As I've sheared before, I finished writing a book! I've revised and edited that puppy--- alone, with mentors and critique partners, and I've sent out two different versions to beta readers. I revised, edited again and again... and it's about as good as I can get it. "When will you publish your book?" a friend asked me recently. Good question!
In short, I'll more easily be able to say, "Buy my book wherever books are sold!" and maybe in several different languages. Getting a literary agent In some cases of traditional publishing, it isn't necessary to have a literary agent. Shonna Slayton, for example, said she queried a small publishing press on her own. Bully for her! I may get to that same point of confidence someday, but most publishing houses don't allow for that sort of thing anyway. They will only listen to pitches from a literary agent. My goal, then, is to get an agent. Again, this is someone in the publishing industry who can guide you through the submission process, answer questions, and even go to bat for you and your book when it comes time to signing a contract with a publishing house. This one step alone (getting a literary agent) can sometimes take ten or more years! The "query trenches" This is a nickname for that stage in your writing career where you are submitting queries (cover letters to your book) to agents and receiving rejections. Everyone gets rejections! It took J.K Rowling over seven years to get Harry Potter published. Stephen King said he got so many rejections that he was able to cover his entire wall/room with rejection slips! These are the giants in the writing industry. If they struggled to get their books into the world, what hope is there for the rest of us? Requests You might hear people talking about whether they got a partial or full request. This basically means that an agent (or someone they queried) is interested in your story. They're not quite ready to represent you, though. They need to see more of your writing, so they ask for part of your book (partial) or the whole thing. Sometimes these requests result in representation. Other times, they lead to an R&R... R&R R&R stands for "revise and resubmit." The agent (person you're querying) will tell you about some specific aspects in your project that need some tweaking. It could be a character that needs to be taken out, some polishing up of your theme or character arch or something else. R&Rs are usually good news, but sometimes you submit again and receive a rejection anyway.
Competitions There are competitions that can help you get seen by an agent faster. For example, #PitMad is a quarterly Twitter Pitch competition. #RevPit is another. I am currently working towards #PitchWars (which sponsors #PitMad). It is a mentorship program. Basically, an author/agented-author works with me and my manuscript in preparation for an agent showcase. As you can imagine, it's extremely competitive to get into such a program. Oftentimes it takes two or three tries to get in. After getting an agent Getting a literary agent doesn't guarantee that you will be published. It's for sure a step in the right direction! But the agent will need to pitch your story, put it on what's called submission, and convince people that your book belongs in the world. This could take anywhere between 2-5 years. Once the publisher agrees to publish your book, though, it only takes about 3 years for the book to be printed and ready for sale. So, when will you publish your book?
Let's just say that I'm in the car, puttering forward. It's gonna be a long drive! I might (literally!) break down, get lost or even pull over to get more snacks, but you know what? I'm not giving up. A friend of mine once told me, that persistence is the most important trait in a writer. I think I have that.
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