I’m thinking about writing conferences today. This is a good time of the year for it, since there are a ton of great conferences coming up in the spring.

Let me tell you a story about why I believe so strongly in writing conferences.

Back in 1996, I was feeling pretty frustrated with the whole cursed writing game. I had been writing fiction at that time for eight years. I thought I was writing pretty well.

But I hadn’t sold a thing. Not one blasted word. Hadn’t even had a nibble. I had an agent, but he hadn’t sold anything for me.

I decided something had to change. Since I couldn’t change what the publishers or my agent were doing, I decided to change what I was doing.

I decided to go to the biggest writing conference in my niche market. I decided I was just going to spend the money and see what happened. I decided I was going to keep going every year until I sold a novel or until I died. I figured I still had about 50 years of life expectancy, and there was no way the publishers could hold out on me for 50 years.

So I signed up for the Big Enchilada in my niche (which happens to be Christian publishing. If I was writing for another niche, I’d have chosen the Big Enchilada in that niche).

I signed up for the Mount Hermon Christian Writing Conference in the spring of 1996. Mount Hermon has long been the best conference in Christian publishing (plus I heard they had great food, which is always important).

I flew up to San Jose that year, got on the shuttle van, and immediately found myself immersed in a world of other writers. And I knew I was home.

That was one of the best weekends of my life. I had been to writing conferences before, but never with so many big-shot editors and never with so many opportunities to get my work in front of their eyes.

But the best thing that happened to me that weekend had nothing to do with impressing any editors.

The best thing that happened to me was meeting John Olson. John is a Ph.D. biochemist and I’m a Ph.D. physicist. We both had a similar vision of what we wanted to do with our fiction. We were both weird. The nerd-herding instinct runs deep. We became instant friends.

We kept in touch over the following year, and spurred each other on to get some real writing done. That was the year I began work on a novel I called “Avatar.” I sent the first chapter to John and he gave it two thumbs up.

The following year, in 1997, John and I went back to Mount Hermon loaded for bear. We both came with several proposals and submitted them to editors who we just knew would love them. John got quite a bit of interest in his work, especially from a big-shot editor who was quite sure he wanted to buy John’s idea for a young-adult novel.

I spent the conference in John’s shadow, wondering if I’d ever find anyone interested in my work. None of the editors showed much interest in “Avatar.” So I submitted it for a critique to a professional writer, Lauraine Snelling. At the end of the conference, I ran into her and her first words were, “YOU’RE Randy Ingermanson? Wow! Your manuscript is good!” I only wished some editor would say that, but those words gave me the confidence I needed that someday, I was gonna break in. After the conference, John’s big-shot editor lost interest in his book. We commiserated together, and then vowed to do better next time.

The following year, 1998, John and I went to Mount Hermon with high hopes. I had both a nonfiction proposal (for a book analyzing the alleged “Bible code”) and a fiction proposal (for “Avatar.”) I attended a major track on writing nonfiction, taught by David and Heather Kopp.

Once again, I was in John’s shadow for most of the conference. He had brought along a proposal for a vampire novel and submitted it to editor Steve Laube, who returned it with the words, “I wouldn’t touch this with a sixty foot pole.” John instantly became famous as “the vampire novel guy” and he was sure he’d blown his chances of ever getting published. But I told him that this was brilliant publicity. His notoriety would be gold someday.

One of the editors, Karen Ball, heard about John’s novel and got very excited. She met with John and told him she loved his story. She couldn’t buy it, but she loved it. And John won an award as “Most Promising New Writer.”

My novel proposal didn’t get much action, but my nonfiction proposal did. I came away from the conference with a fistful of business cards of editors who wanted me to send them the proposal. And my nonfiction teacher, Dave Kopp, liked my proposal so much, he asked me for permission to photocopy it for his entire class. And after the conference, he offered to show it around to a few people he knew. (This is something you should NEVER ask faculty to do; but if they offer, then you should definitely take them up on it.)

John and I left Mount Hermon after the 1998 conference wondering if it was ever going to happen. We were close, but neither of us had won that pesky cigar yet. What was wrong with us?

As it turned out, the only thing wrong with us was that we should have started sooner. It just takes time to break in to the industry.

In the year that followed, I sold my nonfiction book to WaterBrook Press (thanks to a good word from Dave Kopp). And I sold “Avatar” to Harvest House (to an editor who turned down the nonfiction book but liked my writing).

