I'm doing something wrong. Either my query sucks (which could be) or I have a book that can't be marketed because it doesn't fit in any one particular genre. I've gotten favorable responses on my first chapter on this site. But no one even wants to let at the #$%*ing thing. How does one persevere in the face of so much rejection?
Does no one publish satire?
- Thread starter erika
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First: Have you posted your query in SYW for some advice ?
Second: How many Agents have you queried so far? And what genre are you placing this?
Enquiring minds want to know
Second: How many Agents have you queried so far? And what genre are you placing this?
Enquiring minds want to know
I just posted my query in SYW today. As for genre, I have been treating it as literary fiction. As for agents, I've queried about thirty. Two were interested and said they really liked it. The first left the biz right after asking for the whole MS and the second (rightly) said he couldn't sell it in his market.
I did a really poor job of identifying the "right" agents when I first started out. Now, I'm trying to be a little more realistic and circumspect. But still, it's a satire that doesn't deride Christianity, but takes a rather unique spin on it IMO.
I did a really poor job of identifying the "right" agents when I first started out. Now, I'm trying to be a little more realistic and circumspect. But still, it's a satire that doesn't deride Christianity, but takes a rather unique spin on it IMO.
query
Nearly all queries suck dust bunnies. Make them look at the writing, not the query. Send along the first 2-5 pages of teh manuscript with the query.
Nearly all queries suck dust bunnies. Make them look at the writing, not the query. Send along the first 2-5 pages of teh manuscript with the query.
persiphone_hellecat
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Erika, I read your first chapter on the other thread. .
It will probably never get published as literary. Go contemp/mainstream. I'm sure you know the "CRAP" publishers won't touch it with a ten foot pole but luckily Contemp/Mainstream LOVES to ruffle feathers and they also LOVE to connect with the Christian market.
Seriously I think if you go for a mainstream agent/publisher you'll get a much better response. Your book is going to be contraversial as ALL HELL, don't back away from that, it's your best selling point. Contraversy sells and luckily for you, it's not necessarily bad contraversial aka it's not a book about devil worshipping or how drug use is good for children. It's a story with some really important things to say that aren't currently being said.
Make sure those agents know that. You might want to compare your book to the Celestine prophecy in that it's the type of book that'll make the average reader question things they've been told to believe about religion. The Celestine Prophecy and Da Vinci Code both challenged people's previously held religious views and they both made MILLIONS. This fact won't be lost on an agent.
-G
It will probably never get published as literary. Go contemp/mainstream. I'm sure you know the "CRAP" publishers won't touch it with a ten foot pole but luckily Contemp/Mainstream LOVES to ruffle feathers and they also LOVE to connect with the Christian market.
Seriously I think if you go for a mainstream agent/publisher you'll get a much better response. Your book is going to be contraversial as ALL HELL, don't back away from that, it's your best selling point. Contraversy sells and luckily for you, it's not necessarily bad contraversial aka it's not a book about devil worshipping or how drug use is good for children. It's a story with some really important things to say that aren't currently being said.
Make sure those agents know that. You might want to compare your book to the Celestine prophecy in that it's the type of book that'll make the average reader question things they've been told to believe about religion. The Celestine Prophecy and Da Vinci Code both challenged people's previously held religious views and they both made MILLIONS. This fact won't be lost on an agent.
-G
No! Oh goodness no... don't you think by now agents are tired of hearing "I'm the next Dad Brown"? Jeff Strand just told me this past week that humor and satire is a tough sell. It's so subjective. You might also be comparing your book wrong when it comes to style or even genre. Find someone who writes something similar and see who they are repped by. Jeff Strand is a specfic/humor author and only recently aquired an agent who solicited him. Maybe it's best to have a few under your belt in the small press first.
I've just begun querying on a book-length satire project myself - my impression is that it's not so much that satire is hard to sell, but "satire" isn't really a well-defined genre in the book market.
There's a humor section in the bookstores, but it's not a genre where ALL the books on the shelf might appeal to EVERYONE browsing it. "Humor" means gentle anecdotes to some people, barbed satire to others. The topic's currency, associated public interest level, and the nature/tone of your take on it have a lot to do with its marketability. The marketing aspect actually strikes me as closer to non-fiction than anything - identify the audience who will "get" and appreciate the joke, and focus on them.
There's a humor section in the bookstores, but it's not a genre where ALL the books on the shelf might appeal to EVERYONE browsing it. "Humor" means gentle anecdotes to some people, barbed satire to others. The topic's currency, associated public interest level, and the nature/tone of your take on it have a lot to do with its marketability. The marketing aspect actually strikes me as closer to non-fiction than anything - identify the audience who will "get" and appreciate the joke, and focus on them.
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