The Bouncy Castle

[Amarie]

mware01, I think you are right about kids eventually having e-readers, or taking over the ones their parents have. Middle graders are desperate to have cell phones because older kids and adults do and I see the same thing happening with ereaders. The changes that will happen in the next few years are hard to predict, but there's no denying there will be changes.

[Butterbean]

Originally Posted by mware01

BTW: Here's a couple of my covers: Monster in the Mirror was $50, the other one was free using a NASA (public domain) photo.

Mike these covers look great. I like the Monster Mashup cover as well. I purchased it today for my kindle. I had time to read the first short story-Infinite Refeections at work today. Good job and can't wait to read the other eight stories.

Mike

[kellion92]

Did you all see that Random House is shuttering Tricycle Press? They bought Ten Speed Press last year and now are closing the kids' division and letting the staff go.

It's always sad to see a quality imprint go.

[MJWare]

Originally Posted by Butterbean

Mike these covers look great. I like the Monster Mashup cover as well. I purchased it today for my kindle. I had time to read the first short story-Infinite Refeections at work today. Good job and can't wait to read the other eight stories.
Mike

Thanks. Monster Mashup is really a Kidlit cover. Also, if you count the Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb short, there should now be 10 stories.

The new one is Bloody Marcy--Let me know if you are missing it.

I hope you enjoy!

[Alanna B.]

Originally Posted by kellion92

Did you all see that Random House is shuttering Tricycle Press? They bought Ten Speed Press last year and now are closing the kids' division and letting the staff go.

It's always sad to see a quality imprint go.

Yes, so sad. A poster on BB said that they had a friend with books coming out in spring 2011 with them.

[Butterbean]

Originally Posted by mware01

The new one is Bloody Marcy--Let me know if you are missing it.

I hope you enjoy!

Bloody Marcy is there, it's the second story. Another great short with a wonderful ending.

I've got my kindle on my PC at work also, so if I can sneak into my office for a few minutes today I'm going to read another.

Mike

[MJWare]

I'm really glad you are enjoying it Butterbean!


I've got a question for everyone who's done some submitting to agents. I've been personalizing each letter. That is, I look up who they rep and try to find a book by one of their authors that I've read to reference.

If I can't, then I find two authors they represent who write either first person, or humorous, boy books. The problem is this process takes a good 20-30 minutes.

I'm having a problem with my queries getting put in agent's Spam box and I am having trouble justifying the time spend customizing queries.

Does anyone use generic intros in their query letter? Does it seem to have an effect on response or request rates?

[MsJudy]

Personally, I don't think it's worth the effort to personalize that way. Some agents do want it, but I think most just want to know if you've got a book they can sell. That's really what matters.

Of course, if you can personalize that you met them at a conference, that's different. Those personalizations do matter.

On a personal note: 3K this week! Agatha Tate is now 15K total. That's double what I'd hoped to accomplish.

*boing, boing, boing*

[SheilaJG]

First off, way to go Judy!

Now I'm gonna have to disagree with you, I think personalization does matter. Maybe not to all the agents, but if you don't know for sure, why risk it? I've read many agent interviews where the agent lists their pet peeves and often one of the things they mention is that they hate having the feeling that the person is just querying everyone. They want to know you've done your research. "I picked you because . . ."

Yes, it's a lot of work. It's double frustrating when you spend hours personalizing, only to have the rejection come in two minutes after you send the query. But you really only have one shot, why not make it your best?

[Smish]

My thoughts fall somewhere between Judy's and Sheila's, I think.

I think personalization does matter, and can be helpful. However, it needs to be sincere. Just picking a book the author has repped and saying something generic about it comes across as phony, in my opinion, and it adds nothing to your query. Unless you've honestly read and ENJOYED a particular author/novel, don't mention it in your query. Generic personalization can actually hurt a query, in my opinion. It doesn't tell the agent anything about YOU or YOUR NOVEL.

[elindsen]

*bounces from the corner to the rest of the writers hopping away*

hello everyone. im not new to aw but i am new to childrens writing. a picture book i wrote just got accepted for publication by fairy tales and dreams. i havent been writing pb long, only 3 months or so. my baby is a ya urban fantasy but none of that now. i base my pb off of the adventures of my nieces and nephew who are 2,5,and 6. i hope to have many more published as im working on a series.

[MJWare]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to do personalization for the agents that I'm really high on (and try to keep it relevant).
However, I just can't find the time to do it for all of them. Especially, when a lot seem to be going into agent's Spam box.

I've gotten 5 replies (3 R's, 1 full, 1 partial--both turned into Rs). Two of the R's were marked as spam (apparently some agents do check their spam folders). I even had one that I cc'ed myself turn up in my own spam box.

