Query Updates and Summer Plans.

Querying news first. 

It's good or bad. Depending on how you look at it. I choose to see it as another door opening.

I think I mentioned I've stopped querying Elemental. Stopping at 10 agents. Personally, I don't think it makes sense to get excessive with the querying. If your top 10 (well researched, not just most popular) aren't interested, why settle for less? I know how that may sound, but that's the way I see things. And, honestly, I'm just not feeling the love anymore. I'm not as passionate about the story as I used to be. Not like I am about the one I'm working on now! And to me, that says something.


Apparently the agents I sent Elemental to agree! I received two more rejections. One on the partial last week, and one on the full today. The thing is, I really, really enjoyed writing the story. I love the characters, but deep inside (even after sending out that first query) I know it's not worthy of traditional publishing. Okay, let me rephrase that. It's most definitely worthy, it's just too late. By the time it's picked up by an agent, revised even more than it already is, sold to a publisher, revised some more and finally receives a release date (two years from the date it was picked up in the first place)--and I'm sure I'm missing a ton of other crucial, time consuming steps--the ship will, most definitely, have sailed. That's how trends work. Like any other industry, publishing is dictated by trends.


As writers we have to realize, that agents are professionals. And, yes, the industry is subjective, but there is still a science to the whole thing. Well, at least simple mathematics. If I query 100 agents who, based on my research, would be perfect for my novel and 80 of them say 'no thanks', then that tells me there's an 80% chance a publisher won't buy it. So those agents know they won't make any money. Seeing as publishing (mainly the success of it) is their 9-5, it makes perfect sense they'd pass. Why waste time trying to push something that's not going pad your pockets?

Still it's a good thing that's not the end of the rope.


I don't believe this particular work will ever find a home with an agent and, because of that, I'm considering self-publishing. Part of me kind of fears taking that step. I've heard agents aren't too keen on writers that do. But, oh well. If nothing else, my characters deserve to see the light of day. Even if it only earns me $0.30 :)

I've decided to go ahead with those revisions I talked about in an earlier post. I considered subbing to Entangled Teen. But now I'm leaning more toward Kindle DP. Why not? Either Elemental will make it's permanent home on my hard drive, or it will get to see the world.

Either way, I'm happy. So why not take yet another plunge? (I've been doing that a lot lately and it kind of feels good!)

So here we are, the first day of Summer Break :)

I was sitting here earlier thinking about my summer plans and have decided they don't include a whole lot of blogging. I've got two kids around 24/7 now, so my free time will be fully dedicated to writing endeavors.

I won't completely leave you hanging though. I'll post one to five times a week. Lol. I know that's a huge range. But what I plan on doing is posting word count and a quote of the day, just to keep current. The quotes will have to do with just about anything, cause I'm just that random ;)

See you when I see ya! And as usual, I'll keep you posted :)