When John and I returned the following year, I was working on TWO contracts, one for a nonfiction book and one for a novel. In the meantime, John had come up with an absolutely killer idea for a novel about some astronauts on the way to Mars who survive an explosion but are left with only enough oxygen for one of them to survive to the Red Planet. Just before the conference, John asked me if I wanted to coauthor the book with him. Who wouldn’t? I said yes, and we spent the conference brainstorming.

On the last night of the conference, we pitched the idea to the perfect editor for the project, Steve Laube. (Mr. Sixty Foot Pole from the previous year.) Steve hadn’t forgotten John’s vampire book, but he didn’t care. (We had to assure him no vampires would go to Mars.) Steve told us to send him a great proposal and he’d see what he could do. And I even won an award at the conference, “Writer of the Year.”

After the 1999 conference, John and I realized that we had turned the corner. There were still years of struggle ahead of us, but we were on our way.

That was eleven years ago. My book on the alleged “Bible code” was published and did well. My time-travel novel “Avatar” was published under the title “Transgression” and won me a major award. The following year, Steve Laube published our Mars novel “Oxygen” and we won a major award for it. John and I wound up writing two books together, and several others independently. I was invited to teach at Mount Hermon, and a few years later, John was too. John’s vampire novel eventually got published (by editor Karen Ball, who liked it from the very beginning, and who switched employers twice before she finally found a publisher willing to let her buy it–from John’s agent, Steve Laube. Yes, really, Steve “Sixty Foot Pole” Laube.)

This coming year will be my 14th time at Mount Hermon, and my 7th time teaching. I’ll be doing a mentoring track in fiction. John will be teaching a major track for teens. And we’ll be rooming together again, so there will be Geek Humor Alert out for the weekend. (Google “Shaving Babbitt” for a horrific example of what can go terribly wrong when geeks are allowed out of their cages.)

I’m convinced that every year gets better. There are more editors, more agents, more talented writers, more fun.

Looking back, it seems almost absurd to remember how much I sweated going to the first conference. I was scared to death of meeting people, talking to big-shot editors, and possibly looking foolish. I worried about spending so much money.

Yes, it was a big chunk of change. But Mount Hermon turned me from a wannabe writer into a gonnabe. And it was the place where I’ve become friends with hundreds of writers and dozens of editors and agents.

Sometimes I ask myself what would have happened if I hadn’t decided to start going to Mount Hermon. I don’t even want to think about that. That’s an alternate universe that I don’t want to visit.

A writing conference is not a magic carpet to publishing stardom. A writing conference is a place you go to learn the business, and then to do business. I believe a conference is the best possible place to do both of those.

That’s why I consider conferences almost essential for writers. I know a few authors who sold their first book without ever attending a conference. But most of my author friends broke in the same way I did–by going to conferences, year after year.

Is this your year to go to a conference? Now is a good time to think about it. Now, when you have the whole year ahead of you.

If you’re going to a conference this year leave a comment to tell us all which one you’re going to and why. I’d love to hear about it.

Wow! I had such a fabulous, extraordinary time at the ACFW conference! I was up past 1 AM most nights talking with writers, agents, and editors and I loved every second of it. I got home Sunday night and spent most of Monday catching up on email, bills, and sleep, of course.

I gave a talk about those pesky Motivation-Reaction Units on Friday. It didn’t go very well. The talk got started late because it was right after a keynote talk that ran a little long. Then (DRAT IT) I could not get the PowerPoint display machine to work with my laptop, so nobody could see all the cool color-coding I did in my notes. And then I ran out of time, so I couldn’t show the last few slides of my presentation.

I’ve decided to work through my entire workshop here on my blog over the next few days. MRUs was going to be the next subject anyway, so I might as well do it so I can cover all the material my way. I’ll begin this series tomorrow and it’ll continue until we get through all my notes. I will also include a link tomorrow to the PDF file with all my notes.

Today, though, I thought it would be fun to just give a lightning review of the conference, with a few pictures. I didn’t take a camera (dummy me) so I am relying here on the generosity of several folks who sent me a few pictures, mostly from the Awards Banquet.

