Carly Watters, Literary Agent Blog

I’m back teaching this month and there are two options for you to choose from:

She Writes University: The Modern Author: Understanding Sales Data, Rankings and More (Thursday May 17, 7pm est)

Sales data, Amazon rankings, social media followers—what do these have to do with writing?

Everything. They’re the numbers that run our business.

More than ever publishing professionals from booksellers to editors are looking at figures to determine everything from marketing budgets and whether to buy your next book based on track record and sales potential. We’ll discuss sell-in to bookstores, print runs, BookScan, comparative titles sales figures, bestsellers, market research, Amazon charting, and lastly social media platforms and numbers of followers for successful and sustained influence.

Today’s author requires two hats that are equal in strength: writing & sales/marketing. The most successful and valuable authors know how to do both. Let’s make numbers work for you while you take care of the craft.

 

Writer’s Digest: Find Success with Your Query Letter: Getting Beyond Form Letters

Writers are tired of all those rejection letters piling up in their inbox. Some writers are confused about what they mean and how to learn from them. Agents don’t love sending rejections; in fact, it’s agents’ least favorite part of the job. Agents send them for many reasons like writers not following guidelines or targeting the right agents, or perhaps an agent really does like a pitch, but they don’t love it. Everyone can see that’s a broad spectrum. So how do writers know where they fall into it? Believe it or not, those form rejections hold the secret to writers’ success-they just don’t know it yet.

This live webinar will change the way attendees think about the polite passes they get from agents. P.S. Literary VP and Senior Agent Carly Watters will teach writers how to deconstruct rejections, interpret unknown patterns, provide attendees with winning pitching formulas, and empower writers to find their success within the querying system.

Agents actually love the slush pile because it’s where they find most of their debut clients. Carly will show attendees how to stand out in the slush pile and reduce the number of rejections received through simple and straightforward techniques they’ll wish they had before they began submitting. Carly has proudly found 95% of her fiction authors in the slush pile and she’ll share the patterns of success that helped land those writers with her.

It’s never too late to have a winning writing career. Those rejections aren’t the end. All it takes is one yes. And Carly will help you get closer to yes.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• How to recognize patterns in rejection letters
• When to rewrite your query and when to revise your manuscript
• Why agents send form rejections and why they send personalized rejections-and what the difference is
• Winning formulas for your premise, hook and query letter
• Why your pitch should focus on plot, not theme
• The truth about how agents process queries
• How to think like an agent who is reading their slush pile

There are some talented writers (mine!) with gorgeous books coming out (below!) that you can order or pre-order right now.

Andrea Dunlop’s SHE REGRETS NOTHING (Atria/Simon and Schuster, 2018)

Named a “Must-Read” by Town & Country * Elite Daily * InStyle

“The love child of Gossip Girl and Crazy Rich Asians, plus the social climbing of a Gatsby party.” —Refinery29

Ross Benes’s TURNED ON (Sourcebooks, 2018)

A gripping exploration of the relationship between sex and our society, with a foreword by bestselling author A.J. Jacobs

Cara Sue Achterberg’s ANOTHER GOOD DOG (Pegasus Books, 2018)

A warm and entertaining memoir about what happens when you foster fifty dogs in less than two years―and how the dogs save you as much as you save them.

Susie Orman Schnall’s THE SUBWAY GIRLS (St. Martin’s/Macmillan, 2018)

“Schnall has written a book that is smart and timely…Feels perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Liza Klaussmann.” ―Taylor Jenkins Reid, acclaimed author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

“A fast-paced, clever novel filled with romantic possibilities, high-stakes decisions, and harsh realities. Perfect for fans of Fiona Davis’s The Dollhouse, this engrossing tale highlights the role that ambition, sexism, and true love will forever play in women’s lives.” ―Amy Poeppel, author of Small Admissions

Karen Katchur’s RIVER BODIES (Thomas & Mercer/Amazon, Fall 2018)

“Karen Katchur’s River Bodies has it all: a horrific murder, mysteries resurrected from the past, a story line packed with tension, and vivid characters to bring it all to life. A riveting thriller that suspense readers will love.” — Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author

Anne T. Donahue’s NOBODY CARES (ECW Press, Fall 2018)

From the author of the popular newsletter That’s What She Said, Nobody Cares is a frank, funny personal essay collection about work, failure, feminism, and the messy business of being alive in your twenties and thirties.

Meg Myers Morgan’s EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE (Seal Press/Hachette, Fall 2018)

Surprising ways we limit ourselves and our happiness, and how to challenge the internalized wisdom and circular thinking that holds us back.

Lindsay Wong’s THE WOO-WOO (Arsenal Pulp Press, Fall 2018)

In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons when they should really be on anti-psychotic meds.