The Next Circle of Hell

{{YAwriter}}

And guess I should mention it here too. The Editor tweeted on Saturday about working on my revision notes, so hopefully I'll have them today! I'm terrified and excited all at once.

YAwriter72 said:

I just needed to pop and and throw a total temper tantrum.



That is all.

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yeah!!!!

sorry about whatever it is....

that's good news, tasmin!

I'm in limbo like Callalily... no more obsessively checking the inbox after the last house passed. and my agent is back from vacation but kind of awol. I need to rewrite my proposal but am waiting for her ideas. *sigh*

Gatita said:

yeah!!!!

sorry about whatever it is....

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Just waiting. I'm not a patient person.

I think I'm totally starting to understand this "circle of hell" business.
My first ever agented project went on sub recently (two weeks as of tomorrow), to ten of the big publishers. The first week I just couldn't get over how cool it was to be on sub but now I keep wondering how long this nerve-wracking process is going to take!

James, many congratulations on being out on submission! And much good luck and best wishes too.

I've been through the process rather recently. My agent gave me some very good advice: "Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. We may be here a while..."

Thanks, Lisa! I'm certainly prepared for a long haul, especially given the time of year. Doesn't make things any easier, though!

Those of you waiting on your agents to get back to you, this blog entry might be useful - kinda suggests that if you're not hearing back from agents (and I'm also including us agented lot amongst this) it's probably a good sign cos it means our agents are selling, selling, selling.... http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/

*would like to be in the mountains, preferably in a dark cave with no internet access*

OK, Since my agent is a big dog and sells a lot, I will assume he is negotiating an awesome deal for me and just hasn't had time to let me know cause he wants to surprise me with its awesomeness. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking too it.

<------ often lives in her own little world like this where unicorns play with fairies all day.

YAwriter72 said:

*would like to be in the mountains, preferably in a dark cave with no internet access*

OK, Since my agent is a big dog and sells a lot, I will assume he is negotiating an awesome deal for me and just hasn't had time to let me know cause he wants to surprise me with its awesomeness. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking too it.

<------ often lives in her own little world like this where unicorns play with fairies all day.

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Tee hee! In your case, I just think a lot of editors etc are on vaycay right now so probably taking a bit longer than usual to confirm that multi-million pound advance etc ;-)

TrixieLox said:

Tee hee! In your case, I just think a lot of editors etc are on vaycay right now so probably taking a bit longer than usual to confirm that multi-million pound advance etc ;-)

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I am so glad someone else sees this too!

Judging by the silence here, it looks like July / August are dead months in publishing...? I've just done final revisions so booky wooky should be going out on sub soon but I'm thinking my agent'll holdf off till September...? Or do people gets subbed in August?

TrixieLox said:

Judging by the silence here, it looks like July / August are dead months in publishing...?

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You should have been in Purgatory this month - offers galore!

TrixieLox said:

Or do people gets subbed in August?

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I was subbed last July and had a deal in August, but I'm starting to think you can't really judge this year based on previous years. So many things have changed--editors being laid off, imprints folding or being consolidated, etc... I've read on a few agent blogs that they're taking August to get caught up, and then starting submissions again once September hits. *shrugs*

On the home front, my agent liked the changes I made to the new book and wants one more clean-up, copy edit. Although because my contract says my current editor gets first crack at it, we're holding off on subbing for another month or two, because she's so back-logged with work. So it's a and thing.

And review copies have started going out for Three Days to Dead, so I'll be in a constant state of worry and panic from now until November....

Wow, Chaos, something good happened in August? I always thought all the NY book people went on vacation then. Good luck with those reviews, God the nail-biting never ends, does it?

I'm happy to be back in this circle of hell -- my agent has my revised proposal and it should be going soon -- or at least whenever everyone's back from the Hamptons

Wow, most excellent news! I can say "neener!" As a matter of fact, I'll raise you one: "Neener, neener!"

Hey Calla, that's great...maybe more vacations are in order...

Gak. House edits # 2 arrived. They want me to gitty up because of a deadline. Sheezo, they were late on the first round not me! Okay, okay, I'll blast it. There goes my AW time.

Tri

Well, pewrp. Got my first editor pass. Turns out it does sting a lot more than agent passes. Duh. Like grabbing onto the edge of the cliff with your fingernails, but instead of holding, your fingernails just peel back and you fall. Owie owie ow!

Phooey on 'em, Red. But it's early days. I don't know if they start stinging any less, but you sort of get used to it. Sort of.

I actually found the agent passes more disheartening. Think of it this way: you have someone whose job it is to sell books who believes in you. I think that's a huge huge step. Now you just have to find that editor who believes in the book. Or your agent does, rather, and that's one of the best things about it.

I pretty much felt comforted when my agent loved my two books and sent them out there. But after 21 months and about 26 major house passes, I was literally devastated. There were many kind things the editors said about my writing, style, pace, characters, description, yada, yada, yada. But when you realize that all of NYC has given you the finger, that's a pretty tough wad to chew. You start thinking that all the pros COULDN'T be wrong, and that you and your agent were only fooling yourselves with some idiotic delusion that we had a fair shot at this.

Them are some dues, folks. The editors, the heavy guns of the industry, hurt the most to me. That's the last gate, and I don't even know what the key looks like.

Tri