Monday, July 24, 2006

And So It Begins... Maybe...

I wrote a book once, did I mention that? Yep, a whole cop mystery novel; ended up 750+ pages: Took four years to write in my spare time. Finished it, and then put it away and didn't touch it for a year, (Can you say, burned out, fried, done in, kaput?) Later, I pulled it back out and started pruning: I took off about 100 pages and cleaned it up in general and then felt it wasn't too bad.

Then I had to figure out what to do with it. Nothing, and then the writing of it was the goal achieved, or... Market it, and see if anybody would pay to read it: And if so, how and where? I was told by those who read parts of it, and in no uncertain terms, that I needed to see if it could get published. So I set out to find out how that gets done...

Fortunately, I'm blessed with friends and family members, (My big sis, Annzie), who are professional writers, (As in, they genuinely make their livings by writing). What I found was this: Things ain't the same as they used to be. Once upon a time, an author could market themselves directly to publishers. Michael Thomsett told me he, "Used to just show up door to door in New York and walk in unannounced,” and that said process actually worked – He actually sold some books that way. He went from magazine pieces to books. Annie went from restaurant reviews to newspaper pieces, to a book.

Nowadays, however, and especially if you are a ‘U’ word writer, (Unpublished), you don’t get to see no publisher without an Agent, and that’s that. That fact, of course, presents another layer one has to navigate through.

Now, first things first, you have to determine who the real agents are, and who they ain’t, as well as what and how they get paid, and get this: A bunch of ‘em charge you to even read your stuff to determine if they even wanna talk to you any more or not… And on top of that, not that many Agents deal with unpublished authors any more. So, I waded through all that and all them and came up with three I felt comfortable pitching my book to. All three are reputable, established, and don’t charge fees for what they do – They get paid a percentage of what you make if and when you get sold to a publisher – And that’s my kind of deal.

So, I sent in three application packages. First step, for all three, you’re sending in a brief outline of what you did, your bio, and a synopsis of the book – And that’s where you do your selling – You gotta make it short, sweet, and potentially attractive. So what happened? Well, so far…
Of the three I submitted to, I’ve heard back from two, and they’re both interested. Both now want to see the complete manuscript, read/review that and we go from there. I haven’t heard back from the third yet.

Holy shit…

Now, both stressed several times that there’s no promise of success, no guarantee that this means you’re good to go: It just means you passed the initial cut. From here, I’ll find out if they really think that it'll sell to a publisher, i.e. if people would pay to read it. And, of course, they need to know if the author, (That’s me), is willing to work on the book the way they think it needs to be worked on. All three Agents stressed that, in so many words, first-time authors who think their stuff is ready to go; who believe that they don’t need any help shaping their creations are, well… wrong – and out...
So, a big part of this process is determining who’s willing to work with them, who’s willing to listen to suggestion and direction, and who will carry through and actually do what is suggested and directed.

I’ll tell you what I told them: I learned from writing op/ed pieces in newspapers that editing happens; it is and will be, and is as much a part of the process as the writing is. An author doesn’t publish in a vacuum – A team effort makes it happen. I’m comfortable with that, and frankly, I believe that anyone who is willing to help me become a truly capable working author is somebody I like and respect.

So, I’m in.

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