Does the ability to produce documentary films make you a novelist? It does if you're Poppy Adams, who surely has an agent who knows someone in the publishing industry. Denise Shannon represents the film maker turned writer, and managed to get six figures for this sensational story of estranged sisters and butterfly aficionados. What are the chances that Poppy has herself a sister and they don't get along? Has she perhaps done a documentary about butterfly scientists and thus has a most sturdy platform? The question is, are you a film producer? If not, you have little chance of getting your novel published.
Maybe you're the editor of a literary journal, like Mark Budman. He's penned an autobiographical novel about the Russian Jewish experience. That must be a code name for memoir that was so deadly dull it had to be spiced up with pure fantasy. Neither Russian nor Jewish, and as no one cares about the Irish Catholic experience, we're shut out on that count.
Publication would surely be easier if you were a journalist in New York and could write your debut novel about well known characters in Manhattan society. The concept flew high with Diane Bartoli of Artists Literary Group. She's representing Tatiana Boncompagni, a journalist who wrote a novel based on her own experience as a journalist reporting on Manhattan's movers and social shakers. And her mother's an Italian princess to boot. Now that's a platform I could never hope to construct. No point in querying Ms. Bartoli, in that case.
Would you happen to teach writing at a prestigious university, one like North Carolina State? Then you could seek representation from Bill Clegg at the William Morris Agency. And an agent wouldn't even have to read the manuscript, what with that teaching credential William Conescu possesses. His professional experience alone would open doors.
And still, literary agents will loudly proclaim that you don't need credentials and publishing credits, you just need good writing. The deals posted at Publishers Marketplace put the lie to that statement on a regular basis.
16 comments:
Tsk, tsk. Bitter, bitter, bitter. As one of Mark Budman's colleagues--and neither a Russian nor a Jew--I can attest to the fact that he's worked his butt off to get a contract, querying right and left, re-writing like a trooper, and that his book, as it's developing, is actually very good. He certainly didn't get any brownie points for his other publishing adventures from his agent or his publisher.
Sue O'Neill
No bitterness at all, darlin', just reporting the facts. It's not what you know, but who you know, that makes a difference in life.
Agents want authors with a platform. Fair play to Mark Budman that he's got one and can make use of it.
Actually, this is Mark's second novel. The first, which is a clever satire/mystery whose protagonists are two Russian immigrants, went out to far more agents than most of us would bother to contact. Lots of them read it; nobody bit.
Frankly, being the publisher of a lit magazine like Vestal Review--primarily an Internet presence--is about as automatic a shot into personal publishing stardom as scooping ice cream. I'm not Budman's PR manager--I've worked with him on VR since he put the magazine up, and he can be difficult, cranky, and cantankerous as any of us, and I'd never, ever attempt to speak for him. But in this case, I feel I have to defend his labor ethic. He's a helluva worker, and that's what's landed him at this stage. I'm a pretty lazy writer, myself, so I have to marvel at the effort the guy has put out, both in whipping material into shape and making the necessary contacts. It's particularly amazing when you consider that English is not his first language.
Trust me, he's earned this break. It's not an overnight success story. And it's not who he knows, because both the agent and the publisher came through cold queries. Vestal Review is a good magazine, but the idea that publishing it set Mark on the easy road to a book contract is pretty lame. He would've loved that to be the case, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
I hope it does give him a legit platform for publicity once he's in print; maybe that would justify all his time, and all the money he's spent out of pocket on the zine through these many years of its existance.
Sue O'Neill
No one said the road to publishing was easy -- but having any sort of credential will open up the literary agent's eyes. It's not about the art of writing, it's all about the business of selling books.
While I happen to agree with your point - far too many writers get contracts for the wrong reasons - Budman isn't an example of this. He's had more than a few agents uninterested in representing his work and more than a few agents fail at selling his stuff.
Other writers would've quit long ago - he's just too stubborn to.
