Submitting to Rejection
Submitting to Rejection
an author’s journey through publishing, part III
by Sandy Layne
Where are we?
Brief recap – I was invited to write a series of articles to share with the readers of My Vamp Fiction some of the real hurdles that exist between writing a novel and getting it published. I have so far covered the fact that writing is a business, not just a romantic pastime, and that you really need to get critical beta-readers for your work before you even try to sell it.
Today, we’ll discuss submitting yourself and your ego to the laborious process of rejection.
“Wait, you mean I can’t just send this out?”
I will operate on the assumption that you have read the prior two articles and know to check www.writersmarket.com for an idea of which agencies and/or publishers will be most accepting of your novel. You can essentially believe that none of the major publishing houses will accept “unsolicited manuscripts” – meaning if you send them your work without their express invitation, they will shred it without a thought. Save yourself and a few trees and do your homework in this regard.
Most publishers will not even accept query letters from an author; they will only heed the words of a literary agent. It is here that you might wish to start in your quest to seek out formalized rejection notices. Before you send anything out to an agent or editor, though, please check out this website: http://pred-ed.com It is for Preditors and Editors. Yes, that is the way they spell it. This website is a valuable tool in terms of finding out if the agent or editor you have chosen to send your manuscript to is trustworthy.
Yes, sadly, there are agents out there who only want your money. This is a cardinal rule that I want you to brand in your brain right now: Do Not Pay for Representation. No agent worth his business card will ask you to pay any fees in order to represent your work. They should be making their money on commissions from authors’ sales, not from writers seeking representation. Do not pay for an agent’s evaluation of your work thinking he will then take you into his stable of authors and push your story. Do not pay for an agent who wants you to supply him with paper and copying fees. Just don’t. A good agent, once they have taken you on, will make suggestions about your manuscript and will shop it around and get editors to read it. They get paid when you do. That is how it is supposed to work.
So find an agent who isn’t blackballed. Find someone who has authors out there making money on royalties. Then find out through Writers Market or the agent’s website if they are accepting new authors. They should have a statement of what they want to see from a writer seeking their representation. They will always require a query letter. They might want a summary. And, if you’re fortunate or it is their company policy, they might even want a few sample chapters of your work.
Query Letter
You absolutely have to write a query letter. Many authors say this is the hardest thing they have to write. It is considered more arduous than writing your novel. It is harder than summing up your storyline. It is even more stressful than having your manuscript marked up by beta-readers. The reason for all of this effort is because this is often the only view of you a prospective agent or editor will have. Your words have to be businesslike but engaging. Compelling. Communicative. You have not only to sell your story but also your own marketability and expertise and possible readership base. And you have to do it in just a few, short paragraphs.
This is not a letter you can just dash off. This is a work of craftsmanship. It is not the purpose of this article to tell you how to write one that will assure you of positive attention, but I can direct you to a couple of websites that might help. www.writing-world.com/basics/query.shtml and www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx are a couple of places to check. Really, a Google search will find you a host of websites you can reference. Use them.
When you’ve written your query letter for your novel and you find it to be good, make sure to have it on a back-up file, in hard copy and any other storage system you can think of, because re-creating one is really, really hard.
Query letter in hand, make a list of the agents and/or editors you will send this important piece of communication to, address the envelopes, and let this sheet of paper go out and do its work.
Hurry up and wait!
Waiting is hard. It might be weeks before you hear back from an agent, even if all they want to do is tell you, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Expect those responses to be negative. Expect them to make you wince. Do not throw them away, but store them. Also, keep a list of which agencies you hear back from and how long it took them to respond. This is good for future reference as well as to make sure you’re not repeating yourself.
Now, you might get an “I’d be interested in reading a summary and/or sample chapters” request from an agent or editor. Privately, jump up and down and squee! to your heart’s content. But then, put your heart back in a safe place and send what they have requested and expect to wait…again.
Don’t get your hopes up, but do enjoy this process. It’s valuable and might one day make fodder for a character in a future book.
Next time: Persistence is Required OR Remember the Rhinoceros!
Hi, duskwatcher!
Oh yes. I have a file folder with “Thanks but no thanks” and other sundry rejections. lol But each rejection, in retrospect, is celebrated. In my roundtable back in Phoenix, we applauded rejection letters because they meant we were working hard. :)
Thank YOU for reading!
Another great article! I am so enjoying the series and it certainly comes across that you are speaking of the whole process from experience so thank you for sharing!