By the way, the ACFW conference is sponsored by the American Christian Fiction Writers, an organization of over 1700 writers around the world. It is, of course, a niche conference serving the special needs of writers in the Christian publishing niche. (Many of the very best conferences are niche conferences, serving romance writers, mystery writers, SF&F writers, etc.) This year’s ACFW conference had almost exactly 500 attendees, including faculty.

Here’s a rundown on how the conference went:

Wednesday, September 17:
The joint meeting of the Advisory Board and the Operating Board began at 3 PM and ran past 8 PM. I serve on the Advisory Board, along with Colleen Coble, Brandilyn Collins, Rachel Hauck, Gail Martin, and Deb Raney, so the AB can be roughly described as “five Snow Whites and one very tall dwarf.” Our job is to provide some sort of wisdom and continuity to the organization, since we are all multi-published authors who are well-known in the industry.

The Operating Board has seven elected members, led by the president Robin Miller, and they do all the real work. I have been constantly impressed by their hard work, dedication, and executive skill.

By the time we finished the joint board meeting, the lobby of the hotel was teeming with many arrivals. I hung around there meeting many old friends (and meeting some new ones) waiting for my buddy John Olson. He arrived after midnight, about 3 hours late, thanks to an airplane that lost a few parts (luckily on the runway). John said he was surprised that they bothered to switch planes, since after all, you only need the landing gear for a few minutes of the flight.

Thursday, September 18:
I got up early and dragged into Margie Lawson’s earlybird class. I’ve talked about Margie a few times in my e-zine after taking her online courses. But I had never met her until today. Margie is a dynamite teacher. If you’ve ever heard her speak in person, you’ll know what I mean. The class ran from 8 AM until 2 PM, with a break for lunch.

A quick word on Margie: She is a psychologist with many years of experience in counseling. In the last few years, she has made an enormous splash among novelists with her Deep Editing class and her Empowering Character Emotions class. I absolutely love her work. There are two writing teachers who’ve astounded me with their insights. One was Dwight Swain, author of TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER. The other is Margie Lawson. You can find out about Margie’s courses on her web site.

Here is a picture of Margie teaching her earlybird class at ACFW this year.

Here is a picture of Margie and me at the Awards Banquet. I had a chance to spend some time getting to know Margie at the conference and talking about fiction with her. I was delighted to learn that she’s a huge fan of my e-zine and blog and she considers me the expert on those pesky Motivation-Reaction Units.

After the earlybird class, I went to the faculty orientation meeting at 2 PM and then to the kickoff meeting for the official beginning of the conference at 3 PM. After that, there was quite a long agent’s panel discussion, involving about 12 agents. After dinner, there was an editor’s panel with again roughly a dozen editors on board. Afterwards, I met with my own agent down in the hotel bar for an hour and a half or so to do a bit of strategic planning. I ended the day, as usual, by hanging out with friends till well after 1 AM.

Friday, September 19:
I went to the bookstore right after breakfast and bought a copy of John Olson’s book SHADE, which has been getting a lot of buzz after a very strong review in Publisher’s Weekly. John was my co-author on two novels several years ago. He’s got a Ph.D. in biochemistry and quit his job a few years ago to write full-time. He was a director at a bioinformatics company in the Bay Area. I spent the morning in John Olson’s advanced track on “Writing the High Concept Novel” and it was terrific content. I am finally starting to understand some of the things John used to talk about when we were writing together.

In the afternoon, I taught my workshop on Motivation-Reaction Units and then went to a workshop on author-publisher relations that was co-taught by Allen Arnold (the head of the fiction division at the mega-publisher, Thomas Nelson) and one of his authors, Denise Hunter. This is the sort of information I wish I’d known when I first got published about 10 years ago. Allen has enormous enthusiasm for fiction and works closely with his team of authors.

The last workshop of the day that I went to was Rachel Hauck’s talk “You Write Like a Girl” — about how women can write more convincing male characters. I was the only guy there, and I mainly went to give Rachel some moral support, since I taught a workshop on this subject four years that people still talk about. A few of the ladies were teasing me about coming to this workshop, but I explained that the Manly Guy is secure in his gender identity and doesn’t worry about whether he’s the only guy in a workshop for women.

Dinner this evening was not provided by the conference — it was a chance to go eat somewhere with friends. I went out with several friends to TGIF, which was packed with a zillion other people from the conference. I’m afraid we misbehaved ourselves. When the waiter accidentally brought us an extra dessert, we took it over to uber-agent Chip MacGregor’s table and sang him Happy Birthday. Chip had his birthday back in June, so we were a mere hundred days late. He ate the dessert anyway.