DISCLOSURE: I know Mark from an online forum and know a lot about what he did to get agents to try and sell his book. Through this and other forums, I've also seen some of his work. Quite frankly, it's not the kind of writing that thrills me (I'm more of a shoot-em-up detective reader), but that's just my opinion. What Mark did was plow through a handful of agents who believed in his work until one of them found a publisher who believes in it enough to publish it.
It's a textbook case of persistence, in my opinion.
And you're right: literary credentials do help, but only in getting the agent to glance at the work. And any writer who knows anything about publishing knows this, and could improve their chances of having their query read by not sending it until they had a few credentials to mention. And with more and more lit. journals out there, persistence of submission will get you published.
Budman hasn't had any success based on WHO he knows. It all came because of how dogged he's been at pursuing agents.
Prove that you can write by getting published, and you'll get published, at least if you're writing literary fiction.
Don't you just love a challenge?
At first I thought that someone had too much tonic in his gin. But if this is not the case, let me point to some statistics. Thousands of zine editors get published only in other zines, and thousands of college professors get published only in university-run magazines. While a platform may (or may not) help you to get a foot in the door, only your writing will open this door for you. This may be bitter, hard to swallow news for some, but if you want a life of ease, writing is the wrong profession.
Mark Budman
The door's closed at some literary agencies unless the supplicant has been published.
Can't get a foot in the door without same being opened a crack, no matter how dazzling the writing. With bean counters ruling the roost, the need to be a proven commodity has increased, and getting a novel published is just that much more difficult.
I never said it was easy. I've said it before, it takes determination and either the will or the insanity to slog on (and a case of whiskey at hand could only help).
Slainte agus tainte.
"The door's closed at some literary agencies unless the supplicant has been published."
So, get published. What stops you? Unlike chess, writing is not a zero-sum game.
Croi follain agus gob fliuch!
Будь здоров без докторов.
Mark
Sure I'm working on it, Mark. And I'd advise the same to anyone else hoping to get their novel on the book vendor's shelf.
Best of luck to you. You'll be living the easy life now, raking in the royalties, partying in New York, making the rounds of clubs...and don't be losing your sense of humor.
The easy life. Does that happen? Some of us have books out there, even with big publishing houses (at least until they decide we're not best-sellers and pull them, the bahstahds!), and...and...and...
Well, I'm still looking for those damned club dates.
Sue O'Neill
Yeah, being a published novelist means the big bucks, all right. Yep.
I'm having tea with J.K. Rowling next week, right after I buy myself a castle. But heck, if I didn't have Mr. Trump's private jet to get me there, I might have had to empty one whole pocketful of money.
And yet you've managed to remain humble, unchanged by the dazzling success.
My best to J.K., and don't let the Donald try to sell you one of his new condos in Chicago -- a bit pricey, I've heard.
Oh yes, I'm nothing if not humble. :)
Thanks for the tips on Trump--he can be such a sneak sometimes!
Also, o (may I call you o?), I encourage you to read Mark's book when it comes out, and do a comparison review -- re-post these first impressions, and then post your impressions after reading it. That would be an interesting read.
Or is your blogschtick just sort of taking new book announcements and tearing them apart? I'm truly curious. Do you ever read the books you post about? It could be a great experiment. See if these "who you know" people can actually write after all.
Mark Budman's novel MY LIFE AT FIRST TRY will knock the wind out of you. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Best regards,
Lisa
The posts list books to be, and when they are available, I check them out (when you read three or four books a week, you're always on the prowl).
Sometimes the debuts are good, sometimes they're poorly disguised autobiographical, navel-gazing, angst ridden shite.
The point is, the majority of debut authors have done something before -- lit journals, MFA, the sorts of things that imply they know what they're doing ahead of time and won't be wasting the agent's time. It's not about art, it's about business and making money.
The reason this comment trail is moderated is to prevent flame wars. Play nice or you'll get whacked.
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