OK, here we go!
Submissions were rather light this time, but perhaps that will give us more time to respond to each entry.
I do want to point out that, if your submission has been included in this round of Are You Hooked, it would be greatly appreciated if you were to leave your own feedback/critique on the other blurbs posted. It's a mutual back-scratching sort of thing.
Remember, read each entry as though it were on the jacket flap of a book you've just picked off the shelf at a bookstore. Does it draw you in? Do you want to read more? If so, why? If not, why not?
Read the blurbs as though you've got enough money in your pocket for just one book. Will this be the book you buy? Will it go on your "maybe next time" list? Or will it bite the dust?
Give these brave souls your best feedback!
Miss Snark's First Victim
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Call For Submissions: Are You Hooked?
For our second round of "Are You Hooked" we are going to focus on THE BLURB.
Here's the deal: Pretend your book is already in print -- a beautifully crafted, hard bound book with a high quality dust jacket, prominently displayed at your favorite brick-and-mortar.
A curious reader opens the nearest copy in order to read the jacket flap...
What does it say?
Write your jacket flap and send it to me at authoressmail (at) gmail.com.
Hint: If you've already got a decent query letter (i.e., your query letter actually garners responses from agents), there's a good chance you've got a paragraph or two in there that serves as your "blurb." If you don't already have a decent query letter, perhaps this exercise will help you to whip up an exciting enough book hook to start raking in those requests for partials and fulls.
Questions? Post them here.
All submissions received by 9:00 am EDT on Thursday, May 8, will be included.
Here's the deal: Pretend your book is already in print -- a beautifully crafted, hard bound book with a high quality dust jacket, prominently displayed at your favorite brick-and-mortar.
A curious reader opens the nearest copy in order to read the jacket flap...
What does it say?
Write your jacket flap and send it to me at authoressmail (at) gmail.com.
Hint: If you've already got a decent query letter (i.e., your query letter actually garners responses from agents), there's a good chance you've got a paragraph or two in there that serves as your "blurb." If you don't already have a decent query letter, perhaps this exercise will help you to whip up an exciting enough book hook to start raking in those requests for partials and fulls.
Questions? Post them here.
All submissions received by 9:00 am EDT on Thursday, May 8, will be included.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Friday Fricassee
So. It must be said that Fridays have special meaning to writers who are waiting to hear from agents or editors. The special meaning? It's the end of the week. Accordingly, the workday is usually cut short. And there won't be another workday for more than forty-eight hours.
In other words, if it's past 3:00 or so in New York, chances are you won't hear a thing until Monday at best.
You're dead in the water for another weekend.
Admittedly, this deflated feeling comes and goes with the ebb and flow of attempting-to-publish-one's-work. Lots of partials and fulls out to agents? Friday double stink. Running a bit dry and not caring a whole lot what happens to your current project? This Friday may not be so painful. Just hit the three-month-mark with your agented submissions to the Top Three editors of your choice? Friday overflows with suckage.
You all know what I mean.
Unless, of course, you are fresh from the typewriter, eager to embark upon this perilous journey for the first time. For you, Friday is simply...Friday.
I wish I were so un-jaded.
(Un-jaded?)
For me, this particular Friday isn't so bad. My prospects have fizzled to one outstanding partial, and I'm not too hopeful that this one will go any further. I've nearly spent my list of appropriate agents for this particular project, and I've got to decide what to do next. Do I:
1. Go back through the personal feedback I've received and decide if I should do some re-writing to accomodate?
2. In particular, should I revisit the comments from the editor who didn't like my protag's voice? (Even though nobody else seemed to dislike my main character?)
3. Move on to the new project I've got simmering on the back burner? (What a tired cliche...)
4. Set everything aside and focus on something un-writing-related for a month or two?
5. Throw myself from the nearest bridge?
And what about you? What are you going to do this Friday?
In other words, if it's past 3:00 or so in New York, chances are you won't hear a thing until Monday at best.
You're dead in the water for another weekend.
Admittedly, this deflated feeling comes and goes with the ebb and flow of attempting-to-publish-one's-work. Lots of partials and fulls out to agents? Friday double stink. Running a bit dry and not caring a whole lot what happens to your current project? This Friday may not be so painful. Just hit the three-month-mark with your agented submissions to the Top Three editors of your choice? Friday overflows with suckage.
You all know what I mean.
Unless, of course, you are fresh from the typewriter, eager to embark upon this perilous journey for the first time. For you, Friday is simply...Friday.
I wish I were so un-jaded.
(Un-jaded?)
For me, this particular Friday isn't so bad. My prospects have fizzled to one outstanding partial, and I'm not too hopeful that this one will go any further. I've nearly spent my list of appropriate agents for this particular project, and I've got to decide what to do next. Do I:
1. Go back through the personal feedback I've received and decide if I should do some re-writing to accomodate?
2. In particular, should I revisit the comments from the editor who didn't like my protag's voice? (Even though nobody else seemed to dislike my main character?)
3. Move on to the new project I've got simmering on the back burner? (What a tired cliche...)
4. Set everything aside and focus on something un-writing-related for a month or two?
5. Throw myself from the nearest bridge?
And what about you? What are you going to do this Friday?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Random Thoughts
I'm thinking...
* Wow, why didn't anyone pick up where Merc left off with our little switch-the-genre thing? Her words were written with a crafty smirk -- couldn't you see it? *wink*
* The Publishing World has its own definition of the verb "to publish;" as in, "One of us thought that your work was good enough to pay money for, so we bought the rights and printed a few copies with our name on it." The dictionary and most self-published authors disagree. I find myself wondering how my readers feel about this.
* We'll be doing another crit posting next week. Be thinking along the lines of: a hot blurb!
* If I see one more misuse of "its" and "it's" I'll retire to bedlam.
* Bonus points: From whence cometh the phrase, "I'll retire to bedlam?"
* Wow, why didn't anyone pick up where Merc left off with our little switch-the-genre thing? Her words were written with a crafty smirk -- couldn't you see it? *wink*
* The Publishing World has its own definition of the verb "to publish;" as in, "One of us thought that your work was good enough to pay money for, so we bought the rights and printed a few copies with our name on it." The dictionary and most self-published authors disagree. I find myself wondering how my readers feel about this.
* We'll be doing another crit posting next week. Be thinking along the lines of: a hot blurb!
* If I see one more misuse of "its" and "it's" I'll retire to bedlam.
* Bonus points: From whence cometh the phrase, "I'll retire to bedlam?"
Dana Edwards
Read the original Success Story post on Miss Snark's First Victim.
For more on Dana Edwards:
Website
Twitter
For more on Dana Edwards:
Website
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