After dinner, we reconvened to the hotel bar which was doing a brisk business. I had a nice talk with Tosca Lee, an author friend of mine who works for the Gallup organization coaching business people on how to use their employees. Recently, I took the Gallup “StrengthsFinder” test, which is available on their web site for a small fee. (If you buy the book “StrengthsFinder 2.0” by Tom Rath, you can take the test for free.) Tosca helped me understand my own strengths and what sort of people I’ll need to make alliances with who can compensate for my areas of weakness. The Gallup theory is that you should focus on doing things in which you are strongest and out-source your weaknesses to others. You can read all about this in the StrengthsFinder book. Google it if you’re interested.

Saturday, September 20:
I went to the second day of John Olson’s major track on “Writing the High Concept Novel” and really enjoyed it. John has many years of experience in speaking and he is not only very entertaining but he also has absolutely terrific content. He and I have quite different theories on how to create fiction. I think this is why the novels we wrote together did so well–the books got the best of me and the best of John.

After lunch, the entire conference was bused over to the Mall of America, where Barnes & Noble was putting on a gigantic booksigning. Over 100 authors were signing books, and they had two separate areas where they were continuously interviewing authors. B&N has a large bookstore there in the mall with books by all the authors, and the bookstore people said they hadn’t such a day of business since they had in one of the folks from Motley Crue.

When I got back to the hotel after the booksigning, I went to Judy Gann’s talk on how to market your book to public libraries. I’ve known Judy for several years and she has great info on this. She is a librarian herself and she’s put together a nice strategy for authors to get the word out to libraries about their books. Since there are over 16000 libraries in the US, that represents a very important market for authors, not to mention the fact that libraries can be a great place for word-of-mouth publicity on a book.

I also went to Chip MacGregor’s workshop on branding. I’m not bitter that Chip made several jokes about me, even hinting that I’m mentally unbalanced. Not bitter at all. Not one tiny bit. As readers of my blog know, branding is a hot topic for novelists. But is it required for success? No, according to Chip. It can be helpful, but there are successful authors with very broad and diffuse brands. It was a great talk, actually, and I AM NOT BITTER AT ALL.

The highlight of the conference was the awards banquet. In the last couple of years, the ladies at the conference have made quite a point to get fancied up. The guys are still lagging a bit here. Chip MacGregor showed up in his tuxedo kilt, but I’m afraid most of us Manly Guys threw on our suits at random and just showed up.

ACFW sponsors two main sets of awards, both of which command quite a lot of respect in the industry. The “Book of the Year” awards are for novels published in the last year. The “Genesis” awards are for unpublished novels, and the winners of the Genesis contest often see their books published not longer after winning. I was delighted to see that one book had to be withdrawn from the Genesis contest–“Rooms” by my good friend Jim Rubart. He withdrew it a few weeks ago because he sold it to a publisher this summer. Congrats, Jimbart!

I didn’t take a camera to the conference, but a couple of friends emailed me pictures that they had taken with me at the awards banquet. As you’ll see, we guys have a ways to go to catch up with the ladies.

This is a picture of me and Angie Breidenbach at the awards banquet. A year ago, some of the wicked ACFW writers did a skit mocking the members of the Advisory Board and Operating Board. Angie played the role of “Randy Ingermanson, Snowflake Guy.” As you can see, she bears a striking resemblance to me. Angie is the one in the red dress.

This is a picture of me and Tosca Lee at the awards banquet. Tosca claims that this is the photo of me in which I was SMILING. Since I am genetically incapable of smiling in front of a camera, I think she accidentally got the wrong sort of mushroom in her pizza, but we’ll humor her.

I’ve gotten to know Tosca a bit over the past year, and have found her to be super-intelligent and very witty. After looking at her picture for a couple of nanoseconds, you will not be surprised to hear that she was Mrs. Nebraska in 1996 and 1998 and was a first runner-up for Mrs. America. You can forget all the “dimwit and snooty” stereotypes you’ve ever heard about beauty queens. Tosca is brilliant and is not the least bit stuck up. All the proof you need for that is the fact that she is willing to hang around with uber-geeks like me.

