Writing Popular Fiction

by Dean Koontz

  Many writers mistakenly believe that the great prose artists never allow anyone to suggest changes in their novels. The opposite is the case. The most revered prose artists are open-minded enough to request advice and to use suggestions that might strengthen their work.

  28. You've mentioned the literary agent. Should I obtain one? First of all, you will not be able to obtain a good agent until you have sold at least one novel on your own. Most agents, before accepting a new client, must know you are professional, understand your craft, and can regularly produce saleable material: they have no time to teach you to write or to educate you in the business of writing and publishing.

  Secondly, you will gain valuable market experience and editorial contacts by submitting your own work for the first couple of years of your career. You will be ready for an agent when you're earning close to $10,000 a year, or when an editor tells you it's time to obtain a literary representative for your work.

  If you are an established writer, you are foolish to continue without a New York agent, even if you live in the city. Most publishers are honest, but only as honest as they have to be. After all, they are in business to make a profit, not to enrich writers. An agent can obtain larger advances and better contract terms than the average writer would know how to wangle. I know one major science fiction writer who has, for his whole career, permitted his hardcover publishers to handle his subsidiary rights and to, in effect, act as his agents. As a result, though he is nationally known and a regular guest on the television talk shows, he still gets a $1,500 or $2,000 advance for books that eventually earn royalties in five figures. "So what?" he says. "I get it all in royalties, anyhow." But any business-minded writer knows that $10,000 in royalties, paid over four years, is less valuable than a $10,000 advance paid right now: for one thing, the rising cost of living makes those strung-out royalties five to ten percent less valuable than the same sum paid today-and for another, the writer could invest a large advance and earn dividends on it during those four years. He could increase his work-reward ratio and make it possible to spend less time at the typewriter in order to maintain his favorite lifestyle. A good agent will generate enough new income for the writer to more than compensate for his 10% commission.

  29. Is it worthwhile to pay a reading fee to an agent to get his opinion of my book? Once or twice, yes. If you make a practice of it, no. In a few criticisms he will have said all he can say about your work, will have given you all the advice you need. After that, it's up to you to apply his suggestions.

  30. Once I obtain an agent, will he sell everything I send him to market for me? Probably not. An agent can only sell good work, the same pieces you could have sold yourself: he has no friendships with editors that insure the sale of inferior work. An agent's value lies in the better terms he arranges for the work he does sell.

  31. Will my agent personally handle my fiction, or will he merely act as a forwarding service? Only rarely, and only when the script has great financial potential, will your agent deliver it personally to an editor. For the most part, he relies on telephone contacts, city mail service, and messenger services. In some cases, if the piece is only average, he will submit it by mail just as you would yourself, with no advance patter or socko introductory letter. But remember, when an editor receives a script from a good agent, he gives it closer attention and more consideration than he gives to anything that comes from the slush pile. He knows that an agent is handling professionals and that his reading time will be better spent with agented scripts than with un-agented freelance submissions. For this reason, several major publishing companies no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts.

  Wait! I know what your next question is before you ask it: "If the publishers stop accepting unsolicited manuscripts, and if an agent will only handle writers with several credits, how can new writers hope to break in? We can't sell without an agent, but an agent won't handle us unless we've sold!" It isn't so bad as that. The publishing houses who have ceased to accept unagented manuscripts are those who never bought from unestablished writers in the first place. They are among the most prestigious houses that no new writer could expect to hit, at the start, with or without an agent. By the time your work is polished enough and your audience substantial enough to interest these companies in your books, you will also have obtained an agent.

  32. Which agents are good and which are the ones to avoid? There are no lists of worthy and unworthy agents. You must decide what you want from your agent and then choose him accordingly. The larger agencies, with long lists of famous clients, will have the experience and muscle to generate big money for you, if you happen to write a book that hits or skirts the best-seller lists. If you write good books that have only normal sales, a large agency will do little for you: you will be expected to make the first breakthrough, and they will exploit your talent for you when that plateau is finally reached. A smaller agency, sometimes only a single agent with no aides, will be better for the new writer, because a more personal relationship can be established. The agency that handles 600 clients, even if it employs five or six sub-agents, cannot provide the personal contact and concern that a one-man agency, with fifty or sixty select clients, can. And while a large agency can afford to carry dozens of writers who earn less than $10,000 a year, the small agency cannot. It must obtain top money for each of its clients if it is to stay solvent. Also, some agents are better for novelists than for non-fiction writers; some are clumsy with the representation of science fiction, because they handle little of it and don't understand the field; others handle chiefly suspense writers and are best at making suspense and mystery sales.

  33. How do I discover which agent would be best for me? Talk with an editor whom you've become friendly with: he'll be able to help you winnow down the possibilities. After that, you've got to count on dumb luck. Many writers go through at least one or two agents before they find one just right for them.

