revising

Sometimes I’ll see several manuscripts in a row that have a lot of potential but have something missing, and I’ll wish that the authors had spent a little more time revising before submitting them. Revising can seem daunting – it’s less exciting than writing the actual book and it can be easier to focus on choosing a title, perfecting a query letter, researching agents, etc. And authors should definitely spend time on all of those things, but not at the expense of writing and rewriting the best book possible. Having the most beautiful query letter in the world or the perfect list of agents won’t help if the book isn’t strong on its own.

This is the most frustrating for editors when we see potential in books but aren’t sure if the author will be able to take it to the next level – maybe there are too many “if onlys”: if only the ending didn’t fall apart, if only the characters didn’t feel clichéd, if only something exciting happened before page 100, if only the dialog felt authentic… Even if an editor does believe in the project and sees the author’s vision, we then have to convince our acquisitions committee to make the leap of faith as well. Sometimes when we really love a project we are able to work with the author on a revision before acquisition, but we aren’t able to do that with most projects.

So my advice to authors is: revise as much as you can! When you revise, try to trust your instincts and not second guess yourself if there is something that doesn’t feel right to you. Try to step away from the manuscript for a little while as well – a few weeks or a month – so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes. It’s also helpful to ask other people you trust to read it – don’t be shy about sharing your work and asking for honest feedback.

Even though it can take a long time to go through various drafts and stages, revising will only give your manuscript a better chance to find the right agent, editor, and publisher!

or more

meme of fives

I was double tagged for my first blog meme by MotherReader and Wizards Wireless. So, here we go:

The rules of the meme get posted at the beginning. Each person answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the blogger then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?
I was finishing up another year of college and packing my bags for London for a fantastic internship at The Spectator. I loved living in London – I stayed with an older couple who were wonderful and made sure I felt at home in their house and in the city. We had tea and thick slices of buttered toast for breakfast every morning, and they were particularly great cooks so I got to try a lot of delicious British food (many of which involved some kind of custard). And while they lived in a flat in the middle of London they had the most beautiful garden:

Oh, to have a garden like that one day... Another one of my other favorite things about London was the city's rich literary history. The office of The Spectator was located on the same street as one of the homes Charles Dickens lived in, so I passed it every day on my way to and from work. It was very surreal to casually walk by the home of such a classic author.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1. Email our production department to check in on some costs I had requested for upcoming books
2. Follow up with foreign publishers on a few submissions we received after the Bologna Book Fair, either confirming that we received them or asking if translations were available for some that we had received in other languages
3. Start reading a revision for a manuscript I've been working on with another editor
   
4. Eat a big piece of chocolate cake (my husband’s birthday was yesterday and the cake was just for the two of us so we have a lot left over)
   
5. Finish this meme ;)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. Coffee
2. Chocolate
3. Chocolate covered espresso beans (see a pattern?)
4. Grapefruit
5. Pirate's Booty
   

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Buy a house, get a dog, and build a library that looks like this:
2. Travel (Australia would be up first!)
3. Donate it to various causes
   
4. Hire a butler - I've always wanted a butler (who would hire a chef, housekeeper, gardener, etc).
5. Save for a rainy day

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Buying more books than I can read
2. Avoiding housework whenever possible
   
3. Worrying
4. Chewing my nails
5. Singing to myself without realizing it
   

What are five places where you have lived?

1. Virgina
2. London
3. Manhattan
4. Brooklyn
5. New Jersey

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1. Resident Assistant
2. Intern at The Spectator
   
3. Writing Resources Center Consultant
4. Grocery store cashier
5. Babysitter

What five people do you want to tag?
I'm tagging a few people whose blogs I visit often along with some people who've recently posted here. Don't worry, you don't have to do it if you don't want to!

In no particular order:

1. must love books
2. bloomabilities
3. earplugs
4. ktbuffy a-go-go!
5. book nut

j is for jacket copy

As a kid, I had a vendetta against jacket copy. I didn’t like it one bit. I refused to read it if I could avoid it. Most of the time it was pretty innocent, but on occasion it infuriated me.

