Sunday, March 14, 2010

what's a standard submission process like? (Your Questions continued)





1. Project is received from agent and logged in.




A) no go--drop it
C) let's pursue this





1) The editor reads a submitted book.







Alexis Grant said...

This is helpful! Love how you boil it down for us.

Doug Mack said...

Aha! Very useful--thanks. I've been wondering about this. Does it help if the author includes photos of baby animals (or platters of sushi) at random points in the proposal?

Brian F. said...

You forgot to mention the part where the pentagram gets drawn on the floor and the Ouija board is consulted.

moonrat said...

Brian--RATS! This is why I should have outlined my post before writing.

Christi Goddard said...

On the flipside of this is an author biting all of their nails off and wearing holes in their carpet while their story is on submission.

At least that's what I've heard. I may never know the stress of this magically anxious time.

It's interesting to see the smaller publisher tactics. I've wondered about them as I think I'd rather have a smaller publisher than a large one for weird, personal reasons. I enjoyed this insight.

interesting note: the CAPTCHA is 'reedus.' Quite fitting, I think, for an editor's blog, except the part where you'd spell 'read' correctly and put a space after the 'd.'

Pamala Knight said...

It's been a long time since I've had such useful information packaged in such a deliciously funny package. Oh wait! Actually it was your next to the last post, lol.

Thanks for that.

Amanda J. said...

I love your blog. Thanks for posting this! I'm looking into becoming an editor after I graduate, so this post was incredibly helpful and interesting. :)

Simon Hay Soul Healer said...

I'd be home with the ouija board. The moon's never helped my fishing, but has been good for planting veges. Imteresting post. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I read a lot of agent and editor blogs but never saw this information presented at all, much less presented so well. Thank you.

Philangelus said...

My first published book went the large/corporate route, and I found out later that one of the senior folks came over to the editorial assistant who was editing my book and said, "He really killed her?"

She said, "Yeah, that's pretty much the whole of the conflict."

The guy stood stunned for a moment,then said, "I thought it was a trumped-up charge."

"No," she said. "He really did it. We said that."

The guy said, "If I'd read the sample pages, I'd never have let that through."

It sold really well,though, so thank heaven for publishing types who don't do their homework. :-)

Caroline Starr Rose said...

Thank you! I know I'll religiously re-read this one.

Kristan said...

GREAT question, and thank you for a peek into the process.

Dawn Simon said...

Thank you for this. It's super interesting.

This is probably revealing my lack of maturity, but remember the Schoolhouse Rock short "How a Bill Becomes a Law"?

It kind of reminds me of that. :)

Charles Gramlich said...

20 words. That's a horribly frightening thought to a writer.

JES said...

I had the same thought as Charles: TWENTY WORDS?!?

In the rip-the-book-to-shreds/find-the-potholes steps, would it be safe to characterize the questions as aggressive devil's advocacy? or is it more like hostile roleplaying, a la "I really really HATE this book, and here's why: [yadda-yadda]"?

Seems like there must be a certain amount of horsetrading which goes on: you don't want to denigrate another editor's fave too much, lest you find yourself in his/her shoes next time you pitch one of your own!

moonrat said...

Charles, JES, and, well, everybody else--YES! 20 words. This is why I make everybody I meet at conferences/workshops hone their 20-word book hook. If you know how you, the author, would pitch your book in 20 words, you'll have better control over what happens to it at an ed meeting.

Tahereh said...

wow. awesome. thanks so much for sharing!

moonrat said...

JES--re the aggressive shredding--it depends on the timbre of a meeting, but yeah, that can definitely happen. If the ed meeting is the most hostile environment the book will have to face, it means it will probably be able to face anything else later. Also, anyone who expresses worries/disapproval during ed meeting can later say "I told him/her that book wasn't going to work." Retrospective righteousness is a great motivator.

Also, related note, there's a tactic amongst editors--if there's a book they REALLY REALLY REALLY want, they might pitch a not so great fit the same day, thereby letting everyone get their meanness out on the wooden duck book. I know it seems like really elementary ploy, and yet we use it again and again.

Tawna Fenske said...

This is amazing stuff! On several occasions before my recent book deal, my agent would tell me my manuscript was being taken to Ed Board and I'd nod knowingly and pretend I knew what the hell that meant. She did explain to me a few times, but never in quite this much detail. Fascinating! Thanks so much for this glimpse into your world.


R.S. Lorée said...

This was such a helpful post on a topic that I don't see getting much coverage on the blogosphere. The process looks so complicated for those of us on the outside that it's wonderful to have it spelled out succinctly.

Cid said...

THAT was fascinating. I know you've probably answered this before, but how did you become an editorial assistant?

Anonymous said...

Now I understand what happened to one of my manuscripts and what the agents response meant. Thank you

Crystal Posey said...

So fascinating. There is so much more to being an editor than one realizes.

Debra L. Schubert said...

Holy Pins-n-Needles, Batman! My book's getting ready for submission and I'm going to ask my doctor for some Ativan. What a scary/exciting process. Thanks for giving us the run-down.

Julianne said...

Thanks for a wonderful post!

A related question, if you don't mind one more:

What is the longest amount of time you've seen pass between an agent submitting a ms and the publisher making an offer on it? Does lengthy silence necessarily mean no interest?

(Okay, that was two questions. Sorry!)

Stina Lindenblatt said...

Thanks for this insightful post.

And thanks Brian F for clarifying things. You see, I always thought they checked the astrological charts first to make sure all the stars and planets were aligned. I stand corrected.

Anonymous said...

Question: At what point does someone get back to the author. I don't mean to be a pain in the bum here, but I thought agents didn't approach other editors until they had the full MS. But here it seems to go straight from recieving the manuscript in to these meetings, so have you missed out a step where the agent requests the full MS, or do agents start these meetings to get a feel for things before they ask for the full MS? Thanks.