Don't Underestimate the Power of the Snail: paper submissions are not dead yet

by Cat Woods

While scientists debate the merit of resurrecting woolly mammoths, T-Rexes and Tasmanian tigers, one animal is still thriving: the snail. Or more specifically, snail mail.

Paper submissions are not dead, yet I've heard writers flat out dismiss them as an option when considering which agents/editors to submit to. That's great news for the authors who lovingly send their babies off in a cocoon of envelopes and stamps. It means less competition.

Beyond that, snail submissions have other compelling benefits.

THE POWER OF THE SNAIL

1. E-queries and copy and pasted sample pages do not have the professional appearance required in a dead tree submission. Writing paper submissions is good practice--especially if an agent/editor requests a full or partial, as these are often sent via the almighty snail. Also, being able to craft a business letter is a life skill. Why not learn it now?
2. Dude, you're missing out. Seriously, of the twelve publishers I'm looking at for a project, six of them require snail submissions. And these aren't shabby or lazy publishers who refuse to "get with the times" and go digital. They are reputable companies who put out some of the most beloved books on your bookshelves. By ignoring them, you drastically reduce the number of submissions you can send.
3. No spam. Yeah, you heard me. Snails don't eat spam. When you paste on a stamp and send your baby out the door, it gets to its destination. Not to mention, email did not invent read-receipts. There are these handy little things called postcards that you can send with your dead tree pages. Self address that, stick a stamp in the corner and all the agent/editor has to do is pop it in the mail. Viola. Receipt acknowledged.
4. No fretting about format. If you italicized something, it will hit the reader italicized. Or bolded or underlined or blue or green. The format you print it in is the same one it will arrive in. The email gremlins will not have the opportunity to mess with your letter and leave odd spaces and unwanted indentations behind.

Yes, it costs money. But I personally find more satisfaction in sending out a crisp, professional package than an untidy looking email. If that makes me old fashioned then so be it. I guess the scientists can clone me someday.

In the meantime, follow these tips for the perfect snail letter.

• Use a header with your contact info
• Like all business letters, type the info of the agent/publisher on the left
• Follow your agent/editor's name with a colon (:) not a comma (,)
• Date it. Yep, email takes this step out of the equation, but you need to put it back in for paper copies.
• Complete the body--typo free
• And do not forget to sign your name. This step is often missed by snail mail virgins because we have such little opportunity to actually sign our names anymore.

How do you feel about snail mail submissions? Have you tried it, or do you refuse to think about it? Some people believe snail submissions receive a lower response rate. If you've got hard data on that to share, we would appreciate it.

Cat writes by day and wrangles snails by night. Her cyber endeavors include blogging here and at Words from the Woods, moderating at AgentQuery Connect and rating books on GoodReads. Most recently, her short stories have been published in Spring Fevers and The Fall, with another one coming out in one of the Summer's Edge anthologies.

The Value of Taking Your Time

by Charlee Vale

This post will be short and sweet.

With the age of the internet and the increasing popularity of self-publishing, I often see young or new writers obsessed with speed and 'wanting to get their book out there.' Believe me, I understand the sentiment—but I think a lot of the time, especially in recent months, writers have forgotten about the advantage of being unpublished.

Right now you're probably thinking 'There's an advantage to being unpublished? Is she crazy?' But I'm not crazy; right now, you have all the time in the world. You don't have an agent waiting to see a revision. You don't have an editor waiting for you on deadline. You don't have a date that your agent would like to go on submission by. So why not take the time and freedom you have to get it right?

Whether you choose self-pub or traditional, the time before your words hit the world is the time you have to learn and grow at your own pace. Once you enter into the realm of publishing, you don't hold the reins anymore, so take your time! Take classes, write terrible books, write multiple books, and don't be afraid to mess up—because this is the time when you can.

You have the time right now, to write the best book you possibly can on your terms. Don't waste it. John Green's The Fault in Our Stars essentially took him ten years to write—and I'm so glad that he took his time.

CV

Charlee Vale is a Young Adult writer, photographer, tea lover, and now a Master's Graduate living in New York City. You can also find her at her website, and on Twitter.

Oh, No! Then What Happened?

By Matt Sinclair

The other day, I saw a question from a writer who was asking if it was ok to if the tension in his story wasn’t all that intense. I’ve not read his story, so I don’t know if 95 percent of it is an action-packed adventure and he was concerned about that remaining 5 percent. I don’t know if it’s a cerebral thriller that traps readers in mental zigzags of seemingly contradictory paths that turn out to make perfect sense in the end. I don’t know if it’s a tale about a baby kangaroo whose best friend got in trouble and went to bed without any supper.

But one thing I’m fairly certain about: if a reader gets bored, no matter how well you write, you’re at risk of losing a reader. At a certain level, writing is a symbiotic relationship with readers. A writer needs a reader. Without a reader, the writer gets stale and dies, unknown and unremembered. Not forgotten, mind you, because no one ever knew about me…er, the writer… in the first place. The relationship goes both ways: a reader needs a writer. Sure, a voracious reader can probably be sustained by dry technical manuals and watching rabbits eat the grass in the back yard -- at least for a little while -- but most readers need meatier stuff.

