It's been a few days

Life has been busy, however I am still making progress on the re-write sections of the book. After those are done, I am going to let the last half of it sit for a while, let myself get detached from it, then I will go back in and finish the last half of editting. I have some other projects that I thought I might work on (a couple of novel ideas)

Anyway - I have been trying to contact as many authors as I can - published authors - with high notariety, to get their take on using literary agents. The two biggest names to answer have been Jonathon Kellerman, and Anne Rice. Both of them seemed to recommend not using an agent to start with, but to go straight to the publishing houses first.

This makes me wonder why they would say that. Could it be that back when they were first published and had to struggle, editors accepted unsolicited manuscripts? Agents back then weren't really a necessary step to getting published, but helped afterwards to further the writers career. Or could it be that they really don't think that agents have the writer's best interests at heart? Anne said that agents are there to make money, while editors get paid their salary regardless. Jonathon said that agents are... well....'Most of them are jaded s.o.b.'s who need to be goaded to plow through the stack of submissions' - however he didn't say not to use them. He even offered his agent's name, although we are not in the same genre, and his agent is now actually his Ex-agent.

I am going to continue to try to contact some of the more established authors, and get a general consensus, keeping in mind the time frames that each other was published. The advice of those who have made it successfully is like gold to me, something that I value and treasure, but I have to remember that its from their perspective - the author's perspective....

The No-TV time

I think the next 2 weeks will be an interesting study in the sociology of my own home family life. That's because our TV (which was broken by the guy who came out to fix another problem in the first place) is completely unwatchable, and won't be replaced for two weeks. While at first I was pissed off, I came to an understanding.

No - TV means quiet candle-lit dinners with my beautiful wife for 2 weeks. It means that I have much more time to write since I don't need to worry about missing any of my can't-stop-watching shows. My DVR will record anything I am missing. It means that we can listen to romantic music, and just be together.

Unfortunately my wife's computer also died, so I need to find a way to pay for a new one so she has something to do since the TV is out of commission while I write.

Segue -

I have discovered something I didn't know: Editing is a buttload more difficult and time consuming than writing is. I spent three solid hours the other night editting, and I only got through six pages (Six pages that I know I will need to revisit at least two more times anyway). I keep trying to avoid editting the rest of the book, and instead want to start on the next one, but I can't. I really need to finish the editting first, so that those fans who are just dying to read it can do so. By fans I mean my family and friends.

So tonight, I am going to try to do some more editting. I have to watch that I don't sit there and fiddle with a paragraph for 30 minutes straight. To me editting is a multi-layered process. First layer is re-write the inconsistant scenes. The second is to copy edit and make sure it's readable. The third is to change the wording so its written well (best word for the spot and all that). I find that as I read the work though, I am doing all three stages at the same time, and that accounts for my slow progress.

Six pages in three hours, when I have 160 pages in total (single spaced) is incredibly slow. However, now that I think about it, when writing the novel, it was 4000 words a night on average, which is about 4 pages. So maybe it wont be so bad :P

*sighs* It's going to be a while before I start handing this out to editors/agents. I want it to be polished as well as I can polish it before it's in front of their professional eyes.

I finished Afterlife: Oblivion last night. My initial title on this work was Afterlife: Spirit, but I just didn't like the ring to it. I am not sure I like the two worded title format either. I have thought about things like The Afterlife: The Spirit Begins, or Afterlife: Oblivion Awakens. The problem is, I just dont know which sounds best, and there is probably a whole host of other titles. What sucks is that since it's in rough draft form, no one but me knows the storyline, and therefore no one can help me pick a title. Of course, this might be moot, because it's possible the agent or publisher I snag will have a better one. I am always open to new ideas :)

So, this post is about the editting process. And how much I really don't know about it. But like any good project manager (And don't get me wrong, this IS a project) I have decided to break out the objectives, and break out the individual tasks to be completed to reach said objectives. So first the objectives:


1. to have a complete flowing storyline/plot
2. to have 3d characters that people can identify as people, and not characters
3. to have a readable manuscript.
4. to a have a manuscript where the writing is actually well done, and more like art, less like stereo instructions.

