Win a Scholarship to the Backspace Writers Conference & Agent-Author Seminar in NYC!

by Colleen Lindsay
Reposted from The Swivet.

I am thrilled to announce that the good folks at Backspace (an incredible online writers community THAT YOU SHOULD JOIN IMMEDIATELY! GO! NOW!) have once again graciously agreed to donate two scholarships to their upcoming Backspace Writers Conference & Agent-Author Seminar, which will be held in New York City from May 27th through the 29th.


The Backspace Writers Conference (May 28th & 29th) is two days of panel discussions with literary agents, authors, and acquisitions editors, agent workshops, master classes taught by New York Times bestselling authors, and opening pages workshop critiques, PLUS a Friday evening booksigning and cocktail reception. The Backspace Agent-Author Seminar (May 27th) is an extra full day of small-group breakouts with sixteen of my agent colleagues (including Kristin Nelson, Elana Roth, Jason Ashlock, Paul Cirone, Brandi Bowles, Elizabeth Evans, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and Diana Fox, to name just a few). It's a chance to have your query read and critiqued and to have agents see the first two pages of your novel. The conference itself is held at the Radisson-Martinique in Midtown Manhattan, walking distance from Penn Station and virtually every subway line in NYC. (If you were to pay for the conference & seminar yourself, by the way, it would be $750!)

Last year's scholarship winner, Lisa Iriarte, said:

The Fall 2009 Backspace Agent-Author Seminar was the most phenomenal conference I have ever attended. I was a winner of the previous scholarship contest and I now have representation. 



While I was there, I was impressed with the amount of personal and individual attention every attendee received on both query letters and opening pages. It's one thing to have someone try to explain what should go into queries and opening pages. It's another thing entirely to have professionals break down YOUR query and pages and tell you exactly what's wrong and right about them.



The mixers with agents were wonderfully informal and comfortable, nothing like nerve-wracking pitch sessions. They provided a great opportunity to network with agents and other writers.



I recommend this conference to all my writer friends and suggest they attend if they possibly can, whether they win the scholarship or not.

A special note from Backspace's Chris Graham & Karen Dionne to those wanting to enter the contest:

"Anyone who's interested in the conference - and especially the Agent-Author Seminar - but also wants to take part in the contest can register ahead of time. If you win, we'll promptly refund your money. Because space is limited at the AA Seminar, and it tends to sell-out early, we don't want people to miss out on it, while still being able to enter the contest. And as an added bonus, this year we're giving each of the winners a 1-year subscription to the Backspace Discussion Forums ($40/year), where they'll not only have access to all of the terrific information available, but they can also watch videos from our 2009 Writers Conference and Nov 2009 Agent-Author Seminar!"

So how do you enter? Pay attention:

First, three caveats:

1. You MUST have a finished novel that is ready to query. No exceptions.
2. The scholarship covers admission to the conference only, not travel or hotel expenses. If you're coming from outside the New York-area, bear this in mind.
3. The contest is open only to fiction (any genre, adult, YA or middle grade) and narrative non-fiction manuscripts.

The Rules:

1. One entry per person, please.
2. Print out your query letter plus the first two pages of your finished novel, the same two pages that you want to have critiqued at Backspace. The query letter should be single spaced; the two pages of your manuscript should be standard manuscript format: 12-point type and double-spaced. (Remember, only the first two pages, even if it ends mid-sentence.)
3. Mail your entries (yes, on paper, with a stamp - no email entries for this contest!) to my attention at FinePrint Literary Management, 240 W. 35th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY, 10001.
4. Your envelope MUST have the word BACKSPACE written prominently on the front so that I know it's a contest submission. Otherwise it will be recycled by the ever-efficient interns!
5. Although you are welcome to submit projects that you'd like us to consider for representation, do understand that your contest entries won't get a response. Only the two winners will be hearing back from us.
6. Don't include an SASE; it'll be a waste of a stamp. (See above.)
7. Don't call or email to follow up on your entry. Trust in the U.S. Post Office. They've been doing right by your mail for 150 years.
8. If you do call or email to follow up, your entry will be disqualified and a voudou priestess somewhere in the wilds of the Louisiana bayou will ensure that you get a nasty rash in an unspeakable place for at least a year.
9. Entries must be postmarked by Monday, March 1st. Entries received with a postmark later than March 1st will be disqualified.
10. The two winners will be announced the week of March 15th.

