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

Something For Everyone! (or What Can You Get a Wookee For Christmas?*)

*with apologies to RSO Records

Tip of the Day: Need last minute gift ideas? Buy books. Seriously. For everyone you know. Support the industry!

Every year I buy books for my friends and family for Christmas -- whether or not they want them. :) I considered buying ebooks for some family members, but I don't know how I would do that exactly. Buy B&N/Amazon gift cards? I'm sure there's another way but I'm not sure what it is right now. So I went with good old paper books.

What I bought:

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins for my two girlfriends who must read this book before the movie releases in March

UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand for my dad and uncle; both are interested in flying, lived through WWII, and hopefully can discuss it with each other once they've read it.

JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS by Kristina Springer for my sis and sis-in-law. My sister sometimes reads this blog, but it should come as no surprise to her since I buy all of Tina's hilarious novels for them to compete with the sometimes tough realities and less humorous situations of our lives.

AU REVOIR, CRAZY EUROPEAN CHICK by Joe Schrieber for my brother, who usually reads and enjoys the YA titles I buy for him. This one I think he will especially appreciate since it is hilarious and each chapter starts with a real essay question from college applications and he is getting ready to interview and universities for a professorship. It is seriously too funny.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami for my husband. I haven't read this one yet myself, but it's getting lots of buzz and he needs something else big to read while waiting for the next George R. R. Martin novel to come out.

I love having an excuse to buy lots of books! What titles did you buy for friends and relatives this holiday season?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Just Call It Research

Tip of the Day: Books make an awesome gift! And if you sign up at Borders.com or BarnesandNoble.com they'll start e-mailing you coupons every week. Or, check out Amazon where they always have a discount and you can get free shipping if you spend over $25. Or, visit your local indie and see what deals they've got going on.

I don't know about you but with the holidays zooming up on me (Yikes, is Christmas really next week?!) I can't concentrate on writing at all. Which then makes me feel kinda guilty and we can't have that. Thus, I'm telling myself everything is research:

Like Christmas shopping. It's so hard trying to find that perfect gift. And if you think you know just the right thing what would you do to get it? Would you do this?













To get this?



















Some did! And maybe that type of person will be a future character in a book.

Then of course there is the cheesy Christmas movies on fa la la la lifetime and Hallmark etc. I looooooove these movies. They are a holiday must. And they always only get the top notch actors like Roseanne Barr's ex husband and that guy married to Tori Spelling and starring on her reality show.














And I have to say it was good to see Dawson again. Oh, how I've missed him.


















Ahem, back to research. These types of movies provide a clear and easy example of plot structure. They're all pretty typical (really, I dare you not to know where the movie is going in the first two minutes) but enjoyable.

And the cookie making. Ohhhh, the cookie making. Let's see, that could be a practice in thinking up colorful adjectives. Like, delicious, delectable, scrumptious, tasty, yummy, succulent, delightful...












That is, until after the holidays when you're at the gym cursing out the evil little sugar balls of death.

Finally, the family get togethers. Families provide an abundance of crazy characters that you can pick interesting traits from. But like Deena has mentioned before, make sure you change them enough that your family doesn't get wise. Or you could have a situation like I had on my hands this past Thanksgiving when everyone cornered me at the table and accused me of putting various people in the book. :-) That's when you keep repeating, it's fiction people! It's fiction!














Happy Holidays!

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut