Jessica Scott

Well, I received the long anticipated ethics review and the short version is my book is dead if I want to get paid for it.

I can write it for free all day long but so long as I’m active duty, I cannot receive a single dime for it.

Wait for it.

Sigh.

So that kills that small dream. I honestly thought I’d written a proposal that met the requirements. Why else would I have gone out with it? I mean, crap, yeah, lets write a book proposal that has no hope in hell of selling and waste a whole bunch of people’s time.

Um no.

I’m pretty disappointed right now. Yep, I’ve even shed a tear or two. It’s not that I can’t write the book. But how can I justify spending time on a project that is going to take as much time as this? And there will be costs associated with writing it. Remember, I’d have to use all publicly available information, which means if I wanted in to Lexus Nexus, I’d have to pay for it and I couldn’t honestly claim it was an investment b/c I would go into it knowing there was no possibility of getting any money back.

Yes, this is about the money. Yes, I’ve spent the last 4 years working on becoming a writer because someday, I’d like to get out of the Army and write full time. That involves a paycheck but the long term goal is not something for me to just throw aside for the short term gain.

Apparently, my little dream of writing a few books while I was on active duty and building my reader base was nothing more than a fantasy. The lawyer said I can write a memoir, so there’s hope for that but it means essentially scrapping the current project as it stands.

So I’ve got some choices to make but I’m not doing that right now while I’m still reeling from the news. I’m not going to buck up against the Army because this is my career we’re talking about and as much as I’m looking forward at my life beyond the Army, that day is still far down the road.

Right now, all I can say is…shit, this sucks.

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Twilight was Stephanie Meyer’s first book. She pitched it to Judy Reamer, who snapped it up and the rest, as they say is history. Allison Brennan’s first sale The Prey debuted on the NY Times Bestseller list.

Dude, we all want to be that guy. But for every writer that it does happen to, there are thousand more still stuck in the slush pile.

I’m willing to bet that every single writer looks at that first book and goes oh yeah, this is the one, baby. And when it doesn’t get immediately snapped up for a bajillion dollar advance, movie deal and foreign rights, well, then publishing sucks and they don’t know what they’re missing out on.

Welcome to reality. Publishing is hard to break into. Regardless of how much ‘crap’ you’ve read, someone read the same book, liked it, offered on it and put it into print. Part of the reason that publishing is so hard to break into is that you have to find that one yes in a pile of no’s that can feel higher than Mount Everest. Writing is easy.

Writing something that sells?

Not so much.

The first writer’s group I ever stumbled on had several unpublished writers in it. They weren’t seeking publication because, well, they wrote for themselves and they didn’t want someone changing their work. This was what the world was meant to be and they weren’t going to budge. Which is fine. That does not mean it’s saleable and many, probably the majority of writers out there, are fine with writing just for themselves.

I’m not one of them, which means that I need feedback. The harsher the better. I might not want to hear it at the particular time, but I recognize that I do need to hear it. And I might not do anything with it right off the bat but in the back of my mind, I’m working on it. Looking at how I can make the story better.

Revising, for me, is a bigger part of writing. When I first started out, I looked at what I’d slapped on the page and loved it. Every word. Every fragmented sentence and awkward phrase. I. Loved. It. I wasn’t able to look at it and see what needed to change, which meant that by and large, my so called revisions were window dressing. They weren’t the kind of change that the book needed to really take shape. I queried. And I got rejected. A lot. A hell of a lot, but you know what? Every rejection that came in that wasn’t a form rejection, I read. I saved. And when I started to really think about revisions on a certain project, I could finally see the things that were wrong.

I ended up throwing the whole book out. I rewrote it. And I haven’t pitched it again because it’s sitting in my Scrivener file folder, waiting on its turn. Because it’s back to being a first draft and if I’ve learned anything at all, it’s that my first drafts need major work.

Same story with the second book I pitched. That book landed me an agent but it never went anywhere. I was waiting for revision comments to help me see what needed to change. I never got the comments I thought I needed and my agent and I parted ways, primarily because I wasn’t getting input on the manuscript. I wanted to work. Hell, I was in Iraq and I needed to work. I needed guidance but ultimately, I think I needed too much guidance for her.

I still need guidance but the one thing I took away from every single rejection that came after I left my agent was that its MY BOOK. I am responsible for how it turns out. So while I thought my agent was going to give me guidance, until I could see what was wrong with it, I wasn’t going to be moving forward.

I am agentless now but I am not without guidance. As I work on the 3rd project I am getting ready to query, I am better prepared. I am able to take comments from my critique partner and see what’s wrong with, unfortunately, entire chunks of the book. I am able to see better what needs to cut and tighten and trim. Not entirely. I still need her input to give me prompts, but as I work through this book, it is my responsibility to be able to see it.

No one is going to do that for me. No agent is going to snap me up and turn me into the next Allison Brennan or Stephanie Meyers. Writing the book that gets me sold is my responsibility. I still need guidance and I still need advice and I’ve had some incredible support from the romance writer’s community.

But it’s my book and I need to be able to see what’s wrong with it before anyone else, agent, editor or otherwise is going to polish it up with me.

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Thank you everyone who emailed and commented on what they’ve done during the submission process. It’s been a tremendous learning experience for me just gaining perspective from people who’ve been there and are there now.

The single biggest agreement about the submission process, regardless of whether it’s for editors or agents, is the waiting. For unpublished writers, the wait can be months if not longer. I had a rejection from an agency a year and a half after I’d submitted to them but I adhere to the 90 day rule. If I hadn’t heard from an agent after about 3 months, I assumed there was no interest. The fun part about email queries is that you don’t necessarily get a response. Agents Janet Reid and Jessica Faust have both commented on their blogs how nasty exchanges get sometimes can get when an email rejection is sent. As a result, many agents simply don’t respond, which leaves the budding writer in a near constant limbo.

The next hardest part about submitted, again which there is wide agreement on, is the rejections that come. Either through silence or a ‘it’s just not right for me’ blanket rejections offer little incentive to the writer to keep going. As the writer progresses, however, usually rejections may get a little more informative and sometimes, the best answers are rejections with suggestions for improvements as well as an invitation to resubmit. Those rejections give the unpublished writer the opportunity to revisit the manuscript with comments in mind for specific issues and ultimately, can help the writer grow, both professionally and as a writer.

For many writers, the ultimate challenge is what to do during the wait. Many mentioned working on the next process because for a writer, there is always work to be done. Either copy edits, galleys, proofs or simply starting the next book. Keeping busy is a way to keep from obsessively waiting for the phone to ring or the inbox to chime, plus it helps advance your career as well.

Choosing writing as a career is not for the faint hearted. I truly thought in December 2007 when I’d written the end that I’d created a masterpiece. Said ‘masterpiece’ is in the trash now, though the heart of that idea has been completely rewritten. Stay busy, stay after it, and above all, keep writing. It only takes one yes to move you from hobby to professional.

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Calling all authors.

I’m curious.
My agent is gearing up for a September submission for my trilogy (yes, that is me trying not to be too squee-tastic). And seeing how I’ve never done this before, I’m a teeny bit nervous (again with the understatement).

What has the submissions process involved for you?

How involved are you?

Do you prefer a play by play from your agent (and if you do, what does said play by play involve?) or do you just want the call that says yes, we’ve sold?

What does your agent ask you for before you submit? Do you do a syn or a pitch?

All advice and information would be greatly appreciated!

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