The Saturday Slash

Don't be afraid to ask for help with the most critical first step of your writing journey - the query.

I’ve been blogging since 2011 and have critiqued over 200 queries here on the blog using my Hatchet of Death. This is how I edit myself, it is how I edit others. If you think you want to play with me and my hatchet, shoot me an email.

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If you’re ready to take the next step, I also offer editing services.

Derrick Flynn should be dead, but he’s up and running instead. He’s just survived his second chance encounter with the infamous killer Splitlip, a man assumed dead for decades. I think your hook is actually the second sentence, and I would consider striking the first. Splitlip is a great name for a villian, and the fact that it's Derrick's second encounter is intriguing. Also, cutting the first line will eliminate the echo (word repetition) of "dead."

Several years ago, Splitlip killed Derrick’s dream of developing his magic abilities when he murdered his mentor. This is first mention of magic, or indication that this is anything other than a contemporary thriller. Get the presence of magic into your opening para. Also, why can't Derrick just get a new mentor? Derrick’s superiors chalked the death up to a botched spell--untested sorcerers become erratic and delusional when they can’t control their magic--and expelled him from their group. Okay, so it's not so much that the mentor died that Derrick can't develop his abilities, it's that he was blamed for the death and banned. Again, I think you're giving information in a backwards fashion. It was a bitter pill to swallow, made worse by the fact that even his elder brother Alek, a sorcerer himself, didn’t believe him either. Believe him about what?

Now, those woes and doubts dissolve in adrenaline and glorious affirmation as Derrick runs from his would-be grave. Splitlip’s reappearance means redemption--if he can catch or kill him. It’s a chance he won’t let pass; but it’s one he can’t take alone. Definitely confusing. Somehow Splitlip still being alive is evidence that Derrick was not at fault for his mentor's death... but I have no idea what the connection is.

Alek agrees immediately when Derrick requests help, even though he hasn’t taken a bounty in years. How does a bounty come into this? Eager for his acceptance, Derrick sees this quick consent as the first step to regaining Alek’s trust, and perhaps even earning his esteem.

Only when they’re miles away from home does Derrick learn Alek’s true reason for wanting to help--to resurrect his late fiancee Cecily--and it threatens more than his shot at redemption. So... Alex actually just wants to find Splitlip so he can help resurrect his dead g/f? How does that threaten Derrick's goals directly?

CECILY'S KNOT (fantasy, 130k words) Holy word count. That's high. Even for a fantasy realm. As a debut trying to break into a very competitive marekt, you'll need to get that lower. Ideally under 100k may appeal to readers who enjoy Tad Williams' rich worlds and Patrick Rothfuss' mellifluous style. This debut novel is written as the first of a four part series, but could be adapted into a standalone story. You definitely need to push this as a standalone with series potential, rather than the other way around.

Your story sounds quite cool, and I like the concept, but your query is suffering from too much assumed knowledge. You'll see above that most of my critique revolves around needing clarification, or not knowing enough in order to draw the right conclusions. Get more explanatory info in there; we don't know this story. You do. It's possible to answer my questions and keep this concise.

E. Latimer On the Anxiety of Submission... Your Fourth Time Out

If there's one thing that many aspiring writers have few clues about, it's the submission process. There are good reasons for that; authors aren't exactly encouraged to talk in detail about our own submission experiences, and - just like agent hunting - everyone's story is different. I managed to cobble together a few non-specific questions that some debut authors have agreed to answer (bless them). And so I bring you the submission interview series - Submission Hell - It's True. Yes, it's the SHIT.

Today’s guest for the SHIT is E. Latimer, the author of Witches of Ash and Ruin, and The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray. She lives on Vancouver Island, and her breakout success on the online writing platform, Wattpad.com, has resulted in a fanbase of over 100k followers, with over 20 million combined reads. She also vlogs weekly on the Word Nerds Youtube channel, and spends the rest of her days reading, writing and consuming too much tea.

How much did you know about the submission process before you were out on subs yourself?

I had actually been on sub several times before my first YA, Witches of Ash and Ruin sold. The first two times were failed attempts year ago, with my first agent. The third time my new agent sold my MG book. So technically this was my fourth time out, but the process is so secretive that it STILL feels like I don’t know as much as I’d like.

I obsessively researched online every time I went out, and it’s so funny because I read a LOT of these Submissions Hell interviews. I was desperate for any small scrap of info about what other people’s sub process had been like. It makes you feel less alone for one thing, and gives you an idea of what you might expect.

Did anything about the process surprise you?

Yes, how UNCOOL I was about the whole thing. I expected my second time out on sub after selling my MG, I would just sit back and sip tea, be totally calm and collected. Like I was some kind of old pro at this.

Turns out, I’m really really not. I was just as antsy and anxiety-ridden this time around, and actually I had a better idea of the process and what hoops my witchy little book was having to jump through, so if possible, I think I was MORE neurotic.

I really didn’t see that coming.

Did you research the editors you knew had your ms? Do you recommend doing that?

I did, a little obsessively. I’m ashamed to admit it and I absolutely do not recommend anyone do this.

Next time I’m out on sub I’m absolutely not going to do that.

Narrator: She will.

What was the average amount of time it took to hear back from editors?

It used to drive me nuts looking up “average times” for sub to last, because it varies so wildly. And in my own career thus far, it has too. The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray sold in 10 days, which is basically lightening speed for sub.

Witches of Ash and Ruin took longer. I got the call from Hannah Allaman from Disney after it had been out on sub for roughly two weeks. I think. It wasn’t actually an offer initially, just a chat, and then I waited in suspense for exactly thirteen more days (yes, I was counting, why do you ask?) before I got the news that the offer had come through.

