10 Million Miles Per Hour
August 21, 2009
Well, it looks like the project that I'm going to be helping to work on with my boyfriend and his uncle is taking off. I feel like I should be zooming through space crashing my way through stars and what not. It makes me terribly nervous but there's nothing I can do about that.
On an agent's block who I watch for publishing tips on Twitter (as she often hands them out, very useful!) she asked about rumors and other things about the publishing and writing business that made us angry, scared, etc. Honestly I couldn't think of any rumors, still haven't. In fact the only that scares me about this whole crazy world of trying to get published is the Query letter. Why? It's fairly simple, not all agents/agencies tell us what they're looking for. (What type of story/genre, what they're looking for in a query, etc.) Specifically though my trouble is with the Query letter. There is no standard format that agents like to see, I understand, everyone likes things how they like them and it'd be surprising if they all liked them the same way.
It's not the rejection or the waiting for a response. Its trying to figure out how an agent likes their query, it's like a mystery box waiting there in the dungeon. It might have some really awesome treasure (gold, jewels, magical items), or it might be a mimic and want to try to eat you when you go to open it. Don't get me wrong, I find agents fascinating, scary but fascinating. Some agents whose sites I go to (or agencies), want you to leave a lot of your story a mystery not telling the end, others that I've noticed prefer you tell them the end. Some what it to heavily focus on the story and have only one paragraph telling the details of word count, genre, and anything pertinent about yourself. Some want in-depth information about you and only minuscule details about your book (although the last one there, I can't find the site anymore oddly).
All that said, I'm not terribly great at writing business letters and that makes me nervous. I haven't sent my query yet, not because I'm afraid of the rejection but because I'm afraid that the agent(s) I send it to will think I'm an awful writer whose story must be equally awful simply because I cannot write the most awesome business letter ever.
I'm going to send my Query letter to my family again have them edit it for readability, business quality and most importantly grammar/spelling. The last however I'm certain is fine. Then I suppose I'll send it. I expect a rejection, because if I expect it I won't be saddened by it, and if I don't get a rejection I'll be surprised. People are always saying that you get hundreds of rejections until you find the right agent. Maybe I'll find the right agent the first time, but I'm not thinking there is no way to be rejected what so ever.
I've entered two writing contests on Gaiaonline, these aren't for real money or anything physical, just for Gaia gold and items. It's a good way to keep up my writing skills and be forced to finish. I might go all super-crazy during November and actually write three novels at once, who knows.
On an agent's block who I watch for publishing tips on Twitter (as she often hands them out, very useful!) she asked about rumors and other things about the publishing and writing business that made us angry, scared, etc. Honestly I couldn't think of any rumors, still haven't. In fact the only that scares me about this whole crazy world of trying to get published is the Query letter. Why? It's fairly simple, not all agents/agencies tell us what they're looking for. (What type of story/genre, what they're looking for in a query, etc.) Specifically though my trouble is with the Query letter. There is no standard format that agents like to see, I understand, everyone likes things how they like them and it'd be surprising if they all liked them the same way.
It's not the rejection or the waiting for a response. Its trying to figure out how an agent likes their query, it's like a mystery box waiting there in the dungeon. It might have some really awesome treasure (gold, jewels, magical items), or it might be a mimic and want to try to eat you when you go to open it. Don't get me wrong, I find agents fascinating, scary but fascinating. Some agents whose sites I go to (or agencies), want you to leave a lot of your story a mystery not telling the end, others that I've noticed prefer you tell them the end. Some what it to heavily focus on the story and have only one paragraph telling the details of word count, genre, and anything pertinent about yourself. Some want in-depth information about you and only minuscule details about your book (although the last one there, I can't find the site anymore oddly).
All that said, I'm not terribly great at writing business letters and that makes me nervous. I haven't sent my query yet, not because I'm afraid of the rejection but because I'm afraid that the agent(s) I send it to will think I'm an awful writer whose story must be equally awful simply because I cannot write the most awesome business letter ever.
I'm going to send my Query letter to my family again have them edit it for readability, business quality and most importantly grammar/spelling. The last however I'm certain is fine. Then I suppose I'll send it. I expect a rejection, because if I expect it I won't be saddened by it, and if I don't get a rejection I'll be surprised. People are always saying that you get hundreds of rejections until you find the right agent. Maybe I'll find the right agent the first time, but I'm not thinking there is no way to be rejected what so ever.
I've entered two writing contests on Gaiaonline, these aren't for real money or anything physical, just for Gaia gold and items. It's a good way to keep up my writing skills and be forced to finish. I might go all super-crazy during November and actually write three novels at once, who knows.
Posted by Cynthia Dixson.
