Shallee McArthur: Learning What's Important When You Debut

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest for the SAT (Successful Author Talk) is Shallee McArthur, author of THE UNHAPPENING OF GENESIS LEE. Shallee originally wanted to be a scientist, until she discovered she liked her science best in fictional form. When she’s not writing young adult science fiction and fantasy, she’s attempting to raise her son and daughter as proper geeks. And because people always ask, her name is pronounced "shuh-LEE." But she answers to anything that sounds remotely close.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

When I first wrote, I was a straight-up pantser, but eventually my planner brain took over. I usually spend months brainstorming and plotting a 3-act-structure plot diagram (I’m a visual person). But with my most recent story, none of that worked out! I couldn’t get a plot planned, couldn’t plan out characters, and eventually I just let the story pour out. Pantsing means I take longer on first drafts, but for that story, it worked out to be exactly what the story needed. So…I’m both.

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

The first book I queried took 4 months to draft and about 9 months to revise. The next book—The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, my debut!—took 6 weeks to draft, and a year to revise (and another few months to revise with my agent). My most recent story took over 6 months to draft! But it only took about 2 months to revise (though a few more revisions are needed).

Basically, I’m unpredictable.

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

I usually work on different stories at different stages. I can only really draft ore revise one story at a time, mostly because I get super obsessed with that idea. But I’m pretty much always, ALWAYS musing and planning and exploring a new idea (or several) in my brain!

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

More like I have to overcome fears EVERY time I sit down to write! I’m one of those been-writing-since-I-could-hold-a-pen types, and when I was young, I had no fear. All I had was a love of stories. But somewhere along the way, I started to doubt myself. I’m always afraid I’ll never have another good idea, or never be able to pull off another story, etc. etc. 

But it’s kinda funny how once I am in the midst of writing, all that matters is the story and how much I love it.

How many trunked books (if any) did you have before you were agented?

I’ve got dozens of wonderfully clichéd, poorly written stories of varying lengths that I love dearly and no one will ever see. But if we’re talking stories that I attempted to get published, I have one trunked novel. I queried it, but it wasn’t quite ready. I thought it was, of course, but at one point I re-read it and realized it was a story that I loved, but it just wasn’t “there” yet.

So I trunked it and wrote the next one.

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

I have a folder full of stories at varying lengths of “completeness.” I haven’t really quit on them—mostly they just need more development time.

But the trunked novel I mentioned above…that was hard to decide to let go, because I still love it. I suppose I could have gone back and tried to revise it some more, but I knew the best thing was to move on and write the next one. Writing the next one is the best way to actually use all the things you learned writing the last one. And my next one is the one that’s getting published, so it worked!

One thing that helped me let it go was “selfie-publishing” my trunked novel. Not for selling to others or anything, just for my own self. I made a cover, printed it through Lulu, and now I’ve got a copy sitting on my shelf!

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them?  

Hannah Bowman is my agent, and she is my agenty soulmate! I found her in a bit of a unique way. Before she was an agent, she actually read my trunked novel and gave me fabulous feedback. When she became an agent, I knew I wanted to query her. She saw me tweet a pitch for The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, and requested the full right there! I shrieked and freaked, but didn’t send it for a few months until it was ready. When she offered rep, there was  much more shrieking and freaking!

How many queries did you send?  

I queried around 20 agents, and Hannah offered in a week! I talked to two more great agents who offered over the next week, so it was just over two weeks from the start of querying when I officially signed with her.

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

Timing and numbers of requests and all that jazz…it doesn’t matter. So what if someone had seven requests within a week? So what if someone queried for a year and finally got that one perfect offer? It’s hard to remember that when you hear all the stories, but when it comes to your career, those things don’t matter. You can still have a kick-butt debut that launches a kick-butt career, no matter how long it takes or how many offers you get. 

How did that feel the first time you saw your book for sale?

Well, it’s not for sale until November 4, but I did just get my ARCs in the mail, and found out my eARCs are on Edelweiss. The knowledge that my book is in the world for people to read is exhilarating. I wrote this book—all my books—because the story feels like something I love and need to share. So now that it’s being shared, it’s like the book is finally fulfilling its destiny.

