Announcing the LitPow Portal PowerLaunch. We are starting our registrations for the Portal tomorrow, Thursday Jan 26, 2012 with Forum Members, and will be open to the general public next Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.
On my last blog post I described the LitPow Portal as your go-to resource for all your literary needs, both now and in the future. And explained that we want to be the safe harbour where your craft can get refuelled, refreshed and prepared for wherever your writing takes you.* In other words, the only website that you'll ever need.
Such a huge endeavor would be a bit too much to launch all at once...to paraphrase Gary's comment to that introductory post, it would be like swallowing a very heavy meal. We all know that heavy meals can be uncomfortable and cause indigestion, and that is certainly not our goal. This is partly the reason why we are introducing the LitPow Portal in phases. Each phase will be a delicious meal of its own, or at least a healthy snack. Each one providing you with more tools to fuel you on your quest to becoming a best selling author.
We are Launching the first Phase of the LitPow Portal to Forum Members at special rates. This is our way of saying THANK YOU for participating in the forum!
This week we are also opening registration to the Literary Powerhouse Workshops. You do not have to be a Member of the Portal to sign up to the Workshops, but Members of the Portal receive discounts.
This initial phase of the Portal will include the Social Media PowerTool with all of the bells and whistles, chatting, groups, and sharing capabilities, etc.; the PowerOrganizer PowerTool (previously listed as Writer's Life); and the SupperBlogger PowerTool. See my earlier post for all PowerTool descriptions, and note that there will be EVEN MORE to follow.
By now you're probably wondering, "Just how much will this wonderful life changing tool cost me?"... Well, the answer is less than the membership to one of the sites that currently offers a part of only one of our PowerTools.
I know, that's a big tease, and you want to know more now. So here goes...
LITERARY MEMBERS will pay $20 per month. But get TWO FREE Months when they sign up for a full year. These members also get a 10% discount for all workshops, plus special offers.
However, we will have two Early Adopter specials, that hopefully you won't be able to resist! And honestly, you shouldn't! :)
First, as Early Adopters, for a limited time after our PowerLaunch, you will get the Literary Membership at $5.00 per month fixed for 6 MONTHS!! AND, if you are signed up to the LitPow FORUM before February 1st, 2012 you will also receive 1 FREE MONTH if you sign up for 6 months. Everyone gets an additional FREE MONTH with a yearly membership.
Second, every time you get TWO FRIENDS to sign up for a year, you will get yet one more MONTH FREE on top of whatever membership you signed up for!
Next we have an Upgraded Membership which we call POWER MEMBERSHIP. These PowerMembers get all of the benefits of the Literary Membership, plus access to exclusive PowerTools, %50 Discount on all workshops AND exclusive offers (free workshops, PowerMember's only workshops, etc.), 15% discount on Website building, AND 1 Hour of Literary Powerhouse Consulting services. This yearly membership is valued at over $2775, and we are offering it for just $800. However, for a limited time, you can become a PowerMember for Only $500 for your first year!
Now, I know that many of us have been affected in some way by difficult economic times. And I know that most writers don't make a lot of money, YET. This is why we have put together all the special discounts that I've mentioned.
The first and foremost reason why I started consulting is to help authors and make a difference in the industry. Putting this Portal together helps me accomplish that. For ME giving back on FaceBook and attending conferences isn't enough. The industry is changing quickly and there is a lack of available information and uniformity out there. Information is difficult or time consuming to find, scattered, and often inaccurate or based on biased opinion. I want to change that.
I want to make it easy for authors to gather all of the information that they need, so that they can focus on what they do best and what they love to do...writing!
These memberships will become more and more valuable as the network grows, and because of all the things that will be added almost on a weekly basis. I would urge everyone to take advantage of the Early Adopters' specials and unbeatable offers, and lock in at these great prices!
I would like you to think as joining the Portal as becoming a Member of an exclusive community with your same needs and goals, and your interest at heart. It is an investment not just in your career as an author, but in your life... because succeeding as an author will change your life.
Even if you are writing simply because you love it, and not for recognition or financial gain, I know that you'd want your work to be the best that it can be. Most of us thrive when our work is read and enjoyed. Through this Portal, and our consulting services, Literary Powerhouse can show you how to get your work ready for submission, for massive sales and readership... and we will help you get those sales!
Taking the first step to join the LitPow Portal will bring you a few steps closer to becoming that Best Selling Author. We hope you join us!
Here's to your success!
~Marisa
* A special thanks to Joan I. Kendall. for the fitting language ;)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Introducing the LitPow PORTAL: A first look at what the Portal will offer to the Publishing Industry
For purposes of introducing you to the Portal, and to let you know what our goals with it are, I've decided to briefly tell you about it here. Please note that the Portal is due to launch soon and that it will launch is phases because it is so huge that we need to iron out all the wrinkles. We feel that introducing too many tools at once may just prove to be too overwhelming... This means that on a weekly basis, we intend to add new tools, resources, features, bells and whistles. So be sure to sign up early to take advantage of the early bird (or Early Adopters) prices.
So what is this "Portal" that I keep talking about? The LitPow Portal is your doorway to wonderful "PowerTools" designed especially with Writers, Editors, Agents and other literary industry member’s goals in mind. The Portal is fundamentally a closed universe social media network that is accessible only to Members. Through this multifunctional social media platform you can connect and meet friends and contacts, create or join private groups, chat, post and share posts to other social networks, invite your friends from anywhere, e-mail, upload and share photos, videos and files… essentially, you can do all of the things that you love to do with a social network. However, this network is only open exclusively to people who are, or wish to be connected to the Publishing World.
The PowerTools are tools that will enable you to find the right Publisher, Agent, Publicist, Printer, Editor, Contest, Conference, Job, Reviewer, Designer, Coach, etc. for your specific project; to track your submissions; to report and see publishing deals; to have your book critiqued; and so much more. The tools are programs that are loaded with a massive amount of resources and data that will put information, that typically takes hours if not months of research to gather, at your fingertips. Our goal is to provide you with all of the tools you need for all of your literary projects, from words to dollars.
The PowerTools are the following:
LitPow Portal: The LitPow Social Network is our platform for introducing and providing access to the rest of the PowerTools. It is a Portal to the world of publishing.
PowerForum: Information and knowledge are power, so we offer you this interactive chat board where you can ask questions and post answers or comments on all related topics. We have publishers and agents on these boards chatting with authors on a daily basis. Get all of the information you need here!
LitPow Univeristy: Get your Literary Powerhouse Degree (LPHD) when you complete 10 PowerShops. These are workshops taught by our well qualified, incredibly talented, and skilled faculty. When you sign up and complete ten workshops classified as PowerShops, you will receive an LPHD Certificate signed by our founders.
Writer’s Life: This PowerTool is a project manager specifically designed to help you organize your projects. You pick the project that you wish to work on, post your goals, your tasks, your milestones, etc., and the program helps you keep track of your progress, and basically keep all of your ducks in a row. This tool allows you to invite other members to the project and assign them designated tasks that you can both keep track of and tackle jointly. This is great for joint writing and other projects, organizing events, critique groups, etc. There are a dozen special features here that will change your life!
SuperStar Agent: This PowerTool allows you to look up an agent’s profile and to find their location, contact info, website, find out if that agent is taking queries, how to submit to that agent, look up the agent’s track record and latest sales, etc… Here agents will have the option to edit their own profiles and keep them up to date all the time. Authors will have many features to enjoy, including the opportunity to tell us when they submit to the agent and how long it took to get a response. The information submitted here will be used to compile statistics to let you know what to expect from each agent.
RainMakers: This PowerTool allows you to report a publishing sale, or see which publishers and agents are making the deals. This tool is connected to our Publisher and Agent databases, so you can look up deals or report deals by genre and they will automatically show up when you click on the publisher’s or agent’s name on our site to see what deals they have made.
PowerCritiques: This PowerTool is a huge platform in itself. It allows authors to upload their work to receive constructive critisism and peer review. These reviews will create book rankings. It also serves as a place where books can begin to gain a following and possibly be discovered. You will have the ability to also create private critique groups. More details will be posted when the tool is launched.
PowerReviews: This PowerTool is a place to have your book reviewed by the experts. Every week we will feature a book that has achieved the highest ranking in the PowerCritiques PowerTool, and will occasionally feature independent reviews by professional reviewers.
SuperBlogger: This PowerTool is a blog building tool that will allow you to set up and promote a gorgeous and super functional blog through our site, that will be connected to our blogs network and streamed and shared anywhere. Special features will be added to allow Power Members to do blog tours. This will allow you to indicate when you are available to do a blog tour or if you are willing to take blog posts on your blog. The blog of course, will be accessible to anyone on the internet. We offer special packages for professional Author Websites.
PowerJobs: This PowerTool is a literary industry Job Board. Freelance, ghost, editing, publishing, agenting jobs, etc. are posted and streamed here for members only.
BestSeller: This PowerTool is an interactive to do list and timeline offered in conjunction with Coaching and to "Power Members" to guide authors on the road to becoming a Bestseller.
So what is this "Portal" that I keep talking about? The LitPow Portal is your doorway to wonderful "PowerTools" designed especially with Writers, Editors, Agents and other literary industry member’s goals in mind. The Portal is fundamentally a closed universe social media network that is accessible only to Members. Through this multifunctional social media platform you can connect and meet friends and contacts, create or join private groups, chat, post and share posts to other social networks, invite your friends from anywhere, e-mail, upload and share photos, videos and files… essentially, you can do all of the things that you love to do with a social network. However, this network is only open exclusively to people who are, or wish to be connected to the Publishing World.
The PowerTools are tools that will enable you to find the right Publisher, Agent, Publicist, Printer, Editor, Contest, Conference, Job, Reviewer, Designer, Coach, etc. for your specific project; to track your submissions; to report and see publishing deals; to have your book critiqued; and so much more. The tools are programs that are loaded with a massive amount of resources and data that will put information, that typically takes hours if not months of research to gather, at your fingertips. Our goal is to provide you with all of the tools you need for all of your literary projects, from words to dollars.
The PowerTools are the following:
LitPow Portal: The LitPow Social Network is our platform for introducing and providing access to the rest of the PowerTools. It is a Portal to the world of publishing.
PowerForum: Information and knowledge are power, so we offer you this interactive chat board where you can ask questions and post answers or comments on all related topics. We have publishers and agents on these boards chatting with authors on a daily basis. Get all of the information you need here!
LitPow Univeristy: Get your Literary Powerhouse Degree (LPHD) when you complete 10 PowerShops. These are workshops taught by our well qualified, incredibly talented, and skilled faculty. When you sign up and complete ten workshops classified as PowerShops, you will receive an LPHD Certificate signed by our founders.
Writer’s Life: This PowerTool is a project manager specifically designed to help you organize your projects. You pick the project that you wish to work on, post your goals, your tasks, your milestones, etc., and the program helps you keep track of your progress, and basically keep all of your ducks in a row. This tool allows you to invite other members to the project and assign them designated tasks that you can both keep track of and tackle jointly. This is great for joint writing and other projects, organizing events, critique groups, etc. There are a dozen special features here that will change your life!
SuperStar Agent: This PowerTool allows you to look up an agent’s profile and to find their location, contact info, website, find out if that agent is taking queries, how to submit to that agent, look up the agent’s track record and latest sales, etc… Here agents will have the option to edit their own profiles and keep them up to date all the time. Authors will have many features to enjoy, including the opportunity to tell us when they submit to the agent and how long it took to get a response. The information submitted here will be used to compile statistics to let you know what to expect from each agent.
RainMakers: This PowerTool allows you to report a publishing sale, or see which publishers and agents are making the deals. This tool is connected to our Publisher and Agent databases, so you can look up deals or report deals by genre and they will automatically show up when you click on the publisher’s or agent’s name on our site to see what deals they have made.
PowerCritiques: This PowerTool is a huge platform in itself. It allows authors to upload their work to receive constructive critisism and peer review. These reviews will create book rankings. It also serves as a place where books can begin to gain a following and possibly be discovered. You will have the ability to also create private critique groups. More details will be posted when the tool is launched.
PowerReviews: This PowerTool is a place to have your book reviewed by the experts. Every week we will feature a book that has achieved the highest ranking in the PowerCritiques PowerTool, and will occasionally feature independent reviews by professional reviewers.
SuperBlogger: This PowerTool is a blog building tool that will allow you to set up and promote a gorgeous and super functional blog through our site, that will be connected to our blogs network and streamed and shared anywhere. Special features will be added to allow Power Members to do blog tours. This will allow you to indicate when you are available to do a blog tour or if you are willing to take blog posts on your blog. The blog of course, will be accessible to anyone on the internet. We offer special packages for professional Author Websites.
PowerJobs: This PowerTool is a literary industry Job Board. Freelance, ghost, editing, publishing, agenting jobs, etc. are posted and streamed here for members only.
BestSeller: This PowerTool is an interactive to do list and timeline offered in conjunction with Coaching and to "Power Members" to guide authors on the road to becoming a Bestseller.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A New Literary Agency...
By Marisa A. Corvisiero
After over two years with the L. Perkins agency, I'm very exited to announce that as of March 1, 2012 I will be opening the proverbial doors to the Corvisiero Literary Agency, LLC. My last few years have been an amazing learning and growing experience. I am grateful to Lori Perkins for the opportunity to work and learn from her and her team (Louise Fury and Saritza Hernandez). What started off as helping author friends submit their work, evolved into something I could have never imagined. I love being an agent, and I feel that these last years have really prepared me in way of skills, contacts, and knowledge of the industry to head my own agency. I'm happy to say that my Jr. Agents Jordy Albert and Brittany Booker will be joining me in this new endeavor.
We are all eager to make this the most successful and accessible agency! We will be working closely with Literary Powerhouse Consulting, my other baby, in order to also provide authors with services beyond agenting and beyond literary services to help them improve their skills, their work, and their careers!
As we get closer to March, I will be posting the new website address and submission guidelines. We are implementing a new electronic submission system that will help authors submit their queries online, and also see status updates simply by logging on! It's going to be an excellent tool for efficiency for the agency and it will help authors always know where they are in queue. There will be no more wondering if the query made it in, if it was declined, or when it is being read! Stay tuned for posts with more information.
For now, I will tell you that I will continue to represent most of the same work that I have been representing. I'm primarily looking for well drafted stories with a unique voice and well developed characters. The heat level of a romance, the action of a thriller, the explicitness of all may vary, but it has to fit an awesome plot. I love unique stories, especially in mixed genres. I will consider Romance, Thrillers, Adventure, Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and the same for Young Adults and Middle Grade readers. In non-fiction I enjoy out of box and high concept spiritual, self improvement, parenting, science, and pop-culture.
My Jr. Agents are currently in training and helping me with the submissions that are sent to me. When their status changes, I'll be sure to let you know. In the mean time, please don't submit anything until we make the announcement with the proper guidelines.
Thanks for reading. We hope to hear from you!
~Marisa
After over two years with the L. Perkins agency, I'm very exited to announce that as of March 1, 2012 I will be opening the proverbial doors to the Corvisiero Literary Agency, LLC. My last few years have been an amazing learning and growing experience. I am grateful to Lori Perkins for the opportunity to work and learn from her and her team (Louise Fury and Saritza Hernandez). What started off as helping author friends submit their work, evolved into something I could have never imagined. I love being an agent, and I feel that these last years have really prepared me in way of skills, contacts, and knowledge of the industry to head my own agency. I'm happy to say that my Jr. Agents Jordy Albert and Brittany Booker will be joining me in this new endeavor.
We are all eager to make this the most successful and accessible agency! We will be working closely with Literary Powerhouse Consulting, my other baby, in order to also provide authors with services beyond agenting and beyond literary services to help them improve their skills, their work, and their careers!
As we get closer to March, I will be posting the new website address and submission guidelines. We are implementing a new electronic submission system that will help authors submit their queries online, and also see status updates simply by logging on! It's going to be an excellent tool for efficiency for the agency and it will help authors always know where they are in queue. There will be no more wondering if the query made it in, if it was declined, or when it is being read! Stay tuned for posts with more information.
For now, I will tell you that I will continue to represent most of the same work that I have been representing. I'm primarily looking for well drafted stories with a unique voice and well developed characters. The heat level of a romance, the action of a thriller, the explicitness of all may vary, but it has to fit an awesome plot. I love unique stories, especially in mixed genres. I will consider Romance, Thrillers, Adventure, Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and the same for Young Adults and Middle Grade readers. In non-fiction I enjoy out of box and high concept spiritual, self improvement, parenting, science, and pop-culture.
My Jr. Agents are currently in training and helping me with the submissions that are sent to me. When their status changes, I'll be sure to let you know. In the mean time, please don't submit anything until we make the announcement with the proper guidelines.
Thanks for reading. We hope to hear from you!
~Marisa
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Literary Powerhouse Consulting Website
Announcing the New Literary Powerhouse Consulting website at www.literarypowerhouse.com
Literary Powerhouse is pleased to offer a broad array of services across the continuum of writing and publishing!
From writing to printing or e-booking, publicity, finding an agent, self-publishing and distribution, Literary Powerhouse services span them all. One-on-one coaching and consultation with experts in your niche, plus the most current resources and how-to guidance at your fingertips, help make any task more efficient and effective.
This site provides a platform rich with multiple opportunities for interacting with peers and experts, seeking advice, and finding answers to questions at all stages of your book-related projects. It's also a place to share your own offerings with colleagues and peers. We invite you to participate in enhancing both the range and quality of services through ongoing feedback, ideas and innovative approaches! Join the discussions and forum to help us make this site as powerful as it can be. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!
Consulting Services include advice and coaching on the following:
Writing
Agenting
Publishing
Printing
Distribution
Publicity
Legal
And More!
Several new workshops are offered every month, so be sure to check out the schedule. Sign up information will be up soon!!
Also coming soon are our Interactive Forum and The LiTPOW PORTAL! I can't wait to share more on those and to see you there!! Email us for a consultation at marisa@literarypowerhouse.com.
More information and updates will be posted periodically so stay tuned!!
Happy Surfing!
~Marisa
Literary Powerhouse is pleased to offer a broad array of services across the continuum of writing and publishing!
From writing to printing or e-booking, publicity, finding an agent, self-publishing and distribution, Literary Powerhouse services span them all. One-on-one coaching and consultation with experts in your niche, plus the most current resources and how-to guidance at your fingertips, help make any task more efficient and effective.
This site provides a platform rich with multiple opportunities for interacting with peers and experts, seeking advice, and finding answers to questions at all stages of your book-related projects. It's also a place to share your own offerings with colleagues and peers. We invite you to participate in enhancing both the range and quality of services through ongoing feedback, ideas and innovative approaches! Join the discussions and forum to help us make this site as powerful as it can be. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!
Consulting Services include advice and coaching on the following:
Writing
Agenting
Publishing
Printing
Distribution
Publicity
Legal
And More!
Several new workshops are offered every month, so be sure to check out the schedule. Sign up information will be up soon!!
Also coming soon are our Interactive Forum and The LiTPOW PORTAL! I can't wait to share more on those and to see you there!! Email us for a consultation at marisa@literarypowerhouse.com.
More information and updates will be posted periodically so stay tuned!!
Happy Surfing!
~Marisa
Monday, December 19, 2011
The YA Sisterhood
Hello Inhabitants of Marisa-land!
My name is Brittany, and I’m one of Marisa’s clients. I write YA fiction (we’re on submission now, so cross your fingers). I’m a teacher (Theatre) and I’m getting my MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
I love Young Adult literature. I do. When I was a teenager, I was focused on college and SAT’s. I read classic after classic because I read for accomplishment, rather than pleasure. When I surpassed my teenage years, I found myself clambering for that coming of age experience that I skipped over in my haste to grow up. I found it in YA lit. Since I don’t do anything by halves, my love for YA lit turned into an obsession (that I passed on to as many of my family and friends as possible). Last February, my older sister and I decided to start a book blog together called the YA Sisterhood. We already gave all our friends book recommendations, so why not open it up to the world wide web? We started out doing reviews and fun extras, and we started building our blog following slowly but surely.
In July, we were getting roughly 5,000 hits a month. We decided to shake things up and try something different. We had an idea for a March Madness-Style tournament pitting YA’s most crush-worthy boys against each other. The result was the YA Crush Tourney. Our hits jumped from 5,000 a month to at LEAST 5,000 a day. We logged on twitter and saw some of our favorite authors, editors, and agents talking about the tournament we created. Now, thanks to that Tournament, our blog has nearly 1500 followers, and 500,000 hits (and our blog is only 10 months old). We decided to turn the Crush Tourney into an annual summer tournament. We also decided to do a different tournament in the winter that would change yearly. We let our followers vote between a Villain Tourney and a Heroine Tourney, and our followers (like us)—agreed that YA lit needs to take some time to celebrate strong, inspiring female characters.
The YA Sisterhood Tournament of Heroines began December 1st. We let our followers nominate their favorite Heroines over the course of a week (and after 30,000 nominations) we narrowed it down to the top 32 Heroines. We’ve invited other bloggers to advocate each of these Heroines and created a bracket seeded according to which characters received the most nominations. The first round has already been completed, and we’re one to Round Two: The Superior Sixteen. Over the coming weeks, Heroines like Katniss from Hunger Games, Clary from Mortal Instruments, and Rose from Vampire Academy will continue to face off, and your votes will decide who continues on to become the Ultimate YA Heroine! The Blogger advocates wrote defenses for their character explaining what makes her the ultimate Heroine. For each match, we post both character defenses and a poll, so that you can vote for your favorite! Matches go up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on our blog: http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com. You can check here to see the schedule and tournament bracket: http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com/p/summer-crushin-tournament.html
We hope you’ll join the frenzy and vote for your favorite heroines, spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, and show support for these authors that have created such memorable characters!
My name is Brittany, and I’m one of Marisa’s clients. I write YA fiction (we’re on submission now, so cross your fingers). I’m a teacher (Theatre) and I’m getting my MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
I love Young Adult literature. I do. When I was a teenager, I was focused on college and SAT’s. I read classic after classic because I read for accomplishment, rather than pleasure. When I surpassed my teenage years, I found myself clambering for that coming of age experience that I skipped over in my haste to grow up. I found it in YA lit. Since I don’t do anything by halves, my love for YA lit turned into an obsession (that I passed on to as many of my family and friends as possible). Last February, my older sister and I decided to start a book blog together called the YA Sisterhood. We already gave all our friends book recommendations, so why not open it up to the world wide web? We started out doing reviews and fun extras, and we started building our blog following slowly but surely.
In July, we were getting roughly 5,000 hits a month. We decided to shake things up and try something different. We had an idea for a March Madness-Style tournament pitting YA’s most crush-worthy boys against each other. The result was the YA Crush Tourney. Our hits jumped from 5,000 a month to at LEAST 5,000 a day. We logged on twitter and saw some of our favorite authors, editors, and agents talking about the tournament we created. Now, thanks to that Tournament, our blog has nearly 1500 followers, and 500,000 hits (and our blog is only 10 months old). We decided to turn the Crush Tourney into an annual summer tournament. We also decided to do a different tournament in the winter that would change yearly. We let our followers vote between a Villain Tourney and a Heroine Tourney, and our followers (like us)—agreed that YA lit needs to take some time to celebrate strong, inspiring female characters.
The YA Sisterhood Tournament of Heroines began December 1st. We let our followers nominate their favorite Heroines over the course of a week (and after 30,000 nominations) we narrowed it down to the top 32 Heroines. We’ve invited other bloggers to advocate each of these Heroines and created a bracket seeded according to which characters received the most nominations. The first round has already been completed, and we’re one to Round Two: The Superior Sixteen. Over the coming weeks, Heroines like Katniss from Hunger Games, Clary from Mortal Instruments, and Rose from Vampire Academy will continue to face off, and your votes will decide who continues on to become the Ultimate YA Heroine! The Blogger advocates wrote defenses for their character explaining what makes her the ultimate Heroine. For each match, we post both character defenses and a poll, so that you can vote for your favorite! Matches go up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on our blog: http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com. You can check here to see the schedule and tournament bracket: http://ya-sisterhood.blogspot.com/p/summer-crushin-tournament.html
We hope you’ll join the frenzy and vote for your favorite heroines, spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, and show support for these authors that have created such memorable characters!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Stay on Target and Get Published
By Guest Blogger Oksana Marafioti
I’m a curious person. A ‘what if?’ kind of a person. Writers tend to be. Otherwise we’d be doing something less interesting and more predictable. Curiosity got me into this memoir-writing business in the first place.
I once met an agent at a conference, who believed that my family history was something someone out there, in the vast ocean that is the publishing industry, might like to buy. At this point book deals were a myth to me. I only went to the conference out of curiosity. But I gave it a try, and after a few sample chapters of American Gypsy, the agent signed me.
Writing about your life is tough, because you relive it in the process, and who’s ever prepared for that? But curiosity kept me going. Could I really sell a book? Within a couple of months I had an outline and about fifty pages of material. That’s when I received an odd email from my agent, in which she told me that she was going out with what we had. From what I’d read in numerous blogs and books, memoirs were treated like fiction and had to be complete before the submission process. I reminded her of this several times, but she ignored me and did it anyway.
The first wave of rejections was a tsunami. Most editors liked the writing but claimed the memoir market was difficult. Others said the immigrant stories had saturated the industry. I moped, then pinned the rejections to the wall above my computer and continued writing. All the while voices of doubt circled above my head. Who was I kidding? Editors accepted stuff only from people they already knew. Another wave. Breathe. And then a call.
We had an offer from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the most prestigious publishers out there.
FSG took me on before I finished the manuscript. I didn’t think this was possible, not until my new editor and I talked on the phone. I was so shocked that I remember asking her what made her decide to buy my book. As inexperienced as I was, I still recognized the risk she was taking with a new writer and an unfinished product. You have potential, she said, and I think I danced in the clouds for a few days after.
It took three years and nine drafts to finish American Gypsy, as well as courage, heartache, openness to advise and a good dose of curiosity to stop myself from quitting whenever the writing became too difficult, too personal.
Some people ask if there’s a secret to getting published. I don’t have the answer to that. But curiosity, I think, as insignificant a quality as it may seem at first, is vital. It’s the ‘what if?’ that makes every writer’s heart skip a beat at the birth of a great story. Without it we don’t sit down to write that first word. We don’t come back to finish the first novel. We don’t continue after our first rejections. We stop after that first publication. We forget our potential.
Curiosity is what makes a writer write.
Oksana Marafioti moved from the Soviet Union when she was fifteen years old. Trained as a classical pianist, she has also worked as a cinematographer. She is the author of AMERICAN GYPSY, a memoir of a Romani (Gypsy) childhood, due out July 3, 2012.
Follow Oksana on Twitter @oksanamarafioti
I’m a curious person. A ‘what if?’ kind of a person. Writers tend to be. Otherwise we’d be doing something less interesting and more predictable. Curiosity got me into this memoir-writing business in the first place.
I once met an agent at a conference, who believed that my family history was something someone out there, in the vast ocean that is the publishing industry, might like to buy. At this point book deals were a myth to me. I only went to the conference out of curiosity. But I gave it a try, and after a few sample chapters of American Gypsy, the agent signed me.
Writing about your life is tough, because you relive it in the process, and who’s ever prepared for that? But curiosity kept me going. Could I really sell a book? Within a couple of months I had an outline and about fifty pages of material. That’s when I received an odd email from my agent, in which she told me that she was going out with what we had. From what I’d read in numerous blogs and books, memoirs were treated like fiction and had to be complete before the submission process. I reminded her of this several times, but she ignored me and did it anyway.
The first wave of rejections was a tsunami. Most editors liked the writing but claimed the memoir market was difficult. Others said the immigrant stories had saturated the industry. I moped, then pinned the rejections to the wall above my computer and continued writing. All the while voices of doubt circled above my head. Who was I kidding? Editors accepted stuff only from people they already knew. Another wave. Breathe. And then a call.
We had an offer from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, one of the most prestigious publishers out there.
FSG took me on before I finished the manuscript. I didn’t think this was possible, not until my new editor and I talked on the phone. I was so shocked that I remember asking her what made her decide to buy my book. As inexperienced as I was, I still recognized the risk she was taking with a new writer and an unfinished product. You have potential, she said, and I think I danced in the clouds for a few days after.
It took three years and nine drafts to finish American Gypsy, as well as courage, heartache, openness to advise and a good dose of curiosity to stop myself from quitting whenever the writing became too difficult, too personal.
Some people ask if there’s a secret to getting published. I don’t have the answer to that. But curiosity, I think, as insignificant a quality as it may seem at first, is vital. It’s the ‘what if?’ that makes every writer’s heart skip a beat at the birth of a great story. Without it we don’t sit down to write that first word. We don’t come back to finish the first novel. We don’t continue after our first rejections. We stop after that first publication. We forget our potential.
Curiosity is what makes a writer write.
Oksana Marafioti moved from the Soviet Union when she was fifteen years old. Trained as a classical pianist, she has also worked as a cinematographer. She is the author of AMERICAN GYPSY, a memoir of a Romani (Gypsy) childhood, due out July 3, 2012.
Follow Oksana on Twitter @oksanamarafioti
Monday, December 12, 2011
Literary Agent Marisa Corvisiero, Esq. is interviewed
By Janet Fogg
Today, Chiseled in Rock is delighted to speak with Marisa Iozzi Corvisiero. Last week Marisa shared some exciting news with us about new changes in her career, and we’re pleased to share that information.
But let’s back up for just a moment to properly introduce Marisa. An experienced attorney, Marisa founded The Corvisiero Law Practice, a boutique law firm in midtown New York City. While continuing to practice law, Marisa also became fascinated by the publishing business, and works with the L. Perkins Agency as an agent.
Marisa represents science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, adventure, and romance, as well as young adult and children's literature. In non-fiction, she enjoys business, spiritual, parenting, self-help, and mainstream science.
In June of 2011 Marisa partnered with Jo Ann Kairys, a colleague, author, editor, publisher, and friend to form Literary Powerhouse Consulting, LLC. Their mission is to provide a comprehensive package of literary advisory services to anyone needing guidance within the publishing industry. Marisa is very excited about the myriad services and opportunities they’re providing.
CIR: Marisa, please tell us about your dual professions and your start as an agent.
MC: I started wearing my agent hat after some of my author friends and colleagues asked me to represent them in their book deals through my law firm. We all know how difficult it is to find the right agent and to have editors take authors seriously if they are not represented or already self-published. In fact, many of the traditional publishers don’t accept un-agented work. So I started out by lending a hand. I lost a couple of paying clients when I started representing them as their agent (because agents are not paid until they sell the work). But it all worked out in the end. One thing led to another and eventually I joined Lori Perkins’ Agency, where I’ve learned lots of lessons. Today, I continue to practice law at the Corvisiero Law Practice, and I represent several very talented authors.
CIR: Will you also describe the services you’re providing with your new endeavor – Literary Powerhouse Consulting - and tell us why you decided to form LPH?
MC: LPH is my baby - an entity that my partner Jo Ann Kayris and I formed in order to provide Literary Consulting services. Jo Ann is an award winning author and founder of Story Quest Publishing. Her expertise and temperament complement mine quite nicely – we met at a writers critique group years ago and hit it off right away. Through the years we have been in touch and have helped each other in various capacities, from editing to legal services.
