The Next Circle of Hell

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Beckstah

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Wooooo! Congrats, Fuchsia! Having the agent love your new work is a wonderful thing. I'm sure you'll work around those market issues in no time.

I actually just sent my agent a few things, too. I'm a bit nervous because both samples are very different than the projects we've worked on together, but hey, so was my last manuscript, and it was the hottest of hot messes when she asked to see it. Having her early input is really helpful - I just have to get past the weirdness of sharing something so rough with a pro!
 

MandyHarbin

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Woot, Fuchsia! Glad your agent loves it. :) Hopefully the rewrite for market concerns won't be too time consuming. :)

Beckstah, I totally understand being nervous letting your agent read early samples. It does go against everything that's been shoved in our brains during the query phase (sending agents your best, polished work). Here's hoping she loves what she sees. :)
 

SunshineonMe

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Congrats Fushia!

Beckstah, your agent obviously has enough faith in you to want your bang-out ideas. Very cool!
 

NJC116

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Congrats on the agent liking your first 100 pages, Fuschia! That's hugely encouraging. :) To answer your question, my book is not SFF in the SLIGHTEST: it's contemporary but not sexy. This book grew out of my previous/similar project, however, and now that I'm learning more about NA, I think that book (which is also contemporary and dramatically sexier, to the point where one of my readers suggested I just go whole hog and porn it up) might be ripe for SP.

Thanks, Sunshine! Everything I'm reading about self-publishing makes it seem more and more like a smart option.

Mandy, your experience is very inspiring! Your story combined with the fascinating Leah Reader thread that Fuschia recommended makes me ever more excited about the idea of self-publishing. I'd never considered writing anything under a pseudonym, but that's a great idea. My old publishing house still has the right of first refusal for my next non-fiction book, so I'd need to check my contract to see how that works, but I have a few novels from the past couple of years that I could SP. And the realization that I could try to pursue both SP and traditional simultaneously with different projects is so enlightening. It makes perfect sense, but it simply never occurred to me.

By the way, I had the phone call with the new editor. We're going to revise and resubmit to her, making both of the lead girls a couple years younger so it's firmly YA. My expectation is that she'll pass (I mean, I'm going to give it the old college try, of course, but...) and then we'll pursue SP with this project.

Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend!
 

NJC116

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And keeping my fingers crossed for good feedback from your agent, Beckstah!
 

Fuchsia Groan

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Thanks, everybody, and good luck, Beckstah! I know the trepidation well, 'cause all of my projects are so different, and each new one feels like going out on thin ice. But I bet your agent will have great suggestions.

So are you going to consider SPing the earlier projects while doing the R&R, NJC? Sounds like you've got a great fit for the NA market.

I'm working on aging the supporting characters in my new book down, as the agent suggested. I have a shiny new idea I'm actually kind of excited about! But I'm wondering if I should run it by her before making drastic changes. The tricky part of revisions is that you don't always know which parts of your book a given reader loved and wouldn't want you to change. Of course it's never just about one reader, even when it's an agent or editor, so maybe writers just have to go with their guts.
 

ChocolateChipCookie

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Got an R today. So bummed. That's three R's now on this book, with five more still waiting to be read.
I'm getting myself a cookie.
 

Beckstah

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At last, my inbox has news in it! Part of that news includes two rejections, but 1) they were both super-kind, and 2) I'm just so relieved to have gotten responses. I was having nightmares about the entire publishing world just ignoring me until I went away.

And my agent loves the new pages! YAY! :hooray:

(((((CCC))))). Summer's almost over! Here's hoping those outstanding five editors read and love very good!
 

SunshineonMe

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Got an R today. So bummed. That's three R's now on this book, with five more still waiting to be read.
I'm getting myself a cookie.

:( Hang in there. I know this seems trite, but don't take it personal. All the greats got rejected, all of them. Over and over. It's usually for business reasons.

Anyone with a user name as awesome as yours is sure to succeed. Keep it up!
 

