Week #8

This week, we had a guest lecturer, Robin Tiffney! And in addition to bringing homemade brownies and lemon bars, she imported a wealth of knowledge to our class.
She handed out a 4-page summary of tips and insights to the world of publishing to start out. It includes lists of helpful books and websites that can help writers with a myriad of tasks such as finding an agent and choosing an editor.
Robin stressed, first and foremost, the importance of writer's groups. Writer's groups, she explained, are like marriages. Sometimes you don't get along with the people in your group, or you don't like what they're writing, and it's hard for you to do it but you have to tell them the truth because you are married and honesty is the only policy. This means that you should choose your writing peers carefully. Pick people whose criticism you take well and whose opinions and writing you respect, because in theory, once you pick your writers, the only way to get out involves a massive amount of paper shuffling and exchanging. Something akin to divorce.
A lot of publishing and writing for that matter is comparable to love life. Not only do you enter into a polygamous relationship with the members of your writing group, but you must also seduce agents and editors into long-term affairs on the side. This can be very tricky considering many agents have their own agendas or do not have time to give you what you deserve. Just like having an affair, you need to find someone that is not going to run off and start another affair with the next hot blond that walks down that block. Your agent needs to have your best interests at heart and that's a difficult thing to discern in people in general. The contract your draw up with your agent should include an escape clause that allows you a somewhat simple way out if the relationship turns sour. A good place to meet agents is at conferences, which agents specifically attend to sort out who is a whack job and who is not (ok, Robin used the word 'kook' instead of 'whack job' but I'm paraphrasing). Editors also attend writing conferences but a relationship with an editor is almost more like one with a prostitute at these conferences; you usually have to pay extra to talk to them in person, but it can be worth it if you hit gold and get an editor that you really like that could really help your work get to that next level, for a good price, of course. But because of the immediate pay-off, editors are easier to acquire. Agents, however, have to be literally seduced by a "pitch" of your work. It should be one sentence, maybe two, maybe three, that explains very concisely your motive in writing your novel, or what have you. It should detail the emotional arc that the character(s) go through and it should have a hook in it. These pitches can be submitted in person or by mail. Although many manuscripts go straight to the recycling bin at the agent's office, agents do read the pitch letter atop your bulky manuscript. The book Making the Perfect Pitch by Katharine Sands was offered up as a good tool for "honing pitch letters" to be as effective as possible. It could be the difference between a polygamous marriage and a polygamous marriage plus a long-term, hot and heated affair on the side. And as everyone knows, more is better.
Robin made a point of saying that contests are worth checking out for several reasons: there are thousands so the more you enter, the better your chances are. It's like buying raffle tickets. If you win, as long as the amount you profited from contest is more than the amount you spent entering contests and submitting work, you can deduct your expenses from your taxes. But you should never submit to contests whose judges are yet to be appointed or not named. You can tell a lot about what a contest is looking for in the winning piece judging by the people they've picked to judge. Also, contest winners get more publicity and recognition than those who are simply in print in random journals across the world. The cash pay-off doesn't suck either.
Robin went into detail about strategies of publishing that I found very insightful. She addressed the issue of simultaneous submissions first. Although some places may say they don't accept simultaneous submissions, you should submit anyways. In fact, Robin suggested, you should be submitting to 5 places simultaneously whether they accept simultaneous submissions or not, just to keep your work circulating. In the case that something gets accepted at one place, you simply send a letter of withdrawal to every other place it was sent to, and the staff is never the wiser.
Publishing short stories, she said, is like a gateway into the world of publishing. You start small
and work up to writing longer stuff. If you start out with a novel with nothing published prior, no one will take you seriously. However, a "track record" of shorter pieces already published will attract more agents and publishers to a novel quicker.
Rejection slips should not be dwelled upon too much, Robin also offered up. A lot of publishing turns out a lot like working with politicians: a rejection slip from anyone (an agent, a publisher, a journal, etc.) that blatantly expresses genuine interest in your work, but just not in the stuff they sent you, is an open door. You can always go back and send them new stuff and you can count on the fact that they will be looking for your name in that stack of submitted work.
One of the biggest pointers Robin gave us was that getting published is about keeping your name out there any way you can. If you know people in publishing, tell them you're writing. Even if they do not personally have a use for your stuff, they probably know someone that does. This can be a big help in getting your stuff salvaged from the slush pile. Just make sure you give them your best stuff. Once you get published for the first time, it's also important to establish a web presence; create a blog or a web site because people will start googling you.

Among her lists of useful resources were the following:
Finding out about prospective agents: (1) (2) (3) (4)
Making the Perfect Pitch by Katharine Sands
Write Ways to Win Writing Contests by John Reid

All in all, this meeting was extremely successful and Robin Tiffney is not only well-versed in the ways of the publishing realm, but she also has unbelievable prowess in the genre of science fiction. Hers is a good brain to pick.