SO YOU WANT TO WRITE Chap.2

20. February 2010 by admin.

Record keeping sounds too much like work, but is an important step to keep track of your activities, especially when you complete more than one manuscript. Some rejection letters—called form letters—do not even reference the manuscript title. Having records of what you sent which agent or publishing house will keep it all straight. NEVER send more than one manuscript to an agent or publisher at one time. Most agencies and publishing house will only accept one per author at a time. If they decide to offer a contract, having a second manuscript in their slush pile makes extra work for them.  

Feel free to send queries to dozens at once, but I recommend no more than 10 at a time. Why? With the advent of e-mail queries, rejections arrive in days or weeks instead of months (or years!) An agent might take an extra few lines to tell you why they do not think your manuscript is ‘right’ for them. Slow pacing or too many characters are things that can be fixed. THEN you can send the manuscript out again.

ALWAYS keep a copy of the original in case someone shows interest in it. That is what happened to me. From the time I wrote the book, submitted it to several agents and a couple of publishers, then entered it in RWA’s Golden Heart writing contest, almost 10 months had passed. I decided to rewrite the book. Bad idea, now that I look back, since the original still sat with Red Rose Publishing (www.redrosepublishing.com) When the e-mail came last August saying ‘Congratulations, Secret Love Match has sold’, I was flabbergasted. Joy filled me and heartache was avoided when I learned they would allow me to meld the two story lines together. I used the knowledge gleaned from on-line workshops to clean up the grammar, tighten up the dialog, and strengthen my characters. My book is due to be published as an e-book on 25 June 2010. The link is: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/extra_info_pages.php?pages_id=4.

SECRET LOVE MATCH is my third completed full-length manuscript. Since signing my first ever contract, I have completed two more full-length stories (one contemporary and one Scottish historical) and a 30,000 word Scottish paranormal novella. I expect to have my current wip (work-in-progress) complete by the time my book comes out. The message here is to KEEP WRITING. When one manuscript is complete and you have sent out several query letters, start the next project. The time between submission to sale to publication can be two years or more!

I digress. What I do to keep my manuscripts straight is this: when I start a project, I choose a binder about 1 ½ inches thick. I fill it with my character profiles (hair and eye color, names, ages, quirks, etc.) I type up a ‘Publishers’ page. Every time I submit to an agent or publisher, I include the date, agency name, agent or c/o name, and what I sent, such as ‘query, 2 page synopsis, first three chapters’. I leave a column blank for the date a rejection (or request for full!) arrive.

A rejection from a certain agent or publisher should be viewed as another opportunity. When your next work is complete, send it out to them! Again, Romance Writers of America (www.rwanational.org) is a fantastic resource since they list agents and publishers on their website, complete with requirements, websites, and genres. There are other sources for publisher information…such as how much royalty does so-and-so offer. We will leave that for another day. 

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