A Hunting I Will Go ... For An Agent

The hunt begins this week for an agent for my novel, SPIRIT QUEST. I'll probably wait until mid-January to query potential agents as they'll just be getting back into the office. Meanwhile, as I've done a bit of research and reading on the subject, I thought I'd share my step-by-step guide that I hope to try out shortly!

1. Get your manuscript done.
2. Have another read of it.
3. Search Google for the agents of your favorite writers in the genre you're interested in. Pick five agents. Do a bit more genre-related Google searches to find other agent suggestions.
4. Review their guidelines. Make sure they're open and they're interested in what you've got.
5. Do a Google search on those agents, read about them from their twitter feed, guest blog posts, or their own blog posts. Make sure they're a good fit for you. Keep an eye for other agents on those blogs.
6. Most agents are okay with you submitting to multiple agents, just not within the same agency. 
7. Review their submission guidelines again and make sure you follow them. There's really no worse impression than submitting your novel and not following their guidelines.
8. Submit.
9. Be patient. Don't follow up with them a day or two after their response time estimate.
10. Be prepared for rejection.
11. If rejected, go back to Step 3.
12. Do the happy dance!

 Disclaimer - The guide is by no means perfect and is no guarantee of success. It's just a fun way to present what I've learned. Feel free to post comments and make suggestions.

Here's a great website/blog I came across: quick-brown-fox-canada.blogspot.ca/search/label/*%20Literary%20agents

The Bitter Sting of Rejection...

Today I received a rejection of my submission, Prometheus Undead, to the Dead North Anthology. I'm disappointed. I thought I had a really good shot at this anthology.

One of the more disappointing things, and this applies to a lot of other publishers out there, is that they're very vague about why the story was rejected. In my case, "Sadly, this doesn't find our needs." However, I have sent a quick reply, thanking them and wishing them good luck on the anthology, but also asking them why my story was rejected. I know there are a lot of submissions to these themed anthologies, but I think if someone takes the time to write a 4,000+ story, the least an editor can do is explain in a sentence or two why it was rejected. I'd like to know if there's something I can do to improve the story or my writing, or to find out if there were too many similar stories that were already part of the anthology.

To their credit, they replied with the explanation that it didn't grab them. So, now it's time for me to perhaps look at the story's opening and find a way to get things going a bit faster, to clear a bit of the clutter out and get to the story.

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Last Friday, I also received a letter telling me my Endless Night novel proposal was rejected by the city of Toronto Arts Council. I wasn't really surprised as these awards usual stir clear of genre fiction.

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On a positive front, my first draft of Endless Night has pushed passed the halfway mark at 45,000 words.