The Queue on Wikipedia!

The Queue has a couple of terrific new interns, Robyn and Beth, helping us get the word out to writers who believe they are ready to seek out agents for their manuscripts. The word is: take a reality check! Okay, that's four words, but you get what I mean.

Reality Check:
We know, all too well, that we get one shot, and one shot only, with an agent for our manuscript--agents do not like to see the same manuscript come through the pipeline multiple times as they have hundreds of manuscripts vying for their attention. So, we have to make our one shot count with a great query letter. But great query letters abound. What is more important is the manuscript--it has to sparkle from the very first words of the very first chapter, that we send along with the query letter as a sample, to the very last word of the very last chapter.

How to make sure our manuscripts sparkle:
No one wants to hear this but, to get an honest and "objective" appraisal of a completed manuscript means paying a fist full of cold hard cash to someone who will tell us what we have and what we have to do to make our manuscript stand out from those hundreds of manuscripts that are our direct competition. I would suggest using the terrific editors at The Queue! But use someone other than friends who will probably tell you your book is great because they are so impressed that you wrote a book, or your writing group who can't give you the "fresh eyes" your completed manuscript needs. Just be sure to get a thorough--we say rigorous! at The Queue--diagnostic critique from someone with credentials. This isn't cheap but in the long run it is an investment that will save time, a good deal of frustration and ultimately money.

So that is the word (300 words +/-) that our interns at The Queue are helping us get out. Robyn Correll is working the all important Internet angle.

The Queue now has a Wikipedia article with Face Book, My Space and You Tube exposure to follow! Ah, the brave new world of publishing and promotion. The article on Wikipedia has links to The Queue, of course, but also to two of the manuscripts that Scarletta Press, our parent company, acquired off The Queue: Greater Trouble in the Lesser Antilles and Willow in a Storm. (Did I mention that if you have a dynamite manuscript that goes through The Queue and wows the editorial board we will feature it On Queue while you look for an agent?) These two fantastic books were finalists in the MIPA 2007 Midwest Book Awards.

Greater Trouble in the Lesser Antilles, a hilarious excursion through the lives and lore of the denizens of Flamingo Bay, St. Judas, USVI, won in the commercial fiction category (if you are consulting an atlas, St. Judas does not exist except in the mind of author Charles Locks and on the pages of GTLA). I think of GTLA as a "guy book" but women tell me they are in love with Captain Brian. He is a SNAG after all, a sensitive new age guy!! A sequel, Low Jinks on the High Seas, is in the works.

Willow in a Storm is a memoir of survival. Inspirational and profoundly powerful in a very low-key way, this prison story is told in layers, each layer revealing more of the author's experience and the epiphanies and milestones that allowed him to emerge, in the end, a hopeful and fully realized human being. I do not read prison stories, as a rule, but I couldn't put this one down (as The Queue's general manager I had to read it and I'm glad I did). It is raw and frank and told without sentimentality. It still takes my breath away when I think about it.

Check out The Queue on Wikipedia and check out Scarletta Press on Wikipedia as well!

Some good advice for writers

Okay, maybe I'm just being lazy but here are links to three of Nathan Bransford's blog posts that I think are worth reading even if you are way beyond this. Nathan gives some good advice to writers and if you don't follow his blog, you should. He's a literary agent but don't hold that against him--he is also pretty entertaining. His mission with the blog seems to be a good fit with The Queue's mission to help writers get better and the best writing get published!


In my writers group we had a bit of a disagreement over proper formatting of manuscripts for submission. I was told, in so many words, that I was being anal. Okay, I'll accept that but when I get manuscripts at The Queue, this is how I'd like to see them formatted: How to Format Your Manuscript

If an agent or publisher asked you to describe your plot, could you do it? Before you read Do You Have a Plot?, jot down your answer. You might just be surprised.


Character and Plot: Inseparable! is a great continuation of Do You Have a Plot.


Thanks Nathan for making my blogging sooooo easy!

Join the Independents Movement

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the biggies, Barnes and Noble and Borders, are selling an awful lot of "other stuff." It seems to me the floor space devoted to greeting cards, blank books and gift items is getting bigger. Or maybe it's just my imagination. I have to admit, I avoid the biggies; I can dismiss the "other stuff" but I am overwhelmed by the quantity of books. Browsing in a store with over 100,000 titles on the shelves makes my heart pound and my palms sweat. I get light headed, dizzy and a little nauseated. I think it's the opposite of claustrophobia--a form of agoraphobia maybe. Too much of a good thing is too much.