Kit is accused of witchcraft?

Percy Jackson goes to a camp for the kids of Greek gods?

Tom discovers a wonderful midnight garden?!? (ok, I’ll give you that one)

Why don’t you go ahead and tell me what happens at the end of Old Yeller?

The beginnings (and sometimes the middles and ends) of more than a few books were spoiled for me by their jacket copy. If you know what happens at the crux of the novel, a lot of the suspense can go out the window, particularly if the book hinges on a BIG SECRET (I had a similar experience when someone told me what the secret was in The Sixth Sense before I watched it).

None of the above books have bad jacket copy by any means, they were just easy examples of potential spoilers. Spoilers were one of the things that annoyed me the most– particularly those neat summary paragraphs on the backs of books that managed to spoil most of the surprises while still making the story sound incredibly boring.

Now that I’m on the other side of the process, I’m making up for lost time by reading as much good jacket copy as possible as I draft copy for the books I’m working on. And let me tell you, good jacket copy is extremely hard to write. I think it’s pretty similar to making a good movie preview. We’ve all seen previews that don’t live up to the movie. The movie that looks hilarious but ends up being too serious for its own good or just plain dull. The previews that manage to highlight the only good scenes in the entire movie and make you feel as if you were tricked into watching it. And my favorite, the preview that gives away every major plot point– why spend money when you can find out everything you need to know for free during your regularly scheduled programming? The best movie previews give you an idea of what to expect from the movie, a basic sense of the characters and story, and make you want to watch it, just as jacket copy should for a book.

Recently I’ve been wondering how I chose most of my books as a kid with my dislike of jacket copy. I read a lot of books that were recommended to me, picked books that had interesting titles and covers (which is another discussion for another post), and looked for books with shiny medals on the cover or quotes from other authors I liked. Most of the time I plopped down on the floor of the bookstore or library and read the first chapter (still my favorite way).

Even with the plethora of customer ratings, reviews, chapter previews, and book trailers available to readers now, I think it’s still crucial to get the jacket copy right for anyone who will be picking up the book in a store or reading it online and deciding then and there whether or not to buy it. And when you find that one perfect description, the beautiful excerpt that encapsulates what you love about the book more eloquently than you ever could, it’s all worth it. Just try not to pull your hair out when a precocious kid tells you that they hate jacket copy and make a point never to read it. :)

the big apple

Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’m living in New York. I’ve posted about one small town I lived in with my favorite library, but that was actually one of the biggest towns that I lived in growing up. The town we moved to after that was even smaller. When we were driving there for the first time we missed a street and drove past the entire town without realizing it. This wasn’t an exit on a highway – the town was literally all on one street. Miss the street, miss the town.

Our front yard was roughly the size of a football field, which was just about average for the area, and for neighbors we had a horse in the pasture across the street and a man with a fake deer in his backyard that he used for target practice with his bow and arrow. Add in a post office, a baseball field, a gas station, a few churches, and a smattering of houses and you pretty much have the entire town.

Obviously, moving to New York after living in small towns for most of my life was a big adjustment. Sometimes the sheer number of options for everything – entertainment, restaurants, stores, museums – can be overwhelming. When you live in a small town it’s easy to feel like you know the town inside and out and that it’s really “your town” – you’ve eaten at all the restaurants, been to all of the shops, and almost everyone knows who you are. It’s practically impossible to feel that way in a city that is as constantly changing as New York. But it can also be refreshing. In small towns there can be the sense that things are pretty much the way they have been and will always will be, and that’s the way we like it thankyouverymuch. One of the things that I like most about living in New York is how much there is to discover, whether it’s buildings that have been around for years and years or a new restaurant down the street.

There are so many things in New York that I would never have the chance to see or do anywhere else, but I also have a lot of fond memories of the towns where I grew up, and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to experience both.

the just don't make them like they used to

I discovered this gem recently at my grandmother's house:
The name on the first page? My mom's. Priceless family gathering conversations ensued.

i knew it!

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

I do have a tendency to ask a lot of questions... thanks to Mother Reader for the link!