Tag: Editorial (Page 3 of 7)

Reason #11: Your Word Count Is Too Long Or Too Short

/ Mike Nappa

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

As the story goes, that whole Twilight phenomenon that Stephanie Meyer started was actually just a publishing mistake made by an inexperienced slush pile assistant.

It seems that in 2003 Ms. Meyer sent a query letter to Writers House agency describing a young adult novel about teen vampires, and asking if they’d be willing to take a look at her 130,000 word manuscript for this book. What neither Stephanie Meyer nor this agency underling knew was that young adult fiction is supposed to fall in the range of a 40,000 – 60,000 word count. Had a more experienced slush pile gopher received that query, it would have been greeted with a standard, form letter rejection.

Instead, this assistant asked to see the manuscript, liked it, and passed it on to Jodi Reamer at Writers House. Ms. Reamer also liked it despite the bloated word count. She sold it to Little, Brown, and thus began what has since been called “the biggest publishing franchise since Harry Potter.”

Now, if you think that you too will have the same kind of one-in-a-million, extraordinary good luck that Stephanie Meyer had, then by all means skip this section of this book and move blissfully on to the next chapter.

However, if your life tends to be less magical and more like the rest of us, then pay attention, because this reason for rejection is one you can easily escape.

Stephanie Meyer notwithstanding, most of us routinely reject books simply because they don’t fit a standard word count. The reason for this goes back to the primary reason why any book is rejected: profit.

It works like this: Just about every book published conforms to a standard trim size—that is, the width, height, and page count of a particular book. That trim size is filled by groupings of pages which are called “signatures,” usually 16 pages per signature. So, for instance, a 160 page book would hold 10 signatures. Publishers know very clearly how many words fit into a 16-page signature, and thus try to fit their word counts into signatures that maximize the printing process.

That means, extra signatures cost extra money to print. Conversely, smaller signatures mean a lower retail price (simply because we buyers have been conditioned to assume that a thinner book is inherently worth less than a thicker one). Both of those situations have a direct impact on publisher profitability, so they’ve standardized much of this formula to be sure they can consistently print books that’ll make money.

Are there exceptions to this practice? Sure—but they are just that: Exceptions. If you want remove an obvious obstacle in the way your book is viewed by an agent or a publishing house, then do the simple thing here.

Write a book that conforms to the word count agents and editors expect.

Or, you know, hope your query letter is picked up by a newbie on her first day.

Your call.

What You Can Do About It

1. Educate yourself on standard word counts.

Last month I got a note from an editor telling me she was looking for well-crafted historical fiction that ran between 80,000 – 100,000 words. I didn’t have anything to show her, so I decided to skulk through the offerings at Authonomy.com. With patience I found one that looked interesting…but it was only 30,000 words. Rejected.

Later I found another: 145,000 words. Rejected. Believe it or not, I looked at a half dozen historical novels that seemed interesting story-wise—and not a single one of them fell in that 80,000 – 100,000 word count. I gave up looking.

If any of those authors had taken the time to educate themselves on typical word counts for historical fiction, they might have had a contract by now. So you be sure to do find out that info. Some editors will tell you their word count preferences if you simply send an email and ask. You can also look at books similar to yours and get a quick word count estimate by counting all the words on one page and multiplying by the full page count. (That’s not exactly accurate, but for your purposes it’ll be close enough.)

And, by the way, here are some basic word counts that I use when evaluating an author’s proposal:

Typical adult nonfiction book: 45,000 – 55,000 words

Typical adult novel: 80,000 – 100,000 words

Typical young adult novel: 40,000 – 60,000 words

Typical juvenile book (fiction or nonfiction): 20,000 – 40,000 words

Typical children’s picture book: 400 – 600 words (or no words at all!)

2. Write toward your target word count.

For nonfiction books this is easy. Simply take your desired word count, subtract the number of words in your front pages and introduction, and then divide the remaining by the number of chapters in your book. For instance, if yours is a 50,000 word book with 12 chapters and 2500 words in front matter/intro, then your equation series would look like this:

50,000-2500 = 47,500; 47,500 / 12 = 3958

That means you’ll probably want to shoot for around 4000 words per chapter. Easy.

For fiction, this is harder because a novelist has to follow the story wherever it goes. So you’ll just have to keep benchmarking yourself. If yours is an adult novel, for instance, and you hit the midpoint of your plot at only 28,000 words, well you’ll need to beef it up a bit. But if you hit 40,000 words and you’re still really only at the beginning of your story, then you’ll want to start figuring out how to cut back so as to avoid the “abrupt ending” syndrome.

