"You do not create a style. you work and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being." -Katherine Anne Porter
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I spent my writing time--my two-page-a-day time--this Christmas break working on queries. I think I wrote 7 different versions of the same letter. Tweak a sentence in this paragraph, move a word in this sentence, and cut out a whole paragraph in this version. I've read books--Writer's Market, The How Sell Your Novel Tool Kit--and blogs--Nathan Blansford, Editorial Anonymous, Query Shark--so I know the basics of the query letter. But what I really want is someone--no some agent or publisher--to tell me exactly what I should write in order to get them to say yes.
And of course, this won't happen unless I write something and send it.
So, as a very wise person advised me (thanks, Tricia), I compiled a list of possible agents and then sent out query letters to 5 of them. That was Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, I got the first rejection. Email rejections come so much faster than snail mail. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I sighed and picked another agent on the list, and sent out another query.
Monday evening another agent response was in my inbox. I was pretty sure it was a rejection since it came so fast. But--lo and behold--it was a request for a partial! Happiness... and then more angst. The agent wants an author bio.
So what does an agent want to know about a writer? How determined she is? How prolific? What she looks like? Who she hangs with--or should I say, how many kids she has that pull time away from writing?
Anyone written an author biography for a publisher or agent? Have any ideas as to what I should include? I know it should show your personality to some degree, but face it, it rarely does any good to get too buddy-buddy too fast. I think it should be personable but professional. What do you think?
And of course, this won't happen unless I write something and send it.
So, as a very wise person advised me (thanks, Tricia), I compiled a list of possible agents and then sent out query letters to 5 of them. That was Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, I got the first rejection. Email rejections come so much faster than snail mail. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I sighed and picked another agent on the list, and sent out another query.
Monday evening another agent response was in my inbox. I was pretty sure it was a rejection since it came so fast. But--lo and behold--it was a request for a partial! Happiness... and then more angst. The agent wants an author bio.
So what does an agent want to know about a writer? How determined she is? How prolific? What she looks like? Who she hangs with--or should I say, how many kids she has that pull time away from writing?
Anyone written an author biography for a publisher or agent? Have any ideas as to what I should include? I know it should show your personality to some degree, but face it, it rarely does any good to get too buddy-buddy too fast. I think it should be personable but professional. What do you think?
4 comments:
Sara,
Uggh. I went through this drill myself and will have to do so again. I think I went through 75 agents before I finally got discouraged enough to try the self publishing route. The market sucks, newspapers are dying, yada yada yada...
I'm reading Mary Karr's "LIT" right now and it's a beautiful book and she's an amazing writer and she writes about her struggles in getting published, too.
So - don't give up. I'll be right behind you in looking for an agent again once the first draft of this novel is finished.
Mike
Mike-
Thanks for the encouragement. I won't give up, but it is definitely a loooong road. It helps that I've had a few encouraging notes from agents/publishers. And a couple of requests for partials/manuscript also helps keep the hope alive. Waiting to see what this next few will bring.
Are you coming to Khardomah? I'm really starting to look forward to it.
At the moment (and I hate to say this) I am unlikely to do Khardomah. Really trying to trim expenses this year. But who knows?
Hey-hey! Finally got on Facebook and CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement!
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