could be a match. In other words, I never want to miss the opportunity to work with a client who writes or illustrates material that I fall in love with.

I accept email and snail mail submissions. (Read my guidelines here.) In all cases, please note if it is a multiple submission. If another agent expresses interest, email to tell me and give me an appropriate amount of time to consider your submission before jumping to accept an offer elsewhere.

Thanks for stopping by, Rebecca!

*caroline hickey

Scully+Mulder=?

Okay, I saw this on Gawker today and I had to share.

Book publisher HarperCollins UK will soon launch their new social-networking-ish website, called Authonomy, where eager lil' beavers can upload their work and show it to people. (Every old organization, from the NYT to Forbes, has seen fit to start a social network these days.) Your work is reviewed by the other yokels on the site, but as the publisher says, "Readers will be able to support their favourite manuscripts, with HC guaranteeing to consider the most popular for publication." Explains the Guardian:

"The idea is that aspirant scribes can upload up to 10,000 words to the site and then have their masterworks judged by what HarperCollins refers to as "keen, talent-spotting readers" - other people, that is, who have registered on the network."

I have to say, I'm not so into people putting their work on the internet for others to read or judge-- and I don't mean fanfic, I guess I'm talking more about putting stuff up that you want to get published. On a lot of levels: if it's good, people will read it and if it's a super high concept kind of idea, people could intentionally or unintentionally take it. Also, if it's good, it might still not be ready for people to see it just yet, and people could prick holes in your enthusiasm just when you're really taking off. If it's not so good, people might pump you up and tell you it's the hotness when it's just not, and that's not terribly helpful. I've made this mistake of showing people stuff when it's not ready, when the only eyes looking at it should be mine, and it can really set you back, creatively and spirit-wise. But when you are ready: Having likeminded writers read your stuff and critique you, honestly and at times even harshly, that to me is helpful and will put the writer on the path to publication. To me, this whole website idea sounds like The Bachelor or something, all these high-heeled women trying to get married to this "perfect" good looking rich guy, and it's like a one in a million shot, and even if you win, it ain't all roses and champagne toasts.

The Guardian goes on to say, "Being realistic, I think Authonomy may end up being a nice polite way for the publishers to say that they're not accepting unsolicited submissions anymore. If the launch goes well, I'd wager that anyone asking about submissions will be directed to hit the site, keeping editors' (and editorial assistants') desks clear for them to get on with the books agents have sent them, the ones they are genuinely interested in."

It's just, where's the quality control with this kind of thing? People could be posting X Files: The Next Generation, and maybe you've got the next staggering work of genius, and then what, you're lumped in with all the rest? It seems like false hope to me, just like Bachelor, because I can't see Harper taking it all that seriously.

What do yall think? Agree or disagree? A crap idea destined to fail? A potentially good idea that will be the next big thing, thus proving me wrong? To that, I say, par for the course, my friends.

A Life Long Love

On Sunday we had some friends over for brunch and after eating way too much we collapsed in the living room where one friend remarked on my huge collection of teen and MG books. He was particularly intrigued by my Lois Duncan collection which I think is pretty impressive because it contains several volumes I bought back in the late seventies/early eighties when I first read her books. And as those of us growing up in that era know, there was nothing quite like those painted covers of guys with feathered hair and girls with the Farrah Fawcett look. He pulled one off the shelf, a book so worn from over reading that it had a shredded spine and frayed edges, and asked me to tell him the plot.

As it happened he’d chosen my very favorite Lois Duncan, THEY NEVER CAME HOME. I’ll never forget the first time I read it: my family was camping on Cape Cod, I was reading by lantern light and I was shivery all over because I was living and breathing the most thrilling book ever. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as the layers of the mystery unfolded and I shouted out loud when the big reveal came, causing a dog at the next camp site to start barking. I barely noticed since 99% of me was in New Mexico with Joan Dreyfus as she came closer to uncovering the truth.

So I started telling my friends the story, trying to tell it well since it’s one of the best books ever, and all of a sudden I got that shivery feeling again. I’ve read that book at least a thousand times, literally, in the twenty some-odd years since I read it for that first time, yet my heart started pounding as I described the moment of that big reveal. After all these years and all the time we've spent together, the story still has a hold over me and amazes me with just how awesome it is.

So what titles still make your heart beat faster when you talk about them?

#daphne

Stephanie Meyer on NPR

In case you missed it, Stephanie Meyer was interviewed on NPR. (Click here to listen.)

I found this segment interesting even though I haven't read any of the books. (I know, I know, shame on me!)

