photo credit: milos milosevic via photopin cc
Gary Neal Hansen (@garynealhansen) came up with a great idea the other day. He suggested asking you for questions that you’d like me to ask agents, editors, and authors.
This is all part of what I’m calling the Living Legends series, where I interview an agent, editor, or author about anything from self-publishing to building a platform to . . . well, that’s where you come in!
So go for it. Drop a question you’d like me to ask in a comment, and I’ll see what I can do. It might be helpful if you let me know whether your question is for an agent, editor, or author. Thank you.
By the way, last month I interviewed agent Chris Ferebee (@caferebee), and a lot of people found it helpful, including me! Check it out here.
~~~~
Have a Twitter or Facebook account? I would love your help getting the word out…
Hey, editor @chadrallen is interviewing agents and editors. What questions do you want him to ask? http://wp.me/p2FgGq-eu Tweet this!
Got a question you wish you could ask an agent or editor? Let editor @chadrallen know here: http://wp.me/p2FgGq-eu Tweet this!
I would love to hear about the inner workings of a publishing company when it comes to selecting books to publish. What is the planning process like? How are books evaluated in committee (How are they presented? What are the most common questions or objections? What sinks a concept completely? What would an author who is a fly on the wall be surprised to hear? etc.)?
Thanks Chad!
Awesome questions, Natasha, as I’ve come to expect from you. Thank you.
Chad,
Love this idea! Cypber high-five.
Here’s one:
There are so many conferences. What are some of your favorites to attend? Why?
Thanks for these terrific questions! You’ll be seeing some of them again in the interviews!
Thanks for this, Chad. Great idea. Here is a question for an agent: At what point or for what kind of contract/advance would you recommend an author switch from self-publishing to traditional publishing these days? It seems like with high royalties but all the platform-building work on self-pubbed authors’ shoulders and good advances and at least some promotional help for bestselling authors (or ones publishers expect to be bestselling), the only ones really getting a raw deal these days are traditionally published mid list authors, who seem to get lost in the middle with no advances and no promo or platform help. Can you give your perspective on this?
1. What credentials must you posses in order to become an editor?
2. How do you go about getting an intern position with an agency you’re interested in?
3. What is one thing you want to see on a writer’s resume?
Thanks for doing this, Chad. What a great opportunity.
What a great opportunity, thank you! Here’s one for editors: What characteristics make an author a pleasure to work with?
Here’s a question that is always great for agents: What are you looking for and what are you sick of seeing?
1. I feel like a minnow in a sea of big fish when it comes to writing. How in the world do you actually get noticed?
2. What if you do not feel reciprocity in social media platform building. At what point does being selfless become counterintuitive?
3. Where do you start if you don’t have the funds to do all the following that need to be done: blog makeover, taking craft courses, attending conferences, having professionals edits?
4. How do you sustain your career without burning out? Balancing the social media and writing can be so challenging.
I’m really looking forward to this series, thank you!
Hey, thanks Chad!
Here are a few, though I suspect I’ll think of more:
For agents:
1. Pretend you are developing a book and want to find an agent. Pretend you know the field just you do now, but that you don’t have any of the contacts you have now in real life. What specific steps would you personally take to find an agent?
2. It seems like it can take as much time and energy to find an agent as it can to get the attention of a publisher directly. How should an aspiring writer discern wither to pursue an agent’s representation?
3. If one has published previously without an agent, what makes finding an agent important or helpful?
4. How can one discern which agents to seek out? Are particular agents more or less likely to handle those who write on Christian topics? Certain genres?
Chad, your blog has been such a help to me. Thank you for taking the time to write about publishing and also share some personal wisdom (and pain). It’s very appreciated. There are few blogs that I read every day, and yours is one of them.
So here’s a question that I recently received from a reader who wants to get published. I’ll also share how I answered it, which may or may not be right. I sense that things are definitely changing on this score, but by how much?
“Jana, I have a quick (hopefully) and somewhat urgent question. I read the excellent writing advice you had a link to within the past few days. I’ve been working on a scholarly book manuscript dealing with pride and humility. The writing advice inspired me to set up a blog where I could post portions of the manuscript for feedback. Here’s my question: would having the manuscript available on a blog create problems when looking for a publisher? Could publishers be concerned that the material had already been published since it was on a blog? Would it matter how the blog is set up and/or how available it might be?”
I responded:
“Dear S.,
This is a great question and I think I will address it on my blog as well as here.
The conventional wisdom on this is definitely changing. Several years ago I would have said no, don’t publish it online first, because publishers don’t want to acquire books that are available online for free. Why would customers pay money for them?
But nowadays trade publishers are really seeing the value in creating an audience for the book long before publication, and getting readers invested. Basically you want to build a community of people who are excited about your book and have a stake in its success.
Things are different in the scholarly market, though. Academic publishers are much slower to change and are pretty wedded to the notion of exclusivity.
So here is my advice: post each chapter for two to three weeks, get comments, and then take that chapter down. Only have a few chapters available online for free at a time. Having a schedule like this might also make it easier for you to incorporate feedback as you go, since each chapter will only be available for a limited time.
Good luck!”
Chad and other experts — What do you think? Since I wrote to him I’ve been wondering about this myself. Thanks.
Jana
Jan: First, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to know that you value what I do here. I’ve always admired your work, and so this note from you just made my day.
Regarding working from blog posts to write a book, while it used to be anathema to us publishers, we’re softening to it in a big way.
I’m completely on board with it myself.
Your reply to this inquirer was right on for an academic project, I suspect.
You’re right. This would make a terrific blog post!