Thanks so much to the wonderful and supportive faculty at Backspace for making these scholarships possible. I'm sure the winners will put them to good use!

(And as if you needed any further incentive to enter the contest, consider this: last year, we had four winners for the Backspace Scholarship Contest; all four found representation through the Agent-Author Seminar!)

----------

Colleen Lindsay is a literary agent at Fine Print Literary and has more than twenty-five years combined experience in publishing and the book industry. She's primarily interested in all kinds of fiction. She likes quirky, edgy or offbeat fiction, both literary and commercial; women’s fiction; historical fiction; high-concept thrillers, mysteries and crime novels; queer fiction; and graphic novels. Colleen also has a particular expertise in fantasy, science fiction urban fantasy, paranormal romance and other speculative sub-genres and always welcomes a well-written SF/F novel. Additionally, Colleen is looking for YA, particularly multicultural YA, YA that tackles social taboos and other issues, and YA fantasy. She’s not interested in poetry, cozies, short stories, screenplays, or Christian fiction/non-fiction.

In non-fiction, she’s looking for strong narrative non-fiction, works of LGBT interest, pop culture and books dealing with Web 2.0 and non-traditional marketing; she also works closely with several book packagers to supply talented writers for work-for-hire projects.

The Key to Marketing Your Book: Time Well Spent

by Nathan Bransford


I was recently interviewed by Shelli over at Market My Words, and one of the questions had me stumped: what are the top three things every author should do to promote their work?


I stared at the question and stared at it and stared at it until I realized I could only think of one: every author should have some sort of Googlable web presence so that when someone sees your work or hears about you they have a way to contact you. This can be a website or a blog or a Facebook page... something, anything so that opportunity knows where to knock.

Beyond that, however, I think with so many marketing options available to authors in the era of the Internet there's sort of been a new expectation/conventional wisdom creeping up that the key to being a Good Hardworking Promoting Author is to blow out your blog, your Facebook page, your website, your Twitter feed, your Myspace page (still people there!), your Goodreads network, your Flickr account, and better yet, all of the above and by the way you need to set up your own author tour and try to get some media appearances going we'd love it if you placed some articles and stories and where's your book trailer oh also don't quit your day job and don't forget about your manuscript deadline and make sure the next book is incredible and amazing and could you spend some time with your family please?

Needless to say: unless you were born with more hours in the day than the rest of us, doing everything is not possible.

Nor is doing everything productive! If you don't have a passion for blogging it's going to show. Readers will notice and your blog will remain obscure. Not a newsflash: obscure blogs don't sell books. No one should be blogging (or Tweeting or Facebooking or etc.) for the sake of blogging (or Tweeting or Facebooking or etc.).

It takes time to make a good blog, a good Twitter feed, a good Facebook page, a good book trailer, etc., and if you dilute your time and try to do everything you might end up without a good anything.

Instead: do what you're best at. Don't make yourself miserable doing what you think you should be doing, do what you enjoy doing. Utilize your time where it's best spent:

- If you have a talent and passion for blogging: do that.
- If you enjoy Twitter and know the ins and outs: do that.
- If you are a great public speaker and love attending writers conferences: do that.
- If you have media connections and can utilize them: do that.
- If you love pounding the pavement and meeting with local bookstores to arrange signings and events: do that.
- If you are an amateur filmmaker on the side and have an idea for a killer book trailer: do that.
- If you think creatively and enjoy thinking of wacky publicity events: do that.
- If you are fabulously wealthy and you want to drop books from an airplane with $100 bills attached: do that, and please make sure to stop by San Francisco.

Mix and match as appropriate.