Fuchsia Groan

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CCC, I'm so sorry, that sucks. Here's hoping for good news (and more cookies!) very soon. Three rejections isn't that many in the grand scheme of things, trust me. :) (Mine came all in the span of a couple days, so I got to see the wide range they spanned!)

Wishing good news for you, too, Beckstah. Yay for the agent loving the new book!

Well, my agent and I kinda sorta came to a friendly impasse over revising my book, and then I got an idea that took it on a tangent, and then I started fleshing out another book idea that distracted me. So basically I'm in a manic idea storm right now. I do have another book that's actually done, but it may be a long shot in this market, and it's nothing like the book we just submitted — which could pose a branding problem.

We talk a lot at my job about branding ourselves, but I never applied that word to my writing life until now. I just wrote whatever I felt like. It feels weird! But not bad. I'm not someone who can write a long series of similar books, but I hope to reconcile my bizarre genre-hopping brainstorms with some sort of consistency.
 
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CheG

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Got an R today. So bummed. That's three R's now on this book, with five more still waiting to be read.
I'm getting myself a cookie.

I have over a dozen rejections on my current book. I think I'd be more surprised if I got an offer at this point! I am ready to write off this book, figure out something else to do with it, and start on something new.
 

ChocolateChipCookie

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Thanks, guys. It's a singular pleasure to come here and get support from those in my tribe. Onward and upward!
 

Putputt

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(((((CCC))))) I hope you got yourself an extra large cookie!
 

MandyHarbin

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(((CCC))) I'll have a cookie today in your honor.

Still crickets on my end. But I started a new project a couple of weeks ago that I'm excited about. I *hope* to have it ready for my agent by the end of September.
 

Quickbread

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(((CCC))). Sorry about the R.

(((Bekstah))), you too, but congrats on the positive words from editors. And yay for agent love! :)

Fuschia, work the flow! I love idea storms.

Mandy, congrats on your new project!

Nothing new here. I'm just revising away, bit by bit. BF goes on vacation soon, and I'm so excited to turn the house into a writing retreat for a week.
 

whiporee

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I've posted this other places, but here's where home should be. I sent the major revisions to the agent just a moment ago, so my fate is back in her hands. I wish I was as optimistic as I was last time, but I'm proud of the new version, and proud that I was able to take a look at it, see what might be missing, and make the changes I did . I hope the world agrees.
 

SunshineonMe

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I've posted this other places, but here's where home should be. I sent the major revisions to the agent just a moment ago, so my fate is back in her hands. I wish I was as optimistic as I was last time, but I'm proud of the new version, and proud that I was able to take a look at it, see what might be missing, and make the changes I did . I hope the world agrees.


I'm happy for you! I love reading posts like this; Congratulations.
 

Calla Lily

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If there's a Bingo card for writers, I just checked off another square: I withdrew a short story from a mag that had accepted it. Why? Because they've been incommunicado for 6 months and have broken repeated promises of pub dates and contracts. The website's been inactive for months and the forum is offline.

I'd like to stop playing with this Bingo card now.
 

Fuchsia Groan

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That sounds like a good decision, Lily — if a tough one. Now you can place it elsewhere.

Congratulations, whiporee! I'm pulling for you. It's so tough to send off those revisions.

I just had to confess to my agent that, oops, I don't have a personal blog. (My boss is always on our backs about filling our blog with "content," so I never associated blogging with something I'd do for me.) Off to WordPress I go... when I'm done writing three more things for work by tomorrow.
 

Putputt

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Congratulations, whiporee! I hope your agent comes back with good news for you!

Calla - *huuuuuuuuuuuuugs* Sorry you had to do that. It sounds like the right choice, albeit a tough one!
 

ssbittner

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Calla Lily, that must have hurt. But I think it was the wise thing to do. They don't sound like someone who you'd want to work with, and who knows if you'd ever see the story in print or get paid for it with a mag like that.
 
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