March 10, 2014 · 8:42 am

Do You Need a Website Before You’re Published?

imagesThe short answer: no.

The longer answer? Well, do you want to do everything you can to help yourself get published? I mean, it’s not imperative. Nobody’s going to say, “Well, she doesn’t have a website, so forget it.” But I like to think of a website as a virtual business card. It’s an online someplace to send folks who want to know more about you. And when you’re submitting queries to agents, or your agent is submitting your manuscript to editors, if the agent or editor is the tiniest bit interested, 9 times out of 10 you’ll get Googled. It’s nice when that happens for the agent or editor to find a professional website with a bit of info.

I put out a request on Twitter for folks to point me in the direction of websites by unpublished authors, so I could show some good examples. Thank you to everyone who pointed me in the direction of some of those websites. To those of you who sent me to websites of published authors, wtf?! Can’t you follow directions? Sheesh. Unfortunately, none of the websites you guys sent me to exemplified the things that I think are important for an unpublished author’s website to include (although there were some good blogs). Because I’m picky, because I’m a control freak, because I have a fantastic intern (hi Tara!), because I want what I want, because I’ve had the flu for the past week, because I can, I just had Tara (of fantastic-ness), make one for me. Her task was to not spend more than about 2 hours on it, and these are the things that I told her should be included:

  • a home page with a picture and short bio

  • a “my work” page with a short description of the author’s work in progress and descriptions of other manuscripts

  • a “favorite books” page with 5-10 fave books 

  • a contact page with how to get in touch

Here’s a link to the page.

You’ll notice it’s not a blog. I don’t think every author needs to blog. Only people who like to blog should blog. There’s nothing worse than checking someone out online, going to their blog, and seeing they haven’t posted anything since a long, rambly, rant on July 11, 2012, when they were bitching and moaning about how hard it is to be a writer and they’d rather just go to the beach. Or the bloggers who don’t really want to blog and have nothing really to say, so they reach, and end up telling you dumb stuff about their lives that nobody really cares about, or start posting pictures of their pugs or their kids or whatever (not that there’s anything wrong with pugs). ;-)

Tara said she spent 2, 2 1/2 hours on it, tops. She said it was “fun” to do. And look at it! It’s professional, easy to read (no teeny tiny fonts that my old eyes can’t see), upbeat (nice color choices), and it made me smile in a couple of places. It didn’t cost her anything besides taking the time to do it. She used a cheery template and didn’t need any “special knowledge” about website building or code or whatever. Is it perfect? Nah. There are a couple of things I’d change about it, if it were mine. But basically, it does the job.

So, unpublished authors, do you have a website? Why or why not? And what about pugs? Do you have a pug?

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March 3, 2014 · 6:00 am

Inside Scoop: Dish from a Literary Agent Intern… and the winner is!

8025427_1First, I’d like to thank everyone who entered the logline contest last week! After careful consideration, the winner of this contest—and winner of a copy of Veronica Roth’s Divergent—is Rae! Here’s her captivating logline:

“How to lose a guy—and destroy his kingdom—in five days: commit treason, incite an uproar, and reject the king’s marriage proposal at the tip of a sword. Madness, opulence, and intrigue collide when a bipolar heroine returns home to seek revenge in a medieval version of GONE GIRL.”

I chose Rae’s logline because of its effectiveness—doesn’t it just make you want to read the whole novel right this second? As I discussed in my first post, a logline should hook the reader and make them want to read more, and her logline does exactly that. She uses vivid language and focuses on the most exciting parts of the story. And comparing this story to an action-packed, bestselling novel certainly doesn’t hurt. Her logline also follows the important criteria of being only a sentence or two long, and summarizing the main plot points while not giving away the ending.

While we had some great submissions, not all of them were true loglines. Remember, you want your loglines to be enticing and concise. No giving away the ending or attending to unessential details. I can certainly sympathize with those of you who had a hard time narrowing your stories down to only the most important aspects, but sometimes you just have to hack away at all those extra details in order to get to the root of your story. Keep working at it, and you’ll eventually come up with your very own beautifully crafted logline.

Thanks again for your participation, and congratulations to Rae!

0Tara Slagle is Linda Epstein‘s current intern. Tara is working toward her M.S. in Publishing at Pace University. After completing her degree she plans to work in the publishing world as either an acquisitions editor or literary agent, focusing on YA and (the emerging) New Adult titles. 

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February 24, 2014 · 6:00 am

Inside Scoop: Dish from the Literary Agent Intern

Kickin’ Things Off with a Contest!

8025427_1In my first few weeks interning for Linda, I’ve noticed a recurring theme among some of the query letters: they lack effective loglines (or one is not present). For those of you unfamiliar with this term—or who simply need to brush up on your writing terminology—a logline is a brief statement, usually only a sentence or two, that describes the plot of the story without giving away the ending, and is meant to hook the reader so they want to read more. This is also sometimes referred to as an elevator pitch—it should be short enough to deliver to an agent or editor on an elevator ride, should you ever find yourself in that situation.

A logline is important to include in a query letter as it can start off the letter with a bang. Rather than jumping right into a more detailed synopsis, the logline quickly snags the reader’s attention at the beginning of the query and convinces them that they need to know what this story is all about. Though crafting a strong and enticing logline can be tricky, especially for those of us who are not the most concise in our writing (guilty!), it can really strengthen your query.

So, to start things off, I’m going to hold a logline contest! As my preferred reading material happens to be YA, this contest is only open to loglines for Young Adult novels. (Sorry to those of you who don’t write YA; I had to draw the line somewhere so as not to get overwhelmed early in the game). Linda and I will judge your loglines and the lucky winner will get a copy of Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT!* Though Linda doesn’t represent Ms. Roth, we are both very excited for the movie to hit theaters in March, and we thought this would be a great prize for all you writers of YA. (Please note that this contest is only open to residents of the United States. Sorry, but international shipping is quite pricey these days.)

Before you all set pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, think about how to best represent your novel in a compelling but concise manner. Even if you don’t win, think of this as a way to get your logline in shape for your next submission. Once you have perfected your logline, post it in the comment box. Only one entry per person (and Linda’s clients can’t enter). The deadline for entering is February 27th at 6:00am EST and the winner will be announced Monday, March 3rd.

Now, get ready…get set…write!

*Here are links to more information about Veronica Roth and Katherine Tegen Books.

Tara Slagle is Linda Epstein‘s current intern. Tara is working toward her M.S. in Publishing at Pace University. After completing her degree she plans to work in the publishing world as either an acquisitions editor or literary agent, focusing on YA and (the emerging) New Adult titles. 

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