There's no one way to promote a book, and if there were a surefire way to get a book to take off and become a bestseller I would patent it and sell it to you for seven trillion dollars. Know your strengths, utilize your time well, and remember that at the end of the day the whims of fate and word of mouth are more powerful than any marketer.

Do what you can in the time you have. Just be smart about it.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

----------

Nathan Bransford is a literary agent with the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown Ltd. and the author of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, which will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2011.

Originally posted on his blog.

Know Your Characters

by Megan Rebekah McBride

There are different types of characters in our books, and they each play an important role.

Background characters.
In real life, I would equate these to people I see at work but don't really know. I might see them come in and out of the lobby, I may even know their name, but that's often it. We'll exchange friendly smiles as we pass in the hall, but that's the extent of our relationships.


In our books, these characters need to be just as fleeting. They flit in and out of the novel so quick, or play such a minor role, that we don't need to know much about them. We don't need to know the full name, age, occupation and dream date for the doorman at the heroine's apartment building (unless he's her love interest, but then he wouldn't be a background character).

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

Intermediary characters
The real life comparison would be co-workers, neighbors, and maybe that blind date your great-aunt Gertrude set you up on last month. You learn details about these people, but you might be hard pressed to describe them to a police sketch artist if the need ever arose. I know our receptionist has a twin sister and she takes cream and sugar in her coffee. She wears slacks and skirts. I've never seen her in a dress. But I don't know if she hates dresses, or just doesn't have any appropriate for work.

In our books, these characters might be the same roles: a minor co-worker, a bad blind date, a random neighbor. We need a tiny taste of who they are, and that's it. Enough that we understand their role, but significant or personal details don't need to be revealed.

Recurring characters
These characters should be like the friends in your life. You know the jokes they tell all the time. You know the types of books they read, and their favorite movie quotes. You've probably seen them cry, or get angry, or get drunk. You can talk together, laugh, giggle and have tickle fights. You understand each other.

In our novels these are the friends, boyfriends or parents. People who play a prominent role, but we don't get an in-depth look into their thoughts or histories. They're not a POV character, even if they're in most scenes.

To me, these characters can make or break your book. They're also hard to nail. They should be unique and memorable, but not too strong. You don't want them overshadowing the main character, and if they do, maybe you haven't chosen the right narrator.

Finally, the most important one of all. Main character(s).
In real life, these are the people who you know so well, you can enter their house without knocking. If you're not on that level with your MC, then spend more time together and get there. You should know your main character as well as your immediate family, or a very old best friend. You've been through good and bad times together, you know the other's weaknesses and strengths. You've seen them in the morning before they shower or put on makeup. You can actually tell them when something makes them look fat (although this probably only works between girls, guys try this at your risk).

I've seen some recommendations and character worksheets that has the author answer questions about their character such as What's their favorite color? or What type of pets do they like? Those questions are fine, and they can definitely help you explore and develop your characters. But I've never felt they were deep enough for a main character. They barely scratch the surface.

So Susie prefers dogs. Big, guard dogs? Little, cuddly lapdogs? Why? Does she feel attached to her dogs like they're her children, and she takes them everywhere? Does she have to leave sticky notes by the front door to remind herself to walk the dogs before heading out to work? Does they sticky note have to be bright orange to attract her attention? If the dogs poop on the floor, does she throw it in the garbage can or flush it down the toilet? Does she scrub the floor after picking it up, or just leave it? Does she even pick it up at all, or wait a few days until company's coming over?

Learning these traits and idiosyncrasies will make your characters (and book!) shine.

Any other thoughts or suggestions for characters in our books?

----------

Megan Rebekah McBride lives (and writes) in Ocala, FL. A bookworm from birth, her love of writing stemmed from the joy of reading. She is working hard at polishing her first YA novel before launching it into the world of submissions. She can be found at meganrebekahblogs.blogspot.com.

Last Chance to Save BIG!

Today's February 1st, and that means it's the last chance to save big on the 2010 Backspace Writers Conference and Agent-Author Seminar. Register today (until midnight tonight) and save $120 off the cost of all three days.

