The Arc of a Successful Book

Jillian Manus of Manus & Associates Literary & Media Agency, Inc. spoke today at the Hawai'i Writers Conference of “the arc” and urged attendees to “pass wisdom and compassion forward.” She said one of her clients had imparted something to her that she wanted to share, “People don’t complete arcs of thoughts that are in their minds – if we all finished the arcs of thoughts the world would be different.” She said when she thought about this it changed her life.

Later she talked about sticky note she found in a 90 ear old woman’s home on the telephone that read, “Remind me to be angry at Bill.” She laughed and told said this could be a book title.

As for feedback, she said, if you hear something once, it’s an opinion, twice, think about it, and three times, do something.

The first page is everything. Jillian told us how she got a first page from a book called The Last Day. When she read that page, she had to read the manuscript, and she knew it would be a best seller.

Characters make the book.

She recommends barbeques where people sit around a white board and come up with words and titles.

Jillian’s worst submission story? Someone pushed a screenplay under her bathroom stall once.

Her latest client release is called A Pearl in the Storm by Toby McClure. It’s how Toby rode across the ocean to find her heart. Jillian edited it over six times.
I think she said the woman was in a row boat crossing the Atlantic – can that even be right?

Jillian was in the next session I covered, which the panel said should be called How to Publish Dynamically in a Changing Marketplace. All in all, Jillian seems like she really knows her shitznet, I know I wouldn’t mind having her as an agent. Jillian, check out Plan B and let’s talk!