My Procrastination = Your Abundance of Awesome Linkage

So, I've had this Yahoo email account since I was 15 or so, and over the years it began to get completely inundated with spam because I'd sign up for various daily emails which over time became an overwhelming amount of mail. When I became serious about my writing a couple years ago, I created my Gmail account, which also is linked to my smart phone, and I've slowly begun using that for everything. My Yahoo account has since imploded due to my complete and utter neglect of it - just logged on and there are 5,019 emails. Not including the ones that get caught in the spam filter. Yeah.

Anyways, I am therefore very selective now with the daily emails I subscribe to. But two that I love to get are Writer Unboxed and GTLA (Guide to Lit Agents). However, over the past few months even those two got a bit out of hand, and my pristine Gmail account was creeping up to 300 emails. So today I went through and read almost all of them, and tweeted links to all my fave articles. I thought I would provide the linkage here, all in one neat and tidy place for your perusal. Yes, I love you and you're welcome.

My tweets, in historical order and pretty colors:

I may have shared this before, but it's prob worth resharing if I have. Some good marketing stats at Writer Unboxed: http://bit.ly/sn7B6z

Here's another one: awesome video about writers and persistence by @yuvizalkow http://bit.ly/sb9iGq

http://bit.ly/uuk0Tn Diagram of common editing symbols, plus some humorous ones. And lots of links to articles on revision.

I've always thought trying to get an agent is like dating. Apparently that metaphor is fitting even after finding one: http://bit.ly/u2wPtZ

A great article on different outline methods: http://bit.ly/tu4BYv Even some choices for pantsers!
 
Query advice written as haiku! Gotta love it! http://bit.ly/sp1ei6
 
LOL! Drunken pitch practice http://bit.ly/sQs94x
 
So this is about marketing e-books, but has good stuff for marketing in general: http://bit.ly/sgkB9j
 
Really thought-provoking stuff about character motivation and depth and climax (the book kind of course) http://bit.ly/uZpQER
 
Some basics on the financials of book sales http://bit.ly/sKWqqh
 
A wildly successful traditional pub turned indie star author interview http://bit.ly/roZjF3
 
Okay, tweets done. One more link though - there's a cool Christmas book bloghop/giveaway going on through the 22nd, called the 12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List. Check it out here!

 Hope you enjoy the linkage, and have a great start to your week!!

Guide to Literary Agents - Passing Along the Wisdom

Last Friday evening was the opening night of the Tallahassee Writer's Association conference. It started at 6, and there were tasty things to nibble (other than my fingernails), beverages to sip, and mingling to be done. Let me let you in on a secret: I am not a social butterfly. My heart had been pounding erratically all day at the thought of attending an event where I didn't know a soul and introducing myself to strangers. I'm sure a lot of you fellow writers feel the same in such situations. But, we all know that if we become published authors, we have to get the hell over it.

So, I arrived on scene. I discovered that 'cash bar' is a quite literal term. As in, no card machines. Since I never carry cash, that meant no libations for me. Totally sucky, since I was counting on a little liquid courage. I saw one of my mom's friends and went to say hello. Then another writer came up and introduced herself. Then I was on my own again. That's when I saw Chuck Sambuchino out on the patio talking with a group of people. You know, the editor of Guide to Literary Agents? Probably the most popular writing blog ever? I wandered over in a starstruck daze to introduce myself.

You know when you approach a group of people already in a conversation, and they all have their backs to you in a little circle and you kind of walk up and wait there awkwardly for someone to notice you? Well, that totally didn't happen. Chuck immediately gestured for me to join them, and did this to everyone else who approached. He asked for everyone's business cards and got us all used to the drill. I think he could tell that a lot of people like me didn't know what the heck they were doing and were a hot second away from passing out from nervousness.

I harrassed him We got to chat a few other times over the course of the weekend, and he was just really cool and laid back. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his workshops, I highly recommend it. You guys probably know, since of course you read GTLA every single day, that Chuck is also an author, of both Formatting & Submitting Your Manscript and How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack. He wrote an awesome post the other day about his publicity plan, which you should check out. Right after you finish reading this. Oh, and if for some heinous reason you are not currently following his blog, the link is in my sidebar as usual.

Man, can I blab or what? Okay, so here's what Chuck talked about in his workshop on agents. Well, not everything, but I think most of you probably know the basics. I took notes on the things I'd always wondered about. Email me if you have a question about something I don't cover here.

- Send 5-7 queries at one time. If you get nothing but rejections and no-responses, you probably need to edit either your query letter or the beginning of your book. Work on this, then send another batch, so you don't burn through all your contacts at once.
- Only include publishing credits for things you've been paid for. So, if you've written an article in a small local paper, you can list it if you were paid for it.
- If an agent doesn't state what their response policy is, follow up in 2-3 months via email and politely inquire.
- If an agent asks for an exclusive read, 4 weeks or less is reasonable.
- The preferred format for a synopsis these days is 2 pages double spaced. Of course, a particular agency may state their preferred length, but if they don't specify use the above guidelines.

So, consider yourself wisdomized. Questions? Tips to share?

On Friday I will feature what I learned from agent Katharine Sands at her workshop on pitching!