Blogger: Mary Keeley
You reach a milestone when your manuscript is finally “perfect,” and you are now ready to pitch it to agents. Then it dawns on you. “Whoa, I’m actually going to have to TALK to these people.” Yes you are, and if you haven’t already developed the art of productive communication, now is the time, before you send your next proposal or schedule appointments with agents at conferences.
Don’t invest all your hard work and long hours getting your manuscript publication-ready but then forget to address the impression you will create of yourself, the author. You are a vital part of your whole writing brand and
the first impression an agent will have of your work.
Agents evaluate your communication skills in the process of deciding whether or not to offer you representation. If you feel you should merit it solely on the quality of your writing, let me explain two realities of the business. First, agents know that your ability to interact with other professionals will be a factor in getting you a contract. And second, the way you conduct yourself reflects directly on your agent and eventually on the publishing house that contracts you.
I receive loads of proposals and hear many pitches at conferences throughout the year. It’s easy to spot those writers who haven’t prepared themselves to interact professionally. Productive communication involves a plethora of skills such as direct eye contact, firm handshake, and so on, but I want to focus today’s conversation on a trio of intangible skills all writers need throughout their careers.
Emotions in check
Don’t let your emotions rule your words or your subtle—or not so subtle—attitude. Always pray for a right perspective when you’re unsure of yourself or sense negative emotions rising to the surface and then “sleep on it,” as my mother would say, before reacting to negative feedback. This way, you will be in the right frame of mind to communicate your thoughts professionally.
Confidence
Being prepared is the surest foundation for building confidence. Everybody knows that, right? It’s key to productive verbal communication in your pitch meetings. Confidence is expressed by using assertive action verbs in written proposals. Check yours, and change any passive verbs to active verbs.
Make a lifelong habit of celebrating all your little, as well as the big, achievements to continually replenish a humble confidence. Maybe it’s meeting a deadline or finding the perfect word you need in a scene or finding a way to add more tension where you manuscript sags.
You’ll need to be ready with a confident attitude whenever you communicate with the marketing and PR teams and the sales reps. It will translate to their increased enthusiasm for you and your book.
Grace
A friend once shared an unfortunate experience in which someone had communicated poorly to him that he wasn’t chosen for a job. It was apparent the friend was hurting from the experience. Yet I was impressed as the friend described the forthright but grace-filled manner in which he conducted himself in his follow-up meeting with the person. Christians, especially, should consider grace a non-negotiable as we conduct ourselves in our professional lives.
Describe a productive communication you’ve had with a publishing professional. What made it successful? What did you learn from a not-so-successful conversation in a professional setting?
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“Humble confidence.” That’s the perfect phrase, Mary.
*I see some unproductive communication at my day job. It often comes from someone who sees the situation as “all about them,” when it is really a process problem or a tangle of events.
*I believe that God has given me a message to share via a ministry of writing. That makes the related conversations “all about God” (that’s the confidence part), not “all about me” (the humble part).
Now that’s proper balance. Well said, Shirlee.
I once lost track of time accidentally and went way over on my pitch. I felt so bad for the guy behind me. But then again I once got the advice to turn a ms. into two mss. which was perfect and I also got the title for one of my stories from someone in a pitch session (another author actually, we were doing round table pitches).
Kristen, agents usually are understanding of writers who go over the 15 minutes, especially when the project and writer show promise. It sounds like you had productive communication experiences.
When I was still teaching, I interviewed for a position at a school that was pretty close to the top in my field. I was thrilled to get the chance (this was two full days of talking to everyone there and their pet hamsters).
* Once there, I was a bit nonplussed to find that no one really seemed to know what to do with me, and I got several tours of the city in which the school was situated. Finally one of the profs took me aside and said that the fix was in, and had been for a long time. They had a chosen candidate, and the others (four people were brought in for interviews) were there as a formality. I had no chance, and never did.
* This was a bit irritating, to say the least. On the last evening, the chair of the search committee took me to a very fancy restaurant called “Daffodils”. He had a very superior air, and I hadn’t really liked him from the start.
* When this dude ordered the wine, he did so by sniffing a proffered cork, and then slowly sipping a sample. When the glasses were filled, I picked mine up and without thinking knocked it straight back, in one gulp. It was pretty good.
* My host looked on with an expression of pure horror on his face. Then he picked up his glass, inclined it toward me, and chug-lugged the thing in a long swallow.
* That was the classiest bit of communication I have ever seen.
Yes indeed, that was a classy move. And what a surprise from someone who gave the impression he felt superior. I love the double message of this story, Andrew.
On confidence – if you don’t believe in your ability and your work, how can you expect anyone to take a risk on you?
Exactly.
Last year at ACFW, right before I pitched to an editor that I reallllly wanted to impress, I got some HARD news from home.
Our baby hopes had been crushed and I was gazillions of miles away.
So, guess who was a wrecked mess? Me.
Seriously, less than an hour before the Big Pitch!
A dear friend pulled me into a corner and we prayed. Then I went into that meeting, and sat down at one table, and ended up back to back with my agent.
Yes, friends, when God gives you an agent who says she’ll have your back? There will be a time when she will have literally have your back.
Talk about a God thing.
So, I took my friend’s advice and calmly told that editor what had just happened, and how I wanted to be all professional and be impressive, but my heart was 2200 miles away.
What did she do? Eat me alive?
Nope.
She pulled out her phone and showed me photos of her kids.
We chatted, it went well. And while she liked my work, she wasn’t ready to offer me anything, other than encouragement. Which was fine.
To me, it was a success because I learned that while she liked what she saw, we both knew that I might not be the right for for that house. And I don’t want to be in a house that doesn’t jump up and down and beg me for more.
She was all kind and honest. And that was a win for us both.
AND???
When I got up from my chair, I managed to not plow backwards into my agent.
WOO!
I remember that pitch session, Jennifer. You communicated very well. (Agents have ears in the back of their heads and are good at multi-tasking.)
Thank you, Mary.
But I need to correct my grammar!
Not “our baby hopes”, because hello, I’m slightly over 35.
“Our baby’s hopes”
Wow, that’s up there with “let’s eat Grandma.”
I’m glad you corrected that one. I was thinking it strange to get such news when so far from home!
I’ll get back to eating grandma now 🙂
“Continually replenish a humble confidence.”
.
I like that.
.
As to “a productive communication” I’ve had with a publishing professional, the closest thing I’ve had recently is a Facebook message exchange with an author, someone who has written in a similar non-fiction area as me. I reached out to him to learn the outcome of a “debate” he’d had with a detractor, and telling of my similar work. We’re exchanging books (I’m still waiting on his; he has mine and is reading it). I don’t know where this will lead, but the start is good, so maybe my initial messages showed the right “humble confidence.”
Yes, it sounds like it did show humble confidence, David. Maybe your communicating will result in a productive critique partnership.
I must say it is a superb post.
You might want to meet the classic author duo L. Hart and Olivia Rupprecht who have already created a classic novel before: “THERE WILL BE KILLING”.
They are back with a bang with another novel which introduces the twist of murder and money in the most thrilling way that one could image.
The new novel I am talking about is titled: “Making a Killing”
In case you want to know a short description of the story, here lies the summary:
The CIA’s most valuable assassin, Agent J.D. Mikel, wasn’t supposed to fall in love with anyone – especially not Kate Morningside, a woman coveted by another powerful world player. When Kate is kidnapped, J.D. is pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, and one false move could cost him everything. Indeed, there are players – and then there are the masters who make the rules only to break them.
It’s not an even match for those joining an epic search for Kate on a twisted dark hunt down the Mekong River in the midst of a bitterly disputed war: Izzy, a brilliant young psychiatrist assigned to the Army’s 8th Field Hospital and counting the days until he can return home; and his best friend Gregg, a gifted psychologist who served his time only to be driven back to Vietnam by his own inner demons and a rivalry with Mikel that burns as intensely as napalm.
There are other wars within wars in turbulent 1970. From the CIA to the American mafia to an International cartel helmed by a master of the sadistic, all eyes are on Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle. And when it comes to a certain cash crop flourishing under the dominion of the mysterious Poppy King, everyone wants a piece of the action. Money talks. The currency? Heroin. It’s a spinning maze of intrigue, politics, and mind games; a hotbed where sex, drugs, and Janis Joplin aren’t always a beautiful thing. But even when no one turns out to be quite who or what they seem, one rule remains fast across the Devil’s chessboard: Winners live. Losers die.
The sequel to the national bestseller THERE WILL BE KILLING, MAKING A KILLING artfully weaves a spellbinding tapestry of dark history, psychology, and seduction – the best and worst of our humanity . . . and the hunger of our hearts.
In case you are being a bit too curious to know about the novel, take yourself through to the following page:
http://thestoryplant.com/our-authors/ohn-l-hart-ph-d-and-olivia-rupprecht/our-authorsohn-l-hart-ph-d-and-olivia-rupprechtthere-will-be-killing/
Thanks.