Monday, March 21, 2005

What I learned from Marcela Landres this morning,
as told to Skitz:

ScorpionHela: basically, talent is secondary in the
agents/publisher's mind to how much $ you can make
them
ScorpionHela: the agent doesn't get paid until your
book is published, the publisher doesn't get paid
until it sells, so they are in it from a business
standpoint primarily
skitzjones: brb... keep talking. bathroom
ScorpionHela: it is disheartening..however..
ScorpionHela: there are things one can do to make
their work more appealing
ScorpionHela: it is all about sending it to the right
agents..ones who publish work that resembles your own
ScorpionHela: for example, it would make no sense for
a porn writer to send their work to a children's
publishing house..
ScorpionHela: anyway, subscribe to publisher's lunch:
publisherslunch.com .. every week they send out a list
of book deals that have been made that week.. look for
stuff like yours that has been published and write down the
names of the agents involved
ScorpionHela: also literaryagents.org
ScorpionHela: also marcelalandres.com under resources
then submission guidelines to get a good idea of how
to submit
ScorpionHela: and its also important to have a
"platform" .. that is a list of places you have been
published before, which is what I've been saying about
sending work to smaller places first
skitzjones: gotcha
ScorpionHela: there are some books out there too ..
the literary market place (dont buy it..go to the
library or bookstore to read it) also some magazines:
poets and writers and publishers weekly that are good
to look at for agents and contests
ScorpionHela: another option would be to self-publish
and then promote it yourself...then once you sell a
lot of copies on your own (again, getting the word out
much in the way that bands do), try sending it to
publishers again
ScorpionHela: I'm thinking of putting more sex in my
book because, well, it sells... *sigh*
ScorpionHela: brb..nosering emergency

posted at 8:57 PM |