I was in the middle of an important call on my office phone when my cell phone sang its little melody.
SCHEDULING DEPT
I hadn’t scheduled any appointments, so I let it go.
The phone summoned me again less than a minute later.
SCHEDULING DEPT
Goodness! This must be urgent. I hung up on the other person with a promise to call back.
SCHEDULING DEPT turned out to be a salesperson calling from a home improvement company. We employed the company to perform several projects in the past, but they changed their name (and, ostensibly, their ownership), and they don’t offer any further improvements we need. We asked them to take us off their list. And asked. And asked. I found this call especially aggravating. You must know that no one wants to talk to you when you spoof your calls. All I can do is keep blocking every new number they use.
I’m not venting. Rather, I hope to prevent authors from making a similar mistake when approaching traditional publishers without success. Maybe you’ve been told:
Your book is too long (and you need all 250,000 words).
Your book is too short (and you don’t know how to make it longer).
Your topic isn’t in demand.
The market is oversaturated with books on your topic.
Your book doesn’t stand out enough.
There is no discernable market for your book.
The story/topic/writing isn’t standing out enough to get attention.
You may not believe anyone delivering these verdicts. After all, you are the only person who can write your book. Your grandma loves it. Your mother’s garden club thinks it’s fabulous. Your pastor thinks it should be published. In fact, everyone seems to think it should be published, except editors, agents, and publishers.
What not to do:
Pitch the same book over and over and over. Or even a slightly different, recognizable version, of the same book. Please don’t be SCHEDULING DEPT. That technique ensures your book will die a long, painful death.
What to do instead:
Well, you can contemplate how everyone in publishing is foolish, though keep this to yourself. You can eat ice cream. You can buy new shoes.
But there’s something better to do…
And that is…
Wait for it…
Write a new book.
Before you do, look at the rejections you’ve received. Not all will offer helpful advice, so disregard those responses. Resist the urge to write the agent and say, “How come you rejected my work?” Why? Because no comment means the project was too far from the agent’s wheelhouse to garner input.
Instead, consult those rejections that offer criticism, even reactions you don’t agree with. Take notes. See what you can learn, and when it makes sense, apply that wisdom. Make a note of which agents and editors gave you advice along the way, again, even if you didn’t agree with it at the time. You can thank them later.
Auf Wiedersehen doesn’t have to mean forever.
According to Wiktionary, auf Wiedersehen means, “until our reunion; that we may see again.” You may pull out that first book and revamp it later to great success. By that time, you may be a busy author who’s grateful for having that old manuscript to edit. And this time, it may quickly sell.
I hope it does!
Memorial Day
OK, did anyone else read ‘auf wiedersehen’ and instantly go back to the ‘I Love Lucy ‘ episode?
Auf!
####
If you felt a need to write the thing
it most likely was worthwhile,
but in the end you’ve got to bring
more than sincerity and smile.
Cut it back right to the bone
to find out what you meant to say;
for writing sins you can atone
by study, and thus you will pay
the price of your admission
to meet consideration,
and then perhaps fruition
will be sweet destination
you get, instead of hard-shut door,
“THIS is what we’re looking for!”
Second to the last line should start ‘when you get…’
It’s 4am. Do you know where your brain cells are?
Nope. No idea where my brain cells are at the moment. But I’m strangely okay with that right now.
Hoping a shower and coffee will help. 😉
Y’all are funny! Where would most of us be without coffee!
Great advice, Tamela! So many writers want to cling to their first idea. If I had done that, I never would have had a YA fantasy, 5 picture books, 12 or 13 short stories, and lots of devos published!
We all have a practice manuscript, right? Let’s learn from it instead of quitting.
Exactly, and congratulations on your success!
I always enjoy your insights. And I keep them under my hat for reference.
That being said some days I am flooded with robocalls and drives me crazy, even with all the blocks,
Though this is off the topic, and I am asking people in general: if your protagonist speaks a lot from their thoughts about situations he/she finds himself in, is that a bad thing? Someone recently said to me that it was more telling than showing. I’d appreciate your feedback. Many thanks!!!
Many thanks have a blessed day. Jeannie
Jeannie, thank you for your kind words! I appreciate knowing this blog is helpful.
As for your question, one way to keep the thoughts from seeming like the reader encounters a narrative of a past experience is to take the reader back to the scene and have the participants re-enact it. Then the thoughts become active rather than passive.
When that won’t work, just make sure to keep introspections sprinkled throughout the manuscript rather than oversalting it. People think all the time, and not sharing any characters’ thoughts with your readers means they’ll only see what the others in the scene see. The reader may need to know the character’s thoughts to see if the character is sincere, and thoughts will show the reader the character’s motivations.
Another approach may be to have a character say something out loud unintentionally. What if Midge said, “Oh, my, I wish someone would tell Madge to throw out that pilled puke-green sweater!” Madge’s response could be an interesting scene and add to your story, as well as allow you to show more about both characters.
Hope this gives you a few helpful ideas. I encourage others to weigh in as well!
And thanks for the question!
Hello Tamela, I’ll be today’s contrarian: I’m very grateful that Harry Potter, The Wizard of Oz, A Wrinkle in Time, and Dune authors didn’t give up. Their 20+ rejections are examples of perseverance when the publishing community wasn’t ready for their groundbreaking work. Of course, they may have done deep edits based on good advice, but those novels are crown jewels of the speculative genre. Keep writing is perfect advice. And, Peter Rabbit was self-published by Beatrice Potter when no one would publish it. A groundbreaking choice for her time that led to success.
Yes, and … ☺️
KT, those examples occurred to me as I wrote this blog post. As always, the exceptions prove the rule.
I’d still say it’s a good idea to write other books as you await word from publishers, whether that is Publisher One or Publisher 115.
Thanks for the reminders about perseverance. 🙂
Danke shoen , Tamela! I took this great advice from you months ago and dropped what I was working on and started something new. I am so grateful for your insight! It’s tough to let the darling go, but hopefully well worth it in the end. If nothing else, resilience builds and the craft becomes sharper. Guten tag!
Lori, thank you so much for letting me know. We agents need encouragement, too!
And who knows? The first project may end up being your tenth published book!
Tamela, the consistency of your advice is very encouraging! Last fall you informed me that a proposed novel you liked was too long for the current market and encouraged me to set it aside, not edit it down to a shorter version, and write a new, shorter book instead–the same advice you’re still offering here. I did that and the next book is almost ready for beta readers. Setting that particular book aside was an especially difficult auf wiedersehen, due to writing my own fresh grief experience into my main character’s life, but when the pendulum swings back to longer reads, I’ll already have a longer novel polished and ready to propose again! Thanks!
Yay! I’m so glad you found my advice worthwhile. Thank you for letting me know!