Would you consider a possible STEP BACK instead of giving up? Have you revised your query? Have you taken time to read other works instead of pouring over your own again and again? I know the constant rejection is hard, each new query rejection I get is like a stab to the heart. HOWEVER, I read a quote today that mentioned each rejection is only a stepping stone on your path to the RIGHT agent. The one that is meant to work with you.
Today I gave up
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Hey, if you like, come hang out with the self-publishers. We have our own subforum and everything. And nobody really cares what color, sex, etc. you are there. It's just whether or not you can write stuff that people like to read--and of course, learn how to get your work in front of the right readers, which is the real trick. And cozies have done well in the SP world, if that sort of thing interests you. Just a thought.
Thanks, I'll check it out
I've started working with an artist on covers for my two favorite manuscripts.Phew, $600 conference money! That's two manuscript assessments at top dollar.
If you can get an assessment at this stage of your career, and are willing to take the hits on the chin, it could be what you need.
Now you'll see how using Twitter can be super important in researching agents, but I wouldn't rely on MSWL very much.
One of the things that do hold fairly true, is you will struggle with a non-human protagonist unless you're writing Middle Grade
(link removed) but look at that pluck and determination O:
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Ah-yup, that's time in the trenches.Sorry to have questioned you on it, but it's amazing what some people will actually do in trying to write and sell a lot of work in a short, short time.
Nah I get it. I know exactly the type you mean. I took a few classes at the local community college and it was always interesting to see what people considered to be "a ton of effort"
Yeah, I had it in my head that since most people I met on the internet seemed pretty interested in the story within about a 15 minute conversation such that it was worth it to me to pursue an opportunity to sit down with an agent for 15 minutes. In retrospect it seems such an obvious mistake but when you want something that badly it's easy to bias your logic with emotion. At the very least it's not a mistake I'll make again.
Okay, I followed your links, and all I'm getting is what appears to be cover art. Cartoon (or is it called 'anime'?) dragons?
Very nicely done, but what is your story? There's not even any background in the illustrations to suggest a setting.
I gather, from the style of illustration, that it's humourous fantasy?
Because I can't think that a dragon protagonist itself would be an automatic rejection, considering that vampires and werewolves are okay.
Is your dragon a baby-eater or something?
Very nicely done, but what is your story? There's not even any background in the illustrations to suggest a setting.
I gather, from the style of illustration, that it's humourous fantasy?
Because I can't think that a dragon protagonist itself would be an automatic rejection, considering that vampires and werewolves are okay.
Is your dragon a baby-eater or something?
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From my experience trying to pitch a non-human protagonist Fantasy book (I got an agent eventually but the manuscript never sold) and from conversations with a publisher you ABSOLUTELY must have a human main-or-side character in any mass-market book. (Excuse me while I weep for a minute. MY POOR BOOK!!)
OK, the reasoning is that Vampires and Werewolves "work" because they hold a human shape most of the time and the reader allegedly (?) can identify with him/her/them. A permanent wolf, not so much, and there's no publishing data to prove otherwise
There is a smaller indie market for Anthropomorphic animals (the Furries) but unfortunately the Furry community is either too small or too well served by fanfiction that they won't buy Furry/Scaly/Clop mass-market fiction in numbers high enough to be worth an agent/trade publisher's time.
Granted, we may not have the adult Furry/MLP Crossover break-out book written yet, but it'll be written by either a big name writer or a massively viral fanfiction writer (like the "50 Shades" or "After" ladies). These things have marketing built in. Then there may be a window for other anthro-writers to get their works in.
Anyway, I put my non-human one on ice a couple of years back, the manuscript I just sold a couple of months ago had my "monster protagonist" conveniently be a human-looking twin to another monster. Problem solved, for now.
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A funny coincidence - Jabberwocky's lead agent Jos*ua B*lmes actually seeks out (*white) male Fantasy writers, (even though he reps across the board) purely because there is a Fantasy reading demographic that will ONLY read white male writers. He practically made Brand0n Sanders0n!
I'm sorry for your discouragement. It's hard to keep going without a clue as to what the problem is. Yet agents don't have the time to explain why they're turning down work, so it's a Catch 22.
I created this offer for writers exactly like you. There's a small fee because when it did it pro bono I was inundated, but it really is my way to "pay it forward."
Luckily self-publishing is an option these days. But you really wanted to be published commercially, and it's sad to give up on that dream. If I can help, I will.
I created this offer for writers exactly like you. There's a small fee because when it did it pro bono I was inundated, but it really is my way to "pay it forward."
Luckily self-publishing is an option these days. But you really wanted to be published commercially, and it's sad to give up on that dream. If I can help, I will.
I take inspiration from some famous authors who had a lot of trouble getting published.
JK Rowling, Dr Seuss, and Brandon Sanderson to name three. They did really well eventually.
JK Rowling, Dr Seuss, and Brandon Sanderson to name three. They did really well eventually.
I didn't know I wanted this to happen until just now, but that sounds like such fun.
Yes, exactly. The idea that white men are at any kind of a disadvantage is pure bullshit. And I still flat don't believe any agent has ever said they wouldn't take a white male client.
I highly recommend this deal. It was extremely helpful to me. She also does an openings class that I got a whole lot out of.
I don't think you're lying, I think you're reading a lot more into it than is actually there—which is pretty much what I suggested further back in the thread. I haven't seen any evidence that there's a bias against white men, either in words agents have posted, or in results by what demographics are getting published. I can provide evidence from legitimate sources if you need receipts.
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For what it's worth, I sent hundreds of queries in my first year or two, and could not get a single agent to give me the time of day. I even had lunch with three authors and an agent, and the agent literally wouldn't speak to me or look at me the entire time. So... I feel you.
Several years and a solid career later (small presses, self-pubbing, etc), I was introduced to an agent by another author, and after having lunch with together at a con, she signed me.
So... it's definitely demoralizing, but the industry is in a place now where it's possible to forge a respectable career without an agent. And even if you've chosen to give up on an agent now, there's nothing that says you can't revisit having one down the line if they have something to offer that would benefit you. Good luck, whatever way forward you choose.
This is urban myth that is constantly spread around the internet. JK Rowling was picked up by an agent and got a publishing deal almost immediately.
Not to pile on here, but I'm not sure they would even KNOW you are a white man. I'm new to the game (finishing up my revision of my first full book, have a short story that just got bought).
I have the impression that slush readers, agents, anybody whose job it is to comb through the thousands upon thousands of queries, manuscripts, love letters, hate letters, manifestos written in blood will look at the query letter/first few pages of the manuscript initially. If they aren't hooked by it, that's it. They aren't looking at your submission, reading the query letter, and going "I find this interesting, but first let me google the person!" Ya know?
It really sounds like you have a solid fanbase. Your self pubbed novella on Amazon has good reviews!
Clean up what you've got in those books and start churning them out as ebooks on Amazon! If 11 people liked it enough to write reviews, then you've probably got 100 or so people out there who bought the novella. Self promote of a bit, get them to tell their friends, I think you'll be just fine.
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Brandon Sanderson had another dream run. He was a non-writer nurtured by two agents for years before he sold a book they’d all worked on. They desperately needed a white male Epic Fantasy author as (believe it or not,) there were not that many submitting legibly written manuscripts about 10 years ago, and Game of Thrones was about to take off. (Most men were doing standalone Grimdark, and Patrick Rothfuss was going to be written off as a two-book wonder.) It was a market that needed to be filled.
He was a twenty-something kid, too. Man, NOT A STRUGGLE
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I may have missed this as I didn't read every post thoroughly, but I hope you're not just relying on Twitter to find potential agents? I've looked through the MSWL myself and it generally seems to be the same half dozen junior agents posting over and over and over. And yes, they seem to be most vociferous about wanting to rep traditionally marginalized authors - and some get pretty feisty about it. This by no means represents the majority of agents. I hope you've gotten a subscription to Publisher's Marketplace. It's worth it. Look up books similar to yours and query those agents. I don't blame you if you've soured on the entire experience; I've been at it for the past year and the silence has been pretty deafening - and I'm already trad published! My request rate took a nose dive after the election as agents switched to prioritizing marginalized writers. As someone else said, they've been shunted to the side for so long, now you get a glimmer of what it was like to be them for eons. That said, you can also look at the deals page on PM and see that there are TONS of white men still getting published! (And I'll also say that as a female, some of my favorite female characters were written by men - and I get a bit irritated at the current "stay in your lane" edict that some agents are coming out with).
If you're done with querying, I don't blame you. There's small publishers, digital imprints, and of course, indie. Good luck!
If you're done with querying, I don't blame you. There's small publishers, digital imprints, and of course, indie. Good luck!
I've seen a few say basically that. But only a few, and their profiles make it clear what they're interested in. There are hundreds of agents, and the biggest ones aren't even on Twitter. He needs to stay away from Twitter and use more broad, thorough, and traditional sources such as Publisher's Marketplace, Jeff Herman's Guide to Agents, etc. In all honesty, I've found the more an agent posts on Twitter, the less sales he or she has. I've done my research. Take Twitter postings with an enormous grain of salt.
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