Category Archives: Publishing

A Celebration of Rejection

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As I ran through my morning routine, I thought through three possible ideas for today’s blog. I decided on a topic, but then checked my email to see if there might be fodder waiting there. There was–my first rejection lettter. Booooo! I mean–Yay!  

 
 
Dear Mr. Hargis:
 
Thank you very much for your query, which we have read with interest. Unfortunately, the project does not seem right for this agency, and we are sorry that we cannot offer to serve as your literary agent.
 
We also apologize for the form rejection.The sheer number of queries we receive prevents personalization in order for us to respond in a timely fashion.
 
We wish you all the best in finding more suitable representation, encourage you to query widely, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your work.
 
Sincerely,
The Stringer Literary Agency LLC
 
 
In 2000, I sent out appoximately 75 article and poetry queries which resulted in 5 paying acceptances. That’s a success ratio of 1:15. I have queried nine agents at this point. In my little self-coded system of stars & highlights denoting the “fit” of each agency for my novel, this one only received one star–uncircled. So, I am not disappointed. In fact, I am celebrating. 
 
Rejection letters only come if the groundwork of submission has been completed. Rejection letters are the proof that there is actually someone at the other end. The submission process is complicated–each agent or publisher requires a different set of information. The queries have to be catered to the specific recipient and it can take up to six months to receive a response. So, it’s nice to know that all that effort isn’t just evaporating into cyberspace.
 
There are still eight queries out there, and one of them is with an agent who received five stars–circled, underlined and highlighted. My goal is to get six more queries out this week so I can hit that magic number fifteen. It’s been good to me in the past. Perhaps, some morning a few weeks from now, I’ll be chewing on ideas while making coffee and decide to check my email first. Maybe there will be another cut-and-paste email for me to drop into a post–an Acceptance letter.
 
When that happens, I’m hoping it will be from the five-star agent. But, if I can celebrate a rejection from a one-star, I am sure I will be able to find it within me to celebrate any acceptance–even if the star isn’t circled. 
 
What a crock. Writers always say stuff like: “Well at least I heard something back.” OR “It was a rejction, but there was a personalized line from the agent in it.” Like that really makes the sting any more comfortable. Rejection sucks–whatever its shape or form. It makes me feel inferior, less than, and sometimes angry as hell. I probably should insert some silver lining here. You know, be happy and shit. I refuse. Not in the Invisible Ink. What I honestly, plainly want to say is: Rejection Sucks. Hard.

Dust in a Thrift Store

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And my eyes were opened.

My online research of over three dozen publishers was very revealing. A few, of course, were outstanding. The quality of their books, cover art, clients & marketing stood out–in a good way. But for every top-tier company I came across, I also discovered ten gutter publishers.

There are a lot of small publishers out there. And I’m not saying that none of the smaller presses strive for excellence. There are a few whose quality seems to be equal to that of the larger ones. How else can they hope to grow up to be one of the big boys someday? Others, however, apparently have little–to no–criteria for what they print. Many produce a sub-par product that I would personally be ashamed to represent my name.

By checking out the websites I was able to sift the wheat from the chaff. I was amazed at some of the things I found. Many of the book synopses I read could have been written by middle-school students struggling to get a “C” in English. The result was wordy, fragmented summaries with horrible grammar. If the publisher didn’t even edit the synopsis, then how horrendous is the actual writing between the covers?

And then there are the covers themselves. My artistic sensibilities were assaulted with amateur designs, poorly-rendered images and oversized, over-ornate fonts. I had no trouble imagining the dust that would find a home on these books at the local Dollar Tree or thrift store. Perhaps the middle-school art students could have been commisioned instead of those from the remedial English class. Surely the final images would excel beyond some of the artwork chosen.

Some of the publishers’ sites even contained such phrases as:
“While you may have ideas about the design of your book, we are good at what we do. We have artists and designers who ensure each book meets our standards. We know what works.”

Hmmmm…

As an aspiring author, I can only think of three reasons to choose a publisher such as this: ignorance, laziness or utter desperation. I am rarely accused of the first two traits. And the third, well, I have a long way to go before the darkness of despair encompasses me to that extreme. I cannot imagine taking the child I have been grooming so meticulously and throwing him into the back alleys to forage for food. Daddy loves him too much. I would rather we find what we need some other way: begging, pleading, dancing for our supper. Maybe there is a bit of pride bracing up this opinion. But, hopefully, it is the healthy kind.

My New Trick-Bike

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When I was 10 years old, there was one Christmas present I wanted above all others–a bike. But, not just any old Schwinn or Huffy. In fact, I didn’t really care what namebrand it was as long as it met my adolescent, stunt-double, daredevil requirements. It needed pegs on both the front & the back, ‘moondiscs’ covering the spokes and, of course, handbrakes. I needed all these ‘gnarly’ bells & whistles in order to pull off the amazing tricks I could already picture in my mind.

This year, there was a similar item on my list. And although it isn’t fluorescent purple like that childhood wish-fulfillment, I’m thinking it’s going to help me perform some pretty fantastic feats.

My copy of 2012 Writer’s Market – Deluxe Edition has already become my most valued & useful Christmas gift. I am currently sitting on my Mama’s backporch in my home state of NC. From the moment the car doors shut the snow out at the beginning of my trip, I have only spent a couple of waking hours without this book in my hand.

I am familiar with the resource from my foray into the publishing world back in 2000. It was my go-to resource back then for writing tips, submission guidelines & publisher leads. I am finding it as useful for marketing my novel as it was for magazine articles & poetry.

At this point, I have narrowed down the 70 listed Literary Agents to just 20 that might be a good fit for my YA Fantasy novel. Those have further been whittled down to a shortlist of 7 agencies that I believe possess the most potential for marketing my manuscript. I sent out my first query this morning. :::gulp:::

I have also scarred up the 174 pages of Book Publishers with highlighter & notes. Online research of the individual publishing houses quickly cut my handwritten HOT list of 35 down to a mere 9 that I would like to pursue. Just as it took me hours of falling, bruising & making trips to the ER while learning to ride that trick-bike of mine, so the research stage of submitting my novel has been time-intensive.

My purple bike is long gone. Although the physical Lucas was never able to hit all the tricks that my imagination’s Lucas could, he was able to accomplish a few of them. I like to believe that I could still perform an Endo on queue if required. Until some sadistic kid challenges me to prove it, I think I’ll keep on hacking away at learning a new round of tricks which will hopefully transform my first manuscript into a published novel.

Publishing Through a Contest?

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Different writers have different goals for their completed manuscripts. My personal goal for my novel is to get it published. And I’m not willing to go the self-published route to do it. Depending on who you ask, I’m either a sucker, a dreamer or both.

The NaNoWriMo site doesn’t leave its participants hanging once November fades. They continue to provide resources, links and advice to those hoping to carry on into December and beyond. I learned of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award from their “Now What?” page. My next steps were to set up a CreateSpace account and read the official rules. My novel would fit. With the possibility of a $15,000 advance & a publishing contract, why not try it? Even if I don’t win, the process will be a good learning experience and there is an opportunity to get my manuscript looked at by multiple agents & publishers in a single whack.

It possibly moves me towards my goal to get published. I’m going for it.