Books Read in 2011

Tessa's books-read-2011 book montage

Clockwork Angel
The Hunger Games
Mockingjay
Catching Fire
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer


Books Read in 2011 »

Thursday, July 8, 2010

More Agent Rejections!


Image: http://blogs.adelaidecitycouncil.com/charlotte/2008/10/
I sent out 20 queries yesterday and got four prompt responses; rejections. I honestly have to say that I'm so proud of myself. I just read them and felt absolutely nothing but positive. No tears, no lurch in my stomach, no pinch in my heart; absolutely nothing. I don't know if it was the polite form rejections, the fact that I expect rejections by dozens before a "maybe", that I'm looking at this whole thing as a challenge, or that it was "4 down, 52+ to go" -- I don't know, but I'm proud.

I suppose that one factor of my optimism is that my book is going to be published one way or another. From the very beginning of my preparations to query (three months now), I've also been looking into self-publishing. I have read about companies that do the work for you, but, in my opinion, you get too little royalty that way. Then I've been reading about e-books. Did you know that Kindle allows you to keep 70% of the revenue?

When I see e-published books that are unavailable in print, I automatically think "he/she couldn't get an agent/publisher". Although I'm sure that's what happened to some, I think it's time I change my way of thinking. Randy Ingermanson wrote yet another brilliant post, and this time about e-publishing. His post is long, but it had my entire attention to the very end. He also links to a post by Joe Konrath that is a must-read.

Randy talks about the inevitable change in the publishing market and 9 different ways the market might change. He's very realistic and he talks about the positive way for both authors AND publishers. So far I've only seen negative posts from publishers/agents about e-publishing, likely because they're nervous. No. Not nervous; scared. But reading Randy's post, I honestly don't think they have to be scared of anything. In fact, this whole e-publishing thing might make their work a lot easier. Randy's one option was that writers will e-publish and the agent will watch what's selling and sign up those who are popular. That way they won't have to take some of the chances they take. As for the slush for the market, Randy says that the market is smart and will quickly find ways to get around the slush.

Yes, it will be hard to stand out and market myself if I e-publish on Kindle (or any other means), but I have a degree in business, and I should be able to cope. I'm confident in my writing, and I'm not scared of e-publishing. I actually find the possibility rather exciting.

There will always be printed books. There was one person who replied to Randy and said that he (the person) was old and had eye problems because of computer screens. He said that he wouldn't recommend reading books from a screen. There will always be people who will prefer buying printed books. I know that I'll be one of them, although I'm excited to buy a Kindle device and try it out. I like the idea of de-cluttering my shelves with the device. But I think that I'll always buy my favorite titles in printed form.

p-publishing or e-publishing? Either way, I'm optimistic about my future as a writer.

6 comments:

  1. I'm amazed at how many queries you are sending out. I have only sent a dozen total and that is in two months! I think about ePublishing, but without getting the books into B&N and Borders and without your own marketing department, it is so discouraging to see the numbers of sales.

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  2. I've been working on my agent list for at least a week. I don't know if there are more agents who represent YA fiction as opposed to fiction. I'm going by Janet Reid's suggestions: Query them all, hehe.

    As for the e-publishing, it is a last resort. I'd have to count on word-of-mouth and although agent rejections aren't scaring me at the moment, I think that low sales numbers in e-publishing would.

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  3. I'm so proud of your attitude! You are spot on... the rules are changing, and it's best to keep the perspective of "it's not personal" well in mind. I look forward to hearing about your inevitable success!

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  4. Good luck with the agents! Hopefully there will be some partial and full requests!

    I haven't gotten to that point in my manuscripts to be able to query agents, but I know it's coming, and it's good to be prepared. I already have a started list, though.

    It is a toss up between print and e-publishing. I want to start with the agents/big publishers and work my way down. I don't know if I would self-publish one of my novels. I'd at least rather try a smaller publisher or even e-publishers before self-publishing. Although I must admit the 70% profit from Amazon's Kindle is very tempting, if you can sell your product well. *laughs*

    Good luck in whatever you decide!

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  5. Thanks Cherie :)

    I'm writing a trilogy, so I think that e-publishing might be a better choice for my first book. Since I get to keep all my rights, I'm free to self-publish the rest, if I want to have a go at it.

    Okay, I'm thinking way ahead here. Of course I want to try to be published "traditionally" first--I think most of us do, but it's nice to have a back-up plan.

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