Our decision to pair up and offer these services evolved from numerous requests we received independently for literary consulting, guidance and coaching within different facets of publishing. After some discussions we decided to make it official and actually offer these much needed services to help authors navigate the deep waters of the publishing industry. As we started putting out heads together, we decided that our expertise and contacts would really be invaluable for anyone from authors to book sellers, so we expanded our services into a comprehensive package that will provide "one stop shopping" for anyone in the industry. We knew right away that we were onto something pretty cool – creating a service that is much needed in the industry. We feel that there is so much information out there, and that there are so many rules and procedures to follow, that it is easy to be discouraged by the whole thing. Nor is information that is out there offered all in one place. So that is exactly what we decided to do.
This idea however, became even bigger when we decided to do something interactive and special on our site. As we developed our Webpages with the genius of Erin Gilman, we decided to create a social media platform that would be exclusive to industry folks. The goal was to have a closed universe in publishing where people could meet, socialize, promote, learn, and share with others with similar interests without the worries of outsiders, advertisers, and hackers. We loved this idea and ran with it, and as we did, each time we had a brainstorming session each of us brought a plethora of amazing ideas to the table. As a result, what started of as a wonderful consulting services website has now evolved into what we have dubbed a “Portal.” We call it a Portal because it is going to be so huge and so unique, that entering it will be like traversing a Portal into the literary publishing dimension where anything is possible.
The Literary Powerhouse Portal will include "PowerTools" to help authors get published and get lots of sales, help agents work their wonder, help publishers with contacts and promoting sales.
The Power Tools are services or capabilities made possible with special software designed with our goals in mind. These PowerTools are intertwined with the social media site and discussion forum, allowing users to join and set up groups, attend seminars and workshops online, create a new blog or link their existing blog, manage projects, video chat, IM, share files, report book publishing deals, find and submit to agents and publishers, track submissions, find and apply to contests, submit projects to book reviewers, find the right PR firm, and so much more. We have huge ideas for this site above and beyond anything that is out there now. It's going to be amazing! We are shooting to launch it early next year and are about to put a countdown clock on the site so folks know when they can start signing up.
CIR: How will LPH interface with the other professional services you provide? (And do you ever sleep?!)
MC: The good thing about what I do is that all of my endeavors complement each other - I'm able to offer a full package. Most authors, at some point or another, will likely need some or all of our services - from the time they finish their manuscript to when they figure out how to find and sign the right agent, to making deals with publishers and promoting their books. If anyone needs help with any of these things we coach them through it. If they need an agent, they can submit to me and I will consider their work. If they need help with a contract that I didn't negotiate as an agent, or other legal services, I help them through the law firm. We are very careful to keep things compartmentalized for the sake of avoiding conflicts or crossing those ethical boundaries. …And do I sleep? Not as much as I'd like to.
CIR: You believe authors should be published in both print and e-pub format. With e-pub sales strengthening, are your contract negotiations with publishers changing in regard to, for example, the amount of an advance? Or any other contract terms?
MC: E-books are the wave of the future, but I don’t think that print is going extinct anytime soon. So we strongly believe that every book should be out there in every media form. When negotiating with publishers, if they want to acquire the right to put a book out in all of these mediums, then my job is to make sure that the author is compensated accordingly, and that the publisher will in fact use these rights. If they can’t give the proper assurances, even though nothing is ever one hundred percent certain, then we try to retain the rights and offer them to someone else.
CIR: What do you enjoy most about representing authors to the publishing industry? Least?
MC: I love reading and pitching books to publishers. I only represent books and projects that I really believe in, and so my enthusiasm gives me an extra umph when telling others about it. I get very excited. What I like the least is that publishers have a certain quota of books that they will acquire, and so often they have a specific list of things that they are looking for and may pass up a great project just because they need to keep looking for the perfect fit. It can be discouraging, especially when you are the one breaking the news.
CIR: Do you hope to increase your client base?
MC: Yes, I’m looking for new talent. I periodically suspend submissions so that I can catch up, so anyone who would like to submit to me should first look at my submission guidelines listed on my blog. I update this all the time, so I suggest people look at the blog and not the website.
The good news is that in the past year or so I’ve been working with some wonderful people whom I now call my team. Brittany Booker and Jordy Albert have now become my Jr. Agents and they are helping me do submissions and review queries as they learn hands on. We also have a couple of good interns that have huge potential. So everything is growing and we are making good progress towards offering efficient and wonderful services.
CIR: Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to submissions?
MC: I think that sometimes I’m more tolerant than other agents when it comes to queries. Of course, I don’t like it when someone misspells my name or sends me a query that is part of a mass e-mail, but I don’t think that it justifies turning an author away because of it. Do I take it into consideration if the rest of the query is weak? You bet. My real pet peeves though, are sloppy and difficult to read formats. I don’t like queries that start by telling me what the character was thinking or doing. To me, that should be in the middle of the letter. A good query should start by telling me that they have a romance (or other genre) 80K word (proper word count for age group and genre) finished manuscript that they think I will like it because…. I think that research is paramount. The author should know the genre of his or her work, the target readers (at least gender and age), and by knowing this, they can learn how long the work should be. I will be writing a blog post on this soon to put the info out there all in one place. In the mean time authors should keep in mind that the younger the reader the shorter the work should be. And the more sophisticated the reader (sci-fi/fantasy) the more allowance they have to get creative with a longer manuscript. But don’t go crazy. If your novel is longer than 115K especially for a debut, you should consider some edits. I know that there are novels out there that were the author’s first, and are much longer than that… etc, etc. I know. I’ve read Twilight and Harry Potter too. But they are among the few, and just because they made it, it doesn’t mean that it was easy. I think that they are wonderful series, but in a way they were lucky. Having said that… I’m not telling everyone to conform. I’m just saying that there are certain ‘rules,’ if you will, in the industry. If you really believe in your work and it doesn’t follow the norm, trust your self (to a realistic level) and go for it with gusto. Just be prepared to know that it will harder than hard, but if you keep at it you just might get lucky too.
CIR: Any predictions about what might be the next big thing in publishing? What trend(s) do you see fading?
MC: Superpowers are still big, but we are not looking to them as part of the future. I’m looking for fresh material and ideas. I want to be wowed by the next big thing. I had predicted mermaids to jump into the waters, but the ideas were contrived and have not done so well.
If you’re wondering about vampires and think that the market is saturated, think again. We are just obsessed with vampires and can’t seem to get enough. The trend that I do see is a new age of vampires that are not so sweet and glamorous (I’m obviously not including True Blood). Traditional vampires are back.
CIR: What one piece of advice would you offer to authors seeking representation?
MC: Do your research and always put your best foot forward. Learn about the industry, but don’t forget that in the end your writing speaks for itself. So hone in on your craft, keep learning and perfecting your work. And most importantly, never give up. This is a tough industry to break into. Agents are incredibly busy and will unfortunately review your work looking for reasons not to represent you, because unfortunately, that’s how most editors review work. So don’t give them any. Always submit finished work, the best work that you can possibly produce, and then be professional and attentive. It’s okay to innocently stalk your agent’s Facebook page and blog to see what they are up to, but don’t bombard them with follow up emails. Know the agent’s policy on responses and when it is okay to follow up or assume that they are not interested if you have not heard back.
The Literary Powerhouse Portal will be a wonderful source to use when researching Agents and their guidelines, response time, and the deal that they make. When you do hear back always respond quickly and be ready to provide a synopsis and your manuscript. If you meet an agent or make a connection somewhere, follow up graciously and always strike while the iron is hot. Don’t let them forget you.
CIR: What are you most excited about, with the launch of LPH?
MC: There are so many things to be exited about. Calling LitPow mine and having the control over our services and our presence is wonderful. I’m good at seeing the whole picture and how it fits into a scene. And because of it, sometimes it is difficult for me to leave the vision to others.
I do have to say though, that I’m most exited about the Portal and everything that we will offer with that membership. The PowerTools are wonderful and powerful - and yes that pun is intended… that is actually how we came up with the name Literary Powerhouse. I personally can’t wait to use them and to also see how everyone else takes advantage of the benefits they will bring to them. These tools will provide information, resources, organization, networking and more. They offer some services and information that can be gathered from various resources, now packaged and enhanced in one organized place …at the user’s fingertips. And to make it even better we uniquely connected those resources to our services. Our presence and the participation of our expert connections, colleagues, clients, and friends will make it a valuable experience every time the member logs in.
Lastly, I’m exited and happy to say that this Portal will help authors and industry people at all levels. I think that it has the potential to change how many people do their research, their submissions and their publicity. All in all, this will be the only site they will ever need!
CIR: Now to digress, and in accordance with our CIR M.O., I would like to ask an off-track question. What did you dream of doing when you were twelve years old?
MC: LOL I like this one...I wanted to be an Astronaut or Singer… you know, because the two have so many elements in common. So naturally, I became a lawyer.
CIR: You can visit Marisa at www.thoughtsfromaliteraryagent@blogspot.com for submission guidelines and updates, or www.literarypowerhouse.com (may still be under construction) for detailed information about their services. You can follow her on Twitter @mcorvisiero and the website for her law firm is www.corvisierolaw.com.
Thank you, Marisa! And best of luck in your new endeavors!
Janet Fogg
(CIR first interviewed Marisa in February 2011 and she has kindly answered additional questions for today's post.)
Today, Chiseled in Rock is delighted to speak with Marisa Iozzi Corvisiero. Last week Marisa shared some exciting news with us about new changes in her career, and we’re pleased to share that information.
But let’s back up for just a moment to properly introduce Marisa. An experienced attorney, Marisa founded The Corvisiero Law Practice, a boutique law firm in midtown New York City. While continuing to practice law, Marisa also became fascinated by the publishing business, and works with the L. Perkins Agency as an agent.
Marisa represents science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, adventure, and romance, as well as young adult and children's literature. In non-fiction, she enjoys business, spiritual, parenting, self-help, and mainstream science.
In June of 2011 Marisa partnered with Jo Ann Kairys, a colleague, author, editor, publisher, and friend to form Literary Powerhouse Consulting, LLC. Their mission is to provide a comprehensive package of literary advisory services to anyone needing guidance within the publishing industry. Marisa is very excited about the myriad services and opportunities they’re providing.
CIR: Marisa, please tell us about your dual professions and your start as an agent.
MC: I started wearing my agent hat after some of my author friends and colleagues asked me to represent them in their book deals through my law firm. We all know how difficult it is to find the right agent and to have editors take authors seriously if they are not represented or already self-published. In fact, many of the traditional publishers don’t accept un-agented work. So I started out by lending a hand. I lost a couple of paying clients when I started representing them as their agent (because agents are not paid until they sell the work). But it all worked out in the end. One thing led to another and eventually I joined Lori Perkins’ Agency, where I’ve learned lots of lessons. Today, I continue to practice law at the Corvisiero Law Practice, and I represent several very talented authors.
CIR: Will you also describe the services you’re providing with your new endeavor – Literary Powerhouse Consulting - and tell us why you decided to form LPH?
MC: LPH is my baby - an entity that my partner Jo Ann Kayris and I formed in order to provide Literary Consulting services. Jo Ann is an award winning author and founder of Story Quest Publishing. Her expertise and temperament complement mine quite nicely – we met at a writers critique group years ago and hit it off right away. Through the years we have been in touch and have helped each other in various capacities, from editing to legal services.
Our decision to pair up and offer these services evolved from numerous requests we received independently for literary consulting, guidance and coaching within different facets of publishing. After some discussions we decided to make it official and actually offer these much needed services to help authors navigate the deep waters of the publishing industry. As we started putting out heads together, we decided that our expertise and contacts would really be invaluable for anyone from authors to book sellers, so we expanded our services into a comprehensive package that will provide "one stop shopping" for anyone in the industry. We knew right away that we were onto something pretty cool – creating a service that is much needed in the industry. We feel that there is so much information out there, and that there are so many rules and procedures to follow, that it is easy to be discouraged by the whole thing. Nor is information that is out there offered all in one place. So that is exactly what we decided to do.
This idea however, became even bigger when we decided to do something interactive and special on our site. As we developed our Webpages with the genius of Erin Gilman, we decided to create a social media platform that would be exclusive to industry folks. The goal was to have a closed universe in publishing where people could meet, socialize, promote, learn, and share with others with similar interests without the worries of outsiders, advertisers, and hackers. We loved this idea and ran with it, and as we did, each time we had a brainstorming session each of us brought a plethora of amazing ideas to the table. As a result, what started of as a wonderful consulting services website has now evolved into what we have dubbed a “Portal.” We call it a Portal because it is going to be so huge and so unique, that entering it will be like traversing a Portal into the literary publishing dimension where anything is possible.
The Literary Powerhouse Portal will include "PowerTools" to help authors get published and get lots of sales, help agents work their wonder, help publishers with contacts and promoting sales.
The Power Tools are services or capabilities made possible with special software designed with our goals in mind. These PowerTools are intertwined with the social media site and discussion forum, allowing users to join and set up groups, attend seminars and workshops online, create a new blog or link their existing blog, manage projects, video chat, IM, share files, report book publishing deals, find and submit to agents and publishers, track submissions, find and apply to contests, submit projects to book reviewers, find the right PR firm, and so much more. We have huge ideas for this site above and beyond anything that is out there now. It's going to be amazing! We are shooting to launch it early next year and are about to put a countdown clock on the site so folks know when they can start signing up.
CIR: How will LPH interface with the other professional services you provide? (And do you ever sleep?!)
MC: The good thing about what I do is that all of my endeavors complement each other - I'm able to offer a full package. Most authors, at some point or another, will likely need some or all of our services - from the time they finish their manuscript to when they figure out how to find and sign the right agent, to making deals with publishers and promoting their books. If anyone needs help with any of these things we coach them through it. If they need an agent, they can submit to me and I will consider their work. If they need help with a contract that I didn't negotiate as an agent, or other legal services, I help them through the law firm. We are very careful to keep things compartmentalized for the sake of avoiding conflicts or crossing those ethical boundaries. …And do I sleep? Not as much as I'd like to.
CIR: You believe authors should be published in both print and e-pub format. With e-pub sales strengthening, are your contract negotiations with publishers changing in regard to, for example, the amount of an advance? Or any other contract terms?
MC: E-books are the wave of the future, but I don’t think that print is going extinct anytime soon. So we strongly believe that every book should be out there in every media form. When negotiating with publishers, if they want to acquire the right to put a book out in all of these mediums, then my job is to make sure that the author is compensated accordingly, and that the publisher will in fact use these rights. If they can’t give the proper assurances, even though nothing is ever one hundred percent certain, then we try to retain the rights and offer them to someone else.
CIR: What do you enjoy most about representing authors to the publishing industry? Least?
MC: I love reading and pitching books to publishers. I only represent books and projects that I really believe in, and so my enthusiasm gives me an extra umph when telling others about it. I get very excited. What I like the least is that publishers have a certain quota of books that they will acquire, and so often they have a specific list of things that they are looking for and may pass up a great project just because they need to keep looking for the perfect fit. It can be discouraging, especially when you are the one breaking the news.
CIR: Do you hope to increase your client base?
MC: Yes, I’m looking for new talent. I periodically suspend submissions so that I can catch up, so anyone who would like to submit to me should first look at my submission guidelines listed on my blog. I update this all the time, so I suggest people look at the blog and not the website.
The good news is that in the past year or so I’ve been working with some wonderful people whom I now call my team. Brittany Booker and Jordy Albert have now become my Jr. Agents and they are helping me do submissions and review queries as they learn hands on. We also have a couple of good interns that have huge potential. So everything is growing and we are making good progress towards offering efficient and wonderful services.
CIR: Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to submissions?
MC: I think that sometimes I’m more tolerant than other agents when it comes to queries. Of course, I don’t like it when someone misspells my name or sends me a query that is part of a mass e-mail, but I don’t think that it justifies turning an author away because of it. Do I take it into consideration if the rest of the query is weak? You bet. My real pet peeves though, are sloppy and difficult to read formats. I don’t like queries that start by telling me what the character was thinking or doing. To me, that should be in the middle of the letter. A good query should start by telling me that they have a romance (or other genre) 80K word (proper word count for age group and genre) finished manuscript that they think I will like it because…. I think that research is paramount. The author should know the genre of his or her work, the target readers (at least gender and age), and by knowing this, they can learn how long the work should be. I will be writing a blog post on this soon to put the info out there all in one place. In the mean time authors should keep in mind that the younger the reader the shorter the work should be. And the more sophisticated the reader (sci-fi/fantasy) the more allowance they have to get creative with a longer manuscript. But don’t go crazy. If your novel is longer than 115K especially for a debut, you should consider some edits. I know that there are novels out there that were the author’s first, and are much longer than that… etc, etc. I know. I’ve read Twilight and Harry Potter too. But they are among the few, and just because they made it, it doesn’t mean that it was easy. I think that they are wonderful series, but in a way they were lucky. Having said that… I’m not telling everyone to conform. I’m just saying that there are certain ‘rules,’ if you will, in the industry. If you really believe in your work and it doesn’t follow the norm, trust your self (to a realistic level) and go for it with gusto. Just be prepared to know that it will harder than hard, but if you keep at it you just might get lucky too.
CIR: Any predictions about what might be the next big thing in publishing? What trend(s) do you see fading?
MC: Superpowers are still big, but we are not looking to them as part of the future. I’m looking for fresh material and ideas. I want to be wowed by the next big thing. I had predicted mermaids to jump into the waters, but the ideas were contrived and have not done so well.
If you’re wondering about vampires and think that the market is saturated, think again. We are just obsessed with vampires and can’t seem to get enough. The trend that I do see is a new age of vampires that are not so sweet and glamorous (I’m obviously not including True Blood). Traditional vampires are back.
CIR: What one piece of advice would you offer to authors seeking representation?
MC: Do your research and always put your best foot forward. Learn about the industry, but don’t forget that in the end your writing speaks for itself. So hone in on your craft, keep learning and perfecting your work. And most importantly, never give up. This is a tough industry to break into. Agents are incredibly busy and will unfortunately review your work looking for reasons not to represent you, because unfortunately, that’s how most editors review work. So don’t give them any. Always submit finished work, the best work that you can possibly produce, and then be professional and attentive. It’s okay to innocently stalk your agent’s Facebook page and blog to see what they are up to, but don’t bombard them with follow up emails. Know the agent’s policy on responses and when it is okay to follow up or assume that they are not interested if you have not heard back.
The Literary Powerhouse Portal will be a wonderful source to use when researching Agents and their guidelines, response time, and the deal that they make. When you do hear back always respond quickly and be ready to provide a synopsis and your manuscript. If you meet an agent or make a connection somewhere, follow up graciously and always strike while the iron is hot. Don’t let them forget you.
CIR: What are you most excited about, with the launch of LPH?
MC: There are so many things to be exited about. Calling LitPow mine and having the control over our services and our presence is wonderful. I’m good at seeing the whole picture and how it fits into a scene. And because of it, sometimes it is difficult for me to leave the vision to others.
I do have to say though, that I’m most exited about the Portal and everything that we will offer with that membership. The PowerTools are wonderful and powerful - and yes that pun is intended… that is actually how we came up with the name Literary Powerhouse. I personally can’t wait to use them and to also see how everyone else takes advantage of the benefits they will bring to them. These tools will provide information, resources, organization, networking and more. They offer some services and information that can be gathered from various resources, now packaged and enhanced in one organized place …at the user’s fingertips. And to make it even better we uniquely connected those resources to our services. Our presence and the participation of our expert connections, colleagues, clients, and friends will make it a valuable experience every time the member logs in.
Lastly, I’m exited and happy to say that this Portal will help authors and industry people at all levels. I think that it has the potential to change how many people do their research, their submissions and their publicity. All in all, this will be the only site they will ever need!
CIR: Now to digress, and in accordance with our CIR M.O., I would like to ask an off-track question. What did you dream of doing when you were twelve years old?
MC: LOL I like this one...I wanted to be an Astronaut or Singer… you know, because the two have so many elements in common. So naturally, I became a lawyer.
CIR: You can visit Marisa at www.thoughtsfromaliteraryagent@blogspot.com for submission guidelines and updates, or www.literarypowerhouse.com (may still be under construction) for detailed information about their services. You can follow her on Twitter @mcorvisiero and the website for her law firm is www.corvisierolaw.com.
Thank you, Marisa! And best of luck in your new endeavors!
Janet Fogg
(CIR first interviewed Marisa in February 2011 and she has kindly answered additional questions for today's post.)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
How to Manage Time without the Benefit of a Time Machine
By Marisa A. Corvisiero
It's Saturday morning and I'm torn by all of the things I need to do and read, and the things that I should do with my family. If I didn't want to do any of any of it my choice would be simple. The problem is that I want to do it all. However, it is difficult put up a tree, and edit a manuscript, and draft a contract at the same time. I can do it in my head, but that's not fair to anyone. I guess it comes down to time management. How do I manage my time without the benefit of relativistic time dilation. I suppose that it comes down to the same old thing...the essence of time management.
As an agent, consultant, lawyer, mom and wife (not necessarily in that order, though my husband may disagree) I'm constantly juggling a number of things in my office, at home, and in my head. As you can imagine in my professional life, I often get asked many of the same questions, but the one that comes up more often than others is how do you do it all? Now, although I may smile and reply with a dismissive humorous line, the truth is that it concerns me. I'm concerned that I may appear distracted, and overworked, or, God forbid, inefficient. Because lets face it, when you're juggling sooner or later a ball or two will be making contact with the ground or your head.
As those of you out there that are in similar positions, with day jobs, writing goals and a family, etc., you know that the answer is twofold. First, it take a lot of organizing and sticking to the schedule. In other words, discipline. Second, it is plain and simple hard work. I'm not a fan of the expression, "nothing in life comes easy"... because, well, some things do. But success more often than not requires dedication, determination, persistence, sometimes a little bit of luck, and always good organization and time management.
Funny...I started writing this post as a facebook post. It was going to be three lines as I contemplated what to do next. Aside from being invited to a fabulous Corvisiero family party this eve among other plans, my boys need hair cuts before we take their Christmas picture, which I need to use for our holiday card, which should have gone out last week (in a perfect world). And we've yet to get a tree, and the boys want to make gingerbread houses, and my uncle is visiting from overseas this week, and my dad's birthday is coming up, and there are the errands to be run, and the cleaning, and the laundry... well you get the picture. I didn't even mention Christmas presents. And don't let me get into the manuscripts to read, and the queries to review, and clients' work to review/edit, and clients' work to submit, and consulting and legal projects, and the management, and the new Literary Powerhouse Consulting website (going public this week) and all the data and ideas for the PORTAL (going public probably in February) etc. etc. So that's a hand full of over shared information right there, but there is a point in me mentioning it. Many of you are in the same boat. Most of us have families, homes, friends, jobs etc. So the only way to survive is to manage our time the right way. Are you thinking that I should probably be doing some of this instead of writing this post? Yes, me too, but in a way I think that I'm writing it to help me process. I'm a writer too, and this is how my brain works. Hopefully my words of crazy will help someone else too. :)
...So (deep breath) how do I apply the time management skills I speak of? First, I prioritize. And of course a list will started. (I'm famous for my lists.) I will list the things that are the most important. What needs to get done today and what can wait until tomorrow. Then I add in the things that I'd like to do today. Then in way of a schedule, I give them priority numbers so that they are then ordered in chronology and make a tentative and realistic schedule with plenty of wiggle room to avoid stress. Note that I said realistic. Over scheduling is a sure way to NOT having a successfully scheduled day, and it guarantees stressful situations. And stress does not a happy day make.
Once the schedule is made, I try to stick with it as much as possible. This will ensure that we have a productive day and get most of it done. Yes, I said most of it. Why? Because as the expression goes, "schedules are made to be broken". What I'm saying is that it is okay to change the schedule. You don't need to stress yourself to keep with the schedule. After all, this is your schedule. So if the need comes, or if you feel like it, throw it into the fireplace and enjoy that cocoa or glass of your fav drink while you watch it burn. And enjoy it!
Which is actually a good segue into the secret of juggling, which is to remember to have fun. Yes, you need to organize, and you need to have a schedule and stick with it. But you don't have to create stress for yourself. As long as you are disciplined most of the time. The occasional slip to take care of yourself and yours is the most important thing you can do to keep your sanity. Take time to enjoy yourself, to recharge so that you can keep going. Because keep going you must!
Happy juggling!
Marisa
It's Saturday morning and I'm torn by all of the things I need to do and read, and the things that I should do with my family. If I didn't want to do any of any of it my choice would be simple. The problem is that I want to do it all. However, it is difficult put up a tree, and edit a manuscript, and draft a contract at the same time. I can do it in my head, but that's not fair to anyone. I guess it comes down to time management. How do I manage my time without the benefit of relativistic time dilation. I suppose that it comes down to the same old thing...the essence of time management.
As an agent, consultant, lawyer, mom and wife (not necessarily in that order, though my husband may disagree) I'm constantly juggling a number of things in my office, at home, and in my head. As you can imagine in my professional life, I often get asked many of the same questions, but the one that comes up more often than others is how do you do it all? Now, although I may smile and reply with a dismissive humorous line, the truth is that it concerns me. I'm concerned that I may appear distracted, and overworked, or, God forbid, inefficient. Because lets face it, when you're juggling sooner or later a ball or two will be making contact with the ground or your head.
As those of you out there that are in similar positions, with day jobs, writing goals and a family, etc., you know that the answer is twofold. First, it take a lot of organizing and sticking to the schedule. In other words, discipline. Second, it is plain and simple hard work. I'm not a fan of the expression, "nothing in life comes easy"... because, well, some things do. But success more often than not requires dedication, determination, persistence, sometimes a little bit of luck, and always good organization and time management.
Funny...I started writing this post as a facebook post. It was going to be three lines as I contemplated what to do next. Aside from being invited to a fabulous Corvisiero family party this eve among other plans, my boys need hair cuts before we take their Christmas picture, which I need to use for our holiday card, which should have gone out last week (in a perfect world). And we've yet to get a tree, and the boys want to make gingerbread houses, and my uncle is visiting from overseas this week, and my dad's birthday is coming up, and there are the errands to be run, and the cleaning, and the laundry... well you get the picture. I didn't even mention Christmas presents. And don't let me get into the manuscripts to read, and the queries to review, and clients' work to review/edit, and clients' work to submit, and consulting and legal projects, and the management, and the new Literary Powerhouse Consulting website (going public this week) and all the data and ideas for the PORTAL (going public probably in February) etc. etc. So that's a hand full of over shared information right there, but there is a point in me mentioning it. Many of you are in the same boat. Most of us have families, homes, friends, jobs etc. So the only way to survive is to manage our time the right way. Are you thinking that I should probably be doing some of this instead of writing this post? Yes, me too, but in a way I think that I'm writing it to help me process. I'm a writer too, and this is how my brain works. Hopefully my words of crazy will help someone else too. :)
...So (deep breath) how do I apply the time management skills I speak of? First, I prioritize. And of course a list will started. (I'm famous for my lists.) I will list the things that are the most important. What needs to get done today and what can wait until tomorrow. Then I add in the things that I'd like to do today. Then in way of a schedule, I give them priority numbers so that they are then ordered in chronology and make a tentative and realistic schedule with plenty of wiggle room to avoid stress. Note that I said realistic. Over scheduling is a sure way to NOT having a successfully scheduled day, and it guarantees stressful situations. And stress does not a happy day make.
Once the schedule is made, I try to stick with it as much as possible. This will ensure that we have a productive day and get most of it done. Yes, I said most of it. Why? Because as the expression goes, "schedules are made to be broken". What I'm saying is that it is okay to change the schedule. You don't need to stress yourself to keep with the schedule. After all, this is your schedule. So if the need comes, or if you feel like it, throw it into the fireplace and enjoy that cocoa or glass of your fav drink while you watch it burn. And enjoy it!
Which is actually a good segue into the secret of juggling, which is to remember to have fun. Yes, you need to organize, and you need to have a schedule and stick with it. But you don't have to create stress for yourself. As long as you are disciplined most of the time. The occasional slip to take care of yourself and yours is the most important thing you can do to keep your sanity. Take time to enjoy yourself, to recharge so that you can keep going. Because keep going you must!
Happy juggling!
Marisa
Friday, December 2, 2011
Literary Agent v Literary Consultant: What each will do for you
By: Marisa A. Corvisiero, Esq.
If you are an author who would like to get published and get the best possible placement and deal, you should consider getting a literary agent... if you haven't already. Much like the agents that we've heard about in movies like Jerry Maguire or shows like Entourage, an agent is a person who agrees to act as someone’s representative in getting them work, making deals, etc. A literary Agent is an agent that represents a writer for the purpose of selling their written work to publishers. More often than not an agent will start to work with a writer on a per project basis.
How do you know if you need one? Simple, if you want to sell your work to traditional publishers, you should know that they don't even consider work that isn't represented. So if that's your goal, that's your answer right there. But even those who are content selling to smaller publishing houses, need a good agent to help them in and along.
Note that 'smaller' does not mean that they are small. They are just not the top tier of New York houses. Having an agent will open doors for you and get your work looked at faster. An agent will not only have the contacts and know who to send your work to, but they are also likely to know who likes and is looking for the type of work that you have written. A good agent will have good insight about the industry's ins and outs, and a pulse on trends. An agent will be able to tell you that your manuscript is ready, well written, and interesting enough to be pitched. Although most agents don't have the time to edit work, many do have enough knowledge and insight to give you guidance on points that need to be polished before it can be sent to publishers. After all, they have read it, or should have, and they will undoubtedly have an opinion and will point out a couple of things in your no longer perfect work, even if they loved it. Or maybe that's just me, and my many opinions, but I doubt it :-) If the agent likes it, or you, enough to take it on, even if it isn't ready, then the agent can get you in touch with, or recommend, a consultant or editor to help you where help is needed.
When time comes to accept an offer, your agent will be best suited to explain the terms of your contract to you, to negotiate them for your, and to help you decide between publishers if you are talented and lucky enough, and your agent is good enough, to get you multiple offers. The more knowledge and experience the agent has at this, the smoother the process and the better the outcome. If your agent has some legal knowledge or contract experience, even better! I have to say that my years as a corporate lawyer in New York City have truly come in handy several times when drafting or reviewing contracts. The problem with lack of legal knowledge or experience with contracts is that the reviewer will tend to focus on the industry or money clauses, such as duration of the contract, royalties, advances, sub rights, submission of manuscript, editing, out of print reversion, authors use of work, etc., and may not even know that there is an issue with a guarantee, or non compete, copyright, venue, etc.
Contrary to popular belief however, most literary agents do not stay involved with the process past that. Only some agents continue to provide services after the book is sold. This is because when the book is sold it is now in the publisher's hands, and the author pretty much just does what the publisher and its editors tell the author to do, from edits to promotions; and agents only get involved if there is a problem with the terms of the deal that was struck, or if someone is behaving badly. Once in a while a client will come to me and say, when are we setting up the book tour? or they'll give me the info for the launch party and say, "how do we do a press release for this?" Unfortunately, publishers aren't helping authors with these things as much as they used to. So people are left with three choices, they have to take what they can get from the publisher and do the rest themselves, hire a publicist, or hire a book coach to teach them and help them to do it themselves. Ideally, I would suggest that you do all three.
There are gaps in the process. We can say - write a book, have it edited, find an agent, the agent will sell it, and then the publisher will sell to the public, and all you have to do is show up at signings. This couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, for some this simple plan works. But most people need help, direction, guidance, and advice. Even if you write a something and know that you need an editor, how do you find the right one? One that will actually help you and not take a Thousand dollars for reading your book and tell you that you need to work on showing and not telling. And once your ms is complete, how do you choose the right agent? How do you prepare the query? the proposal? or that dreaded synopsis?...
There is a lot of information out there to help with each of these, but it takes time to learn and to sift through the muddle until the necessary answers are found. This can be time consuming, frustrating and often expensive. This is where Literary Consultants come in. Many agents now a days, including myself, are thankfully starting to provide consulting services. Editors with publishing experience and agents are the best-suited folks to offer these services, because of their vast knowledge about everything that it takes to make a manuscript good, how to present it and pitch it, how to package it, and how to sell it. They have the contacts to get you the help and expertise you need for your particular project and are often able to match someone to complement your temperament.
A literary consultant can be an author's best and most useful guide through the entire process. Depending on the scope and level of expertise literary consultants can offer authors guidance, advice, and sometimes hold their hand to get help on anything from the creation and development of an idea, to writing, editing, pitching and promoting a book. Some of these consultants offer their own time and advice, and others have a team of specialized people to help you through each phase. So if you need help finishing your book and getting it ready for submitting it to an agent or publisher, you can reach out a literary consultant to get your work in the best shape it can be, then they can help you prepare your query letter, synopsis, outline, proposal etc. and they can help you chose the right agent for you and your work.
Once your work is agented, a consultant with the right experience and knowledge can help you start promoting your book by getting you ready and helping you develop a platform or following. A good consultant can facilitate the information and instruments for you to get your social media tools, book tour, blog tour, book launch, book reviews, contests, conferences, etc. set up before your book has even hit the shelves. Why do you need to do all of this work? If you want to have sales, you need to promote, and your agent and publisher will only help so much. Especially if you are not James Paterson (I think I saw him on TV and ads about 30 times during the few hours I actually watched TV during the Thanksgiving break). Most publishers, even the biggest ones, push their bestselling authors first. So it's up to you! And you want to generate as much buzz as possible so that the bulk of sales take place in a one to three week window. This is how you get on the bestseller lists!
I have a strong suspicion that if you're reading this, and you're an author that wants to get published, it would probably make you very happy to become a best seller. So go get the help you need, if you need it! But remember to be careful before hiring someone to provide these services. See if you can get recommendations from someone that has used them. Talk to them extensively and make sure that you know what you’re getting for your money. Remember that an agent should not be charging you reading fees. But if an agent is offering consulting services that are specifically tailored to your needs, then it is ok to retain them to help you, as long as their representation of your work as an agent is not contingent on you paying for consulting services. In other words, don't pay them to represent you as an agent. Pay only for the help that you want and need.
So keep in mind that help is becoming increasingly available out there. Be smart and take advantage of the expertise that are available to you. The publishing industry does not have to be a frightening beast. Don't let the unique guidelines intimidate you. Get out there and network, and find the right team to help you.
Happy hunting!
~Marisa
If you are an author who would like to get published and get the best possible placement and deal, you should consider getting a literary agent... if you haven't already. Much like the agents that we've heard about in movies like Jerry Maguire or shows like Entourage, an agent is a person who agrees to act as someone’s representative in getting them work, making deals, etc. A literary Agent is an agent that represents a writer for the purpose of selling their written work to publishers. More often than not an agent will start to work with a writer on a per project basis.
How do you know if you need one? Simple, if you want to sell your work to traditional publishers, you should know that they don't even consider work that isn't represented. So if that's your goal, that's your answer right there. But even those who are content selling to smaller publishing houses, need a good agent to help them in and along.
Note that 'smaller' does not mean that they are small. They are just not the top tier of New York houses. Having an agent will open doors for you and get your work looked at faster. An agent will not only have the contacts and know who to send your work to, but they are also likely to know who likes and is looking for the type of work that you have written. A good agent will have good insight about the industry's ins and outs, and a pulse on trends. An agent will be able to tell you that your manuscript is ready, well written, and interesting enough to be pitched. Although most agents don't have the time to edit work, many do have enough knowledge and insight to give you guidance on points that need to be polished before it can be sent to publishers. After all, they have read it, or should have, and they will undoubtedly have an opinion and will point out a couple of things in your no longer perfect work, even if they loved it. Or maybe that's just me, and my many opinions, but I doubt it :-) If the agent likes it, or you, enough to take it on, even if it isn't ready, then the agent can get you in touch with, or recommend, a consultant or editor to help you where help is needed.
When time comes to accept an offer, your agent will be best suited to explain the terms of your contract to you, to negotiate them for your, and to help you decide between publishers if you are talented and lucky enough, and your agent is good enough, to get you multiple offers. The more knowledge and experience the agent has at this, the smoother the process and the better the outcome. If your agent has some legal knowledge or contract experience, even better! I have to say that my years as a corporate lawyer in New York City have truly come in handy several times when drafting or reviewing contracts. The problem with lack of legal knowledge or experience with contracts is that the reviewer will tend to focus on the industry or money clauses, such as duration of the contract, royalties, advances, sub rights, submission of manuscript, editing, out of print reversion, authors use of work, etc., and may not even know that there is an issue with a guarantee, or non compete, copyright, venue, etc.
Contrary to popular belief however, most literary agents do not stay involved with the process past that. Only some agents continue to provide services after the book is sold. This is because when the book is sold it is now in the publisher's hands, and the author pretty much just does what the publisher and its editors tell the author to do, from edits to promotions; and agents only get involved if there is a problem with the terms of the deal that was struck, or if someone is behaving badly. Once in a while a client will come to me and say, when are we setting up the book tour? or they'll give me the info for the launch party and say, "how do we do a press release for this?" Unfortunately, publishers aren't helping authors with these things as much as they used to. So people are left with three choices, they have to take what they can get from the publisher and do the rest themselves, hire a publicist, or hire a book coach to teach them and help them to do it themselves. Ideally, I would suggest that you do all three.
There are gaps in the process. We can say - write a book, have it edited, find an agent, the agent will sell it, and then the publisher will sell to the public, and all you have to do is show up at signings. This couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, for some this simple plan works. But most people need help, direction, guidance, and advice. Even if you write a something and know that you need an editor, how do you find the right one? One that will actually help you and not take a Thousand dollars for reading your book and tell you that you need to work on showing and not telling. And once your ms is complete, how do you choose the right agent? How do you prepare the query? the proposal? or that dreaded synopsis?...
There is a lot of information out there to help with each of these, but it takes time to learn and to sift through the muddle until the necessary answers are found. This can be time consuming, frustrating and often expensive. This is where Literary Consultants come in. Many agents now a days, including myself, are thankfully starting to provide consulting services. Editors with publishing experience and agents are the best-suited folks to offer these services, because of their vast knowledge about everything that it takes to make a manuscript good, how to present it and pitch it, how to package it, and how to sell it. They have the contacts to get you the help and expertise you need for your particular project and are often able to match someone to complement your temperament.
A literary consultant can be an author's best and most useful guide through the entire process. Depending on the scope and level of expertise literary consultants can offer authors guidance, advice, and sometimes hold their hand to get help on anything from the creation and development of an idea, to writing, editing, pitching and promoting a book. Some of these consultants offer their own time and advice, and others have a team of specialized people to help you through each phase. So if you need help finishing your book and getting it ready for submitting it to an agent or publisher, you can reach out a literary consultant to get your work in the best shape it can be, then they can help you prepare your query letter, synopsis, outline, proposal etc. and they can help you chose the right agent for you and your work.
Once your work is agented, a consultant with the right experience and knowledge can help you start promoting your book by getting you ready and helping you develop a platform or following. A good consultant can facilitate the information and instruments for you to get your social media tools, book tour, blog tour, book launch, book reviews, contests, conferences, etc. set up before your book has even hit the shelves. Why do you need to do all of this work? If you want to have sales, you need to promote, and your agent and publisher will only help so much. Especially if you are not James Paterson (I think I saw him on TV and ads about 30 times during the few hours I actually watched TV during the Thanksgiving break). Most publishers, even the biggest ones, push their bestselling authors first. So it's up to you! And you want to generate as much buzz as possible so that the bulk of sales take place in a one to three week window. This is how you get on the bestseller lists!
I have a strong suspicion that if you're reading this, and you're an author that wants to get published, it would probably make you very happy to become a best seller. So go get the help you need, if you need it! But remember to be careful before hiring someone to provide these services. See if you can get recommendations from someone that has used them. Talk to them extensively and make sure that you know what you’re getting for your money. Remember that an agent should not be charging you reading fees. But if an agent is offering consulting services that are specifically tailored to your needs, then it is ok to retain them to help you, as long as their representation of your work as an agent is not contingent on you paying for consulting services. In other words, don't pay them to represent you as an agent. Pay only for the help that you want and need.
So keep in mind that help is becoming increasingly available out there. Be smart and take advantage of the expertise that are available to you. The publishing industry does not have to be a frightening beast. Don't let the unique guidelines intimidate you. Get out there and network, and find the right team to help you.
Happy hunting!
~Marisa
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Guest Blogger: Beyond Self-Editing
By Jade Kerrion
Recently, my ruthlessly self-edited novel, GENESIS, won a Royal Palm Literary Award in the unpublished Science Fiction category. After running back to my hotel room and waking my sleeping husband to show him the trophy, I did the next logical thing: I set out on a search for an independent editor.
All right, some of you might be saying, “You’ve got the cart before the horse. Shouldn’t you have hired the editor before submitting your novel for the competition?” Others might be saying, “But you won an award—obviously, your novel is good, so why do you need an editor?”
For me, personally, I put off hiring an editor because I wanted to be sure my writing could stand alone (which it did). And I decided to hire one because I was finally convinced that my writing would improve tremendously with her input.
WHY HIRE AN INDEPENDENT EDITOR?
