It's been a long time since I've updated this thread. I've put it off because for a little while the only update I had was bittersweet. Now I've got some good news to relate, so it will take the edge off so to speak. Before I get into my current state of trying to break into the publishing industry, I want to apologize for not giving more feedback on the Reading Excuses forum. Alot of people gave me solid feedback for weeks on end. I tried to keep up whilst working on my latest project but between a new job, planning a wedding, writing, revising, etc... Basically life got in the way. I want to extend an invitation to those that were there for me (Akoebel, Hubay, Asmodean, etc.). If you'd like me to look at an entire novel via email I would definitely be willing to do that. I feel that I owe you guys something, if for nothing more than making me feel like what I was doing was worth something. And that something is starting to pay dividends. So, standing offer, whenever/if ever, let me know
My last novel was Written in Blood. I only sent it out to 8 agents. It received three partial requests and two fulls. One of the partials turned into a full as well. Unfortunately, they all passed. The first few were back when it was 140k and included flashbacks. The last was after I removed the flashbacks and wove them in, trimming it back to 125k. The book was much better for those revisions. The last agent to request a partial and then full was the best of the lot IMO. She didn't know me at all, but based off of my query she asked for the partial and after that the full. That gave me a lot of confidence as my previous submissions came after cons. Unfortunately, she too passedon it in April. The project wasn't quite right for her. She did say that both her and the president of her agency thought I had a lot of talent and she asked me to think of her in the future if I wrote anything else. Definitely bittersweet. She said I had talent which was good. She asked to see future work which proved she wasn't just being nice. But she still didn't want me.
I was at a crossroads at this point. I'd been shopping Written in Blood around since October and while I had garnered interest from some of the bigger wigs of fantasy, I still hadn't gotten representation. Written in Blood is epic fantasy and from what i've seen the published authors in that field are either huge or nobodies. The agents repping them are fewer than one might think. A lot of agents put fantasy as a genre they're interested in on their websites, but when you look at the authors/titles they sell, most are not epic fantasy. I still had another half dozen names to hit up.
But I had been toying with a modern YA sci-fi thriller. Also, I'm a fast writer. I think I'm talented (but don't we all?). My ultimate goal is to publish an adult and a YA book in fantasy/sci-fi/steampunk every year. I'd never written a YA and the challenge appealed to me. So after receiving the last rejection in April I began work on the YA book. I wanted to have it finished by the first week of June but as I alluded to life got in the way. Nonetheless, I was able to finish it the last week of June and get revisions done by the first week of July. A month late, but still not terrible. At 95,000 words it's the shortest novel I've written, but in the ballpark for YA.
Now comes the good news. I've begun submitting this week. And already I've received a request for a partial. The nice thing about YA is that there are a lot more agents out there that rep it. The caveat for me is that they also have to be willing to represent adult fantasy as that's my first love and I doubt I'll ever tire of it. I have another dozen or so agents to send this out to. Once those are out I'm going to send Written in Blood out to the 6 other agents I never got around to. You might wonder why I waited. I wouldn't advise anyone else to do that, but for me, when I'm invested in a project it takes all of my attention. I couldn't try to query WiB and write another novel at the same time. Now that they're both done, I can get them out there.
I'll be updating my Twitter feed and this thread (much more occassionally than Twitter). So if you're interested, feel free to follow along. Just started Twitter, but every Tuesday I'll post a tip of the day that will include something that helped me personally improve my writing. I'm sure some of it will be old news to those of us that write a lot, but it always bares repeating. Fridays I'll post book reviews, helpful links, etc. Otherwise I'll be using it to track my progress. Who knows, this book might go the way of Written in Blood, but I feel like I"m getting closer and that's all you can hope for. Get a little closer each time until you finally cross the finish line. Writing's a marathon, not a sprint.
So there you have it. I apologize for the long, long post. But I felt a lot of you deserved an explanation for my extended absence. If any of you guys are currently submitting or recently did so and have some war stories to share I'd love to hear it. Good luck to everyone else out there, we're all in this together!