Well, I finally accomplished one of my summer goals - I sent Between Time out to its first agent. After researching them, it appears the UK market has grown a little in the last few years and there are even agents who accept e-submissions (around five in total). So I'm concentrating on those first.
It's always a difficult question to know how many agents to send out to at once, especially when some of them seem funny about multiple submissions. A number ask you to make clear if you're sending it out to more than one. I don't understand why they care. Because if one offers you acceptance before any other, you can politely withdraw your MS from the others. I simply don't have time to wait 6-8 weeks for rejection before moving on.
The main argument for submitting only to a couple is that you can, if you're rejected, polish the MS more before you submit to the next batch. I have revised Between Time quite a bit since the last time it was out with agents. Particularly the first chapter, which I thought needed more of a hook.
Well, it's out there. The subject of this blog isn't quite accurate, though. A number of these agents differ from my past experience: they let you know that your work has been received, but only respond then if they're interested. So when I hear nothing after 6-8 weeks, I know that I'm rejected. That's a little frustrating, because, while I don't like rejection letters, they do at least give a sense of closure to a query. Oh well.
Ha, listen to me. Such a pessimist! Wish me luck. ;)
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Sunday 17 July 2011
Dilemma
A number of my friends seem to be turning to e-publication. I had another request for proof-reading last week, which I finished yesterday. I don't want to say too much about that novel yet, but when it hits the e-shelves, I'll write all about it here.
It's such a dilemma for me!
My brother made a really gorgeous cover for my midgrade/tween novel, Between Time. It made me want to e-publish it even more! Because that novel is now as ready as it will ever be. I just let my younger sister read through to check the vocab level, and she also seemed to enjoy it. Critiques have always been positive. If I made a back cover, a book trailer, and prepare it for e-publication, it could be out in a month!
I had a dream, too, that I DID e-publish it. I was on a website, watching the 'sold' count creep up. Not hugely, but as high as 20 sales in the dream. And it was SO EXCITING!
But I'm just worried that I'd be limiting my sales if I e-publish... because I just can't see THAT many 11 year old kids owning Kindles. I don't know. This thread on amazon.com seems promising... but hmm. What do you think?
This summer is rapidly vanishing. If I'm going to go down the traditional route, I must get a large batch of queries out in the next week or so... so the rejections can pile up before September.
What to do? What to do? I hate query writing. I hate researching agents and pretending I care about them. I don't really get how you're supposed to do it anyway. The UK market, I'm pretty sure, is different to the US one. The UK ones are more elusive.
If I e-published, there would be challenges in a DIFFERENT way, but at least then there would be a clear end goal.
Arg!
In other news, I finally took a deep breath and made a start on 'Zack'. It needs some major structural work, which is always the hardest part! But if I keep battering at it, I might make headway eventually.
My newest novel is progressing quite nicely, though. I've reached the first 10K hurdle, and considering that the novel is probably tween, that's probably a good fifth of the way. I'm slightly worried this novel might end up being a little too long for its age-range, but I'll just have to see. No point in fretting over that at this stage!
So yes. Things are progressing. But slowly. And there's only so much summer left...
It's such a dilemma for me!
My brother made a really gorgeous cover for my midgrade/tween novel, Between Time. It made me want to e-publish it even more! Because that novel is now as ready as it will ever be. I just let my younger sister read through to check the vocab level, and she also seemed to enjoy it. Critiques have always been positive. If I made a back cover, a book trailer, and prepare it for e-publication, it could be out in a month!
I had a dream, too, that I DID e-publish it. I was on a website, watching the 'sold' count creep up. Not hugely, but as high as 20 sales in the dream. And it was SO EXCITING!
But I'm just worried that I'd be limiting my sales if I e-publish... because I just can't see THAT many 11 year old kids owning Kindles. I don't know. This thread on amazon.com seems promising... but hmm. What do you think?
This summer is rapidly vanishing. If I'm going to go down the traditional route, I must get a large batch of queries out in the next week or so... so the rejections can pile up before September.
What to do? What to do? I hate query writing. I hate researching agents and pretending I care about them. I don't really get how you're supposed to do it anyway. The UK market, I'm pretty sure, is different to the US one. The UK ones are more elusive.
If I e-published, there would be challenges in a DIFFERENT way, but at least then there would be a clear end goal.
Arg!
In other news, I finally took a deep breath and made a start on 'Zack'. It needs some major structural work, which is always the hardest part! But if I keep battering at it, I might make headway eventually.
My newest novel is progressing quite nicely, though. I've reached the first 10K hurdle, and considering that the novel is probably tween, that's probably a good fifth of the way. I'm slightly worried this novel might end up being a little too long for its age-range, but I'll just have to see. No point in fretting over that at this stage!
So yes. Things are progressing. But slowly. And there's only so much summer left...
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