Saturday, November 26, 2011

The books

So right now I have two novels that are about getting an agent.

The writer's guide to queries,pitches and proposals. By Moira Allen.

And

How to get a literary agent. By Michael Larsen, AAR.

Both books are very detailed and well written. To my surprise they are even helpful! I've found some books about this subject before and they didn't help at all but these two are very informative. And who knows maybe they'll be the books that help me find an agent.


Right now I'm reading the first book I mentioned because I'm set on writing my query letter first. Last time I sent out queries for this novel I was very bad at writing them and the story wasn't very good. Now that I did a major change to it and rewrote it, I have to rewrite the query letter. (Oh joy) This week and next week is all about writing a query.


I personally believe you should sit down and focus on the query only. Since it's such a important piece of getting your book out in stores. I can just sit and stare at my computer screen until something comes to mind. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif


I'll list some good sites for learning the basics of writing a query letter below.

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This site is very good for people brave enough to let others read over their novel and query letter. It's very helpful with kind people, willing to give you help.

This site is the first place you want to check out. Not only to learn a bit about queries but this site is easy to use for searching for agents. On the left hand side they have a drop down menu of nonfiction and fiction novels. Pick your type and click search. You'll see what I mean.
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http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html If you are like me, you need to see examples. This is the place to go. They have tons to view and offer you some good ideas of how to start your query.

Has some great information about what not to do when writing a query letter. If your writing one it's important to know what not to write, so take a peek at this site.


If these didn't help you can always check agents' blogs. At lot of times they have information about writing query letters and finding an agent. That's all the links I can post today.

Change

So Yesterday on Black Friday I finished up my huge rewrite of my first novel, Promise Me. Instead of 79,088 words and 247 page P.M is now a whooping 106,969 words and 372 pages. This novel was written in third person when I first wrote it and did the first two rewrites. Now it's first person, which changed the feeling and caught the emotions I wanted the reader to feel. I'm very pleased with how it went. I'm a bit worried about the word count but of course, as any agent knows that can easily be changed, nothing is set in stone just yet. I'm very willing to change, because as an author you have to be. The agent/editor knows what will make the novel sell, so it's always good to be ready to change your novel.


Since I'm finished and I'm getting ready for the battle which is finding an agent I decided to write about my progress and share tips about finding your own agent and writing a full length YA novel. Since I have a lot of spare time I'll start this blog right up. Today I'll be rereading and editing the MS (manuscript) just in case I missed some mistakes. Because-- I'm sure you've heard before-- word docs do not catch all mistakes.

I'll be writing this blog like a journal. If you happen to follow it and chime in, please feel free to do so. If I can help and inspire one person that would make my day. So feel free to comment and share how your search is going. You'll find I'm not as scary as I can seem.

Any way. Here is a little list of how I normally do things when it comes to the aftermath of writing a full length novel.

1.Reread, find mistakes.
2.Add/delete unneeded sentences.
3.While doing the two above, start working on query letter.
4.Start researching the latest agencies
5.Make a list of agents that might be interested in my novel
6.Let two other people read my query letter
7.Start on writing a synposis
8.Start sending out query letters
9. Embrace rejection, turn it into something good
10. Find an agent? <--- Haven't gotten this far yet


I'll be posting everyday as I get ready to start sending queries, feel free to ask questions. I love answering them. I'll also be posting quotes that are inspiring as well as songs that help me calm down and write. Just for fun.


Ta-Ta for now