Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "submissions"
The Right Mental State
Submissions are tough. Oh, I remember back in the beginning, when I really, really thought that agents were out there just waiting for me to write something they could hurry to a publisher and make into a bestseller.
Those days did not last.
Now I have to be excited about a project to garner any sort of enthusiasm for submissions. Not that I don't believe in my work. I do. But I have lost the belief that just because it's good, it will sell. I don't know what the formula is (no one does), but I do understand that it's a screwy business. An agent can like a MS but know she can't sell it. An editor can appreciate good writing but know he can't make a case for the book to his marketing department. And with changes coming swift and sure in the business, no one even knows if a given company will be publishing within six months. The roadblocks between reader and writer are high...and even if you get past all of them, the reader may not buy the book ("So many choices!") or may not like it ("It isn't funny like Evanovitch!").
So today is submission day. Again. It's not as much fun as it used to be, but at least I know more than I used to. To use a simile apt for mystery, it's like shooting a pistol as opposed to a shotgun. The shotgun sends out more ammo but tends to have less power. The pistol, aimed correctly, travels to the target and makes its mark.
Those days did not last.
Now I have to be excited about a project to garner any sort of enthusiasm for submissions. Not that I don't believe in my work. I do. But I have lost the belief that just because it's good, it will sell. I don't know what the formula is (no one does), but I do understand that it's a screwy business. An agent can like a MS but know she can't sell it. An editor can appreciate good writing but know he can't make a case for the book to his marketing department. And with changes coming swift and sure in the business, no one even knows if a given company will be publishing within six months. The roadblocks between reader and writer are high...and even if you get past all of them, the reader may not buy the book ("So many choices!") or may not like it ("It isn't funny like Evanovitch!").
So today is submission day. Again. It's not as much fun as it used to be, but at least I know more than I used to. To use a simile apt for mystery, it's like shooting a pistol as opposed to a shotgun. The shotgun sends out more ammo but tends to have less power. The pistol, aimed correctly, travels to the target and makes its mark.
If Agents Are Human
I think they are, although you may have heard differently.
Humans can't help but be more attracted to some things than to others. Even if it's a person's job to read a whole bunch of things, we tend to want to read some of them and not want to read others. I know this from years of sophomore essays.
So a submission must either appeal to an agent or not upon reading the query. We know they get tons of them. Do they save the good ones for last, as a reward for their labors, or do they shove the not-so-intriguing ones to the bottom of the pile?
I suppose it's a personal decision, and it could vary with a person's mood. I recall that some nights I read the essays with the worst handwriting first, to get them over with, but other nights I started with one I knew would be well done, to sort of get me in the mood to finish them. Of course there were nights when I just read through the stack as it came. No choices, just get it done.
So there's my question for the day. How do agents decide what they will read and in what order? Unlike English teachers, they don't have to read them all, and they don't have to read all of any one submission. They have that tiny bit of luxury I never had as a teacher: writing "Not for us" in one corner and going on to the next.
Humans can't help but be more attracted to some things than to others. Even if it's a person's job to read a whole bunch of things, we tend to want to read some of them and not want to read others. I know this from years of sophomore essays.
So a submission must either appeal to an agent or not upon reading the query. We know they get tons of them. Do they save the good ones for last, as a reward for their labors, or do they shove the not-so-intriguing ones to the bottom of the pile?
I suppose it's a personal decision, and it could vary with a person's mood. I recall that some nights I read the essays with the worst handwriting first, to get them over with, but other nights I started with one I knew would be well done, to sort of get me in the mood to finish them. Of course there were nights when I just read through the stack as it came. No choices, just get it done.
So there's my question for the day. How do agents decide what they will read and in what order? Unlike English teachers, they don't have to read them all, and they don't have to read all of any one submission. They have that tiny bit of luxury I never had as a teacher: writing "Not for us" in one corner and going on to the next.