I like small bookstores. I like the nod I get from the proprietor when I walk in the door. I like knowing that even though I can't scan every title and fondle every book in a twenty minute visit, I can, over the course of a number of visits, become thoroughly familiar with the offerings. And if I don't find a title I'm looking for, they will be happy to order it for me and have it shipped to my home if I prefer, usually within a few days.

I like that the guy in my writer's group who got his book published last year by a small press found his book featured on the new release tables and faced on the shelves at a number of local independent bookstores(1, 2, 3), he had readings and book signings and when he stopped in afterward they knew his name. The biggies weren't interested in carrying the book let alone hosting readings and signings even after he got terrific reviews in the local papers and a county library reserve list in the triple digits. I like the idea of local bookstores owned and operated by someone with ties to my community and an interest in fostering local talent and local celebrity.

Last month Khalid Houseini, recipient of Book Sense's Book of the Year award in fiction for A Thousand Splendid Suns, thanked independent booksellers for supporting him over the past five years. It's word of mouth that makes obscure books into best sellers and its independent booksellers who get the word out. I, for one, would like to thank independent booksellers for enriching my life.

So, join me and join the Independents Movement .

Thriller Fest 2008 and Competition Deadlines!!!

Be sure to consult websites for up-to-date information.

Thriller Fest 2008 will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in NYC July 9 – 12 Appearances by Sandra Brown and James Patterson among others. Sounds like a good time.


Glimmer Train is running monthly competitions, June deadline is June 30, open fiction 2,000 – 20,000 words, $20.00 fee $2,000 first place plus publication and copies other prizes $1,000/$600


American Literary Review, short fiction, non-fiction and poetry competitions open June 1 – September 1, 2008, $1,000 prizes


Fish Publishing Has a number of competitions with closing dates in July and August with money prizes. Check them out. Entry fees apply.
Fish Unpublished Novel Award: 1st Prize: Publication and 1,500 euros (approximately $1,200 USD) advance on royalties. Deadline: September 30 Eligibility: Open to any writer Entry Fee: $50 USD

WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING QUARTERLY FLASH FICTION CONTEST Wow! Women on Writing, Short Fiction 250 – 500 words, deadline Aug 31, 2008, $5.00 fee $200.00 first prize
open to all writers

Open City short fiction to 5,000 words, deadline Sept 15, 2008, $10.00 fee, prize $500.00 + publication.

ONCEWRITTEN.COM in the Midnight Hour Halloween Contest, Deadline Aug 31, Halloween theme short fiction, $13.00 fee, $500.00/$100.00 prizes

Mystery Novel award, Deadline July 15, Offered annually for the best unpublished mystery, suspense, thriller, or espionage novel, $25 fee, prize is publication with standard contract

Please address any questions regarding these competitions to the hosts of the competitions. I apologize for any errors I may have made.

Small Publishers Feel Power of Amazon’s ‘Buy’ Button

A friend forwarded this link to an article in today's New York Times. Mighty Amazon is once again wielding it's WSD (weapon of selective distruction), the "Buy" button. To access the article you might have to register but the process is fast, easy and free!!

I wrote an open letter some months ago that addressed one of Amazon's initiatives, BookSurge, and the monopolistic way Amazon was asserting this POD (print on demand) service--the use of the WSD. Below is the text of that letter.

What should writers struggle to publish their first book think about these developements in the industry? Is there cause for concern?

21st Century Robber Baron?

The alarm has been sounded. Large and small publishing houses, not to mention non-profit and self-publishers, as well as book distributors and wholesalers, are in danger of having further revenue sources appropriated by the giant Amazon.com. Are we witnessing a reemergence of the industrial robber baron of the 19th century in the book industry in the form of Amazon's BookSurge initiative that will radically change the book publishing and distribution networks into the second decade of the 21st century?

Will Amazon.com do to small and large publishing houses what Borders and Barnes and Noble did to independent book retailers in the second half of the 20th century?

Can anything be done about it?

Should anything be done about it?

Change is the only constant, we are told. Amazon.com itself is an innovation along with print on demand, and the electronic reader. The pace of change has accelerated and it demands that we change along with it or perish.

What innovations, to ensure the survival to hundreds of small independent and non-profit publishing houses and the writers they publish, will be needed to combat the affects of Amazon.com capturing more and more of the revue dollars by their monopolistic demands in the POD (print on demand) and, most probably, small runs book business?

