We spend a lot of time here talking about things that don't work, and ways writers shoot themselves in the foot, and all the (many MANY) ways things can go sideways in querying and publishing.
I think it's time for a reminder that I really hope your novel is fabulous.
I'm cheering for you; rooting for you; hoping hoping hoping.
When I request a full, I'm excited to read it.
When I start in, my one hope is this book will be so amazing I'll want to sign it immediately.
A lot of times that doesn't happen.
But I ALWAYS start out with that high hope.
Sometimes I get the feeling that writers think I sit down at my desk, scowling, squinty-eyed, just looking for ways to say No NO NO! A misplaced comma, a homonym. One mistake and that's all she wrote.
That is 100% NOT true.
I sit down at my desk. I open your manuscript. I adjust the screen to 125% or 150%. I get out a pen and notepaper.
I start reading. And hoping.
When it doesn't work, as it often doesn't, I'm really disappointed.
I've had to pass on a couple of things recently that I really really had high hopes for. I know it's crushing news for you, but please don't ever think it was anything but distressing for me either.
And yes, it's worse for you cause I just move on to the next whereas you are left wondering what the hell went wrong, but let's all realized passes aren't fun for either of us.
19 comments:
Also important to realize is that, for us, they're bricks in the road. Nobody wants to debut with a flop. If you can win a fan who is willing to stake her time on your success, you know you've got something to work with. It's not just the highest form of flattery. It means someone inside the industry believes that the book will succeed.
Hats off to you agents. A writer I corresponded with once said it best: "I have a lot of respect for my agent. He has actual skin in the game. I have a day job. I write because it's fun."
Not that rejection doesn't hurt, mind you. I should know. I queried 5 manuscripts before one finally got picked up by an agent.
I do believe our queen on this. She makes me want to be a better writer even though I know my genre is a bit of an anathema to her. Oh well. It's hard to tell what will work for who. And I suspect there is a bit of timing involved.
After much instruction, I now think of querying in terms of how I came upon my all time favorite book. I put the thing down after ten pages. I did not pick it up again for several months. I was feeling sick and defeated at the time and it was a very long book. I had not the time or patience to get caught up in something like that. I was all about Terry Pratchett at the time and his lovely little Discworld books, short and super silly and fun.
The next time I picked up this massively long hard-cover historical fiction, it blew me away. This was Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. So, even if your novel is the bees knees, an agent or editor might still pass if the timing gets muddled. It's not always the fault of the oxford comma or the writing.
Thank you, my queen, for the reminder. Although, I still don't relish the rejections to come. But it does help with the patience in making sure I have done all in my power to make the book ready for submission. I would like to honestly earn those rejections and not be eliminated due to my own laziness. One more draft. Just one more. Two maybe. Three?
A great reminder about the other end of the query string!
Rejections on fulls do hurt. I think that might be the most painful of rejections. You know someone liked it a lot, but that it somehow fell short. You feel like if you knew how that happened you could fix it. It’s not that simple, and that’s hard to embrace.
Hang in there writers! Query widely!
I recently read Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages, and came away from it feeling almost sorry for him. He talks a lot about reasons you'll get a swift rejection, as does Her Sharkliness, but there were places I'd swear I felt frustration on the page at some of the things writers do that make him have to reject.
“I'm cheering for you; rooting for you; hoping hoping hoping.”
If you were to request a full from me I would submit it with virtual pom poms, a short skirt, snappy sneaks and a megaphone.
A shark doing leaps, jumps and a Flying Dutchmen might be a sight to ‘sea’.
But a split? Let’s not go there.
I’ve come to think of rejections as akin to my favorite teachers. Those teachers were never easy. They made me work for every crumb. Sometimes their standards seemed too high, or even unfair. But in the end, I learned the most from them. Like teachers, I know agents are always hoping to see great work. It must be awful to say “no” over and over again, but those rejections may lead to a better book, maybe even a great one. And that’s what we’re after, isn’t it?
Timothy , your dedication is inspiring.
Janet, if an ms is on your desk the author has already decided not to quickly publish regardless of quality. Please know that, as much as we want you to love our stuff, we are equally grateful that you won’t let us go out on the publishing stage with a manuscript that is the literary equivalent of a skirt tucked into the back of our pantyhose.
We appreciate you (even when we get rejected).
BrendaLynn, a lot of times I wanted to quit. But I listened to others who had been through the gauntlet and kept pushing. Now, as I'm polishing up my second rewrite, I can only say that if it's not picked up by a publisher, I'll have a whole new existential crisis to work through.
A friend I talked to about it said, "Man. I can see why some authors only publish one book in their lifetime."
It makes sense that you would want an awesome query to reflect an awesome manuscript. You requested based on the query, so of course you want the manuscript to live up to the query's promise. That said, it's heartening to see you articulate that. A reminder that agents are the author's advocate right from the beginning.
I guess receiving a manuscript that disappoints is kind of like buying a book based on a gripping cover blurb only to end up tossing the novel across the room. I'm sure we've all been there. OK, so I don't generally toss novels across rooms, and I have only so far not finished one novel. But I have been disappointed more than once.
"And yes, it's worse for you cause I just move on to the next whereas you are left wondering what the hell went wrong, . . . "
My focus went to this sentence for some reason. Sure, it's easier for Janet to move on b/c she has many baskets with eggs in them (a.k.a. fulls, partials, queries pouring in). Her cup runneth over.(not with whisky although I bet she wishes so on some days)
But - a querying writer will suddenly focus on that one egg handed off in that one basket to that one agent. Remember although you have that one egg, you also have many baskets. When the egg is handed back, put it in a new basket (new agent), and query on.
:) See how my head works?
Hmmm... for some reason I'm suddenly craving an omelet. ;)
Thanks, I needed this. Need it. Daily.
A good thing to remeber. It's so easy to imagine agents sitting there just waiting for a reason to say no when in reality they are really looking for a reason to say yes.
Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin'
is a two way street.
In more than writin', but that is the discussion here.
I can only imagine how complicated that is on the agent side. Love the premise, samples of the writing, love the writer's humility, love the pacing, and so on. Then comes the question of commercial viability, and so on.
For the writer there are other questions. One thing that I have noticed is that I don't believe that I have ever seen a grammatically perfect book.
I have seen books that had all of the magic polished out of them.
Of the two, I prefer having some magic left. Those little sentences that hold more power when the grammar is off a little.
OT: It is good to see two of our prominent Carolinians back. I know things aren't back to normal there, so it was nice to see you here.
Sneaking in out of the shadows to say thanks for this post, Janet. I needed it.
I'm not in the query trenches yet, but have been researching which agents to approach. Kind of overwhelming, and also realizing my ms. (still) needs work. So, more editing. I'm almost there.
It's good to know you are excited about reading each new ms. Knowing this makes me less nervous about the road ahead of me.
This was a joy to read. Twice.
It was also not a surprise to read, even once.
Thanks QOTKU for sharing this post today!
I love seeing other perspectives! Thanks Janet.
Reading this post a day late, but it is still infinitely helpful. Thank you so much.
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