What do you think is the best way for an author out on submission to deal with the anxiety?

Write something else. I really cannot emphasize how important it is to focus all your attention and energy into a new project. Don’t just sit there refreshing your email like I did, that way lies madness.

If you had any rejections, how did you deal with that emotionally? How did this kind of rejection compare to query rejections?

I dealt with rejections badly the first two times I went out on sub and failed. The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray was a little better, because we got some good feedback too, but it still stung. It was just too much on top of the emotional drain of being on sub. I knew that about myself this time, so I didn’t press my agent to send the rejections. I knew who had passed on Witches of Ash and Ruin, but I didn’t ask her to send the actual feedback.

When I was querying I used to respond to each rejection by flinging another ten queries out into the world, as a kind of “hah! You can’t stop me!” but you obviously can’t do that on sub. You just have to sit there and wait. It feels a bit more powerless, which is why I stress how important it is to work on a new project.

If you got feedback on a rejection, how did you process it? How do you compare processing an editor’s feedback as compared to a beta reader’s?

Sub feedback is a tricky one, because it’s often along the lines of “we have something similar on our list” or “we don’t know how to market this one”. Of course, there’s sometimes practical advice about voice, or characters, but by the point of sub, my agent and I have edited the project so many times, that I tend to let the feedback collect and not look at it unless I need to reassess things when it doesn’t sell.

A beta reader is very different. You’re in the thick of it with them. You’ve got a project in motion and you can change things. Nothing is set in stone yet.

When you got your YES! how did that feel? How did you find out – email, telephone, smoke signal?

My agent called me. She was in New York at the time, I believe. But she’s got a UK number, so we had a bit of a hassle trying to connect, and of course I was practically bouncing off the walls because her email had said “good news, can I call you” and I was pretty sure I knew what it was about.

I like to think I kept my cool on the phone with her, but once I was off I screamed and did a few laps of the house.

Did you have to wait a period of time before sharing your big news, because of details being ironed out? Was that difficult?

I had to wait a few months for this one, but honestly it was nothing compared to the wait to announce The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray (six months) so I wasn’t too impatient this time around. And as much as it’s completely maddening to have to wait, it does make it all the sweeter when you can shout it from the rooftops.

Methods For Getting Started With Low Budget Book Promotion

by Ashley Halsey

Being a successful author doesn’t only mean writing good books. It means selling them too. The book world is a complex, almost cryptic one in which no-one has really cracked the algorithm for sales success. All sorts of different books sell, and sell well. There certainly isn’t a problem with the industry itself, in spite of the doomsday predictions that accompanied the arrival of the kindle and the development of modern technology. But, it can be very difficult to know how to get your book out there, most of all when you don’t have much money to promote it with. Well, if this sounds like you (and if you’re the average author it probably does) then read on to learn a few tips for book promotion on a budget. It’s time to show your hard work to the world.

Social Media

First things first: you can’t have a conversation about marketing anything in the contemporary era without discussing social media. Social media is an incredible resource that has to be used. You’d be shooting yourself in the foot to ignore what is the biggest gift for authors light on cash to promote their book. “Social media can simply achieve so much for you, without even spending a dime. Build up a network, interact with readers and authors. Find people to give advanced copies to. Attract the attention of editors or publishers. There are simply so many benefits to take advantage of that it can be hard to say what is best about it”, says Zoe Talbot, writer at Writinity and ResearchPapersUK. Get involved as soon as you can. Spread across multiple platforms all linking to one another and start sharing your book.

Social Media Advertising

Not only is social media probably your best friend on the ‘free’ end of your promotion efforts, it’s even valuable if you’re looking to spend money. Social media advertising allows you to create hyper-focused advertising campaigns that can reach thousands and thousands of people for as little as $30. If you don’t have much money, these adverts will allow you to do an immense amount without burning through your bank account. Almost all platforms have this ability but Instagram is probably where I would recommend that you begin. There’s a colorful community of book enthusiasts and an excellent paid promotion market for you to start using to your benefit.

Utilizing Influencers

Ok, last social media one I promise. As if the first two points weren’t enough, there is a third, incredible resource that social media facilitated: the influencer. Influencers are people who have somehow acquired a large following on social media. You can use influencers by getting them to talk about your book on their page to expose it to their large following. “There are influencers in all sorts of different industries, the book industry included. You should try, at first, sending your book to them for free and seeing if you can get some unpaid shout outs. Failing that, influencers will do a great deal for your book that makes paying them worth it”, advises Mark Cherry, marketer at DraftBeyond and LastMinuteWriting.

Build A Website

It’s a great idea to have an author website that you can showcase your work through and even sell your book through. It isn’t difficult to get a website and designing one yourself or with a tech savvy friend is easier than ever before thanks to sites like Wix and Squarespace. Design it nicely and link all of your socials to and from it to build your own network.

Do Guest Blog Posts

Getting your content on other peoples’ sites really helps elevate your profile in the world of the internet. It seems like you are doing the blog a favor by writing for it, but you also get the chance to spread the word about your work, to attach your name to the post and, in most cases, to put a link to your website as well.

Conclusion

Most promotional techniques for authors without real marketing budgets involve using the internet. It doesn’t matter what your book is about, there are always ways for you to take advantage of the range of incredible opportunities that the digital world provides.

Ashley Halsey is a writer, working at LuckyAssignments,  GumEssays writing on all sorts of topics relating to travel and personal development. She spends most of her spare time traveling with her family and gathering information for her latest piece of writing.