After the Book Launch: Now What?

Hi, lovelies,

It's so great to be back to The Secret Life after our blog hiatus and my own self-imposed shut down. I can't wait to catch up with you guys!

While The Secret Life was re-launching, I was off launching my first book baby, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, into the world. It officially came out on October 8th, although not everything went as planned, and some people got their books early.

Now launch month is winding down, and I've been feeling a whole mix of anxiety and, well, flat-out fear that I hadn't expected. And since this blog is all about authenticity, I want to share with you what it's really like post-debut. For me, anyway.

In the past few weeks, I've felt pretty good. I think that's because launch kept me busy with a party, two panels with some other super awesome YA authors, a writing workshop, and signings. But that, too, is dwindling down and I'm finding myself standing here with…nothing.

I don't mean nothing, like, I have no other projects going on. I do. I have plenty of things in various stages of planning/drafting/revision to work on. What I don't have is this book to work on. I thought I'd be happy about that, relieved even. And sometimes I am, when I remind myself that this is a huge accomplishment, that I'm so lucky the book of my heart got published. But mostly, I feel a little empty.

I've been thinking/praying/dreaming about this book for three years. And up until this past summer, I had been researching/planning/drafting/revising/editing/somehow working on this book for almost as long. While I'm happy and proud, I'm also grieving a little because this book is no longer mine. It's yours.

Which is every aspiring author wants all along, right? To be read. To have a book belong to someone other than me. I just didn't expect how mixed up I'd feel about that.

What has been helping, and what always helps, is the Next Thing. For creative people, there is always a Next Thing because making stuff is in our DNA. We can't not make stuff. So I'm working on the Next Thing(s) and truly lettings SCARS do its own thing in the world. No checking ratings or reviews or sales. No googling it (or me). I've done the best I can with it, and now I have to trust that it will get into the hands of the people who need to read it, for whatever reason.

The more I think of it like that, the less consuming the emptiness feels. My job is to write the book. That's it. I've done my job with SCARS, and I'm doing it again (and again, and again) with the next books. Your job is to read them, and I'm forever grateful for that opportunity. Thank you for making this transition from writer to author, empty to full again, that much easier.

xo.

Andrea Hannah writes about delusional girls, disappearances, and darkness with a touch of magic. When she's not writing, Andrea runs, teaches, consumes epic amounts of caffeine, and tries to figure out how to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (unsuccessful to date). She's represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman-Schneider/ICM, and her debut novel, OF SCARS AND STARDUST, is out now. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: http://twitter.com/andeehannah

Drop her an email @: andreahannahbooks@gmail.com
And visit her website @: http://www.andreahannah.com/

Love, Money, and Metaphors

So I don't know if you guys saw the results from the epic writing survey that were posted a few weeks ago, but if not, you should go here and check them out. Definitely interesting stuff. One of the questions that was particularly interesting to me was this one:

What's the best part about writing for everyone, we wondered?

You probably need to click it to make it bigger and see, but the main thing that caught my attention here was the last answer--"The Money." Zero people said this is why they wrote. This wasn't especially surprising to me, because it's probably the one constant piece of "advice" that I've gotten since embarking on this "make writing a career" journey however long ago it was now. That is, "Don't do it for the money." 

Because if that's what you're here for, then most likely, you're going to end up severely disappointed and frustrated.

Five years ago, when I was writing that first book, this was easy enough advice to get behind. I'd loved writing for as long as I could remember, and I loved the idea of simply writing a book-- of accomplishing that, and seeing it through to the end, regardless of what came next. It was nothing except the sheer joy of words and the amazing feeling that came when you managed to string them into a whole, coherent story. When you'd created a world and cast of characters entirely in your head, and then--with even just a little bit of success--managed to recreate those things on the page for other people to see and believe in. And that's what it's all about. It's cheesy, but even just typing those last few sentences made me feel all warm and fuzzy, because it woke up that part of me inside that said oh yeah. that is what this writing thing is supposed to be about.

But--and brace yourselves, because this is the part of the post where I'm going to level with you--I have to be honest, those warm and fuzzies have gotten harder to feel, the longer I've been at this. After that first book, I wrote three more before I was offered representation. And with each book, though I didn't really notice it at the time, I think it became less about the simple joy of writing, and more of a complex combination of yes-I-love-writing-but-what-I'd-really-love-is-a-book-deal-now-please-and-thanks. It became about not failing at something I'd already dedicated so much time to. About getting to the point where the accepts started outnumbering the rejections.

This is a hard post to write. I debated about posting it, even after drafting it and thinking about it forever, because I'm not sure how this reflects on my character; I've had enough private conversations with fellow writers to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way, but in public? In public it seems that often we're only allowed to talk about how much we love writing, and how we would do it forever and ever even if we never saw anything but rejection from it.To feel differently--even on only the occasional bad day--means that GASP! we must not be real writers! Real writers do it because they love writing. Period. 

But I don't know if it's that simple. Yes, real writers love writing. Obviously. Obviously, some part of me is madly in love with writing, too--because if it wasn't, I seriously doubt I would have spent four years writing four books only to have the publishing door slammed in my face over and over again. Yes, some part of it was sheer stubbornness; but stubbornness alone doesn't write a book. Not a publishable book, anyway. And I eventually wrote a publishable book. I hope to write many more publishable books. And yes, some part of me would always be a writer, even if I never managed to make anything resembling a career out of this.

But this is where it's gotten tricky for me, and why I think this topic has been on my heart lately: because once you're published (or soon-to-be-published), it becomes harder to think about that simple love that got you writing books in the first place. You suddenly have Expectations. You have people who have read your debut book and asked about sequels. You have an editor and possibly an agent who you have to keep on impressing. You have well-meaning friends and family who want to know when you'll be quitting your day job since you're obviously making a ton of money now (ha!). Or who want to know when you're going to stop spending so much time writing and get a real job (because they know how poor you actually still are). 

And when you don't know what to tell these people, it's hard. It's disheartening. You get tired of explaining to people that publishing is slow and there's nothing you can do about it, and that yes, it's a HUGE accomplishment to have gotten a book deal in the first place, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're "in" at that point, or that it's all going to be smooth sailing from then on, or that this is even an actual, viable career now. There are still a lot more hurdles to leap. A lot more books to write. And now you're writing with all these people staring at you, wondering what's going to come next in your fledgling career--and to top it all off, a lot of what happens in said career is out of your control. That is, basically, everything except the actual writing is out of your control. Wheee.

It's sort of how romantic relationships often go, isn't it? You start out all infatuated and loving everything about your partner, but then you start noticing how annoying their laugh is and then suddenly they're all "sorry but you're not quite right for my list right now" and you're like "well, damn". And then you have to decide if what you have goes deeper than infatuation, and if it's worth it to keep fighting until you get it right. Or something like that half-assed metaphor.

On to my point, though (yes, I did have a point all along, I promise): this post isn't meant to be a complaint, or a woe-is-me-publishing-is-so-hard-and-unfair sort of rant, just for the record. I am ETERNALLY grateful to know that I will have a book on the shelves in September, even if it's the only one that ever makes it to said shelves. But in the true spirit of this blog--revealing the  secret life after surviving the slushpile and such--I thought it was time for another painfully honest topic. So here you go. Bottom line? The warm-and-fuzzy feeling that writing gives you may not always be as warm and fuzzy as it was when you first started. Sometimes it will be downright cold and prickly and you'll probably wonder if it was ever there in the first place, or if you were just fooling yourself. I personally don't think that makes you less of a "real writer"; it just makes you human. To revisit my terrible metaphor, all good relationships--including the one I share with my writing--need work sometimes. And sometimes you want to just completely break-up and crank up some Taylor Swift and tell your polished turd of a manuscript that you are never ever ever getting back together, and that's totally okay and I'm totally not judging you for that. Also, I have no idea how Taylor Swift just became a part of this post.

Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Scott-- aka: my spirit animal.

Anyway, the trick, I guess, is to just do what you can to not lose that warm feeling completely. Maybe write some random bad poetry that you're never going to show anybody. Read a book for pure enjoyment and pay no attention to how it compares to yours, or how the writer crafted this or that. Remind yourself that writing is actually really, really hard, and then go eat a cupcake. Fall asleep dreaming of words and scenes you want to write, even on the bad days when you didn't actually write a single word. You're still a writer, even on those days. And it's that warm feeling that will remind you of that over and over. You just have to hang on to it, and let it convince you to write one. more. sentence. Even when you're pretty sure nobody else in the publishing world wants anything to do with those sentences. 

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

The Thing About “Original” Ideas

Here’s the thing about them: there are none.

We’ve likely all heard it before: there are no new ideas.

And yet.

Yet, even knowing and agreeing to that, I don’t know of much else that takes the wind out of my writer sails than to be explaining a WIP to someone only to have them say “oh, that sounds exactly like “insert book/movie/show title here!” Or to be almost done with said WIP, and then stumble along a Publisher’s Weekly deal announcement for a book that somehow sounds exactly like yours. And that just sold for six figures. That could have been yours. But now your idea is old news. Aaaaaand *cue sad violin song*

On the world's smallest violin

And even once your book sells, the comparisons continue. Some of the first few comments on FALLS Goodreads’ page compared it to a book I’d never even heard of, and so of course, I looked said book up, and realized they were right. As we'd sent FALLS off on submission, this book that had many of the same ideas about cloning as mine had already hit the shelves that same month.

And it totally sucked.

Because even though we’ll probably all admit that complete originality is impossible, most people don’t like being called copy-cats. I know I didn’t. For years, I’ve had this idea that I must be original, that real artists/writers can’t be compared to anything else. Heck, I used to freak out when I was reading a book and came across a name too similar to one of the ones in my WIPs.

But the more I think on it, the more books I write, and the closer I get to FALLS’ pub day and see more and more people excited about it (despite its supposed unoriginality), the more I think that maybe “new” ideas are less important than genuine ideas that you want to write about, even if they’ve been explored before. Because chances are, you’re going to explore them in different ways, from different angles, through the eyes of different characters. Two stories based off the same basic idea can have wildly different plots. And in some cases (I’ve observed personally) some people who loved the book that yours is constantly compared to will actually be all the more excited for your book, because it gives them another chance to explore more of what drew them to that first book to begin with. 

So take heart, dear writers; even if people have seen your story before, chances are a lot of them will still give it a chance. Then it’s up to your writing and story elements to win them over from there (no pressure!). Originality exists in details, in the way you tangle and untangle your plot and characters and spin each unique sentence together. Since after all, if you boil stories down to just a few basic lines (like we see in blurbs and on covers) it's sometimes hard to see all of these little things that make your story, well, yours. Because essentially, when you get down to the bones, all stories are about the same things anyway

Hey! That's my story in a nutshell!

And one last thing before I go: I’m not saying ignore what’s already been done. I think it is a good idea to pay attention to the market, and to fill in gaps where any exist, IF the books that fill those gaps are what you want to write. Because bottom line? A book that you’re genuinely passionate about is always going to be a better book than one you wrote just because it seemed unique at the time.

So what do you guys think? Is it more important for a book to be completely original, or completely well-written? Or maybe a bit of both? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

  

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com

Things You Can do With ARCS

Hi Secret Lifers!

Some of you who follow me on twitter might already know that a couple of weeks ago, I got a fun package in the mail from my editor--one full of advance review copies of FALLS THE SHADOW! Arcs are bound books that are made from copyedited pages; they still have some errors, but for the most part, it's an actual, honest-to-goodness book at this point. Like it smells like a book. It feels like a book. It sits on a bookshelf like a book.

And it's just...whoa.

Guys, I can't even.

I didn't get to hold on to my arcs for too long (alas), because the few that I got had already been promised elsewhere--to ARC tours and blog giveaways (some of which haven't happened yet, but soon!), and then I signed the last of them and gave it to my mom (whom the book is partially dedicated to)-- BUT, I at least got to have some fun with them before I shipped them off to meet the world :) So, behold, fun things you can do with ARCs (which are actual, physical, books! Ah!)

1. You can build a tower! 

The two standing up aren't actually my books; I don't have the finished hardcovers yet, only the jackets (which are gorgeous and embossed!) that will go on them. Here said jackets are being modeled by the books WITHER and SERAPHINA :)

2. You can put it on a bookshelf! Because it's a book now! Ah!

Oh, who is my book hanging out with on my alphabetized shelf? 

OH NOBODY JUST NEIL GAIMAN THAT'S ALL.

3. You can use it as a hat! 

A sexy, sexy hat.

4. You can dress it up!

Speaking of sexy, my book looks good with a mustache, doesn't it?

 5. You can let your dog read it!

(except you'll still have to turn the pages because, you know, thumbs)

6. You can shove it in random people's faces! 

LOOK AT THIS BOOK THAT I WROTE IT IS SO AWESOME

Not pictured: me sleeping with my arcs and spending a creepy amount of time stroking them and the jacket mock-ups (they're embossed, guys!)

*Please note before you ask:  I'm not really involved in the process of who gets arcs from my publisher. Sorry! It *is* up on Edelweiss now, so you're welcome to request a digital arc there, and I'll cross my fingers for you to be approved for one :)

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

A Year In the Life of a Debut Author: Timeline Edition

Hi guys! Happy Monday!

Hard to believe it, but it's been a little over a year since I announced my first book deal. So what's happened since then?

Well, first off, there are quite a few great posts floating around the internet that talk about all of the steps involved in getting a book from a publisher’s initial offer to the actual bookshelf. One reason I think this post gets written a lot is because authors get asked about this a lot—except it’s usually phrased like “Your book sold when? And it’s coming out when? Why so far away?” And then I, at least, just sort of nod and smile and say, “yes, it’s normal for a big traditional publisher to take that long, no it doesn't mean they hate my book, yes, I am very patient, thanks, etc...”, and then I try to explain everything that’s been happening behind the scenes, but I usually mix up my dates and words and end up just losing people halfway though.

So! I thought I’d write something on the subject down in a post, so I can just direct people to it instead. And because I liked specific dates and stats and stuff when I was researching everything before I was published (and even after, too), I thought I’d be as specific as possible—although, of course, this shouldn’t be used as a guide, since publisher’s timelines—even among the same imprints and same editors at the same house—are going to vary wildly.

This is just for fun, just for those curious about what my past year has looked like. Also keep in mind that this is my only experience, and it’s with one of the Big 5, and I’m sure other publishers work different, and that’s cool. Yay for other publishers and all the methods we now have for sharing beautiful books with the world! This is not a “let’s compare one publisher to another and talk about how slow traditional publishers are and how they’re going the way of the dinosaurs and blah blah blah!” sort of post. Incidentally, I’d never write one of those posts, because I happen to think my publisher is pretty kickass, and honestly this past year hasn't felt that slow at all. But I digress.

Right, anyway, here are some of those promised “behind-the-scenes” stats for you; enjoy! :)

Initial Offer on FALLS THE SHADOW made: January 3, 2013

Offer Accepted: January 14, 2013

Offer Announced: January 15, 2013

Contract (after agent negotiations) signed:  March 18, 2013

First Edit Letter Arrived: May 3, 2013

First Round of Edits Deadline: June 3, 2013

Second Edit Letter Arrived: July 29, 2013

Second Round of Edits Deadline: August 26, 2013

Book is considered D&A’d:  August 29, 2013

(D&A stands for “delivered and accepted”, which basically means I held up my end of the contract and produced a publishable book, which means I then get the second part of my advance, and we move on to…)

Copyedits Arrived: October 14, 2013

Copyedits Due: October 28, 203

First Look at my Book’s Cover: November 14, 2013

First Pass Pages Arrived: December 23, 2013

First Pass Pages Due: January 13, 2014

Official Release Date for FALLS: September 16, 2014

So there you have it. These are all the bigger things that have gone on this past year; all of this, of course, in between writing a new book (and a half!), revising said new book, and doing things like setting up interviews,  cover reveals, working with my editor on flap copy, filling out author questionnaires, eating lots of cookies, etc…

If you have any questions, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer!

