I'll start. I currently have Cannibal Island with an agent who was interested enough by the query to request it. I also have Skullhaven with another agent. I'm waiting to hear back from both of them. Naturally, I hope they both love what they're reading, but if so, that may present a dilemma. As far as I know, it's bad form for writers to have more than one agent. Have you ever had two agents offer you representation at the same time? What did you do to resolve it?
Okay. Your turn. Oh, and by the way, if you like this site, feel free to pass the link along on your social networks so we can get more input in the comments and more entries in our future contests. There are more wonderful writers out there that we could all learn from.
Me? Well I'm multi-tasking right now. Tonight I have to finish up edits for a short story that will be appearing in an Australian short fiction anthology. I'm also working on a few final revisions for one of my novels and also the synopsis for that novel so I can start querying.
ReplyDeleteI have finished my manuscript and am currently building buzz with my new blog: www.jenniferswan.net. I figure if I can build a following, I might have a better shot at publication. *fingers crossed* My goal is to help other writers share their family stories.
ReplyDeleteI am currently still working on novel number two. When I've completed it I hope to begin querying for an agent.
ReplyDeleteI published my first novel without an agent and it did not do as well as I hoped but I mistakenly chose a rather nondescript publisher as well. So with regrets and learning from my mistakes, I have chosen not to publish my second novel without having first landed an agent.
I am hoping to have that goal met within the year.
My first novel is also no longer under contractual obligation to the original publisher and is 'officially' out of print though still available on Amazon. I am hoping perhaps to have it also accepted for republication perhaps.. maybe even with a rewrite.. who knows, may be a dream.
Also a friend of mine who is also a writer and I are co-writing the screenplay for my first novel with high hopes.
I keep a personal blog that varies on subject matter at www.chasingcornfields.com.
Lisa K.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on what you're doing. I don't know about you, but most writers absolutely detest the query writing exercise. I also hate the synopsis process. Best of luck with those. If you'd like to get input from other writers on your query and/or synopsis, absolutewrite.com is a great place for peer review and suggestions.
Amie,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting information you've posted here. Perhaps I should do another post soon related to self-publishing horror or success stories. ?
Best of luck with your second novel. I'm sure you are familiar with querytracker.com and agentquery.com. If not, those are great sites for searching through agents to find the right ones to query.
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteInteresting tactic on building "buzz" through your blog. Perhaps I should do another post soon on that subject. It might be enlightening to a lot of writers on how to create a "platform" which is the current buzz word that agents and publishers are wanting to hear about from writers. Best of luck in getting things stirred up. I found your site very interesting. I'm sure others would too. Do you tweet it occasionally to increase the traffic?
I would love to see a post about building a platform. Just signed my first contract for an ebook with a small publisher and while I wait for my edits (between working on writing a new book and shopping two others for agents) I'm trying to get some web presence. Seems like some writers are a great success with drawing crowds, while others--like me--struggle to learn the ropes.
ReplyDeleteIt's mindboggling to find out how little of a writing career has to do with just sitting down and writing. That's the fun part. After that it's time to pull up your sleeves and get to work.
I'm definitely among those who despite synopsis writing. Thanks for the heads-up about absolutewrite. I've only every been there searching for calls for submission. I'll have to check out the other areas.
ReplyDeleteLisa K.
ReplyDeleteGo to the "Forums" and scroll down to the eighth forum (AW Writing Lab, I think) The top room is called "Share Your Work." Go there, then on the next screen about the third one down is called "Query Letter Hell." You can post your query and get some good feedback. There's a password for that room: "vista"
Michael,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I'll definitely check it out this weekend. It sounds like just the place I need to be.
I need to revise and once that's done, I'll craft a query letter and start shopping.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on two projects--one is the backstory for a series of oil paintings and sculptures with a botanical theme referring to the Victorian-era means of communication "The Language of Flowers." It's very Edward Gorey meets Tim Burton. I'm also working on the follow-up to my e-novel "Pilate's Cross," which as of today is supposed to be available for the new iPad in the iBooks store. (It's been out on BarnesandNoble.com, Kobo, Smashwords and a few others for a few months.) I'm happy to be busy with such fun projects. I tried for nearly two years to get an agent and had some requests for fulls and partials...but struck out. Anyway, in this market I'd rather spare myself the anguish of trying that route again anytime soon. I'd rather just do the new work and market my ebook.
ReplyDeleteAlex,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Very interesting information you've shared. I may do a post about traditional vs digital publishing and see what kind of information we can glean from the comments. I think it would be very informative and perhaps offer writers another avenue to publication that seems to be gaining a great deal of popularity. Nathan Bransford posts regularly on the evolution of ebooks and how the major publishers are getting involved. It could be quite enlightening to get input from writers, like you, who have chosen that channel to get their work into the hands of readers. Thanks again. Stay tuned. You could offer a lot of insight, I'm sure.
Michael--happy to contribute anytime. I've sold a modest number of e-copies and have had some lovely reviews. I often wonder what my late grandfather, award-winning Western/historical fiction author Robert E. Trevathan would've thought about e-publishing. I frankly bet he would've done it, too--even after 35 years and 30 books with publishers like Manor and Avalon. Anyway, I'm excited also to be working with a local production company on a trailer for my e-book. I will certainly let you know when it's posted. More info about my work is available at http://www.Pilatescross.com
ReplyDeleteI sent out a batch of queries for The Fifth World (thriller novel) in early January to agents. All rejections and some no responses thus far. Have one or 2 more agents identified to submit to this week, but after that, I start with small publishers.
ReplyDeleteJust released my first ebook, A Funny Pair of Shorts, last week on Smashwords and Kindle. It includes three humorous short stories. I am putting the finishing touches on the third story for another collection of three horror short stories, A Terrifying Pair of Shorts.
I've also got about 10,000 words written on a 30-35K word thriller novella which I also plan to release as an e-book and audiobook. The agent, publisher and periodical market for a 35,000 word adult thriller is about as close to non-existent as you can get, for understandable reasons. But I'm betting readers don't really care about length if the content is good, and ebooks and downloadable audiobooks allow me to release them very cheaply.
Let's see I began a fourth novel, edited my first, and cut it down from 130k to 100k, not easy. Editing my third.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to embark on Law School, which is a great accomplishment for me, and I'm excited.
I am having problems with my query letter and getting ANYONE to either take an interest in my novel or like the first three chapters. I get that far and then, nothing.
I'm hoping soon, someone will love one of them.
Just finished the rewrite of my children's short story "Marina Mack and the Magic Paper" which was shortlisted for the Charlotte Duncan Award last year into a chapter book, "Paper Magic." I had some wonderful help from Sandy Fussell. The test readers have now had at it and it is going out to the agent on Tuesday.
ReplyDeletehttp://jefferyedoherty.blogspot.com/
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your questions, yes, I do tweet my blogsite on occasion. However, I worry that my followers will think my tweets are all self-directed. I try to balance tweets with other useful websites or articles. One thing for sure - I need to get better at asking my blog readers questions, as you've done here. This is a perfect way to find loyal readers.
Great job!
Jennifer Swan