  34. What's the nature of an agent-author contract? This is a short form granting your agent exclusive permission to handle your work for the contract period-usually two years, automatically renewable-for the consideration of 10% of all domestic sales and 20$ of all foreign sales.

  35. Is there any clause in an agent-author contract I should be wary of? Yes. Do not sign any agent-author agreement or any book contract handled by your agent, which contains a clause giving the agent "… permission to handle the author's work in perpetuity and forever." It is only fair that an agent share in the monies growing out of the book contract he negotiated for you. But if, in later years, you change agents, and your new agent can resell a book that the original publisher has permitted to go out of print, your old agent has no moral right to share in this new loot.

  36. Will an agent tell me when a manuscript has been rejected and where it will go next? If you phone him about the whereabouts of a manuscript, and if it is an important script that you both have high hopes for, he is more than willing to let you know where it stands at the moment. He cannot waste the time to keep you informed about every development, however, and he will not appreciate regular calls or letters requesting such information. Be patient. In time, you'll discover it's very pleasant to be notified only when the script sells and to be shielded from depressing rejections.

  37. Will an agent send me my money as soon as he receives the publisher's check and takes his commission? Yes. Agents are, almost without exception, honest with their writers.

  38. /f I suddenly begin making big money-either by virtue of an unexpected best-seller or because I am prolific-how do I save it from the Internal Revenue Service? Get a good accountant at once. If your sudden financial upswing takes place within a single calendar year, he will probably help you to pay on an "averaged income" basis, a device the IRS permits for those whose sudden wealth was balanced by a few years of low or moderate income prior to success. This can save you from 10% to 30% in tax payments. If your success seems to be relatively lasting, he may even suggest, depending on which state you live in, t
hat you incorporate yourself. Federal taxes on businesses are substantially lower than they are on individuals. A good accountant will make you aware of all the legal deductions you may take and will more than pay his own fees in the money he saves you.

  39. I am not earning enough to warrant the services of an accountant, but I would like to be sure I'm deducting all that I can. What expenses can a writer claim against his income? You should keep receipts and records for all of the following:

  a. Supplies-typing paper, carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, staples, envelopes, paper clips, pens, pencils, rubber bands, and other such paraphernalia.

  b. Magazine subscriptions.

  c. Paperback and hardback books. Every book you as a writer buy is deductible as a business expense. At the end of the year, you can add up your expenditures, divide by either five or six [years], and take an average deduction each year for the next five years. If you divide by six, you are permitted to take a double deduction the first year.

  d. Mileage. Keep a record of any driving you may do in connection with writing-to the library, to do an interview with someone, and even to drive to the bookstore to look over the new titles. You may take a standard tax deduction for each mile driven.

  e. Postage.

  f. Commissions, if you have an agent.

  g. Travel-meals, hotels, gas, oil, tips. If you spend a weekend in Atlantic City, like the place, study it, and use it as background for a story, all your expenses are tax deductible. Trips to New York to talk with editors and trips to writers' conferences are also deductible.

  h. Furniture-desk, chair, bookcases, desklamp. An average five or six year deduction for depreciation is permitted, as with the cost of your books.

  i. Machines-typewriter, photocopier, adding machine. These expenses may be averaged and deducted as with furniture and books.

  j. Rent. If you have an office in which you write and do nothing else, the rent is 100% deductible. If you write at home, estimate the portion of your living space that is used for writing (don't forget areas where bookcases stand, the easy chair in which you generate ideas every night, or the kitchen table on which you collate scripts, do proofreading, correct galleys) and deduct that percentage of your monthly rent.

  k. Utilities-light, heat, garbage collection. If one fourth of your living space is used for writing, you are permitted to deduct one fourth of your utilities too.

  l. Telephone calls. All long distance calls that are related to your writing career are deductible. If you can honestly say that a considerable portion of your telephone usage is exclusively for business purposes, you can also deduct that percentage of the standard monthly charge, in addition to the charges for the long distance calls.

  40. Does any country exempt writers from income tax? Yes, Ireland.

  41. Do you recommend that footloose writers live in Ireland? Everyone should investigate the possibility. It does not appeal to me. Ireland is relatively peaceful (Northern Ireland, a completely different country, is the place you've read about in the papers for years, where all the social unrest is fermenting), is an English-speaking country, and is not any more expensive to live in than the U.S. But it is also terribly conservative and out of the mainstream of world affairs, trends, and thoughts. Because of religious and social intolerance, Ireland's great writers have, in the past, been forced to go abroad to do their finest work. But the decision to be an expatriate American in Ireland is one the individual must make himself.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN Marketing Genre Fiction: Questions and Answers

  In addition to the peripheral marketing questions that were covered in the last chapter, let me answer what I believe will be your major questions regarding marketing your stories.

  1. What is the proper manuscript form? Use good, bond paper, not the "typing paper" you can pick up in your local five and dime. Good, bond paper can be obtained, by the ream, from any business supply store in your area. I use Sphinx Erasable Bond, twenty pound weight, myself. Although a few editors dislike the erasable papers, these coated stocks can save you enormous amounts of time.

  Once you have your paper in the typewriter, you put the page number in the righthand corner, an inch down from the top. If you haven't an agent, you will also want to put the story title there, or a key word from it, to identify the manuscript and help keep it together as it changes hands. Likewise, if you haven't an agent, your name should go in the upper lefthand corner, also one inch from the top. If you are agented, you need only the page number.

  Next, space down six lines from your name and the page number to begin a chapter. Space down four lines on any ordinary text page. Leave an inch margin on both sides and approximately an inch at the bottom of the page. Indent each paragraph either five or ten spaces (be consistent, of course), and double-space everything, including examples, quotations, etc., which will be indented five or ten spaces.

  An occasional crossed-out word is all right. However, if you begin to change whole phrases, blue-pencil sentences, and make other changes with pencil, you had best retype the page. Editors will bless you for a clean, readable manuscript.

  A novel will have a cover page, containing your address in the upper lefthand corner (or your agent's address, if you have an agent), and an estimate of wordage in the upper righthand corner. Centered will be the title and your byline. The title page isn't numbered; the first page is the first page of your story.

  2. Should I send a cover letter with the manuscript? Yes, but keep it short and to the point. Your book should speak for itself; you have no need to explain it to the editor in your letter. If you have no credits to mention, the body of your cover letter might go:

  This is a science fiction novel, set on an alien world, written more in the style of the Old Wave authors like Clarke and Heinlein, than in the new, experimental manner of some younger writers. It is, I think, crammed with adventure and action. I hope you'll like it. I've enclosed return postage, and I'll be awaiting your reply.

  If you do have credits, short stories in professional magazines, or perhaps a couple of book sales, you might mention these, at the outset, to let the editor know you have already accomplished something.

  3. Would it be wise for me to have business stationery printed, with my name and address? I don't think it really matters one way or the other. I've sold a considerable amount of work in the last five years, and I've never had any. Other writers, who have sold as much, seem to feel it's a necessity. I don't think any good editor is the least bit influenced by stationery. In the end, it's a personal decision, to be made for personal reasons.

  4. Once I have sent off my manuscript, how long should I wait for a response? If you sent it Fourth Class, remember that it will require about two weeks just to reach the editor's desk. Otherwise, figuring from the time the editor ought to have it, eight to ten weeks is a reasonable time to wait. At that point, you might drop the editor a short, friendly note, inquiring about your manuscript and asking if it's still under consideration. If it is, the editor will tell you so; if it isn't, he will return it posthaste.

  If another month passes and you have received no answer to your letter, write another, still friendly, but more pointedly asking for your manuscript. The second letter rarely fails.

  If it should, write a third, withdrawing the manuscript from the editor's consideration, reminding him you enclosed return postage, and requesting its return at once. Keep a carbon for your files. Then if you still do not receive your manuscript, retype and submit it elsewhere.

  Really, though, all this is mostly academic, since nearly all editors reply within reasonable time limits.

  5. How many publishing houses should I take a book to before I decide to shelve it as unsalable? Never give up on a manuscript you have faith in. Some of the most successful novels have been rejected by as many as a dozen houses before they've been taken on. Even when you pass the twelfth, keep going until you have exhausted all the potential publishers for that sort of story.

  6. /f the book sells, wha
t kind of contract will I get? That varies from publisher to publisher. It may be as little as a two-page, legal-size form in fine print-or eight pages of the same. It will, you can be sure, be legally binding for both parties, and it will not require a notary public to witness your signature.

  The new writer won't be able to bargain for a higher advance than is offered, or for a higher royalty. The author with a list of strong credits in his field, however, will be able to negotiate on both points.

  You can be sure that you are only liable for suits brought against libelous material in the book-and not for any obscenity suits that may be lodged against the publisher because of the book's sexual content. You can merely strike the word "obscenity" from any clause of this nature and give yourself protection against this unlikely but possible turn of events.

  Also, you can be sure that, if you want the book published under a pen name and never under your own, this desire will be obeyed. In every contract, there is a clause which gives the publisher the right to publish and promote the work under "the author's name or pseudonym." The new author who is writing, say, a Rough Sexy Novel and doesn't want it linked to his real name later on in his career, can simply strike "name or" and insure himself against the calamity.

  If you don't have an agent, you would be well advised to let the publisher keep a percentage of his foreign sales (25% is fair), so that the publisher will act as your representative for translation rights. A similar arrangement is wise (for the unagented author) so far as motion picture rights are concerned, except that the publisher should be permitted to keep no more than 10% of this valuable subsidiary right.