The real work of writing is in the publication. That is why I love blogging. As a blogger, I can publish my work immediately in the blog kingdom or not, as I choose. Since I started in 2008, I have never restricted my posts. I received several messages asking permission to reblog my post in that time frame. And a couple of times, I was invited to join the communist party. That one made me nervous. What could I have said to make them want me to write for them? Recently, Facebook removed one of my posts because they felt I was trying to get likes. Hell yes, I’m trying to get likes!
As I said above, the real work is finding someone to help me publish my novel. In the last three weeks, I have spent numerous hours researching agencies and agents who are in business to help slugs like me. So far, these people are pretty specific about what they want to work on. The key word is genre. My story doesn’t fit into any of their particular genres. If you have a job that is called writing, you are supposed to know about these things when you begin putting the words down. If you wait until your story is complete and then try to squeeze into a genre it is even more work. You see, a real money making writer knows things like which genre sells and which don’t. If you want to see some ode in your til you will master the art of writing stories that fall into the highest selling genre even if you hate those kinds of tales. If you do what I did, you will struggle looking for an agent/publisher who will help you.
When I finished my book satisfactorily, I began searching for an agent by Googling literary agents. The very first hit I got came from Page Publishing. Excited, I dove into their website and started answering questions. The next day, I received a call from an agent. I returned the call and listened to his pitch. It sounded too good to be true. A voice in my head said, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”
I Googled Page Publishing, and it is a legitimate company. They are what is called a vanity publisher. The agent kept calling me, and each time, I learned more about how they work. I sent them a copy of my manuscript and was notified within 24 hours that my book was marketable. WOW! That really got me excited. The hook was that they would help me after I sent a signed a contract along with a pile of money. Here are some of the things I learned: only 25% of manuscripts they receive get to this stage. I would get ten hard copy books as part of the deal. They print only when they get orders from book stores, and sellers. I would be assigned an immediate editor to work with me to get the book ready and to work out the details of advertisements, TV appearances, Podcasts, etc.
I had forty-five days to accept the offer. I can’t believe those days passed by so quickly, but they did. In that time, I was researching how to do things on my own by finding a Literary Agent. I always thought these guys were waiting in line for me to come along and would snatch me up at the first nibble on my bait. How wrong I was. There are hundreds of Literary Agencies throughout the world. All of them employ several agents whose job it is to find novels that will work in the system; work that fits the genres they like, stories that grab you by the short hairs and yank your emotions alive, etc. and, these people have to have time in their busy schedules to fit you in. It is overwhelming. I called my niece who is a published author. She directed me to a program called Query Tracker which I immediately got familiar with. That is what I am spending my time on now. I find agents who want to see work in Family Saga genre and then click on the form. I then, complete the form with my contact info, my biography, a query letter, a three to twenty page sample of the manuscript, a one page synopsis, and a pitch. Then I send it off into the either world and pray to get a bong or a hit.
To date, I have received five bongs, and the remainder continue to float in the ether world. I won’t hold my breath. In the meantime, I am thinking about new stories in genres that make money. The problem is that I keep inventing stories that I like but do not fit the genres that agents sell. It is back to blogging for me.
Filed under: Biography, Writer | Tagged: Literary Agents, Query Tracker |
They say there are more writers than readers in the world. For once, you and I are in the majority 🙂