Stefanie Gaither writes YA novels about killer clones and spaceships, with the occasional romp with dragons and magic-users thrown in for good measure. Said writing is generally fueled by an obscene amount of coffee and chocolate, as well as the occasional tennis and/or soccer break. She's represented by Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary, and her debut novel, FALLS THE SHADOW, is forthcoming from Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers in 2014. You can add it on Goodreads here!

You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/stefaniegaither

Or drop her an email at: stefanie.gaither@gmail.com

And also visit her website @: www.stefaniegaither.com 

The Secrets of a Sale

Hey, lovelies!

So yesterday, I got to share my book deal news and it was awesome. I so appreciate all the love and support! You guys made it so fun for me. And today, I get to tell you some of the secrets behind my sale.

Yaaaaay! It's so small. I don't know how to make it bigger.

One of the toughest parts about being on submission is that you have to pretend like you're not slowly developing a psychological problem, like it's normal to find relief in tearing your eyelashes out while you wait, or eating your sixteenth cupcake after you've read your sixteenth rejection letter. You have to play it cool, never mention it on social media, and pretend like it doesn't even matter while you slog through a new draft of something that seems less important. But now that it's over (*sobs*) I want to share my experience with you guys. I want you to know that if this is you, and things seem abysmal, they can still turn around. And you should probably stop pulling out your eyelashes.

Anyway, if you've followed this blog for awhile, you've read my posts about THE DIARIES OF ELLA GRAHAM (now titled OF SCARS AND STARDUST). This is the book of my heart, not my first manuscript, but the one I love more than any of the others. I believed in this book every step of the way. Lucky for me, so did my agent.

In June of 2012, shortly after signing with Victoria, I put SCARS through its first major overhaul. In July (over a year ago), we sent it out into the world and it was fresh and shiny and I was fresh and shiny and I couldn't wait for good things to clutter my inbox.

In came the rejections.

One after another. But the thing is, there were so many close calls. In those rejections letters, there were some of the nicest compliments I've ever received about my writing, which almost made it worse in a way. Victoria and I were both frustrated; no one could quite pinpoint what it was about the manuscript that seemed "off," just that it was.

In January, we had run through our list and I thought that it might be time to drawer SCARS, even though I didn't want to. But Victoria was not having any of that nonsense. We pulled back, we brainstormed for weeks, and I wrote a very detailed, chapter-by-chapter outline of SCARS as it was, at her request. We tore that sucker apart. Actually, she tore that sucker apart and I died a little inside, but it was cool, it was cool. And then SCARS went through its second major overhaul. (It was during this time period that I began referring to it as Frankenbook--a stitched up version of its former self.) I rewrote a third of that book in six days. I was single-minded about it, almost feverish. I still loved it, and I was determined to make this book the first of my book babies to leave the nest.

In March, it went back out on submission.

I prayed to any freaking ethereal being that would listen to me, I compulsively checked my email as writers on sub do, and I waited.

One month went by. Then another. Then a third.

And I gave up.

I don't mean that I gave up in the way that I thought it would never get published and I'd never write another thing and that I was a failure. I mean that I let it go. I stopped having certain expectations for SCARS and what it needed to do and how it needed to enter the world. I stopped thinking of it as a "right now" book and put in in a quiet place. It became a "someday, maybe" book. I finished revising my next thriller, and began writing another. I tucked away thoughts of SCARS and thanked it for being the manuscript that hooked me up with an agent, and taught me the art of perseverance and patience.

And then it sold in July.

Of course, right? Doesn't it always work out like that? (By the way, I have absolutely no tips on how to let things go so that they can happen in their own way. My strategy thus far has been to cling to everything I want like a barnacle until I'm too tired and battered to hang on anymore. Which, you know, don't do that. It's exhausting.)

Victoria and I tried to act "normalish" as the whole thing unfolded, but failed and swore (excitedly) instead.

