Queries & Quakes

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You may have heard about the earthquake that hit the east coast yesterday. It was certainly interesting, but I wish the news wouldn’t make such a big deal out of it. It was definitely not as bad as the ones in Haiti or the one that caused the tsunami for Japan. Back off, news.

Since I talked about how Ladies Who Critique and WriteOnCon helped me with my query, I thought I’d post a before and after. Lots of readers were confused by my original one, but the revised version should be clearer.

Original

Dear Agent:

Prince Calder departs to rescue the kidnapped Princess Arianna. He expects dangers. But there is one thing he does not expect: the narrator.

Fed up with the author’s cliché plot, Pennington orders Calder to ignore the kidnapped princess. He will create a more engaging story. Calder doesn’t believe him and, determined to be a hero, refuses.

Then Pennington completely rewrites Calder’s backstory. Suddenly Crown Prince Calder…isn’t. He’s lost his inheritance and the confidence that he’s not a storybook character in one sentence.

Now Calder’s story is no longer what it seems. Does Arianna still need to be rescued? Is he surrounded by friends or by enemies? Is he the Crown Prince or the youngest son?

Losing his sense of identity, he clings to his quest, determined – at all costs – to beat the narrator and end his story, his way.

THE NARRATOR is an 80,000* word young adult fantasy told from multiple points of view.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Jenn Johnson

Revised

Dear Agent:

Prince Calder departs the kingdom to rescue a princess from her classically evil captors. He expects dangers, but there is one thing he does not expect: his story’s narrator.

Refusing to narrate even one more boring quest plot, Pennington materializes and orders Calder to ignore the kidnapped princess. He will create a more engaging story, one that a truly great narrator deserves. Calder doesn’t believe his claim to be the narrator and, determined to be a hero, refuses.

Then Pennington completely rewrites Calder’s backstory. Suddenly Crown Prince Calder…isn’t. He’s lost his inheritance and the confidence that he is a real person in one sentence. Calder’s story is no longer as straightforward as he thinks. Does the princess still need to be rescued? Is he surrounded by friends or by enemies? Is he the Crown Prince or the youngest son? If he continues to defy Pennington, will he even recognize himself?

Losing his sense of identity and reality, he clings to his quest, determined – at all costs – to beat the narrator and end his story, his way.

THE NARRATOR is an 80,000* word young adult fantasy told from multiple points of view.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Jenn Johnson

Publisher Branding

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You know the name of the book you’re reading right now. You probably know the author. But do you know the publisher?

Most publishers haven’t done much to promote a brand – Harlequin being a good counter-example (I’ve even noticed their branching out as Harlequin Teen). You might recognize names like Scholastic or Penguin, but do you have an idea of what exactly they publish?

Since entering the industry, I’ve started to pay more attention to who publishes my books. With the exception of Firebird, which publishes out of print fantasy, I don’t know anything about them. Is this their fault or mine? (After all, I had to go to the Firebird website to figure out their niche.)

Some industry experts are arguing that publishers need to start developing stronger brands to stand out to readers. I’m not sure if it would help. I love some of Firebird’s books and hate some of their others. And authors are so different that I’d be hard-pressed to figure out the over-arching similarities in a publisher’s list.

What do you think? If you’re more familiar with a certain publisher, are you more likely to buy their books? I would guess possibly. But I would make a stronger wager that you would buy whatever books you liked, regardless of who published them.

Money or Bookshelves?

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My friend Lauren drew my attention to an article about Amanda Hocking, a very rich self-published author.

She sells her books on Kindle for small bucks ($0.99 – $5). People buy the books because they sound interesting and are super cheap, which means that she sells over a hundred thousand copies per month.

This is amazing. Simply amazing. E-publishing is making it possible for writers’ dreams to come true with the click of a button.

I’m not sure if I would take the chance though. I’ve heard some publishers are less likely to take you on if you’ve self-published. And my dream is more about seeing my book on a bookshelf than in someone’s Droid.

But maybe my dream of having lots of teens read and enjoy my books will win out over the bookshelf dream. We’ll have to see.

Where do you stand? Now that you know it’s possible to publish your own e-books and make tons of money, would you? Will you?

Print & Prejudice

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I just received an order of four new books. Some I had seen around on the internet and wanted to buy, some were more spur of the moment as I filled up my shopping cart. I wasn’t surprised to find so many different books I wanted to read in one sitting.

I was surprised, however, when I flipped over a book and discovered it had been self-published.

The book is George Knightley, Esquire, by Barbara Cornthwaite. It’s basically Jane Austen’s Emma from the hero’s point of view. Given the title, I figured it was along the same lines as Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman and Frederick Wentworth, Captain, both series I had loved. As soon as I learned of it, I’d scoured the brick and mortar stores. Now I finally own it, and couldn’t wait to start reading.

And I am slightly ashamed to admit that as soon as I saw the back cover and confirmed on the copyright page that it was self-published, I immediately doubted its worth. If Cornthwaite couldn’t get anyone to publish it, how bad was the book? Was I about to open the cover to a vanity book, published because the author knew – no matter what legitimate publishers had told her otherwise – that her book was perfect?

Those were the types of thoughts I drudged up from my prejudiced upbringing. Publishers, I’d been taught, were the be all end all in whether a book was worth publishing or not. If you couldn’t get a bite, your novel must really be terrible.

As technology improves, and self-publishing becomes more convenient and common, I know this attitude must change. There’s a lot of trash out there, and a good chunk of it’s professionally published. Who’s to say that publishers really know what it takes to write a great novel?

I’m happy to announce that even though I’ve only read the first two chapters of Cornthwaite’s novel, I’m quite pleased. The character interactions are fun and witty, and I have high hopes for seeing the rest of Mr. Knightley’s side of the story.

Latest E-Book Convert

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My super old iPod that I got when I graduated from high school is almost dead, so on Wednesday I bought an iPod Touch. I wanted the Touch over a Classic so that I could access my e-mail and in the internet, and have apps (I have a strong belief that phones should remain only phones).

The first – and so far only – app I downloaded? The Kindle App.

I am now an e-book convert.

I’ve heard about e-books for a while. I know the pros and cons. Heck, I’m in publishing grad school. It was practically an entire class.

But I was a firm lover of print books – and still am – and refused to think about using e-books. Not that they’re bad, or the bane of a publisher’s existence – which they’re not – they just weren’t for me. If I had to read a book, I’d rather have one in print.

Until today, when the print book I was reading, Off Armaggeddon Reef, thoroughly got on my nerves (more about this next week). I spent the rest of my commute, and the commute to class, listening to the Tangled Soundtrack I’d bought the night before.

When I reached my classroom, I was finally in range of a wi-fi network, and decided to test out some of the internet-happy features on my new iPod. Cue the App Store, and the Kindle App. In a few minutes I had downloaded Mansfield Park and was reading away.

I like the page action (versus computer screen scrolling) and the instant bookmark. I didn’t mind the small screen. This Jane Austen’s got some pretty dense paragraphs, so the size neatly breaks them up into easier chunks. And bonus, Mansfield Park was free because it’s in the public domain – good thing too, I already bought a print version.

Now, I would never curl up on the sofa with my iPod. What a waste of a good print book. But for traveling (it’s even got an airplane mode) or waiting for an appointment or whatever, this sure is a nifty feature.

Books Without Endings

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No, I’m not talking about the unfinished novels in drawers around the world. I’m talking about the new Red Riding Hood book by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and David Johnson.

I haven’t read it, but the customer reviews make one thing clear: there is no final chapter.

Well there is. But it’s online, and isn’t available until the movie releases. I don’t know who came up with such a stupid idea, or why they’re getting paid for it. This isn’t final chapter epilogue, either, it’s final chapter wrap up the plot.

Is this a sign of books to come? I know some publishers are toying with the idea of serializing ebooks (selling one chapter at a time). Will start doing that with print books too?

Or was this just a poorly thought out experiment? A way to bridge a book and movie release? (If so: it didn’t work.)

Or was this just a terrible, terrible idea?

New Social “Disorder?”

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Lonely Children

While reading Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger, about students sharing information and knowledge as they read, and a collective of readers, I had a strange vision:

Gone is the lonely child, reading in a corner. Gone are the school nerds who prefer books to sports. Gone too is the solitary reader, trying to escape into solitude.

Reading is now one of the most social activities out there. Even if you are alone on the couch with your book, you are in fact surrounded by other readers. They make comments, ask questions, raise issues. They are never silent; they never stop.

As the act of reading expands, so does its social status. Readers are no longer snubbed or taunted, but embraced as fellows.

You can read by yourself, but you will never be truly alone in reading again.

Harry Potter and the Printing Press

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Yesterday my publishing class went to visit R. R. Donnelley, the largest printing company in the world. They took us on a tour of the plant, and we followed the path of the book from receiving the files from the publisher, to printing the pages, to binding them, to wrapping the jacket. It was amazing.

Now being me, I can’t leave out a Harry Potter reference. This plant was under high security when printing Harry Potter, with serious precautions to prevent even so much as a scrap escaping. Reference over.

What I really want to talk about is the digital Print On Demand I saw. That press was amazing. It turned a book around in about two minutes flat. You enter the book in a computer file at one end. The pages are printed, dried, folded, bound, covered, and trimmed. A complete book comes out the other end.

It’s a great way to do re-prints. You order only how many books you need, without all the risk and waste of a larger, regular order. You can print one, or a hundred, or more. It makes no difference.

It’s printing…for the future!

And last but not least:
Buy a book, save a printer.

Success!

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No, I did not finish my first revision of Narrator. No, I was not offered a publishing deal based on the enticing details provided on this blog (although that would be awesome).

I am officially employed.

I have a full time job. I have benefits. I have – wait for it – self-esteem. Or at least, more than I did yesterday.

For the curious, it’s in the publishing field. For the detail-maniacs, I’m a marketing assistant. For the jealous, fear not, for ye shall be next.

I am super excited, and can’t think of anything better to share with you today than my latest achievement!

Self-Publishing: Vanity or New Credibility?

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It used to be that those who self-published, using so-called vanity presses, were seen as the low of the low, worse even then those who couldn’t publish. If you couldn’t get a legitimate publisher interested in your work, you had no business trying to publish it yourself.

But now, as technology improves and the internet becomes more central to our lives, self-publishers are able to make a name for themselves. They can use the internet to publish, market, and sell their books. They can even make money.

So what does that mean for self-publishing? Is it still a vanity exercise, or has it become a new form of credibility?

I don’t know. I don’t have any answers.

As a writer, I’m still uneasy about self-publishing. I don’t want people thinking poorly of me or refusing to read my book if they learn I self-published. I want the stamp of approval that comes from an established publishing house.

If I started my own publishing company, and “acquired” one of my books, would it make a difference? Probably not. It still seems like a vanity exercise to me.

I know times are changing, and maybe in ten years it won’t matter who published you. But right now it says something to me that some of the more successful self-published works get picked up by major publishing houses.

What do you think? Do you agree with the self-publishing stigma? Or do you think the business has turned a new corner?

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  • Welcome

    new haircut

    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

    You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at:
    jennifer.a.johnson7 at gmail dot com

  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





  • All writing, unless otherwise specified, is the property of
    Jennifer Johnson © 2010