Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
Back when I was in school, I embraced an important truth:
If I want to succeed according to someone else’s standards, then I need to give them what they want.
It started with my teachers. To get a good grade, I needed to understand exactly what they wanted and give it to them. Using my own creativity and trying to give them something I thought was better wouldn’t always work. If I wanted the “A” then I needed to give the instructor exactly what was expected.
This lesson served me well as I spent a couple of decades in various roles in the corporate and business world. To be considered a good employee and get promotions and raises, I needed to understand exactly what was expected… and do it. If creativity and innovation and big ideas were valued in that company, then that’s what I focused on. If simply doing your job was valued, then that’s what I did. As long as I was in an environment where someone else’s standards determined MY success, I always focused on what those standards were.
Success often depends on giving your boss what they want; giving your clients what they want; giving your professors what they want, giving your readers what they want.
You’re always free to write what you want, how you want. You’re free to approach the process of publication however you like.
But when your success depends on other people, it’s smart to ask yourself: Are you giving them what they want?
This applies whether you’re querying agents, pitching publishers, or thinking about your end reader. What do they want? Are you giving it to them?
I recently had an interesting illustration of how people seem to do whatever they feel like, even though achieving their goal depends on giving someone what they’ve clearly asked for. I had put out a call for guest bloggers, and I was quite specific in my instructions about how to pitch ideas for guest posts. What I got was eye-opening:
◊ Ideas clearly outside of the kinds of posts my blog typically features.
◊ Pitches for articles that didn’t fit my stated word count guidelines.
◊ One-line pitches that couldn’t possibly tell me enough about the post to accept it.
◊ Pitches for highly specialized posts without any information about the author to convince me they were qualified to write it.
I’m sure many of these could have been wonderful posts, but they weren’t giving me what I asked for, so they weren’t destined for success in this particular venue.
Are you writing what a large number of readers will want?
When you send queries to agents, are you paying attention to what they’ve said they want?
TWEETABLES
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Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Good questions!
For dealing with agents and editors, professionalism would seem to call for hewing to the requested line for submissions. Straying from that often means extra work for the recipient, and that’s just discourteous.
However…Steve Laube recently admitted on the agency blog that a paper submission would look more serious, and might bespeak higher potential quality, than the standard and requested emailed queries.
Would he look at it? That’s the question, and the chance one might consider taking.
The “what do readers want” question is tougher, because of the long gestation period that books have. We all know that readers are tired of Amish stories (well, except for my wife) but the wheel will turn and they’ll be back. The trick seems to me to be anticipating the approximately 18-24 month lag (is this the right timeframe?) between selling a book and catching the wave, be it a return of the Amish, or something new.
My thought would be to apply a two-step process –
1 – Common factors, which I assume for CBA contemporary romance might include:
* a strong, but not too independent heroine
* a male protagonist who is eventually able to take the spiritual lead in the relationship
* an initial meeting which is not love-at-first-sight
* a conflict with physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects that pushes the romantic leads apart
* a faith arc which restores the relationship through surrender to God’s will
* an ending which is happy in that the faith, story and character arcs reach a satisfying consummation
* a setting that is attractive, described in such way that it can be pictured in the mind, and rich enough in potential experience that the readers don’t get bored – the readers should want to visit the setting!
All of this presupposes good writing with a modern ‘snap’ to the dialogue. (And, obviously, an absence of sex, drinking, swearing, etc.)
2 – The second part of what readers might want is what I call “fireflies”, catching lightning in a jar. An analogy here is dating.
When you met your future husband or wife, he or she didn’t KNOW they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with you. You had to create the desire which would become the yearning…which would become the NEED.
And it had to be done slowly, with a gradual building of emotional and spiritual – and physical – involvement. Becoming intimate on the first date does not tend to lead to long-lasting marriage.
I suspect that it can work this way with books, even more so now that authors can control the way advance notice is released through social media.
We can take time to build a framework for our books, so that potential readers will want them…will need to read them, because the way we bear witness for our paper children is so compelling.
Not in promotion, but in becoming a name that’s associated with a certain voice, tone, and set of values.
I guess what I’ve spent a long time saying is that part of filling the need is to be what readers never knew they needed.
Shelli Littleton
That is a great list, Andrew. I’m printing that out.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Wow, thanks!
Jeanne Takenaka
GREAT thoughts here, Andrew. I’ve never considered the importance of creating a desire which becomes the yearning, which becomes the need. Love that. Yes, I know you were talking about dating, but it fits well with wooing readers as well.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
It works with horses, too.
The best way to win a horse’s loyalty and willingness to work is to make him realize that he wants to be in your company, and the way to do that is to be completely sincere.
He won’t be there for chunks of your Powerbar, but because he can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Cynthia Dagnal Myron
I LOVE this. Because it’s what makes most award-winning, critically acclaimed classics of literature, film, etc. stand apart from the also rans. We love them because they were not what everyone thought they wanted. We love them because they filled a need we didn’t even know we had–or that we had but had forgotten about because no one had ever given us what we yearned for.
If you read many of the most memorable success stories in any field, you’ll find that many of those people stepped ‘way outside of the box and took huge risks because they really believed they had something important to say. And the public responded.
So…I’m all for giving an agent or editor what they ask for in order to get past the gatekeepers when I query, etc. I’ll follow the correct formats with letters and I’ll do exactly what they ask in their submission guidelines.
But the writing I’m trying to “sell” them may not be exactly what the public seems to “want.” And I’m hoping that anyone I decide to query will have the courage to take a chance on my work, if they feel it’s as important as I believe it is. I think they’ll be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams.
Gina
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser you are a smart man. Thank you for your insight.
Shelli Littleton
I hope so! I pray so.
I hope I’m writing what readers want. All I know is that I like it … I love it.
My husband had me read it to him on the way to Disney … unless he was teasing me, he loved it. I barely had a voice when we arrived. He said, “I didn’t expect that. I can’t believe you wrote that. You’ve got something special.” And the only reason I believed him, that he wasn’t teasing, was because he then said, “You don’t need an agent.” I laughed.
He had me read it again on the drive back home and gave me great advice for a sub-plot. I took it, tweaked it, and worked it in. 🙂
And on that trip to Disney, my girls dropped everything to listen in. That made me happy. They could have easily kept their headphones on. I didn’t force them. 🙂
Kristen Joy Wilks
That is so encouraging! It is really hard for me to read my work to anyone close to me…although, my boys have been asking about the middle grade thing I’m working on. I might risk it. Thanks for sharing that story, makes me feel a little braver.
Shelli Littleton
Yeah, Kristen, I was a bit nervous. And that was the first time I had read the whole thing through, out loud. It read so smoothly. I was so pleased … thought I might be totally embarrassed. Two chapters needed tweaking, in my opinion … I jotted down all the changes I needed to make while reading it. I had a journal full! 🙂
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Wow…that’s something I could never do.
I’ve only just gotten to the point of admitting that, yeah, I wrote a book, and you can buy it…I can own up to it here, in the virtual world.
But if someone asks what I do, I might say, “Well, I write a little.”
This actually happened – my wife struck up a conversation in a Barnes and Noble with a lady at the next table, and SHE started talking up “Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart”, while I tried to slide under the table. The upshot was that the lady pulled out her Kindle, bought the book on the spot, and asked me to autograph her purse. (Well, you can’t autograph a Kindle!)
Read it aloud to anyone? No.
Describe the plot, even? “Uh, well, it’s about how a guy with PTSD gets a second chance at life through God’s grace. Well, it’s a love story, too.”
Exit me, looking uncomfortable. I have a long way to go with the promotion thing.
Johnnie Alexander
That is so sweet, Shelli. (Just tugs at my heart.) Also, I loved all your Disney photos. I used to live near Orlando and we often had Disney passes. Always brings back so many fun memories.
shelli littleton
Thank you, Johnnie! 🙂
Jeanne Takenaka
Shelli, what a blessing that your husband wanted you to read your story to him. That’s a true gift. 🙂
shelli littleton
Thank you, Jeanne.
Jenni Brummett
I agree with Jeanne. Blessed indeed.
Your family will have a better grasp, not only of what you’re capable of, but why you’re passionate about writing. When they see that ‘mom’s at it again’, they’ll understand the hard work it takes to produce an excellent result.
shelli littleton
Yes, Jenni … my hubs hasn’t always been patient with me working on it, but now he understands. It didn’t bring a paycheck, but it makes more sense now.
John Baur
You’d think that would be obvious. If someone else is paying, give them what they want. If someone else gets to set the standard of success, don’t be surprised if you get docked for meeting your own standard, not theirs. My wife teaches a 7th grade class of mostly obstreperous kids who don’t want to listen to her, then act surprised and offended when they don’t get good grades. “What did you expect if you don’t follow instructions or pay attention to the question?” she asks, to which they have no answer.
The first draft of my WIP was written a couple of years ago and each chapter, week by week, was read to her students (5th grade, different school, higher standards) who had no trouble telling me what worked for them and what didn’t. The best reactions were every week when I said, “And that’s the end of the chapter,” and they all said, “Awwww!”
I know the book will entertain a kid, hold a kid’s attention, because it already has. They were my secret weapon.
Shelli Littleton
That’s the sweetest reward, John. 🙂 They wanted more.
Jeanne Takenaka
What a great way to get feedback!
Kristen Joy Wilks
It is funny that when we sit down to write something the first time, often it is something different than what we want to read. The first novel length ms. I wrote was huge and epic and dramatic and I wanted to tell a powerful story…then I started accidentally putting in funny parts. Weird? I realized eventually that I like funny books, I like to read them and relax with them, I will buy a funny book. And yes, it was a funny ms. that I finally sold. Perhaps I should have listened to my own taste in books sooner. I wanted to write something big, something worthy. But what do I read? Fun relaxing fiction, that brushes up against the big serious things and then makes a bit of a joke, because really, this serious stuff could have you crying all the time if you let it.
Shelli Littleton
Kristen, my favorite books and writers are those who have me laughing one minute and crying the next. That is definitely the kind of speaker and writer I desire to be.
Jeanne Takenaka
It’s a gift to mix in humor with the more serious aspects of a story. I’m working on the humor part. 🙂 Kudos to you, Kristen, for knowing what you’re good at.
John Baur
Never write the book you think you’re “supposed to write.” Write the one you want to write, and that’ll usually be the one you’d want to read. Writing something you think is important, or marketable, or serious, and ignoring your heart is a fool’s game.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
John, this is going up on my refrigerator, on my monitor, and I’m seriously thinking of a tattoo.
Jeanne Takenaka
It makes perfect sense that if we are looking to an audience (or agent, editor, etc) we need to know their standards and expectations. And we as writers need to meet them.
In other aspects of life, if I request a service from a company or pay for a service performed by an individual, I am expecting a certain level of work, and a specific task to be completed. If it’s not, I don’t call them for future work.
I’m aiming to write books that a large number of readers will want to read. Especially as an unpublished writer. And yes, I pay attention to knowing what agents want before I query them. Why would I waste my time preparing a great query if the agent I send it to doesn’t represent the kind of stories I write? It’s a lose-lose situation when someone does that.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Jeanne, I don’t know if this is germane or not, but when I was teaching I had a friend who wanted to get a faculty job at a specific university…only they weren’t hiring in her area.
So she worked the system, got an invitation to give a seminar, and got to know the people in the department – not just the decision-makers, but everyone she could – including the admin staff. She was nice, and interested, and was, crucially, not a self-promoter. She was genuine.
The upshot was that they realized they needed her, not so much for her skills, but for her spirit and her desire to be a part of that organization.
It took time, but a position was created around her qualifications, and it was no surprise that she got the job, and a deliriously happy career.
If there were one agent I wanted above all others, to represent me, and she didn’t handle my genre, I’d still try, in blog contributions and no-sales-pitch greetings at conferences, to become someone she realized she needed in her stable.
It might be a futile exercise (and a terrible idea!), and I might become a figure of fun and derision, but I’d still try.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
I think what I was trying to say, Jeanne – clumsily, with little expertise and too many words, was this –
If you find an agent in whose values you believe, give her a chance to believe in you.
Jenni Brummett
Rachelle, what I appreciate so much about the agents at B&S and at the Steve Laube agency is the clarity about what each agent is looking for.
It pays to do our homework before we send.
Sheila King
Thanks, Rachelle.
For further reading on this topic I recommend Jeff Gerke’s book “The Art and Craft of Writing Christian Fiction.”
Although I don’t write Christian Fiction, his book (published by Writer’s Digest) is a very good overview of the writing and publishing process. Some of his chapters sting a little, but as Rachelle has said, we need to be teachable and realistic.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
I admit to being a BIT of a pleaser, but I’m trying very hard to drive some of that mindset to where it is useful, and run the rest if it off the road.
Where it does come in handy is when I’m sending a question or a document to someone I don’t know.
If they ask for it on pink paper, they’re going to get pink paper. Not fuschia. Not aubergine. And not cherry red.
Pink.
Prior to ACFW in 2013, I found out that somehow, I ended up with 6 agent appointments. I have NO idea why. So, I researched their specific requirements and arrived at ACFW with a very thick briefcase full of folders, each labelled and loaded for the various agents. One size does not fit all.
As for writing what people want, I write CBA his/fic, but my chief beta is an Acadienne Catholic hockey mom who cusses like an old drunken pirate with self control issues.
And she’s told me on numerous occasions that she cannot get enough, and once the books are out, she will be dragging her family and friends to a store to buy my work.
Readers want to be whisked away, and MANY do not want to read the “same old same old”. To be honest, I’m quite stunned that the most vocal of my betas are not Evangelicals, but women who’ve read a wide variety of what is out there, and yet ask me who I’d recommend. Writing is a mission field unlike any other, but at the core is the reader’s desire for a great story, infused with hope.
Sylvia A. Nash
I’m struggling with this right now. My WIP took a turn I hadn’t planned and certainly didn’t foresee, and unless I change it, it will be more overtly Christian than my previous stories. The sticker is that some of the resolution stuff–which is not cut-and-dried–may actually offend some Christians and some non-Christians! I think it’s a balancing act to walk that fine line between writing for readers and writing from the heart. How I wish a certain April Fool’s post wasn’t a joke and I could pay someone at B&S to tell me what to do! 🙂
Keli Gwyn
My publisher has set guidelines that have come from years of pleasing their target readers. I get that, and I’m fine with it. That doesn’t mean I set my creativity on a shelf, though. Far from it. I figure out ways to make my stories different from the many others offered. I’ve found what I do well–and differently–and I’m using those qualities to enhance my stories. I might not be the biggest envelope pusher out there, but I like to think I add a little pizzazz to the package. 🙂
John Wells
Sorry to join this discussion late; I have a new puppy, a French bulldog named Coco Chanel, and she’s demanding. I know we do this on Wednesday, so mea culpa.
To the first question, as an author how in the world could I know what a large number of readers will want? Even if I did, how would that affect my writing? I write and let the Devil take the hindmost.
To the second question, I assume (and we know how to spell that word) an agent knows what he or she wants in the matter of query submissions. I don’t deviate, but… Oh, there have been instances when established authors used aliases to submit a manuscript to the “slush pile,” and didn’t get a bite. Gives a little credence to publishing Valkyries, no?
Sondra Kraak
At first, I wondered where this post was heading. I thought you were going to speak against changing who we are to please others. But then, you ended up in a perfect place. It’s not about changing who we are, but about honoring those we serve (or those who are our employers). Submitting ourselves to the guidance and expectation of others shows humility. If I were an editor, I wouldn’t want to work with a writer who was ignorant of what readers wanted or chose to ignore industry standards for the sake of being true to herself.
Sometimes there’s a tension between being true to what God calls us to write and the standards we seek to meet from agents, editors, publishers, and readers. Some writers might have a tough time being willing to change. But individuality, calling, and conforming to standards don’t have to clash. God will bring us into the right fit and place because He is faithful as our guide.