So, in case you're keeping tabs, OF SCARS AND STARDUST sold one year after it went on submission, and went through two major rewrites during that year. And now you'll get to read it. <3

So, I have several people I need to thank endlessly for helping make this creepy, quiet little book become a reality.

My very first critique partner, Michelle Levy, who asked the question, "WHAT THE HELL DOES ELLA'S DAMN NOTE SAY?" twenty-five times throughout my draft until I figured out I should probably add that in. After Michelle came Leigh Ann Kopans, who has just as fierce love for SCARS as I do, and who has championed this book from the very beginning. And because of Leigh Ann's championing, thank you to all of the people who read and critiqued this book due to her gushing (I don't even know how many of you there are now, but I'm so incredibly grateful anyone wanted to read it at all).

While Leigh Ann was cheering on SCARS from behind the scenes, Victoria took it to the front line. She never gave up on this book, even when things looked dreary for awhile there. She put hours worth of work into her revision ideas and to cutting up my outlines, and because of her there's ten times more creep factor in this book. (Thank you a bajillion times over.)

And thank you to all of the writers that kept me (kind of) sane over the past year by sending love notes in the mail, sweet emails and texts, and pictures of dinosaurs puking up rainbows: Heather Marie, Megan Orsini, Amanda Olivieri, Megan Whitmer, Erica Chapman, Jamie Grey, Hay Farris, Kristen Jett, Dahlia Adler, Kelsey Macke, Heidi Schultz, Dan Hanks, and Becca Weston. (And so, so many more, but it's 1 A.M. and I'm blurry-eyed and I love you.)

And a quick little shout out to my husband, who made my kid magically disappear during the dark days of revision, and to my best friend, Keri, who has talked to me about this book pretty much every freaking day since I wrote it, and has read it almost as many times as I've said the phrase, "But I just really want it to be this book."

And now it is.

xo.

*Giveaway announcement: This Friday, September 27th, I'll be giving away six books throughout the day on the @LifeofWriters twitter feed. We'll be playing Name That Book! Join in throughout the day to win FREE STUFF. 

Andrea Hannah is a YA writer represented by Victoria Marini of Gelfman Schneider. She writes stories about criminals, crazy people, and creatures that may or may not exist. When she's not writing, Andrea teaches special education, runs, spends time with her family, and tries to figure out a way to prevent her pug from opening the refrigerator (still unsuccessful). Oh, and she tweets a bajillion times a day, mostly about inappropriate things. 

You can find her on Twitter @: http://twitter.com/andeehannah

Drop her an email @: andreahannahbooks@gmail.com
And visit her website @: http://www.andreahannah.com/

Why Your Publishing Degree Isn’t a Golden Ticket to Success in the Industry

Okay. I know some of you read that title and immediately in your head went, duh. But I feel like there are actually some misunderstandings about this and you know what? That worries me.

School. Ah, school. To our parents and a large part of society it’s highly important we attend this educational systematic hierarchy so that we can parade around a degree or two in our home and land that dream job. Some people want to seek a degree because school does make them happy and they actually need it for that dream job. I’m not talking about those people.

The people I’m talking about are those who believe that by gaining a BA in Creative Writing, Publishing, MFA, etc. will bring them success. If you believe this, then I’m sorry for what you’re about to read next. Because having that degree isn’t a guarantee that you’ll land an agent/editor + publishing deal.

Your degree isn’t a golden ticket to success in the publishing factory. Just because you know X, Y, and Z and studied under A, B, and C really isn’t going to mean anything to an agent or editor. They aren’t going to ask to see your BA/MFA/etc. before offering you a contract.

But you know what is? Your writing.

Your writing is the #1 thing that will prove yourself to these industry-folk. The second thing may be how catchy and original your plot is, but the big thing is your writing.

And yes, school does help with that in some cases. Will it help you improve your craft? Sure. Will you get one-on-one time with professors to discuss where you’re going wrong? Possibly. Will you meet and work with critique partners? Most likely. Will you watch your work get evaluated and build tougher skin? I would say this is highly possible.

But.

