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A Writer Without Representation—Ruh-Roh! – Mesu Andrews
Pardon the title’s Scooby-Doo impression, but I thought the lovable, animated Great Dane embodied the panic of my first publishing years without an agent. But an author without a literary agent doesn’t have to endure Scooby-sized mystery and missteps. I’m beginning my fourth book with Revell and have been asked to share a little about my un-agented journey, hopefully removing a little of the mystery.
R #1: Publishing without an agent is RARE.
I didn’t set out to publish without an agent. In fact, I had an agent for three years who knocked on countless doors, seeking to publish my non-fiction manuscripts. It was only after my agent and I parted as friends that the fiction door opened, and I received my first contract offer. Go figure. (I think the Lord was teaching me to rely on Him alone…but that’s another blog post!) When the offer came, my husband and I prayed and felt led to do the legal and contractual homework without representation.
After submitting the second of my two-book contract, I pitched a four-book contract (still without an agent) to Revell. They deferred two of the four, offering me instead a two-book contract. I accepted the offer, but I believe if I had an agent, I might have gotten all four books. Hindsight is 20/20, and I’ve recently signed with an agent. I’ll pitch again soon.
R #2: Publishing is about RELATIONSHIPS.
Writers’ conferences and online groups are crucial to the writing life. I attended my first conference in 2001—an Indiana girl, who traveled alone to Baltimore a month after 9/11. Eee-gad! Talk about out of your comfort zone!
The conference was devastating. I was so discouraged and wanted to go home after the first night. But I met people there that have become good friends and significant contacts in the publishing world. Most importantly, I received the best advice ever: “Never give up. If the story within you is from the Lord…never stop telling it.”
In the years that followed, I’ve attended other writing events, some single-day, some longer. Online group camaraderie is also a great place to meet people and gain fabulous insights. Critique partners have been the single-most important ingredient to my writing success, godly partners that wound and heal for my greater good.
If you’re a fiction writer, ACFW helps build relationships on a national, regional, and local level. I also follow several blogs that provide valuable information: http://www.rachellegardner.com, http://stevelaube.com, http://www.acfw.com/blog.
R #3: Publishing is a RUSH…No RUSH Business.
When an editor says, “I’d like to see your full manuscript,” we authors experience a RUSH of emotion. Someone besides my mother thinks I can write! Or at least, that’s what I thought.
Then comes the RUSH to prepare the manuscript for submission. Late nights. Pots of coffee. Hair pulling. Nail biting. Finally, it’s ready, and you click send—only to discover—you wait and wait and wait and wait and…
The publisher is in NO RUSH. First the editorial committee meets. Then the publishing committee. Then marketing. The final decision seems to take longer than writing the manuscript!
The first nibble of interest on my novel proposal came at the 2008 Mt. Hermon Writers’ Conference. I submitted the full manuscript in late May, and Revell offered a contract in October. That’s five months of waiting…trying to decide…do I need an agent?
When Revell’s offer came, a good friend and colleague in my local ACFW chapter suggested I buy the book, Kirsch’s Guide to the Book Contract: For Authors, Publishers, Editors, and Agents. This friend had published her first four books unagented, using this guide to comb through every phrase of the contract.
I took a second precaution, having Sally Stuart review the contract. For a reasonable fee, Sally flagged the portions of the contract that were “author-friendly” and those that were “publisher-friendly.” She didn’t tell me what or how to negotiate but suggested “ballpark” numbers she’d seen in other contracts. Her help was priceless.
I reviewed the contract for a week and then submitted my proposed changes to Revell. Since I was a first-time author, I didn’t try to negotiate my advance or royalties. My requests involved the number of free copies and the topic for my second book. Within two weeks, I received acceptance of my requested changes, and I signed with Revell in December. Nine months from the editor’s initial interest to contract signing—like birthing a baby—and the real writing hadn’t even begun!
R’s 4 & 5: REDEEMED REGRETS
Do I wish I’d had an agent all along? Yes and no. It’s nice not to share my royalties! Ha! But in the short weeks since signing with my new agent, I’ve enjoyed having a partner in the decision-making processes of my career. I look back on decisions and recognize mistakes an agent might have spared me, but I refuse to waste energy on regret. I’m so thankful my God is bigger than regrets, and He redeems the future with wisdom I learn from my past.
For unpublished authors, an agent is a champion—lifting, tugging, pulling, cheering you to the top of an editor’s stack of proposals. For published authors, an agent is a coach—guiding, calming, encouraging you in the midst of deadlines and deadlocks. For all of us, good agents offer their time and talents, steering us through the murky waters of an ever-changing publishing industry.
If you’re un-agented and saying, “Ruh-Roh,” RELAX, Scooby!
You’ve got a real-life God waiting for you to trust Him with your writing career. In His time, in His way, He’ll open and close the doors for you.
If you’re interested in finding an agent, Rachelle Gardner’s blog has several relevant posts on the topic. One of the posts lists the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents. You can read the post here: http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/09/the-2012-guide-to-literary-agents.
Do you have any questions for me about navigating the publishing world un-agented?
Mesu Andrews is an author and speaker who has devoted herself to passionate study of Scripture. Harnessing her deep love for God’s Word, Andrews brings the biblical world alive for her audiences.Mesu and her husband, Roy, have two grown children and (Praise God!) a growing number of grandkids. They live in Washington, where Roy teaches at Multnomah University. They have a Rottweiler-pitbull named Bouzer who keeps Mesu company while she writes.