When I got home from the conference, I was thrilled to get an email from Tosca with great news — Publisher’s Weekly has just given her a glowing review for her forthcoming book HAVAH, which will be out in October! I read HAVAH for endorsement earlier this summer and found it to be even better than her DEMON book, which came out a year ago. Despite the deplorable lack of exploding helicopters, HAVAH gives the reader a powerful emotional experience. It also made me think. I thought it was fabulous. And get this — Publisher’s Weekly gave it a STARRED review. Getting a starred review is a rare accomplishment for any writer, and is very rarely seen for Christian novels. Kudos, Tosca! I’m proud to be your friend! There is going to be a lot of buzz about this book as it rolls out.

You can find out more about Tosca and her books DEMON and HAVAH at her web site.

Sunday, September 21:
After breakfast and the final keynote talk, my roommate John Olson and I packed up and headed to the airport. Leaving is always a sad time at a conference, because there is never enough time to say goodbye to all our friends. At the airport, I finally persuaded John to autograph my copy of his new book SHADE, which is just now getting into stores. John thought it’s silly to autograph a book to me, since I’m his oldest friend in the industry, but I made him do it anyway. The book will be so much more valuable on E-bay with his signature on it. 🙂

On the plane, I napped a bit and read a bit of SHADE. Let me tell you a bit about this book. John wrote it about 10 years ago and took a proposal to the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. The proposal had the phrase “vampire mythos” in it. When editor Steve Laube saw that phrase, he told John, “I wouldn’t touch this book with a 60-foot pole.”

You might think that’s a pretty stiff rejection. But as a result of that, John became the buzz of the conference. Everybody was talking about his “vampire novel” (which actually has no vampires in it.) Editor Karen Ball heard about it and met with John. They became great friends and Karen began what would be a ten-year mission to get the book published. During those ten years, Steve Laube (of the 60-foot pole) bought a few other books from John. Eventually Steve became John’s agent. Finally, a year or so ago, Steve sold John’s “vampireless vampire novel” to Karen and the result is SHADE.

The moral of the story is that rejections are not final. Good things can come out of rejections. It’s not personal, it’s business. For a very small fee, Steve Laube will be happy to sell you an authentic 60-foot pole.

In any event, as John’s writing buddy, I read SHADE at a physics conference in 1999. I finished it about 1 AM and went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep, so I turned on the light and checked in the bathtub for vampires. (They hide there sometimes.) I checked under the sink. I checked in the medicine cabinet. (You probably know about mirrors.) Then I went back to bed.

But I still couldn’t sleep, so I turned on the light and checked the room thoroughly again. Then I went back to bed.

But I STILL couldn’t sleep, so I made one last check. Those vampires can be sneaky little devils. After an extremely careful check, I went back to bed.

BUT I STILL COULDN’T SLEEP. So I turned on the light. And left it on all night. I can’t sleep with the light on, so I was a wreck the next day. But the point is that I survived the night.

All that was ten years ago. I’m now halfway through SHADE and you know what? It’s scarier this time. It’s better written. (I’ll take credit for that. John learned everything he knows from me. Ya heard it here first.)

Bottom line: SHADE is probably the spookiest book you’ll read all year. DO NOT read this book if you can’t take spooky. It also takes a bit of brain-power to “get it.” DO NOT read this book if you are a shallow reader who won’t “get it.”

You can find out more about John Olson and SHADE at his web site.

That’s all for today. Tomorrow, we’ll start working through my workshop notes on Motivation-Reaction Units. See ya then!

We’ve been talking about writing conferences and about agents and editors for quite a while now. I think it’ll soon be time to move on to a new topic. I’ll try to answer any pressing questions that are still not answered.

Tim asked:

So how do you pitch a book series instead of just a stand alone novel. Most of my novels are part of a bigger series, so how would I got about doing this?

Randy sez: Pitch Book #1 in the series as if it were a standalone novel. (Assuming it stands alone. If it’s one long story in seven volumes, like the Harry Potter series, then you need to make that clear up front.) At some point in the conversation, the agent or editor will probably ask if you have anything else. Then you say that you have ideas for other books in the series. This is normally considered a Good Thing. Then they know you aren’t a one-trick doggy.

Heather asked:

So would people agree it is generally a bad idea to mention the word “series” as a first-timer, unless handed an appropriate lead-in, as alice was?

