Adventures in Writing

I won!

 Okay, so I didn't actually win first place.  I got third place, but still that's saying something, right?  About a week ago, one of the author blogs that I follow posted a contest to help title her newst manuscript.  Here's what she wrote about the third (that's me!!), second and first place titles:  

"Third Place THE ASSASSINATION OF MARVIN HERMES by Diana. Love this title. Really love this title. But if anybody’s name is going to be in the title, I’d rather it were Seth’s.

Second Place FEED DEAF by Too Cute (Penelope Wright), which I am taking the liberty of changing to STREAM DEAF. I didn’t mention it before, but sometime between now and when I first set up this contest, I actually came up with two titles I really liked. STREAM DEAF was one of them, so when Honey Bear read this one off, I just about snorted my ice water. I figured it was a sign:)

First Place WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS by Ben Spendlove. I honestly couldn’t decide between STREAM DEAF and WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS, but I decided to give WHOSE TEETH the win because it was the one title I couldn’t get out of my head. The phrase comes from a scripture in Proverbs (Proverbs 30:14), and that verse couldn’t be more applicable to Bob."

I have to say, I can see why she picked the first place title.  It has a certain feel or texture.  I like it a lot.  Good luck Krista with BOB, I mean WHOSE TEETH ARE AS SWORDS.

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.

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.