Have a book, no writing experience. how much would this hurt me?

emanny86 · Aug 3, 2010

pretty much wrote a 312 page manuscript with no other professional writing exprience before now (no published short stories, articles or even a job that relates to writing).

how much would this lack of experience hurt my chances of getting representation for my dark fantasy novel?

do agents shun guys who dont mention any thing about themselves in their query (well. . . . because there is nothing relevant to mention)? should i go ahead and tell them that i have no experience? or should i forget about publishing my book and go out, looking for experience (that would probable take months)?

i dont know guys. would like to get some insight. thanx!

Kateness · Aug 3, 2010

Write a good query. Look for query letter hell elsewhere on the site.

No, not being published does not preclude you from being published. You just have to be awesome to the agents you're sending stuff to.

Ryan_Sullivan · Aug 3, 2010

Not one bit. A quote from my agent on a Literary Rambles Q&A:

"Rest assured that it’s absolutely fine if you’ve never been published before. I’ve worked with new writers throughout my career and it’s something I greatly enjoy. However, keep in mind that credentials don’t pertain solely to books that you’ve published. Perhaps you’ve published short stories, magazine articles, maintained a blog, or done other types of writing. Or you could be connected to the writing community in other ways, such as working at a bookstore, attending writers conferences, or just having a lifelong love of reading. Those all count as credentials in my book, and they’d certainly be worth noting in your query."

cspradbery · Aug 3, 2010

Won't hurt you one bit if what you have is what the agent is looking for. A strong query and good writing is enough.

waylander · Aug 3, 2010

It is all about the writing.
Write a great book and agents will be interested.

shaldna · Aug 4, 2010

No one had any writing experience before they started writing.

Think about it.

cspradbery · Aug 4, 2010

shaldna said:
No one had any writing experience before they started writing.

Think about it.

Ooh, nice! Scrap my answer, I go with this!

Jamesaritchie · Aug 4, 2010

The only thing most credits will usually get you is a bit quicker read by a higher placed person. Really outstanding credits can sometimes make or break a book deal, but this is fairly rare. I've made two book deals solely because of good short story credits, but I would have made different deals without them.

The best way of looking at it is that good credits can help you tremendously, but having no credits won't hurt you.

emanny86 · Aug 4, 2010

thanks guys

thanks to everyone that replied, this really helped. i promise to keep writing and keep mailing out these queries.
yours faithfully,

Emmanuel Azogu Jr.

waylander · Aug 5, 2010

You say your book is 321 pages, what is the wordcount? 90-100k is ideal, 130k+ is reducing your chances of getting people interested

branchwag · Aug 5, 2010

Thank you so much for this. As a young and, quite frankly, broke young writer, I was worried about getting representation. Hopefully when I'm done with my manuscript I can persuade an agent to take a look, and it truly is a help knowing that I don't have to spend $375 for a writer's conference just to get my book published.

JoNightshade · Aug 5, 2010

Having no experience won't hurt, but writing in all lowercase letters certainly will.

BloodMoon · Aug 6, 2010

Emanny, Having no experience won't hurt you at all. A lot of us here have no form of previous training or experience. The best advice I can give you is to make sure your writing is well edited and tight. That will make a huge difference.
Good Luck!

Have a book, no writing experience. how much would this hurt me?

emanny86

Kateness

Ryan_Sullivan

Agented YA Writer

cspradbery

Best before 1998

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

shaldna

The cake is a lie. But still cake.

cspradbery

Best before 1998

Jamesaritchie

emanny86

waylander

Who's going for a beer?

branchwag

Re-writer Extraordinaire

JoNightshade

has finally arrived

BloodMoon