What College DID NOT Teach Me

I always gush about my experience in college and everything I've learned about writing. But I'm aware that no university is perfect. With the ever-changing publishing industry and the multitude of details about writing, I knew I couldn't learn everything there is to know about writing.

However, there are certain things I learned at the writer's conference that are so important to writing, publishing, and marketing that one would assume I'd learn them in school. But I didn't. In other words, my jaw dropped a few times during the conference. I've had so many incorrect assumptions, and if I hadn't gone to the conference, I wouldn't know any of this stuff, which could jeopardize my chances at getting published. Now I'm sharing these things with you!

Risk of Self-Publishing

I took a whole course on self-publishing. I know the risks and rewards. Many people self-publish, and with the right amount of marketing, you can be successful.

Out of curiosity, I took a Self-Publishing 101 class at the conference where the speaker was an accomplished self-published author. I think this originated with a question from the audience, but he told us that if we are self-published and want to start publishing traditionally, that may not be possible depending on our numbers. Publishers and agents will look at the reviews on your books and how many sold and determine from there whether to accept you. It basically shows how well you can market yourself and how much people like your writing.

Well, that changed my plans! I had decided that if I can't get an agent for my sci-fi book, I would self-publish, then traditionally publish with something that will sell (like fantasy). After all, my sci-fi book is my baby, and I haven't spent six years on it only to not publish it. I've even considered self-publishing another idea I have that's outside my niche. But I know I probably won't sell many books. If I don't sell many, that means I won't be able to traditionally publish either?

That was a surprise, but I'm glad I know about it now! I'll have to think of something else then.

Comp Titles

Comp (comparative) titles are books in the current market that can compare to yours, whether in tone, style, plot, characters, or theme. They help give the agent and publisher a better idea of what your book looks like and where it may land in the market.

I've known about comp titles. It is one of the vital portions of a query letter, so I've even used them. But during a class about comp titles, I learned two important things.

First, I found out you're only supposed to use midlist titles. Yeah, I knew you can't use The Hunger Games or Harry Potter as examples. But you can't even use names not quite as big, like Brandon Sanderson or Leigh Bardugo. It shows that you are promising high, to be like these bestselling authors, when your book is actually not as good. Basically, it sets expectations too high. When you don't meet those expectations, it's an automatic rejection.

Okay, so that's reasonable. but the second one blew my mind.

You're not supposed to use titles more than 3-5 years old.

What? I used titles 10+ years old because I love them and they reflected my book. But I can't use anything older than five years? The most recently published books I've read are Lauren Roberts' books. Everything else is from the 2010s (yes, anything five years old would be 2020).

Ugh, this one made me cringe. Not only am I going to have to find new comp titles (I'd have to anyway since I'm changing audiences), but I'm going to have to find some very recent books. Another trip to the library!

Press Kits

This is something that shocked me because I never heard about it. But apparently, it's quite important!

One of the speakers gave a whole class about something called press kits. I attended the class because I figured press kit meant marketing things we should expect to be doing once published. Nope! It is something completely different.

A press kit is something you give to reporters and interviewers in preparation for being interviewed or having a segment about you and your book in the newspaper or online. It includes a synopsis, as well as a summary, of your book, the cover (as designed by the publisher), your author bio along with socials and your website, any awards, reviews, or news articles your book has, and even a link for sample chapters. It's this long document that gets longer and longer the more praises and news articles it includes.

This speaker approached a journalist and told him about his book and the award it won. The journalist gave the author his information, and the author later sent the press kit to him. The press kit helps journalists and interviewers become more familiar with your book and with you as an author before the actual interview or article. The larger your packet is with reviews, news clippings, and awards, the more credible you are.

Sounds important right? Yet I had no idea that this was even a thing. It is important for marketing yourself, especially after your book has been released. If you are writing a series, then this can be especially helpful for selling future books because you can easily share information with those who an help sell both your original book and future books in the series. Whenever you have a new review, article, or award, you can add it to the press kit. Certainly beneficial!

Agent Pitches

This is one I had to research myself, and even then my research wasn't very helpful. My university taught us about query letters and book proposals, but not how to pitch to an agent in person. If they did, I have forgotten and for some reason didn't take notes on it (and I'm usually a good notetaker).

The common element I found in my research is that your pitch is basically the part of the query letter where you give the 200-word synopsis of your book (the few sources about formal agent pitches said this - everything else focused on elevator pitches, which wasn't what I was looking for). I finally settled on a blog and followed her advice: book synopsis, comp titles, and what your market is looking for.

When I arrived at the "bullpen" before my agent appointment, I was the only author who had never pitched before. I asked one of them if I really needed to include comp titles (because after describing my story, that portion broke the flow). She said no! All I needed was my story synopsis.

That certainly helped! After the comp titles class, I had doubts about mine anyway and was ready to fling something out there that was at least six years old rather than ten. Thank goodness I asked. That lifted a lot of stress from my shoulders, and I entered my pitch with more confidence.

So yes, unless a conference or the agent sets out certain pitching standards you should follow, all you need is the story synopsis when you pitch to an agent in person (especially if you only have eight minutes for the whole conversation like I did). Don't forget to also have confidence, speak slowly, and know that even if it doesn't work out, you at least did it and can learn from the experience. Having the opportunity and ability to pitch is already a huge step in the right direction! It shows you are serious about what you are doing.

I've said this many times, but I'm grateful I attended the conference. I knew there were things college did not teach me, but I didn't expect them to be important things like these. Hopefully, these things I've discussed will help you too and help you be more aware of expectations within the industry. It can also help you begin researching things you didn't know about (such as press kits).

If you want me to go into more detail about anything I discussed, or if you want to hear more about what I learned at the conference, leave a comment below! I know I don't have all the answers, but I also have a lot of notes.