WWTBAM Bored

No, I still don't have an agent, but I'm trying.

As you can see in my sig line, I have two manuscripts "out there". There have been a lot of layoffs in publishing houses this year, so placement is even more difficult than years past. Agents are pickier than ever. Just my luck.

The Memory Box is still out to a handful of agents, but I doubt it will snag one. I've sent it to more than 20 small pubs, hoping to catch on that way. It is a slow process (6-9 month wait is not unusual) but it is creeping along.

I've had much better luck with novel two, The Centerpoint. There are still six agents reading it, so that's positive. I got a rejection last week from an agent who said "This is a great story. I wish the market weren't so brutal right now or I'd leap on it." Gee, thanks. The market can bite me.

Meanwhile, I plug along on novel 3. Tentatively called Dizzy Miss Lizzie, it's the story of a young girl who solves a mystery with a little help from a young Lizzie Borden who just happens to live in the basement. I'm hoping to have the first draft completed this summer.



Wow, two posts in two days. I'm practically chatty.

They can bite me too.

I don't get why the book market is down.

Books are relatively cheap...you would think that would be a form of entertainment people would hold onto even as they are forced to cut back elsewhere.

People don't read, at least novels from unknown authors (sorry, Van). They want the instant gratification of a movie, television or a video game. There's a reason that Amazon has branched out into selling much more than books. The pub houses also want to be as sure as they can that they'll make money on anything they offer. Rough times for all.

Good luck, Van! We'll expect autographed copies when the publishers come to their senses.

I don't believe this...maybe the part about unknown authors...but I don't believe people don't read.

Everywhere I go, I see people reading. And bookstores are always crowded.

Why not? You don't.

I thought the same thing when he made the first post!

lb13

As someone who used to be in the book printing business, the pattern we saw was when folks began giving up the extras, new books and magazines were the first things they cut back on....

Fewer books get printed and book runs are shorter as no-one wants a lot of supply sitting around.

Edited to add:

Vandal, with all the positive feedback you're getting, I have to believe it's just a matter of time before you're published! What a great update! So glad I popped in this morning.....

Eye DOO TWO.

That was just a joke.

Besides, my wife & kids are voracious readers.

I guess people can go used and check books out of the library.

But I still find this puzzling- books are one of the cheapest forms of diversion around.

Not according to those spams I get!

OK- that's slightly less than half the population.

Ladies?

Hey you gotta check out the Murder or Suicide thread.

Continued best wishes for success.

Fiction is the hardest to break into and so overwhelmed by the same relative handful of authors the publishing houses keep flogging.

But the cool thing is you will have lots of instant follow-ups to whichever novel is your first big break.

As well as being a selling point to an agent in that you have more than one venture ready to go should someone show interest in any one of them.

Like most other US industries, the publishing industry is taking it on the chin this year. Here's a link to a NY Times article about Random House, the biggest of the bunch:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/busin ... .html?_r=2

and another from Huffington.com:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/0 ... 48264.html


From what I've read on agents' blogs, publishers are looking for more "sure things" to get them through the cold stretch. Accordingly, agents are less likely to take on unknown entities than they were a few years ago for fear of mass rejection from editors.

But it still comes down to the writing. If an agent thinks she can sell a manuscript, she'll jump (or perhaps leap) on it. If an editor thinks it will earn out and then some, he'll buy it. No manuscript "deserves" to be published. Still, I know of several authors whose debut novels are coming out this summer. It is truly a crazy, fickle business.

An author needs luck, timing and skill. The order changes every week. One caveat stands the test of time: outstanding writing trumps all.

I think I've written a very good thing, but it's unlikely a sure thing.

Or is it?