3. Write a different book, or two books.

Got a great novel that reaches a dramatic, satisfying conclusion at 49,000 words? For an adult novel, that’s a problem. But for a young adult novel, it’d be right in the target. So, instead of trying to double the size of your word count, why not go back through and edit so it has inherent appeal for teens and college students? Then you can pitch as a young adult novel and (hopefully) make millions like Stephanie Meyer.

Or, by the same token, if your ranging fantasy novel tops out at 161,000 words, try breaking that book into two books in a series instead. Add a third book and you’ve got yourself a bona fide trilogy that’ll (hopefully) triple your success as an author.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

Reason #12: You Are Not Credible On The Topic You Want To Write About

/ Mike Nappa

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

I remember once I was pitching a book to publishers that dealt with practical theology and American life in the 21^st century. I had outlined it all and written the first 50 pages or so, and I sent it out. Not long after, one enthusiastic publisher called me about the book.

“This is very well written.” she said, “It has both depth and readability. We think it could do well with our house.”

“Why, thank you,” I said.

“But you’re not qualified to write it,” she said.

I was dumbfounded. “How can you tell me I’m not qualified to write what I’ve already written?” I asked.

She just shrugged. “You’re not a pastor or a seminary professor. There’s no way we can sell a book like this unless it was written by someone with those kinds of credentials.” She asked me to find a professor to coauthor, saying they then would publish. I declined.

Well, I did find another publisher for that book. And I did write the whole thing—despite my lack of credentials. And it was lauded by critics and reviewers and even won a prestigious national award. But (and I have to grit my teeth to say this), in the end that tactless editor was right. The book sold poorly in the marketplace and never even earned back its advance.

Despite the actual content of my book, despite the glowing endorsements, and even the award-winning status the book earned, the fact that I was neither a pastor nor a seminary professor was enough to limit this book in the eyes of many potential buyers. As far as they were concerned, I wasn’t credible on the topic (practical theology) about which I wanted to write.

Working as an agent today, I make the same kinds of judgments about your books that The Tactless One made about mine. If you send me a book on principles of parenting, but you have no children of your own, I’m skeptical. If you think you’ve got the next great political plan for America, but you’ve never run for office or held a job in government, chances are good I’ll reject. If you want me to represent your book on how to make millions as an entrepreneur, but you’re still living in your mother’s basement and working part-time at the local coffeehouse, well, something about that situation tells me you might not be credible.

Credibility counts in the marketplace, and that means it’s important on the editor’s desk as well. If you’re not truly a credible authority on your subject of choice, you’re going to get a rejection letter. And you just might deserve it.

What You Can Do About It

1. Demonstrate clearly why you can be trusted on the topic.

It’s OK if you’re not everything everyone would expect as the author of a book on a particular topic. For instance, a man writing a book about the emotional stages of pregnancy might seem wrong at first glance—until you discover that this male author is also an obstetrician with a doctorate in psychology on the side.

Or, a stay-at-home mom may seem unlikely as an author of a book on best practices for business—until she shows that running her household successfully mirrors the management practices of the world’s most successful corporations.

The point is, whatever your experiences and credentials are, make sure you clearly show an editor how those things make you uniquely qualified to write the book on your chosen topic.

2. Earn the right to speak.

Look, if you want to publish a book about cycling, don’t just watch the Tour de France on TV and then assume you’ve got what it takes. Get out there and get on a bike. Enter a race or two. Train for a championship. Take a few nasty spills on the pavement. Test new equipment. Take apart, and put back together again, your old bicycle. Do whatever it takes to earn the right to speak about cycling, both as an intellectual expert and a physical participant in the sport. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have earned the credibility to write about it.

The same principle applies to just about any topic, and to both nonfiction and fiction. Don’t ever let yourself be a writer who is on the outside looking in. Instead, take the time and invest the energy in doing what it takes to earn the right to speak on your particular area of interest. Then you’ll not only be credible as a writer…you just might be interesting!

3. Recruit a credible co-author.

This is the advice that The Tactless Editor gave to me. She actually wanted to publish my book, but she couldn’t do it unless I had more credibility on the topic. From her perspective, that was as simple as finding a seminary professor who was willing to loan me his name and credentials as “coauthor” on the book. I, obviously, declined. But, even though I still dislike this idea in general, I can see that it would work both in a publishing board meeting and in the marketplace.