Randy sez: It’s not so much a “bad idea” as “an irrelevant fact.” The first thing you need to do is show the agent or editor that you can write a book. One book, start to finish. Once they see that, then they’ll naturally be interested in followons. Tom Clancy’s first book featured Jack Ryan, who then featured in Books #3 and on. (Book #2 was RED STORM RISING, a co-authored book that stands alone from the others.)

Jack Ryan has proven to be a durable player who could carry the ball for a long time, occasionally handing off to Clark, but usually doing most of the work. And Jack, (as Sarah Palin may possibly do) became an out-of-the-blue vice president. Jack even made it to Prez, allowing Clancy to show how things “ought to be done” in his opinion. The one thing Jack Ryan couldn’t do well was to wear a bikini. There is a PhotoShop-faked picture on the web of Sarah exhibiting that very skill and holding a gun. The photo is funny, but it would look simply stupid if it featured Jack Ryan.

Heather asked a second question:

actually, I am curious about this because I wonder whether to go for a series as I would like (which would develop the story so that the “meatiest” parts are in subsequent books), or, if a series deal is thought to be more unlikely for a newbie, then changing the story so that everything important is encompassed in the one book (and possibly sacrificing telling the story exactly as I had envisioned). has anyone grappled with this conflict before?

Randy sez: Write the first book as well as you can without cramming it too full of the meat. If it does well, then those meaty parts will make it in to the later books. One only has to look at Harry Potter, where the meat gets juicier the further you go. My kids and I are almost done reading the series aloud together. There is a 30 page section of backstory just before the end. This is the place to put the backstory–just before the extraordinary, incredible ending.

A novice writer puts the backstory at the beginning when nobody cares yet about the character. This is why JK Rowling is worth every dime she earns. She puts the backstory at the tail of about 3000 pages of story, and NOW it all makes sense. Every detail of the story now has a clear place.

James wrote:

I’m really seeking advice for how to go about finding the RIGHT agent/editor for your genre & someone you’re comfortable with in the on-going process of making it all happen? Especially for an unknown.

Randy sez: The first thing is to know your genre and know your niche. Then look for agents who cater to that niche and who like that genre. My niche is Christian fiction, and my genre is suspense. So if I needed an agent, I’d go to a major Christian conference, such as Mount Hermon or the upcoming ACFW conference and talk to those agents who do suspense. If I had a mystery for the general market, I’d go to a major mystery writers conference, such as Bouchercon. If I were writing a romance, I’d go to RWA.

So ask yourself: What books do you like to read? What authors do you love? Can you find out which agents have represented these authors? Can you find which agents represent these kind of books? Of course you can. Authors often thank their agents in their Acknowledgments section of their books. They may link to them on their web sites. The reference book WRITER’S MARKET lists zillions of agents and tells you exactly what they want. If you go to the web sites of those agents, you may find out what conferences they go to. Or you can search for conferences near you and research the agents that’ll be there.

You need to do your research, but it’s easier than ever to do that research. When you sit down to your appointment with the agent, you will make things massively easier on yourself if you can show that you have a clue who they are and what they do. It is extraordinary to see writers sit down to an appointment with an editor or agent who caters to a genre or a market niche wholly unrelated to what the writer is writing.

Hannah wrote:

I have a question regarding not finding an agent. What are your views on being an agent to oneself? For me and for many of my European colleagues finding an agent is just not an option; we have to talk to the editors first hand at all times. So, my question is, how do you become your own agent?

Randy sez: If an agent’s not an option, then it’s not an option. Fifty years ago, many American authors didn’t have agents. Now most do. There are some books on how to be your own agent. Check Amazon for exact titles. It’s been a long time since I considered this option.

Karen asked:

Hmmm all very interesting. Knowing that the ideal situation is probably to develop relationships at conferences, can email also work if you are on different continents? I’m not at that stage yet (realistic expectations!), but assuming that when I am ready, I don’t make it over the ocean, is it likely that I would have any luck via email? I’m guessing (hoping) the answer is that if the writing is good and I’ve done my research and chosen the right agent/s, it is likely. I wonder though, how to get their attention (professionally) in a mail box that’s likely full to the brim of people they do know…

Randy sez: Yes, email can work. It’s not as good as in person, but it can work. Remember that agents probably hear from zillions of people every day. Many of the writers who query them are spammers, just blasting out shotguns full of email queries. If you’re going to shoot out a query by email, use a rifle. Study the agents and send each one a personalized and short query that makes it clear you’re a professional who respects them as a professional.