Can't make a decision today, but still want to attend? Keep an eye on Colleen Lindsay's always-popular blog, The Swivet. Later this month, Colleen will announce the contest rules, offering 2 free scholarships for the winners. If last year's contest is any indication, the competition will be fierce (last year over 600 writers competed!), but the payoff means big savings: FREE registration!

If you're a Backspace Forum subscriber (or thinking about joining), we'll be announcing a contest this month, and the winner will also receive a scholarship to the upcoming May conference. Rules will be posted in the next couple of weeks, but we make no bones about it: we're going to make you work for it!

The conference agenda is set. We'll be adding more agents to the program. And, around mid-April we'll be announcing the assignments for the small group workshops, so don't forget to visit the conference website to keep abreast of all the latest news.

As always, if we can answer any questions, please don't ever hesitate to contact us:

Thanks, and good luck!

Christopher Graham
chrisg@bksp.org
732-267-6449

or contact Karen: karen@bksp.org

2010 Backspace Writers Conference

Time's running out to save up to $120 off this year's registration for the 2010 Backspace Writers Conference and Agent-Author Seminar.

Unquestionably the best of all writers’ conferences, this two-day annual conference has leaped to the top with its emphasis on quality, not quantity. No more than 150 can attend, and there are no formal pitch sessions. Instead, you’ll have the opportunity to attend quality workshops and mingle with some of the best editors, agents and other publishing professionals in the industry in a comfortable, non-aggressive atmosphere." -- Bibliobuffet

May 27, 2010 - Agent-Author Seminar

Query letter and opening pages small-group workshop critiques (10 authors, 2 agents) and panel discussions with ONLY literary agents on the program - PLUS keynote speaker, #1 NYTimes bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra

May 28, 29 - 2010 Backspace Writers Conference

Panel discussions with literary agents, authors, and acquisitions editors, agent workshops, master classes taught by NYTimes bestselling authors, and opening pages workshop critiques (5 authors, 2 agents) - PLUS Friday evening booksigning and cocktail reception

Radisson Martinique - New York City

REGISTER for one event, or both!

Congratulations to Helen DePrima - the SEVENTH author to sign with an agent in 2009 through a Backspace event!

Keynote speakers:

Lorenzo Carcaterra, #1 New York Times bestselling author, screenwriter

Neil S. Nyren, Senior Vice President, Publisher and Editor in Chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Literary agents:

Noah Lukeman (Lukeman Literary Management), Paul Cirone (Molly Friedrich Agency), Elizabeth Evans (Jean Naggar Agency), Joanna Stampfel-Volpe (Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation), Adam Chromy (Artists and Artisans Agency), Elana Roth (Caren Johnson Literary Agency), Jennifer DeChiara (Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency), Victoria Horn (Liza Dawson Associates), Brandi Bowles (Howard Morhaim Literary Agency), Lois Winston (Ashley Grayson Literary Agency), Rebecca Strauss (McIntosh and Otis, Inc.), Jeff Kleinman (Folio Literary Management) Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary), Jamie Brenner (Artists & Artisans Literary Management), Colleen Lindsay (FinePrint Literary Management) Jason Allen Ashlock (Movable Type Literary Group) Diana Fox (Fox Literary Agency) and more to come!

Authors:

Gayle Lynds, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Jonathan Maberry, Richard Krevolin, Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Karen Dionne, Elizabeth Letts, Rachel Kramer Bussel, J.E. Taylor, Norb Vonnegut, Rebbie Macintyre, MJ Pearson, Barbara Caridad Ferrer, Randy Susan Meyers, Janice Gable Bashman, Jason Pinter, A.S. King, Stephanie Cowell, Melanie Benjamin

Editors:

Keith Kahla, Executive Editor, St. Martin's Press

Freelance Editor:

Jerry Gross

Publishing professionals:

Bella Stander, Ron Hogan, Don Lafferty, Dana Kaye Litoff

Negotiating Your Advance

by Jessica Faust

A few different times this year I’ve been asked, through the comments section, whether or not it’s ever beneficial for the author to negotiate a lower advance and higher royalties or if the author should always go for the big money up front.


