Tag: Publishing

Going for the “no.”

Sara Mazariegos

Jessica Faust from BookEnds recommends going for the “no” when submitting query letters, because it helps narrow down the list of potential agents and helps gauge if something needs to change — either the query itself or the novel’s concept.

I admit, I sent out my first thirteen queries without considering this. The nos depressed me, especially the first one. But, eventually, I realized getting a no is better than not getting any kind of response and it takes a lot of nos before eventually getting a “yes.”

I’ve since stopped sending query letters so I can rewrite my novel according to beta feedback and my notes. I’m reshaping things to better fit what actually fits into the market, while still holding true to my novel and what I have to say.

Hopefully, I’ll be much closer to a “yes” when I send my next batch of queries with my fresh manuscript draft.

But just saying it could even make it happen.

Sara Mazariegos

I took a week’s vacation, and it ended up being a vacation from writing my novel, too. Unplanned, but possibly good for my brain, in the long run?

Rewriting my novel has been a challenge, mainly because I’m trying to focus on what readers look for. In the process, I’ve discovered a new comp title — swapping out the one from 2019 that I’d been clinging to — and new avenues to explore and tighten in my narrative.

My goal is to finish the rewritten manuscript by September 30th and then begin the editing process. Then more betas and editing! I’m currently at around 38,000 words with the goal word count of 80,000. Hopefully, by the end of the year/beginning of next year, I’ll be ready to start sending fresh query letters to agents.

Of course, I also have a new idea I plan to start writing once I can focus on something new.

I’m ambitious sometimes.

Big think.

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve shared my query letter drafts with a few online groups as I struggle to describe my novel within only about three hundred words. It’s made me have a big think about what people’s reaction has been. Not friends or people in my social circle, just random strangers. After all, it would be random strangers who’d consider reading my novel once my devoted loved ones have read it.

It doesn’t feel great to be told that my lived experience of being a Millennial who graduated from college in 2009 and struggled to find a career for years after that isn’t realistic or interesting. I can’t tell if I need to really rework my selling points or the story itself.

So for this week, I’m mostly sad.

I’ve probably got a lot of revisions to do. Big, overhauly type ones. I hesitate to completely start over because I’ve worked on this story for the past three or so years. The query readers want more conflict, so short of introducing a monster in the third act, I have to come up with something more conflicting than being poor and practically frozen in time.

Being a writer is so isolating sometimes, isn’t it?

What’s in a blurb?

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve seen people discussing story blurbs in their query letters, and there seems to be confusion over whether the blurb is meant to be what you see on the back of the book when it’s published, or if it’s meant to be more of a quick summary for potential agents.

As far as I understand it, the query blurb is meant to be “the hook” that captures the agents’ attention and lets them know a brief bit about the story so they can quickly get an idea of what they can expect as far as the novel’s marketability.

The blurb on the back of published books is similar, but it can be longer and more flowery with its wording. It’s meant to entice readers to buy the book. Both are marketing-related, but the former is purely for business whereas the latter is meant to be more creative.

Remember, not everyone buys books. Libraries and borrowing from friends are legitimate ways to read a book. Readers tell their friends, and their friends check out the back of the book or the summary online to see if they would also like to read it.

Agents and publishing houses, on the other hand, want to be able to tell how well a book would do with readers so they can sell a lot of copies. They want to see, in roughly two paragraphs, who the characters are and what’s at stake. Does it align with their current markets? Are there too many books about the subject at the moment? They care about those sorts of things. The big picture of publishing.

Then, of course, there’s the synopsis! That’s essentially a two-page outline of everything that happens in the book. It’s meant to spoil the ending, so it’s not something you’d be sharing with anyone who wants to read the novel as a reader.

This has been Sara Understands Publishing. Tune in next week for maybe more writing tips, but maybe something else entirely.

Killing My Darlings.

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve drafted my novel. I’ve taken a break from it, edited it, revised it, rewritten things, taken things out, dissected it, kept myself up late with worry about it, and let some of my friends have a look at it.

I set a goal for myself. I’m reading a chapter a day, as a final ‘edit now or forever hold your words’ read-through. My birthday is on Wednesday. After Wednesday, I’ll start submitting my manuscript to book agents.

Deep breaths.

I wrote my novel with a particular readership in mind. It’s for the Millennials who graduated college thinking everything would go as well as it did for their parents, only for everything to be ten times more difficult. It’s also a love story, because it’s dangerous to go alone.

I can’t wait for you to read it.