Kim asked:

Do publishers prefer to work through an agent or directly with an author?

Randy sez: I’m not an editor, but if I were, I’d prefer to work with somebody who understands the business, knows how to negotiate, plays fair, and gets back to me promptly. This describes most agents (but not all of them) and some writers (not as many as we like to think).

Typically, the agent’s job is to do those things that you don’t do well. Most agents will not get between you and the editor when you’re working through the editing phase.

The one exception is if a problem arises. If you know you’re going to miss your deadline, call your agent and let him deliver the bad news and negotiate a solution. If the editor is asking for outrageous changes, call your agent and let him show the editor the proposal and remind her what the contract says. If the marketing department is backing out of spending all that money they promised in the contract, call your agent. The agent’s job is partly to be the bad cop so you can be the good cop.

I think I’ve now caught up with all agent questions. Let’s turn to something new. What’s your biggest craft-related problem in writing fiction? Post a comment here and I’ll read through them to decide what I’d like to talk about next.

I‘m continuing to respond to various comments on my blog over the last few days.

Marcus wrote:

At some point, I’d love to hear the agent vs. no agent debate here. I get mixed messages from many writers. (Though I’m thinking I’m an agent kind of writer–if I’m any kind of writer at all.)

Randy sez: Don’t get an agent if:
* You have all the contacts with editors you need
* You can negotiate a publishing contract skillfully
* You don’t need help with proposals
* You don’t need career advice

Otherwise, get an agent. Make sense?

Tim wrote:

What if you finish your manuscript and send it to several editors and get interest from two or three. What do you do about that, also if you meet with an editor or agent and you have already sent out letters to other editors should you tell the editor or agent that you have done so?

Randy sez: If more than one editor asks to see the work, let them see it! Be sure to let them know that you have multiple interests, but don’t make a big deal about it.

If you meet with an editor or agent and they express interest in your work, then they will almost certainly ask who else has seen it and what was their response. You should tell the truth here. Telling the truth is an Xtremely good idea in the publishing world, for a number of reasons. You are always allowed to put your best foot forward, but you must not lie, period. Lies will catch up with you, and publishing is a small world.

Karen wrote:

What if you do a Ted Dekker thing and walk in with a dozen novels under your armpit? How do you handle that without looking like a geek?

Randy sez: If you do, you need to have a Ted Dekker-sized armpit. Ted is a special guy with tons of ideas and he works extremely hard. If you are also special with tons of ideas and you have the work ethic to carry it off, then do so. Otherwise, you might want to just pitch one project like the rest of us mortals.

Andra asked:

If I talk to an agent who in the end isn’t a good fit, is it appropriate to ask if he or she knows another agent who would be?

If so, would it then be appropriate to mention the recommendation in a query letter (or face-to-face meeting) to the new agent?

Randy sez: It depends on why you’re “not a good fit.” If you get the idea that the agent thinks you’re a good writer, but your action-adventure novel just isn’t a sweet romance like all her other projects, then go ahead and ask for a referral. If you get one, it is always a good idea to say, “Can I tell Agent X that you referred me?” The answer will give you some idea of how enthusiastic the agent is.

On the other hand, if you have the strong impression that the agent doesn’t like your writing, then asking for a referral is likely to get you an incredulous “No!” or a referral to the Agent From Hell. So tread carefully here.

You might imagine that no agent or editor would ever recommend a writer to their competition. The agents and editors I know sometimes do this. 10 years ago at a writing conference, my buddy John Olson pitched a Christian vampire novel around. One of the editors, Lisa Bergern, didn’t think she could use it, but she showed it to her friend, Karen Ball. Karen loved it, but she also knew she couldn’t buy it for her publishing house. Two publishing houses later, Karen bought it and that novel will come out this October under the title SHADE. So it happens.

Ann asked:

Randy, on interviews with Agents and Publishers, do you think it would be acceptable to ask if they would agree to my recording the interview, and making it clear that it’s only to be able to go over their advice and requests (if they have any requests) at a later date?

Randy sez: Yes, ask. If they say no, do NOT punch them in the nose, stalk off in disgust, or otherwise show your displeasure. Smile pleasantly, instead, and say, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look much nicer than the south end of a north-bound rhino?” Trust me, this always builds bridges. You can never have too many bridges.

