Tip Thursday: Absolute Write

Okay guys, just a quick one today, because I'm a moron and forgot to do a post for today.  (*Face/palm*).  Anyway, I've had this come up lately from a friend of my husband's.  Basically he's written a children's PB (which is really cute.  ALthough I'm deathly afraid of clowns.  :S) and he didn't do any research on publishing.  He ended up publishing through a vanity press because he didn't realize it wasn't a commercial publisher.


Please, please, PLEASE if you're submitting, just starting to submit, or thinking of submitting, DO. YOUR. HOMEWORK.  THere is NEVER a reason to spend money to be published.  Yog's Law states that money flows TO the author.  I've said it before, folks, and I'm sure you think I'm a broken record, but it's SO important.  You won't be taken in by scams, if you remember that one rule.

So, in honor, of research, I'm pimping absolutewrite.com.  They are chock-full of great information from writers to writers.  And the best thing is their bewares and background checks board.  They will let you know if the agent/publisher you're thinking of querying is a scam or legit.  They don't pull punches and tell you exactly how they feel, but they're a wonderful group of writers who actually care about helping you succeed. 

It's where I'm at most days, not to mention it's how I found my agent.

How real agents get paid

I don’t know if a lot of you have seen my posts lately, but I’m finally out on submission.  I say finally like it hasn’t been a blink of an eye since I found my wonderful agent.  But I want to clear up a few misconceptions I’ve been noticing lately.  First, my agent isn’t my agent because I paid her.  In fact I will never pay her.  She will pay me—in a matter of speaking. 

The way an agent works is she looks through her (used loosely.  There are wonderful male agents as well) slush pile (the stack of unsolicited manuscripts, partials or query letters they receive) to find something that interests her.  Usually it’s with a query letter so we’ll start there.  She reads the query letter and decides she likes it enough to read more. 

Now with my agent she had the first 50 pages and my synopsis, so she was able to keep going.  From the query she read my first 50, determined she liked it, and then read my synopsis.  Since she liked that as well, she asked for the rest.  After reading the rest, she offered me representation. 

When I accepted, she sent me her notes.  I edited my MS based on those notes and sent it back.  Then she read it through again, sent me her notes, and I edited it again and sent it back.  This process can keep going for awhile folks, but in my case it’s stopped here and we moved onto submission.  Now it’s in her hands and I feel a little awkward. 

Why?   Because it’s a little like the querying process to find an agent, but it’s in someone else’s hands now.  She’s doing all the work.  Researching where and who to submit to, when to nudge, perfecting the pitch letter, etc.  I’m perfectly confident she’s going to find me the perfect match for my MS, but it’s hard relinquishing control like that. But that’s why you want your agent to understand you, your MS, and love your MS as much as you do. 

So you may have noticed I have not once mentioned money exchanging hands.  And that’s because it hasn’t.  I have not paid her a single penny.  She is essentially working for me for free. 

How does she get paid, you may ask?  Well, she gets paid when I do.  When a publisher makes an offer it’s usually offering an advance and then a royalty off the cover price of the book.  Since my agent will make 15% of everything I make, including the advance, it’s in her best interest to get the best deal. 

The publisher will send her a check with my advance; she takes her 15% and then gives the rest to me.  It will be the same with royalties.  So as you see, I never pay her anything. 

As you might have guessed that is why agents are so picky.  They are essentially working for free until your MS sells.  If it doesn’t sell, then they don’t make money.  So they need to find MSs they fall in love with so they can champion it properly. 

So, how can you make sure yours gets picked up?  Write a good book, get feedback on said book and edit appropriately.  Research agents thoroughly and query widely. Be patient.  In the meantime, write a new and better book and start the whole process over again.  Eventually you will get picked up. 

I hope this shed some light on agents and how they work.  So how about you?  What’s your experiences been like?  I’d love to hear from you.

Tomorrow, contests.  What they’re about and how they can help you in your career.

~JA

If you’re an agent, editor, or author and would like to do an interview or guest blog with me please contact me at j.souders (at) jasouders (dot) com

The truth about Publish America.

Now since this blog post idea can essentially never end, I’m going to focus on why NOT to publish with Publish America.  Why am I doing this?  Because this “publisher” isn’t out to help you become a published author, they’re out there to get your money.  Plain and simple.

My information is not first hand experiences, but I am planning on having an author who was swindled by this company come over and tell us about it.  Most of my information was easily found on the Internet and I’ll provide links to my resources.  And for those naysayers out there that will just say I’m jealous because I don’t have a published book yet, I will remind you.  I have an agent and I love her to death.  I was offered no less than 3 publishing contracts for my book, Fallen (that I turned down), and 1 for, Mirror Image (that I was seriously considering). So no, I’m not jealous.

Here’s also a reminder that money flows to the author not away from.  If you’re asked to pay for something, be very wary and DO YOUR RESEARCH.  Check everyone out before you query them.  Period.  End of story.

Okay, here’s a quick rundown on why not to publish with PA.

1.  They don’t edit your work.  In fact, usually more errors are introduced into your work and then they want you to pay for it to have it fixed.

