Sending Out Queries

I queried a few agents today and a publisher. I'm thinking it's going to be a no-go on all accounts, but here's hoping I'm wrong. I'm probably not wrong, though. Rejection comes with the territory. I'm used to the idea of it and have no problem being told no. If I couldn't hear the word no, I'd be in the wrong business. Fortunately for me, I take rejection with a grain of salt, sure in the knowledge of... oh who am I kidding? I'm not sure of shit. All I know is I've written books and I need someone to publish or represent them. But that is like looking for a needle in a haystack... and this is one big ass haystack!

Now, I know I'm not the Next Great American Author. I know I'm not the best there ever was. Not even close. I'm only just, after writing for nearly fourteen years, getting around to publishing... or hoping to. Until a few months ago, no one had ever even read anything I've written. Those who have read my works have made comments ranging from "This is fantastic! I loved every second of it." to "You were born to write. A natural. Don't let anyone tell you different." to "Sheesh, what is this junk?" and "Why do you write that way?" Opinions vary, I guess. But... It would suck to find out all that time I spent writing was for nothing. But it wasn't, really. My life isn't focused on publishing. I'm a writer, not a publisher. My business is words... their business is the printed page. I'm going to focus on what I do. But being a writer also means you have to sell what you write, if you want it to do anything more than collect cyber-dust on your hard drive, that is.

So, how to sell it? I have to make it sound good. I have to make them want to represent me. How? Well, I'll be damned if I know. I've spent a lot of time at Writers Digest Forums trying to find out how, though. It's helping, or at least it seems to be. If you come by, I'm registered as ecoll, drop me a line to say hi and tell me where you know me from (I might just think you're a cyber-stalker if you don't). The people of the forum are wonderful and range from authors with multiple published works to new authors looking for guidance. No one is mean-spirited about what they say, although some have a sarcastically-funny nature, they mean well. I've gotten more help there than anywhere else. Made some friends as well. I highly reccomend the forum and website. Good stuff, good people, good advice... who wouldn't reccomend it?

Querying agents can be daunting and I'm seriously procrastinating. I've queried three agents and one publisher... and that is it. I think I might still be a little afraid of the entire endeavor. And rightly so. How am I supposed to know what agents and publishers want? What are they looking for, exactly? Their guidelines give basic answers, but nothing specific.

To find out more about an agent, I like to look at the books they have represented. It gives me a slightly better feel of what they like. They tend to only take books they like... after all, who would attach their name to a crappy project, right? I wouldn't. If I thought my book was crap, I wouldn't be trying to sell it. I'm my own worst ciritc, but I don't think they're crap. I'm just not sure if they're any good. Does that make any sense? Probably not, knowing me but oh well...

I like the process though. Finding an agent or publisher, that is. It's interesting and I'm loving going through and reading all the information I find on Query Tracker, Preditors and Editors and of course, the person in question's own web page. It helps. If they have a blog, I read a bit of it too, just to get a feel for the person. I don't want to work with an ass-hole. Does anyone? Anyhow, my kids are home from school, so for now... peace and love, y'all.

~E.

On Writing And Rejection

The life of a writer has to be the most interesting of any a person could have. Not a single moment is ever boring. A person can sit for hours working on a book and write not a single word down. So much of the real work goes on inside the head. A story can be written in minutes, just by thinking. Any particular thing is cause for our imaginations to be sparked: a bee buzzing annoyingly in your ear, a flash of headlights through the nearest window, a person walking by you have never seen before. Any (and sometimes all) of these things can send a writer's imagination into a frenzy and before you know it, the story is written. Or, so it seems.

The downside to that is that the imagination can work too much or not enough. Once, I was in the middle of typing out a story when I got a phone call. I'd been thinking about this story for three weeks, but just because the phone rang and brought me out of the world I was making, it was gone. Just like that, the tale was lost in the recesses of my mind's trash can. It happens a lot. The perfect idea comes in the car or the dentist office and you never remember it again. Then, there are always the ideas that come and, after getting half-way through, you realize that you just saw this on a re-run of X-Files last week, so out the window that goes. Then, there are the ideas. The ones that stick and won't go away, no matter what. And once you start writing, you can't stop. That's the ideas that end up being novels. Some are good, some are bad; no writer can claim consistently good writing and if they do, they lie, they lie, they lie!