I started with big agents, who are known for quick replies (like Stephen Barbara), but most haven't replied, which leads me to believe a good portion of my queries are marked as spam.

I've found some 'best practices' for avoiding getting your query marked as spam (here's a good list if you are interested: http://querytracker.blogspot.com/201...t-be-spam.html).

Thanks for the feedback, and support. I've pretty prescient, but I think I would have given up long ago if it wasn't for the support others have given (a lot of it from everyone on this board).

[SheilaJG]

Originally Posted by mware01

I'm having a problem with my queries getting put in agent's Spam box and I am having trouble justifying the time spend customizing queries.

How do you know your emails are going to agent's spam boxes? Is it when they reply?

I'm querying now, too. I've sent out 6 queries about 2 weeks ago and have heard from two (both r's). Two of the others don't reply if it's a no (I hate that). One of the Rs said the project sounds "very interesting" but unfortunately she has a client project with a similar premise (gasp). But one of mine was also SB, who you said is usually quick, and I haven't heard. Now I'm wondering if I'm spam.

Sounds like you have an awesome request ratio

[MJWare]

Originally Posted by SheilaJG

How do you know your emails are going to agent's spam boxes? Is it when they reply?

I'm querying now, too. I've sent out 6 queries about 2 weeks ago and have heard from two (both r's). Two of the others don't reply if it's a no (I hate that)...
But one of mine was also SB, who you said is usually quick, and I haven't heard. Now I'm wondering if I'm spam.

Sounds like you have an awesome request ratio

Two of my replies came back with subject lines that looked like this: [SPAM] Query: Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb

Then once I CC'ed myself it landed in my own spam folder!

A few of the agents I think are really good fits, I am going to re-query with a short explanation. I figure the worst they will do is ignore me.

If anyone wants, I have sample inboxes setup with gmail, yahoo, and outlook. I'd be glad to share them (via PM) if anyone wants to see if their posts end up as SPAM. The only problem is that it doesn't seem consistent. That is, I can't make my e-mail show up as spam every time. I can send the same message out on two diffident days, once it get marked as spam, once it doesn't.

Originally Posted by SheilaJG

One of the Rs said the project sounds "very interesting" but unfortunately she has a client project with a similar premise (gasp).

Ouch! that would sting!

[MJWare]

Oh two more things:

1. S.B. is a 'tries' to reply to all, but seems to respond to most (78% on Query tracker).

2.New Agent Alert: Molly Jaffa of Folio Literary (http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/)

[elindsen]

thanks for the news mware

[timp67]

Did you put QUERY in your subject header when it ended up targeted as spam? I've heard that it is the magic password to avoid agents' spam filters. Maybe I'm wrong!

[SheilaJG]

Originally Posted by mware01

Two of my replies came back with subject lines that looked like this: [SPAM] Query: Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb

Could it be that you have "bomb" in your title?

Yes, that "similar premise" thing stung. But I tell myself that a hundred authors could have the same premise and execute differently. And of my stories, I have to admit that taking place in a post-flood world is not the height of originality. But I thought my story was unique. I hope it is.

[SheilaJG]

Okay, rethinking my personalization stance. I've just spent three hours writing three queries.

[elindsen]

How hard is it to get into the picture book industry?

[Smish]

Originally Posted by elindson

How hard is it to get into the picture book industry?

Very.

[elindsen]

Originally Posted by Smish

Very.

but not impossible...

I'm getting published soon and am wanting to expand, possibly looking for agents. Does anyone know of any agencies that only do children's? I know like Andrea Brown does pb/mg/ya, but are there any just for children's?

[Smish]

Not impossible, no.

You can do a search at AgentQuery. There aren't many agents who represent debut PB authors. However, many publishers do still accept unagented PB manuscripts.

[MJWare]

Originally Posted by SheilaJG

Could it be that you have "bomb" in your title?

Yes, spam keywords are generally a secret (so the spammers will not know what they are). However, I was told by a couple of people that 'super' 'mega' and 'bomb' are all spam keywords. Someone even told me 'juice' was a keyword (please, don't ask why--you don't want to know).

Also, I wanted to make sure I get a chance to say Goodbye to everyone--just for the holidays. I've already had to pull too all nighters in the last few days and I'm not going to be around much until Christmas.

But don't feel bad for me; it's a good thing that my business is doing fairly well (especially, given the state of the economy).

I'll try to post once in a while and if anyone wants to reach me, just PM me (not via rep. points), as I get an alert via e-mail.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Wonderful Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays!

[MJWare]

Oh, one more thing I had to post. I saw H.P 7 part 1 last night. Not so good. Not bad, but the worst of the bunch. If you love the movies go see it. If not, it's a tough call; you almost have to see if if you want to see part 2.

I will say that, Dobby is the bomb!