The Tenth Circle

You're braver than I am, I haven't even pitched anything new to The Agent yet. (my goal is to get book 2 done, then pitch him a stand-alone steampunkish thing I have finished already.)

I mentioned this project to The Agent way back during our first conversation. It was about a year into our partnership that I poked again and he asked to read it. I was convinced he'd hate it and tell me to try something else.

Eek! Fingers crossed, Kelly!

I'm just getting ready to send a draft of the new book to the agent. I am trying to come up with ONE lousy descriptive line before I do...help me, oh god/goddess of Caffeine!

ChaosTitan said:

It's Monday.

I'm supposed to hear back about the new series submission today.

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Other Lisa said:

Eek! Fingers crossed, Kelly!

I'm just getting ready to send a draft of the new book to the agent. I am trying to come up with ONE lousy descriptive line before I do...help me, oh god/goddess of Caffeine!

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Good luck Chaos and Lisa! Sending good caffeinated mojo your way!

It's off, and now I can freak out at my leisure....

Actually I'm going to make a quick gym and munchies run!

Lisa - Just curious - you're sending the completed MS, right? Did you send any pages before that or is your agent seeing the book for the first time? Now that I'm thisclose to sending my initial 50 pages, I'm having second thoughts. I'm torn between sending the pages and waiting until I finish the book (which will be a loooooooong time from now.)

Wahoo! Can I just say I love this thread?

My good news du jour: my book proposal is done! Well, except for the sample chapter, but the main part is complete, and I could really see how I've grown as a writer.

Now to get that sample chapter nailed down and to start on my next project. Given the one-year gap between signing and actual publication, I need to get a move on if I'm going to achieve my goals.

Yay Erinbee!!!

Arg! Something came up in Editor Land and I have to wait until Friday for the news.

HappyCamper said:

Lisa - Just curious - you're sending the completed MS, right? Did you send any pages before that or is your agent seeing the book for the first time? Now that I'm thisclose to sending my initial 50 pages, I'm having second thoughts. I'm torn between sending the pages and waiting until I finish the book (which will be a loooooooong time from now.)

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He hasn't seen anything. I gave him the setting and a couple of plot elements waayyy back when I started this thing, and he's always said, whenever you want to send me something, go for it. For me, I just didn't feel ready to send him anything until I finished the draft, because I honest to gawd did not know if I was going to be able to pull this thing together and make the story work, and I didn't want that stress on top of things. The sad thing is, he's a great editor, and about the nicest critique partner you could have, but I felt like I needed to gut it out first. Actually I didn't even show much of it to my own little crit group until the draft was done. I showed them the first few chapters and then kept it to myself until I'd finished.

I really think this is one of those, what is your comfort level, how do you work best and also, what are your agent's expectations? Mine was basically like, "however you want to work." I know it's different for people who are doing series kind of books -- it seems like agents who are repping those want to see concepts/stories earlier in the process. But I know you're doing something more literary (right? -- say, what's your book about, anyway?) and I don't think the expectations are necessarily the same.

I could be wrong.

YAAAYYY ERINBEE!!!!!!

Thanks Lisa! I PM'd you.

My agent got back to me re: the title change of my book. Turns out that my editor did make a mistake. So, yay! Take that mental monsters!

She also informed me that the delay in my revision notes is because of an extended leave my editor had to take due to a death in the family. (Yet more proof that editors are people too...)

The bright side is that my revision deadline has been moved to July.

Thanks Lily!

Yay, HC! That's all good news. Well, except that your editor is having a tough time. But good to know the title is still the title and that the notes are delayed for a logical reason.

Thanks Lisa! I am TRULY RELIEVED. For a minute there I thought they were having second thoughts about buying the book! I guess that's part of the reason why I haven't posted any pub details yet - I'm the type who needs the contract signed, sealed and delivered before I can truly Squeeeeee. Paranoid much?

Yay HC! Your title is awesome -- glad they agree!

I am still waiting on my contract and the waiting is really starting to freak me out...Ack.

Hi Phoenix - I feel your pain! My book offer came in on Dec 23 and I'm still waiting for the final contract...

How long have you been waiting?

(As for the title of my book, it's still not the "official title" until a whole bunch of people sign off on it, but I'm happy enough for now. )

Since 2 weeks after Thanksgiving.

It never ends...this biz is slooooooooooooooooow. Sigh.

Anyone else waiting to find out if their agent likes their new book or not?

Good thing I have a cat on my lap. It's soothing...

Other Lisa said:

Anyone else waiting to find out if their agent likes their new book or not?

Good thing I have a cat on my lap. It's soothing...

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Oh, yes, three of them are being evaluated now and for the next three weeks. These are second, deep edit reads, and I'm pretty anxious to find out what's working and what's not working--what's going to hit the editing floor. And, which title will be the "lead-off" title in the hunt for the publisher. Actually, kind of terrified. It's what MY agent thinks, not what the rest of them thought. I'm particulary interested in her idea on how we're going to get around my weak platform for the non-fiction book. That's really got my curiosity up. I can only guess--a really strong forward by a celeb author, contact with the original main characters, or a credentialed co-author. I can't think of any other way around that one and, personally, I'm thinking that book is a fail.

Tri