She’s published two books, Love Amid the Ashes and Love’s Sacred Song. Two more are scheduled for release with Revell in March of 2013 and 2014.
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Too Busy Writing to Write!
I’d spend a hunk of time working on blog posts today, but I’ve got some revision that need my attention. My manuscripts must take priority over other writing. So the blog, the articles, and that set of devotions I’ve been pondering, will have to wait.
While I’m slogging through scenes and rewriting others, I’d love to get your opinions. I’d like this blog to reflect some of the issues I write about in my manuscripts.
Sometimes relationships enhance our lives and other times they tear us apart. How can we encourage each other and avoid the temptation to put others down with gossip or unkind words?
Have you ever met someone who, in the midst of serious hardships, still glows with hope and joy? Why are some people crushed, while others are strengthened? Have you experience joy in the storm?
I’ll be back soon! Please leave your answers in the comment section and feel free to share this post on Facebook or Twitter. And don’t miss Mesu Andrews. She’ll be here on Friday.
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Mini Pots of Dirt Pudding!
Here’s the recipe for the yummy dirt pudding we had for Emma’s birthday. This year we made individual cups.
One package of Oreo cookies (16 ounces)
1 cube of softened butter (1/2 cups)
1 package of softened cream cheese (8 ounces)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 – four serving boxes of chocolate fudge instant pudding
3 cups milk
1 tub of Cool Whip (12 ounce)
Gummy Worms
Cream together butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside. Combine pudding mix and milk. Fold in Cool Whip. Gently fold together cream cheese mixture and pudding.
In each cup put a layer of crushed Oreos, pudding, then Oreos again. Add half a gummy worm for decoration.
Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.
Yum!
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Conference Season – Part 7 – Blue Ridge
Jodie Bailey is here just in time to tell us about the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.
Okay, I admit it. If I had the funds, I would be a conference junky. It’s likely that “conference season” would find me all over this country at every single workshop I could soak up. There’s just something about the air at a good conference, something that gives you a shot of oxygen and gets you excited and pushes you through on those days when it feels like writing is the hardest job in the world.
The first conference I ever attended was the 2009 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. And I went right by my little lonesome self, making the drive from west-central Georgia to the North Carolina mountains with only God and my iPod for company. The drive itself was amazing, but God started working on me right about the time I hit the NC border.
See, one of the reasons I was going to Blue Ridge was to meet Chip MacGregor, and that scared the fool out of me. I wanted to query him, but first I wanted to meet him. Why waste both of our time querying if I couldn’t even talk to him? From his blog, I knew he pulled no punches, and I knew I needed that. As I was driving and praying and singing, God suddenly said, “Don’t pitch.”
Do WHAT? I just paid all of this money and am driving all of this way NOT to pitch to anybody? Surely, God’s lost His mind, right?
But the further I drove the more I knew, He wanted me to keep my mouth shut. He wanted me to lay aside ever expectation I had and go in there ready for anything, not focused on a goal, just to let Him have all of the control.
So, I did. And I had an amazing week. There was no pressure, no stressing about a sit-down with anybody. There was total freedom to be me, to speak when I wanted, to observe as much as I felt the need… See, I had never sat in a room full of writers before. After the very first hour, I called my husband and yelled, “I have found my people!” There’s something about learning you are not crazy, that other people get dragged out of bed in the middle of the night because their characters won’t pipe down. There are other people who stare at a computer screen all day and talk to imaginary voices. I was in heaven. I met people who were instantly my friends, simply because we “got” each other without even speaking. It was amazing!
And it wasn’t just the people. That conference center is a total retreat. You’re up in the mountains in these beautiful rooms with no TV. And it’s quiet. (They do an Autumn in the Mountains retreat that I want to do, by the way…) It was a beautiful recharge, a stepping out of everything and into the writing life, fully immersed. Talk about charging your batteries!
I did get to sit down at an appointment with Chip at that conference, but I asked questions. I never pitched. My heart was about learning and not about selling. It felt good to have someone who knew what they were doing walk me through the good and bad of my proposal and my premise, to point out what worked and what needed help. (I did manage to throw a pen at his head by accident. Trust me, that could ONLY happen to me…) Many months later, I did land at MacGregor Literary with Sandra Bishop who, like Chip, pulls no punches when it comes to telling me what works and what doesn’t. God knew exactly what He was doing.
If you’re going to your first conference, go with God’s leading. I honestly think one of the best things to do is to just go and be. Enjoy being with people who are just as “alien” as you are. That was the best thing I got out of Blue Ridge, being with “my people.” Oh, the classes knocked my head around they were so awesome, but the people won my heart and are the reason I’ll go back.
Jodie Bailey is an avid reader, a life-long writer, and an aspiring beach bum. She is a stubborn child who resisted God’s calling for two decades until He hit her over the head with a Beth Moore Bible Study book, and she finally figured out He wanted her to be a writer. When not tapping away at the keyboard, she watches NCIS reruns, eats too many chocolate chip cookies, wishes she were at the beach, roughhouses with her daughter, and follows her Army husband around the country. Jodie’s debut novel, Freefall, will be released by Steeple Hill LIS in November 2012Conference Season – Part 2 – Lisa Buffaloe – ACFW
Conference Season – Part 3 – Angela Breidenbach – INCWC
Conference Season – Part 4 – Kimberly Buckner – My Book Therapy retreats
