March 2, 2008

Sunday, funday?

I'm over the flu, or whatever it was that knocked me on my ass this week, but now my stomach is all wanky.

I start my new job on Wednesday. I'm going to be an Office Manager/Purchasing Assistant for a nail polish manufacturer. New type of job for me, but they're training me! That's a nice change of pace.

Agent update:
Queries sent: 63
Rejections: 24
Partials requested: 5
Partials rejected: 4

I got another rejection "card" from a referred agent. I want to believe it's because they want to save paper, but I think it's just plain laziness. I could understand it if my query letter was crap and unprofessional. It's not. I've done my homework. I'm not a novice. I understand the business much better now than I did five years ago. I respected your submission guidelines. I respect your time and know you're busy. Guess what, so am I. It takes, on average, a good 20-30 minutes to research an agent, make sure they are the right fit, and alter my query letter as such (to make it personal). Not to mention it took me days to write the query letter in the first place. A fast reader could read a one page query in about three minutes. Stuff a card into a SASE and stick in the out box, a minute. Gee, thanks.

I spend all this time, trying to find an agent, and they can't take five minutes out of their super busy life to send me a form letter? Whatever. I've received wonderful rejections from some very nice agents. Even though they didn't take my work, it was nice knowing they actually read the damn thing and responded accordingly.

Maybe agents should try to remember that without writers they make no money. Writers don't NEED agents, but agents NEED writers. They should act like it sometimes. It just further proves that "customer service" in this country sucks.

I'm probably the BEST author client an Agent could want. Why? Because I learn from my mistakes. I know how to work under pressure. I can finish before a deadline. I can get along with any personality. I don't pester people. (Yes, when I have questions or need feedback, I will ask, but I'll never badger someone. I've never written any agents back after rejections to ask for referrals or advice or to question them as to why my writing didn't fit. I cut my losses and move on.) I know the value of an agents time and don't expect to be their #1 priority. I know my place. I want to learn. I want to grow. I want to write and write and write and write. I want to make money for my agent and myself. I want to help other writers in the future. Of course, I won't tell them this in a query letter, because that just makes me seem desperate or arrogant, of which I am neither.

I have 40+ query letters outstanding right now. Some from early January. Is that a good sign? A bad sign? No clue. I don't know if I should bother re-querying after 30, 60, 90 days. I probably won't. Instead I'll go to all postal submissions and see how that goes next. Then, it's onto the slush pile with the few publishers that accept them.

I've already gone the POD route and learned my lesson. I've got my foot in the door with a new, small independent publisher. I'm ready for the mainstream, dang it. I know my writing is better than some of the books I've read in the last year.

Granted, I could sell Lucky off to a E-publisher, or another POD publisher, but that's not what I want. I want my book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. I thought that's what everyone wanted too, but I've noticed many people are okay with lower quality books and POD publishers. Been there, didn't like that. Seems like some, not all, of the smaller pub houses just want quantity not quality. I've worked too hard on these manuscripts to toss them off to someone who doesn't believe in them as much as I do.

Ah well. Like my mom would say, "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be." I really, really hope it is meant to be.

I've gone back to reading what I like. Bought Michael Connelly's first Bosch novel. Should be done with it soon. So far, it's good, but I just started.

I'm going to try and write some more Lucky #3 before I start the EDJ on Wednesday, but the way I'm still teetering between icky and ickier, we'll see.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

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