Miss Skye asked:

I’m curious– did you finish reading the Harry Potter series yet? The reason I ask is I wanted to direct your attention to editor Cheryl Klein’s speech “A Few Things Writers Can Learn from Harry Potter”.

Randy sez: My girls and I are almost done reading HP aloud. We are about to begin the final battle at Hogwarts in Book 7. This is a LONG reading project, but we’re really enjoying it. Of course, all of us have read it multiple times, so there are no surprises, but every time I read the series, I notice new things. In my opinion, JK Rowling is one of the best authors on the planet. I read through the speech by Cheryl Klein and it was excellent.

I’m wrapping up my answers to the various questions that have been posted here lately on agents.

Lynda wrote:

I was reading about a conference. They said there would be public and private interviews with agents. Does this mean some interviews are done with an audience listening in? Or a panel of agents? Dispair!!!

Randy sez: I’m not quite sure what it means, but one thing that is commonly done at writing conferences is to have a panel of agents and let writers do quick pitches to either individual agents or to the panel as a whole while the audience listens.

This has got to be the most terrifying thing imaginable to me and so I’ve never done it. I’ve seen it done, and it seems not to be so bad, especially if you already enjoy crawling naked over broken glass while a tiger chases you. Some people like that sort of thing and others don’t.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, then don’t do it. There are other ways to meet agents and editors.

Carly wrote:

My question is what are the responsibilities of an Agent?

Wow, this question will show just how much of a freshman I am: What is the difference between the Agent and the Editor?

Randy sez: This is a safe place to ask Freshman-level questions. Be assured that there are other Freshmen out there wondering the same thing, but who don’t have the guts to ask.

The main responsibility of an agent is to help you sell your book to a publisher and get the best terms you can. This includes the following tasks:
* Help with preparing a book proposal
* Give editorial suggestions
* Pitch the book to editors
* Negotiate the deal
* In some cases, receive the money from the publisher and cut you a check for your share. (In some cases, the publisher writes a check to the agent and a check to the author.)

Agents can and often do some of these other tasks:
* Give you career guidance
* Give you ideas for marketing your book
* Make connections with other authors for co-authoring opportunities
* Support and encourage you

I have had agents do all of the above for me.

Agents usually DON’T do these tasks:
* Give you loans
* Do paid editorial work for you
* Babysit your cat
* Marry you

I have heard of agents doing most of the above, though my best belief is that all of these events are rare.

Carly’s second question was on the difference between an editor and an agent.

An editor is someone employed by a publishing house to acquire manuscripts, edit them, and shepherd them through the publishing process. An editor will be the person who takes your book to the publishing committee (if there is a publishing committee) and fights for approval to get your book published. The editor will often fight for the right cover for your book (I’ve had an editor do this when everyone else at the publisher wanted the wrong cover, and he won–thank you, Steve Laube!) In short, your editor is your book’s champion at the publishing house. Please note that it is not your editor’s job to get you the most possible money for your book. The editor has a fiduciary responsibility to the publishing house to help it earn money. So the editor will offer you what he or she considers a reasonable amount of money, but NOT a generous amount.

The agent is YOUR employee. You hire an agent on a commission basis to get the best financial deal and to negotiate the contract to make sure there are no onerous clauses that will cause you trouble. Typically, the commission is 15% and the agent doesn’t get paid until you get paid. You should avoid agents who want money upfront to represent you. The agent has a fiduciary responsibility to YOU to protect your interests.

There is of course some conflict between editors and agents, because they have fiduciary responsibilities to different parties. The editor’s job is to make money for the publisher. The agent’s job is to make money for you. Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot where everyone is as happy as possible.

It is common for editors to switch sides to become agents. Chip MacGregor, whom I interviewed here recently, was the editor for my first novel. Later, he became an agent and represented me for several years, until he jumped ship to work for Time-Warner. Now he’s an agent again. The editor of my second novel, Steve Laube, is also now an uber-agent like Chip.

I will say it again: Editors and agents are some of the coolest people on the planet. (Matched only for inherent coolness by novelists.) I realize that it’s hard for Freshman-level writers to believe this, but if you persist in this writing game, eventually you’ll have many friends who are editors and agents and you will be interested in them because they are so much fun to be with, rather than because you think they can advance your career. And they’ll be interested in you for the same reason.