There are a lot of differing opinions on this subject and ultimately there is no right or wrong. There are agents out there who believe that an advance should never be earned out, that their job is to get the most money possible up front for their clients, and that if an advance is earned out they haven’t done their job. There are others who believe that publishing is a slow and steady climb, that selling your book for a smaller advance is better because with each subsequent deal you can negotiate a bigger advance, better royalties, and hopefully the publisher will stick with you longer and help you build a career.

Personally, while it’s rare I’ll turn down a really big advance, I’m a big fan of the slow and steady climb, especially when it comes to fiction. In my experience, I’ve seen far too many debut authors accept huge advances, write the books as per the contract and disappear from the publishing scene. The publisher had big expectations and they weren’t met, and it usually doesn’t make financial sense to keep throwing money at something that really isn’t working. My opinion on the slow and steady climb is that you will eventually make the money you were meant to make, and if your royalties are big then that only gives you more negotiating power with the next contract. All that being said, in my mind, my job is to guide the author, not make the decision. Ultimately it’s going to come down to how much of a risk taker the author is and what she really believes about her book.

Certainly I’ve been involved in a number of auctions in my time. In some cases the advance offer of one house so far outweighed what others were offering that there was no argument. I’m talking ten times the amount. In a case like that I don’t think there are many authors who would take the lesser advance and I don’t think there are many agents who would advise them differently.

In other cases the offers were almost identical. In those cases I usually encouraged the author to go with the bigger house or the house and editor who I thought were the most enthusiastic.

And in some cases, the advance was bigger at one house, but the other house was offering more on the backend (royalties and rights offerings). In those cases it was up to the author and me to really talk about what she was most comfortable with. Did she want to take the chance that she would make back the difference down the road? And how did she (and I) feel about the editors and the overall enthusiasm the house had for the work? In one case, we actually went with the house that offered the lower advance for a couple of reasons. This particular house was not able to come up with more money up front, but their royalty offer far outweighed what the other house was offering. More important, though, there was a level of enthusiasm and commitment the smaller house was willing to make that the other house wasn’t. We felt that commitment was much, much more important than money.

In other cases, I’ve had situations where we knew we were short-changing ourselves in terms of how much of an advance was being paid per book, but the author felt that she would rather feel locked in with a certain number of books (say, a four or five book deal) rather than simply a three book deal. She felt that the number of books the publisher was buying showed their commitment even though she might be slightly underpaid for the later books in the series. Her feeling was that she would make the money in royalties anyway.

There are so many things to consider when negotiating a contract that there’s no easy answer to this question. In the end, yes, I do think it makes sense to sometimes take a lesser advance if it means higher royalties. Other times, however, I’d say take the money and run.

----------

Jessica Faust is a literary agent and cofounder of BookEnds, LLC, and prides herself on working closely with her authors to make their goals come to fruition. Her areas of expertise include historical, contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and erotic romance, urban fantasy, women's fiction, mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. In nonfiction, Jessica specializes in current affairs, business, finance, career, parenting, psychology, women's issues, self-help, health, sex, and general nonfiction. While open to anything, Jessica is most actively seeking unique fiction with a strong hook, and nonfiction with creative ideas and large author platforms.

Originally posted on the BookEnds, LLC blog.

Building a Facebook Ad

by Therese Walsh

Why Facebook ads? Facebook ads are something the marketing team at Shaye Areheart Books recommended I try, since I wanted to contribute to my book’s campaign. They were easy to set up, they said, not to mention customizable in order to target the right demographics. They could also be an uber inexpensive marketing option. While I contributed to my marketing campaign in other ways, this was one area that would be all me. I would need to set up the ads, establish my price points, monitor everything, etc…



Where to begin? I found this handy guide to setting up a Facebook ad on eHow, and decided to time myself. How quickly might I be able to do this?

Beginning time: 9:32 p.m.

