There’s a recurring trend in book publishing. Politics, out just a few years ago is back again. Anything by Dan Brown flies off the shelf. But I cite the trend of celebrity books. One brand new celebrity offering has my attention; Star by Pamela Anderson.

Why? Because Pamela Anderson, according to a recent interview did not write this book. Instead this fictional account of a girl who grows up on an island, moves to the big city, becomes an actress and sleeps with rock stars was written by a man named Eric Shaw Quinn. Yep, the gay novelist.

Star interests me because it’s another example of a writer crafting something completely outside their experience.

There’s a saying no one knows nothing in movies. I know even less about the book business, but I suspect that Star will ship.

But if Star flops, the same publisher has a chance for redemption with Tommyland, by Pamela’s ex-husband Tommy Lee. Word is he has a ghost writer too.

This last round of queries netted a request for a synopsis and the 1st 3 chapters of The Ridge Runner.

The package went out Monday, destination prospective agent.

Regardless of outcome, I feel this latest draft is the best work I’m capable of at this time. My theory is, if I’m 100 percent behind what I’m doing then other people will sense that.

I spent the day revising the synopsis for the Ridge Runner. There was a rough draft rusting away on my PC, but it was time for a high gloss finish.

A synopsis demonstrates to an agent or an editor that there is a logical plot to the novel. Typically, they are 250-500 words in length. Since it’s difficult to reduce a year’s worth of work to a single page on demand, most editors advise having a pitch worthy synopsis before writing the novel. Great advice, but difficult to implement in practice.

So here’s what I learned today…
1) The query letter shows you can write
2) The synopsis shows you have a story
3) The chapters shows you can deliver the story

Note the order of the items. The query letter gets the agent’s attention. But before the agent dives into the chapters, they have a clear synopsis in hand. Why? Because anything else wastes their time. Reading 50 pages of double spaced 12 point Courier takes roughly 30 minutes. Even if the agent devotes 1 day to reading chapters, they could consider a maximum of 15-20 prospects a week. But with a synopsis, they can evaluate a project in under 2 minutes and then allocate time to read the chapters that pique their interest.

8 pages in one day! Some days the words just fall out, others require a drill bit and a hacksaw. Fortunately, today was the former.

Still in a holding pattern on the most recent round of querying. As I’m working through my list of agents, every month a few more pop up on my radar screen. And that’s a good thing.

An obstacle I’m learning to navigate is the literary agent assistant. Many agents have them, and they are the first line of defense between a writer and the prospective agent.

I was rejected by one agent a few months back, so I tried a different person at the same agency. Being that it was a large shop it seemed reasonable. Lo and behold, the reply came back from the same agent who rejected me before. It turned out that this former agent was now an assistant to 2 agents at the same house. Talk about preaching to the choir!