The Wood Beyond The World Forum Bill, Need an Update...

Bill,

Looking for an update on how the submission process is going.   I am growing anxious...

Nick.

Dear Nick,

Glad to hear from you, friend.

For anyone who would like a free and convenient way to make a list of agents/agencies fit for your type of work, I would suggest you look at a wonderful site I found out about at the LV Writer's Conference:

You can make an account, then through filters find just the kind of agents you want (all have contact into, website links, and lots more); you can make a hotlist of your favorites, and keep track of your submissions and results, all on this site.  If anyone looks into this, and has questions how to use the site, feel free to ask and I will try to answer.

As to my personal experience, Nick, regarding submission of War on Error, of the three agents who requested material, I have so far received one rejection and have not heard from the other two.  Several personal situations have caused me to hesitate doing more submissions.  Too, I have not yet stopped tweaking the book.  Early submission seems the universally recognized number one mistake of authors, and I am determined not to waste agencies.

Any followup questions are quite welcome.

WWW

Well, no news on the other 2 is not bad news my friend.   As I understand, if the associate likes the query, it then gets kicked around with other agents in the agency before they reply, so this takes additional time.

Thanks for the website.  You might also want to check out Baen Books website, as you can submit directly to them without an agent.  Same with Tor books.

As far as the fine tunning, I know the feeling.   I am hoping to start the query again in Sept or Oct.   I keep pushing the process back because I keep finding simple and not so simple issues.  Still rewriting the ending so that it stands more alone, but also because of B2 opening needing the link from the ending of B1 to make sense.

I wish you well my friend and yes, it was very good to hear from you and I will keep you in my prayers.  

Nick.

Oh Bill,

Here's another thing I learned about submissions/queries.   I think you already have figured it out though from your reply, so maybe this will help others.  

I send out my querys in small batches, three usually, but no more than five.   The reason being if this batch didn't buy, then I can work on the query before sending out the next batch.  I was lucky the first time around and it only took 2 batches and on the second batch I got a bite.   Still, she could not sell because of the issues I had, but it was a great learning experience on how the whole process works.

The query seems to be the hardest part even though it should not be.   I always suggest that you research an agent before submitting.  Know who they have represented, and the titles they have sold, then tailor your query to them.   A friend of mine  even went as far as querying an author on their agent and asking for advice on how to land the agent.  Believe it or not, he got a helpful reply, though the agent still did not accept him.   But its part of the process and he did learn something from the helpful author.

Again, I wish you nothing but success my friend.

Nick. 

Thanks, Nick.  I agree with you on all counts, so far as tailoring queries to each individual, rather than sending out generic queries, etc.

I liked Tor's submission guidelines, and I know they publish real books.

On the other hand, I get the impression Baen is only for electronic books.  Is this correct or not?  Maybe I didn't look as closely as I needed at their site.

Bill,

I thought the same thing about Baen Books, but a friend of mine is affiliated with them and  assured me they print real books.  

Unfortunately, he is traveling oversea's this year and so I have lost track of him until his return.

Me, like you, I will try agents first before going directly to the publishers.

Happy Independence Day my friend...

Nick 

Happy 4th, Nick and friends.

I do think agents might not take kindly to finding out a prospective client has already been shopping directly to publshers.  Going with agent hunting first is a smart choice, I think.