Because ‘ruthless self-editing’ is usually an oxymoron…
I studied books on self-editing, including the excellent ‘Self-editing for Fiction Writers’, made notes and kept them beside me as I edited my novel (six times, no less). I even cut out the entire prologue. However, after reviewing my editor’s notes on the first ten pages, I’m convinced that my ‘ruthless self-editing’ was as deep as a paper cut. I caught misspellings and basic grammatical errors, as any self-respecting self-editor should. My editor found far more. At one point, she had me thinking, “Wow, I did really use the word ‘the’ eight times in that short paragraph. Damn.”
Because sometimes, you just can’t wait…
Let’s face the facts: it takes time (sometimes years) to get traditionally published. Meanwhile, you’re writing other novels, right? When you find an agent and a publisher, you will usually receive an editor in the process. However, did you really want to wait till that late stage to catch possible issues with your writing style? After you’ve written tons of other books, all with those same issues? Sending your work through an independent editor can be a tremendous learning experience, especially if you’re just starting out.
HOW TO HIRE AN INDEPENDENT EDITOR
Decide what you need: Do you need developmental editing, substantive editing, copy-editing or proofreading? If you don’t know the difference, find out.
Get recommendations: This isn’t the time to limit your search to what Google can spit back out at you. In addition to consulting Google, I asked fellow writers at Backspace and the Florida Writers Association (FWA). Financially, you may catch a break. For example, FWA has an editing service that they’ve negotiated with professional, thoroughly screened editors for discounted rates on a certain number of hours of work.
Get samples: Editors vary in thoroughness and individual style; obtaining edited samples of your work is key. Samples of what they edited in the past isn’t good enough. You will need a consistent basis for comparison, and you will want to know how they’d edit your work. Some editors offer samples for free, others charge a fee. Be willing to pay a fee if the editor comes highly recommended and/or has a long list of accolades to his or her name. The fees I paid ranged from $30-$35 for ten pages of edits.
Check the editor’s credentials: How long have they worked as an editor? Did they spend thirty years as a newspaper editor, or did they also edit full-length novels? How many novels have they edited? How many novels went on to find agents and traditional publishers? Have they worked in your genre? Do they even like your genre? Obtain reviews and recommendations of their work, where possible.
Electronic or paper edits: Electronic, of course. Why are we even having this discussion? Wait, not so fast. Three of the four sample edits I received were electronic. The fourth one was on paper. I learned far more from the paper edit than the electronic edits. Yes, there are nonsensical squiggles on the paper and you’ll have to invest the time to figure out what they mean. You have a busy life—who needs the cognitive overload? But take a step back and allow your eyes to drift over the pages. How many different types of squiggles do you see? Are there more of some types than others? What you’re seeing are trends—persistent issues with your writing. I ran into a brick wall attempting to identify trends through Microsoft Word’s ‘track changes’ functionality. I did bang my head on it several times (I’m the persistent type) before giving it up as a lost cause. Whether you chose electronic or paper edits will depend on what you’re looking to get out of the editing process. If you’re confident that your novel is in excellent shape and the editor is merely fine-tuning, electronic edits may be the way to go. If you’re looking for a profound learning experience, consider paper edits. If you are a control freak (see the next point), stick with paper edits. Less heartburn that way, I promise.
Review the samples: This should go without saying, especially if you paid a fee for the sample edit. However, this step is doubly important if you decide to go with an electronic edit because the editor is making changes directly in the master document, hopefully with the ‘track changes’ functionality turned on. They’re doing more than identifying the problem. They’re correcting it. Do you like what they’re doing? One editor was so enthusiastic about correcting my manuscript that he rewrote entire sentences in a style that felt unnatural for me (and he didn’t even track the changes in Microsoft Word.) I could never have duplicated it in my other novels, nor would I have wanted to. To top it off, he changed a character’s last name; I never understood the point of that particular edit. His work wasn’t a good fit for me.
How are they charging for their services? Most editors charge based on the number of pages or the number of words. The type of service also varies. Are they copy-editing, or doing everything from content to commas? Do they want payment for the full job, or do you only pay for the work done if you decide to stop working with them? Make certain you’re doing an apples-to-apples comparison when getting quotes from editors.
What else are you getting for the money? For their fee, some editors will send an edited document back to you. Others may send you the edited document and a twenty-five page critique of your content and writing style. Once again, it depends on what you want out of the experience.
Note that I didn’t actually discuss how much to pay. That’s because it varies based on your needs and your budget. For my 90,000-word novel, I received quotes ranging from $1,100 to $3,900, though most came in under $2,000.
Is it worth it? Based on the ten pages I received from my editor, the answer is yes. The accompanying partial critique of the sample pages identified stylistic elements that I’m working to eliminate or incorporate (depending on the element) in my second novel, codenamed EXODUS. (Yes, I need a better name; I’m working on that). The first draft of EXODUS feels like a tighter document than the final draft of GENESIS; the editor’s assistance is paying off, and she hasn’t even delivered the edited manuscript yet. By the time I get through all her red squiggles, I’ll be a better writer. I’m absolutely certain of it.
Jade Kerrion
http://www.jadekerrion.com
Recently, my ruthlessly self-edited novel, GENESIS, won a Royal Palm Literary Award in the unpublished Science Fiction category. After running back to my hotel room and waking my sleeping husband to show him the trophy, I did the next logical thing: I set out on a search for an independent editor.
All right, some of you might be saying, “You’ve got the cart before the horse. Shouldn’t you have hired the editor before submitting your novel for the competition?” Others might be saying, “But you won an award—obviously, your novel is good, so why do you need an editor?”
For me, personally, I put off hiring an editor because I wanted to be sure my writing could stand alone (which it did). And I decided to hire one because I was finally convinced that my writing would improve tremendously with her input.
WHY HIRE AN INDEPENDENT EDITOR?
Because ‘ruthless self-editing’ is usually an oxymoron…
I studied books on self-editing, including the excellent ‘Self-editing for Fiction Writers’, made notes and kept them beside me as I edited my novel (six times, no less). I even cut out the entire prologue. However, after reviewing my editor’s notes on the first ten pages, I’m convinced that my ‘ruthless self-editing’ was as deep as a paper cut. I caught misspellings and basic grammatical errors, as any self-respecting self-editor should. My editor found far more. At one point, she had me thinking, “Wow, I did really use the word ‘the’ eight times in that short paragraph. Damn.”
Because sometimes, you just can’t wait…
Let’s face the facts: it takes time (sometimes years) to get traditionally published. Meanwhile, you’re writing other novels, right? When you find an agent and a publisher, you will usually receive an editor in the process. However, did you really want to wait till that late stage to catch possible issues with your writing style? After you’ve written tons of other books, all with those same issues? Sending your work through an independent editor can be a tremendous learning experience, especially if you’re just starting out.
HOW TO HIRE AN INDEPENDENT EDITOR
Decide what you need: Do you need developmental editing, substantive editing, copy-editing or proofreading? If you don’t know the difference, find out.
Get recommendations: This isn’t the time to limit your search to what Google can spit back out at you. In addition to consulting Google, I asked fellow writers at Backspace and the Florida Writers Association (FWA). Financially, you may catch a break. For example, FWA has an editing service that they’ve negotiated with professional, thoroughly screened editors for discounted rates on a certain number of hours of work.
Get samples: Editors vary in thoroughness and individual style; obtaining edited samples of your work is key. Samples of what they edited in the past isn’t good enough. You will need a consistent basis for comparison, and you will want to know how they’d edit your work. Some editors offer samples for free, others charge a fee. Be willing to pay a fee if the editor comes highly recommended and/or has a long list of accolades to his or her name. The fees I paid ranged from $30-$35 for ten pages of edits.
Check the editor’s credentials: How long have they worked as an editor? Did they spend thirty years as a newspaper editor, or did they also edit full-length novels? How many novels have they edited? How many novels went on to find agents and traditional publishers? Have they worked in your genre? Do they even like your genre? Obtain reviews and recommendations of their work, where possible.
Electronic or paper edits: Electronic, of course. Why are we even having this discussion? Wait, not so fast. Three of the four sample edits I received were electronic. The fourth one was on paper. I learned far more from the paper edit than the electronic edits. Yes, there are nonsensical squiggles on the paper and you’ll have to invest the time to figure out what they mean. You have a busy life—who needs the cognitive overload? But take a step back and allow your eyes to drift over the pages. How many different types of squiggles do you see? Are there more of some types than others? What you’re seeing are trends—persistent issues with your writing. I ran into a brick wall attempting to identify trends through Microsoft Word’s ‘track changes’ functionality. I did bang my head on it several times (I’m the persistent type) before giving it up as a lost cause. Whether you chose electronic or paper edits will depend on what you’re looking to get out of the editing process. If you’re confident that your novel is in excellent shape and the editor is merely fine-tuning, electronic edits may be the way to go. If you’re looking for a profound learning experience, consider paper edits. If you are a control freak (see the next point), stick with paper edits. Less heartburn that way, I promise.
Review the samples: This should go without saying, especially if you paid a fee for the sample edit. However, this step is doubly important if you decide to go with an electronic edit because the editor is making changes directly in the master document, hopefully with the ‘track changes’ functionality turned on. They’re doing more than identifying the problem. They’re correcting it. Do you like what they’re doing? One editor was so enthusiastic about correcting my manuscript that he rewrote entire sentences in a style that felt unnatural for me (and he didn’t even track the changes in Microsoft Word.) I could never have duplicated it in my other novels, nor would I have wanted to. To top it off, he changed a character’s last name; I never understood the point of that particular edit. His work wasn’t a good fit for me.
How are they charging for their services? Most editors charge based on the number of pages or the number of words. The type of service also varies. Are they copy-editing, or doing everything from content to commas? Do they want payment for the full job, or do you only pay for the work done if you decide to stop working with them? Make certain you’re doing an apples-to-apples comparison when getting quotes from editors.
What else are you getting for the money? For their fee, some editors will send an edited document back to you. Others may send you the edited document and a twenty-five page critique of your content and writing style. Once again, it depends on what you want out of the experience.
Note that I didn’t actually discuss how much to pay. That’s because it varies based on your needs and your budget. For my 90,000-word novel, I received quotes ranging from $1,100 to $3,900, though most came in under $2,000.
Is it worth it? Based on the ten pages I received from my editor, the answer is yes. The accompanying partial critique of the sample pages identified stylistic elements that I’m working to eliminate or incorporate (depending on the element) in my second novel, codenamed EXODUS. (Yes, I need a better name; I’m working on that). The first draft of EXODUS feels like a tighter document than the final draft of GENESIS; the editor’s assistance is paying off, and she hasn’t even delivered the edited manuscript yet. By the time I get through all her red squiggles, I’ll be a better writer. I’m absolutely certain of it.
Jade Kerrion
http://www.jadekerrion.com
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