Well, this has been a really crappy week. I'm still really bruised over that bloody typo, but there's nothing I can do about it now.
I've had interest in my manuscript once, from Awaticka Literary Agency. I thought the letter was too enthusiastic to be honest at first. As it turns out though, and with many, many thanks to Ms. Strauss at Writer's Beware, Awaticka is absolutely legitimate, if young and inexperienced.
So, I'd like to take this moment to thank Awaticka for their interest, and I'm sorry for my initial distrust. I think I'll have to follow my instinct on this, however, and submit elsewhere. I'm going to send them chocolates though, because they were considerate.
I received another rejection this morning, from P.S. Literary. They didn't even know my name. It simply read "Dear Author." Seriously guys... did you even read it? Le sigh. Oh well, someone else will pick it up.
The highlight of the week? Training. I managed to get out all my aggression and disappointment through training this week. It was great. Even better, a Kung Fu sister of mine who hadn't been around in a long while dropped by to training today. It was lovely to have her around, and I do hope she shows up more often. As it is there is a remarkable deficit of woman in that class!
Even better was the "end of the training week" dinner we regularly have Thursday nights. Oh the discussion was wonderfully "literary geek." It made me happy.
Right, I have a whole new list of agents to annoy (insert evil laugh), so I best get on that. Have a great weekend everyone!
4 comments:
Hello S.M. Carrière,
I'm a signed author with Awaticka Literary and you can take what I'm about to say one or two ways: Helpful or disrespectful.
Six months ago, I was just like you: overconfident and sure of myself. Yet, that didn’t stop me from being rejected left and right by agents that couldn't have read my work (because my book is totally awesome). It was hard for me, because I even had a publisher requesting my novel at the time.
I interviewed at least 10 different agents... most of them from big name companies, who have been in the business for years. However, the one thing these agents lacked, from my point of view, was the time I would need them to take to groom me into a great author. Then I realized that an author like me, who has an enormous chip on their shoulder, needed an agent that can handle that request. Therefore, I decided to go with a new, small agency...
I still believe my work is so good that when it hits the stores, Awaticka Literary will be known worldwide and that’s a fact. You see, all it takes is one hit to launch the name of an agent. Who was Christopher Little before Harry Potter…? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Joining Awaticka was the best choice for me and it might not be for you, but always remember that finding an agent is like finding the right pair of shoes. Veronica and her team were able to humble me. They were able to take the time to work with me one on one. And let me tell you... none of the big time agencies, you hope to land, is going to take your novel and do a line-by-line edit. You may think your novel is the best thing since TIVO, but you'll be amazed how much better it could be in the end.
I hope your journey comes to a successful end, because writing is an art most think they can do, but most are not good at. Keep your head up and keep writing.
Hopefully, I haven’t misspelled anything, because I would hate for you to think I’m a bad author. Stop worrying about typos… just correct them when you see them. The query I sent to the publisher that requested my book had two typos.
By the way, my name is D. Eliot… author of Sarah Sterling and the Network Files 2011
Hi D. Eliot!
Thanks so much for your input, and I am very pleased that you found an agency that works for you.
With my tendency to publish with typos, I would be the last to point my finger at you should you slip once or twice. You didn't, by the by, in so far as I could tell!
In my defence, "overconfident" and "sure of myself" are not words that describe me well at all. Do look up the blog post "fear." I also don't think my manuscript is the best that was ever written. I admire authors such as Tolkein and Steven Erikson, who are such masters of their craft that I can only hope to approximate them. That said, Julian's story is very dear to me and for some reason outside of myself, I have a huge drive to have it published.
You seem fairly sure of the type of agency I'm looking for, for someone who has never met me, and, to be perfectly frank, your accusation of agency snobbery is a little insulting. I can assure you that it is not the size of the agency that is an issue with me.
Like you said, not every agent is right for every author. That goes for agencies as well, and while I appreciate your defence of them (clearly they please you greatly), surely you must understand that an author must follow their instinct when deciding which agent and agency should handle their work.
Thus, I am very glad that you have found your fit, and I sincerely hope that you are published soon.
The very best of luck to you.
"Overconfident"?
Erm, no. You have sufficient belief in your ability to submit your manuscripts, and you have a blog about your experiences.
I'm not seeing how either of those are boastful.
I think next to "helpful" and "disrepectful" we can probably add "pointlessly unhelpful" as options....
Thanks Tom!
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