So, if you just don’t have the right credentials but you still feel like you can write a great book on the topic, this is an option. Find an established expert on your topic and offer to share both a byline and royalties if he or she will collaborate with you on the book. Who knows? You may find that you like it.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

Reason #13: You Didn’t Do Your Homework

/ Mike Nappa

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

I’m looking at a query letter email right now that makes me laugh out loud.

For starters, it’s addressed to “Dear Reader.” Then it goes on to pitch a four-part series of novels that the author claims will be “as eye-popping as Baywatch!” (Yes, the author included that silly exclamation point after “Baywatch.”) This series, the author promises will be replete with “violent characters, sexual escapades, drugs, dirty money, foul play, and foul language.”

Oh joy.

If this author had done a little homework—say, visiting my agency website for example—that person would have figured out pretty quickly it was a waste of time to send me a “Dear Reader” query for this silly proposal. This is obviously not the kind of book Nappaland Literary represents, making it an easy rejection for me.

Still, even worse than authors who don’t do their homework about potential publishing partners are authors who don’t do their homework when it comes to content research. This drives me nuts in a manuscript. The author is steaming along, and then all of a sudden he or she reverts to generic references instead of specific ones, or appears to try and fake through a section by glossing over details that would normally be expected.

Look, there’s a difference in impact between saying, “She took sleeping pills” and “She took two Ambien, hoping her body hadn’t yet built up a tolerance to them.” There’s a difference between saying “He was a professional con man” and “With more than a decade of practice, he’d perfected The Pigeon Drop to the point where it was almost a work of art.”

The point is this: Do your homework, dummy.

For instance, if you’re writing a book about police officers breaking down a crime scene, don’t just quote what you’ve seen on TV. Find out what it took to get a warrant, what kind of evidence collection kits are used for different crimes, what kind of health concerns are associated with the handling of a corpse, what kind of photography is necessary, what fibers and liquids are sought after and collected, and so on.

You’ve got to make me believe two things: a) I’m the agent (or editor) you’re looking for, and b) you’re the writer I’m looking for.

Do your homework before you submit your query, and maybe you’ll do just that.

What You Can Do About It

1. Never send a “cold call” query.

We’ll dig more into this in Reason #14 (following), but for now just live by this rule: “If I don’t know you, I won’t query you.”

Obviously, I’m not suggesting that you try to form personal relationships with every editor or agent to whom you send a query. But I am insisting that you’d better know how to spell my name before you send me a book. And you definitely should know something about my history and the kinds of books I’m looking to publish. You should know a little bit about the history of my publishing house or my agency, and even what books I’ve done in the past that are similar to the one you want to publish.

Don’t know that info? Then don’t send me your query. Take the time to do your homework about the market first.

2. Never stop learning.

It’s funny to me how many people love the idea of being an author and hate the idea of doing the work of an author. This kind of person thinks that being a writer means simply sitting in front of a computer and letting golden words of wisdom flow straight from the brain into the keyboard. Truth is, actual writing often takes less time than the research needed to put together a winning book.

Listen to this, because it’s important: Your content and market research are just as important—and should probably take as much time—as the words you finally put down on paper.

A good rule of thumb is a 1:1 ratio—that is, for every hour of writing time, you should probably spend another hour in content and organizational research. Early in the formation of your book, that ratio will probably look more like 3:1 in favor of research, but as you begin to get deeper into your manuscript it’ll start to even out. Then, before you ever send out your book, you’ll be wise if you spend an additional 20 to 40 hours simply on market research—finding out who publishes what and why, and how that fits into your own hopes for your book.

In short, never stop learning, because the near-constant accumulation of knowledge is what will set you apart from all those C- students in the nation’s writing class.

3. Don’t assume we won’t notice your shortcuts.

One time, one of my authors was writing a suspense novel when all of a sudden she stopped completely. I asked her about it, and she told me simply, “I’m learning how to clean a .22 short mini revolver.”

Turns out her book included an organized crime element, and there were a few scenes where guns came into play. Instead of shortcutting the reader with something like, “He pulled a gun and threatened everybody,” she insisted on knowing what kind of guns her characters might carry—and also knowing what her characters would know about those guns.

That kind of research added extra hours of work for maybe four or five sentences in her book. But that stubborn refusal to take a shortcut in gun description also made for a more realistic, credible thriller novel—which got published.

