Author Jody Holford
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Bonus Content
  • Reader Group
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletter

Guessing Games

7/16/2013

 
Picture
Every aspiring novelist's dream:
You float lightly on your long legs (it's my dream so I can if I want) to your computer where you see the email that has been sitting, waiting for you. Dear.... please send your full manuscript to....I really want to read the rest of it. Please let us know if you receive any offers ASAP. You try to contain your excitement as you reply, with an attachment (and that right there is a compliment because they won't think you're trying to infect their computer when they see an attachment). Then, you wait patiently, because in dreams, you're patient and really good looking. Then comes the email that says...wait for it....


Dear....
     I regret to say this is not for me. Good luck in your writing.
And a variety of questions and comments cross your mind and may spurt out of your mouth:
1. Why not?
2. But you asked for it!!!
3. Did you read it wrong?
4. Did I write it wrong?

And then you just sit, crossing your beautiful and enviable long legs while you ponder what it was that made them go from wanting your manuscript to not wanting it. What drew them in and turned them off? There are a number of great blogs by agents that will answer those questions for you but the bottom line is, you're still going to be left wondering. Anything that is based on a subjective opinion is going to leave you wondering unless they said, "I did not like X or Y." So then you're left with trying to decide what to do with this manuscript that is garnering attention but not closing the deal. Do you rehaul it blindly? Maybe. Do you send it out to new CPs and ask for feedback? Possibly. Do you shelf it entirely and get to work on your next WIP? You could. None of those routes are going to give you the answers you want though and that's where it gets frustrating. To be fair to agents, they can't give feedback on every submission, especially the ones that didn't grab them by the throat and take their breath away.

When I'm marking papers or assignments, I sometimes give generous feedback that explains what I loved and sometimes I say, "B". Why? My mood, the length of the assignment, the grade speaks for itself, the pile of papers I've got in front of me, or something about the assignment itself. I have criteria that I need the students to meet, but sometimes it's just a subjective gut instinct. The times that I've second guessed myself and asked, 'Am I being to hard on them?', I'll go back with my criteria sheet, review it and 9 times out of 10, come up with the same result. Agenting, I'm guessing, must be similar. They've been doing it long enough that when they know, they know. Sometimes they don't have a specific reason. Sometimes they just know it was a B and they were looking for an A.

As writers, I think we get caught up in subjectivity as well and this can be dangerous. We need to be objective about our work and, when we can't, show it to others that can and will. Even if they say things you don't want to hear. Wouldn't you rather hear about it from someone who cares about you, who knows what your writing means to you, who wants what's best for you? This week, I had someone I trust tell me that I needed to decide if I was in this because I completely believed in my work and was willing to keep pushing and trying or if I just wanted to have a book published. They're two different things. If you believe in your work, if you've edited, revised, asked for feedback, utilized that feedback to the best of your ability, worked on your query letter, researched agents, and are willing to keep going despite rejection, then this is about more than just saying you published a book. So keep going, accept the fact that you won't always know why, but, as I was also told this week, it only takes one to say yes, regardless of how many say no.



Comments are closed.

