MY EXPERIENCES AT THE COCOA BEACH WRITERS’ CONFERENCE
Self Publishing vs. Traditional
Publishing:
With all the hoopla surrounding self-publishing these days
(In 2008, for the first time in history, more books were self-published rather
than published traditionally. In 2009,
79% of all books released were self-published.
Amazon.com fueled the growth by offering self-published writers as much
as 70% of revenue on digital books. By comparison, traditional publishers
typically pay their authors 25% of net digital sales) a newbie author like me
could be forgiven for thinking that self-publishing equals a home run. Not so, according to the riveting key note
speaker, Chantelle Osman. “You can
always self-publish,” she stated empathically, “but first, do the work to try
and get an agent.”
“You need just one agent to fall in love with your work,” reiterated
Paige Wheeler (of Folio Literary). “Most
agents do have your best interests at heart.
They go into the publishing industry for the love of books, not to get
rich. People go into investment banking
to get rich,” she emphasized. “So, keep
working on the perfect pitch. Realize it’s
a slow business. The dream deal may be
just around the corner.”
From the Agent’s Perspective:
Etiquette for wanna-be authors: Be considerate of the agent’s
time. Paige Wheeler recounted an
incident where she asked for a manuscript submission, loved the work and wrote
the author back with an offer. “I’m so
sorry,” said the author. “I just signed
with somebody.” “Why did she send me her
manuscript, then?” demanded Paige. “I
work on submissions. I can’t get that
time back. It’s like a lawyer with billables.”
“Conferences are just verbal pitches,” states Paige. It’s not about making the first impression. What matters is how well you write, which is
the same whether in a query or a verbal pitch.
Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency reiterated that. “Half of my client list is authors who wrote
me cold and sent me a query letter,” she said. Conferences are not about making a connection with
an agent, but about learning the craft.
& lastly, you must edit your work before you send it out
to agents. Stacy Abrams of Entangled
Publishing believes that while you do not need to rush out and find a
professional editor, you should have a circle of writer buddies or beta-readers
that will catch your grammatical errors, your typos and even plot mishaps. Remember, if more than one person is telling
you the same thing, it’s time to get back to the ol’ drawing board again and figure
out what’s wrong!
That's a pretty funny comment from Paige Wheeler, whom I've met personally on a couple of occasions. I think she is one of the agents that really does have the writers' best interests at heart. But she's implying that simultaneous submissions to multiple agents is somehow unfair to agents because two agents at once might like the work and then a writer who's been agonizing for years to get an agent, finally has a chance to get one?
ReplyDeleteI like Paige personally, but I had to laugh at the billable attorney analogy. If I were an agent in the position she describes, and I really "fell in love" with the author's work, I'd try to build the connection with that author anyway, and not complain. Because the sad reality is that plenty of author-agent relationships go nowhere, and within 6-12 months the writer is right back to square 1, trying to find another agent.
It's true that self-publishing isn't the "home run" some people think it is - take it from a guy who did it twice. But it's also true that though I have thousands of dollars in net losses to show for my efforts from a financial perspective, every couple or three weeks I hear from a reader who was touched by what I've written. I'm not sure I can put a dollar value on how it feels to know I've accomplished my literary mission with someone.
Dave, your coments, especially about traditional publishing are very helpful and insprising. At least there are successful authors like you who can point the way, should one decide finally, to go that route.
DeleteI also agree with your response to Paige's comment about submissions. Ironically, Jenny Bent echoed exactly what you're saying, stating that any agent who's not expecting a would-be author to make multiple submissions, is deluding themselves. But do let us know its a multiple submission, she cautioned.