Adopting that kind of “no shortcuts” attitude will set your story apart as well.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

Reason #14: You Are Lazy

/ Mike Nappa

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

Want to hear about the stupid, lazy things I did today?

For starters, I’d planned to spend my morning pitching a couple of my clients’ books to publishers and then to dedicate my afternoon to writing more of this book you’re reading. A reasonable strategy. But I got behind on my morning schedule and started taking shortcuts to speed things up.

First, I whipped off an email query to an editor Peachtree Publishing. It’s a query I’d carefully crafted and even used before, so I barely glanced at it before I sent it. The only problem was…I’d used it before.

Apparently I was smart enough to change the salutation at the top of the email, but in the body of the letter I made this bold statement: “I feel confident that you and your team will see this one as a perfect fit in a future line of books from Workman Publishing.”

I can hear the Peachtree editor grumbling already. “Mike, if this is a perfect fit for Workman, then why’d you send it to me?” Grr.

Oh, and it doesn’t stop there.

After sending out this inappropriately targeted query, I went back and took a look at my personal notes regarding this um, veteran editor. (I was hoping we’d connected in the past—and that she might’ve liked me enough to overlook my faux pas.) Here’s what I found: “Do NOT email queries—this editor will not review any submission received this way. All queries and manuscripts must be sent by US Mail.”

Double Grr. My book is now dead in the eyes of this editor. If I’m lucky, she’ll overlook my stupidity and send me a rejection letter. More likely, she’ll simply ignore me (something I call the dreaded “pocket rejection”) and move on to agents who aren’t quite as stupid or lazy as I was today.

As if that wasn’t enough, today I also was pitching a new fiction novel for kids to publishers. In my haste to get through my list, I sent a passionate query to an editor Hyperion.

She rejected the book about four minutes later.

Do you see why? (If not, you’re as bad as I am.)

Look at it. I sent the query to Hyperion (the adult division) instead of Hyperion Books for Children (the kids’ book division). Yes, I’ve got these editors and imprints listed separately in my database. Yes, I should have known better. I was just too lazy to look twice and make sure I got the right info when I copied it out.

So, in the space of about half an hour today, I got two near-instant rejections—and I deserved them both. Why? Because I was lazy.

Lesson learned (again). And it’s one you’d better learn quickly if you want to avoid the same fate as mine was today.

What You Can Do About It

1. Measure twice, cut once.

We touched on this a little bit in Reason #13, and now you can see that sometimes it’s laziness in the simple things that sabotages our best efforts in the pursuit of publication.

Look, we all know that things like sending out query letters and creating a detailed market analysis are boring and tedious jobs. But attention to detail in those areas can be the difference in whether or not your book gets read by an agent or an editor.

There’s an old proverb among construction workers that goes something like this: “Measure twice, cut once. Measure once, cut twice.” The idea here is that if you measure your piece of lumber twice—double-checking to make sure it’s accurate—then you avoid making a mistake that could cause you to have to start all over again from scratch.

That’s the kind of attitude you must take when sending out queries. Double-check names. Double-check addresses. Make sure you’re aiming at the right targets. Do all the mundane detail work that guarantees you get the best result—every time.

2. Treat every editor (or agent) as if he or she is the only one to whom you’re sending your book.

Obviously I failed in this area today—and it cost my authors two opportunities to publish. You know how rare a publishing opportunity is, so you can guess what an enormous cost my laziness had today. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.

Yes, when creating a proposal pitch and/or a query letter, you will out of necessity put together a “one size fits all” approach. And you will clearly need to send it out to as many editors and/or agents as you can, because that simply increases your odds of publication. But when I receive your query or pitch, I should never be made aware that I am just one of many you are trying to woo. That’d be like asking a whole sorority out for a date. Sure it’s possible that one of the girls in the sorority might be willing to join your for a dance…but not if she thinks you might dump her at any instant if one of the other sisters shows up.

So, tailor your generic pitches with individual editors or agents in mind. Make each of us think we’re your #1 choice. Maybe we’ll be flattered enough to return the favor.

3. Do what’s required to give your book the best opportunity.

Several years ago my wife, an executive editor at a mid-sized publishing house, spoke at a writer’s conference. She met an aspiring author with a great idea for a book. Amy wanted to publish the book, but it needed just a little bit of extra work to make it something that would pass the publishing committee. So Amy told this writer exactly what to do to get her book published. “Then send it to me directly,” she said, “and I’ll take it from there.”