    Archives

    May 2021
    December 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    2018
    2020
    2021
    Addison Cole
    Agency Mate
    A.J. Pine
    All The Feels
    Amanda Heger
    Amara
    Amazon
    Am Writing
    Amy Trueblood
    Angel's Lake
    Animal Lovers
    Animals
    Anthology
    Appreciation
    Author
    Author Friends
    Author Interview
    Authors
    Awards
    A Way With Words
    A Writer Needs
    Balance
    Baseball Romance
    BEA14
    Becky Albertalli
    Behind The Scenes
    Belief
    Be Yourself
    Bliss
    Blogging
    Blog Hop
    Blogs
    Blog Tour
    Bonus Material
    Book 2
    Book Blitz
    BookBub
    Book Deal
    Book Love
    Book News
    Book Release
    Books
    Book Two
    Box Set
    Britton Bay
    Brother's Best Friend
    Busy
    Carly Phillips
    Caught Looking
    Celebrities
    Chris Pratt
    Christina Hovland
    Christmas
    Christmas Titles
    Christy Teigen
    Cindi Madsen
    Clean & Wholesome
    Co Author
    Co Authoring
    Co-authoring
    Coming Home
    Coming Soon
    Complete Randomness
    Contest
    Contests
    Covering All The Bases
    Cover Reveal
    Cozies
    Cozy Mysteries
    Cozy Mystery
    Dahlia Adler
    Dangerous Love
    Dawn Ius
    Daylight Falls
    Debut
    Draw
    Ebooks
    Editing
    Editors
    Ellie And Cooper
    Elliot
    Email
    Enemies To Lovers
    Entangled
    Entangled Bliss
    Entangled In Romance
    Entangled Publishing
    Entangled Teen
    Entangled Under The Mistletoe
    Enter To Win
    Evermore
    Excerpt
    Excited
    Extra
    Facebook Party
    Faith
    Falling For Home
    Falling For Kate
    Family
    Fan Girling
    Father's Dday
    First In Series
    Folklore
    Forever
    Forgetful
    Foster
    Friends
    Friends In Many Places
    Friends To Lovers
    Fun
    Giveaway
    Giveaways
    Giving Back
    Goals
    Goodbye 2018
    Goodbye This Year
    Good News
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Guest Blogs
    Happily Ever After
    Happiness
    Harper St. George
    Hearts
    Holiday Reads
    Holiday Romance
    Holidays
    Holiday Stories
    Hop
    Hope
    Hot Vets
    Imaromancechick
    Indiesage
    InD'tale Magazine
    Interviews
    Isla
    Jaded Love
    Jasmine Guillory
    Jennifer Blackwood
    Jennifer Shirk
    Jim Cangany
    Joanne Macgregor
    Jody Holford
    Julia A Webber
    Kara Leigh Miller
    Karma Brown
    Kat Colmer
    Kate
    Keep Believing
    Keep Going
    Keep Trying
    Keep Writing
    Kelly Siskind
    Kendrick Place Series
    Kensington
    Kensington Publishing
    Kids Books
    Kindle
    Learning Curve
    Lexi Lawton
    Liam
    Life
    Lindsey Duga
    Listening
    Literary Agent
    Literary Counsel
    Looking Back
    Lori Foster
    Love
    Love Story
    Lovestruck
    Love Unexpected
    Lucy And Alex
    March Madness
    Meant To Be
    Mentor
    Merry Christmas
    Michelle Hauck
    Moments
    Montlake
    More Than Friends
    Moving Forward
    Moving On
    Nashville
    Nashville Slammers
    Need To Write
    Netflix
    Networking
    New Beginnings
    New On Amazon
    New Release
    New Series
    Newsletter
    New Year
    Novellas
    Office
    On A Break
    Parenting
    Parting Ways
    Penner Publishing
    Persona
    Perspective
    Picture Books
    #PitchWars
    Podcasts
    Pretty
    Public Identity
    Publishing
    Publishing House Mate
    Publishing Mate
    Puppies
    Query Trenches
    Rafflecopter
    Rainbow Rowell
    Random
    Reading
    Rejection
    Remember Me
    Reprint
    Re Release
    Reuinted
    Rhyme
    Romance
    Romance Chicks
    RomCom
    Sale
    Sarah Fox
    Second Chances
    Self Pub
    Sequel
    Sequels
    Series
    Sexy And Sweet
    Shannyn Schroeder
    Short Stories
    Signed Paperbacks
    Small Press
    SMP
    Sneak Peek
    Social Media
    Some Kind Of Christmas
    Some Kind Of Stories
    Song Lyrics
    Space
    Speechless
    Sports Romance
    Stella Lane
    St. Martin's Press
    Story Books
    Story Of Us
    Stuck In A Book
    Subjectivity
    Summer
    Summer Carnival
    Sun Vs. Snow
    Support
    Support Network
    Suspense
    Sweet
    Takeovers
    Tasty Book Tours
    Taylor Swift
    Teaching
    Teasers
    Ten Rules For Faking It
    Thanks
    Thanksgiving
    Thank You
    The Bad Boy Next Door
    The Mending Hearts Series
    Thoughts
    Tiffany Truitt
    Time To Write
    Toolkit
    Top Ten
    Toronto Romance Writers
    Trust
    Under The Lights
    USA TODAY HEA
    Waiting
    What Matters
    Who's Who Wednesday
    Word Bank
    Writer's Block
    Writer's Brain
    Writing
    Writing And Baseball
    Writing Community
    Writing Pal
    Writing Pals
    Writing Process
    YA
    Zach Mason

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from shawnzrossi, Magenta Rose, LittleStuff.me, le-topographe, Sparkly Kate, Sean Rozekrans, xoque, Sean Davis, RoniLoren, Yehohanan92, Lance Shields
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Bonus Content
  • Reader Group
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletter