Interview With a Writer
As I mentioned before, Jill Corcoran is my amazingly terrific agent, and I’m lucky to be a member of the Corkers. There is so much talent, humor and writing experience among her clients that I thought it would be fun to interview them. This week, we get to hear from writer Angela Ackerman who has written a terrific book that will ignite imaginations and create quite a stir in the MG world. To read more about Angela, click here http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/
Welcome Angela! Briefly tell us a bit about your writing background.
When I was four, I wrote my first story:
I have a cat.
It lives in a dish.
I wish I lived in a dish!
Since then some education, various writer’s groups and fantastic critique partners have helped me to become a stronger writer. Trust me, if I rewrote that story now, well, that dish would be so freaking cool you’d want to live in it too.
(Oh and my work has been published in Spider Magazine, Calgary area newsletters and online with Wee Ones Magazine.)
How did you know your manuscript was ready for you to begin pursuing an agent?
I worked on this book a lot, even transforming the point of view from 3rd to 1st person. I read it over and over, ran it through critique groups, revised, found new people to read it and offer feedback on the tighter version. It’s sat on the shelf several times, cooking. Then when I could finally read it and honestly think, this is it—the best work I’m capable of, that’s when I started sending it out. Many people send work out when they are sick of looking at it. I send it out when I’ve bled ink all over it numerous times and can still say I love it.
What are some of your best resources on the Internet for finding an agent?
The two most helpful were Varla Kay’s Website and Query Tracker. I heart Verla’s—there are so many wonderful and supportive writers there willing to share information on agents. It’s a fantastic resource. Query Tracker has a great system for keeping your queries organized and for creating lists of your agent choices. It’s a fabulous site, and as more writers use it, the databases grow larger, making info gathering a breeze. Knowing the response rate, request rate and acceptance rate for each agent was very helpful, too.
Do you have any good query writing tips?
Be confident, yet professional. You’re representing a product that you should feel is the upmost quality and the target audience will love, so let that show. Be excited in your query, and write a hook that gets the recipient excited too. Strong, evocative language paired with the book’s voice will get them imagining your novel’s potential. Also, since you should be targeting and researching your agents, always personalize your query in some small way. You can mention something you read on their blog that might apply or an author they rep that you love. Did you hear them speak at a conference? Mention the impact their words had on you. Connecting with the agent in this way shows you aren’t taking a shotgun approach to querying and makes you more personable. In my case, I congratulated Jill on making the transition from author to agent. Little did I know then that I would become her very first client!
Do you have any opinions about emailing versus mailing queries?
While there are many excellent agents who accept mail only, I chose to pursue agents that accepted email queries, because I believe that in this industry, embracing electronic communication is absolutely necessary to take advantage of the plethora of marketing and networking opportunities out there. Emails are faster and more efficient for both parties, and this is my preferred method of practice. Also, as any writer knows, this industry is a patience builder. E-queries have a much faster turn-around, and I wanted to get my work into the hands of agents as soon as possible, making E-querries the obvious choice.
For new writers reading this, tell them about your process of getting an agent. Did it take a lot of time? How many rejections were you prepared to receive? Did you get mostly “Dear Author” rejections or were there some helpful bits of advice too?
I’ve had an agent before that unfortunately didn’t turn out to be the right fit. I took from that experience and really questioned the most important agent qualities which would be best for me and my work. The right fit was out there, I was sure of it, and all I needed to do was hunt for it. I believe I’d been querying for two months when I made the magical connection with Jill. I had known her from the Blue Boards at Verla Kay’s as a writer, and from there found out that she was moving to the other side of the desk to become an agent. Everyone knows that BBers are the most caring and supportive people out there, so I had to find out more. With a bit of investigation, I discovered she’d recently had a poem about pirates accepted for publication. Seeing as my book has pirates in it, I figured it would be a good bet she’d be receptive to something pirate-y. When I also discovered she really enjoyed humor, I just knew I had to send my work out to her.
Tell us about the day you accepted representation from our wonderful agent Jill Corcoran.
It was a fan-tabulous day! Right from our first contact, Jill was very enthusiastic about my book. She took all my questions and concerns in stride, answering each one to my complete satisfaction. Over the next week, the more we spoke, the more I saw what a tenacious, imaginative and caring professional she was. When I finally said Yes, it was like settling in for a good night’s sleep after watching the most incredible fireworks show. I knew my work was in the best hands possible and I could rest easy at last. She’s a wonderful and extremely hard-working champion for my career.
Now that you have an agent, what are you doing to create buzz about your work?
I continue to build relationships with other writers by being active at The Critique Circle, an online critique community I moderate for as well as maintaining a presence in other writers forums, groups and social networks (Facebook, etc). As well, I blog several times a week at The Bookshelf Muse, adding thesaurus entries to the descriptive databases we offer to writers, which help them create stronger imagery and characters in their writing.
Are you working on any new projects now?
I have written a few more books in the series, which are in drafty form and getting some drawer time. In the meantime, I’m thinking about new chapter books, cleaning up a tween contemporary mystery, and have two mythological middle grade mysteries (one Egyptian, one Greek) on the go as well.
