The News Gets Better...

Upon getting the agent referral from Mr. Brian Selznick, I went ahead and shot an e-mail to her, giving her the low-down on who I was and what my children's book is about. I sent the message yesterday, not expecting to hear from her for a week or so. Well, as luck would have it, I got the following message from her today:

Hello, Kingsley,

Thanks for this note! I'm very curious about how you connected with Brian. He's very talented, but also a great guy.

Actually, I'm not accepting any new clients. (Brian doesn't know that, so he didn't steer you wrong.) But because your project sounds interesting and because Brian sent you to me :-) I will read your book and tell you what I think. Okay? And my preference would be for you to snail mail it to me and please don't fuss about fancy paper and all that. It's the writing that counts, right?! If you don't want to go that route, that's fine - just let me know to not expect a catapulted package to land on my porch.

Cheers,
Literary Agent

The catapult reference comes from a little funny thing I wrote in my introductory e-mail. I'm glad to see that some of my little quips didn't go unnoticed or unappreciated.

So, the bottom line is: YES! I'm sending her my book right away (tomorrow morning) and I'm just going to sit and fret and wonder what she thinks of it. I know, I know...I should worry, but that's how I'm built. This is the first person who isn't connected to me by family, friends or anything that is going to read the book and give me feedback on it. I've figured out a list of scenarios of what could happen with this exchange. Humor me.

1. Absolute Best-case scenario: 'Kingsley, this book is the best children's book I've read in all of my years as a literary agent. I know I said I'm not accepting new clients at this time, but I'm willing to make an exception here. In fact, I'm going to ignore some of the other writers I'm working with so that I can get your manuscript into the right hands. I know some folks at Scholastic who would kill to get their hands on something like this. Please tell me you've finished Book Two.'

2. Best-case scenario: This is a good book and I think it has some real potential, but as I mentioned I'm not able to represent anyone else right now. Here, let me give you a list of people in New York who would like to have a look at it. I'll call ahead and let them know it's coming, so just go ahead and send it to them.

3. Good-case scenario: I liked it. I think with a little polishing and maybe another rewrite, it's going to be ready to go. Once you've got it sparkly and cleaned up, let me know and I'll look at it again. You never know. I might be able to work with it at that time.

4. Okay-case scenario: Eeew. I'm not sure this is really ready for the world, just yet. I think you need to work on (blah, blah) and try to strengthen your (blah, blah). Thanks for letting me read it, but it's just not for me.

5. Worst-case scenario: I couldn't even read it. When I talk to Brian Selznick, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for referring you to me. Please don't let the door hit you where the door split you. Good day, sir.

I'm, of course, making light of what this particular agent might be able to do for me, but in reality it's a win-win situation. If she likes it enough to get my foot in the door with either her agency or refer me to someone else, it's another step in the right direction. On the other hand, even if she flat out HATES my book, at least I'll know I need to spend some more time on the book and possibly do some major rewrites. This, of course, will save me the time and energy of sending out a manuscript that just isn't fit for human consumption.

Anyway...mailing it tomorrow. Will update when something new and exciting happens. I think tomorrow I'll e-mail that other Minnesota author. What can it hurt???

Bad & Good

Alas...usually any type of news seems like it's bad news in the world of a struggling children's author. I wish there was some way for me to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Not all children's authors are stay-at-home mom's that crank out 12 picture books a month! Some of us actually tell a detailed story...but oh well. First the bad news, then the good.

Bad, bad, bad

Got a rejection slip in the mailbox last Saturday. This one was from Allred & Allred Literary Agents. It was printed on a dot-matrix printed slip of paper that read:

Dear Writer:

We have reviewed your proposal and have decided this is not the agency to represent it.

Thank you.

Firstly, I didn't send them a proposal. I sent them a query and the first 25 pages. Secondly...oh, what's the point? I'm not sure a agency that can't even manage to emote a molecule of personalization is going to be worth the effort. So, I've crossed them off of the list as well. That's cool. Have it your way Allred & Allred. Who needs ya???

Good, very good.

Remember the children's author I mentioned in my last post? Well, Mr. Brian Selznick was good enough to send me a reply to my e-mail. In it, he gave me the name and e-mail address of a children's book agent her in Minneapolis. He said to send her an e-mail and let her know that he gave me her name, etc... Awesome. He also asked if I knew about www.scbwi.org and that there were some really good resources on there as well. As if that weren't enough...he also hooked me up with the e-mail address of a new author here in town that he thought would be helpful and friendly to the likes of me.

Not only that, Brian said to keep him up to date with how things go. Stay tuned...