2019-10-01_Writer_s_Digest

WritersDigest.com I 9

BobEcksteinis aNewYorkTimesbestsellerandaward-winningcartoonistandillustrator

forTheNewYorkerandTheNewYorkTimes. HisnewbookisTheUltimateCartoonBook

ofBookCartoons.

Worth a Th ousand Words

there.Aviralpiececanoftenleadto

a bookdeal.Youneverknowwhat

mighthappen!”VanEppssays.

Bothwriterslearnedhowto

advocateforthemselvesandtheir

projects.And,asVanEppsis dem-

onstrating,there’smorethanone

pathtopublication.

manuscript,Roostrecommendshav-

ingsolidideasaboutthebookyou

wanttowrite.

“Beclearonthestoryyouwantto

tell,becauseotherwiseit’seasyfor

youtogetpushedintotellinga story

youdon’twanttotell.Youmaynot

realizethatuntilmuchlater,andthen

you’restucktellingthestorythatsold,”

shesays.

HoldOutforSomeoneWho
SharesYourVision
“Youragenthastoshareyourvision,
otherwiseyou’regoingtobewriting
a bookforsomebodyelseinsteadof
for yourself. If they’re pushing their
agenda on you, that’s defi nitely a
warning sign,” Roost says.

SHARON VAN EPPS

Sharon Van Epps found an agent

interested in representing her

memoir about motherhood and

ambiguous loss. But aft er submit-

ting the book to many publishing

houses without success, her agent

approached her about parting ways.

Van Epps understood that it

would be diffi cult to fi nd new repre-

sentation aft er being widely sub-

mitted to major publishing houses.

Instead, she decided to approach

smaller presses on her own and

recently received an off er.

Here’s advice from Van Epps for

writers in similar situations:

Be Your Own Advocate

Van Epps encourages writers to not

give up. “An agent will never be as

Jera Brown is a freelance writer and colum-

nist for Rebellious Magazine. Selections from

her memoir-in-progress have been published

in The Rumpus and Big Muddy.

committed to your work as you are.

I’ve heard of agents abandoning a proj-

ect aft er just fi ve or 10 submissions. If

that’s the case, fi nd another agent to

take the book out again,” she says.

You Can Still Get Published

Without Representation

“If your agent has already hit all the

major publishers and imprints, try

small presses. Or, write another book

and try for a two-book deal. Keep

publishing short pieces in respected

publications to get your name out

Be clear on the story you want to tell, because otherwise it’s easy for you

to get pushed into telling a story you don’t want to tell. You may not realize

that until much later, and then you’re stuck telling the story that sold.