Is It Chick Lit or Women's Fiction? An Agent Answers by Sierra Godfrey


Welcome to genre Monday! Ever wonder what kind of books fall under women's fiction? Have questions about chick lit? Today guest contributor, Sierra Godfrey, interviews my lovely agent Sara Megibow and gets us some answers.

Chick Lit vs. Women’sFiction
by Sierra Godfrey

I write women’s fiction—or what I think of aswomen’s fiction—even though most people, including my husband, think of it aschick lit. Many women’s fiction writers are particular about what people calltheir genre, because it matters to the publishing industry. We have heard chicklist no longer sells. We’ve heard editors are looking for upmarket women’sfiction. We think what you call it in a query matters. Or does it?

In my RWAWomen’s Fiction special interest chapter, one of our members definedwomen’s fiction as the story of a woman on a journey. But if my protagonist isa 22 year old woman who is searching for her sense of self, would it beclassified as chick lit? What if upped her age to 36? What if the storyfeatures none of the stereotypical elements of chick lit like martinis, a city,and shoes? Similarly, if I write a story about a 32 year old woman on a journeythat leads her to save herself, that might be women's fiction--but is it stillwomen’s fic if I nudge her age to 21? How much does age have to do with genre?

I asked Roni’s agent, Sara Megibow at Nelson Lit, whorepresents women’s fiction. She had some great—and surprising answers.

Chicklit is selling Sara says not only is chick list selling, but thatshe would never discount a submission based on concept. Sara’s method involvesreading and evaluating submissions based on quality of writing—and looking atthe elements of a book and choose editors whose imprints are producing similarkinds of works. She said, “To that end, Ballantine Bantam Dell produces booksby Sarah Addison Allen, which I would consider solidly women's fiction.Meanwhile, Broadway - another imprint of Random House -produces THE DEVIL WEARSPRADA which I would consider chick lit.”

Knowwhere your book rests The job of the author, Sara said, is towrite the best book possible.
But you should have a general understanding of where theirbook would rest on the bookshelf in a store. But that’s it. The agent is theone who should really be familiar with the different editors, imprints, andhouses.

There isan age-range, but… Sara clarified something I saw her say in asummer issue of my RWA women’s fic chapter newsletter (RWA is a fantasticresource!). Ages do influence genre, but story elements matter. Sara said thata submission about a woman who is learning about life after college, whose daysare filled with the first job, dating, money, apartments, martinis, clothes andboys is a chick lit story. “These submissions are almost entirely ones in whichthe heroine is 22-35ish and she has the only POV (or maybe an alternating POVwith the hero). There can be a happy ending, although there doesn't have tobe.”

Meanwhile, for Sara a submission about a woman who is 35to 55ish is women's fiction. “These stories are about family, marriage, midlife crises, divorce, health and health problems (life REAL LIFE AND LIARS byKristina Riggle). Similarly, the story is in the heroine's POV or maybealternating POVs and the ending can be happy but doesn't have to be.”

But, Sara, said, “If the book is about a mature womandealing with life issues - marriage, health, career, family, children, but thatwoman is,
24 years old, I would still shop it as women's fiction.Then, I would troll through my database and choose editors looking forcommercial women's fiction. If, however, that 24 year old woman is spendingmost of the narrative talking martinis and dating, I would choose chick liteditors.”

Justwrite the book of your heart As Sara pointed out, trying to writeto genre is tough. I certainly have discovered this with a story about a 32year old woman who is learning about life – a late bloomer. I struggled a longtime with whether it would be chick lit or women’s fiction and finally decidedit fell more on the women’s fiction side. I questioned whether I should bewriting it at all. In the end, I came to the conclusion that echoes what Sarasays:
“Honestly, the only thing for a writer to do is write thebook of their heart….If the book is about a mature 24 year old and it's women'sfiction, then it's women's fiction regardless of age. Likewise I could see a 40year old woman partying, dating and etc and sell it as chick lit. A savvyauthor will look at titles on the shelves and see where their book might fit.If that author imagines a pretty pink cover with cutesy pictures on the front,then it's chick lit. If the author imagines a more complex, deeper cover indarker tones and maybe even in trade paperback or hard cover it's likelywomen's fiction.”

Thanks so much to Sara Megibow for taking the time toanswer my questions.

So what would YOU classify as chick lit and women'sfiction? If you write either, how do you feel about the the aboveclassifications? Does genre matter to you?

