Mistakes you've made as an author

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WriterBN

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If you actually know what the market breakdown is (percentage wise) within each genre, you're way ahead of me :(

Some of it is extrapolation, but I mostly go by Hugh Howey's data on Amazon sales, because that's pretty much my market at the moment.
 

Roxxsmom

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Yep, this one hurts. I've learned this week.

Um, also, not enjoying the early process, making myself pressurised. To e for that later!

Not that there's any point in submitting to the wrong agents. I mean, it's a waste of time for all concerned, and if they don't have fantasy on their list I don't bother, but I'd say it actually hurts less if I accidentally submit to an agent who is looking for cozy mysteries and women's fiction forms rejects my fantasy novel than if an agent who loves fantasy and reps a couple of my favorite authors does.

One frustrating mistake I just discovered is sending the wrong kind of query to an agent who evidently likes the style of querying many advice sites say to avoid like the plague.

Note to self, read everything on an agency's web page before submitting, not just the submission guidelines and information about the agent you want to submit to.

So their slush reader probably curled his or her lip and said, "Another one of those idiots who thinks we care about some stupid 175 word summary that shows off their voice and explains what the character wants, what stands in their way, and what the stakes are! What's with these people? It's like there's a website out there telling them how to write bad queries or something."
 
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CathleenT

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This is a highly specific mistake, but one that could be costly.

I sent out about twenty queries. The attached pages looked fine to me.

But the smart quotes feature turned all my quotation marks and apostrophes into strings of characters which made my sample almost unreadable. AWers kindly set me straight. (I believe one was Roxxsmom).

So you should always make sure your original Word document doesn't use 'curly quotes' but rather straight quotation marks, which don't curl in toward the dialog.
 
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Pisco Sour

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My greatest mistake has been impatience. I've twice signed contracts with publishers because they were "easy" without doing proper research about whether or not they're a good fit, or even decent publishers.

This, except to compound my mistake, I DID research the publisher. The authors had great things to say, but after I signed I found it was due to the 'cult' culture of the house, and that some of these authors were also the editors. My gut had told me not to sign the contract, but I was impatient to get my hard-sell book out there (I, too, have a habit of writing genre-confused books) and I signed. A huge mistake, and though I now have my rights back it's going to be difficult to re-sell this book. I've learned my lesson, but it's been costly.
 

Putputt

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When I received offers for my YA fantasy, I narrowed it down to two agents: 1 was a big-ish agency with branches in NY, London, and Paris, the other was a small US agency which focuses on YA books. I went for the first agency even though they only have 1 YA book on their list. I thought, hey, they have a wonderful record of selling adult books, and it's basically the same, is it not?

No. It is not the same.

In hindsight, I should have gone for the smaller agency which has a better track record of selling YA. Ah well. You live and learn.
 

Layla Nahar

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agent who evidently likes the style of querying many advice sites say to avoid like the plague.


So, I'm guessing this agent wouldn't like something that would shop well on QLH... What kind of query did they like? Just curious.
 

Maze Runner

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I spent too much time writing the first book. I was so determined to make it great that I edited and edited and reimagined and revoiced and cut and pasted and, and, oh, just the thought of it now tires me out. It ended up, I think, good, but even though I'd suspected that I had long passed the point of diminishing returns, I kept going and going, thinking that that was just the process, just what it took to write a memorable book.
 

rwm4768

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One frustrating mistake I just discovered is sending the wrong kind of query to an agent who evidently likes the style of querying many advice sites say to avoid like the plague.

Note to self, read everything on an agency's web page before submitting, not just the submission guidelines and information about the agent you want to submit to.

So their slush reader probably curled his or her lip and said, "Another one of those idiots who thinks we care about some stupid 175 word summary that shows off their voice and explains what the character wants, what stands in their way, and what the stakes are! What's with these people? It's like there's a website out there telling them how to write bad queries or something."

Was it someone at Liza Dawson Associates? I noticed something like that when I was looking at their guidelines. The type of query they want is not the type that most agents seem to want.

Of course, I noticed that after sending.

So I'll have to make that same not to myself.
 

Coconut

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I tend to get too excited and send off a query letter a day or 2 after writing it, instead of getting it critiqued and rewriting it a few times first...that always fails. Same thing for synopsis requests.
 

KokkieH

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Lying in bed last night I finally figured out how to start the short story I've been struggling with. I didn't get up to write it down. This morning, it's gone.

So we learn, right?
 

Cathy C

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For the people who say their biggest mistake was querying too soon (before a ms was really ready) I have a question: How do you know it was too soon?
Had it not been critiqued/revised yet?
Was it full of errors?
Did you as the author feel that something was unfinished?

I'm sort of at the stage with my ms where it's being critiqued and I'm in the process of revising and trying to figure out next steps, so it would be helpful to know.

My version of querying too soon was my first novel. I had a total of three chapters done and sent them off, unedited, with a query. The publisher not only loved the pages, they had a slot open in their spring line and wanted to hand it to me on a platter! But ONLY if I got the manuscript to them by the end of the month. :eek:

It was (and still is) a reputable small pub who specialized in my specific type of historical fiction, meaning it wasn't a joke. I took a week off work and typed until my fingers were swollen. Did I finish? Yes, but it wasn't pretty and there were edits galore to be done.

I don't recommend subbing too early. :scared:
 

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Getting emotionally involved in things that are outside of my control. Which is pretty much everything in writing and publishing.
 

DadofSnorf

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Querying too early and giving up on a project too early. I am a serial trunker.
 
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