Learning From Literary Agent Marietta Zacker

I can't say this enough...go to conferences...take risks... network...and if you have the opportunity to do an editor or an agent critique...DO IT!  I was chatting to some of the people around me, in the lecture hall, and was surprised to find out how few signed up for the critiques.  I wonder why that is??? (Anyway, I'm sure you want to know what I learned from Literary Agent Marietta Zacker.)

Marietta Zacker is a Literary Agent at the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency in New Jersey.  If her name sounds familiar to you it's probably because she is our dear friend Hilary Wagner's agent.  (If you haven't bought a copy of NIGHTSHADE CITY, you need to!  It is fantastic!!!! Yes, I used four exclamation marks...)

I read my pitch for A CAKE I WILL BAKE to Marietta and two other writers, then I read my manuscript.  (I was rather nervous and stammered a little bit...)  Then we discussed it.

Positives from Marietta:

*She liked my topic...

*She said I had a nice poem, but stumbled over some parts...

*My pitch went with my poem... 

*She liked my series idea...

*She liked my marketing idea...

Things I learned from Marietta:

*I need a defined main character, not "I"

*Rhyming books are a hard sell...

*If I was to change the main character to an animal rather than a person it would make the book even more fun...

*Sometimes rhyming sounds forced (even if it didn't feel forced when it came out of your mouth...ex: I'll mix in three eggs and white flour too, pour in some sugar and shout, "Yahoo!")

What will I do with this information? I will revise...I already have something in mind. (smile)  Do you like the name Zadie???  Is it fun on the tongue?

If you submit to Marietta, be sure to follow her guidelines and keep your query letter brief.  She is passionate about books and about her authors. She wants to see that you are passionate about your work... (In other words, know what you are writing about...immerse yourself in your writing...live your genre...)

GOING IN FOR THE PITCH...

 A CAKE I WILL BAKE

Thanks S.  I love the illustration!

The SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) Kansas Annual Conference begins Friday at 7 PM. There are going to be some amazing people there...I can't wait to meet them!   I even get to hang out with an old friend, Jessica.

I've been studying pitches this week (some of you have gotten frantic emails from me...THANKS for your help) with the hopes of cornering some unsuspecting agent or editor.  :)  I found some great links for you...and wanted to share part of an awesome email from my friend Randi Rivers an editor at Charlesbridge Publishing.

This is what Randi said when I asked her about pitches...

"To me it’s a lot like being a bookseller who’s hand-selling during Christmas season. You want to give the people to whom you’re pitching a sense of what happens in the book while enticing them to want more. Let’s see if I can do one off the cuff for a book I edited (What REALLY Happened to Humpty? by Jeanie Franz Ransom): Hard-boiled detective, Joe Dumpty, has until 5pm to crack the case and discover which character pushed his brother, Humpty, off the Wall.


From that pitch you learn the basic plot, the main character, the tone, and the genre—plus the mention of Humpty being pushed creates enticement."
 
& here are the links...
 
Rachelle Gardner gives you a full plan for what to do in an elevator...

Chris Richman at Upstart Crow Literary Agency gives a great example with CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

Nathan Bransford did a great post on three different kinds of pitches.

You'll  see a few of our favorite blogging friends pitches at Cape Cod Children's Writers Blog.

So here's my 12 word, one sentence pitch for A CAKE I WILL BAKE... (It has plot, it has character (kind of), it has tone, I think you can tell the genre, and I think it gives a sense of enticement.  It also sounds like me.)

It's yummy, it's sweet, it's a gigantic kid baked and shared treat!

(Thanks for crossing your fingers for me, Lenny and Sebi!  I hope you are feeling better, Lenny!!!!)

Here are my other completed pb pitches:

--"Phyllis and her mum watch the herd of children walk down Buxton Road and decide who'll live with them until The War is over."

--"Rat is a problem solver until he meets Dragon and gets a problem of his own."
--"We-Have-Enough is a village in peril, thanks to years of wasting their resources, eventually everyone pulls together and saves We-Have-Enough."
--"Fun loving Spider Monkey plays a trick on Crocodile and ends up with quite a tail."
--"Sara finds comfort in her memories and in the clouds when her beloved grandma dies."

So here's your chance to practice...I'll be flexible...Pitch me your book in 30 words or less...