So, now that the rough draft is finished, and (as usual) my storyline has changed TREMENDOUSLY in the 5 months it took me to write it, I have some rewrites to do. Lets put the tasks out as such:


Part I - the rewrites
1. Rewrite plotlines in the beginning of the book to match the plotlines at the END of the book
2. Fill in plot holes with actual content. I have several parts in the book where I wrote stuff based on a rough idea, that has now been polished, that needs to be filled

Part II - the characters
1. Write out a short biography on each character, based on the new personality traits I have decided they must have, and the histories they have.
2. Re-read the manuscript and decide how in each scene a character should be reacting to the things going on around them based on the new personality traits.
3. Cut some of that "Dude" Dialog so it doesnt sound too surfer-ish.

Part III - the readability
1. Read the son of a bitch out loud, to no one. As I read, I catch things that don't sound correctly, or where another word would have been better.
2. Send it to the mama to help with this process.


Part IV - the prettiness
1. Choose the best wording for scenes. This is an ongoing process, and the damn problem is, it CAN be never-ending. A writer never wants to stop tinkering with the wording. This is where I will need the advice of my friends and family of when to tell me to stop, leave the damn thing alone, and start to submit it. This step might come before I send it to the mama for further editting. Part of me feels that the step of sending it to the mama to edit is the last editting step, whie another feels like its in the middle somewhere. We will see how things go. All I know is that I want it to be at least somewhat readable before she gets it so that she can at least enjoy the story :)


That's the biggest test... will they like the story? will they be entertained enough to be nagging me for the next installment? Will they be able to read the book and understand the plot without asking questions. If they can, I have done my job. If they can't I have done something wrong and need to a little bit of editting still.


Before anyone asks: The Mama is referring to my mother in law, who happens to have more books stashed away in her house (and I do mean stashed) than the entire Orlando Library, and has probably read four times that in her lifetime. She is my first Beta Reader, and I trust her to tell me when its crap, why it's crap, and what I can do to make it not-crap.

Dillemas....

Today I came across a dilemma I thought I had gotten past many times before. But it has reared its head again.

I discovered a whole host of new Agents' blogs out at blogger.com. One of them started to talk about Young Adult Fantasy, and portals. My ear perked up.

But it quickly fell down. The agent was saying that its general consensus of editors and agents that the story line of: Child in our world accidentally steps into portal into new world, where something happens and the child becomes a hero is DEAD, DONE, BURIED, PLEASE-NO-MORE.

This sucks - my book has a lot of that concept (except for the becoming a hero - My characters, while maybe heroes to each other, are not heros of the world. Oh, and my characters willingly CHOOSE to go to another world, not accidentally. And my other world is not a fantasy world in the sense that there are castles and knights and elves). I do use a portal, and there are swords, magic, and arrows involved.

So the question (or dilemma) becomes, do I write for publication (What I think the agents/publishers want) or do I write what I want to write, and damn the publishers?

If I stick to the "I write what I want to write" then my stuff needs to be so outstanding, so well written, and so original that it grabs and HOLDS the agents/publisher/editor's attention. If you ask me, personally I don't think my story OR my writing is so great as to do that over the 50 a day other queries that come to these poor agents. I am sure there are a lot of english-department-of-Harvard-Degree people that are writting things much better than mine.


But I feel that if I write for what I think the market wants, I am losing myself. Or rather, I am writing for the wrong reason. When I write my novel, I am putting part of my soul into it - the part of my soul that saw this imagery in my head and translated it to english words to put on paper. Maybe, I feel that not writing what I want to write is selling myself short.

I think that the best thing for me to do is write what I want to, and be true to myself. I fear that this will indeed drop my chances of landing an agent/publisher for the Afterlife series. But then again, I don't really expect that the Afterlife series will be my "breakout" series anyway. I think, if anything, it will be the 5th or 6th novel I write. While that sounds like a lot of writing, it is, but what else would I be doing?

EDIT - I have decided to keep my normal god given name, unless my agent (if I shall e'er nab one) advises me to do differently.

Why are we authors such assholes?

I have a new rant. This rant is also about Authors, and the ego of authors.

I was perusing RejectionCollection.com today while waiting for the email to come in saying that I could work on the database project for work. Writers are getting GREAT rejection slips. They are recieving rejection slips that are form based, and getting some that are personally written.

And they go nuts over it. Some of the authors are even going so far as to say that the agent wouldn't know good writing or a good story if it hit them between the eyes. Or blaming their rejection on the young college student they imagine is going through the slush pile. And they all have one thing in common - they think what they have written is the best thing ever put on paper. That there couldn't possibly BE another story out there, or other writing, that is better.

