January 22, 2008
Jude Tulli at Writer's Market
Interviews Peter Miller
Interview By Jude Tulli, 2009 Writer's Market
The “Literary Lion” of New York and writer of Author! Screenwriter! (Adams Media Corporation, 2006), Peter Miller has been working to turn art into creative commerce since 1973, when he founded what is now PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc. Despite the pride he takes in each sale, the reality of the business dictates, “I have to reject 991/2% of the people who come to me.”
Agents could not make a living in publishing if they were to spend their days acting as mentors to every aspirant. Both the numbers and Miller suggest that it behooves unpublished writers to seek out and soak in all the mentoring they need before submitting their manuscripts. Would you show a house in less than its peak condition and expect to attract an enthusiastic buyer? The trick is to polish your manuscript until it sparkles among the 0.5% that make the cut.
“It's tougher now to sell a novel than it's been in my over 30-year career,” Miller says. For one thing, “Brand name writers take up a huge part of the market...[occupying] a lot of space in the bookstores...because they print over a million copies [in the] first printing.”
The most important thing for aspiring novelists to know about the market? “That it's changing.” Over time “trends...come and go, and genres come and go.” For instance, “women's gothic horror...[doesn't] exist anymore...chick lit is dying, supernatural romance is evolving [into women's fiction]...the western is...no longer significant...thrillers are a tough sell right now,” but, Miller contends, “A good love story, a great love story, is always [going to] have a market.”
In reviewing material, Miller applies his own proven set of criteria. He asks himself of each manuscript: “Is the basic idea big enough, fresh enough, unique enough to be a book?” and “Does it have the architecture to be an entire book or is it just an article?” He analogizes showing vs. telling as “amateur vs. quality.” Beyond the printed page, he also considers the writer's temperament and personality with key questions in mind: “Am I going to be friendly with my client?” and “Am I going to be passionate about representing [him or her]?”
The final test for him is one he recommends everyone employ. “Take yourself [into the future] three years from now and try to look back at what you've created in your life...and aspire to greatness in ways that are completely out of the box.” Miller prefers “long-term relationships with professional writers [who] desire to write a book every 10 months or year, [who] have tremendous passion, drive and talent.” If he finds a synergy between what he wants to accomplish and the writer's own goals, he may make an offer of representation.
The “Literary Lion” of New York and writer of Author! Screenwriter! (Adams Media Corporation, 2006), Peter Miller has been working to turn art into creative commerce since 1973, when he founded what is now PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc. Despite the pride he takes in each sale, the reality of the business dictates, “I have to reject 991/2% of the people who come to me.”
Agents could not make a living in publishing if they were to spend their days acting as mentors to every aspirant. Both the numbers and Miller suggest that it behooves unpublished writers to seek out and soak in all the mentoring they need before submitting their manuscripts. Would you show a house in less than its peak condition and expect to attract an enthusiastic buyer? The trick is to polish your manuscript until it sparkles among the 0.5% that make the cut.
“It's tougher now to sell a novel than it's been in my over 30-year career,” Miller says. For one thing, “Brand name writers take up a huge part of the market...[occupying] a lot of space in the bookstores...because they print over a million copies [in the] first printing.”
The most important thing for aspiring novelists to know about the market? “That it's changing.” Over time “trends...come and go, and genres come and go.” For instance, “women's gothic horror...[doesn't] exist anymore...chick lit is dying, supernatural romance is evolving [into women's fiction]...the western is...no longer significant...thrillers are a tough sell right now,” but, Miller contends, “A good love story, a great love story, is always [going to] have a market.”
In reviewing material, Miller applies his own proven set of criteria. He asks himself of each manuscript: “Is the basic idea big enough, fresh enough, unique enough to be a book?” and “Does it have the architecture to be an entire book or is it just an article?” He analogizes showing vs. telling as “amateur vs. quality.” Beyond the printed page, he also considers the writer's temperament and personality with key questions in mind: “Am I going to be friendly with my client?” and “Am I going to be passionate about representing [him or her]?”
The final test for him is one he recommends everyone employ. “Take yourself [into the future] three years from now and try to look back at what you've created in your life...and aspire to greatness in ways that are completely out of the box.” Miller prefers “long-term relationships with professional writers [who] desire to write a book every 10 months or year, [who] have tremendous passion, drive and talent.” If he finds a synergy between what he wants to accomplish and the writer's own goals, he may make an offer of representation.