The Northern Colorado Writer's conference is coming up [March 30-31] which means I have to decide if I'm going to pitch or not. Bummer, because I'm not particularly interested in the pressure of commercial publishing. -[No, that doesn't mean I don't promote.]- Have a possible publisher of my MG manuscripts, but that leaves my Half-Elven in the breech without only my weak marketing skills to sell it. To add to the quandary, a fantasy agent is coming to the conference. Decisions. Decisions.
Don't think I have to worry. I don't think the Half-Elven are really commercial enough. [Do I waste the agent's time or not? That is the question.] Or, to phrase it differently: I'm not commercial enough. Still, the Half-Elven haven't bored fickle-me yet after writing in their world for years.
If you're at the looking-for-an-agent-stage, you might read Rachelle Gardner's article: Is Your Book Good, Great or Hot? It gives writers an insight into how and why agents make decisions. [Yeah, if I pitch, I'll be going in, expecting to be rejected.]
If you're at the looking-for-an-agent-stage, you might read Rachelle Gardner's article: Is Your Book Good, Great or Hot? It gives writers an insight into how and why agents make decisions. [Yeah, if I pitch, I'll be going in, expecting to be rejected.]
Anyway, check out J. C. Andrijeski's blog: "Strong" Female Characters and Why So Many Bug Me. It's one of the best thought out blogs I've read in a long time and continues my previous comments about "strong" women.
The above link is an example of why I like Twitter and visit it a couple times a day. I discover interesting points of view now that my following's inching towards 300. Once I skim though all the promotion stuff [ Yeah,I'm guilty of posting my Half-Elven stories there too.], I stumble upon retweets or links to information I might miss otherwise.
Hanging in the same pack can reduce your exposure to new ideas, however much you enjoy them. Preconceived notions are limiting and sometimes wrong. Had to chuckle when I crossed with a Galley Cat blog, thanks to Tamela Buhrke. It's a great listing of how many one star reviews besting selling authors gathered.
No. Bad reviews aren't the reason I think I'm not commercial. My worst review was two stars for the free Gorsfeld short story. Complaint? The story was too short ... even though it's free! Speaking of free. I've permanently made "Cavern Between Worlds" free too. Hopefully, both stories will lure more people to buy Taking Vengeance -- if I can break out of the "writer track".
And, remember. You don't have to have an e-reader to read an e-story. You can download both into your computer at Smashwords.
4 comments:
I definitely understand your difficulty in whether to pitch or not. I'm not sure I'd spend my time nowadays tracking down an agent, etc. unless I had a strong belief that the story could be a hit in the paper world. (How many are? Not many.) Way too many perks with being independent these days to jump through a bunch of hoops for the glory of seeing your name on a piece of paper. Which, if we're being completely honest (when am I not? :), is about what a mid-list, non-name author gets out of the deal.
That being said, we're the worst judges of the merits of our own stuff. Agents are pros, and can give you insight that goes beyond traditional publishing. So I say if you're already going to the conference anyway, pitch the agent. Maybe she'll give you some good feedback. Heck, maybe she'll love it. Either way, I'm not sure you lose much more than time and/or some bucks, and it might help the story/idea.
Right on, E.J. One thing I didn't mention in the blog is how many agents have already said "Dark Solstice" "isn't for them". On the other hand, the agents at the conference weren't queried about the book.
It just takes ONE agent to like it, right? And perhaps he or she will be there...I had 10 agents reject and then, two were interested at exactly the same moment. You never know, I guess. I say, Pitch! I saw that piece on the one star best selling author reviews too - very reassuring!
I'll probably pitch for the practice. Boiling down the book to a couple of sentences is always good practice.
Strange as it seems I do that at the beginning to give me a sort of lodestar. Of course, I have to change it completely after the story has an ending.
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