Feedback received from first few query letters

As you know I have sent out a few query letters to literary agents and in the past few days I got a few replies. Three were the same as the other rejections that I have gotten in the past, mentioning that my book was not right for them at this time or that it wasn’t right for that specific agent, but that they encouraged me to keep querying other agents. The fourth one said that though this project was not right for them at that time, they encouraged me to submit any of my other projects to them in the future.

Now I know that might not sound like a big deal, but to me it means that though they didn’t like my paranormal romance novel, perhaps one of my contemporary novels might be to their taste. On the other hand, I have written one, but I never went on to edit it. I just always felt that The Amaranthine (book I am querying now) was the most important book to me, as it was the first book in my Undying series.

I also sent out two query letters to publishers, but they might take months to get back to me, if they even have the time at all. So for now I am just doing more research on who to query next. I am planning on sending away a few more query letters next week.

What are you up to my dear friends?

Ignorance and submissions

I never thought I would live to say this, but I had the worst evening last night. I was invited to dinner by my cousin and I had been dying to see her for so long. I knew some of her friends would join us and I didn't think anything would go wrong, but it did. There was this one woman that just made me feel like shit when she started going off about how stupid people in my town and country was and how European people are the best, and yes, she is from Europe. It was just vile. I didn't even get to talk to my cousin, who I wanted to see. This lady was seated next to me and took over the whole conversation for the rest of the night. She didn't think much of me being a romance writer either (my cousin mentioned that I was a writer, not me) and the worst part is that most of the guests didn't contradicted her about anything that she said, except for two of us, but she just made a lengthy debate out of everything, when all I wanted was to have a good time. So I just gave up. If you are ignorant, you are ignorant and no one can convince you otherwise.

I finally took the plunge and submitted my novel to Avon Romance and Kensington Publishing Corp. I just felt that it was time that I took a chance. I have 20 different versions of The Amaranthine and I have even changed the name of the novel a few times too. I feel that I have tried to make this book perfect for so long, but I have done everything I could for it. It is time for it to go out into the world and be seen. If I get rejected and it never gets published, I will be sad, but at least I can say that I had tried. I just can't worry about this story any more. If I want my dream to come true of being published, I have to take the step of actually submitting my work. How else will it be seen?

So, what are you up to?

I got tagged

I was tagged for this meme by the wonderful and talented Julie Flanders, author of Polar Night. Thank you Julie!

The rules of this tag are very simple.  I have to answer four of the following nine questions, link back to Julie and then tag four other writers.

The questions:   

1. What are you working on right now?

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre? 

3. What experiences have influenced you? 

4. Why do you write what you do?

5. How does your writing process work?

6. What is the hardest part about writing?

7. What would you like to try as a writer that you haven't yet?

8. Who are the authors you most admire?

9. What scares you? 

So, here are my four questions: 

What are you working on right now?
I am between projects. I am in the editing process of The Amaranthine, a paranormal romance about soul mates and then I am trying to finish another novel, Island of Manoa, a contemporary romance about a type of love that is so strong that it will move through time, if it has to.  

How does it differ from other works in its genre?
The Amaranthine does not have any sex in it. Sure the characters fool around, but unlike other paranormal romance novels, the sex only comes in book two. I just felt that the characters weren't quite ready yet. As for Island of Manoa, think chick flick in book form.  

What experiences have influenced you? 
I have always felt like the odd one out. I never felt like I really belonged anywhere specific and growing up it can be pretty tough feeling that way and not really having friends. So in my books it is important for me to have the underdog come out on top and for my characters to get their happy endings. 

Why do you write what you do?
Living happily ever is very important for me. Even though I might not experience it in real life, doesn't  mean I can't have my readers enjoy a happy ending. I also believe in love, even though I have never experienced it personally. So I guess that is why I am so obsessed with romance novels. My characters get to have their happy endings. 

So, now for me to tag 4 other people: 

C R Ward, Tonja from Tonja's Musings, Katie Cross and Beverly from the Beveled Edge. 

Editing done and research begun

* * Update: This is an old post so some of the links in this post is broken. Here is a new resource for you from Reedsy, to help you on your writing journey, https://blog.reedsy.com/scams-and-publishing-companies-to-avoid/.

I had just spent that last week in my room editing the crap out of my novel the Amaranthine. There was not as much to fix as I had initially thought, but it was pretty bad. I am at the 'I hate you stage' of my editing now. I had to really push myself to get the editing done, as I am currently unemployed, which mean lots of time for editing and when I do get a job soon, my writing may suffer again.

I was curious and started looking at a few literary agent's websites, just for curiosity and man have things changed. These days there are online submission forms and most agents ask for electronic submissions only, which I like by the way. I noticed that the agents I looked at only asked for query letters. They didn't want to see a synopsis or sample pages, which means more pressure in getting my query letter just right.

Though, I have a strategy this time. I am only querying agents that are on the Preditors and Editors website and a member of the AAR (The Association of Author's Representatives). If an agent does not have a website with information, such as clients and book sales, I am passing. This time I am only querying the best of the best, which could mean that I might not get representation at all, as your writing has to be pretty ground shaking to secure representation, but better safe than sorry.

I have this fear this time around that I didn't have before. This time I am so afraid of the whole process. Of the rejections. The fact that nobody might like my book but me. The fact that I might have spent 5 years on a project that is never going to happen. I looked back at my old rejection letters and 99% of the letters said, "I am not the right agent for this project, but I encourage you to keep querying, as the the publishing business is subjective." This means that there is still hope for my book, right?

I am going to take a break from editing and go back with a fresh pair of eyes at a later stage. For now, I guess I will do my research about which agents to query in the future.

