Adventures in Writing

Something Surprising

 Everyone always says to have patience when querying.  I hear it everywhere, but I guess even that didn't prepare me for what happened this week.  On March 29th, I sent out one of my first queries for the newly revised manuscript that I'd been working on.  After two months without a response from this particular agent, I took the non-response as code for 'Thanks, but no thanks'.  

I move on, researching new agents and querying new ones every few weeks.  April, then May trickled by, during which several agents ask for partials and/or fulls.  As I wait for responses on those, I continue to work on other projects and research agents and agencies that I feel might fit with my completed manuscript.  Now, after four months, I get the most surprising email from the agent that I queried back on March 29th, requesting a full.  This was almost four months to the day of the original email.  I had all but crossed them off as a rejection.  

I guess the lesson here is to just keep on keepin' on, because if you're sitting on pins and needles the whole time, you're butt will get mighty sore.

5 Stages of Querying

Okay, so I follow this writers' blog pretty intensely, called the Guide to Literary Agents.  It has guest bloggers covering subjects ranging from successful queries to how I got my agent to new agent alerts.  I've found it very helpful in my industry education thus far.  Recently, Anne Gallagher did a guest spot on the five stages of querying.  It was so spot on, that I had to reblog it.  My only adjustment was that I never really had a full #1 issue.  I hoped what I wrote was good, but I never believed it was earth shattering.  For those querying soon, or are in the process...you are not alone.

#1) Conceit – This is the beginning of the query experience in which you are convinced that any agent would be a fool to turn you down. You know deep in your heart this is the most fantastic book ever written and every agent who reads your query will request a full, (or at least a partial) immediately. And your mother, husband/wife and BFF beta's said so. 

#2) Fear – This second emotion is harder to contain as it encompasses a variety of anxieties at the same time: Is the query strong enough to get a request? Is the manuscript good enough? Have I revised enough? Did I find all my typos? Did I say everything I was supposed to say?  

#3) Bargaining – This is when you’ll do absolutely anything if an agent requests any part of your manuscript: Spend more time with the kids, your mother-in-law, the PTO. You’ll keep up with the laundry, dishes, dust bunnies. You’ll remember to make breakfast, pay the bills, feed the dog. And you’ll pass up the new shoes you saw last week at the mall … you swear, if you could only get a request. 

#4) Depression – This is how far you’ll actually sink before you start climbing up from the pit of despair. Some frequent comments in your head will be—“My query sucked, the agent will hate it. My book sucks. Why am I doing this? I can’t write a book. No one would read it anyway, it will never sell.” At this point, you must remember you do have family and friends who love you and care for you. Step away from the chocolate, get out of your sweats, take a shower and go for a nice long walk. A little fresh air never hurt anyone. 

#5) Acceptance – And this last stage is when you realize, the query is out, agents are looking at it, you gave it your 100% best shot and there is nothing more you can do. So relax. And I won't tell you not to check your e-mail account fifteen times a day because I know you will, (I do, too) just try and get it down to three. Breakfast, lunch and before bedtime.

Will Gatekeepers still have job when there's no Gate?

 
 One of my first entries on this blog dealt with how literary agents are the gatekeepers of the literary world.  I took this a step further and likened getting an agent to getting a college degree.  But as any author, aspiring author, editor, publisher, agent or stock boy will tell you, the publishing world is going through some adjustments.  Technology is changing way publishers do business.  Nathan Bransford recently took on the question of what that might mean for the gatekeepers if/when there's no longer a gate to keep.  Read the link, my friends...it may very well effect how you view the future of publishing and the role your agent or future agent will play...and by the way, I still stick by my analogy. 

Getting an agent is still like getting a college degree but there's these new start up companies that might not care quite as much that you have a college degree but then maybe without that college degree you won't get health insurance from the said start ups...you get the idea.  I'm still shooting for what I currently believe is the best path...the college degree with a top school.  'Course that is so much dang work.  Remind me why I'm doing this again?  Oh yeah...'cause I kinda love it.  

Query Stats

I thought I'd post some query statistics to allow anyone who actually reads this to see what I'm up against in getting published.  The following are stats from one agent who represents my genre.  She's a good agent and I'd love to work with her, so I am sending her my stuff today, but clearly I have my work cut out for me.

In the first three months of 2010, we received 1,297 queries...of those queries, we requested partials on 20 manuscripts...Out of those 20 partials, we requested 3 full manuscripts, all of which are currently under consideration. I didn’t sign any new clients in the first three months of 2010. Still, just to get a full request? We’re looking at only .2% of all queries received.

Yikes!  That's rough.  And that's only the first step.  If/When I get an agent, I still need to get a publishing house to be interested enough to invest in me.  Double yikes!

 

 Yup.  It's a bit like that.

