Posted on 07/01/2025 3:50:50 PM PDT by Ciaphas Cain
Okay Freepers, you are a magnificent resource to draw upon. I'm hoping that among you are some who have already broken the ground I now seek to tread, and maybe you can give me some advice. Perhaps even tell me if I'm doing something wrong and could change up my approach.
A lot of people have told me over the years that they wanted me to write my life story. It took ten years of on and off labor (and there came to be even more things to write about in that time) but in the end this past November I finished my autobiography. The months since then have been spent revising the manuscript, tightening things up, making it something that will hopefully stand a chance of getting published and into the marketplace.
(My life story is something that is VERY complicated. Among other things there is mental illness, childhood abuse, trying to find God, and there are numerous episodes like running for office and swindling operations and being a filmmaker... oh yeah, and Free Republic is mentioned along with two well known Freepers. It has a little something for everyone :-)
For the past few months I have been trying to persuade literary agents to represent me and my book. I've sent out dozens of queries. Most of them haven't replied back. The ones who have responded all come back with variations of the same message: "Your book isn't a good fit for us."
My query letters are as good as they probably can be and still fit on one page. I've also assembled a fifty-page nonfiction proposal: something of a business plan about my book, its contents, who its audience is projected to be, how will I promote it, etc. I'm jumping through all the hoops that an author shopping his first book around is confronted with. But so far, it's gotten me nowhere.
It might just be enough difficult a project for anyone to want to represent. I'm telling many people that it's too Christian for the secular market and it's also too secular for Christian readers. There is a lot of overlap. It's going to be hard to place in a bookstore. But that's where I want it to appear in. My father was my biggest cheerleader, he especially wanted me to write this book. I believe he would have been proud of me, if he knew that I had written an entire book that was on the shelves of Barnes and Noble.
So, I am querying YOU guys now. Have you ever gotten a literary agent? Or otherwise have understanding of what it takes to get one? I have the manuscript sitting on my desktop PC and iPad. I'm actively seeking an agent. I know where I want this journey to end,. What do I need to do to bring my book from here to there?
Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you :-)
Ping lazamataz
Oh, Laz is already well aware of my plight :-)
“Has anyone here ever landed a literary agent?”
Didn’t know they could be flown.
Have you looked into self-publishing?
You might want to consider that. Though if you should decide to go that route, you might want to consider springing for an editor.
Best of luck with your book. :-)
Laz and Matt Bracken. I forget his username.
* It's very hard for a first-time author to sell an incomplete book. Proposals are for authors with past credits. You need to finish your book before seeking an agent.
* Most first-time authors who find a publisher do so without an agent. There are many smaller, specialty publishers who are open to submissions without an agent.
On ten pound test line in the lower Chesapeake, bugger put up a real fight.
Nowadays, they must be either overwhelmed or excessively arrogant. I’ve sent out a few feelers and they don’t even bother to acknowledge that they even received them. The days of the little rejection letter seem to be done.
No, but I once landed a 5 lb. steel head trout........Does that count?
Travis McGee
Sorry I have no experience with literary agents.
I wonder if you have considered trying to write short pieces for Christian publications such as magazines. If you can prove yourself there (not necessarily on any memoir topic—just as a writer) that portfolio would favorably impress an agent. It would prove talent. They want someone who can make them money and can be depended upon to come through with professional and salable copy.
Maybe also letters to the editor, followed by an opinion essay for an appropriate slot in the magazine.
I long ago did a lot of writing and getting published and then was an editor for a book publisher. Things are different today but editors and publishers want copy they can sell to an audience.
I wish you the very best.
Landing one by someone who is not over Macho Grande could be a problem.
Ping LS.
The model where you get an agent and the represent you is dead. I’ve authored 14 novels, some of which are on Amazon. The new model is you market them yourself.
The problem is the printer, and computers mean when someone finishes a novel, they print dozens of copies and span the entire list of agents. Nobody reads them anymore. If you read the forwards in books the author will say he his agent was his neighbor, or his friend, a published author, got him an agent, ect.
I was not interested in spending fifty percent of my time marketing. So, I went back to engineering.
I wish you the best.
You’ll also notice that long dead authors have now published more novels after their death than when they were alive. That’s because a publisher will not take a chance on a new name. So, they find people to write under the name of a well-known and selling, but dead author.
The whole business as it once worked, is dead.
The book is finished. The first draft of the manuscript was completed a week before this past Thanksgiving.
Self-publishing is a way to go. No agents but you will have to do all the advertising for your book. Sometimes books will sell and other times they won’t.
I would suggest you look at the book called “Writer’s Market” it tells you who is looking and what they are looking for. You should be able to find one in a library or bookstore.
However you do it just don’t give up. It will be more frustration than joy. But once a publisher says “yes” then it will all be worth it (one hopes). Good luck.
ahh, but I don’t know if he had an agent. Probably.
That was my first thought, too.
(But almost every great book was finally published after many rejection letters; that’s just how it works...)
My daughter is an editor. She works in the educational book sector but she did proofread the first edition of a million seller.
She told me that for an author to even be looked at, they need a strong social media following to do their own marketing.
Her friend had a huge Tik-Toc following and decided to write a novel. She apparently gave regular updates to her followers.
Her first edition was self-published print-on-demand.
(Had my daughter known how successful the book would be she would have charged a whole lot more to proofread it)
She sold hundreds of thousands of copies printed on demand. Simon and Schuster now has her under contract. Book two in the trilogy is out and there’s a tv movie in the works.
Not bad for a 21 year old kid.
Your mileage may vary but from what my daughter tells me, social media is the key.
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