Back to Blogging...

Okay, I've taken more than enough time for reflection and getting away to a conference. Back to your questions...

Clarice wrote to ask, "When is it appropriate to inquire on the status of a submission to an editor or agent? I sent something in to an agent four months ago, but have yet to hear."

Keep in mind that every agent has his or her own system. I try to get to submissions once a week, but sometimes I go three weeks between looking. And that's just for a quick look -- if I like something, I have to read it through, and that means I could have it for a month or two before I can give the author a firm response. In my experience, most agents would like to have two or three months to consider a proposal before they render a "yes" or "no." During busy times (like Christmas, summer vacation, and the like), it may take longer. So if you sent a project to an agent four months ago, and she hasn't responded to you, it might be very appropriate just to drop a friendly note -- something like, "Hello, I'm just checking back with you on that proposal I sent you a few months back. I was wondering if you've had a chance to look it over yet. I know you're busy, so thanks very much for giving it your consideration."

On a related note, Hank wrote to complain that an agent hadn't responded to his proposal in a year... but when I checked with Hank, he noted that he'd never met the agent, nor had he queried via email or letter. In other words, he had just sent in a proposal cold. And that leads me to ask, "Where is it written that an agent must respond to you just because you wrote to him or her?"

Answer: It isn't. An agent isn't obligated to respond to everyone who writes him or her. I've got a job to do, and time is money, so I really can't take the time to read every project somebody sends in cold. I don't feel that's a deriliction of my duty, either -- I simply don't believe that I owe every writer a favor. With MacGregor Literary, I state very clearly on my company website that I'm not looking for unsolicited proposals. Still, people send them. I also state on my site that I don't have time to read every project coming in over the transom, and that I don't return unsolicited proposals, even if they come with a postage-paid envelope. It's just not my job to take responsibility for someone else's idea. Still, I have people I've never heard of complain that I didn't respond, or that I didn't return materials -- as though their decision to mail me something puts a burden on me, merely because I work as a literary agent. Wrong. I generally represent people I know -- maybe we met at a conference, or they were a referral from a current author... but it's a very rare thing for an agent to yank something out of a slushpile and offer an agency agreement. So make sure you have realistic expectations, Hank.

Cecelia wrote and said, "I've noticed more authors using the term bestseller or bestselling author in their materials. Is there a rule about this? Must an author make an established bestseller list in order to use that term?"

Absolutely, Ceclia. An author needs to have a book that hits a recognized bestseller list in order to claim he or she is a "bestselling" author. That would mean your book needs to land on a legitimate bestseller list like the New York Times list, the LA Times, the Denver Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Barnes & Noble's list, or the Amazon Top 100. (It's also fine to note that you had a book land in your regional paper -- say the Portland Oregonian or the Cincinnati Enquirer, though those lists don't quite have the same cachet of the major lists.) The CBA releases its own bestseller list every month, noting the various genres as well as an overall "top 50 titles" in terms of sales. So if an author claims to be a "bestseller" in her proposal, she needs to be able to back that up with evidence of hitting a list.

By the way, BookScan is the reporting vehicle for most general market bookstores. Many CBA bookstores use a different tracking system, called Stats (though some also use an alternative system entitled CrossScan). These are supposed to track book sales by ISBN number, and create a reporting data base for publishers. But one of the reasons this can confuse authors is because some books can sell incredibly well and never have their sales reported. Books sold in Sam's Club and Costco, for example, are not reported to any bestseller tracking system -- so you could sell 100,000 copies and never appear on a bestseller list. The recent success of The Shack is a good example -- the book moved a couple hundred thousand copies through alternative sales channels before any reporting store picked it up and began noting sales. Once that happened, it hit #1 in the religion category. It's reasonable to ask the question, "Would it have been fair for the author of The Shack to declare himself a bestselling author prior to making the list?" Maybe... but that's not the way the system works.

Paul wrote to ask, "Do some agents represent both Christian books and secular books?"

Yes...but let me educate you. Don't refer to them as "secular" books; refer to them as "general market" books. The word "secular" suggests a book without God, and the fact is there are many authors who publish in the general market but love God very much. Still, to answer your question, yes. I do a significant chunk of my business with general market publishers. All of the authors I represent have a strong faith walk, but I probably take a wider view than many evangelicals regarding what constitutes a Christian. Still, all the books I represent have some sort of redemptive value.

One of the most significant changes in publishing over the past ten years is the influence of the New York houses on CBA. HarperCollins owns Zondervan. Simon & Schuster owns Howard. Random House owns Waterbrook and Multnomah. Hachette (formerly Time-Warner) owns FaithWords. Penguin owns Penguin Praise. So all the major players in the general market now have a presence in the Christian book market.

Barbara wrote and noted, "You have advised authors to spend some serious cash in order to create a dynamite website. Can you tell me how many zeroes serious cash has? And are there templates or places a prospective author could view in order to begin making plans?"

I think a good website can be a great marketing tool. We used to think of sites as akin to a highway billboard -- something you drove by, read, and moved on. But now sites are incredibly useful tools -- a way to stay on top of the industry, communicate with readers, and let people know about books and speaking events. They have also proven to be content-centered -- so if you have a plumbing company, you don't just say "great rates" and "quality service" like you might in a yellow pages ad. With a website, you'll have suggestions for fixing common plumbing problems, a place to ask questions, maybe even a "history of plumbing." In other words, the site has become the repository for information. It's why we've quickly become a nation of readers again.

If you're an author who speaks, wants to stay in touch with readers, and can devote time to it, your marketing people will probably encourage you to create a good website. And it will mean you can expect to spend somewhere in the $3000 to $5000 range. You can go cheaper, of course (some places offer a do-it-yourself site for $99), but you get what you pay for. And if you're interested, check out my company site -- www.MacGregorLiterary.com. I've got what I consider to be a dynamite website for a literary agency, and I get compliments on it all the time... but I can't take any of the credit. The guy who created it for me is Nick Francis at Project83 in Nashville. (A free plug, Nick.) He'd be a great person to talk to about establishing a strong site. If you want to check out author sites, visit my "authors" page and start clicking. You'll find all sorts of authors with a variety of styles and choices to their sites.

It's nice to be back to publishing questions. If you've got a question about books or writing or publishing, send it in and we'll try to answer it for you.

Comments

[Kristi Holl]

I think I'm going to copy your attitude about manuscripts that come to me (unsolicited) for free critiques. It happens a lot. If you can ignore them guilt-free, then so can I! 8-)

[Marie]

This morning I've read a few literary agent blogs and I'm seeing thread about agents taking months to a year to respond, or not respond at all, and that this is completely acceptable since 'they are so busy'. It's writers who are expected to meet deadlines. If an agent responds with an acceptance, no doubt they want an immediate, if not a timely reply.

Why can't writers hold agents to the same standard?

[chip]

So far as I know, Marie, everybody is busy. But there's a real difference between an author meeting a contracted deadline and an agent being asked by someone he doesn't represent to look at a manuscript. The former is a commitment. The latter is not -- nor is it an obligation. In my opinion...
Chip

[Gina Holmes]

Your website is really nice. I didn't have that kind of cash so I paid the lady who did the Novel Journey template to design me a simple site that I could update like a blog since I can't really afford to pay a webmaster to do it for me. (And I'm ridiculously anal as most arteests are.) Any way for a few hundred, she did. I learned enough of html from blogging to be able to tweak it. I'm very happy with what I have. So there are options for those of us who can't afford several thousand. On that note, I started with godaddy and I thought the site I made myself looked like a site I built myself.

[Ashley]

My husband and I run a graphic design business and we create Web sites starting at $500. Definitely a lot cheaper, considering the thousands some people pay for a nice site. We're on the web at http://tekemestudios.blogspot.com and http://www.tekeme.com.

I love your site, Chip. I think it's clean and classy with just the right amount of creativity.

And Marie, I understand where you're coming from, but until an agent is working for me I don't know if I'd expect anything from them at all. Anything they do for me is a blessing, like responding to a query if I ever send one. :o) Plus, if our work is good enough I don't think we'd have to worry about waiting a year for a response. But who knows, maybe agents are so busy that it takes a year to get through their submissions... If that's the case I'd be taking a lot of vacations!!

Speaking of which -- welcome back Chipper!

[Camille]

Welcome back, Chip. What a relief. I was beginning to wonder if you'd gone on a pilgrimage of some sort, or had been transported directly to Heaven after your last post ;)

[Ryan]

What do you think about fiction books that don't have any dialogue in them? Do you think there's a market for these memoir-type fiction books?

[chip]

Novels without dialogue? Um... Beats me. Can you offer an example?