Okay, last post was kind of a downer. So this one's going to be more fun. I've finally picked the first five agents I'm going to query! (Well, the first four - one is a publisher.) I have a bunch lined up to research for round two, as well.
I'm really interested in all four of these agents (and the publisher), so I'm praying they'll be as interested in me! They all do YA and fantasy, I checked, because otherwise I'd end up looking like a total n00b sending an urban fantasy to someone who only does historical drama, or a YA fiction to someone who only does self-help books. And that would be embarrassing.
I found out recently that the agent I had been really into before, a junior agent with Writers House, was no longer working, and I was totally disappointed. But researching all the other options out there, and seeing how good they were, got me excited again. I know that most people don't get their first choice of agents, and send out a lot of queries, but now that my first choice is no longer an option, it's kind of like, "Okay, I didn't get to work with her, and I may not get to work with these people either, but at least once I send out queries it'll be doing something. And then, if I keep sending, and keep writing and editing and getting better, with a little luck, I'll get to work with someone awesome in the end." There isn't exactly a shortage of amazing agents - anyone who takes on a job like that for the love of the industry is already pretty amazing in my book. So I have hope! Haha.
Teen writer succumbs to the devastating wiles of fiction. Also available: opinions, blabbering, author-worship.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Discouraging
Stephenie Meyer, look what you did. *sigh*
Okay, so the world isn't lacking in open, interested YA lit writing agents, but it gets a little annoying when I keep seeing things like, "Please no vampires, give me something new." Because, really, I think my book is something new. It has Kappa in it, for heaven's sake. But I know that a premise of "and the main character is a vampire" will put these people off their appetites faster than if I were writing about cannibals. (Not that there's much of a difference.) It's times like these when I think about dropping Accidents, writing out one of my non-fantasy manuscript ideas, and using that as my first novel instead. But I don't want to do that, because I think Accidents is a good first novel to go into the market with. It's got commercial appeal, but it's a little edgier than some of the other YA lit that's out now, and it's a series, the only one I have planned, and I want to lead with something strong, but not too strong. And I think, out of my current novel ideas, it's the one with the most shelf appeal, meaning that people might actually look at it/buy it even though I'm a new author and no one's heard of my before. It's just annoying that my best leading novel has to have vampires, and that vampires are so popular/unpopular now, when very few of my other ideas have any fantasy in them at all.
That was a rant. Sorry for anyone who actually read through that. I feel better now.
Okay, so the world isn't lacking in open, interested YA lit writing agents, but it gets a little annoying when I keep seeing things like, "Please no vampires, give me something new." Because, really, I think my book is something new. It has Kappa in it, for heaven's sake. But I know that a premise of "and the main character is a vampire" will put these people off their appetites faster than if I were writing about cannibals. (Not that there's much of a difference.) It's times like these when I think about dropping Accidents, writing out one of my non-fantasy manuscript ideas, and using that as my first novel instead. But I don't want to do that, because I think Accidents is a good first novel to go into the market with. It's got commercial appeal, but it's a little edgier than some of the other YA lit that's out now, and it's a series, the only one I have planned, and I want to lead with something strong, but not too strong. And I think, out of my current novel ideas, it's the one with the most shelf appeal, meaning that people might actually look at it/buy it even though I'm a new author and no one's heard of my before. It's just annoying that my best leading novel has to have vampires, and that vampires are so popular/unpopular now, when very few of my other ideas have any fantasy in them at all.
That was a rant. Sorry for anyone who actually read through that. I feel better now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)