Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Traveling home from the International Christian Retailers Show, Denver, CO
Whew! What a full schedule we had at ICRS. This is one of the best parts of our job, playing matchmaker. We make matches in a number of ways. The most obvious is arranging the marriage between author and publisher. Here’s where we really get to play yentl. So much thought goes into each potential match. One of the reasons editors appreciate Books & Such agents is that we don’t parade every single author in front of them. We know what the publisher has produced in the past. We know what they like. We like to think we know what they may need in their line. After spending time studying their list and our list, we draw up a group of possibilities. If we’re good, the editor will ask to see almost all the projects. Agents take pride in the ability to find the perfect book for an editor and the perfect publishing house for an author. Our reputation with editors depends on how well we do this.
But that’s just one of the kinds of matches we make.
As an agency, we’re committed to connecting clients with other clients. Writing has long been a solitary pursuit, but we’re finding that writers can collaborate to help each other with ideas and marketing.
Late last year we decided to try an experiment. We connected six of our Books & Such novelists. Most did not know the others but all of them write upmarket fiction. The six of them started a blog, Novel Matters. It’s become the place for writers and readers to gather and talk about good books. An added benefit has been that these six writers have become friends. They all gathered in California to attend the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference in April and had more fun than any group of writers should be allowed to have. I love this kind of matchmaking.
Sometimes we match writers and projects. Many book ideas actually germinate inside the publishing houses. We often receive calls from editors asking us if we have a certain kind of writer to do a specific project. We create a brochure each year highlighting some of what we call our “resource writers.” We’re often able to keep our journalists, co-writers, ghostwriters and collaborators busy in this way.
We also like to play matchmaker between readers and books. You’ll notice here on our blog we have a “What We’re Reading” feature. Once in a while the book we’re reading is from a Books & Such client, but the majority of the time we’re trying to keep up with the bestsellers and the books that are getting the buzz. Why? As agents, we need to know what readers are reading. It’s important for us to stay connected with the literary zeitgeist. If you want to see an editor or an agent become animated, just ask him what he’s read lately. We’re in this business because we love books. And there’s nothing we love better than connecting readers and outstanding books.
I’ve been talking about the best parts of my job as an agent. How about you? What’s the best part of your job as a writer? How about as a reader?
Matchmaker…hmmm, I like that. 🙂 I can tell you really like your job That’s awesome!
Best part of my job as a writer? That’s an easy one for me…getting lost in my characters. Love it. Love creating funky situations for them to fight and defeat evil.
As a reader? I love finding that special book that compels me to read on. Even if it means losing sleep to finsih reading that last chapter. I love that!
Great post. Have safe travels home from Colorado
What I love most about writing is the opportunity to represent some little portion of the truth of God in a story.
“Author heaven” is having someone read your book and tell you their life was blessed by it.
But I also love the whole process: the challenge of creating characters and plot, the fun of tweaking lines until they become something special, and the excitement of researching new places and activities.
Top that off with writer’s conferences, fellowshipping with authors, agents, and editors, and there’s really nothing I’d rather do.
I think I’ve talked myself into starting chapter 7 this morning of my current project!
I love your enthusiasm, Wendy.
I love matchmaking in all of its forms.
I love sharing a book with someone that really connects with them. I like putting someone in touch with a writing job. I like introducing two people who become very good friends.
It makes me feel like I’m being used as one of God’s tools.
> What’s the best part of your job as a writer?
I enjoy watching my characters come alive, react to my plot, and then do something completely unexpected, but far more in character than what I had asked them to do. When a character ‘disobeys’ I know I have created a real person.
Here are some of my “best parts” as a writer:
*When a readers tells me something I wrote touched them or was just what they needed at a moment.
*Those middle-of-the-night wake-up calls when I grab the clipboard (with its own light) next to my bed. Then I scribble down the line(s) or the phrase I’ve struggled to come up with.
*Similarly, the times I interrupt a meal or a conversation in mid-sentence and say, “Excuse me, I need to write something down before I lose it.”
(After all these years my husband is used to this routine.)
*Those rare times when the words flow (almost) right the first time.
Then I know I’m a writer and I feel confirmed in that calling.
The best part for me is picking up something I wrote a while back… something I’d forgotten, and re-reading it, and ACTUALLY LIKING IT!
Writing has given me a tiny insight into God’s heart. On a very small scale, I know what it’s like to “create” a character and then have them act in ways I don’t want them to. Then I have to figure a way to get them out of their mess. I’ve also enjoyed learning that no hero is perfect, and no villian is entirely reprehensible. Even the best characters have issues they need God to overcome, and even the worst have a backstory that stirs my heart to compassion for their dilemma. And I love it when my characters “talk” to me.
My other favorite thing about writing is sharing it. Outside my crit partners, I have a few close friends and family members who just read and let me know if the story holds their interest. When they beg for another chapter, I know I’m doing something right.
One of the best things that has happened to me as an unpublished writer was when I was working on the first round of revisions. At one point I started reading ahead and sat up for hours, swept away by my own story. I couldn’t sleep that night, I was so excited. I could hardly believe that it was me who had written it.
One of the best moments for me is early in a project, that moment when a character first speaks to me, and I hear her voice so clearly, and it feels like I’m simply taking dictation. It can happen anytime, anywhere. I just better be prepared (lipstick and a napkin will do in a pinch). Any time in the writing process when this happens is good, but that first time is exhilarating. I tend to walk about looking dazed for a while, afterward.
I’m going to head on over and check out Novel Matters. Sounds like a great blog.
I love how you talk about matchmaking and the importance of relationship. I think sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of making 1, 2, 3 happen: write, get agent, get contract. But there is so much that goes on in between and I can see how important it is to match the right people/books/publishers.
As far as writing and reading, I think my favorite part is getting lost in it…in the characters, the story, the potential ability to impact others positively. Thanks for this post!
Working with children every day, I know that the way to a parent’s heart is to love their children. That is the best part of writing for me, when I find someone who loves my ‘children’ like I do. Making characters so real that people miss them, cry for them or grab me by the lapel and demand to know whether or not they get married in the end (this happened in church one day). We all know what it’s like to miss our characters when we’re done, and it’s rewarding to know that others do, too.
Wendy, you and Janet gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life. (The greatest of course was the gift of salvation, followed by the bittersweet gift of the trial of Mormonism which ties with the gift of my extraordinary family.)
But next in line, along with and associated with the gift of writing, is the companionship and love of my fellow writers at NovelMatters. I tell them with tears in my eyes that the privilege of having peers like them is one of my life’s greatest treasures. Thank you so much, oh matchmaker agents Wendy and Janet.
Latayne C Scott
http://www.latayne.com
Just can’t thank you enough for matching the Novel Matters girls. We are more than friends who happen to write. We are sisters of the most tender kind. Only three of us made it to ICRS, and it felt like we’d left an arm or a leg at home.
Also, I saw Wendy and Janet scurrying about the ICRS floor, and you’ve never seen too women more intent on the goal at hand. They are WORKING for us. Thanks, lovely ladies!
Wendy, the experiment paid off in spades, and I know I speak for all of us at Novel Matters when I say how deeply we’ve connected on so many levels. We aren’t just blog collaborators and fellow writers now, we’re friends. We’re a sounding board for each other’s projects, we’re prayer partners, we cover for one another in a pinch — and we’re loving every minute. Our time together at Mt. Hermon was remarkable, and our conference calls … they’re hilarious. You and Janet were inspired on this, as you are in so many ways.
You couldn’t be more correct when you said the Novel Matters women at Mount Hermon “had more fun than any group of writers should be allowed to have.”
My ribs still ache a bit from all the laughter. The women who comprise Novel Matters have been one of the greatest gifts of my writing life (the first would be having Wendy as my agent – can’t express how important a job she does and how well. She is beloved and respected everywhere). I don’t know if you can find six more grateful writers than the Novel Matters gang. I’ve found the friendship and mentoring I prayed for!
In fact all my greatest joys about the writing journey have been relational ones. Wendy matched me with my publisher and it has been a wonderful relationship with everyone at Cook – they’ve been so kind to me, and together we’ve built a team I can trust and believe in.
Group hug! 🙂
Wendy and Janet, you ladies are outrageously good at what you do. Thank you, thank you for introducing me to this talented, wise, loving group of women. Mount Hermon was definitely more fun than we should have had. It felt like our own updated band of Inklings, only I’m not sure Lewis and Tolkien and their ilk would have been ready for some of these girls. Certainly not for Bonnie. Or Patti…
I love the way you are ready to try new things. I’m so blessed to be in your fold.