5 Reasons to Drop In on the Agent Auction

One of the most exciting writing events of the year took place yesterday, but that doesn't mean it's over for you.

Miss Snark's First Victim blog runs a yearly Bakers' Dozen Agent Auction, and it's one of the best ways I know to get a read on publishing industry trends, particularly in Young Adult fiction.

60 aspiring authors 
(middle grade, young adult, and adult) submit log lines and their novels' first 250 words. Sixteen well known literary agents bid on the submissions, offering to read 5, 25, 50, 100, 150 pages, or the full manuscript. The agent who bids highest "wins" a first look at the ms. And the author, of course, "wins" a read by an agent.

This year's auction was fascinating, on a lot of levels. You need to hike over there and have a look at the comments on submissions, written by both readers and agents, and in some cases by editors. Here are some global judgements, based on this small sample:

Miss Snark's Victim, and other Matters

Got shredded by Miss
Snark, once

I'm the lucky recipient of a very nice Liebster blog award courtesy of the redoubtable Elizabeth Varden, and I thank the lady very kindly. My mission is to pass this award on to five more blogs, and two of the passes are going to bloggers who are hosting aspects of Miss Snark's First Victim Baker's Dozen Auction. 

So I want to say a word about this exciting annual event, running currently (if you've missed it, MSFV also runs multiple "secret agent" contests during the year, so don't despair). I'm not entering myself, because I already have my ms. queried out to my favorite agents. But I did go through a round of logline critiques during the process to sharpen my logline writing skills.

So what is MSFV's Baker's Dozen?

Querying for Emotion

Querying an agent? Make her swoon.

We talked yesterday about how to forge an emotional connection between yourself and your concept question as a way to make your writing more powerful and true.

But there's another sort of emotional connection we'll have to make when our novels are finished--the connection between our query and our dream agent.

Over on her kidlit blog, Mary Kole put this clearly. She says she wants a query to make her care. Well and good. But she's talking about more than showing high stakes and conflict, or teasers about the troubled backstory of our MCs. What Kole is asking for is a gripping, powerful emotional connection that occurs through a finely wrought combination of language and storytelling.

Is Your Book Like No Other?

Mirror, mirror, what do you see?
I think I look like Harry P.

A tweet from literary agent Amy Boggs has got me thinking, lately. She said: "When a query says: 'I haven't seen a book involving this before,' I can usually think of 3 such books off the top of my head."

The notion of "comparables," in pub biz parlance -- those (preferably bestselling, famous) books that are enough like yours, but not too much like, has been occupying me lately, and also occupying both of my crit partners. One partner's agent asked her for a list of comparables, and she had a hard time thinking of any. The other, who is in the process of querying, is worried that her novel is too much like another (bestselling, famous) one with a similar subject -- so her job is to set it apart. In literature, of course, there's nothing new under the sun, and there's not a thing wrong with that. But the notion of comparables when it comes to marketing is particularly slippery -- because what, precisely, are we comparing?

UPDATED: Paradoxy Wins Two Bloggy Awards!

Thanks to generous fellow blogger and writer Cortney Pearson, who was kind enough to recognize my new blog, just under a month old, with a Versatile and a Sweet award. By accepting these awards I agree to:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me. Check
2. Share 7 random facts about myself. -- I've previously posted 10, click here to see them
3. Pass the award to 5 blogger friends. Will do Done.
4. Contact and congratulate the nominated blogs. Will do Done.


I'm formatting a scintillating interview with sci-fi author Louis Lowy today, and hope to have it posted soon. And I'm thinking about a post on self-publishing: pros, cons, and the changing consensus (or lack of it) on the topic. There's a tremendous amount of buzz on the net about self-publishing lately, including from respected agents. Anybody who's had experience with self-publishing, please email me or comment, because I'd love to pick your brain. 

Check back tomorrow to see who I passed these lovely awards to! 


And The Award Winners Are: