Saturday, August 04, 2007

Request for a full, hmm, worry...

I'm done with the 5th edits and now I'm submitting again.

I've got four email submissions out (two more back, instantly rejected), two more as snail mails and...

A full.

Not sure about this one though. Here's why and advice needed.


I was at the local fair and discovered an author signing her cook books. I asked who her agent was. She didn't have one but she gave me the name of a contact person for a small publisher here in Utah.


Cedar Fork Inc


I called the guy and talked of my book, my passion and the kids and betas who loved it. He's more than happy to look at the manuscript.

It's a small publisher, though.


As some of you might remember, I asked about jumping in with a small press.


Here's the link...


http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44643&highlight=Shadow+Mountain


I'm still concerned. I've "only" been looking for a year and as you guys know, that’s small potatoes. Feels like forever. Still I hear about how authors start out with small publishers, then after a bit they sell to bigger ones. I believe JK and the Eragon writer both did this.


I want Annabelle everywhere, not just in Utah. It's for any young adult audience. Of course, it's not LDS and this small publisher seems to focus on LDS, so it'll probably be rejected. I did send in to Shadow Mountain last October. It was rejected.


I guess I still have fears that it wont get very far with a small timer and since I have no agent I will get shafted in the deal.


Yet I hear that it's easier to get an agent if you have a publisher already. Kind of like you've done their work for them. And I do need a foot in the door.

Look at me, putting the cart before the horse.

I put this in "Goals and Accomplishments" because it's kind of exciting to me that some one will be looking at the whole book. And this is the version where we begin in the thick of the main plot.

Wish me luck and if anyone has more advice on the good/bad of small publishers please let me know.

Friday, August 03, 2007

5th edits done

I cant cut any more from the front. Sure, I could cut the kidnappers and the school house, but why?

This version is the best. I know there still will be more edits, but I'm happy.

I sent out five submissions to lit agents today. Got two more rejections. That means three plus the one from the 31st of July combine to make four submissions.

So four out there. I want to send out two more tomorrow by mail. That would make six. It's not the goal of twenty, but I cant send the rest next week.

I'm a drop in a large bucket. Chances of striking gold is crazy, but I feel good about it. There were those who were interested in the past. Maybe I'll hook more and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to keep one.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Too static, feeling better

Saundra Mitchell posted the best reply on Absolute Write.

"When my agent and I were cleaning up a manuscript for submission, she said something to me that has stuck with me ever since, referring to the big hook of the introduction: "Page 54 is too late."

So if your real story doesn't start until Chapter Three, then Chaps 1 and 2 may be full of action and motion, but they're static because the story hasn't started yet, perhaps?"

My real story starts in chapter 5 or 6.

I'm getting some ideeeeas.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Too static part two

I posted the following on AW (Absolute Write).

It gives my feelings right now.

----

Thanks guys. Not a bad idea. He only looked at the first three chapters. Chapter one is constantly in motion, but two gives time to figure who the main characters are and the world they live in. Chapter three has them discovering the spooky plot.

Maybe I'll take the real changing event of the book and put it in the front. Maybe I should take that important second chapter of info, and spread it out.

I just don't get it. I read other author's books. I read their first ones, the ones that they sold and gained the agents and publishers from. I read those and I see boring second and third chapters with info dumps and everything else. How did they get accepted?
Meanwhile, people tell me they love my book and can't put it down, yet it gets rejected from agents again and again.

I've changed and changed and changed. I've been told to alter things by one beta to the point that it would no longer be my dream anymore. The kids liked it. People I only met through looking for betas liked it. Yet no agent wants it.

Maybe they're too picky? Maybe I'm not giving enough of the dream up? Maybe I have changed too much? Maybe I've changed enough? It took JK ten years from concept to publish. Will I be 50 when it's published? IF it's published? Am I fooling myself? Am I jumping the gun with my concerns?

Should I skip the agents? Should I write them all off as too jaded and untrusting and move onto publishers? But then I'll run out of publishers.

On one hand I believe this will make it. On the other I wonder if I'm fooling myself. I started to submit last fall and after several requests I'm still left cold. And I can't even trust what they say. One agent told me vampire fiction was past it's time, yet others wanted it and I see vampire fiction selling. So if I can't trust them, who can I trust? Maybe a interested agent who wants to give me a real chance is as real as the tooth fairy.

WHEN? WHO?
WHY do I feel, deep down, like this will be ok? WHY? Why is it so... dang...hard?

GAAAAHHHH!

Too static?

Got a rejection from the agent I was hoping for.

"Thanks for giving me a look, but I'll pass on Anabelle and Roland. I still like the idea, but your prose feels too static. Try reading your work out loud to establish flow."

I thought it WAS moving? Maybe chapter 2 is still killing me. I rewrote it, changed it and shrunk it. If I do too much I won't be able to give the necessary info.

Sigh.

I'll reread through it aloud, but I'm losing hope.