The eHow guide says to click on the “advertising” link at the bottom of Facebook’s main page, and then to click the “Create an Ad” button. I do that, and am taken to a new page.

Advertise on Facebook
Get started in three easy steps.
1. Design Your Ad

The program asks for info, and I feed it in:

Enter destination URL (http://ThereseWalsh.com)
Enter title (The Last Will of Moira Leahy)
Enter body text of the ad in 135 characters

Erk — 135 enticing characters? I skirt the issue of genre, since LWML is like a carnivale with something for everyone, and choose a part of MJ Rose’s quote, which is one of my favorites: “If it were written by a seasoned novelist, Last Will would be a feat. That it is a debut makes it all the more amazing.” – M.J. Rose

But it won’t enter. The text cannot start without a punctuation mark, the system tells me. I argue with my computer, because I’ve already included a punctuation mark. I spend five minutes reentering the text until I realize the Facebook message said, “The text cannot start with a punctuation mark.” I make a mental note to never again attempt constructing a Facebook ad at 9:44 p.m. or after having a glass of wine.

I abandon eHow. Not only is the Facebook platform easy and intuitive but section 2–Targeting your audience–is engrossing. What do I think I know about my audience? I check a few key demographics:

US
people 18- ?
women
education – college grad
language – I type in “English.” It wants me to choose between English (US, UK or pirate). I choose US, though I am mighty irritated that I can’t also choose pirate. Arrr.

A whopping 2,900,000 people fit the profile I selected. I start inputting keywords to narrow the field, attempting to hone in on what my readers might look like–what their favorite things are, etc… These are literally taken from and developed through hundreds of thousands of Facebook profiles. Remember those lists of favorite things you inputted on your profile page (found under the Info tab)? This is what Facebook does with those lists. I enter “avid reader” and “twins” and “magical realism” and a few other plum phrases that Facebook has made available to me. I choose a few of my favorite authors, too — Audrey Niffenegger, Sue Monk Kidd, and look there’s Juliet Marillier as a Facebook choice! The new parameters mean I’ve honed in on 26k potential readers.

It’s 10:15. I had some fun with that last step, though.

Time to deal with money matters. Ads through Facebook aren’t purchased for a set fee. Rather, you decide how much you’d like to bid for either clicks–the action taken by a reader when they literally click on your ad and are transported to your website–or impressions–the number of ads shown throughout a given day. I’d learned that paying for clicks was a better bet for authors, since the number of impressions Facebook will put up to help you get those clicks is tremendous for the dollar. And those impressions can still work for you–meaning that even if someone doesn’t click through to your site, they may still notice your ad, remember your book when they see it in a store, or even go to their favorite book-buying site and look up your novel on their own. I bid 75 cents per click and cap expenses at $20/day. (The Facebook tutorial on money matters–was a great resource as I decided on numbers.)

I finish at 10:25 p.m., and submit the ad for Facebook approval.

Fast forward. Facebook approved the ad within a few days and held it until the start day I’d listed–October 13th, the release date for The Last Will of Moira Leahy. Over the course of a month, the length of my campaign, Facebook posted 1,636,530 impressions of my ad, and 650 people clicked through to my website (the click-through rate varied between .04% and .07%, which I think is decent). That was a busy month for me, so I didn’t toy with my ad during the campaign. But. I did notice that the majority of clicks seemed to occur in the evening, and next time I’ll find a way to use that to my advantage. I’d probably also develop more than one ad next time, see which is stronger, and fiddle with my demographics.

Next time. Yes. I would absolutely utilize Facebook ads again. Big exposure for a fair sum, and doable in under an hour.

Write on, all!

----------

Therese Walsh is the author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy (October 2009, Random House) a debut The Boston Globe called "a strange, fascinating novel of psychological suspense is suffused with the supernatural. (It's) an imaginative exploration of the bond between twins.” She’s currently hard at work on her second novel—another story about self-discovery, acceptance and magical journeys—at her home in upstate New York.



This article first appeared on Writer Unboxed, a blog for writers about the craft and business of genre fiction. For more information visit theresewalsh.com.