We writers sometimes play hard to get. We talk about how we write for ourselves and don’t care if our books sell -- if we ever write a complete book much less get it published. But secretly we all want to have some recognition that our perspective is at least moderately interesting. It’s not about the art of writing, it’s about communication, having a voice, being acknowledged for existing.

Tension in a story isn’t about violence or death, it’s about characters having a skin in the game. If your main character walks away from the central conflict of the story and never returns, then we’re following the wrong character. “But,” you argue, “the central conflict is what’s going on in that character’s mind.” Maybe so. Show me. But, God forbid, don’t bore me.

You see, I only have so many minutes in the day to read, and right now, I’ve got a four-year-old who wants one more rendition of the trouble that ensued when Elmo was delivering a stinkweed plant to Oscar. A barber was caught off guard by Elmo’s sneeze and buzzed a reverse Mohawk along a customer’s scalp. His sneezing caused a monster-built brick wall to collapse; so did the cans Bert was stacking in the store where he works. I think there’s an untold story about circus elephants running amok in avenues near Sesame Street.

Tension. We learn its value at an early age. We remember it and learn from it. Use it copiously.

That reminds me, did you know that only a couple blocks from Mr. Hooper’s store, there’s a blue-skinned guy in a trench coat selling counterfeit ‘O’s?...

Matt Sinclair, a New York City-based journalist and fiction writer, is also president and chief elephant officer of Elephant's Bookshelf Press, which published The Fall: Tales from the Apocalypse, which is available via Amazon and Smashwords. Earlier in 2012, EBP published its initial anthology, Spring Fevers, which also is available through Smashwords, and Amazon. Both anthologies include stories by fellow FTWA writers, including Cat Woods, J. Lea Lopez, Mindy McGinnis, and R.S. Mellette; R.C. Lewis and Jean Oram also have stories in The Fall. Summer's Edge and Summer's Double Edge will be published in the summer of 2013. Matt blogs at the Elephant's Bookshelf and is on Twitter @elephantguy68 

Query to Manuscript: "It's Not Me—It's You"

by R.C. Lewis

I've been reflecting back on the querying trenches lately. Specifically, I've been thinking about the query for my first manuscript. Like most everyone else, my first try at query-writing was accompanied by a lot of hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing. How am I supposed to fit all this in? How will this make sense if I don't explain all the background?

(A word of hope: I actually got to the point where I kind of enjoy writing queries now. I even wrote a fake one for my current WIP before I started just to zone in on things.)

With that first manuscript, I hammered out a decent query over on the AgentQuery Connect forums. More experienced writers gave their nod of approval and said, "Let that bird fly and see what happens."

A lot of nothing happened.

I went back to the drawing board, started from scratch, and wrote an even better query. Punchier, more compelling, with my MC coming through much more clearly. Again, the nods of approval. Again, I sent it out to see what happened.

Lots of requests happened. I think at one point I had seven fulls out at the same time.

All came back as rejections.

A couple of years and several novels later, I've realized something. My query was trying to tell me something that whole time. The biggest problem was always pinning down the conflict in a compelling way, one that made an agent say, "Ooh, gotta read that and see how it plays out." Even with the query that had some success, I think it was due to presenting interesting characters and an interesting premise. The conflict was in a supporting role.

That's how it was in the manuscript, too. Really, the conflict sucked.

Okay, it wasn't super-terrible. It wasn't even something the rejecting agents called me out on. (Rather, it was the victim of lots of "I just didn't love it enough.") But it wasn't strong and decisive and focused. My plot was half-heartedly slapping when it should've been punching through cinderblocks. I couldn't pin down the central conflict in my query because my novel didn't entirely have one.

No query—no matter how brilliant—could save me from the issues in the manuscript.

This won't always be the case. Sometimes you struggle to write a query because it's just a new skill you haven't mastered yet. Sometimes a query fails on its own merits, while the manuscript is stellar. (In which case, retool the query.) Sometimes a manuscript gets rejected for purely subjective reasons that only mean you haven't found the right agent (or the right time) for that project.

But if you're having a hard time writing your query, allow for the possibility that the problem is in the story itself, not the modern torture we term "query-writing." Listen to the feedback you get on your query and ask yourself, "Is that because I handled it poorly here in the query, or because the fundamental root within the story is problematic?"

It's frustrating to think you're done with a novel, ready to embark on querying, only to discover you need to go back into major revisions. Maybe even a total rewrite. But sometimes it has to be done, and we end up with a better story—and better experience—for it.

Has your query ever tried to tell you what's wrong with the manuscript? How were you able to tell the difference between query-problems and novel-problems?

R.C. Lewis teaches math to teenagers—sometimes in sign language, sometimes not—so whether she's a science geek or a bookworm depends on when you look. That may explain why her characters don't like to be pigeonholed. Coincidentally, R.C. enjoys reading about quantum physics and the identity issues of photons. You can find her on Twitter (@RC_Lewis) and at Crossing the Helix.

Dream a Little Dreamlet

by Jemi Fraser

If you're reading this, you have a dream. At one point it started out as a little dream - a dreamlet if you will. Cute, cuddly, soft, sweet. But...

Like all other living things, dreams have a growth cycle.

Yours might be in the diaper stage - in constant need of an overwhelming amount of care and attention. As a first time caregiver of a dreamlet, you're unsure of the steps and worry you'll never be good enough. The learning curve is steep but when things go well, there's nothing better in the whole world.

Soon your little dreamlet is taking those first steps and you're creating that incredible first manuscript that will fill you with wonder and joy as those steps combine to create a whole.

After a while, your dream is filled with confidence and joy and making friends of its own. You've found other caregivers (I highly recommend Agent Query Connect for this!) and you are learning how to take care of their dreams as well.

Then your dream hits those unruly adolescent times and starts to rebel. You've learned enough as a caregiver to realize how amazingly little you know. You try to enforce curfews and rules but your dream laughs in your face. Control me? I don't need control! You think you know what I need? Think again.

Sigh.

But don't give up! You're so close to having your little treasure out in the world. You need to learn new strategies, integrate what you've learned with new techniques, polish, shine, trim, tweak, change, rework and rework again while you talk to other dreamers to see how they nudge their dreams out into the world.

I know sometimes those little dreams can be nightmares (mine is currently giving me the same heebie jeebies I got reading my first Stephen King novel), but if you want that dreamlet to achieve its full potential (really deep down want it!), then don't give up. Keep learning. Keep loving it, nurturing it and inching it towards independence.

And when your dream is standing proudly on its own, reaping its own glory, stand back and let the moment fill you with joy. But don't stand for long - another dreamlet is waiting.

So, what stage is your little dreamlet at?

Jemi Fraser is a dream wrangler and aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs and encouraging her dreamlets to mature.

The Power of the Indie

by Mindy McGinnis

Previous to landing a book deal for NOT A DROP TO DRINK, I'd been writing and failing for ten craptastic years. I had the conviction of knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life and the research skills to know that the odds were against me. But that's kind of where I tossed my fist in the air and dared the world to deny my talent.

And it totally did. For a long time.

Which is all my own fault. Sure, I read those numbers and thumbed my nose at them (fine - power to the bold) but that's where I let my Screw-You-Reality attitude get a little out of control. And the research stopped. Any kind of footwork stopped. I was going to be the writer of old - the one that banged out a manuscript in solitary, mailed off their tome to NYC and became ridiculously famous overnight, all while huddling under a bubble of anonymity and never doing the real work.

• Like agent research
• Like market research
• Like building a brand
• Like going to conferences
• Like talking to librarians, who (btw) pretty much know everything
• Like going to author signings to see how pros did it
• Like visiting bookstores to mine the brains of another kind of pro

Even recently I had wondered to myself if hitting the sidewalks and prowling bookstores was a strategic move. Aren't they going to buy my book anyway if they think it looks good? How does killing time with an Indie owner who will have - at most - three copies of my book on their shelves at a time really benefit me in the long run?

But I'm a no-stone-unturned kind of girl. I know the power of libraries, so I decided to look into the power of the bookstore. And - hot damn.

I'm lucky enough to have two indies somewhat nearby (in country speak - within a half-hour drive), so I dropped in to introduce myself and say hi. I walk into bookstore number one and introduce myself to the owner, immediately spotting the cover of a fellow Lucky13 on her racks. I mention her title, and...

Oh, it seems that the author's roommate from college lives here in town. Yeah, she pops in all the time. Maybe we could do some kind of joint signing once my book comes out? And, are those bookmarks I see you have there? Oh yes, please give me a pile - I have tons of teens filter through here when school lets out, plus this Friday is the first weekend of good weather so the foot traffic will be through the roof... can I have more than that? I'll be able to unload them pretty quickly. What's your book title again? Hmm... yes I think I remember seeing that in the fall ARC boxes I just got from HarperCollins (emphasis mine)... I'll be sure to dig it out after you leave and put it on top of the TBR pile.

OK. That went well. Even though my head is spinning a little I think I'll walk a couple blocks to the next bookstore and see if I can leave the rest of these book-

WOW! That's gorgeous cover, these will go fast. Do you have more? You know, we have a teen writer's group that meets monthly, would you like to come speak to them sometime about your process?  We don't have a date set up for May yet, but next time you're in town why don't you stop by with some more bookmarks and we'll hammer something out. The kids would love to meet you, I'm sure. What's your pub date again? Would you like to do a signing? We can work around your schedule and we'll handle all the local publicity...

Hmm.... Now there's two people pushing my book for me to the prime market with high traffic and all I had to do was walk in the door. Mindy needs to buy more bookmarks.

_______________________________________________________
Mindy McGinnis is a YA author and librarian. Her debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a post-apocalyptic survival tale set in a world where freshwater is almost non-existent, available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins September 24, 2013. She blogs at Writer, Writer Pants on Fire and contributes to the group blogs Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners, From the Write Angle, The Class of 2k13, The Lucky 13s & The League of Extraordinary Writers. You can also find her on Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook.