Shedding Some Light on Foreign Rights

Tip of the Day: So cool! Mrs. Magoo did a cute video review of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST and is giving away SIX copies of the book. WOW. Nice huh?! Go show her some love and enter her contest!

I want to preface this entry by saying that I’m not an expert on foreign rights. Not a bit. Well, I know a smidge. But maybe that smidge is more than others know so I’ll share. From what I have seen it goes like this—you sell your book to a traditional publisher and when you sell you either sell them (a) English rights or (b) world rights.

If you sell (a) English rights then your publisher can publish your book wherever English books are sold. And the foreign rights are yours to sell. Typically this is done through the foreign rights department at your literary agency and foreign co-agents. For me, my literary agency has sold German and Japanese rights for The Espressologist. Hopefully we’ll sell more in the future. Foreign rights tend to sell after the book is released but sometimes will sell early (like if you’re getting some crazy good buzz).

If you sell your publisher (b) world rights then the publisher is responsible for selling your foreign rights and will just let you know where they’ve been sold.

Which is better? Who knows. Some say (a) because then you are making additional sales and getting checks (advance and then later royalty) directly from these other foreign publishers. Some say (b) because you don’t have to think about it and it goes toward your advance so you’ll earn out faster.

What do you guys think?

And then what happens AFTER you sell your foreign rights? Do you ever talk to the publisher or work on the book with them like you do with your American publisher? This is the kind of thing I wondered about all the time before my German book came out. And you know what? In my experience, nothing happens on my side. One day the book showed up online and google alerts told me about it. Basically, your agent or publisher (whoever sells the rights) just sends the foreign publisher a copy of the finished manuscript. They translate it, pick a cover, market it how they’d like and put it on sale. And then send you pretty finished copies of the book like so:

So, that’s what I know about foreign rights. Anyone have anything to add?

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut

When All Else Fails (or "Then I'll do it myself," said the Little Red Hen)

Tip of the Day: Starbucks Tazo Tea prices are increasing due to their new supply of full leaf teas -- but they are still yummy and perfect for the coffee shop writer who doesn't drink coffee. And hot water refills are free!

*January Goals Check-In:
-- Polish and sub 2 short stories to the Highlights fiction contest = DONE!
-- Send "polished" MG, 24 HOURS, to agent with specific revision questions and await feedback = sent first 30 pages to agent before committing to more revisions; received her suggestions; modifying Feb goals as a result to: Come up with hook paras and sample pages for 2-3 new MG ideas

One of my CPs has an article up on WOW -- Women on Writing on DIY Writing Retreats. It's a great article and is based on our experience over the summer. Check it out! http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/36-How2-DIYWritersRetreat.html

And so I'm not cheating by using my CP's article as my A2A post, let me add that as I charge my upcoming trip to NYC on the credit card, the value of what we did this summer becomes more and more clear. Not that I'm not super excited for my SCBWI NYC experience, but not since that day in August when Kate, Kelley, Lisa, Maureen and I spent all day in a rented office have I produced so many pages of new words.

Anyone feeling the winter blahs of writing, I highly recommend considering the DIY retreat!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Getting the most out of a conference experience

Tip of the day: if you are planning on attending a conference, don't forget to get prepared!

Next week I'm attending my first big writing conference. I've been to meetings here or there, but nothing of this magnitude. As such, I've been searching the Internet to find tips on how to prepare for a writing conference.

So I thought I'd share some of the tips I've found:

• Have a game plan of all the break-out sessions you'd like to go to. Fortunately for the conference I'm attending you had to plan this out when registering, but if not, definitely have a game plan of what you want to attend. And leave room for flexibility if the need arises.
• Have a prepared list of questions. You might use them or you might not. But if there's something you really want to know about the publishing industry and you see there will be a speaker addressing that specific topic, it might be a good idea to know ahead of time what you want to get out of that session. Or for informal chat in between sessions, which often times is the place to learn the most. You have a wealth of knowledge at these conferences and if you are a newbie, don't be afraid to ask someone more knowledgeable.
  
