The Holiday Publishing Lull

Tip of the Day: Did you all catch the news about Simon & Schuster offering self-pub? What are your thoughts on it? Leave comments below. Here's one author who thinks it's an awful idea. 

The holidays are upon us and that means things in traditional publishing come to a screeching halt. If you're just now querying agents or your agent is pitching to editors you can expect not to hear from them until probably January. In fact, you may want to just hold off on subbing anything until then and be higher up in the inbox.

So what can you do in the mean time?

1) Research. If agent-hunting spend time building up a list of dream agents to submit too, noting what order you want to contact them in. Make sure you’re finding agents who rep the kind of work you write. You can find info about them on agentquery.com. Another good way to spot agents is to read the acknowledgement section of books in the same vein as yours and see who the agent they thank is. If you’re looking for a publisher to contact directly look to see if there are any calls out for specific types of works. Entangled often puts out these types of calls.

2) Another thing you can do is continue to polish your work. Maybe you need a fresh set of eyes. Send your book to a new critique partner. Or get a professional opinion of your book. There are still some auctions open at the KidLitCares for Sandy Relief auction.

Also, YA author Michelle Zink recently posted on facebook that she’s open for new clients for her edit/critique service. “Are you planning to query agents or editors soon with your shiny manuscript? November/December is a perfect time to fine-tune your work (publishing all but shuts down until mid-January), and I just found out that I have an unexpected opening for edit and critique services at the beginning of December. I have a solid track record of helping authors gain representation and would love to help you ready your manuscript for representation and/or sale. Partials and fulls accepted! Inbox me for details.” Her contact info can be found on her Web site.

3) Or finally, just take a break and enjoy the holidays. A little time away from your book can be a big help. I often find fresh insights after I haven’t looked at one of my books for a while.

Kristina, Miss Author in Action