Every author’s dream is to get a book contract. A book contract means a publisher thought your work was good enough to take a risk with in the crowded book marketplace. Emily Clark did it three times in one day! In this post, she shares how she did it – and how you can, too. If you want to have your book picked up by a traditional publisher, you need to read this!
You just won a three book publishing deal. Congratulations! Tell us a little about the series and why you chose to write it.
It’s called The Contemporary Reboot Series, and it’s a seven book series with the potential to become ten if it does well. So, I’m crossing my fingers. I’ve only signed contracts for the first three books because that was how many contracts my publisher had with her when we met. (She didn’t realize what an overachiever I am. Ha ha!)
The first book is called Regencyland: The Bristle Park Murders. It releases this November 7th on Amazon under the pen name Ellie Thornton.
The series takes well-known stories like Pride and Prejudice, Count of Monte Cristo, and Jane Eyre and does a retelling of them. I’ve placed Detective Elizabeth Shea and P.I. Patrick Daley in modern-day Sacramento and have thrown in a murder mystery they have to solve. And, considering the inspiration for each novel, there will be romance.
Also, I should clarify that the “romance” is of the “sweet” variety—not Harlequin—get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not that kind of gal. ☺
I’ve been working on this series for years. When I finished the first book, I loved the characters so much that I kept using them in new stories. I only recently considered publishing them when I discovered people were interested in the concept. That was exciting because initially, it was only a fun side project.
You’ve been an award-winning writer for a while. Did you always want to go with a traditional publisher one day?
Yes. However, in the last three years or so, I’ve been doing a lot of research and have found that the best route a person can take, if you want to write for a living, is to do a little of both.
What’s the advantage of getting a publishing contract instead of self-publishing?
Being published through a traditional publishing house shows that you are a capable writer, and it can help you get your name out there, but it can be hard to make money through them unless you publish something like Jason Bourne. By the time your agent is paid, and the publishing house is paid it leaves pennies of profit for you. To be more precise, it’s about ten percent of the cover price that most authors make from the top five publishing houses.
This is where self-publishing comes in. And the nice thing about self-publishing is that there are lots of ways to prove that you’re a capable writer, outside of traditional publishing. And even better, in the end, you get to keep the bulk of your profits. The downside, however, is that all the marketing will be on you. Payments, legwork, all of it.
Of course, if you’re working with a small publishing house, like what I’m doing, it can end up being the best of both worlds. You get a much higher profit margin, they do some marketing for you, and it helps you make a name for yourself. That’s not to say that this way is perfect, but it can be a nice jumping off point.
Keep in mind, however, that there are small publishing houses that will take advantage of you. You don’t usually need an agent to work with them, so it’s imperative that you read your contract. If you don’t understand everything in it, get an attorney to read it for you. Never, never, sign a contract without knowing what’s in it.
I’m going to emphasize this by telling you a horror story. (Not for the faint of heart.) A friend of mine, who I met at a writer’s conference, signed a contract with a small publishing house without fully reading the contract. What he didn’t know is that he signed over rights to everything he was currently writing and would write for the next forty years. So when he got an agent and publishing deal with Simon and Schuster, they had to go to court to get his story rights back and terminate the contract. On top of that, they had to give a big payout to that small publishing house as well, which, by the way, probably cut into my friend’s profits. I guarantee Simon and Schuster aren’t going to take the loss, so who did? I’m guessing his overall paycheck. (His measly ten percent—which in his case is a lot, but that’s not the point.)
Oh, and by the way, that small publishing house still owns the rights to a series he wrote that they’re not publishing. He has seven books that he put hours of time, energy, and love into and they will never see the light of day.
If that didn’t scare you into going through your contracts with a fine-tooth comb, then you’re just asking for it.
What does an unknown writer need to do to get a publisher’s attention?
Being published in one of the top five publishing houses requires an agent. Publishing houses like Simon and Schuster, Random House, and Penguin, etc., won’t even look at your query unless it comes from an agent. First step with the big guns is an agent.
If you’re publishing through a small publishing house, you need a book that is ready to be published now and an amazing query letter. What I mean by “a book that is ready to be published now” is that you’ve sent it through a critique group, hopefully more than once, you’ve sent it to beta readers, several, and you’ve made it as clean a concept and copy as it can be. (So, you’ve sent it to a professional editor as well.) Once you have that, you need one amazing query letter to sell that concept and copy you’ve worked on so painstakingly.
It also helps to have contacts, which I did. Now, I’m telling you this because I want to make a point, which I’ll get to in just a second, not make you think I was a shoo-in because of my contact. I still had to work really hard.
That said, I met my publisher at a writer’s conference five years ago, and while we never saw each other between conferences, we always hung out each year at the conferences. So, what’s my point?
Go to conferences. Now. As many as you can, as often as you can, and make friends.
So many doors have opened to me because I started attending writer’s conferences. Not only has my writing improved from the classes I’ve taken, but I’ve also met my critique groups through conferences, made contacts with agents and publishers, and have made friends in general. Conferences are a win-win-win. Trust me.
More on this in the next question.
You’ve written lots of query letters. What are the critical elements of a successful one?
Know who you are pitching and what they’re looking for, follow their guidelines, and be concise.
Agents get hundreds of query letters every week, if not every day, and if you don’t meet the criteria above, it makes it really easy for them to trash it. They may trash it anyway, but don’t make it easy.
Here we go:
Addressing the email: Dear (Actual name of specific agent. Don’t you dare put: To whom it may concern.)
First paragraph: Let them know how you know about them. Did you find them online, through a friend, or meet them at a conference? Be specific. If you found them online give them a sentence about why you liked them; this part should be no longer than two to three sentences.
This is where going to conferences and making contacts comes in handy. Just think how much nicer it will be to say, “Hi, I met you at ABC Writer’s Conference last year. We talked about sushi and Steampunk. I was so impressed that I knew I had to query you,” than it will be to say, “Hi, I heard about you at ABC Writer’s Conference and liked….” Of course, you will have to go with the second route most of the time if you’re querying consistently, but it’s a treat to know someone once in a while.
(Also, if you didn’t meet them, but attended their class, you could mention what you liked about their class. Same applies if you found them online and read an article they wrote, etc.)
Second paragraph: Tell them the name of your manuscript, the genre, the word count, and give your one sentence pitch: it’s like this meets this, but with/without this. Keep it to three to five sentences.
Third paragraph: Give them the paragraph pitch. Who is your character? Where is your character/or how old is s/he? What’s happening to your character? The goal here is to tell them what is happening in the first third of your book, like a back cover copy.
Fourth paragraph: If you have more than one character telling the story then you will use this paragraph to give a quick summary of your other main character. Keep it short. If you don’t have another main character, then skip.
Fifth paragraph: Who are you? Do you have a degree in English? Do you have writing certifications? What do you do for a living? What makes you the person to tell this story? Have you won any writing awards? Do you have a blog? Do you write for your day job?
Keep this section as pertinent to writing as you can. That said still mention your job even if it’s not pertinent. Make sure to sell yourself here. This is your moment to shine.
Here’s mine:
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and a minor in English from the University of Utah. I’m a writer by day, a blogger by night, and a Ghost Tour Guide by the weekend. I have over 10,000 followers on all my social media platforms for my company Write of Passages. One of my stories won third place in the first chapter contest at the Storymaker’s Conference for an adult speculative fiction, and I have a cozy murder mystery series that was just picked up for publication by Gelato Publishing. I’ve also won NaNoWriMo the last two years consecutively.
Sixth paragraph: If you have a full manuscript request from anyone, let the agent know. Who requested it? What agency are they with? Then let them know you haven’t heard back yet. If you have heard back with a rejection, skip this paragraph altogether.
End: Thank them for their time and consideration. (This is so important.) Let them know that you’re looking forward to hearing from them.
Sincerely,
Your full name
Your email
Your phone number
And if you can make your social media accounts, (relevant ones—don’t invite them to be friends on your personal Facebook account, etc.,) part of your signature, include those as well.
Agent Pet Peeves:
- Don’t tell them how they’ll feel about your manuscript or that it’s the next “insert latest big hit here.” E.g., “I know you’ll love my book. It’s the next Da Vinci Code.”
- Don’t send them manuscripts they don’t want. If they only like dystopian novels don’t send them romance.
- Don’t call your story a “book,” call it a “manuscript.”
- Read their guidelines thoroughly and follow every request to the letter.
- Some agents have a word count on queries, and they will delete if you go over.
- Don’t send a query with typos.
- Don’t send them anything but your query unless they ask for a sample. Once they ask for a sample, check if they want it attached or in the body of the email. (This goes back to “Read the guidelines thoroughly.”)
- Don’t pitch more than one book at a time.
- Don’t make digs at other agents or books or anything. Stay positive.
- Careful with exclamation points. One per query is usually more than enough.
- Don’t ask questions regarding your stories plot. E.g., “What would you do if…?” “Will he choose the girl or will he take the money?” “Have you ever dreamed you could fly?” (Don’t, just don’t. Trust me on this. Just tell them what the story is about and move on.)
- Don’t query multiple agents at the same agency. Pick one. If s/he rejects you, check their guidelines and see if you’re allowed to query another agent. If it doesn’t say, I won’t do it.
- Sadly, this is a section I could go on and on in. I’m not going to, but I will repeat once more: READ THEIR GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION THOROUGHLY.
Rejection is surely part of the process. How can writers handle that and press on?
Get rejected often.
Ha ha! No, but seriously. If you want to be published, you have to query often, which means lots of rejection. The more rejection you go through, the easier it is to handle. (Sad but true.)
Don’t take it personally. Just because they didn’t take your book, doesn’t mean it’s not good. Honestly, it doesn’t even necessarily mean they didn’t like it. It could mean that it wasn’t what they were looking for right now, or possibly that they already have something similar. There are way too many factors to get down in the dumps about this. Even Harry Potter was rejected several times. Harry Potter, people.
But you know what really, really, helps with rejections? A good query letter. And I just gave you the foundation for that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten emails from agents rejecting my manuscripts, who wanted to tell me what a great query I had, and on occasion that they’ve forwarded my query to another agent in their Agency who they thought might be interested.
You’re welcome. ☺
Once you get a contract, what is expected of you? How much marketing do you have to do and how much does the publisher do?
This all depends on your agent and/or publisher. The publishing house I’m with goes through an extensive editing process. For the last month, I’ve been sending my book back and forth between proofers and editors and making changes. I’ve just sent my book off for its last round of edits. Yay!
My publisher doesn’t require that you help with the marketing process, though she does have all of her willing authors email their mailing lists when a new book comes out. I, however, wanted to be involved as much as possible. Before I signed my contract, I made sure to ask a lot of questions, and one of my questions was about marketing. Once I knew she was good to have me participate, I was all in.
You’re also a working editor. What role does an editor play in the process of getting a book deal? What part does she play later?
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, probably repeatedly (that’s how important it is.) Get a professional editor before you start querying. If you’re not serious about turning in the best possible product, then no agent will seriously consider representing you. That’s just how it works if you want a book deal.
After you get a book deal, your agent will act as an editor and help you fine-tune your work before sending it to publishers. Once you have a publisher, you’ll work directly with editors they assign you until they think it’s perfect. (Again, this is all conditional on your agent and publisher.)
If you don’t like the editing process, you should know now that most of what you’ll be doing is editing. This can be a never-ending process. Even after it’s published, you could end up changing things. Ever heard of a book having more than one edition? Yep, that’s why.
What advice would you give a new writer who wants to get published?
Perfect your manuscript by going to writer’s conferences, by getting into critique groups, and by finding honest beta readers. Then query, query, query. When you think you can query no more, query again anyway.
Here’s the rule I live by: If you’ve queried a hundred times and have been rejected a hundred times, send it through your critique group one more time, make any necessary changes, self-publish, and move on to the next project.
I have too many stories I want to write, to get hung up on one book. At the same time, I’m not willing to do nothing with something I’ve worked so hard on.
This has been a lot of fun. Thanks for inviting me back! If anyone has questions, feel free to connect with me:
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/writeofpassages/
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/write_of_passages
Twitter: https://twitter.com/writeofpassages
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/writeofpassages/
Go visit Emily’s Amazon page here. And while you’re there, pick up a copy of her book Regencyland: The Bristle Park Murders.
Want to know more about how to edit your book to perfection? Check what Emily has to say here:
Why Every Writer Needs an Editor: My Conversation with Award-Winning Editor Emily Clark
