) But wait . . . there's more. Someone (wife maybe?) is looking at your eighth rejection letter, basically your query with a stamp marked NOT INTERESTED in big bold letters, and that someone says to you, "Hey, I found a few spelling/grammar mistakes." WHAT? IN THE QUERY LETTER? I sent that out to EVERYONE (and their dogs). You sigh and watch the rest of the reject letters begin to pour in . . .
And then? I don't know what comes next. I'm trying to figure that out right now.
Sincerely,
Depressed in California
I found yur listing---
etc etc.,
you buck up and go on. And if for some reason someone reads your synop and the chapters, and they like them, despite the errors--you will get an e-mail or letter asking for more material.
And yes, I did the above. Should have been Zack and your. That was in the initial query letter to my agent. The phenomena is called the query curse. A close partner to Murphy's law.
You will be out of stamps, the post office hours will change without notice, you will forget the cover letter and later find it on your desk, and you will find a typo or spelling error or two or three right after mailing 30 queries.
Welcome to the club.
Shawn
quote:
you hurry with a query letter
Query letters should be given time and careful attention. They're as much a part of your writing craft as your manuscript. First impressions, and all. A bad query letter is like walking in the door with your fly open.
And here are the rest of the problems. (Just take a deep breath, JB, you're not alone here. )
You should have let time sit on your excitement a bit, at least so your reason had a chance to take control. Unless you're a first-shot-get-it-right sort of writer, simply being near completion of your manuscript is not the time to start marketing it. Your manuscript needs to be done, as ready for print as possible. Editors don't edit so much any more and agents will go for the better-prepared manuscript any day. Don't sabotage yourself. Get critiques. Edit and rewrite. And then do it all again.
The first three chapters up to par? How about the whole manuscript up to par? If someone bites, they'll expect the whole thing at once. You don't market an unfinished manuscript, whether unfinished means incomplete or incompletely edited.
(And with those first three chapters -- did you have them critiqued, if at all possible? Did you step away from them for a time and dare to really look at them?)
Dash through an outline? See my post on query letters. Now you've got a milk mustache and there goes the second impression.
Mad frenzy? Nervous? Sure, you're nervous, but don't act in a frenzy, mad or otherwise. It wouldn't do on your normal job, don't operate that way with your writing.
Now, pick up the pieces, and by the time you've calmed down and worked your manuscript and marketing package into a professional presentation you can resubmit to all those same markets. And pat yourself on the back. You've paid a hard price for a lot of experience.
[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited February 28, 2004).]
I understand what you all are saying and it is terribly excellent advice. As for a few of the questions . . . .
I have been working feverishly on my manuscript for more than a year. I work all day, come home, lock myself in my bedroom and write for 2.5 hours, and THEN I spend time with my family. Every saturday and sunday I rise at 7-8 o'clock and work for 5-7 hours. I have been editing my completed manuscript for more than two months, moving from chapter to chapter, and pooling my resourced readers for critiques, and retackling each chapter anew. As for my first three chapters, I had them critiqued by seven people, including a magazine editor I know. I am unable to obtain quite the "critiquing" power for the rest of my novel, but I do have a few readers helping me. Now, the complete novel WILL be ready in less than two weeks. I mailed off thirty submissions two weeks past. I am serving in the Navy, and at the end of August I am being moved from California to Guam, where mail service can be questionable at the least. If at all possible, I really do NEED to be working with an agent/publisher before then, for correspondance will very difficult from Guam/the boat.
Pick up the pieces? Yes, solid advice from the standpoints of others. If it were only that easy. Ruefully aware that I might not get a GREAT publishing deal (were I to get one at all), I mailed out submissions to EVERYONE who deals with my genre. For countless hours I scoured the internet looking for publishers and agents. Countless hours I spent scouring the Writer's Market as well. How does one "pick up the pieces?" Honestly, I'd say, at this point I think that there is only one thing I can do - write another novel and one day hope that I can sell this first one on its coat-tails.
Jeez . . . sorry, didn't mean to be so dramatic. S'just frustration, I guess. You know, out of thirty (or so) submissions, I've received ten rejects. It's frustrating right now, you know? The military has taught me that constant effort = constant and equal results. I don't think that's true in all aspects of life. At least the discipline has opened me up to the work ethic required to be a novelist. I don't think that most aspirants have ANY idea what they are getting themselves into . . .