There are some things you should ask yourself if you’re in a program. Are you happy? Truly happy? Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work and constantly think to yourself, I’d rather be working on my own stuff? Or do you feel like this is taking away from the things in your life that makes you happy—family, friends, special events? Because if so, I would really reevaluate my decisions.

I say this because I know how it is. I had the chance to gain my masters for free and once my mom found out she insisted I go for it. It was a business program. I knew this was a rare opportunity, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. But was I happy? Hell. No.

I was so overwhelmed with the course load work. I hated that I was crunching numbers or evaluating hypothetical situations when I could have put that time and energy into writing. I cried a lot out of frustration. A lot. I told my boyfriend more than once I was going to quit. He knew how miserable I was and was like, I just want you to be happy. Do what you need to do.

And no, I didn’t quit. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but I wish I did. Sometimes it’s okay to be a quitter if it’s going to make you happier in the long run.

I was talking to a few different friends of mine within, oh, maybe the last 5 months. Three of them were debating whether or not to go back to school. This is always what I ask: is getting this degree going to make you happier in the future? And if the answer is yes, I’ll totally support you. But if you’re someone who wants to study overseas just to be somewhere else with a purpose, I’ll say something like, well why don’t you spend that money on a work visa instead of wasting it on an education you don’t want if you want to be somewhere else so badly?

And I get it. I get that degrees mean a lot in our society. But in the long run you have to go with what’s going to make you happy.

There are successful people out there who’ve never gone to college and landed a book deal. Authors who don’t have fancy MFAs have received a deal from one of the Big Six (or Big Five? Idk anymore). There are successful authors who haven’t even graduated high school! Or college! People who have had ZERO connections going into this industry have made it.

So am I saying quit your program? No. Am I saying don’t even consider school? No. I’m not telling you to do anything. I’m only telling you that 1) having a degree won’t guarantee you that publishing deal and 2) to take a step back when it comes to how school is affecting your happiness.

And on that note I ask you this: have you seen the Jenna Marbles video about what to do with your degree? Oh my god. Just. Watch and relate. (Because I mean really wtf are we supposed to do with these things?)

Howdy from Farrah Penn: The Writer Who Made All The Mistakes So You Don’t Have To

Hey readers! I wanted to take a minute and thank everyone from Secret Life for allowing me to become a contributor on this blog. I’ve always enjoyed the fact that Secret Life gives gives readers a more personal insight into writing and publishing. I definitely wish this was around when I was first getting started in the writing community, and you’re about to find out why.

I want this kick off post to talk about the awkward things we hope we don’t have to face in publishing: the mistakes.

When I graduated from my university with my bachelor’s, and I had no idea what I really wanted to do. A friend of mine told me we should start a book blog and after a few months, I became extremely passionate about reading and writing again. (Let’s be honest: who really has time for that in college? And if you do, may I borrow your superpowers sometime?)

I finished my “NA” (I hate putting labels on things, but that’s what the large part of publishing would describe it as) novel that was largely inspired by Megan McCafferty’s Jessing Darling books. When it was done, I was ready to rock and roll with querying.

Mistake #1: Your Second Pair of Eyes (AKA Critique Partners)

I queried this book for the first time in 2009 (I was still in college at that time but I wasn’t really serious about writing or querying) without having anyone read it other than myself. It wasn’t edited, not really. Needless to say, that round of querying got me nowhere.

Here’s what I would have done and for most of you it will seem obvious: I would have sought out beta readers and critique partners. I would have made changes based on similar advice, put the MS away for a while, and then cleaned it up with a fresh pair of eyes. I would have asked for help because, trust me, you don’t want to go through publishing alone.

Mistake #2: Querying

When the first round of querying this particular book failed, I sought out beta readers (who were also my friends) and pretty much rewrote the entire thing after I’d graduated (aka when I had way more free time). During that time, I began to use Twitter more and discovered there was a writing community out there. I didn’t exactly do my research on the second round of querying, but I should have.

Here’s some mistakes I made: Not formatting the query according to guidelines, attaching more pages than asked for, replying to rejection queries, querying multiple agents within the same agency, so on and so forth.