What to look out for in a literary agent

I had recently decided to query literary agents again. Now for you who do not know this, I had been a victim of a literary agent scam. Having been through all this I now know what I should be looking out for the second time around. I thought I would share my thoughts about what to look out for, just in case there are other writers querying as well, who could do with the information.

What to avoid:

• When an agent asks for fees upfront – Never pay any fees upfront. I had known about this rule when I had paid my agent an editing fee. I made the mistake of paying an editing fee anyway, because she had me truly convinced that I needed the editing. Trust me, they can sound really persuasive and when you feel really desperate, as I did, it will all makes sense at that moment in time. But do not pay any agent any fees of any kind in advance. They will get their final fee after your book is sold.

• When an agent offers representation, but shows no interest in your work – Looking back, I should have known something was wrong, because an agent should be excited about your work. They should ask you questions about your book or characters or offer suggestions on making it better, or perhaps suggest certain changes that would make it better suited to a certain market, as they know what works. If your agent does nothing and just accepts your work as is, then you know something is fishy.

• When your work has not been edited too much – An agent knows what potential publishers are looking for. They know what a finished manuscript should look like and if you only get a minimally edited manuscript back, that looks a lot like the one you originally submitted, be worried. I was not asked to do any rewrites, just to delete a few unwanted words. I don’t think my work was that perfect. I know a few writers whose work was much better than mine, but their work had been drastically edited.

• When there is no regular communication between you and the agent – Obviously your agent can’t be in contact with you everyday. But during the submissions process, you should at least hear from your agent once a month. Just so that you know he/or she had not forgotten about you. If you never hear from your agent again after you submitted your submission package, be worried. I would never have heard from my agent again, if had not been the one to constantly contact her for information.

• If your agent does not want to communicate – I had once asked my agent if I could call her to talk about a few things that I was concerned about and she had all kinds of excuses as to why I could not get in contact with her. She said she would prefer an email. Emails are good, but this was my career on the line, I had paid her a lot of money and I wanted some information. If you are a client and you are willing to pay for the phone call, there is no reason why an agent would refuse to talk to you on the phone. Just as long as you make arrangements upfront, like finding out when and if your agent is available to talk on the phone.

• When your agent is super nice and never has anything negative to say about your work – The only negative information I had gotten from my agent, regarding my manuscript was that it needed lots of editing. But when it was time for the editing, not a lot was changed. An agent sometimes has to tell you things that you don’t want to hear, like this manuscript might not work for a certain genre, or it is not right for the market you chose, unless you change this or that. But saying everything is always perfect, is highly unlikely.

• When an agents feedback about your manuscript is vague – My agent had said that my work was intriguing and that my characters were complex. That is it. Now these words could describe any manuscript in the whole wide world. She never said anything that made me think that she was talking about my actual work or characters.

• When an agent makes things sound too good to be true – When an agent is super nice and tells you that you do not have to worry, that your book will be sold soon and that everything will be as you expected, run. Life is never perfect, nothing ever is. So you should always expect a few setbacks. When things sound too good to be true, they usually are.

• When an agent does not ask you what you want – Thinking back, my agent never asked me about whether I wanted to pursue traditional publishing or if I was considering self-publishing. Though she did want to push me more towards self-publishing. She never even asked me whether I was open to e-publishing. The conversation about whether I wanted a writing career or just a one time book deal, also never came up. Though I had told her my book was part of a series, she never asked me about what the rest of the series was about, or how many books I had planned to write or if I had finished any other books in the series. She never asked anything. Actually, just that once, for the editing fee.

These are the things that when thinking back, really ticks me off. I hope it will be of some help to others. 

You guys are just so awesome

Today I am just floating on cloud nine. Why? Because once again the blogger community has come through for me. I have received so much support and kind words the past few days and I am so humbled by them and grateful. I was feeling pretty low, but you guys came around and cheered me up. THANK YOU!

Because you guys have been so super awesome, you made me feel inspired and motivated, so much so that I started working on a new synopsis for my novel The Amaranthine, as well as a new query letter. Now all I have to do is go over my manuscript and make sure it is in the best shape possible and then I will tackle the query beast once more. I am thinking of submitting my novel to publishers, as well as literary agents. I truly believe in this book, as it is only the first in my Undying series. I have just come too far to give up. This time though, I am checking out all the queried parties on Preditors and Editors first and double checking on Writers Beware.

My manuscript is not in bad shape, but I had it edited by someone who did more damage than good, so now I just have to salvage it. A year later and I still love it and it is still relevant to today's market. Lets just hope others see it that way too.

Thank you guys for always being here for me and cheering me on. I will always try my best to return the favour.

Insecure, but free (IWSG)

So much happened to me over the last few weeks that in one way I feel exhausted, but in another way I feel liberated. Free…even.

My contract ended with my agent, who turned out to be a scam artist, which should make me feel sad. But I am happy to be un-agented and in control of my own writing career again. I lost my job, but I am happy because now perhaps I can try and find a job that is more to my liking and which embraces my high moral values instead of trying to undermine them. I really wanted adult braces this year to sort out my crazy teeth, but because I don’t have a job, I can’t get them right now, but I will eventually. I now know how much they cost and I know what I have to work for.

Some good news, I was recently interviewed By Deanie Humphrys-Dunne, so if you want, you can check out my very first interview Here.

So all in all, I got a lot of bad news, but I am choosing to see the good in each. What is happening in your life?

The Insecure Writers Support Group was created by the wonderfully talented Mr Alex J Cavanaugh, so that writers could talk and communicate to others about the fears and insecurities that they might have. You can visit Alex Here, or you if you want to join us in discussing our insecurities on the first Wednesday of each month, you are welcome to join by going Here.