Anyway, here are some of the highlights:

-- Stephanie says she wrote TWILIGHT just to remember a dream she had. She never really thought of it as a book!

-- She thinks passion is only heightened by restraint.

-- Even she (who has sold, like, a billion books!) is apprehensive about her new book THE HOST, which is a departure from her vampire books. She hopes her readers aren't disappointed in a book that's not about Bella and Edward.

To read an excerpt of THE HOST, click here (and scroll to the bottom of the page.)

Enjoy!

:-)

~Coe~

I'm going on a cruise and I'm bringing....

Remember that game "I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing...?" And you'd start with A and say apples, B bananas, etc.

Well, I'm going on an extended family cruise (grandparents, aunt, parents, brothers, husband) next week and I kind of feel like I'm playing that game. But with books! I want to bring a good variety of awesome books with me to read. But I want to bring current stuff and I feel like I am out of touch with what has just recently come out. So I need your help!

What books should I bring with me on this cruise?

xoxo
Lisa GW

Moral

To whoever found our website by Googling "moral of Cut by Patricia McCormick":

The answers you seek are easily found. Read the book.

I mean, seriously. It's not even that long, it's a moving, exciting story, and the moral--to the extent there is one--isn't exactly hidden.

That goes for whoever was looking for "summary of Shug by Jenny Han" a while ago, too.

--Kathryne
(the English teacher)

Video Alert!

Can't wait to read ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, NEW YORK by our very own Daphne Grab? Well, you're not alone! (The book doesn't officially come out until June.)

In the meantime, check out the new book trailer. It will surely whet your appetite!




:-)
~Coe~

Reading is fun

I have to go to Barnes and Noble at least twice a week for my library job-- picking up this book or that book for a student or teacher. You'd think I'd get sick of all the book buying I have to do. I do, but not when it's books for moi! I just bought three new books and when I put them on my shelf (mantle, coffee table, anywhere there is space) I realized I've bought like a million books and haven't read them. I just like buying them.

Here is what is on my shelf, brand new, waiting to be read:

Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munroe
The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Okay, so what should I get to first?? Unless recommended otherwise, I am heading straight for Percy Jackson. And then... um, I'm working on my revision. Okay, I'm working on my revision and taking reading breaks and wearing my Reading is Sexy shirt. I'm happy it's going to be a rainy day weekend, perfect for reading and writing! I mean, writing and reading!

xoxo
Jenny H

sneak peak

My second book KENDRA is coming out in October -- and I finally have a cover!!!





It's starting to feel like a real book now!
:-)

~Coe~

Another rewarding moment in the 7th Grade

There's this kid--we'll call him Herbert because that's not his name, but it does capture the old-fashioned grandpa-ness of his actual name--who strikes fear into the hearts of pretty much every teacher in my middle school. I get along with him pretty well, but then, I don't teach him. I just chase him out of my room when he wanders in, having driven his actual teacher sufficiently nuts to give him a hall pass.

When I was hired the principal told me that one of my jobs was to "model good reading behavior." This is not as easy as it sounds, but every now and then I get opportunities, like today when I was sitting and waiting in the hallway for a sixth-grade teacher to let me in to teach Creative Writing. The sixth-grade teacher instead said his science lesson was way behind, and could we skip writing this week? I said "sure," and, having a random twenty minutes to spare and no desire to spend ten of them getting back and forth to the basement English Office, took out a book and continued sitting in the hallway.

A lot of kids stopped by while I was in the hall. Pretty much everyone wanted to see what I was reading (Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, a Longstockings favorite), which was a lot of fun. One sixth-grader from one of my other classes thumbed through the book while I read her essay contest entry. A kid from the class I was about to teach stopped by on his way to and from the bathroom and asked was I coming in now, and if not now when, which was gratifying, even if it was just that he was ready for Social Studies to be over.

And then Let's-call-him-Herbert stopped by, his arms full of Field Day posters. "You're reading?" he asked, disbelief dripping from his voice. "For fun? But why?" he asked.

Good grief. I haven't gotten that question in that tone of voice since I was a seventh-grader, myself. I've completely forgotten how I used to answer. "Why don't you like it?" I asked.

"Because," Herbert said. "Ew."

Somehow, I managed not to laugh at that. Okay, I may have grinned a little. To my complete surprise, though, Herbert didn't just wander off and finish hanging up his posters. "No, really," he said. "Why do you like it?"

It was hard not to get teary as I gave an honest answer. "Herbert," I said, "for the last fifteen minutes nobody's asked me for anything. I've been able to totally lose myself in someone else's world, and someone else's problems and triumphs." (Triumph, by the way, was a recent word in the 7th-grade vocabulary book.) "I haven't had to think about myself at all."