Which is also terrifying. Because I want everyone to love this book the way I do…and they won’t. 

How much input do you have on cover art?

I got to send in a document full of descriptions, pictures, and covers I liked as a “mood board.” The designer from Sky Pony worked from that and delivered a cover. There were a few changes my agent and I requested to the final cover, and they were wonderful about making some tweaks. I’m so happy with the way it turned out!

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

How all the things you think matter SO MUCH…don’t. There were some things that happened that I didn’t expect, like the cover going online before I knew about it or could schedule a reveal, and I had legitimate panic attacks (my poor agent and editor!). I thought it was going to be such a huge deal, and it didn’t go the way I wanted, and it was SO IMPORTANT. And it wasn’t. It made no difference to anything at all. So basically, I’ve learned to relax!

How much of your own marketing do you? 

I do most of my own marketing, though my publisher has done some of the big things, of course (ARCs, etc.). I actually enjoy the “business” side of things, and I love social media! I’m on pretty much every social media platform out there, but the ones I use the most are my blog, Twitter, and Tumblr. I’m also on Facebook, and plan on being more active there!

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I totally say before. It takes a long time to build up connections and make friends, and publishing is a long process…but not that long (my own deal ended up being 11 months from signing with the publisher to my release date!) Besides, it’s the best way to not feel alone in the writing world!

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

Absolutely. I don’t think there’s always a one-to-one correlation, but I don’t think that’s the point of social media. Not all the people who follow me on Twitter are going to buy my book, but I’ve made some great friends through social media. They might buy my book, and they might tell others who’ll buy it, and in the end, I have more people talking about my book—and most of all, more friends who support me in all kinds of ways.

Successful Author Talk with Joy N. Hensley

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest for the SAT (Successful Author Talk) is Harper sister Joy N. Hensley. Joy N. Hensley is a former middle school teacher. She used to spend her twenty-minute lunch breaks hosting author Skype chats for her students. Once upon a time she went to a military school on a dare. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two children, finding as many ways as she can to never do another push-up again. Joy is the author of RITES OF PASSAGE, available September 9th from Harper Teen,  and THE HARDER YOU FALL, slated for 2015.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

If you’d asked me this question even a few weeks ago, I would have said pantsers of the world unite! Now, though, that there are deadlines looming and less time to get my pantser lifestyle on, I’m learning the “joys” of plotting. A TON of work up front, but holy cow, I’m figuring out stuff for my new book before writing one draft that normally would have taken two or three revisions to figure out….so I might be a convert…Can I be a plantser?

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

Man, I wish I had a formula or timeline down for how this works, but seriously every novel is different. My first book (the one I signed my agent with) took me four years. It never sold. My second one I wrote in about a year but no one’s ever seen that. Rites of Passage took me six weeks to draft (yay NaNoWriMo!) but I revised for nine more months before going to copy-edits. My latest book I wrote in nine months, but now I’m completely re-writing it from scratch, so who knows how long it will take? Man, books will be written how they want to be written—I’m not trying to fit them into a timeline anytime soon!

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

I usually try to fast draft one project at a time. I find that if I take time off from that excited early rush of a project, I lose my love for it. During the revision process I can usually do more than one thing at a time. I have an e-mail folder labeled “Ideas” though that I use to jot down snippets of conversations and characters that come to me while I’m writing. All my best ideas come when I’m smack dab in the middle of something else!

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

I didn’t have any fears at first. Now? I have tons. I feel them every time I sit down. What if this book doesn’t work? What if I’ve forgotten how to “book”? What if no one likes it? What if it doesn’t work for the market? What if I have to go back to teaching and everyone knows I “failed”? I thought once I sold a book, things would be honky-dory from then on. I think it’s scarier on this side of the fence rather than back when there wasn’t any pressure other than getting an agent or selling a book.

How many trunked books did you have before you were agented?

I have one I trunked before I got my agent (450 pages or some nonsense like that—I had NO CLUE what I was doing) and one I trunked after—though this one is starting to nibble at my mind again.

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

The one I quit on after I signed with my agent—there was just something wrong with it that I couldn’t figure out. It’s been two years and I think I’ve finally figured out what was wrong—hence the nibbling at my mind now. I have lots of projects that are partway done. I don’t think I’ll ever trunk anything again—I think maybe it’s just not the right time for them.