A Query Minefield

Where am I in the publishing process?  Well, I'm in the querying stage.  Querying simply means submitting work.  

I began researching agents seriously about August of last year.  I first searched out the literary agents that accepted my genre (Fiction/Young Adult) and then compiled a short list of those that I was most excited about.  I included all their submission guidelines in my little spreadsheet––I love spreadsheets–-they make me feel all warm and fuzzy.  

The reason I felt a spreadsheet was necessary is because every agent has a slightly different guideline for submitting.  Some want just a query, while others want a query, synopsis and 50 pages of the manuscript. Some agents will only accept email queries and others only take snail mail.  Most refuse to accept attachments, but a rare few require that your sample pages come attached.  Querying is like walking through a mine field.  One wrong move and...REJECTED!

But some may ask, what is a query?  Essentially, it's a cover letter introducing you and your manuscript to the agent.  The biggest and hardest part of the query is the "jacket-cover' blurb that condenses your 250+ page book down into 250 words.  Say it with me...EEK!

My best advice for writing a query is this:  Write the very best query you can and then put it away and a week or so later, start again with a blank slate.  Refine that version and then put away again.  After three or four times, pull up all the queries and see what works in each.  Try submitting that new and best version to a forum for comments, like on Absolute Write.

But don't settle for my measley advice.  Google is your friend.  There are tons of agent blogs that will post successful queries or really UNsuccessful ones.  Take a look and see what the agents like.  I submitted my query to an agent blog for posting and comments.  I didn't really think anything would come of it.  But my query actually got picked to be posted.  My query is the second one of the two posted––the query signed D.W.  I got some good comments but didn't actually get the agent's advice. That was disappointing but still, I bettered by query with the experience.

Literary Agents are like College Degrees

Some of my family and friends have asked why I'm submitting my manuscript to a literary agent, instead of directly to the publishers.  I will offer my opinion and links to a few more reputable sources.

So, why are literary agents necessary?  Short answer:  Because literary agents act as gatekeepers to the publishing houses. 

 
A longer answer:  Getting an agent is like getting a college degree.

 
 In today's world, it's unlikely that you'll be successful without one.  Some say, "well, so-and-so got published without an agent."  Yes, I know.  And there are examples of people that are extremely successful without a college degree, but as you will agree, these people are the exception, not the rule.

There's a certain vetting process that happens while obtaining an agent.  The process is frought with mindless hoops, but in the end you (and your manuscript) will come through smarter and better prepared.  Publishers will see that you've done what it takes to get your "degree", proving that you might be someone they would "hire". 

I hope this answers your questions.  Where am I in the process?  Well, I'm still the geeky freshman at the back of the Publishing 101 class.  I hope I pass.

I Wrote a Book

I wrote a book.  (A manuscript actually, as the term 'book' refers to published works, which this is not...yet.)

A while back, I came up with a concept for a book.  For fun, I decided to write it down but I had no intention of ever letting it see the light of day.  Within a week, I had several chapters written and the plot line for most of the story, but the end was still obscured in the mist of my imagination.  After two more weeks, I felt the need to tell someone.  I chose my sister.  She became a great cheerleader.  I don't think I would have finished had she not encouraged me.  I am very grateful to her.  

Anyway, I began writing in earnest.  I wrote and then wrote some more.  By the time I finished, I decided to be serious about seeing it publishing.  Then I realized I had two problems.

Problem #1:  I don't know anything about publishing a book.

Problem #2:  I don't have any writing credentials or a degree in English.  Remind me again why anyone would publish me?

Well, there isn't really an answer to problem #2, outside of writing something else and getting it published in a magazine or something.  Of course, to do that I'd probably need some kind of publishing history, right?  Hence the conundrum.  

So, I went back to the problem I could work on––#1.  I spent hours researching the publishing industry.  Hours.  And.  Hours.  Of.  Research.  One of the first thing I learned was that I needed a literary agent to represent my work to publishers.  Second, I learned my manuscript was entirely too long. Like Tolstoy long.  I began editing and in doing so, I learned a lot more about the writing craft.  I rewrote, edited and revised for several more months and then impatiently decided my manuscript was ready for submission to literary agents.  I knew the manuscript was still too long, but I submitted it anyway, along with a query, that I freely admit was total crap.

Amazingly, I had about six agents show interest.  In the end, I sent the full manuscript to three and received some very good feedback.  Good, in the fact that it taught me a lot. Essentially, they said what I already knew:  good concept but too long.

I took a break and shelved the whole thing.  After another two months, I decided to re-enter my writer's cocoon.  I did a beta read, which helped immensely and then began revising. Revisions took another two months and now I'm restarting the submission process by querying a select group of agents that I've researched.

So, that's the story for now.  Hopefully, I will have more to report as time passes.  Thanks for reading this very long entry––you deserve twenty brownie points.  A hundred if you clicked through to the links.