But I love it nonetheless. Maybe THAT is the point.
Yes, experience. The one thing a budding novelist needs the most. The one thing that he has the greatest lack of.
[This message has been edited by JBShearer (edited February 28, 2004).]
quote:
Pick up the pieces? Yes, solid advice from the standpoints of others. If it were only that easy. Ruefully aware that I might not get a GREAT publishing deal (were I to get one at all), I mailed out submissions to EVERYONE who deals with my genre.
Don't worry. They deal with so many submissions that come 2 months' time they'll never remember you. Besides, chances are your rejections were made by an office junior, and next time around your query will be read by a different one...
Now to move beyond the slip-up. Jules is most likely correct in that if you resubmit they probably won't remember your first submission anyway, especially, I would think, if they got no farther than your query letter error and rejected your manuscript out of hand because of it. (Kathleen may have other thoughts here.)
Lindsay's suggestion about a writer's conference and a one-on-one with an editor is pure gold for your situation. If that's impossible, (again, I'd like to hear Kathleen's take on this) you might explain your logistics problem briefly in your query letter. After all, you're supposed to include how you can be reached, and laying out your situation -- again, briefly -- with a solution (There has to be some way to respond to you, even if it's email, or an interim address you'll access intermittently, even if it's very intermittently. ) is only standard operating procedure.
You never know. The "Hard to reach/I'm in the service" angle might tip the scales in your favor.
I understand your frustration, but brace yourself. From what I understand, the publishing industry moves at a glacial pace. Just because you're in a hurry, don't count on them to accommodate to your schedule. Not to mention the same quandry we're all in as far as positioning ourselves under that lucky bolt of lightning.
So good luck. On every score.
[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited March 01, 2004).]
Editors know about things like typos (heck, what do you think "edit" means, after all?).
The first thing the editor is concerned with is a story that will sell. I'd say that the second thing an editor is concerned with is professional behavior on the part of the author. (The story has to be pretty spectacular to make an editor put up with unprofessional behavior.)
Since you didn't actually send out a story, the editors can only judge from what you did send out. By sending out a corrected query, you are showing professionalism. They might still not be interested in the story, but they will remember your name in a more favorable light because you did what you could to correct your error.
When they see something from you again, they may only remember that they've seen your name before, but there's a good chance they may also remember that there was something positive about it, even if they don't remember what that positive thing was.
If you don't send the corrected query, then you run the risk of them remembering your name with a negative feeling.
Even to the ones who said they weren't interested, apologize for bothering them again, and say you just wanted to make sure they knew you weren't as big a dunderhead as you may have appeared from the mistakes in your first query letter. (Be sure to include a SASE this time, too.)
It took 65 rejections to find my agent. And I did make an error as I said in the above post--in the next letter I corrected his name and apologized.
How bad were the errors? Just because you got 10 rejections does not mean you are getting them because you made the errors. It can take time to find an agent, it took 4 months for me to find Zack, then another 60 days of waiting for him to read the partial, then another 6 months for him to read the entire MS before he took me on.
E-mail is great. Are you going to have access to e-mail? Tell the agent or publisher your situation, I may be hard to reach via regular mail, as I am in the Navy, communication via e-mail is much preferred. Don't make it a sob story, though, no--I have to have someone now--because--
Honestly, typos happen, errors happen. You go on. Send corrected copies, rename the book and send new copies--but you go on. It feels foolish to have made the errors, but honestly, even though your query should be your best effort, the story is what sells.
Shawn
quote:
Should have been Zack and your
OK "your" is certainly correct but "Zack..." not necessarily. In fact I believe, most generally, "Zach" is more correct as it is a derivitive of "Zachary," not "Zackary," usually.
I know several people named Zach whose ultimate pet peeve are people liek you who assume "Zack," is how it is always supposed to be.
Just had to say that.
While it is not absolutely wrong to address an editor or agent by their first name, especially if you have met that editor or agent and they know your name, it's never a good idea to try to guess a nickname for someone.
Shawn