The First Step in Getting Published ... and I am Already Behind

I found a great new website for writers—TheMillions.com. In the last week I have clicked on two good posts there (click here for my comment on the first one). Today’s post, “A Right Fit”: Navigating the World of Literary Agents,” by Michael Bourne was equally as good, although it left me depressed. With apologies to Bob Dylan, I feel I’m knocking on an agent’s doors.

Within a month I expect to be marketing my novel Rules for Giving to an agent. Bourne’s post makes me feel woefully unprepared. I don’t have any short stories published in literary magazines, one of the places agents look for new talent. I have some short stories lying around, but nothing that can get published in a few weeks.

I have not gone to a dozen writer’s conferences, booking appointments with agents and schmoozing the right folks. I went to the Southern California Writer’s Conference in San Diego earlier this year, and maybe you can count the two days in seminars I spent at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (I did make a connection with an agent there—I am sure she felt my energy across the room and she will no doubt remember the intelligent question I asked).

Most of the writers I know are like me—unpublished. I don’t know anyone who is going to refer me to their agent. There is a former member of my critique group, an MFA who now teaches writing part-time. I have received encouragement from him.

Another route is to employ the services of an editor to review my manuscript. I have heard the rumblings of an unofficial (or official) pipeline between editors and agents. Use the right editor and they can whisper your name to the right agent. The cost of using an editor, however, is in the thousands of dollars, and it’s a crapshoot. From what I gather, there are as many bad editors out there as there are good ones (check out this post from a few months back).

All this by way of saying that I still have a long road ahead of me. I guess I can’t quit the day job yet.    

See ya’ later. 

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

 

Comments

[Pkkinnes]

Hi Tim,

I do understand your frustration. But it's not all bad news. Many publishing options are open to authors today.

Regardless of whether you choose to look for an agent or to self-publish, it is essential that your book be reviewed by a competent editor. Imagine...this coming from a professional book editor!

If you go the agent route, you need to make sure that your entire submission is absolutely pristine. If there is a typo in the cover letter or on the first page of the manuscript, the whole submission will likely go into the trash. Agents are too busy to look at manuscripts from first-time authors that are not in tip-top shape. I do not believe that it would be in your best interests to start shopping your novel to agents unless and until it has been professionally edited. Please know that in saying this to you, I hope to give you the benefit of my years of experience.

On the other hand, if you choose to self-publish, you certainly do not want your name on the cover of a book that is not in publishable condition, which then makes it virtually un-marketable.

You're right in the fact that, as in many other professions, there are good editors and bad editors out there. The trick is to find a good one. This may take a bit of luck, as well as a bit of due diligence.

You probably will not pay an editor thousands of dollars, unless your book is inordinately long. Paying for a professional editor is money well-spent in the grand scheme of things.

I am thorough and detail oriented...and fun to work with! And my fees are reasonable.

I offer all authors a sample 10-page edit so that they may see how I am able to assist them with their manuscripts. This also allows me to see how much work is involved in any project, which then allows me to quote an editing fee to an author.

Please feel free to e-mail me the first ten or so pages of your manuscript, if you wish, and include the title and the current word count of the book. Simply put Sample Edit in the subject line. I will get the edited pages back to you promptly.

Please also feel free to call me if I may answer any writing or editing questions for you at any time.

Paulette K. Kinnes
303-517-7340
[email protected]