Come on people *rolls eyes*. Get with the program. This is stupid. Why is it stupid? Well, first, if the agent is a good agent who has a track history of sales, then OBVIOUSLY THEY KNOW GOOD WORK WHEN THEY SEE IT, and you saying otherwise is stupid. If they DONT have a track history of sales, or any proof that they know what they are doing, then you are still stupid because you submitted to a sub-par agent. An agent who couldn't make sales even if they did accept you.

Then there is the claim about it being rejected by a college kid. Most agencies don't do this - most agencies read the queries themselves. The agents make money when they find an author that sells. They pay their bills and feed their cats from that money. It's in their best interest to find authors that write well, and are publishable/sellable. When they have someone going through that slush pile, that someone is looking for the basics, not the nuances. Look - the college kids/assistants are looking for things like:

Is it the correct genre?
Is it to the correct agent? (no blind sided queries that are obviously mass submissions)
Is it in the proper format?
Did the author pay attention to the guidelines and send what is required? Or did they just send the whole damn manuscript.(In the opinion of many agents, this is a big no-no. If they didn't ask for the whole thing, don't send it.)
Is there any sign of an amatuer (purple paper, perfumed paper, colored ink, bribes, etc)
Are there spelling mistakes/grammatical errors in the submission? ( A sure way to tell that the author didn't spend enough time on their submission, and therefore doesnt think much of the agent)

Then there are those authors who say things in tune with, "How can they tell from the first 2 pages if its good or not? The character was better on page 8!"

Agents AND editors have to think like readers. When YOU walk into a bookstore, you pick out a book - what do YOU do, before deciding to plunk down 8 bucks? You read the first few pages. Hell, maybe you don't even get that far, maybe you only read the synopsis on the back cover. By that you can figure out if you want to buy it or not. You don't sit down and read the entire thing. You most likely dont even read past the first three pages. So, since that experience is what causes you to buy, and buying pays the publisher, and the publisher pays the agent, can you tell me how you expect an agent to apply DIFFERENT rules? If the same process that a reader goes through is the same process that the agent and publisher go through, and your agent and publisher decline, what do you think the reader will do? Most likely, decline.

Rejected Authors keep saying how 'the publishing industry is going to hell' or mutter something about how there is a whole bunch of crap on the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble, how come their superb perfect novel is getting rejected? Buying books is SUBJECTIVE to the reader. Different people get turned on by different things. For instance, I cant stand westerns, nor can I stand romance. But there are some people who LOVE romance, and despise horror. Still there are some that like horror, and like Dean Koontz, but call Stephen King's works crap.

Getting an agent is getting a reader. Plain and simple. Your agent needs to LOVE your work. They need to rave about it, like you do to your friends and family when you find a book that is just awesome. If your agent doesnt love your book, they wont be able to sell it. Period. So your agent is really your first BIG reader. Your first real objective reader, who wants to be entertained. You have 1 page, and 1 idea to impress your readers with. Make it good. If its NOT selling, then examine your hook and examine your first few pages. Change them around and spice it up. Don't sit there and bitch about how agents don't know you're-the-next-stephenKing/DanielleSteele/DeanKoontz/etc etc. Don't get mad at the assistants and start calling them names.

Look at where the blame really belongs for a non-selling manuscript: In the mirror.

I have spent some time reading articles by legitimate agents and publishing houses, and some time reading from published authors whome have been published at big houses. I joined a certain local writer's association, and I started looking around, expecting to find some authors who were, well, versed in what a professional publishing house needs.

I found, on their board, a member of this writers association, who was representing someone as an agent. She boasted that she just sold her client's novel to [a certain POD Publishing house who shall remain nameless. See Writer Beware's website for further details], and it can be bought for 16 bucks at amazon.com, etc.

*sighs*

This lady is about as much of a real agent as I am a real CIA Agent. Let me explain why this is the case.

I started researching [nameless publisher]. They are a POD (publish on demand) company. This is evident in that [nameless publisher] will publish ANYTHING you send them, with no gatekeeping (although they profess differently). A gentlemen took 30 pages of a manuscript, changed the author's name to "Travis tea", copied and pasted those 30 pages over and over again until it was a full 300 pages, and sent it off. Wow, what do you know, it was accepted!

The second clue is that major bookstores (Barnes and Noble, Borders, Books a Million, dalton, walden) won't carry their stock IN HOUSE. They will sell it through the website, but not on the shelves. Sorry - they say - they don't stock POD publishers.

Hmm gee, starts to sound like [nameless publisher] might not be on the up and up. I found more clues from actual defrauded authors on RipOffReport.com. At the bottom, there were lots of comments from people who defended [nameless publisher]. I couldn't believe what I read.

Any real agent would not submit a manuscript to a POD publisher. End of story. We should all know the rules about agent scams by now. If you don't, here is a run down of how to tell a real agent:

1) Real agents never ever charge up front fees. Authors never pay Agents - agents take a cut of the authors payments from the publishers.

2) Real agents do not submit to vanity or POD publishers.

3) Real agents will not refer you to specific outside services for things like editting. If one does, more than likely they are getting kickbacks. Besides - when your book is accepted by a publishing house, they house has edittors that will do that with you as PART OF THE PROCESS - why pay for it?

Each of those authors who defended PA said the same thing, " I tried to play the agent game, where I crafted queries and sent it off to them, but I kept getting rejections. I tried for a few months and then just gave up. PublishAmerica gives me the chance to make my dreams come true, by giving me a book I can hold in my hands."

What?! a few MONTHS? Come on, people. For a writer, especially a first time (but even established as well) author, rejection is part of life. And a few months, even 6 months, is not enough time. It takes YEARS to get published, and 95% of the time, it will NOT be your first novel that gets you published!

Stephen King, one of the most successful and famous authors of our time, wrote almost a MILLION words, in the span of 4 different novels, and weathered 12 rejections before Carrie was published.

Tom clancy recevied 30 rejections before the Hunt for Red October was received.

Even JK Rowling, the most successful writer of all time, received a rejection before harry potter was picked up.

Everyone thinks they can write. I can't tell you, even as a amatuer writer, how many times I have been told, "You know I have this book idea I have been meaning to write down ", or "I have a great story that one day I am going to write into a book". But not everyone CAN write. I have learned that while reading amatuer writing boards. Its the same thing about art- not everyone can draw. Not everyone can play the guitar, or the piano. Not everyone can play football. It's something that takes a fair amount of talent to pull off.

So these average joes come out and write themselves 90,000 words of a rough idea. The idea might be great, but I can tell you the writing will be horrible. They edit it a few times, or they send it to a critique group, and they make a few changes, and its not quite AS rough now, but they think its golden. So they send it out, with dreams of finding an agent/publisher in New York immediately. But the agents and publishers see what it is - bad writing wrapped around a small idea, that will probably not sell. So they get rejected, over and over.

They take it personally, instead of reading the editors personal notes, and taking their advice, they through the rejection down like some sort of mail bomb, and give up. They are vulnerable and desperate. Then they see an ad in Writers Digest for PublishAmerica.

[nameless publisher] accepts their mss, and says how awesome it is. They send out a contract, and tell them how they will be making great money and can write more works. The author is exuberant, and loves [nameless publisher].

That author will never make a living writing. That author will not learn or grow his/her craft. But that author will defend [nameless publisher], and their decision to go with them, to the death. Because [nameless publisher] puffs up their ego, and accepts their child - the mss.

I have done my due diligence on this, and I believe I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Even though my family and my wife think otherwise, to be supportive, I am pretty sure my first novel won't get published. I am fairly certain that the entire Afterlife series that I am writing (four books) won't get published. Instead, what it will do, is receive a large stack of rejections from real, true to life, agents. It will take a few years, not months, before I am able to write a piece of publishable writing that gets accepted.

And even then, if an agent picks it up, they have to sell it to the publishing house. Even the best, the biggest agents, have had works that won't sell. It's the nature of the beast. That's yet another big battle, because my book has to go through one (at best) but more likely two editors, then that editor has to pitch it at a editorial meeting - if it gets acceptance there, she has to pitch it to the publisher him/herself, and it needs to get picked up there before she can even buy the book. So there are three groups of people my book has to impress at that publisher.

But that's not the end. After its been accepted, and editted and proofed and printed, it needs to sell. And selling is all about marketing - the Author has to pound the pavement in everyway he/she can to get the word out. Signings, book clubs, readings, school appearences, speeches, etc. All of that work, just to hope that the book can sell enough copies to cover the initial advance the publisher made to him/her.

