Thursday Thoughts

Thoughts lately:

1) I keep my house at 70 degrees, either through heating or cooling. So why, during wintertime do I wear pants and sweatshirts inside, but during summer I have shorts and tank tops on? It's the same temperature inside... but my body feels that heat or cold outside.... 

2) Who was the first person to think, "Hey, I wonder what the white stuff coming out of a cow tastes like?" And why cows? Why not horses, or - cats! There's tons of cats in the world, with tons of nipples on them - why don't we milk cats?

3) The universal sign when we want someone to roll their car window down is a fist and a circular motion, like we're turning an invisible handle. But there aren't handles to roll down windows anymore - will this little dash of ASL hang on, or will we soon be making little REDRUM finger motions at each other when we want to talk to someone in a car?

Debut Author Anna Banks on the Submission Process

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today's SHIT guest is Anna Banks, whose debut novel THE GIFT OF POSEIDON is coming from Fiewel & Friends, Spring 2012. Anna is represented by Lucy Carson of the Friedrich Agency.

Anna grew up in a Florida town called Niceville (Seriously. Google it.). The youngest of 7 children, you can believe she was spoiled rottener-than-most. She now lives with her husband and nine year old daughter in the Florida Panhandle, not far from where she was spoiled. In her spare time Anna likes to write, eat Reese cups, or both. She would rather give birth to a stingray than exercise, and if you put chocolate in front of her then you must not have wanted it in the first place.

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

Honestly, not much. Lucy (my 007 agent) and I had a phone conversation in which she tried, bless her wittle heart, to prep me for what was to come. She asked me if I was familiar with the Big Six, and I was, but I said, “Uh, no,” because what if the Big Six had changed since last time I checked, right? That would make me look pretty stinking stupid to my shiny new agent. 

Then she said things like “first round” and “second round” and it started to occur to me that even though I have an agent, she might not be able to sell the book (but uh, I’ll have to see that to believe it). Sure, we all KNOW this in the back of our minds, but we don’t really believe it until our agent says, “Now, if no one from our first round picks it up, these are the second round choices I have in mind. But don’t worry, I’m very confident we won’t make it to round two.” 

This gives you a taste of reality, because up until this point, you’re still completely stoked that you got an offer of rep, and because of said offer of rep, you kinda sorta think you’ve already made it. You haven’t. There is more agony waiting for you.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Yes. The bigger houses have smaller imprints which specialize in certain genres like sci-fi, YA, mystery, etc. (I already knew this part, thankyouverymuch) BUT they are not necessarily all on the same team. I mean, they are in the end, but some houses allow an agent to submit to all their imprints, and if they all want it, they allow their imprints to fight over your manuscript! Some houses don’t allow it, but some do! It’s like allowing a food fight at the dinner table, for crying out loud. Not that it wouldn’t be fun… 

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

No, I didn’t research any of them. Okay, yes I did. We’re all in the habit of researching agents to put on our submission wish-list, right? It seemed natural to research editors too. 

I’m not sure I’d recommend it though, because it doesn’t help a cotton-picking thing—and it makes you more anxious, as if that were possible. Your agent knows who would be right for your book, and it’s your agent’s job to talk it up and sell it. Your agent knows this business better than any Google session, so trust her to do her job. In the meantime, do YOUR job—which is write!  

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

I don’t know, and I think it’s partly because if the MS was rejected, Lucy didn’t tell me. It seems counter-intuitive to not want to know every little detail about what’s going on in NYC, but I think this is a good strategy on her part. I remember how I felt with each rejection on just my query letter. Rejection would have eaten me alive at that point in the game and I think if there were rejections, Lucy must have kept them to herself. I know that if there were too many, or if the rejections came back with the same reasons for passing, she would have wanted to have a pow wow about it to re-group and possibly suggest some revisions. 

That said, and please do not throw tomatoes at me, we received an offer within two weeks of being on submission. The editor wanted to preempt it, which means that she wanted to know what it would take to get the MS off the table at other houses, without having to go to auction.  

Yes, I realize how crazy that is. I still say, “Did that really just happen?” quite often.

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

Write, of course! And eat fried things. Lots of them, so you’re so grossly sick that you don’t think about being on submission, or you succumb to scrumptious sleep.

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

I was at work when Lucy emailed me the offer (my email goes straight to my cell phone). I sat there with my mouth hanging open until my boss became aware of an eerie, non-productive silence coming from the vicinity of my desk. Then I told her “Ohmygod!” I must have also told her about the offer, but I don’t remember any coherent sentences in there anywhere... 

Then Lucy was suddenly calling my cell. She was all like, “Did you get my email?” I say, “Uh huh.” She laughs, which was generous of her, because I really should have called her right away.  Then she delves right into explaining all the neat things I need to know in order to make an informed decision. (Which, with Jean Feiwel being the offering editor, was a no brainer, people. Ever heard of The Babysitter’s Club series? Yup, that was her. Jean Feiwel practically raised me, no wonder she loved my writing!). 

