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*) Don't bother talking about your first... or even second... novel. Bury those in your backyard and bring your third or fourth completed work instead and pitch those. No agent wants your first work.
*) Always, always, ALWAYS attend the read-and-critique sessions. Always. You never know when your favorite author that was speaking at the conference will decide to stop by and participate!
*) ...in relation to the point above, work on a good poker face so you don't freak out when that author does swing by and starts reading your work.
*) When it's your turn to pitch your story to an agent, just hit her with your one-liner pitch. If she's interested, she'll ask questions. If not, well, there are a bunch of agents.
*) Apparently people like me that work on military bases say "Yes ma'am" and "No sir" a lot. And apparently that's amusing.
*) Don't critisize the industry, even if you don't care for what's currently popular. These are the publishers you want signing your check someday. That, and J. Maberry might come along and slap you upside the head until you realize that.
*) Collect business cards. All of them. Oh, and try not to let your work paper cutter eat yours the day before you leave. Scrambling to Wal-Mart to buy card stock and using the downstairs public printer really is embarassing. Trust me.
[This message has been edited by Rhaythe (edited May 18, 2010).]
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*) Oh, and find a critique group. Any kind of critique group is better that none. Easier said than done, maybe, but still...
Posts: 487 | Registered: Mar 2008
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Bury my first novel in the backyard??? But I haven't even finished it yet! Talk about bursting a guy's bubble...
Posts: 456 | Registered: May 2009
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Not sure I agree with the assumption that first or second novels should be buried. A first or second novel might not sell, but it can show an editor you have potential. Possibly agents too. My first novel has been rejected 5 times by 5 New York publishers, but in 4 out of 5 cases I've gotten personal feedback from those editors, thus I've got a dialogue now. Those are open doors for my next project that weren't open before.
Posts: 386 | Registered: Sep 2008
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Anderson, Consider that although it may be your first novel, you should still take it all the way through the process. What I mean is, edit, revise, edit, get readers, edit, revise - submit! You don't want to get to your third novel and be on your first query letter.
Plus, you can't write your second, without your first.
I agree it's hard to not be done with the first one and already be discouraged, but as I was writing it I was enjoying the process, and I felt like I was getting better with each page.
Now I'm almost done with my 2nd and over halfway through the third. The first one also gave me the confidence I needed to know that I could indeed complete an entire novel!
Seriously. When you're done, you get to say you wrote a book. Can't ever be undone, my friend.
Finish that sucker, you'll be eternally glad you did.
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As far as first novels, wasn't Twilight Stephanie Meyer's first novel? Of course, a lot of us would probably prefer not to have that be forever attributed to us, though the money and opportunities would be nice.
Posts: 232 | Registered: Apr 2010
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