And while the author is doing that, somehow they have to produce another book of equal or (preferrably) better quality by a certain deadline because that's what the publishing contract says.

Writing is NOT an easy sit-at-home-or-in-a-coffee-shop-all-day job. It's not an easy ride, or a quick way to get rich. Writing is difficult, time consuming and a hell of a lot of work for not as much payback. YOu have to expect that things move VERY slowly. You have to expect that you will get rejected A LOT. YOu have to expect that its not going to be easy to get your foot in that publishing door and print out your work. YOu have to expect a lot of stress, and a lot of problems each time you write a book.

But true-to-life, real writers KNOW this, and what's more, they ACCEPT this. They don't write because they want to be rich - obviously being in the writing industry is not an easy and quick way to get rich. Real writers write because they have to, they write because its what god has made them to do. The rest of the insane overhead that comes with publishing is just par for the course - they know it, and they do it because they love it.

One time, when I was thinking about becoming a doctor, someone said to me, "You can't really decide to become a doctor because you have an interest in it. You have love it, you have to LIVE it, you have to BE it, or you will never succeed." The same rings true for me about writing. Not anyone can just sit down and become a writer because they have a story idea. It takes ten to twelve years to become a doctor - getting through school adn residency. I have heard successful authors tell me (personally) that it takes about ten years to become a writer for a living.

I know this, and I accept this, and I want this. I am not published yet, nor do I have an agent. But I feel that I am at least slightly prepared as to what will happen when I am done with my first book.

OK so I have a LiveJournal (No, random creepy people that I don't know are not allowed to have the URL. Sorry, deal with it). Its personal, and not an entirely appropriate space for me to place my writing insights, nitwitiness, and absolute stupidity.

I will absolutely NOT post chapters of the manuscripts here. Sorry fans - if you want to know what's in the book, visit my website for sample chapters, or buy the book (when it's out. Of course that depends on me getting it published, which depends on me finding a publisher, which depends on me finding an agent, which really means that I have no fans).

I will, however, post rants (As if you cared), Rejection letters (Because seriously, to a good writer, those things are like gold, and each one is a treasure of information, even the form ones. More on this later), websites that actually are helpful, and other information I come across that has to do with the process of getting a book written, published, and making sales.

And so, here is my first post. More to follow. Have fun, and feel free to toss the occasional disgusting tomato at me because I have something wrong, or I have something right and you think you are smart enough to disagree.

Oh, before I go, I am going to post my expectations of the publishing industry - in case an agent or editor happens upon my blog - I don't want to look a fool. (Of course, that won't happen, because agents and editors are far too damn busy to do things like surf blogs looking for unpublished wanna-be writers).

1. Rejection isn't personal - its a business decision based on the merits of my work. If anything, my work isn't good enough (yet) to be for them.
2. Reading is subjective! An agent will rep what she likes, because that agent needs to be excited and into the book to be able to sell it to a house.
3. EVERY STEP OF PUBLISHING TAKES A LONG, LONG TIME. Writing is not get rich quick. It's not get-your-book-on-shelf-quick. It takes a long time for your agent to read your manuscript and like it. Then it takes a long time to find an editor to like it. Then it takes a long time to get it printed, edited, proofread, etc etc.
4. As a sub part of number 3, it TAKES A LONG, LONG TIME TO MAKE MONEY. Yes, your advance is divided in to 3 payments (sometimes four) and that last payment isn't until that book is on the shelves. And then your royalties take another couple of years. But wait - REAL authors write because they love WRITING, not because they want to be rich. If you are a starving writer, get a bloody job. Write at night. That's what I do.
5. Market and publicize your own damn book - Don't expect the publishers to do it. You are the one who makes yourself successful, and the more self-promotion you do, the better off your book is.
6. It takes a LOT of people a LOT of hard work and many, many hours to get your book on the shelves. Don't be an egotistical ass, and don't yell at anyone (see numbers 3 and 4 as to why things aren't moving so fast). Send your sales staff some cookies, send your editor flowers (Provided its a female editor), and give your Agent a giant box of chocolates and a case of margaritas. Most of all, give them their dues in the acknowledgments of your novel.
7. Be Diligent, do your bloody research on A) your book (duh), B)Your agent (should be another duh), and C) the proper way to treat people.

There is more, but I will have to post those in later entries. These things are my expectations, and they are what I expect to do.