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

I only had to wait a day until I was absolutely sure Lucy had notified Feiwel and Friends of our acceptance. Lucy had already ironed out the details prior to emailing me with the offer. (You see how she operates? Nothing…nothing…nothing…BAM! Fully negotiated offer.) Then you couldn’t shut me up. Still can’t, actually…

Erin Jade Lange on Submission Hell

Yes, yes my friends. I have a new interview series for you, as the brain is always boiling. If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different.

I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Kicking off the SHIT for us today is Erin Jade Lange, whose debut novel BUTTER will be released by Bloomsbury in 2012.  Erin writes facts by day and fiction by night. As a journalist, she is inspired by current events and real-world issues and uses her writing to explore how those issues impact teenagers. Erin is represented by Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

Not as much as I thought I did. Ha! I knew a little about acquisitions (the mysterious team of people who give an editor final approval to buy a manuscript), but I sort of naively thought – if an editor likes it, they get the thumbs up, make the offer, one phone call, done. The actual process is a bit more complicated, which is why I say it’s SO IMPORTANT to have an agent who knows the ropes.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Many things. Despite what I thought I knew about the acquisitions process, I learned there was a lot more to it. First, an editor has to like your book. Then, likely, they’ll need a second read from one or two people in the department. If those folks like it, they’ll discuss it at an editorial meeting and decide whether to take it to acquisitions. The acquisitions team is a whole new group of people who may or may not be more into the business side of books (who decide whether they can market and sell your story). It was sort of overwhelming to realize how many people have to like your book/idea before you actually get an offer.

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

I did, and I do. Just like when you’re searching for an agent, you want to know which authors and which types of books editors work with. You want to know if they have a good reputation, etc… So I spent a lot of time on Google and on publishing houses’ websites.

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

Well, here is the part where I confess my “submission hell” was not so hellish at all. I was extremely fortunate to have interest in the first few weeks. This is HIGHLY UNUSUAL, so it may have been a case of good timing. Maybe my manuscript landed on an editor’s desk at just the right moment when he or she had time to read submissions and was in the mood for an edgy contemporary YA. The stars aligned; the editor liked the story; the ball got rolling.

Just like when you’re querying agents, once an offer is on the table, it’s time to nudge all queried parties, and people respond faster than they might have without that initial interest. So we got answers very quickly after that – some more interest, some rejections, and some editors letting us know they wouldn’t be able to speed up the acquisitions process enough to compete on our now-rushed timeline.
It all went very fast, but if it hadn’t been for that first offer, who knows? I might have been on sub for months or years.

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

Write. Something. New. This is my advice during ANY part of the publishing process that requires waiting. Waiting on agents who have your query, waiting on submission, waiting for the book to be published… it can all be maddening, so go to the place we writers always go to escape – crawl inside a manuscript and forget your worries. Build something new.

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

I was so lucky to have interest in BUTTER right out of the gate, because it really cushioned the blow of the rejections that followed. I will say this much, though: I was prepared for MORE rejections on sub than during the agent search. I think of the path to publishing like a cone that gets narrower as you try to squeeze through it. Tons of people write, many of them get agents, some get published and a lucky few get famous. I prepped myself from the very beginning to fail at every step but not give up. Expect the worst. Be pleasantly surprised if it all works out for the best.

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

My big “moment” was less YES! And more MAYBE!

I had just stepped off a plane in my home town, where I was visiting my family, and I turned on my cell phone to discover a string of messages from my agent basically saying, “GAH! WTF? WHERE ARE YOU? I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!”  haha. ☺ She let me know there was an editor interested, and I remember I sort of froze in place right there in the parking lot of the airport, and my parents are trying to hug me and take my bags, and I’m all, “Shh! Shh! I’m busy!” with my face buried in the phone, furiously text messaging.
I got super excited, but that excitement was tempered quickly by my agent explaining that the editor still had to get through acquisitions and that interest does not always equal “offer.” But that was the most memorable moment – the moment when it felt like it might really happen.

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

Again, I was unusually fortunate. I got more than one offer, so yes, there was a period of time when I kept quiet while my agent communicated with everyone and discussed the offers with me and such. I think, between that moment at the airport and the formal first offer, it was at least a few days. Then I think it was another week before we had a deal to announce. I learned so much in that time period, that it passed very quickly. And, I confess, I shared my news with my parents, my boyfriend and my two closest crit partners. Telling them felt like telling the world, because they all mean the world to ME.

But I was still bursting with excitement when I could finally post the deal on my blog. The online writing community is so supportive, and I was blown away by the kind words from fellow bloggers and writers after I shared the news. Writing can be a solitary pursuit, so it’s wonderful to have so many people to share the ups and downs with. It’s during those extreme highs and lows when you realize writing’s not so lonely after all.