Herbert's eyes narrowed. But not like they usually do, with Herbert, when he's looking for the lie in what you've just told him, or trying to figure out just how to express how angry you've just made him. His eyes narrowed like he was thinking about that. And then they got wide again. "So reading must be easy for you," he said.

"Yeah," I said, and then it was really hard not to start crying, as I realized what that question meant for Herbert. "Reading's always been easy for me."

Herbert grabbed the book away from me and opened a page at random, and it really wasn't easy for him. No wonder he doesn't like reading, if he has to puzzle out each word separately, like that. "It's not really a seventh-grade book," I said (lied). "It's more for high-school kids."

"What's it about?" he asked.

"A girl who works on a farm, and plays football," I told him. "I just got to the part with her first game."

And Herbert nodded, and I nodded, and the 6th-grade teacher invited me in, and Herbert went off to finish hanging up his posters.

If you're in middle-school, it's really not cool to admit you like to read, so Herbert probably had never had anyone tell him what's fun about it. And I got to have an honest conversation about why reading's not fun, with a kid who's not worried I'm going to give him a bad grade. Herbert reminded me of why my new, desperation-fueled attitude of "You don't have to like it, you just have to do it" doesn't help my students, not nearly as much as showing them the real reason I love reading will.

--Kathryne

ALFA Doppleganger

At a recent school visit outside of Pittsburgh, I was mid-presentation when I spotted a DEAD RINGER for one of the models on the cover of ALFA. I almost choked on my watermelon Jolly Rancher!

Here's the cover shot of Katherine...

And here's Kate and me wearing our best snarky pouts

Isn't that an INSANE likeness?

Though, truth be told, Kate was such a sweetie and a delight to talk with all day. Kate and her friends took me on a walk around their high school and also taught me what a "porp" was. (don't ask...it's going in the next book)

-=siobhan=-

When You're Stuck...

When I'm stuck, I'll pretty much try anything. I've been carrying around my WIP, reading and rereading it, and I've gotten some small ideas but not the big AH-HA that will carry me through to the end of the book. And I have a deadline to turn in new chapters to the Longstockings in just two weeks! So there's no time to dilly-dally.

I searched online for some writing exercises to help me get moving and here's one I found that I plan to try today. It just might help me get inside my character's head a bit more.

Dreams are very useful in fiction, as well as fun to write. Sometimes we use dreams to give verisimilitude– they are, after all, a part of life. They can also be used to show a character's mood or even to make a point, as a sort of allegory in the mind of a character. Write a dream for a character in a piece of fiction you are writing or planning.

Try it and let me know if it works for you!

*caroline "stuck at page 120" hickey

Breaking News!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to our very own Longstocking, Daphne Grab, who has just sold her second novel!

Here are the details from today's Publishers Marketplace:

Daphne Grab's HALFTIME, The Wonder Years meets Dairy Queen, about a twelve year old football fanatic who doesn't actually play the sport until his long lost half-brother, and the best college football player in the league, shows up in time for middle school team tryouts, tackling bullies, and talking to girls, to Jodi Keller at Delacorte, in a pre-empt, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group (NA).


HALFTIME is an awesome novel and I can't wait for it to enter the world. Congratulations again, Daphne!

Woo-hoo!!!

:-)
~Coe~

ALFA Giveaway!

There's a nice ALFA giveaway on Teenreads.com. CLICK HERE to enter for a chance to win one of five free copies!

-=siobhan=-

ALFA Reading in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Hey friends,

I just wanted to mention that I'll be reading at the Park Slope Barnes and Noble on Thursday May 8th at 6:00PM.

And it's not just the Siobhan show! NYT Bestselling authoress Aimee Friedman will be reading from her fabulous new novel, The Year My Sister Got Lucky, as well as Suzanne Weyn from her epic love story, Reincarnation.

If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello!

-=siobhan=-

Marissa Doyle Visits

Marissa Doyle's THE BEWITCHING SEASON has just come out and is getting a lot of attention, including a starred review from Booklist. She stopped by to tell us about how she came to write a book about twins that is and isn't and isn't taken from her "real life."

If you’d told me fifteen years ago that I’d one day be writing books about twins, I would have shaken my head at you-- twice. Write books? Well, yeah, I’d had ideas kicking around and had scribbled out some scenes and sketchy synopses, so maybe…but twins? Er…no. I didn’t know anyone with twins, there were no twins in my family, and though we were in the middle of growing our family I’d always said that the last thing in the world I wanted was twins. I simply couldn’t imagine what taking care of two infants at once would be like, but I guessed it would involve very little sleep, among other things. And I happen to like sleep.

Be careful of what you say out loud. Fate can have a quirky sense of humor. And as it happened, learning I was having twins turned out to be a relief after a long weekend of anxiety after getting back some seriously weird pre-natal blood test results and being sure that there was something very physically wrong with the child I was carrying.

So fifteen years later, I have teen-aged twin daughters and two forthcoming books about twin sisters. And of course the first question out of some peoples’ mouths when they hear that is, “Are the twins in your books just like your twins?”

The answer is no. And yes.

My daughters are nothing like Persy and Pen Leland in Bewitching Season…but the nature of their sisterhood is. Twins can have a relationship that goes far beyond being siblings. Can you imagine what it’s like growing up with your best friend by your side 24/7? Having someone who’s almost like a second you, who knows and understands almost everything about you? Not all twins have this kind of relationship, of course--I’ve known twins who loathed each other--but mine do, and so do my characters.

I think this is just another manifestation of something writers face--how and what we integrate our personal lives and experiences into our fiction. I don’t think non-writers always understand that we can use aspects of our lives and emotions we’ve experienced in what we write without being autobiographical. We’ve talked about this a little in the Class of 2k8--how we may write about situations and circumstances that we ourselves have lived through…and yet what we write isn’t us, it’s the people we’re writing about.

Have any of you writers struggled to explain this to your non-writing friends?

Thanks for stopping by, Marissa!

To learn more about Marissa check out her website or head to the Class of 2K8 where she is a co-president.

**
daphne

How many fonts do you know?

Via a designer friend at work, I bring you this typography test. I got 13 out of 35, which I thought was pretty dang good, considering I was mostly just guessing... Anyone else care to tackle the fonts???

~lisa graff~

children are being left behind...

It's been pretty well understood by now that the No Child Left Behind Act is a dismal failure. A joke. President Bush signed this into law, supposedly to make schools perform better, make them more accountable, yadda yadda yadda. What it has done, for the most part, is change the entire focus of education away from actual learning to testing, testing, and more testing. If the material won't show up on a standardized test, well, it's not going to get taught!

Ahhh. Remember those trips we used to take in elementary school? Remember music lessons and art? Well, for a lot of kids, those things are a distant memory, or they're done so infrequently it makes no impact on them whatsoever.

Remember independent reading time?

In case you missed it, author Jordan Sonnenblick has written a wonderful essay in School Library Journal about this topic. As a friend, I know how much Jordan has wrestled with whether or not to return to teaching eighth grade English. Jordan is a great teacher, and it's something he's really loved, but he's made the decision not to return to the classroom. And the No Child Left Behind Act is the main reason.

In the essay he writes:

"No Child Left Behind has done to my school what it has done to untold thousands of urban schools. Our arts programs are gutted, our shop courses are gone, foreign languages are a distant memory. What’s left are double math classes; mandatory after-school drill sessions; the joyless, sweaty drudgery of summer school. Our kids come to us needing more of everything that is joyous about the life of the mind. They need nature walks, field trips, poetry, recess."

He adds:

"What I loved most about teaching middle school English was the books, the stories, the poems. I loved putting great thoughts into the hands of my students, and watching what I really, truly saw as a holy communion between child and author, with me as the officiant. And it kills me to know that if I went back, I wouldn’t have much time to teach literature, which is increasingly seen as a frilly extra. So I’m leaving the classroom because my colleagues were right: going back without time for books would kill me. But it hurts very, very much to know that, in my absence, the classroom is killing my peers and my would-be students anyway."


:-(

The schools are losing motivated, qualified teachers, and the kids are not being taught as many books as they used to. Those of us who are involved in the world of books for children and teens should really be disturbed by this. And ours should be a voice added to the many protests (and petitions) of the No Child Left Behind Act.

~Coe~

Now I know how to say "nomadic vampires" in Spanish

Which is "vampiros nomades," just in case you were wondering...

I learned that interesting factoid from this fun MTV clip about the cast and characters of the Twilight Movie, which is inexplicably subtitled in Spanish. 

Estan listos para comer algun ser humano?

~lisa graff~

I'm too sexy for this shirt

Legs splayed? Check. Shirt unbuttoned to navel? Check. Seductive leer? Check. Gratuitous bottom of foot shot? Check.

Shel Silverstein, how you do make me blush! Now that's what I call a sexy author photo! Clearly, I will have to take the hotness up a notch or ten for my next author photo. Will it endear me to the Gossip Girl crowd? Perhaps. Or will they go running for the hills (or Bloomies) when they see the bottoms of my feet?

XOXO
Jenny