Monday, October 7, 2013

Short, but Sweet

So, I did get those nasty submissions out this weekend. Took me awhile since I blast a ton out at a time (I am the reigning queen of simultaneous submissions), but they are out. Already got some rejections too. Shocker! Meh, it's the nature of the business. And each 'no' gets me closer to a 'yes'. In happier news, I did have an agent request the first 5 pages of the novel after reading the query. Yay! I hate query writing so much, but I actually liked this one quite a bit, which is rare. Even the synopsis didn't reek of suck.

As for NaNoWriMo prep, I got to do a little today (as well as research, my one true love!) and settled on two separate ideas to explore. But then I had to go get the kiddo from school for an early-ish appointment. Whilst in the car and during the appointment, I came up with an even better idea, one I think will be great. I just need to spend some time doing some research (!yay!), then develop characters (which I have germinating in the old noggin), then work on a loose outline (tight outline would be even better, but you've heard the one about beggars and choosers). Can't wait to get into the office tomorrow morning and get started. I'm a huge prep nerd. Nothing I love more than researching, filling notebooks with ideas (you should see how awesome my handwriting is...and how many notebooks I have), and writing up outlines--I do it for every story. I foresee a productive day tomorrow...

2 comments:

  1. Good luck with your queries! I like your comment about every 'no' gets you one step closer to a 'yes'... that's what I have to keep reminding myself ;) Querying myself. What are you tips for simultaneous querying? I find agents have such specific/differing guidelines that I feel like I'm creating a whole new set of query/synopsis/first pages for each email sent. Everyone seems to want something different, wondering how you do it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment! I hate the submission process, though I know it's completely necessary. I like to buy a guide to literary agents (this time it was 2014 Guide to Lit. Agents; I've also used Jeff Herman's guide) and highlight any listings that I think might be open to reading my stuff. I then check each agent's website. It's amazing how much of the info in the guide doesn't match what you find on the site (I often wonder if this is a test, just to see who actually checked the online guidelines). I shot out a mess of queries this time and only two agencies stated that they did not accept simultaneous submissions. One asked for 30 days of exclusivity. I still sent them a query. The other agency, I didn't, just because they were pretty serious about it. I always worry that several agents will be interested and then I'll be in a pickle. Ha! So far, that hasn't happened...
    As for the query letter, I do tweak it if I need to (some agents specify that they want certain things in there; this time, one wanted to know how I found the agency, which I thought a bit strange), but mostly it stays the same and only the agent's name changes. I love that so many agents take queries via email now. If you're (un)lucky, you can even get a rejection in about 5 minutes! Hope this helped a little. Mostly, I ramble, Haha. Good luck with the submission process!

    ReplyDelete