Make Your Story Your Own!

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Patience is the Key in This Business

 

I have been saying this a lot lately. We are living in a world right now where people have very little patience. We all want immediate gratification. We can't wait one week for the next episode of a television show - we want the entire season dumped at one time so we can binge watch the entire season. We are so desperate for immediate gratification that we are willing to pay up to $20 for that Carmel Frap from Starbucks to be delivered via some teenager from DoorDash. This is ridiculous. 

We are also seeing the same thing now in publishing. People simply cannot wait. That is honestly why I love this Carvana Ad. She is determined to "Hoooooollllllldddddd!" for the right time - which most of you simply cannot do. So let me explain.

You wrote one book. You think you are amazing. Your friends think that book is great (of course they do because you just hand-picked your friends and they love everything about you including that burnt steak you served to them last night during dinner). You spouse loves you (they have to because of that contract and that very expensive wedding). But those editors and agents hated it. You mass emailed thousands of them in a single sitting. You sent that one query letter that you drafted after taking that workshop from the person who claimed "Using my method got me that 6 figure deal and now I retired from my day job and am making millions!" You used A.I. to make sure the letter was great.

But all you have are rejections. 

Clearly the market is against you.

Clearly everything you have read on your social media feeds is true. The publishing world is not open to new authors. Agents are just gate keepers just wanting someone who will bring them a 7 figure deal on one book! They don't know anything. 

So what do you do? You have also read that there are a billion people out there who made it self-publishing so you jump to that route. 

Do you see where I am going to with this? It is a lack of patience. This author has written one book. What most authors fail to realize are these few ideas about successful authors:

• They wrote a lot of books BEFORE selling their first (and were rejected on all of those prior books)
• Some were inherently great writers from the beginning
• Some were simply in the right place at the right time
• Many took the time to learn how to write over the years because they did not know how to write correctly.
• They did not mass mail to every editor and agent but researched and targeted people who fit best with their book and their personality
• They networked through large writing organizations
• They did not panic

Do you see that they did not jump at the first "snake oil salesperson?" No, I am not saying that self-publishing companies are that, but what I am saying is that it is an quick easy option that may look too good to be true, especially for someone who really doesn't know. 

For new authors, you might just need to learn and grow. You might have had a story that just was not right for the market. You might have submitted it to the wrong person. You might just need a little more time. 

Have patience and learn to be a TRUE writer!

Don't Make Yourself Sound Better Than You Really Are In A Query

Reading queries can sometimes be completely humorous at times. I know that a lot of agents will sit around at conferences and often talk about query letters and try to "one up" each other with query letters from authors. You would be surprised at some of the letters we get. Seriously! But what I want to talk about today is how you need to be careful about not hyping yourself up too much.

Yes, we want you to be proud of the work you did on that book. We certainly do not want you to downplay your accomplishments. You should show off those accomplishments...

HOWEVER...

Don't make yourself sound like something that you are not. I can promise you, all that it will get you is an automatic rejection, probably no response, and certainly a comment or two at the next meeting of the minds with all of us agents at the next conference. Let me give you a few examples:

• Telling me you are in consideration for Oprah's Book Club (or Reese's or Jenna Bush's Book Clubs). Seriously, if your book is not published, you are not in consideration. Just because you sent it to them and got the automatic reply that they look at things that come in DOES NOT mean you are in consideration. Yes, we get a lot of these.
• Telling us that some major author (James Patterson seems to always be a big one) has reviewed your book and thinks it is the next big seller. Umm, really? If that is the case, why didn't Mr. Patterson pass it on to his agent or his editor? Honestly, that is how this business works. Not only that, how in the heck did you REALLY get in contact with this person? 
• You have been previously published and sold a ton of books by one of the BIG 5. OK, so why aren't you still there now? The funny part about this one is when we go back and look up your name, frequently you never show up. Weird huh? 
• The book you are submitting is currently in print and selling amazingly well and blowing away the market and now you want to find an agent to take it to one of the Big 5. Ok, if it is selling that well, why are you coming to us? What does "blowing away the market" really mean to you?
• Telling us that some famous author or editor or another agent recommended sending the project to us. Now this one happens a lot, but here is "the kicker." The majority of the time, these are for books in genres I don't represent, and the recommendations are from people I have absolutely no clue of who these people are. Oh, and by the way, if it is an agent, why would they be sending an author to another agent? 

The reality is this. Tell us about your book. If you have been previously published, be honest. If the book has been previously published, show us SALES NUMBERS and not reviews.

Oh, and one final note. If we do reject you, don't write back and tell us that you are going to prove to us that we made a huge mistake on passing on your project and we will regret it. Let me just say that since 2003, not one author has ever come back to say they are now a billionaire after I passed on a book. 

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