The struggles of an aspiring author, finding a literary agent, and getting my book published
It's rough out there
Many years ago, before the pandemic, I had a story floating around in my head that featured an adult female character and her adventures in a fantasy world solving cases for those in need. I created a comic and did all the sketching, drawing, and the dialogue.
I was hoping that the comic that I spent so much blood, sweat, and tears on would gain traction online or at a comic convention. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Discouraged, I ended up shelving the comic, where it collected dust.
Fast forward to six to seven years later, I had the urge to write my ideas down in the first novel in a series of books. In my head, I think that five books will suffice to tie any loose ends and end the protagonist’s story. It took me several months to write the novel and initially, I didn’t think ahead of what to do next with the finished product. How do I get my book published and sold in bookstores?
I did some research online for advice for first-time authors, and one of the steps that was heavily highlighted was the proper grammar and formatting of my novel along with creating a query package. I thought to myself, ‘This sounds like applying to a reputable university or college’. I looked to Reedsy to find a developmental editor who could edit everything and see if the story was any good.
I reached out to a few editors with glowing reviews and sent them the required documents. They all got back to me within a few days, and I was thankful that out of the few, the most experienced editor wanted to read the rest of the story. She said she loved the first few chapters and wanted to read more.
Her services were out of this world, as she did everything under the sun from line edits, grammar edits, and developmental editing. She even had experience in the publishing industry, and was great to talk to and work with. Based on my experience, it was worth every penny.
In our Zoom meeting, she talked about how she thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the ups and downs of what the characters went through. She informed me that I should try finding a literary agent who could sell the book to a publishing company. I took her advice to heart since she really enjoyed reading through the novel a few times. Not gonna lie, it gave me a huge confidence boost.
The next step was clear, I had to query a lot of agents; at least fifty to sixty agents; possibly more if they rejected the query. I was shocked by the number and asked her why so many. She then said that it was really tough finding a literary agent who would represent you, your book, and your rights. A literary agent’s job is to champion the author’s work and pitch it to the big five publishing companies.
Confident in the book, I took to writing a query package, which is essentially several documents that you send to a literary agent. It does vary from agent to agent, but it usually includes a query that is similar to a query letter, synopsis, author bio, a one to two-sentence pitch, and a sample of the novel. Some agencies ask for a few things on the list.
After writing the necessary documents, the editor looked over the documents and worked her magic. The package was done, and I was self-assured that I’d get an agent in no time. I created a list of agents using Query Tracker and sent the requested documents to about fifty agents within a short time span. That was my biggest mistake; sending out too many all at once and not figuring out what was wrong with my query letter.
From May to September, all I received were rejections. Not even any advice as to what could be improved or what was wrong with my query letter. Based on other people’s experiences on Twitter, some of them haven’t even received a response from the agents they queried. I’ve had several of those.
The rest were forty rejection responses so far. To be honest, I felt disheartened after so many rejections, not even one agent reached out to ask for a partial manuscript. I thought to myself, ‘Is my work not as great as I thought it was? Was it that terrible that agents found it forgettable or boring? Was the editor just being nice?’
I lost interest in traditional publishing near the end of August after the rejections trickled in. I even thought of trying my hand at indie publishing for a short moment, thinking that serializing my work would gain interest from fantasy lovers.
That optimism quickly faded as I swiftly realized that being an indie author meant spending a lot of time on social media, looking for arc readers, promoting the book, and doing everything by myself. Deep down, I knew it was something I wouldn’t enjoy doing.
Don’t get me wrong about social media, I’ve had great interactions within the writing community on both Twitter and Threads, and I’m glad that the community is uplifting, inspirational, and wonderful. I even participated in pitch events on Twitter and got a few people interested in my work; however, I don’t want to be on social media 24/7 to get people interested in my novel.
My mentality shifted to traditional publishing, and my attitude switched gears from being negative to cautious optimism. I realized I quit too soon, thinking I’d find an agent within a few months. I didn’t manage my expectations properly, which led me down the road of disappointment. I wanted instant gratification which wasn’t realistic at all.
Now I’m on the hunt for a great agent once more and learned my lesson to tailor the query package a little bit to each agent and send about ten queries at a time instead of a whopping fifty all at once. I gotta keep going, despite how cutthroat it is querying agents.
Here‘s hoping I find a great agent and get my book published.