2.  Your books will almost never be on an actual bookshelf, because PA doesn’t except returns (almost all commercial publishers accept returns, because they only accept and print books they believe in.) Or in libraries, because they lack the LOC CIP number--something real publishers provide for their books.

3.  PA accepts almost everything!  It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad.  If they can easily format it, it gets picked up.  (Unless, of course, they’ve met their quota for the day).

4.  PA will not sell your book to readers.  They will sell your book to YOU!  The prices they charge for their books is so exuberantly overpriced that no real reader will buy it, therefore they offer the author “deals” so they buy it.  (Sounds a bit different than we’ll never charge the author anything, doesn’t it?)Here's a link from their own site that proves that the books are ridiculously overpriced.  

5. And finally, if you publish with PA, it’s not considered a real publishing credit.  There isn’t an agent out there that considers this a legitimate credit.

This is a forum post that has multiple sub-forums.  Click on any of them and you’ll see everything I’m talking about:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=115

The Number One Rule to Avoid Being Scammed in Publishing

Okay guys, I’ve been focusing so much on the legitimate side of publishing that I haven’t focused on the other side.  And part of this reason is because it’s heartbreaking to me.  But in the past few days I’ve had a ton of questions about publishing and how I found my agent, what the aspiring author should do, etc. and I felt it was time to talk about it.

The biggest thing in publishing is this, an author should NEVER (note the bold, italicized capitalized lettering) pay for anything to do with publishing.  How real publishing works is this:  You submit your manuscript to an agent/editor and then they decide whether to accept it or not. 

Now here’s where it gets a little bit tricky.  Let’s go down the path I went first.  The agent route.  Okay, so you’ve submitted to Ms. Dream Agent and she responds with a yes.  She sends you her agency agreement; you hash out a few logistics and then you both sign it.  Then she offers editing advice, you fix the manuscript and then she takes over and starts submitting to editors at different publishing houses. 

An editor comes back and makes an offer on your book and then (after many, many things) it gets published.  They send you your advance and royalty check to your agent, who takes her 15% and sends you the rest. 

Going to an editor first is the same as above, minus the agent.

Notice that the only time I mentioned money was when I talked about getting an advance and/or a royalty check.  That’s the only time money should EVER exchange hands.  Also note in which direction it’s going.  Money ALWAYS flows to the author. 

Here’s things you should know about money:

The publisher: 

1)  Buys your book.  That’s why they offer an advance.  (NOTE: Some of the smaller publishers do not offer an advance, but sometimes they offer better royalties.  That doesn’t make them bad.  Unless they want you to pay for something.)

2) They pay for everything that goes into your book (ie cover art, editing, marketing, etc.)

3) Will NOT ask you to buy your own books.  Most publishers will give you a few “author copies” (this can vary from 1—at small presses—to 50—at the big boys).

The agent:

1)   Does not get paid until you do.  That means that they won’t ask for a reading fee or any such garbage.  They collect their percentage (usually 15% for domestic sales and 20% for foreign) and that’s it.  This is the biggest reason that agents are so picky about what they pick up.  NOTE:  Sometimes they will ask for basic expenses( i.e. photocopying, postage, etc.  But this is usually very small—less than $250--since most things are done electronically these days and it’s usually taken out of your royalty and/or advance checks. 

2)   Work for you.  It’s better if it’s a partnership since you’re both after the same thing, but in essence they are offering a service to you.  Much the same as a plumber or electrician.

So now you’re asking me, what are the big red flags to help me avoid being taken advantage of?  Well, the biggest ones are to not pay a red cent.  If they want you to pay ANYTHING up front, run.  Run as far and as fast as you can. 

Second, do your research.  Go to Absolute Write’s Bewares and Background checks; do a search on anyone your planning on submitting to(yes I know I ended in a preposition  J).  Read what other’s have said and heed their advice.

 Even if an agent/editor is “new” they should have a publishing “footprint,” which means you should be able to find them somewhere.  They need to have experience somewhere.  For instance, a new agent should have either done an internship with an established agency and/or have been an editor for a publishing house. 

Editors should have a few years interning or working for a house, so they know how it works and what makes a great book work. 

Check out Writer’s Beware.  This is an awesome site that is dedicated to helping aspiring writers educate themselves on how to not be part of a scam.  They list all the bad publishers and agents/agencies. Don't forget to check out their blog.

Go to Editors and Preditors- they also keep an extensive list of agents and publishers with recommendations or warnings.

 You can also contact either of these websites for more detailed info on a particular person, if you so wish. 

Now the reason I’m specifically posting this today is because of this “publisher.”  Publish America.  They say they are a “traditional” publisher, which in fact they are not.  They have scammed over 40,000 aspiring authors and the numbers keep climbing.  Please do NOT be one of them.  I will go more into another post on Wednesday about why to avoid this "publisher" specifically, but in the meantime, please check out Janet Reid’s blog on their latest “deal.”  And don’t forget to check out the other resources I listed so you can learn how to avoid being scammed.

Until next time…