Education is the first defense. Here are a couple of links to information on this latest development in the continuing saga of the ever changing book industry.

http://mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com/2008/04/publishing-industry-expert-speaks.html

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/does_amazons_shipping_news_hold_water_81358.asp?c=rss

http://amarketingexpert.com/ameblog/?p=245

http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html

Wanna buy my Junie doll? How about a T-shirt?

The BEA (Book Expo America) and Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist, seem to have incited a great deal of anxiety, this past week, in the publishing and writing communites with the assertion (or reassertion) that e-book domination of the publishing industry is an inevitability and profits and royalties are on their way out. Just as network television gives away sitcoms, dramas and reality shows to attract attention to advertising, so will writers be giving away our books, in the not too distant future, to attract attention to websites where we will be advertising spinoff products or other people's products and services in order to make a living from our writing.

One of the most interesting takes I have read so far on this topic was posted in response to agent Nathan Bransford's June 11 questions: Is this the future? And how do we feel about it? My question is, should I stop rewriting my novel and start designing Junie Bodine (my main character) T-shirts and action figures? Jackson Perlow, thanks for your insight. Anyone else care to weigh in?

Jackson Perlow said...
The reality of our free market economy is that profit from our endeavors is controlled by supply and demand. As evidenced by the flood of manuscripts that threatens to overwhelm Nathan and his ilk, there is a massive oversupply of fiction out there. The reading public is not screaming for more great fiction, and they rely on the gatekeepers, agents and publishers, to help them find the gems hidden in the river of mediocrity. This is frustrating to those of us who think we've written one of those gems (all of us), and many search for alternative markets to bypass the gatekeepers. What is likely to result is a two-market system. One market will continue to serve up products that have the seal of approval of the traditional publishing industry's gatekeepers--a limited supply that will assure sufficient profit for elite writers and publishers alike. The second market, already developing, will use the Internet to distribute an unvetted, unlimited supply of e-fiction. This market will suffer from greater supply (because of the absence of gatekeepers) and lesser demand (because of the difficulty of separating quality fiction from crap), resulting in dramatically lower prices than could be obtained in the traditional market. Nobody will make money.So I think authors who are part of the traditional market will continue to make their money in the same way they always have--writing and selling great fiction. Authors who can't crack the traditional market--whether because of a lesser quality product or an inability to convince the gatekeepers of the value of their product--will continue to toil in poverty. I doubt the oversupply will diminish the pricing power of traditional publishers because they control access to the one orderly market the public trusts.

Rejection Can Be Good?

This article was submitted anonymously by one of our staff at The Queue. The premise--rejection can be good--is not what we want to hear. I never believed that old adage that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. But I have to believe there is something to be learned from rejection. Let's see what Anonymous has to say.

Rejection Can Be Good - to a point.

Serious writers who think their work is mature enough to submit to publishers will likely face rejection in the beginning. In the early stages of one’s writing career, this can be a good thing. For anyone who has experienced it, rejection can be painful but also the perfect wind for stoking the fire of creativity, that tireless blaze that launches one strongly and surely out of bed in the morning.

The first rejection is a rite of passage; you’re in the game.

The second--you’re disappointed but you tweak your work, pulling out what you hope are
the last straggling weeds.

Rejected a third time (the standard rejection without any helpful remarks, and this time it took four months for a reply)--you begin to wonder if your manuscript has any merit at all or if it has even been read.

Multiple rejections--the “notches in the belt” soon become a wearisome string of holes. And a belt full of holes doesn’t hold up much anymore.

One might find consolation in hearing a few rejection stories of famous writers.

E. E. Cummings’ first poems were rejected by a dozen publishers before his mother stepped in to help him self publish. Rudyard Kipling was told in a rejection letter that he ”just did not know how to use the English language.” Madeline L’Engle’s Newbery Award winning A Wrinkle in Time was rejected countless times before it found the right home. And Arthur Golden, in a rejection story recounted at a website devoted to rejection stories, rejectioncollection.com (The Reject’s Rag), tells of his agented Memoirs of a Geisha being rejected and criticized repeatedly for being dull. At one point he asked himself, "Should I ditch this thing and try to get a job somewhere?" Through a grueling IRS audit, Golden rewrote the story in first person from the eyes of a child which made it a compelling bestseller.

Had Arthur Golden succumbed to the pressures of life and become despondent over his countless rejections, he may never have reworked his fine novel and we would have missed out on a truly golden tale. One can only guess at the number of brave writers with equally wonderful reject stories who just gave up.