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Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Archives for Tamela Hancock Murray » Page 28

Tamela Hancock Murray

The Top Three Reasons My Office Rejects Submissions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon March 8, 2018
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So you got a rejection saying the submission isn’t right for us? That’s a typical decline, isn’t it? Frustrating, I know. But it’s typical because it’s so common. Let’s look at the top three reasons my office sends rejection letters.

  • The submission isn’t right for us. When you receive this letter, you may feel as though we blew off your work and chose a pig-in-a-poke excuse because we had to fill in a blank. But in fact, this is the number one reason we must decline many submissions. Why?

1. The author didn’t research to discover we don’t represent the category in question.

2. We don’t think the topic will find a place with the editors we know.

3. The author took a chance by thinking we might make an exception for him.

  • The market is too tight. Unfortunately, we must turn down many excellent submissions that at other times, we might have been able to accept. We must consider our knowledge and understanding of the current market when evaluating any and all proposals. And though this may seem unfair to the talented author, one major reason to engage a literary agent in the first place is for her knowledge of the current market. Besides, you may meet a different agent who knows three editors looking for a book on The Breath Mint and Garlic Diet. If that’s your book, wouldn’t it be in your best interest to work with an agent who knows those editors?
  • We just didn’t like it. You can shout “That’s not fair!!!” from the rooftops and we’d agree. This is the most unfair reason to send a decline. And this is why we try not to admit this in our declines. But look at it this way, do you want your agent to be so lethargic about your work that he says to editors, “You don’t want to buy this, do you?” And since there are A LOT of agents, another agent – one who loves your work and is eager to represent you – is a better fit. That agent may even be a different agent in the same agency.

So there you have it, the reasons we must reject some manuscripts. There are other reasons, but these tend to be the most common.

Your turn:

If you’ve experienced several rejections, what did you find to be the most common?

If you were an agent, why would you turn down a proposal?

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Category: Agents, RejectionTag: Agents, book proposal, Rejection

I Hate My Job!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon March 1, 2018
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Well, I don’t always hate my job. I only hate it on the days I have to send rejection letters. Or maybe I should say, I only hate it during the moments of the day that I must send rejection letters. If you receive a rejection letter either from my assistant or myself, you can count on a few truths: If we say you are talented, we believe it. If we say your work isn’t the right fit for us, you can …

Read moreI Hate My Job!
Category: Book Proposals, RejectionTag: Rejection, rejection letters

A Writer’s Water Bill: A Hidden Cost of Doing Business

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 22, 2018
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If you’re dreaming of being a successful writer, you may not be aware of some hidden costs of doing business, such as buying your marvelous editor dinner every week,  subscribing to writing magazines and buying books on the writing craft, sending your fabulous agent gourmet coffee every month, increased coffee consumption for creativity and energy, a whopping Internet bill to help you do the …

Read moreA Writer’s Water Bill: A Hidden Cost of Doing Business
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Creativity, Money, The Writing Life

Losing Track of Time

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 15, 2018
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When I first started sending books and articles to editors in hopes of being selected for publication, the passage of time possessed few markers. For example, the mail arrived once a day. There was no trail like this on the touchtone wall phone: Wednesday, 10 AM: Your Amazon order was received. Wednesday, 8 PM: Your Amazon order was shipped. Thursday, 11 AM: Your Amazon package is scheduled for …

Read moreLosing Track of Time
Category: The Publishing Life, The Writing LifeTag: The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Trends

Can Death Cleaning Spark Joy?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 8, 2018
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One of the most challenging aspects of being successful in nonfiction is choosing a topic general enough to interest a broad swath of readers, but unique enough to make them think of the question in a new way so they’ll want to buy your book. Take decluttering. I follow at least three decluttering blogs. My daughter says, “How about just cleaning instead of reading about it? Then you’d get it …

Read moreCan Death Cleaning Spark Joy?
Category: Book Proposals, Branding, Marketing, Pitching, Platform, The Writing LifeTag: Marketing, Nonfiction

Timing Myths Dispelled

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 1, 2018
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Sometimes I receive submissions with the note, “I want to get this to the editor before fill in the name of the big conference, or before the holiday, or whatever! Does this make sense? I can answer this question right now. The perfect time to submit a manuscript is… Thursday, 4:45 AM local time, in Guam. Seriously, I understand the desire to enhance a submission’s chances by timing it when the …

Read moreTiming Myths Dispelled
Category: Book Proposals, The Writing LifeTag: book proposals, Submissions

I Can’t Believe I Wrote the Whole Thing

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 25, 2018
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You’re an author with lots of talent and a great idea! You know the market and are confident your story will work. There’s plenty of plot to make word count. So why not sell on proposal? Selling on proposal seems ideal, but might not be a good idea for the new author. Why not? Pacing A new author can’t necessarily gauge how long it will take to write a book. Perhaps the first book rode like the …

Read moreI Can’t Believe I Wrote the Whole Thing
Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Creativity, The Writing LifeTag: book proposals, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

It’s All About You — Sometimes

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 18, 2018
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When I visit the bookstore or library, I seldom fail to see at least one novel where the entire back cover consists of an author photo. That’s it. No endorsements, no story blurb, no author bio. Just a picture of the author. And usually the front cover doesn’t offer many clues, either. Maybe a vague illustration, along with the title and author’s name. To my mind, this means this author has built …

Read moreIt’s All About You — Sometimes
Category: Branding, MarketingTag: Book Sales, Branding, Marketing

The Year of Kindness

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon January 11, 2018
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This past year, my colleagues in Christian publishing have treated me with immense kindness. Thank you. I wish I could say I have witnessed the same kindness in other arenas. If you follow current events even as a casual observer, I don’t need to recount the bitterness and rancor over ideas, processes, and how to deal with misdeeds. But processing debates helped me progress in my own attitudes. …

Read moreThe Year of Kindness
Category: Personal, Social Media, Theology, TrendsTag: Personal, Trends

Christmas Blessings

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 21, 2017
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Gospel of St John: 1.1-14 IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was …

Read moreChristmas Blessings
Category: TheologyTag: Christmas, Theology
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