Bad writing comes with the territory. Sometimes, it just sucks and no amount of revising can fix it. The best writers in the industry are capable of writing crap. Once you can admit that your writing isn't perfect, that you aren't the new millennium's William Shakespeare, then you are half-way to being professional. Many amateurs make the mistake of thinking that their book is THE BEST book ever written and any publisher would be IGNORANT not to take it on.

Unfortunately, too many professional writers take rejection personally. It isn't. I've never had any publisher contact me only to say "We won't be taking this piece because you are just too young to write a book about the elderly." It won't happen. Three quarters of rejections are sent out because amateurs have:

1. Sent an unsolicited manuscript
2. Sent a genre fiction query to a publisher who does not handle that particular genre
3. Sent a query or manuscript to a major publisher who only accepts such things from an agent
4. Sent ill formatted work
5. Did not follow specific publisher guidelines

It may be hard to find out exactly what a publisher wants, and my advice will always be :ASK THEM! I was once told by one publishing company that no question from an author was ever trivial or silly. They would rather you ask questions and be specific than have unwanted garbage on their desk. Answering an e-mail or short note about what their specific preferences are is a lot quicker and easier than sifting through a bunch of crap. As a matter of fact, they won't sift through a bunch of crap. They will look at your cover-letter first. If you didn't send one, immediate file thirteen material. They will go no further. If you send a cover-letter, they will look for a professional attitude, spelling, and grammar as well as something to pique their interest. It had better be one damn-good cover-letter. (The contents of a query and cover-letter will be in later posts, for those who are interested. ) Remember, you have to sell your book to them. They aren't buying, you don't get published. It's as simple as that.

A big problem I had for a long time was a fear of trying to publish. I wrote for fourteen years without even thinking about publishing at all. I didn't want it, didn't need it. Then, I got curious about it and started looking into it. I've come a long way since then, and I have yet to publish any work, but I am thinking of actively pursuing it. Seriously thinking. I've gone as far as to send out a few queries and have had, amazingly enough, some wonderful feedback. I've had no offers, but in the publishing world, a hand-written response with a few comments from the editor who read it is a rarity for rejections. I'm no expert, but I'm learning as much as I can. I'm getting there. I'd like to be comfortable with the publishing part before actively seeking it. I'm almost there. Almost.

Even so, I found rejection a very bitter pill to take once I had sent out a query or two. I did get some good, and much appreciated, feedback from the small presses I've contacted. The form letters stung, and very much so. The first few were tough on me and after the tenth, I wanted to give up. I had been happy before, writing merely for my own love of writing. Then it hit me. It's a simple enough thing, but it's still true.

For the writer, it is art. For the publisher, it's business. Just business. They want to make money. Assuming you have any honesty with yourself, you want to be published because you want money, too. You may long to see your name in print, but if you are trying to publish, you would like to make some money from it. Am I right? I know I am. So, I had to stop thinking of my art as art during my half-assed attempt at finding a publisher. I am selling my book. If they don't want, they don't take.

If, however, you manage to catch their attention with your cover-letter, they will move on to read the sample chapters, if you sent them (and only do if asked for in their guidelines). They look at the title page first. Not having one may be forgivable, especially if the ms (manuscript) is formatted correctly. If the ms is not formatted correctly, it's a no go again. They do things the way they do things because it works. They have been publishing for a very long time and have always done it this way. They have to look for the things that make their lives easier because they just don't have the time to develop a professional author from a talented amateur. Publishers are busy. They have authors who they DO want to publish to deal with, go over revisions, discuss contracts and rights and everything else with. They need professionalism from unpublished authors. It doesn't have to be exactly perfect. A typo every hundred pages isn't going to get your work thrown out, but it has to be good. It has to read easily, be original, and be easy to publish, especially from an unpublished, unagented author. Make them work as little as possible, entertain them, and give them a sellable book all in one, all while being professional and concise?

Your chances go up. That's it. There's no guarentee. Your timing may be off. If that kind of book isn't selling so well, they will probably pass on it. But, if it's got a chance of selling, they might just ask to read the complete manuscript. Maybe. There are other aspects of it that, as of right now with no publishing experience under my belt, that I don't understand yet. Once I do, I'll write about it just so you'll know too. But for right now, I'm done. Peace and love, y'all.

~E.