Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday and a
happy new year. I have had the privilege of interviewing a fellow writer, blogger,
and friend – Emily Vajda. She is an inspiring writer who shares a wealth of insight from staying motivated in pushing through literary projects to the core of her voice retelling the wonders of life along with all it's crazy and chaotic manifestations on emilyvajda.wordpress.com. She is also known for singing, and acting. She works for
a literary agency and resides in Seattle, WA.
MQ: After doing some
research, I came across your Facebook page and noticed that you work for
Kimberely Cameron and Associates. This sounds crazy but I actually queried them
once (looking back, I was mortified, because my book was at the time nowhere
near ready). With that, what has been your personal “rule of thumb” for a
successful query?
EV: I think you
answered that question already. I would say a successful query is a query that
is polished, that is, a manuscript that is polished. I don’t just mean one
draft, we’re talking five, maybe ten drafts later. I encourage writers to find
an editor to look over the MS before querying. Having an editor’s eye is
invaluable and worth every single penny. I also encourage people to resubmit
with revised pages. Happy to hear that you queried our agency, but don’t give
up. Polish those pages, spend another six months revising, and try again.
MQ: From your
experience at writer’s conferences, what should a first time attendee expect?
What are some DO’s and DON’T’s?
EV: I recently attended my first conference and I was SO
nervous, I had no idea what to expect. What I found out was that the conference
will be what you make of it. I found it an incredible way to network and begin
to build a writerly community, and brought little business cards I had made
that week, to slip to people I met in order to keep in contact. The business
card had my name, facebook, twitter, and website info, as well as my novel’s
information.
DO spend the money to pitch to agents and editors in person
at the conference – it is worth it! It gives you a chance to get to know these
agents and editors and to see if you are a good fit personality-wise, not just
genre-wise. Don’t feel as though you need to have a polished MS at that time –
be a good three drafts in, for sure, but go ahead and pitch. If an agent is
interested and your MS isn’t ready, don’t send it to them. The agent will wait.
You get one chance, and you want the product you send to be bullet-proof.
DON’T talk about yourself too much. So often you see people
networking and schmoozing, but only to get their own name out there into the
literary world. Listen to others. Let them talk to you too. Build a
relationship and BAM – you’ve got a literary contact.
MQ: I apologize if
this comes off too personal, but what advice have you received in the past as a
writer?
EV: Advice that I have received as a writer is to read. You
won’t be a good writer unless you’re a good reader. So take the time to read
all different genres, good AND bad examples of literature. There is something
to be said about learning what NOT to do when you read a poorly written book.
MQ: Last question, I’ve
noticed that self-publishing has been gaining more popularity than ever. However,
I am still biased to the traditional publishing world, what are the pro’s to
still going the traditional route?
EV: I’m biased to the
traditional publishing route as well and I won’t self-publish my novel
until/unless every single agent/editor has rejected my novel. A huge PRO for
traditional publishing is that by being published, it is as though there is
already a brand stamped onto your book that it has been deemed worthy. Because “anyone”
can self-publish these days, it is hard to find a way to stand out amongst the
crowd. However, when you have a publishing house, you’re already one step
ahead. Also, I think, at least for me, being traditionally published is the way
that I want to begin my career and build my career. A huge CON to
self-publishing is that, sure, it’s easy and fast, and it feels good to see
your work published. However, once you self-publish, it is very challenging to
go back to the traditional route. Most agents will not even look at material
that has been self-published, so you need to be prepared to submit brand new
material to an agent.
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