Tag: Book Agents

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

Sara Mazariegos

I used to think this was a Willy Wonka quote. I had no idea he was quoting a poem by Arthur O’Shaughnessy.

We are the music makers,
    And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
    And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
    On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
    Of the world for ever, it seems.

Isn’t it wild to think that people didn’t know things like that before the Internet? Granted, I could’ve looked it up sooner than the other day, but still. We were just out there, learning things as they came to us and assuming things because we didn’t have pocket encyclopedias*.

This has been on my mind lately because John Green has been posting about the negative aspects of the social Internet for (let’s face it) years now. He’s taking a month off from Vlogbrothers in part because of the toxicity of the modern Internet, and I can’t blame him but also 😭

I am a Millennial. I grew up playing outside with friends, watching VHS tapes, and using a complicated Dewey Decimal System (with cards in organized drawers!) I clearly remember being 14 and liking a band and having to buy their CDs if I wanted to hear them. Okay, the bands were from the 60s so it’s not like I was listening to Millennial music, but still. If I wanted to listen to The Who’s discography, I had to buy that sh—

A moment ago, I just listened to a full Monkees album I’d never heard before because I didn’t own it. Am I nostalgic for a time when information wasn’t at my fingertips? NO! I just think it’s unfortunate and not necessary that we as a connected, better-informed society have gone from “I learned a thing! :D” to “everyone who disagrees with me is stupid and doesn’t deserve to go about their day without me telling them how badly I think of them.”

And now to awkwardly pivot a little. On Sunday, a literary agent tweeted this:


This is bad. This is really bad. I would hope that the majority of literary agents would not ever even think of doing something like this. Not only is it embarrassing for the writer she rejected, but it’s basically saying, ‘you gave me this idea, now I can take it and have someone else write it instead of working with you.’

It’s quite disheartening to see this behavior from a literary agent. They are supposed to be the ones writers can trust and turn to for support and advice. I don’t want to write off all agents because I know for a fact that most of them are wonderful, but it certainly doesn’t help their case in the growing traditional vs. indie publishing debates.

What do you think?


*Or maybe some of us did. Nerds.

“Hi! I’m Anxiety! Where can I put my stuff?”

Sara Mazariegos

Last week, Luis and I went to see Argentina vs. Guatemala (soccer.) His family came, too, and it was amusing because, though he’s from Guatemala, we cheered for Argentina. His family seemed a little confused/annoyed. 😆 We’re fans of Lionel Messi and his teams, so we weren’t going to suddenly cheer against him! Guatemala did a good job against the World Cup champs, though. They threw them off and scored a goal early on. So they should be proud. Guatemala still lost, of course, but they made it harder to beat them.

When we walked back to the Metro afterward, it started pouring heavy, cold rain. And then the Metro stopped two stops away from our house, so we had to take a Lyft the rest of the way home. What an adventure!

We saw Inside Out 2 on Saturday. I love Anxiety! That sounds so strange, but I feel like PIXAR did a good job of personifying anxiety. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s often not even easy for me to explain how it makes me feel. I once likened it to a building collapsing around me.

Anyway, in Writing Update news: I’ve crossed over into the 80% zone! The end is in sight! It’s amusing because I plan to use the end I’ve already written, so that’s a bit of a cheat. But still! I’ve gotten back into the palindrome word counts because I can’t help myself. My word goal for today is 69,696 words.

Nice.

There’s been a lot of discussion in the WriterThreads community regarding people (usually authors) purporting to have “the secret” to getting published and offering up expensive “boot camps” to teach people the tricks of the writing trade. I’ve noticed quite a few of these cropping up, especially when I’m Googling for quick tips. They’re also often accompanied by twenty-minute-long videos that can further waste your time and get you too in your head about The Process. As the authors on Threads point out, you should never feel obligated to pay anything to find your agent and get published.

Just write. That’s all you have to do. Write the story. Then edit it. That’s it. Read query letter examples, listen to the TSNOTYAW podcast, and put yourself out there. Anyone trying to get money from you is not really trying to help you.

…Okay, agents will take a cut when you’ve landed a book deal, but that’s different.

I’ve definitely fallen victim to getting in my head about the best way to structure my writing and the beats I HAVE TO HAVE, etc. and, at the end of the day, it isn’t helpful to get so worked up about it. There’s no reason for writing to be scary. If you love writing, you should do it because you love it and you need to do it. There are no real rules. What works out for one person may not work for another.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on that. Don’t stress yourself.

What’s in a blurb?

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve seen people discussing story blurbs in their query letters, and there seems to be confusion over whether the blurb is meant to be what you see on the back of the book when it’s published, or if it’s meant to be more of a quick summary for potential agents.

As far as I understand it, the query blurb is meant to be “the hook” that captures the agents’ attention and lets them know a brief bit about the story so they can quickly get an idea of what they can expect as far as the novel’s marketability.

The blurb on the back of published books is similar, but it can be longer and more flowery with its wording. It’s meant to entice readers to buy the book. Both are marketing-related, but the former is purely for business whereas the latter is meant to be more creative.

Remember, not everyone buys books. Libraries and borrowing from friends are legitimate ways to read a book. Readers tell their friends, and their friends check out the back of the book or the summary online to see if they would also like to read it.

Agents and publishing houses, on the other hand, want to be able to tell how well a book would do with readers so they can sell a lot of copies. They want to see, in roughly two paragraphs, who the characters are and what’s at stake. Does it align with their current markets? Are there too many books about the subject at the moment? They care about those sorts of things. The big picture of publishing.

Then, of course, there’s the synopsis! That’s essentially a two-page outline of everything that happens in the book. It’s meant to spoil the ending, so it’s not something you’d be sharing with anyone who wants to read the novel as a reader.

This has been Sara Understands Publishing. Tune in next week for maybe more writing tips, but maybe something else entirely.

The waiting game.

Sara Mazariegos

In my experience thus far, there are three main steps to post-writing a novel manuscript:

  1. Elation at having finished! Everyone should know and maybe a bunch of friends should read it?! Such proud.
  2. Wait, wait, wait. This needs to be edited. Reread and edited more. Maybe it’s not as amazing as once believed… But you can make it so!
  3. Query anxiety. <– this is where I am. The manuscript is finished, but now you have to advertise it to potential representation. Crying at this stage is perfectly natural.

I joined a writing forum that seems quite helpful. I signed up for a writing advice newsletter. I shared my novel with some earnest beta readers. It seems like I’m doing everything the correct way.

My buddy Patience and I are just gonna have to get better acquainted.