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them?  

I’m with Super Agent Mandy Hubbard at D4EO Literary Agency. I was very lucky because I’m one of those people who knew nothing about the process, really. So I queried her (thanks to a friend’s recommendation) and she read but rejected. In the response, though, she told me why she rejected, which was the biggest help I could have ever gotten. Stupidly, though, I tried to make a “quick fix.” I e-mailed her back with some superficial changes about two weeks later and she said that if the fixes were that easy, they probably weren’t big enough for her to reconsider.

After that I was pretty down. I went to a SCBWI writing conference up on a mountain. My grandma paid for it (I didn’t have the money) and I was too cheap to get a hotel room, so I pitched a tent and almost died in a thunderstorm (but that’s another story). Anyway, I learned a whole new revision technique that weekend and after looking at Mandy’s rejection notes again, I rewrote the entire manuscript in two months, this time, and re-queried her. She read it over the weekend and offered the next week.

Writers are NOT supposed to do that. I didn’t know better…

How long did you query before landing your agent?

I queried off and on for about 9 months. I’d say I sent about fifty queries out and I got two offers.

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

Take a huge deep breath, and go slow. While the queries are out there, don’t just stare at your inbox (oh, I know how hard this is). Start something new. Continue writing. NEVER stop writing.

How much input do you have on cover art?

Picking a concept for Rites was hard, I think. I got a first cover comp and while it was ok I wasn’t sold on it. I didn’t like the color—it didn’t seem ominous enough. Mandy and I went back with some thoughts and Harper went through quite a few more comps (though I never saw any of them—man, would I love to!). When they e-mailed the black and pink cover I just KNEW that was it. They still played around with it a little bit, but I couldn’t ask for a better cover!

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

Honestly, it’s something I’m still learning and trying to figure out how to navigate. Before you’re agented and before you’ve sold, you’re writing for YOU. You’re writing to make that dream happen with the book of your heart. Once you’re on this side, though, writing becomes a business. I’m trying to figure out how to make the business part and the “writing the book of my heart” part mesh—it’s definitely an acquired skill.

How much of your own marketing do you?  

I’ve got a blog that I rarely do anything with. It saddens me, but I just don’t have time for it. I post links to book stuff, contact information, and appearances, but nothing else, really.

I do most of my social networking on Twitter—that seems to be where the YA authors/bloggers/and YAs themselves spend most of their social media time. I don’t have tumbler and my Facebook page is just my tweets pushing through. Looking at that, I feel like a huge failure!

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I think that’s different based on what type of writer you want to be. It’s hard for fiction writers to build a platform before having a book come out. I think you should be out there, certainly, trying to build a name for yourself, but in the end, if you’re a fiction writer, at least, your platform isn’t going to give you a deal. Your words are. Focus less on platform and more on your writing.

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

Sure, to an extent. I think it’s fun to be out there, talking to readers and teens and people eager about books, and your books in particular. Is it the end-all? No. Again, your words will speak for themselves—but being accessible, being a person, not just a mythical author is important, too!

Successful Author Talk With S.L. Duncan

I'm lucky (or cunning) enough to have lured yet another successful writer over to my blog for an SAT - Successful Author Talk. SAT authors have conquered the query, slain the synopsis and attained the pinnacle of published. How'd they do it? Let's ask 'em!

Today's guest for the SAT (Successful Author Talk) is an old writing friend, SL Duncan. He's a writer and traveler seeking stories from inspired locations - a connection of prose to place. The first book of his YA book series, THE REVELATION OF GABRIEL ADAM, releases 2014 from Medallion Press.

Are you a Planner or Pantster?

You know, I’d love to take credit for being a planner. There’s something to being prepared that rings nice. The truth is, I do a basic, sad little outline that kind of tells me where I want to go. It’s usually based off of a lot of research and then, inevitably, it gets tossed out the window once I get into the process. So, I guess I’m a little of both. 

How long does it typically take you to write a novel, start to finish?

Generally, it takes me about six months to get to where I’ve got a decent draft. That’s with some heavy editing and rewriting. But to get to a final draft? Probably a year, depending on how fast my beta readers and agent can get back to me with notes.

