I've had concerns about the work my agent has put into the novel, as well as the saleability of the novel itself. It's been over a year since she asked for those first thirty pages, and still no sale. No huge advance, no writing groupies, no Ferrari in the driveway (you laugh, but that's what all my friends seem to think is going to happen when I finally do get published).
Sometimes it gets me down, and I start to wonder why there haven't been any bites, or why she didn't send the novel to this house or that house. Basically it all boils down to this: David, still unpublished, is feeling insecure about his ability and his future. Hey, it happens. I can admit it.
So I've been asking my friends for advice. Hey, should I say this? Do you think I should move on? What do you think...etc. etc. etc. Several of them (much wiser than I) gave me this simple bit of advice: Talk to your agent.
Sounds good, right? Sounds like something I should have come up with all on my own, right? Yup.
Well, in case y'all haven't figured it out yet, sometimes I can be a real dumbass (ask my wife; she'll tell ya!). So of course I never said anything to my agent, instead letting all that stuff eat at me while I pestered friends and associates for their thoughts.
So today I finally wrote her after seeing an announcement in Publisher's Lunch for a book sale along the same lines as mine. I won't go into the email in detail, but I asked her a few questions about why we hadn't tried there, and why she thought I might not be getting any bites. It was both a confused and a mildly paranoid email. Was it my writing? The genre? Is the idea too ambitious for a debut novelist? What, praytell, was happening?
She wrote me back less than two hours later. I just had time to go home from work, walk the dogs, and eat dinner. Wanna know the first line of her reply? Here it is:
"Dear David: Your writing is wonderful."
There was more to the email (good points, too), but the bottom line is she knew what was wrong, and she addressed it right off the bat in a manner that both soothed my frayed nerves and made me feel a little better about where I am and where I am going.
She didn't take my email as angry or accusing, or anything other than just a poor guy in need of a little reassurance (the kind that doesn't come from friends or family - you other writers out there know how important that kind of thing is). And even though I haven't made her a cent, she took a moment to give it to me, right away, and let me know I'm still in the running and she still takes me seriously.
That made me feel a lot better.
It's good to have an agent. Now I just gotta give her a better book.
Gonna go work on that right now.
See Y'all!
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6 comments:
This is a great post-
When my agent and I were "tweaking" LOTTERY occasionally I would suffer from fits of paranoia- and let me tell you it doesn't stop there- even after a sale even after the release of your book even after getting short listed for a prize the paranoia and angst rears its ugly head...
Personally I'm using it in my next novel LOL!!!
oh and talking to your agent is the best...
MOJITOS: the necessary ingredient to the success of an author.
Handful of Fresh mint leaves.
2 squeezed limes (or more to taste)
squish em together
a jigger of cane sugar water or regular sugar-water
A couple jiggers of white rum
equal volume club soda (or more)
crushed ice
and voila...
an excuse to set your work aside for a hot afternoon.
(Can also be a breakfast drink if served with scrambled eggs instead of orange juice...)
Good luck with Book One and Book Two...and congratulations on that agent!
enjoyed your post.
:-)
*hug* Sorry for chiming in so late; it seems like I don't get to read any blogs these days because if I'm on the computer, I'm working! Nonetheless, I'm really glad your agent was able to soothe your worries. It took em two books to get a deal too so you are far from alone. I still believe in you . . . though I don't really believe in the ferrari thing . . . you seem more like a lamborghini guy . . . but that could just be me.;)
Wow, that's great, David. Sounds like you have a wonderful agent who believes in you and in your writing over the long haul! :)
Just came over from Moonrat's, and wow, I'm totally in this same situation. Over a year with only rejections, wondering if maybe my agent made a mistake by signing a hack like me. Wondering if I made a mistake signing with her.
The difference between your post and what is happening to me is that she has never once told me she likes my writing. (I refuse to ask her if she does, that sounds just a little too pathetic.) When I ask why she thinks it's taking so long, she says it's the nature of the business, and how's the new book coming? It's coming very slowly, thanks to the self doubt.
It's an odd limbo we are in, having reached the milestone of having an agent but before the sale of a book.
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