Reads like you've picked the right stage to submit. Remember though, rejections don't mean you're not good enough. They just mean you're not the right fit for that agent at that time. And you've only tried a very small sample of agents.
I have yet to read one of those two a year books and think it any good, to be honest.
Agreed.
Wow!!! That's awesome! Yes, writing and marketing are two VERY different skills. I would venture to say that most writers feel like you do. I know I do as well. Which is why there are agents. haha.
I respectfully disagree.
From what i recall, he was doing a college/university course, working nights and wriring at the same time. And still managed to pump out 13/14 books.
My book, The Panopticon Experiment, was rejected by many, many more than that (well into double figures). I probably beat JK Rowling for the number of rejections. Eventually, downhearted and doubting myself, I self-published. A couple of Litopians have since read my book and liked it. The first chapter was even featured on one of the Litopian podcasts and, although it was a YA book, a well-known veteran Hollywood actress bought 6 copies to give to friends. What I'm trying to say is that the book itself wasn't too bad, but I have since gone back and reread my query letters. They sucked! Reading them, I bored myself. On the basis of those query letters, they were right to reject me.
Sadly, publishers now do expect the author to do a lot of the PR/Marketing themselves.
No not initially from blank page. More like when you start a house renovation. You start off to fix the leaking roof-find out the joists have actually rotted replace them but the guy who replaces them tells you your chimney needs repointing and they tell you you need a chimney sweep. The Chimney sweep finds flaws in the wiring ...etc. So by evolution as you learn the craft you end up with a much better book after doing this about 3 times. The bad ones just curl up in a drawer somewhere to die like John Steinbeck's werewolf story that his estate STILL won't release even tho we all want to read it.
Most likely because they knew it was what someone – ie. a publisher – specifically had asked for, or was known to be looking for.
My first query/submission letters were simply embarrassing. Real curl up and die stuff. And because I was following advice in an out of date (but authoritative in its day) book, I thought I was doing exactly the right thing!
Not necessarily. That is one possibility, but there are many more e.g. they have something too similar on their list and don't want a conflict of interest in pushing it forward; they love the genre but not precisely that niche of the genre; they are almost full with what they can cope with and are looking for something in particular before they close to submissions - this work, no matter how good it is, is not the particular they are looking for; they don't think this book fits the predicted market in two years time (the average time from acceptance to publication) - if that is the case, the book's moment will come as market preferences cycle.
Not sure if I agree with the last part, since it comes down to knowing the right editors and having the correct contacts from what I’ve been told. But I do agree that it’s a numbers game. You’ve just gotta keep banging on doors as Jonny said. There are so many reasons to say no, as previously stated, and so often it is far from your writing not being good enough. In a chat with Laura Zats (Headwater) she said she came across something last year that she loved and knew would be successful but immediately recognized she wasn’t the right agent to make it sing. She didn’t have the right skill set as an agent to do the initial pass through as an agent to get it to an editors standards - but she loved it and saw the potential. A year later she saw on publishers marketplace that it had been sold and she was like yup, that makes sense. So yeah - sometimes it’s entirely about them and not you.I have a read through the thread and comments, Jake, and have also seen some of your material previously.
To me, you write well in your preferred genre, so let's not have any more of this old: "haven't got the skills" malarkey.
There's a lot of good advice here and I know you know this, but this is a tough old game and it's often down to bloody-minded tenacity and adopting a not giving up spirit.
If you see a door in front of you bang on it again and again. Also, I don't think you should just query agents that appear to be you genre. I'm sure there are plenty more out there unaware that you are their next big client. They just don't know it yet and they won't either... unless you approach them too.
The phrase what have you got to lose? springs to mind.
Publishing is a merry-go-round with agents and editors changing horses all the time. What's to say that an agent / publisher purporting to be (say) a crime fiction specialist, hasn't just appointed a new go-getting-keen-to-make-an-impression-agent / editor with a penchant for comedy fantasy?
It feels like trying to get a date, ha ha.
A little bit, lol!!
I think it sometimes can come down to an agent knowing their own skill set though, and their own limitations, and knowing a book deserves the best chance and not wanting to f*ck it up. That was the impression I got. I was in a zoom with Laura via a patreon group I'm in, it wasn't a big conference thing, so a small group of us were pressing her on this issue (nicely of course). She was saying that she really loved this book but knew in her heart she couldn't do it justice and it would be unfair to kind of half ass it. It would be better to let someone who had a better skill set work on it. She wouldn't say what book, so I don't know if it was a genre thing or what the issue was, but I think that happens quite a bit. I'd rather have that than someone with a big ego who takes on everything and does a crap job with all of it.
I've heard the same on a Bookends literary agency podcast.
The something wrong may be that it is not saleable in todays market, but that is still going to get rejected by the next 40 agents. The problem with writing a lot of books without learning how to self-edit and rewrite is that you just repeat the same mistakes. You have to learn those skills at some point. If the question is, "Do I send out even more query letters or have a look at why I've been rejected?", then which answer is more likely to get you published in the end?
This is the thing.
I'm just curious why you wouldn't think about self-publishing now?
Because I'm lazy ha ha.
It is smoke and mirrors. So frustrating in the extreme.
Samesies