Months passed. Nothing.

The next year at the same writer’s conference, Amy saw the author again. “I know I have to get that revised proposal to you,” the author said with embarrassment. “I’ll do it soon.”

Long story short, three years later that author still hasn’t done the work Amy asked for. Yet the author keeps coming back to the writer’s conference every summer, trying in vain to find an editor who wants to publish her books.

“I could have published that book,” Amy told me after the last conference. “In fact, I would have published it. But this author was too lazy to follow up.”

If you want to publish, you’ve got to be willing to do the work it takes to optimize every opportunity. If you don’t want to do the work, all the writer’s conferences and workshops in the world won’t do you any good. Remember, there’s no such thing as a lazy writer…there’s only those who get published and those who don’t.

Looking for more? Check out these links:

Reason #15: You Didn’t Pass The “First Line Test”

/ Mike Nappa

An Editorial Team reason for rejection

“My grandfather, the knife fighter, killed two Germans before he was eighteen.”

When I read this first line from David Benioff’s book, City of Thieves, I was hooked. I was actually standing in the grocery store, just passing a few minutes while I waited for my wife. But after that first line, I couldn’t bear to part with the book. I ended up buying it along with a gallon of milk and some frozen pizza.

That’s the power of a good first line—it demands the reader’s attention. It captures the imagination in such a way that the reader can’t help but keep going. Consider these classic first lines from literary history:

• “It was a pleasure to burn.”—Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451

• “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.”—A.A. Milne in Winnie-the-Pooh

• “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”—J.D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye

• “I met Jack Kennedy in November, 1946.”—Norman Mailer in An American Dream

What all of these first lines have in common is that they cannot be ignored. Every single one makes you, the reader, ask the question, “Well, what happens next?” And that means it passes the “First Line Test” that so many editors and agents use (myself included).

And you, dear reader? If you can master the art of the first line, well, I’m going to have a hard time rejecting your work. I’ll be too busy reading on to find out what happens next.

What You Can Do About It

1. Understand what a first line must accomplish.

The first line of any book—fiction or nonfiction—makes a promise to the reader about the rest of your book. Thus, your first line must accomplish these things:

• Create curiosity. It must make the reader ask, “What happens next?”

• Demonstrate credibility. It must make the reader believe, “This author can be trusted with my reading time.”

• Evoke emotion. It must make the reader feel something—anticipation, fear, joy, surprise, whatever your book needs the reader to feel.

If you can create a first line (and first paragraph) that does these three things, you are already well ahead of your competition—and past the first line of defense from editors and agents who want to reject your work.

2. Read a row of first lines.

This is a simple writing exercise that’s also fun and effective. If you feel the need to get better at first lines, then inundate yourself with them.

Go to your local bookstore or library and find the section that represents your chosen category of writing. For instance, if you’re a business writer, go to the Business section, or if you’re a crime novelist then go to Crime Novels section.

Pick a shelf of books in that section, then begin at one end and pull a book off the rack. Open to the introduction or first chapter, and read only the first line (or maybe the first paragraph) and then rate that book on a scale of 1 to 10 for its first-line effectiveness. Go all the way down the shelf, rating the first lines of the books you see. Afterward, go back to the books you rated 8 or higher and re-read those lines, asking yourself: What is it about this first line that earns a high rating? And what can I learn from that to apply to my own writing?

When you’re done, you’ll know more about writing than most authors—and you’ll be well on your way to crafting a first line that leads to publication.

3. Always ask yourself: Will they read on?

I spoke at a writer’s conference once and sat on a panel called, “Will They Read On?” Conference attendees had submitted a first page to any of their works—fiction or nonfiction. One by one, each “first page” was read aloud. Then the panel of agents and editors answered one simple question: “If you had received this proposal, would you read on?”

I was astounded at how many times the answer to that question was “no.” That’s not because I thought the panel was being too tough; rather, it was shocking to hear out loud the number of aspiring writers who had absolutely no idea how to start a book. The two or three that had mastered the craft of the beginning easily stood out.

So use that knowledge to your advantage. Every time you write a first line, or a first paragraph, or a first page, imagine yourself at this writer’s conference with people reading aloud your work. And ask yourself, “Will these editors and agents want to read on?” Keep revising until your answer is irresistibly, unequivocally, yes.

Looking for more? Check out these links: