Speakeasy

We’ve spotted this fabulously useful Top Ten over on the Allen & Unwin website. Read carefully and apply. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I think this topic has come up in this blog before, but I found a recent snippet by Editorial Ass, and I was struck again by the fact that some people clearly don’t know how NOT to behave when dealing with people in the publishing industry.

If you are rude to someone, they will remember it. They will probably mention it to their colleagues. Said colleagues, and indeed, the person you insulted, probably have contacts throughout the industry, and what if you and your rudeness comes up in conversation? It’s a good way to turn people off, they’ll be reluctant to work with you, and in an industry the size of the one we have here in Oz, YOU CAN’T AFFORD THAT.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try to work with the best people available. You want the best for your book. But never, NEVER be rude, especially not to the so-called underlings in an organisation. The editorial assistants, the interns, the admin people; they handle the mail, make the appointments, and are the gatekeepers to the more experienced people you’re trying to get to.

Editorial Ass also makes a good point when she says to think twice about turning away from an editor who might have less experience, but is willing to take the time on your project. They may not have the high profile, but they’ll be motivated to work hard, if for no other reason than a good project will help everyone’s career. And again, they’ll be the gateway for eventual attention from the higher-ups.

We get questions on this theme all the time. "How do I work out what age group to mention in my cover letter?" "Does a book for a certain age group have to have a particular word count?" "How do I work out who will read my book?" And there’s no easy answer.

You don’t really need to know, of course. Not exactly. When you’re writing to an agent or publisher, a guesstimate will do. Your publisher will fine tune it long before the marketing starts, and they’ll work out how to pitch your book to booksellers. But where do you get your guesstimate?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a set of guidelines for this one, a list of boxes to check, to add up and work out that yes, your book definitely falls into the Young Adult section and will probably appeal to readers aged 14-16. You can’t even base it on characters, content and word count; there are basic commonalities in these areas in different genres, but these are generalisations at best. True, children’s books are a bit shorter, and fantasy novels tend to be on the hefty side. Teenagers like books with teen-aged characters, dealing with teenage issues. But it’s like saying women like books with content about women. Sure, sometimes they do, but they also like crime novels, and science fiction. Classifications can help, but there’s always exceptions.

One of the best ways to figure it out is to read other books like yours. Other authors are your competition; you should be tracking them anyway. If your book is a crime novel with an embittered, male detective with an ex-wife, who’s currently hot on the trail of a serial killer, check out other authors who write books like this. If you’re writing a quest novel with a motley group of travellers who are trying to destroy or find a magical artefact, and the whole thing finishes up with a couple of epic battles in which good prevails, first read Tolkien. Then, use the internet to find other authors who’ve written in a similar style. Read their books, of course, but also go online and look at their websites. Google the book, and see what happens. Check out Amazon, and look at the reader reviews. The ‘People who liked this book also liked…" thingy Amazon does will also help you find other books with the same readership.

If you’re writing to an agent or publisher, this should be enough. "My book is a [insert genre here] novel in a similar vein to This Book by this author, and This Other Book by This Other Author." They’ll get what you’re aiming for, and they’ll be able to deduce the readership you’re targeting. Of course, if they then read your sample and decide you’ve got it totally wrong, that’s another matter. They might be able to pitch it anyway, or they might knock you back. If it’s the latter, maybe you need to go out and read some more. 

Reeeeeeeally interesting interview with Benjamin LeRoy, founder of Bleak House Books, a US publisher of crime and dark literary fiction. Not only does Mr LeRoy talk about books in a way that makes you think he really loves them, he offers a no-holds-barred analysis of what he expects from an author. For example:

As soon as I see awkward prose on page one, I reject a book. You wouldn’t trust a clumsy surgeon with a scalpel. I don’t trust authors who aren’t in complete control of their environment. Sloppy work is sloppy work. Doesn’t matter the profession, I don’t want it.

When I read this, I thought, wow, he’s a hardass. But with the glut of badly-written fiction around, and believe me, there is so much out there, isn’t it refreshing to know there’s someone out there not publishing any old trash? And when I thought about it some more, I wondered why on earth a writer would expect to send ’sloppy work’ to a publisher and expect to get anywhere with it.

If you’re thinking, but writing can be edited, right? I think you need to step back and ask yourself exactly what you’re doing. If you’re sending your stuff out there with the expectation that it’ll be polished up by someone else, think again. Never, ever send out a manuscript you haven’t pored over with a fine tooth comb. You might as well send out your first draft. (And please tell me you haven’t been doing that. NEVER submit a first draft anywhere. First drafts are always awful.)

How do you tell the difference? How do you know if your work is ’sloppy’ and ‘awkward’? Compare and contrast. Read read READ! Read authors you admire, authors other poeple admire. Try to pick apart what’s so good about their writing, but it’s amazing how much you’ll pick up by osmosis. And, worst case scenario, take a refresher course in grammar and punctuation, to make sure your comma usage and sentece structures are being all they can be.

You see, writing is a job. It’s something you have to work at. To excel at it, like in any other job, you have to commit to it, and take professional development courses, and study what’s going on in your field. Sure, it pays a hell of a lot less, and you’ll probably have to work hard, but that’s what it takes.