Do you work on one project at a time, or are you a multi tasker?

I’m not very good at multi tasking. Like, at all. I’m finicky as a writer. It takes me an hour or so to hit my stride in a writing session and the same applies to the big picture. So, to get anything done, I have to be myopic with my stuff – really lock in and focus on the characters and plot. If I tried to juggle in another story, my head would get a bit crowded. And it’s crazy enough in there as it is. 

Did you have to overcome any fears that first time you sat down to write?

Not so much in the writing. There’s nobody but yourself you have to answer to when it’s just you and your story. Once you have to let it out into the world? Sure. That freaks me out every time. It’s the same sense of anxiety that most writers get, I think. Something likened to stage fright. 

How many trunked books did you have before you were agented?

Okay. Don’t hate me. I’m one of those jerks that lucked out and had his first novel repped and published. But I’ve trunked one in the meantime if that makes you feel any better. 

Have you ever quit on an ms, and how did you know it was time?

I’ve never quit on one, but I do have one set aside in the corner. It looks sad and guilty, but that’s because it is being SO NAUGHTY and not cooperating with the whole being written thing. I may come back to it in the future, but the further away I get from the story, the less intrigued I am to explore its world. There are so many fresh ideas out there, begging for attention. 

Who is your agent and how did you get that "Yes!" out of them? 

My agent is John Rudolph with Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. 

I came to John after suffering through a merger of two large agencies a couple of years back. He was coming out of the editorial side of the business as an executive editor at Penguin Young Readers Group. I was at this cusp of stepping away from the endeavor of getting published and read about his hire at DGLM. The agency had an amazing reputation and I was looking for someone who might offer a more editorial approach, so I did the old-fashioned query letter and attached a few pages. Per their instructions, of course. He asked for a revise and resubmit based on some notes and soon after, I signed as his client.

How long did you query before landing your agent? 

For my first agent, I think it took around six months. It happened fairly quickly, I think. Most of that time was because of all the time it took to master – and I say that word in the loosest sense – a query letter. That is an art unto itself, and one that I really struggled with. As a result, I had a solid rejection rate. 

Any advice to aspiring writers out there on conquering query hell?

Giving advice here is tough. It’s like instructing someone on how to bang his or her head against a wall. 

It’s a miserable experience, querying. I mean, at the expense of sounding like a shoe ad, just do it. Keep doing it until it works. You’ll know where the problems are the longer you do it. If your work keeps getting requested for fulls or partials, but also rejected, then maybe your query is good, but you have a problem with the manuscript or that maybe the market isn’t right for the work right now. 

How did it feel the first time you saw your book for sale?

I took a picture of it at Barnes & Noble and tweeted and facebooked it and emailed it and messaged it until even I was sick of hearing myself talk about it. 

But it’s a really cool feeling. I actually bought it when I saw it. There was this internal struggle between it being the Least Professional, Most Toolbag thing to do in the world or THE MOST AWESOME THING. 

The truth is somewhere in between, I think.

How much input do you have on cover art?

None whatsoever. Like, they courtesy-asked some questions about places and characters that might be contemplated by the cover, but in the end they went a totally different direction. Which probably worked out, since visual art is not my forte.

What's something you learned from the process that surprised you?

I feel like I’ve been in a total state of surprise since this whole thing started. What’s been nice is the camaraderie I’ve discovered with other authors. There’s a surprising amount of I Don’t Know in this business and you’ll band together with other writers and sort of hold each other’s hand along the way. I’ve made some fantastic friends doing this over the years. 

How much of your own marketing do you?  

My publisher has a PR team that do their thing. That almost rhymed, and I apologize for the near miss. Really, though, I do a decent amount on my own. I'm on Twitter and you can like me on Facebook. I also run a terribly neglected blog at INKROCK.com, and you can also find me chipping in at From The Write Angle and Fall Fourteeners. And of course, I’m on Goodreads. 

When do you build your platform? After an agent? Or should you be working before?

I think it’s always better to have a platform ready for when your book comes out. 

Do you think social media helps build your readership?

Absolutely. And really, half the fun of this is interacting with readers. Even if it had no impact on the sales numbers, I’d still participate.