Dear O'Abby: Can I query publishers and agents at the same time?

 Dear O'Abby,

I've been querying agents for a few months with very little in the way of response, so I was thinking about starting to query publishers that don't require an agent too.  Is this okay to do?  I have found a bunch of publishers who accept unagented manuscripts and it feels like I'll save time if I query them at the same time as I keep querying agents.

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.

Regards,

Unagented

Dear Unagented,

Generally speaking it is not a good idea to query both publishers and agents at the same time.  But if you do, make sure you keep really good records of who you've queried and any responses you get so if you do end up signing with an agent, they don't waste their time submitting your book to a publisher who has already rejected it.

Most, but not all,  publishers who accept unagented manuscripts are small presses, so think hard about what you actually want out of your writing career before you start going down this path.  And do your research before blindly submitting to a publisher that offers ebook only publishing when your dream is to see your book on library and bookstore shelves.

And whatever you do, don't go into submitting to publishers because you think it's a shortcut to getting agent interest if you get a bite.  It rarely works that way as agents prefer to submit books to editors they know and who have a track record with a specific type of book.  Also, agents only get paid when you do, so there isn't a lot in it for them if you've already started contract negotiations.

Which brings me to another point -  contracts.  Publishing contract can be tricky and unless you have the expertise, you could end up signing something that isn't in your best interests.  Better to leave that to an agent who has experience both in reading and negotiating publishing contracts.

So while you can submit to both at the same time, I would strongly advise against it.  I know publishing is slow and that waiting to hear back on queries can be agonising, so my best advice is to get on with writing your next book while you're playing the waiting game.  

Best of luck!

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: How do I get blurbs? And do I need them?

Dear O'Abby,

I'm publishing my first novel early next year, and looking at other books in my genre, they all seem to have blurbs from other authors on the cover.  Is this something I need to do, or is it one of those "nice-to-have" things that aren't actually that important?

If they are critical, how do I go about getting them?

Best wishes,

Blurbless

Dear Blurbless,

I wouldn't say blurbs are essential, but they do give another layer of authority to the fact that your book is good.  Not everyone reads them, of course, but certainly, having a great quote on your cover from an author well known in your genre can elevate your book in the eyes of readers.

In terms of getting them, it's really just a matter of asking.

If you're with a publisher, there may be other authors in their stable who you can reach out to.  Your editor may even have an idea already who might be a good fit.  If you're self-publishing, you're going to need to do this on your own.

Find the authors you think would be a good fit and reach out to them.  Make sure you give them plenty of lead time and be gracious and polite if they decline the request.  Reading a whole book is a big time investment, and not everyone has that kind of time.

Make sure you choose writers whose work aligns with yours.  A horror writer is unlikely to want to blurb a romance, and if they do, the blurb is likely to confuse readers more than if there wasn't one there at all.  A writer whose work is similar to your own is far more likely to be interested in reading your book and therefore blurbing you.

Make sure you're clear when you need the blurb, and offer to send the author a copy of the book when it's published.  Small tokens of appreciation go a long way.

And that's really all there is to it.

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: How do I deal with this in reviews?

 Dear O'Abby,

I'm a recently published author and I got a review in which the writer mentioned that they were excited to read my book because the author (me) was from the same country as they were.  They then went on to express their disappointment that US spelling and punctuation was used throughout, mentioning that it made the story feel generic and not of the author's home country.

My publisher is US-based and their style guide requires US spelling and punctuation.  It's something I've had to learn as I went through the publication process as we use British spelling and punctuation where I come from.  It still makes me feel weird when I read passages from my books and I see Mum as Mom, but that's what my editor asked me to do.

Is there any way to explain this to a reviewer?  I don't feel like it's a fair criticism.

All the best,

Guideless

Dear Guideless,

It's never a good idea to reply to reviewers.  They are as entitled to their opinion as you are.  And yes, this criticism seems unfair, but in reality, it's not a critique of your story.  If that's the only thing they found to nit-pick about, you're lucky!

Reviewers don't necessarily understand the publication process or that different publishers have different style-guides  (my publisher's style guide doesn't allow the use of semi-colons) which dictate how your writing ends up on the page.  And they don't need to know that.  Their role is to write about what they like and don't like about a particular book.

The best thing to do is to ignore this particular review.  Many writers don't read their reviews at all because it's better for their mental health not to know what people are saying about their work.  If you have decided that you do want to read them, you have to be prepared for the bad ones and learn to shake them off.  Even if you think the reviewer's criticism is unfounded.  If you're not able to do that, then perhaps you need to re-think your policy on reading reviews.

I hope that helps.

Have a wonderful New Year and here's to 2022 being filled with rapturous reviews.

X O'Abby

Dear O'Abby: Can I write reviews if I'm an aspiring author?

Dear O’Abby,

I’ve been getting conflicting advice about whether or not to review books as an aspiring author. Some people tell me I shouldn’t do it because if I give a bad review to a book represented by a publisher or agent I might wish to query, they may have already put a black mark by my name. Others say I should write reviews because it helps to identify things wrong with stories and writing that I can then apply to my own work.

Do you have an opinion on this?

Best,

Confused


Dear Confused,

I’ve heard that story about why writers shouldn’t write reviews too, but I’ve never taken it too seriously. Agents and publishers should be mature enough to understand that not every book is going to appeal to every reader and that well-written reviews can be valuable to the author even if they aren’t 100% positive.

As a writer, it’s important to read critically and reviewing books is one way to force yourself to do so. If you like a book, reviewing it will help you figure out why you enjoyed it. Was it the story? The characters? The way the words are strung together?

And if you didn’t like the book, what was it you didn’t like? Did you feel the characters acted inconsistently? Was the writing pedestrian? Did the plot fall flat?

By identifying what you do and don’t like about the books you read, you will find yourself growing more critical of your own writing and you may save yourself a lot of grief by fixing issues long before you send the manuscript off to agents or publishers.

If being blacklisted by agents or publishers for writing negative reviews is a real concern, there are a number of ways you can get around it.

Firstly, only publish reviews of things you like. Write the negative ones because they’re often more helpful to you as a writer than the positive ones, but don’t publish them. I did this for a while, calling the review section on my blog ‘books I’ve loved’ and only reviewing things I really liked. I ended up stopping this though, because there just weren’t enough books I loved to write a positive review every week.

Another way to get around it is to review under a pseudonym or write under a pen name so your reviews aren’t linked to your author name.

The key thing to remember when writing reviews is to be constructive. Don’t just pile on with a negative rant. Nothing is 100% bad, so even a negative review can mention a few positives to balance out the negativity. Personally, I like to start with something I liked and finish with another thing I liked with all the critique in the middle. Always read what you have written before you publish and think about how it would make you feel if this review was for your own book.

I would also suggest you don’t tag the author when you publish the review. Not all writers like to read their reviews and if they accidentally click onto a link in a tweet or something and find themselves confronted with a negative review, it could be very upsetting for them.

So that’s my opinion on whether writers should write reviews. I know other people have different opinions, but if you want to write reviews and if you find the process helps your own writing, why not?

If you want more information about this topic, Operation Awesome's J Lenni  Dorner has written a very helpful book, Writing Book Reviews As An Author which gives much more in-depth guidance about how to effectively review books as an author. Some of the advice in there may contradict my own, but it's still a valuable resource, even if you are not a writer and want to write reviews.

Happy reviewing!

X O’Abby

Dear O'Abby: Should I Enter Twitter Pitch Contests?

Dear O'Abby,

There's this thing called #PitMad happening on Twitter this week.  I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's a thing where you tweet a pitch for your book and agents and publisher request the things they like the look of.

Are these kinds of contests a good idea?  The word limit on Twitter is so small, I can't quite figure out how an agent or publisher can figure out what's worth asking for.

Do you have any thoughts about this?

X Twitchy

Dear Twitchy,

I actually got my agent through a Twitter pitch contest, so I'm evidence that they work, at least sometimes.

Like any contest, these Twitter pitch parties are another way to get your project seen.  They are also a really good way to distill your story down into a really tight, punchy longline that will catch attention.  If you can get people re-tweeting and favoriting your pitch tweet, chances are you've managed to write a compelling pitch.

The key is to just focus on the main details of your story and make them unique and interesting.  For example, here's the pitch that got me my agent (and is for my recently published novel, The Sidewalk's Regrets):

When Sacha's sheltered life entwines with sexy rocker Dylan's, she gives him her cutting-edge sound; he gives her his drug habit. #PitMad #YA

Or this one, for a project I've been re-working recently after several agents requested it and gave me feedback on why they didn't think it worked:

A trans-boy and a pregnant stranger struggle to survive in the woods after an earthquake. But are they as alone as they think? #PitMad #YA

Like any other contest, it pays to do your due diligence on any agent or publisher who favorites your tweet before you send them the material they're requesting.  Just because they like your idea doesn't mean you have to send them anything.  If you don't think they're someone you want to work with, just ignore their interest.

So my advice would be to do it if you want to, but don't get too hung up on whether your pitch gets noticed or not.  You can always query.  That option is always there.  And even if you do get noticed in the pitch contest, you still have to send a query to the agent.

There are no shortcuts, I'm afraid...

X O'Abby

5 Ways Unpublished Writers Can Make Themselves More Attractive to Publishers

I’ve been treasure hunting in the slush pile at Rebelight Publishing Inc. for just over two years. One of our mandates is to publish new authors, so part of my hunt includes searching for manuscripts from unpublished writers. Of our thirteen signed authors, five are new to publishing. In other words,

over 38 per cent our stable of authors are publishing their first novel with Rebelight. Besides having a well-written, riveting, out-of-the-box story, here are five tips for showing publishers you’re ready to take the next step in your writing career.

1. Research query letter writing before you start querying. Query writing is tough, but there are resources galore online. Telling me that you don’t know how to write one because you’re new to this only makes me think you’re unwilling to put in the hard work needed to learn a new skill. And there are tons of new skills to learn when you publish your first book.
2. Show me you’re serious about your writing. Maybe you haven’t achieved publication yet. It’s understandable in this publishing climate. If you don’t have publishing credits to boast in your query letter, then tell me what you have been doing to hone your craft. Have you been mentored by a professional writer? Are you a part of a writers’ group? Have you taken courses and sought out critique of your work? This tells me you’re willing to take risks and go the extra mile for your writing career.
3. Do your research. Know how the publishing business works. Again, information is available
   
   online. You may be a novice, but you need not be ignorant. We want to know that any new author we bring on-board understands the business and just how tough it is, so they’re prepared for the next steps in their writing career.
4. Be professional. Your query letter, synopsis, and all correspondences should reveal professionalism. Not that you can’t be friendly, but never should the friendliness undermine your professionalism. We are interested in working with professional writers who can go the distance.
5. Conduct yourself with integrity. We publish books for young people and, like it or not, young people will seek you out online. We want our readers to be able to connect with our authors. We do check potential authors’ social media outlets to ensure the author is someone we want to work with and is someone we're proud to associate with
   Rebelight. Be aware of what you’re making public and the effect it may have on your career.

Four Reasons Why Your MS May Have Been Rejected That Have Nothing to do with Your Writing.

Who hasn’t been discouraged by rejection letters at some point?

Today, I’ve removed my author hat and donned my publisher hat to give you four reasons why your MS may have been rejected that have nothing to do with how well you write. First the disclaimer. My views may be different than other publishers. I can only speak to the processes of Rebelight Publishing.

Upon receiving a rejection from a publisher or agent, authors often blame themselves, rationalizing that the problem must be their writing skills. While that could be, often it isn’t the case.

When I dive the slush pile, I first go after manuscripts that fit our publishing needs. As a company, we look at our book list and identify the holes. A few months ago, we determined a need for middle grade manuscripts under 30,000 words. I went to the pile, read those submissions, and dealt with those queries first. We requested fulls, read, and signed a couple authors. If you submitted a YA manuscript to us at that point, you’d be hearing crickets in your inbox. We had a need, and it was my job to fill it. That means those MG manuscripts had to take priority.

We are a small publishing house, and we don’t want to compete with ourselves, which is why we’ve

chosen to publish multiple genres. During each cycle, we try to publish a variety of books—some MG, some YA, some historical, some speculative, some contemporary. If you send us a YA high fantasy, and we’ve just signed a YA high fantasy, you’ll likely receive a rejection for the sole reason that we’ve already filled that spot. This has nothing to do with the quality of writing, the story, or your value as the author.

Another reason you might receive a rejection is that writing style isn’t what we’re looking for. We have a certain type of book we publish at Rebelight. That does not mean other styles are wrong or lesser. This is simply our preferences, and what we’ve found does well in the marketplace. While your style may not suit us, it may suit another publisher just fine. This is why you should query widely. You never know when what you’ve written is just what a certain publisher or agent is looking for.

Ooh, I said that word—marketplace. While writing is an art, publishing is a business. We want to sell book—lots of books. We have to make a judgement call about each book we publish. We make a huge investment of time, money and resources into each book. We have to determine if this is a book we can fully get behind and market. If we feel we can’t, no matter how great the writing, the manuscript is going to get a rejection.

However, sometimes it is the writing. If you are receiving a lot of rejections, enlist additional beta readers to see if there’s something you’ve missed. It never hurts to have an extra set of eyes on a manuscript. I’m just hoping that as you read this you realized there are a lot of different scenarios in play. The best thing to do is not take it personally.

It’s human to get discouraged, but don’t give up!