• This article by Scott Hoffman at Folio Literary Management gives a great perspective from an agent on how he approaches a conference. He advices everyone to have a one-sentence short blurb about your book, just in case anyone asks. Also it's a good idea to carry around a one-page synopsis of your book, the first three chapters of your novel, and a copy of your manuscript. He advises that most likely you'll never be asked for any of the above, but having it on hand is always a good idea. You'd never want to miss out on an opportunity, would you?
• If you get asked about your books, be confident in your work when talking about it.
  

This is just a starter list, and I'm hoping some people more knowledgeable about conferences might chime in with suggestions.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Tension in Every Scene: Even the Happy Ones

Tip of the Day: Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I hope you're one of the lucky ones with the day off.

I'm writing a book with a romance subplot that isn't going to go well for my main character. At first I envisioned the romance starting out wonderful and deteriorating over the course of the novel, but a couple of influences changed my mind. This blog post by Mary Kole struck a chord with me, with its easy to understand graphic of starting a novel at a baseline and having life get a little better for the protag before it gets way, way worse.

The other big influence is my friends at Verla Kay's blue boards. Someone else began a thread about starting a book with a perfect romance or giving it a few chapters to develop. Writers chimed in with opinions and book titles, and the general consensus was that most people like to see a romance develop: it's part of the fun of reading.

So now I'm writing scenes in chapters 1 and 2 where my main character is falling in love. These are easier to write than I thought they would be, but we'll see what my critique group says about them! They're kind of fun, but they'd be boring if they didn't have any tension. I don't want them to be the equivalent of your BFF from high school telling you for hours on end about how her boyfriend is soooo cute. So what gives a scene tension where my main character is realizing the guy she's always wanted is falling for her?

• Am I imagining this or does he think we're still just friends?
• I want to be supportive of his plans for the future, but those plans will take him away from me.
• Why doesn't he realize that I need someone to support me right now?
• I wish I could help him with the problems in his life more than I actually can.

So even though my characters are holding hands and sharing their dreams and deepening their relationship, it's not all chocolate and roses and angels singing. The other problems in their lives can't help but intrude. But as every 16-year-old like my main character knows, all the problems are worth suffering through in exchange for true love. Until chapter 4 or 5, bwa ha ha ha.

What keeps your "they're so in love" scenes crackling with tension?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

A New Year is Here!

Tip of the Day: The Dream Big blog series is still going on and continues through January. You can read the entries HERE.

Last year my goals were to work REALLY hard to make CHASING BROOKLYN and IT’S RAINING CUPCAKES the best they could be. I think I did that, and I’m proud of how they turned out. CHASING BROOKLYN has received two wonderful reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, and I’m getting lots of nice notes from readers, so YAY! The hard work paid off!

I also wanted to stop worrying about things I can’t control, like sales, negative reviews, etc. I said, “I want to write without worrying about it all.” I’m carrying this forward to this year because I’m still working on this. It’s hard! But important. I don’t think I worry as much as I used to, so that’s good. Progress is always good!

My last goal was to go to New York to meet my publishing peeps. That didn’t happen, I went to ALA in Chicago instead, and I’m happy I went. I met Tina there! This year, New York is going to happen, and I’m so excited!

Writing wise, last year I spent a good chunk of time writing a book different than anything else I’ve ever written. I wrote it for me, and I had fun. We’ll see if it sells in the coming weeks, but if not, I needed that time to write something fun, and I’m glad I did it!
So, new goals?

It’s a new year, and a new opportunity to grow as a writer. I’ve taken the leap and today is my last day at the day job. My only job now will be author!! I’m excited and nervous and a hundred other things, but more than anything, I want to enjoy this time in my life. I don’t know how long it will last, but while it’s here, I want to wake up every day and appreciate all that comes with it. It’s an incredible thing, to be an author for kids and teens, and I feel so incredibly blessed.

One thing I really need to do is figure out school visits. How to do them, how to market myself to do them, and get some scheduled for next school year, hopefully.

Other than that, I think it comes down to what I often sign in my books.

Read. Write. Dream.

Yep. That pretty much covers it.

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

2010 Writing Goals!

Tip of the Day: If you’re near Winnetka, IL, I’m on a YA Panel with Bev Pratt and Julie Halpern this Saturday the 16^th at 3pm at The Bookstall. Come see me! Details here.