My recommended read for this month is Samuel Park’s" This Burns My Heart, which is probably commercial fiction, but easilywomen’s fiction. It deals with a protagonist who starts young and grows throughlife into her 30s and 40s. It deals with marriage, love, duty, and sacrifice.It’s a gorgeous story with a wonderful female protagonist who will stay with mefor a long time.

Sierra Godfrey writes stories about women who grow fromthe choices they face—and get the guy at the end. She's amember of RWA and RWA-WF, the women's fiction special interest chapter andworks as a freelance writer and designer. Visit Sierra at her blogor on Twitter.







“...a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more!" –Jo Davis, author of I SPY A DARK OBSESSION

CRASH INTO YOU is now available for pre-order!
Read an excerpt here.


All content copyright of the author. Please ask permission before re-printing or re-posting. Fair use quotations and links do no require prior consent of the author. ©Roni Loren 2009-2011 |Copyright Statement|

The Ten Stages of Revision Emotions

The Ten Stages of Revision Emotions for Writers

So this year I've been diligently working on the draft of the second book in my series, MELT INTO YOU. This one is tentatively scheduled to release sometime next summer, but the manuscript is due to my editor at the end of this month.

Well, I finished the draft a couple of weeks ago and sent it to Sara to get her feedback and to make sure I hadn't suffered from the dreaded second book syndrome. *shudders* Luckily, Sara liked the book and only had a few changes she suggested.

A few. But one was a biggie. She suggested I cut the murder mystery subplot and replace it with something different. Not a huge change in word count, but a very significant change with regards to the story's plot. Hence began my journey through the Stages of Revision Emotions.

 

The Ten Stages of Revision Emotions

 

Stage 1: Shock (You want me to change what?) or a "Dammit, that makes sense"

Okay, so in the list of revisions, there is usually one, maybe two, shockers. Your favorite scene needs to be cut or something you thought was vital gets the ax. But most of the time with Sara, her suggestions resonate with me in that "Damn, why didn't I see that?" way. Or she picks out things that were niggling at me but that I couldn't quite put my finger on. That's the gift of having someone with an editorial eye. They can see things you can't because you're too close to it.

 

Stage 2: Blind Confidence - "I can totally fix this."

This is when you get excited. Things don't look so hard or too bad. You just need to change A B and C and you're golden. La dee da, I'm the kickass writer girl.

 

Stage 3: The "Oh, Crap"

You actually sit down to make those seemingly innocuous changes and WHAM! you've just blasted your manuscript to swiss cheese. Plot holes are bleeding on your pages, threads with loose ends are flapping in the breeze, your characters have been flattened to road kill.

 

Stage 4: Sticking Your Fingers in Your Ears and Humming

You've hit the denial phase. This can't be done. If I make this change, I'll have to rewrite the whole book from scratch. My agent/editor must be crazy to think I could change this. It's impossible. I'm just going to leave it the way it is and turn it in. I am the writer, so I get the ultimate call on revisions anyway, right?

 

Stage 5: Despair

This book is a giant pile of stinking baby dung. I will never be able to fix it. I'm going to fade into oblivion and never be published again. How did I think this was a good story?

 

Stage 6: The Muse Taps Your Shoulder

"Who the hell are you? Oh yeah, I remember you, creative genius. Where the f*#% have you been you stingy, rat bastard?"

 

Stage 7: The Idea - *cue angels singing*

You're lying there in bed, taking a shower, talking yourself out of eating the entire cake because you're a talentless hack. And then it hits. The Idea. The way that will fix your book and achieve what your agent/editor wanted from this revision. You suddenly see the seemingly obvious fix and realize how dead on that revision advice was.

 

Stage 8: Mania

This is where you realize you have two weeks to make this brilliant change and you have oh, ten, twenty, thirty thousand words or whatever to write. You eat, sleep, and breathe your manuscript. The ideas flow and you're excited about this story again. Thrilled to see it turn into something way better than what you originally had. It's a high. People may want to put you in a white jacket.

 

Stage 9: Peace

You finish that bad boy and turn it in. Then you eat that whole cake anyway, but this time, it's because you've earned it. :)

 

Stage 10: Ah, hell.

You get another set of revisions back and the process starts all over again. :)

These stages also apply to getting feedback from crit partners and beta readers. The key, for me, is recognizing that I will get there. That when it seems I just am not good enough to fix it, an idea will come. But it won't necessarily happen day one after I get my revision notes. My mind needs time to process and stew before tackling things.

So how about you? Have you been through any of these stages? Any other stages you would add?

 

Guest Post: Literary Assistant Anita Mumm on Queries

 

Today I have a terrific guest for you guys. Nelson Lit's Literary Assistant Anita Mumm! There have been some posts lately about the dire numbers of clients signed from cold querying. In response to some of those reports, author/blogger Jody Hedlund recently asked: is the query system dying?

Well, I didn't really know the answer to that question. I did get to Sara via a client referral, so this made me wonder. But I figured instead of just pondering, I'd go straight to a source that could give us some insight. Anita is on the front lines of the slushpile at Nelson Lit, so I posed the question to her. Is there hope for a new writer to get an agent via a cold query? And now I'll turn it over to Anita for her answer.
IS THERE HOPE FOR YOUR QUERY?
There’s a rumor floating around cyberspace that agents don’t read blind queries anymore. That unless you’re already published, or recommended by Famous Author X, you might as well stuff your letter in a bottle and pitch it out to sea. The slush pile is dead.
Well, let me start by saying that if the slush pile is dead, I sure feel silly spending so much time wading through ours every day. *grin* On average, we get just over a hundred queries a day, and yes, we read them all. What we’re NOT looking for is an excuse to reject a query because it doesn’t contain enough name-dropping or publishing credits. Don’t get me wrong—those can definitely help, but they are not essential. When I read a query, I’m looking for a combination of the following: unique story, hot topic, strong voice (one that, we hope, mirrors what we’ll see in the manuscript), compelling characters, and an ability to be both thorough and concise—capturing the essence of the story in a couple of paragraphs is no small feat.
Here is an interesting statistic for you: 75% of our clients were cold queries (i.e. non-referrals). Yep, that means they were sifted out of the slush pile based solely on the strength of their writing in a one-page letter. Next, their 30-page sample made the cut, and we requested a full manuscript. Kristin or Sara fell in love, and the rest is history.
I can’t offer numbers from other agencies, but the fact that we frequently compete for the same hot manuscripts—from the slush pile—shows that we are not an anomaly here.
That said, I’d hate to mislead anyone by implying this is an easy process. Remember those 100 queries a day? So that means in a year we see…merciful heavens, that number is too scary for me to even think about writing! Makes my eyes bleed! And out of that scary number, our agents sign a tiny handful of new clients.  The odds are not in your favor.
But when have the odds ever been favor of wild, unrealistic dreams? Good thing JK Rowling and Suzanne Collins and Paul Harding didn’t waste time worrying about their chances. And neither did our clients, who have become NYT bestsellers, among many other honors. It started with a query letter.
Believe in your writing. Let it speak for itself. And by all means, learn how to perfect your pitch—that part doesn’t have to come naturally. Kristin’s query workshop on her blog (http://pubrants.blogspot.com/) is a great tutorial if you need a kick-start, and here is the link to some great examples of our clients’ original query letters: http://nelsonagency.com/faq.html#7
Happy writing.

 

Anita recently joined the NLA team as literary assistant. A compulsive book collector whose interests span the genres, she chose her current neighborhood based on the number of bookstores within walking distance. She received a B.A. in linguistics and French from the University of Kansas and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Illinois. She has taught English and creative writing to international students in the U.S., France, and China. Anita is thrilled to bring her love of language, writing, and other cultures to her new position at the Nelson Agency. She shares a cozy apartment near downtown Denver with a curvy kitty named Francine.









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Now Anita is generously donating a query critique for a prize, so don't forget to enter the contest. You'll also be included to win the other query crits up for grabs as well. But remember, you need to comment on both this post and friday's, and fill out this form to enter. :)

Thanks again, Anita!


 

Get A Partial Read by Agent Sara!

 

I know I usually don't post on Thursday, but I had to pass along this awesome opportunity to you guys. My agency mate, author Ashley March is having an killer contest. The lucky winner will receive a partial read from my super duper fantabulous agent Sara Megibow!  How awesome is that? And to enter is simple:

 

 

Eligibility
1) You must have participated in NaNoWriMo this month.
2) Your work is either romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, YA, middle-grade, commercial fiction, or women’s fiction (seewww.publishersmarketplace.com/members/SaraMegibow or www.nelsonagency.com for more info about preferences).
3) You must comment on ASHLEY'S POST (not this one) by Tuesday, November 30th.
One random commenter will be drawn on Wednesday, December 1st to submit their first 30 pages of their completed NaNoWriMo project to Sara by Tuesday, December 7th (no query letter necessary).

 

So get your tushies over to Ashley's blog and while you're at it, buy her book Seducing the Duchess--it's made of awesome. : )

Good luck everyone!

The Dirty Details: Answering Your Questions

 

On Monday, I asked if you guys had any questions for me, and boy did y'all come up with some good ones!  Thanks so much!  Here are my answers:

 


Amie Kaufman said...
Was there any part of the process that you were surprised by/didn't expect? We all read a lot of blogs about these kinds of things, but every so often I'm still really surprised by some part of the process. Did it all go about the way you'd understood it would?

I’m not sure I knew what to expect honestly, but I would say the part that surprised me the most was the speed with which it all happened. I’d gone through querying before with my first book. Then with my second, I submitted it to Harlequin, they requested the full, and I haven’t heard back yet (it's been almost a year, which, from what I've heard is a pretty standard wait. They have sent update letters letting me know I'm still in consideration when I've checked in.)

So when I started querying this time and Sara requested my full—I figured I had a wait ahead of me. But she got back to me on the full in 4 days! Four! (Sara's awesome.) Then I signed with her and started on revisions. We were both uber motivated to get this on submission before the holidays when publishing slows down, so I busted out the first major revision (cutting 20k words and adding 20k new ones and changing a whole bunch more) in three weeks. Then we did one more significant revision, which took me about a week. Then it was submission time. I expected a 4-6 week wait, but then the offer came in two weeks after we went on submission. A week later I officially sold. So from query to sale: almost exactly three months. Crazy.
Blogger Travener said...
OK, here's a question: what's your secret?

Faustian bargain—don’t let anyone tell you it’s unwise to make one. :)
Blogger LTM said...
So did the editors call YOU or Sara? I'm thinking Sara, but I'm just asking b/c you're calling it THE CALL, and that's usually reserved for you know... the call to you.

Sara called me to tell me about the offer. Once I let her know I was interested, she set up a conference call between me, herself, and the editor to make sure we were all on the same page and that all my questions were answered.
Blogger T. Anne said...
Thank you for sharing your great news! When is your book going to be available???

First book will be out early 2012. The second is tentatively scheduled for summer 2012. :)
Blogger A Mom's Choice said...
Do you think your blog helped the process of finding a publisher and agent?

Yes, on a number of fronts:
  • Natalie Bahm gave me a referral to her agent (now my agent) based on getting to know me via my blog and reading my excerpts on blogfests. This allowed me to get in front of Sara more quickly. So I never would’ve gotten the referral without the blog.
  • Blogging has made me a better writer. When all I blog about is craft, it forces ME to learn too, lol.
  • Sara is very big on web presence. It is a deal breaker for her if an author doesn’t have a professional website (meaning a dedicated site—not just a blog.) After she read my query and partial, she sent me an email letting me know how much she liked my sites. So she was researching my presence.
  • Without the support of my bloggy/writer friends, I may have gone nuts by now! :)

 

Terry said...
As someone that writes romantic erotica, I'd like to know more how you found and landed an agent. I didn't know there were any and I'd love to know where to start looking and what your process was.


There are definitely agents who rep erotic romance and erotica. I signed up for QueryTracker.net and did my research on there. However, I also looked at the acknowledgement pages of some of my favorite EroRom authors because they always thank their agent. Sometimes it takes a little digging, but if someone says they rep romance, look deeper—many will rep erotic as well. Some agents off the top of my head besides Sara—Paige Wheeler, Laura Bradford, Roberta Brown, and Jessica Faust. But there are a good number more. I also saw recently that one of the agencies has a dedicated agent for selling to epubs.
Blogger Karla said...
How many queries did you send out before Sara requested your manuscript?

I sent out ten total. (2 requests, 6 form rejects, 2 still pending)

Was the multi-book deal part of the initial offer, or something your agent negotiated? 

The two-book deal was part of the initial offer. :) My book is set up to be a series.

When your book comes out, what would you prefer I buy, a paper copy or a digital copy? 

I’m an avid ebook reader, but Berkley’s covers are almost too good not to buy the hard copy of the book, so I really don’t mind either way! I’ll just be thrilled that you bought it!
Blogger KLM said...
I'd like to offer to be a model for your book cover. I've got a bustier around here somewhere and I look great in it. Last time I saw it, it was next to the snow shovel in the downstairs coat closet.*rustles about in the closet looking* Well, I'll let you know when I find it. 

You’re hired! Lol


Blogger Murphy said...
Is this the way you imagined the journey, or what? Some of us want to know if your dream lived up to the reality, ya know? ;)

I’m not sure how I imagined it, but I have to say the last few months have been REALLY exciting. I’ve jumped up and down a lot. (Also paced the floors a lot.) I just feel so thankful to have reached this point. I know that no matter how good of a writer you are, the stars have to align—right place, right time, right genre, right story, right market, right agent, right editor, right phase of the moon, and on and on. So I feel blessed and lucky that everything lined up for me. I don’t take it for granted for sure. I’m very, very thankful for everything and hope that I get to do this for a living for a long time.
Thanks for the questions everyone!  Feel free to ask anything else in the comments.
**Today's Theme Song**
"Answer" - Sarah MacLachlan
(player in sidebar, take a listen)

 

 

The Call & Whaddya Want To Know?

 


So a few of you asked last week for me to give more details on THE CALL. So I'm going to do that, but I am also going to let this be an open thread--meaning, if you have specific questions for me about anything, ask them in the comments and I'll answer them on Wednesday. :)

 

So, the call...

Sara had told me to expect to start hearing back from editors somewhere between 3-5 weeks after submission and for me to be prepared because the first ones to come back would be the rejections. So we went out on submission on my birthday (which I hoped was good luck) and I prepared to settle in for the nail-biting wait.

Well, two weeks later, Sara tweeted something to the effect of "Okay world, we're going to get at least one offer for one client this week, go!"  And I tweeted back: "And btw, Universe, if that author could be me, that'd be great, k thanks."

No lie. Ten minutes later Sara got the call from Kate at Berkley. (So maybe there is something to that whole putting positive thoughts out into the universe--thanks Oprah.) As soon as she was done with the call, she called me and gave me the good news. We had an offer before we received any rejections!

I was over the moon excited because not only was it an offer, but it was from Berkley and from a great editor. So she gave me the details, then let me know that she'd contact the other editors who had it to give them a chance to finish reading it in case someone else wanted to offer as well. I also had a conference call with Sara and Kate to discuss what Kate's vision for the book was, why Penguin rocks and why I should go with them, and basically just getting to know each other.

After all that, I decided I really wanted to pursue the deal with Berkley. I love the Berkley Heat line and Kate was very nice and had a vision that jived with mine. So the next step was contract negotiations. And here is the lesson I learned here--I am SO HAPPY I have a fabulous agent. Not that I wasn't happy about that in the first place, but I confirmed that I am not cut out for the business aspect of the dealings. I'm too emotionally attached to the book. So Sara handled it and kept me updated while I paced the floors for a few days.

After that step, which took a few days, I was able to formally accept! :)  And here we are.

So, what questions do you have for me? Doesn't have to be specifically about the call, this is an open thread. So whatever you want to ask (within reason), I'll try to answer in a post on Wednesday. Everyone have a great day!

 

**Today's Theme Song**
"Call Me" - Blondie
(player in sidebar, take a listen)


 

Guess What? I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!

 

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! *deep breaths* OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG !!!!
Yes, it actually happened....
I


HAVE


AN


AGENT!!!!!
*twirls around in a circle*
This has happened so fast, I can barely believe it.  I came back from RWA Nationals at the beginning of the month with my list of the top five agents I wanted to query. I signed up for Query Tracker, sent out the letters, and settled in for the wait. I'd been down the road with my first novel and prepared myself for the long haul.
Well, I totally didn't need to spend that money for that QueryTracker premium membership (although, I highly recommend it--great program) because...
Two weeks later, I got an offer of representation from none other than ...
The fabulous Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency!!!!!
Needless to say, I accepted. She had great things to say about my book and has terrific input on how to make it even stronger. I'm so looking forward to working with her.
Now, my head is still spinning, so I apologize that this post is neither insightful nor coherent. I promise I will totally go in to details about how it all happened, how blogging played a part, which book I was querying, and what's going on now.  
Later.  
Right now, though, I'm too busy doing this....

 

**Today's Theme Song**
"Beautiful Day" - U2
(player in sidebar, take a listen)