AMBER LOVE 14-MAR-2013 Despite the bizarre Skype feedback that appears throughout this episode, you will hear an hour of delightful conversation with ERIC RUBEN. Listener questions were answered as best as possible without any notions that listeners would be entering into a client privilege. Eric represents a lot of impressive talented writers and performers including Anne Elizabeth, Bailey Jay, Lela Gwenn, and Alex Jamieson to name a few.
And don’t forget we’re having a contest for the March 22, 2013 NJ Blues Bash and giving away a pair of tickets!
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Eric is an out-of-closet nerd too. He spent time in his younger days playing Dungeons & Dragons and he’s familiar with the misogyny in the current gaming culture. His client list is predominantly women which was a natural occurrence as his clients referred their peers to him.
“I’m feel like John Lennon at the height of Beatlemania when I walk into a Romance convention.”
A listener who is a photographer and cosplayer asked where the line is for fans that use copyrighted characters when selling their prints/images and costumes. Eric essentially said there’s no clear answer but do your research; if you’re going to make money off stuff, it’s a murky area and something that you would need to enter into a contract with a lawyer to discuss. Disney (Marvel inclusive) for example, has a reputation for aggressively representing their clients’ intellectual property.
We discuss how to approach an literary agent and what it means when they ask for a pitch. There are specific conventions where Eric is open to being pitched for finished projects. This is around 28:00 minutes into the podcast where the background noise gets awful but you can still Eric’s voice very clearly.
* Have your book finished.
*Don’t send attachments — agents worry about malware like everyone else.
* Know the agent — address the query personally and only send a query letter if they represent the same kind of book you have written.
* Be a professional — have your boobs covered when talking to an agent and use professional language in the emails.
* Follow the submission guidelines on the agent’s website.
The pain of rejection is something else you have to expect. When Agent X doesn’t like your project you can try pitching something else or simply move on to Agent Y. Eric says your writing might suck but it’s more likely that a book he rejects simply doesn’t fit his qualifications or resonate with him. He says the Young Adult market is saturated, for example. It’s going to be rejected unless there really is something phenomenal about it.
We touch briefly upon the LGBTQ+ market for books and how times have changed.
LINKS:
*Eric Ruben on Twitter
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.