Today's Mail:

[wednes]

Ms Friday,

Thank you for your query letter.

This looks like an absolutely chilling and twisted tale. However, we deal mainly with short story fiction collections from single authors.

Best of luck with this manuscript.

Sincerely,
(signed by a real person)


I am slowly amassing a nice collection of rejections. I need to get much more serious about sending things out. I haven't sent out any short stories at all yet, except one to Clavicle which is supposed to put one in their second issue. Of course, I'm not quite sure which story it is or when the next issue comes out.

Plus, the time has come for me to seek out an agent.
Anyone with advice or reccomendations on this should please advise.

Comments

[hollie-horror.livejournal.com]

Mang, there was this one Law & Order SVU episode where this guy had wallpaper made out of rejection letters.

Dont turn into him.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Duh, if I did that I'd have to take down the pictures of the men I'm stalking...except with their wives faces scratched out. And those take up several walls.

Although I could remove the wall of feces. That thing's getting a little ripe.

[itches]

When you're old and famous, you need to publish the collection of rejection letters.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I should think it would be in bad taste. Although it would also be hilarious.

11 Cents of Writing Advice

[taryneve.livejournal.com]

Writer's Digest had an issue on the horror market a few months back. Check at your local library or cruise over to WD's website.

As for agents, a few hours with Writer's Market or Jeff Herman's big honkin' book of agents might help. A lady I know went through over a year trying to snag an agent, so be prepared for a lot of hard work and more rejections.

Also, check out HWA's resources.

I suspect it's crucial to nail the query and synopsis, though. I suck at synopsis writing!

Keep a log of the stories and their responses, but don't feel obliged to keep the rejections. They become clutter after a certain point. Also, you'll save time if you check out Ralan's or Writer's Market and do research on the magazines and publishers before you submit.

If your first novel is a hard sell, study Publishers Weekly and see what the market is saying. Craft your second or third novel with the buzz in mind if you want to have a novel writing career--that's what the lady I mentioned did, and she ended up selling her 3rd book instead of her first two. Yes, it's horrible to contemplate, but you'll save yourself years of rage if you realize now that what you're doing doesn't fit what the market wants.

Plus, craft matters. If you haven't mastered the mechanics of writing, an online critique group like Critters (which is free to join) can help a lot. I can't see everything I've left out in my stories, and the reviews I've gotten help me a lot (though I am really damn slow to rewrite).

Good luck!

Re: 11 Cents of Writing Advice

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Hey thanks! That is much appreciated.

I do utilize Writers Market (both for markets, and agents since I got both big books last summer). I think I'm not that good at reading between the lines though.

My synopsis and query are recently updated and (I hope) improved. Trying to "sell" the book is far and away the most irritating part of this. The part of me that still thinks like a 10 year old just wants someone to read an excerpt in my blog and just offer me a contract. Yeah, right!!

Anyway, some of that info is new to me, so I thank you!

[nate101000.livejournal.com]

It looks like they actually read what you sent them. That's good. Although I guess not, the next people you send it to won't give a flying F@#% about what the previous publisher did.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I doubt that they read the chapters, but it does appear that they read the query and synops fully.

I have 4 more simsubs I want to send out this week, two of which will be sent to you--probably tomorrow. The other two are Email subs.