The Daily Rejection, Vol. 2

laurie17 said:

Yeah It was only for a few months, but there was definitely an emphasis on the writing sample itself over the query/cover letter (one letter was pretty much a single line stating the title, target age and word count). I personally didn't choose things out of the pile to read, but the lady who did said she chose ones to read first by their concept and title, as well as reading a couple of lines from the sample. I wish I could be more helpful!

Click to expand...

Thank you for this feedback! The bit that interests me the most is that the title has importance - every book I've produced has had a title changed by an editor, so I've never attached much importance to them (and, indeed, the book that got me my first agent had a VERY silly title indeed - which maybe worked in its favour...). I guess the concept of the book roughly equates to the idea of the "elevator pitch" i.e. what's your story about in a line. I have seen some UK agencies ask for this to be included in the covering letter, which makes me wonder again whether UK authors sweating about producing a US style query is quite so important... Argh! confused! *is going to work on her query this morning*

Torill said:

Checked your query, Laurie - the story sounds really interesting! And it's a fully successful query if you get requests off it, that's all the query is supposed to do. The offer is about the manuscript. So you should definitely post it imo. Also say in your QLH thread perhaps that your last instalment got you offers? That's one of the great things with QLH - the ability to read threads and see how a query progresses through the crits, and to know that this one got to offers, that would be great. But up to you, of course.

Interesting to hear that title also mattered, together with the concept. And that only a few lines from the sample might be enough. Kind of heard that before, but … Really need to work that opening, yes, yes.

Click to expand...

Thanks I'm glad you think so! That's true, I'll try to do an update when this batch has been passed through so I have set stats, maybe.
Yeah, I was surprised too, although I guess it makes sense as it's one of the first things they see. Opening lines are difficult

RaggyCat said:

Thank you for this feedback! The bit that interests me the most is that the title has importance - every book I've produced has had a title changed by an editor, so I've never attached much importance to them (and, indeed, the book that got me my first agent had a VERY silly title indeed - which maybe worked in its favour...). I guess the concept of the book roughly equates to the idea of the "elevator pitch" i.e. what's your story about in a line. I have seen some UK agencies ask for this to be included in the covering letter, which makes me wonder again whether UK authors sweating about producing a US style query is quite so important... Argh! confused! *is going to work on her query this morning*

Click to expand...

That's okay! I have heard titles get changed a lot, so it's probably just what's eye-catching at the time (like the silly one you mentioned). Having an elevator pitch line is painful, but very useful for putting something forward to people (editors/agents) who don't have much time to read it. I don't think UK agents would mind having the US style of query (unless specifically stated in their guidelines). Good luck with your query I think I might have commented on it and the story sounded really good.

laurie17 said:

Thanks I'm glad you think so! That's true, I'll try to do an update when this batch has been passed through so I have set stats, maybe.
Yeah, I was surprised too, although I guess it makes sense as it's one of the first things they see. Opening lines are difficult


That's okay! I have heard titles get changed a lot, so it's probably just what's eye-catching at the time (like the silly one you mentioned). Having an elevator pitch line is painful, but very useful for putting something forward to people (editors/agents) who don't have much time to read it. I don't think UK agents would mind having the US style of query (unless specifically stated in their guidelines). Good luck with your query I think I might have commented on it and the story sounded really good.

Click to expand...

I normally don't find opening lines difficult - it's keeping the interest up over chapter one while still getting all the necessary information across that gives me a hurty head! And I can't pull ye olde "pick exciting scene from later in the novel and ram it in the start" trick with every book.

The elevator pitch line is really important. I used to think it was just a marketing tool but now it seems to me that if you can't boil down the essence of your novel into one hooky line, you don't really have a novel that you can sell. The book I wrote before the one I'm pitching is a lovely story but sounds poor and not too interesting when boiled down to one line, which is why it's sitting back for now.

Yes, you did comment on my query in QLH! Thank you. I just need the time to rework it now - everyone's comments have really helped, probably more so than I expected, actually.

Hi everyone, writing this from the cruise ship. It’s a bit wavy in the South China Sea today so there’s this back and forth motion that’s a bit weird on the old stomach (normally I have guts of steel but feeling out of sorts from the unjudgemental robot bartender on the ship who made me Any Drink I Wanted... much to the detriment of this morning)

Still, after a desert of over two weeks, I finally get a peep from the great beyond, a full request from the “dream agent”. (I should say, Agent Of Choice). THANK GOODNESS, I thought I’d been forgotten.

Since the discussion is titles today, I still hate my one. My former agent once said that she sometimes used the promise of a great title to pick a book out of the slush. There are so many ways to get attention or lose it, the whole query is like juggling several balls in the air...

I've never been great at titles. I'm actually thinking of having my agent help me hash out a decent one for the current WIP which still simply goes by the current file name "[CHARACTER NAME] Novel."

Also, hope you enjoyed Singapore, Treehouse. I lived there for several years, and will be going back in a couple of months to visit with the in-laws and catch up with old friends. My food list is already way too big for all the old haunts I want to visit. My craving for decent roti john is out of control.

Shoeless said:

I've never been great at titles. I'm actually thinking of having my agent help me hash out a decent one for the current WIP which still simply goes by the current file name "[CHARACTER NAME] Novel."

Also, hope you enjoyed Singapore, Treehouse. I lived there for several years, and will be going back in a couple of months to visit with the in-laws and catch up with old friends. My food list is already way too big for all the old haunts I want to visit. My craving for decent roti john is out of control.

Click to expand...

DEFINITELY going back. So much we didn’t see. The street food was fantastic (I managed some roti in a place near Lavender where we were staying, kept ordering more)

Hope everyone's doing well.

Haven't sent out any queries in a month and I really need to get back in the habit.

Singapore sounds like a nice place to visit. A friend of mine has been many, many times. I think each time he gets a vacation he goes.

joeyc said:

Hope everyone's doing well.

Haven't sent out any queries in a month and I really need to get back in the habit.

Singapore sounds like a nice place to visit. A friend of mine has been many, many times. I think each time he gets a vacation he goes.

Click to expand...

Singapore is a great “Asian Taster”. Pretty much everything is in English, and the interesting bits are interspersed with familiar Western nonsense such as shopping malls and ATMs.

I have three short stories I've been trying to place since last fall and getting nowhere. One needs a rewrite, one is very oddball, and one probably should be trunked and incorporated into the novel I'm writing. I think I need to write some more and forget about these three.

This thread is selling Singapore to me!

Cobalt Jade, writing some more is usually the best way of moving forwards, especially if you're feeling a bit down... It's good that one of your short stories could be potentially expanded and welded into your novel. That will help with moving onto a new project.

I've still got 5 queries out there. All of them have passed the "usual response time" the agencies highlight on their website. I'll give it a while more before nudging, as I know book fair season has delayed everything. None of the agencies say on their website that "no response means no" so there's nothing to lose. It's been over a month now since I had a R so the whole process feels quite odd and distant, now.

Oddly enough given the chat above, I myself am currently on vacation in Singapore. Spooky coincidence!

rocoroca said:

Oddly enough given the chat above, I myself am currently on vacation in Singapore. Spooky coincidence!

Click to expand...

Chicken rice. Do not deny yourself this simple pleasure. There is also a great Turkish restaurant in Shaw Tower that my wife and I ate at regularly for years before we moved away.

Singapore does sound attractive! And apparently it makes full requests come in, too.

Also, this thread is now making me hungry.

I am trying to get back on the querying and submitting horse after several months away from it. First up is formally withdrawing the only short story I still have out; the market in question has apparently dried up and blown away, so it's only "out" on a technicality. This should not feel like the hurdle it does.

This thread has made me really want rice for dinner.

It's hard to get back on the querying horse after being off it for a while isn't it? It feels surprisingly daunting. There is no shame in withdrawing the short story but I guess it probably feels like a weird and counter-productive move, even though you don't expect anything to come from it... The easiest thing is to jut bite the bullet but I know how had that can be!

For me, it feels not so much daunting as futile. It's not like I haven't done this before, and given the paltry results versus the time and effort invested.... But the book ain't gonna sell itself, eh?

After checking the dates, I decided not to pull the story, and instead send a status query. Not that I expect anything to come of it, but it hadn't been languishing nearly as long as I'd thought, so I'll do the professional thing and give them a nudge first. Besides, I was mainly going to withdraw it so I could send the story somewhere else, and I just finished a new story that will do just as well, maybe better. So there's that.

As for querying the novel... ugh. Bit like wading back and forth through knee-deep mud, traversing the same ground and wondering why you're not getting anywhere....

Two form rejections this week, Apex and Decidious Tales.

Sorry for the form R's.

I'm taking a break from querying and trying to polish up my opening chapter. I'm feeling it might be too weak. (Which means I'm going to have to polish the first half of the second chapter as well because of the way the novel is set up.)

Querying is EXACTLY like wading through mud. Sometimes writing is, too. You think you're done, and realise perhaps you aren't, and then it's back to revising... Going over your opening chapter sounds like a good idea, JoeyC. I thought mine was good enough when I begun querying but it really wasn't performing in the way I needed it to, so I ended up gutting and rewriting it. Do you have people you can share the chapter with to gauge how successful it is?

I have a book brainstorming session with my mum yesterday which threw up a lot of useful stuff, so my book revisions are going to be more extensive than I thought. Then, today, I had a OMG WTF idea that has got me really excited, but is a BIGGIE as far as my book plotting goes. I kind of feel I have to go with it, but... ARGH MORE WORK HEAD HURTS!

RaggyCat said:

Querying is EXACTLY like wading through mud. Sometimes writing is, too. You think you're done, and realise perhaps you aren't, and then it's back to revising... Going over your opening chapter sounds like a good idea, JoeyC. I thought mine was good enough when I begun querying but it really wasn't performing in the way I needed it to, so I ended up gutting and rewriting it. Do you have people you can share the chapter with to gauge how successful it is?

Click to expand...

Hopefully I may be able to find people. My writing group has seen it so many times they can't really be objective with it anymore, but after dropping it into SYW I've completely reworked the opening.

rocoroca said:

Oddly enough given the chat above, I myself am currently on vacation in Singapore. Spooky coincidence!

Click to expand...

isnt it lovely? I’m in Hong Kong now, which is more interesting landscape-wise (wish I could stay long enough to bring my hiking shoes) but in terms of urban fun, Singapore wins hands down.

Ive spent time in Vietnam this week, and looking at all the development going on (very similar to New Zealand’s South Island 30 years ago) I can see it becoming the new Singapore in 2050.

Treehouseman said:

isnt it lovely? I’m in Hong Kong now, which is more interesting landscape-wise (wish I could stay long enough to bring my hiking shoes) but in terms of urban fun, Singapore wins hands down.

Ive spent time in Vietnam this week, and looking at all the development going on (very similar to New Zealand’s South Island 30 years ago) I can see it becoming the new Singapore in 2050.

Click to expand...

Development on NZ’s South Island? *scratches head* what do ya mean? Apart from Christchurch, it’s all very rural

Wading through mud! Yep.

I check stuff over and over before posting it and yet...

But I must say the QLH squirrels are great at spotting stuff. Then I think- wait a minute - I'm a squirrel, too - so why can't I correct my own stuff? 'Is a puzzlement' as the King of Siam used to say in the musical - I saw the theatre production in London in 1953 with Herbert Lom and Valerie Hobson.

Onward!

RaggyCat said:

Querying is EXACTLY like wading through mud. Sometimes writing is, too. You think you're done, and realise perhaps you aren't, and then it's back to revising... Going over your opening chapter sounds like a good idea, JoeyC. I thought mine was good enough when I begun querying but it really wasn't performing in the way I needed it to, so I ended up gutting and rewriting it. Do you have people you can share the chapter with to gauge how successful it is?

I have a book brainstorming session with my mum yesterday which threw up a lot of useful stuff, so my book revisions are going to be more extensive than I thought. Then, today, I had a OMG WTF idea that has got me really excited, but is a BIGGIE as far as my book plotting goes. I kind of feel I have to go with it, but... ARGH MORE WORK HEAD HURTS!

Click to expand...

I have sent my book to 25 agents with all rejections so far

P.K. Torrens said:

Development on NZ’s South Island? *scratches head* what do ya mean? Apart from Christchurch, it’s all very rural

Click to expand...

There are sealed roads now for the most part, which wasn’t huge back in the day (every time I did a rental, the windshield would come back broken, north and south.) And there are huge tourist centres which were not fully developed when I was a kid backpacker in ‘92, Queenstown especially. I went back after 20 years to find all these little tiny towns to be major adventure tour centres with equivalent infrastructure. The early 80s was a terrible recession in NZ, and I grew up there, so I remember how it was.

I went back back a second time in the 00s after The Rings films came out, and there was money in the region, and it appeared the whole place was being dug up. Vietnam reminded me a lot of that.

Sarahscrazymind said:

I have sent my book to 25 agents with all rejections so far

Click to expand...

Have you checked the query? A friend of mine wrote a pretty rubbish book, but I helped him with the query and he got lots of offers at that level! (Passes on the attached pages, but that was that)

If you like to share, what is your book about? If you were to say 250k YA Dystopian, that is a problem that is easily pinpointed. Sometimes it can be quite an obvious fix if you are getting so many passes at 27 queries! There are always tweaks that can be done to improve odds of replies.