Ugh. Cringe, right? Now I see agents blog and tweet about how much that bothers them and want to smack myself. Follow directions, y’all. It’s not that hard (although apparently it was for me). Also, not following guidelines will sometimes result in your query heading straight into the trash box, ruining any opportunity you’d have with that agent.

Another mistake with querying: My query wasn’t that good. If I could navigate into my old hotmail account and find it, I would find it so I could tear it apart for you. (I deleted that email account, so I have no idea where a saved copy would be, if I even have it). It didn’t have a hook, it was too cliche, and my voice didn’t stand out. (I’m self-critiquing it because I know better now) Again, this is where critique partners and beta readers are great! It always helps to have a second pair of eyes on things, even something as simple as your query letter.

Mistake #3: The Call

This post is already getting long, so if you want to read more about my novel that got me my agent, you can read this post from my blog. For now I’ll just say that I became more active with blogging, twitter, and the writing community, pushed aside that “NA” novel, and wrote a YA dystopian. This was around the beginning of 2011.

I had that feeling where I was like, “hey, I got this.” I read so many blogs that gave querying advice. I wrote an actual YA query with a hook. I painstakingly followed every agent’s querying guidelines down to the smallest details. I was determined to get this right.

Bright side: I apparently did do something right because I gathered a few requests on my first round. Fast forward through doing revisions for person-of-interest, agent Suzie Townsend, and she requested to call me.

Here’s where mistake #3 comes in. I was so well-versed in querying information that I totally forgot to research what to expect during a call. I literally had no idea what we were going to talk about other than that Suzie wanted to talk about my novel.

Ugh. Cringe again. I was so nervous and excited to speak with her. Luckily Suzie has a great phone personality because she was confident and was able to lead our conversation.

But when she asked if I had questions? Yeah that would have been the time to be prepared. Instead I just asked her questions about my novel that she already answered via email. Your book is important, but I should have been asking her about the submission process, her personal revision process, how the agency works together (or individually), time frames, business questions, etc. etc. etc.

(Sidenote: I’m going to link Andrea’s post here if you happen to be reading this and ARE curious about what questions to ask during the call. She does a great job at explaining.)

Lucky for me, Suzie spun the conversation to explain some of those things to me since I was an idiot and wasn’t asking about the important stuff. Then I believe she offered, which was absolutely awesome.

This is turning into a really long post, so I’ll try and wrap it up. These are 100% my mistakes that I own up to throughout my publishing process. If I could have done it differently, I would have researched more. THAT’S really one of the big reasons why I wanted to join Secret Life. I wanted other writers to know that it’s not the end of the world if you make mistakes and not only that, but to also learn from the ones I made.

Before I sign off, I want to leave you with some really useful blogs that I feel would be helpful for publishing research:

• Almost everyone knows this one but in case you don’t, Agent Query is a great tool for those just getting started querying. There are informative articles about query letters as well as agent information.
• Dahlia Alder, Writing Guru and Extraordinar, has an entire section of her website dedicated to helping querying and agented writers. It’s awesome. You can read more about it here.
• This may seem like I’m plugging my agency, but in all honesty I feel like it’s super useful. New Leaf Literary’s tumblr has an ask box where you can ask questions and receive professional answers from established agents. Don’t be afraid of asking dumb questions (there is no such thing!) but if you ARE worried, you can ask anonymously.

Anyway, I hoped this helped you! I’m looking forward to writing more posts in the future. If you have any specific topic ideas you’d like me to cover, please let me know in the comments!

Farrah Penn enjoys staying up way too late and making up for it in large quantities of coffee. On top of her love for reading books with memorable characters, she also enjoys internet memes, yoga, and her adorably bratty dog. When she’s not rushing to complete marketing projects at work, she’s writing and daydreaming about traveling the world. Farrah writes YA and is represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary.


You can also find her on Twitter @: https://www.twitter.com/farrahwrites
Drop her an email @: farrahnicolepenn@gmail.com
And visit her blog at: http://www.farrahpenn.com