I do this thing every year in my personal journal where I rewrite my resolutions from the year before and comment on how I did before making the new year’s resolutions. Since I made writing resolutions on A2A last year I’m going to see how I did with those.

Goal 1: Celebrate my book coming out. Oh yeah. I totally did that. Such fun!

Goal 2: Work on all that marketing stuff that goes along with a book release. Um, pretty good I must say. I still owe some interviews out there but I’m getting to them. :)

Goal 3: Edit Book 2. I kinda rocked this one. I wrote book two in just a few months (too lazy to go look up exactly how long) and finished edits and now it is happily off somewhere in copyedit-land.

Goal 4: Be faster with my critiques for my wonderful critique partners! Oh wow, I was BRILLIANT with this one. Ok, no I wasn’t. Maybe a smidge better. Will keep working on it!

Goal 5: Read tons more YA (I already do, but even more) and buy lots of books to support fellow authors this year. Yep!

Goal 6: Finish the Middle Grade proposal I'm currently working on and complete two more YA proposals I've been thinking about. Yeah. Finished this way early in the year. In fact, that MG proposal is the book coming out 9/1/10.

Goal 7: Write at least one full YA book. I wrote two and the first few chaps and outline of a third. Go me, go me, go me.

Goal 8: Sell more books. No. But I did sell Japanese rights to The Espressologist at Thanksgiving. Does that count?

---

So I didn’t do too shabby on the writing front as far as goals. Now on to this year’s:

Goal 1: Sell another book. DONE! Read here for details. :)

Goal 2: Keep up with book signings and school visits and interviews as best I can. Get ready to promote next book.

Goal 3: Visit with some of my CPs. DONE! Deena and Emily are visiting next month for the Anderson’s Children’s Literature breakfast.

*Pause* I kinda feel like I’m cheating since I keep listing things already planned. I better come up with new stuff.

Goal 4: Revise books I haven’t sold yet. That’s one MG and two YAs. I love them SO much so I must figure out what will make then extra sparkly to sell them.

Goal 5: Come up with the next most wonderful bestest book idea ever and write that book. I’m thinking Twilight meets Harry Potter meets High School Musical meets The Office. Ok, I’m totally kidding on that last part. But I do want to write at least one new book this year and I have no idea what that will be.

Ok, that’s enough writing goals. I’ve been trying to catch up on personal goals this year and have been spending a ton of time at the gym (OMG, I LOVE spin class!) so it’s eating into my writing time. Oh, that would be a good goal—

Goal 6: Work on balancing everything.

Happy 2010!

Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut

Goal! (or Nature's First Green is Goaled*)

*With apologies to Robert Frost

Tip of the Day: Only 2 weeks left til the SCBWI Conference in NYC!

I don't do well with goals that last 365 days; what I like are monthly goals. Here's what I've got planned -- writing-related -- so far for 2010! Keep in mind, WHEN an editor buys my mss and/or I have agent/editor revisions to do, things may change slightly -- and happily. :)

January -- Polish and sub 2 short stories to the
Highlights fiction contest
-- Send "polished" MG, 24 HOURS, to agent with specific revision questions and await feedback
-- Meet agent in NYC while visiting for SCBWI Conference
-- Hang with Emily, Miss Querylicious, in NYC and have a blast

February -- Incorporate CP suggestions into my YA, SISTER SECRETS
-- Get 2 more chaps ready for and sent to my CPs of SS
-- Meet up with Tina, Miss Delighted to Debut, in Chicago, schmooze with kidlitters at the Author Breakfast, and have a blast

March -- Complete first draft of SS

April -- Get final chaps of SS to CPs

May -- Incorporate CPs' suggestions into SS and get it agent-ready
-- Meet Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career, with Kate (Miss Perfecting the Pages) for the first time in-person at the Rochester Teen Book Fest, and have a blast!

June-September -- Draft new MG idea! (Idea may involve apples, llamas, and thick glasses.)

October-December -- Think about next December already? Yikes! OK, if I have to: Revise new MG completed draft.

Now, blog readers and fellow Misses, every month I'd like to update you on what I've accomplished of these monthly goals, so remind me if I forget! (Perhaps a goal should be remembering to do said posts once a month? :-p)

Happy 2010!!! Grab hold -- the future is now!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing