- Joined
- May 11, 2009
- Messages
- 279
- Reaction score
- 46
- Location
- My own private Idaho
- Website
- www.dovecalderwood.com
I'm sorry, but I'm going on a bit of a rant. It may not make complete sense, but I'm going a little bonkers tonight and need to vent.
I've been querying with my novel since about March or April, after hiring an editor to go over it (to fantastic effect, I might add. I think it helped a lot). I've sent out 15 queries so far, with 11 rejections and 4 still out there. The closest I've come is my friend's agent requested a full, read it, and then rejected me (I've tweaked the MS since then based on her comments).
The thing that bothers me most during this whole process has to be the form letters. I understand why they do it, I really do, I get they're busy, I don't begrudge them that. But I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them. I can't use them to improve, there isn't any information I can use for that. I don't even fully know why I'm being rejected. Is my letter bad? Does my MS reek? Is it just that they personally didn't like it, and there isn't anything technically wrong with it? I can't ask them and find out. I can post stuff here to be critted, and I have a lot over the years, but at the end of the day there's a lot of subjectivity to this sort of thing.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just throw in the towel and self-pub if these 4 queries don't pan out. But then I won't be able to reach the amount of people I've always dreamed of. Far-fetched as it may be, my dream is to be big. J.K Rowling, Stephenie Meyer big. "New York Times Bestselling Author Angel_Faerie". A movie deal. And honestly, I think I could do it. I have the tenacity and drive to make it happen, hell or high water. All I need is an agent to get my foot in the door, and I'll kick it off its hinges and burst in. But the problem is that so far the door is still locked and only seems to budge a little when I try to open it myself. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere and it's really bothering me. I feel stuck and it's driving me insane. I want to move forward! I want progress!
*Ahem* Sorry again. Thank you for indulging my insanity.
I've been querying with my novel since about March or April, after hiring an editor to go over it (to fantastic effect, I might add. I think it helped a lot). I've sent out 15 queries so far, with 11 rejections and 4 still out there. The closest I've come is my friend's agent requested a full, read it, and then rejected me (I've tweaked the MS since then based on her comments).
The thing that bothers me most during this whole process has to be the form letters. I understand why they do it, I really do, I get they're busy, I don't begrudge them that. But I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them. I can't use them to improve, there isn't any information I can use for that. I don't even fully know why I'm being rejected. Is my letter bad? Does my MS reek? Is it just that they personally didn't like it, and there isn't anything technically wrong with it? I can't ask them and find out. I can post stuff here to be critted, and I have a lot over the years, but at the end of the day there's a lot of subjectivity to this sort of thing.
Sometimes I wonder if I should just throw in the towel and self-pub if these 4 queries don't pan out. But then I won't be able to reach the amount of people I've always dreamed of. Far-fetched as it may be, my dream is to be big. J.K Rowling, Stephenie Meyer big. "New York Times Bestselling Author Angel_Faerie". A movie deal. And honestly, I think I could do it. I have the tenacity and drive to make it happen, hell or high water. All I need is an agent to get my foot in the door, and I'll kick it off its hinges and burst in. But the problem is that so far the door is still locked and only seems to budge a little when I try to open it myself. I feel like I'm not getting anywhere and it's really bothering me. I feel stuck and it's driving me insane. I want to move forward! I want progress!
*Ahem* Sorry again. Thank you for indulging my insanity.