Welcome back to Jake the Author! It's been a few weeks (more like months) since my last post, but I wanted to make sure I had a worthy topic to discuss before I spent some time writing/making you read my thoughts about another aspect of writing.
Have you ever walked aimlessly through a bookstore and noticed how many of them seem to tell the exact same story, with characters and plot points that are carbon-copied from other properties? It can be a bit frustrating for an aspiring author to see so many hackneyed, unimaginative works being picked up for publication while the masterpiece you've carefully crafted and poured your heart and soul into for years is being wrongfully overlooked. Why can't you seem to get over the hump?
I've thought about this a lot, particularly since the experience I just described happens to me every time I step into a Barnes & Noble or walk through the book section of a supermarket. The truth is that there are several reasons for this. Some of them are far more comforting than others, but I feel it's important to understand the practical explanations for "failure" in the publishing world.
First, you might not have composed a very compelling query letter. This is the first opportunity (and possibly the only opportunity) you will have to impress an agent or publisher, so not devoting the proper time and attention to its construction will surely result in the inevitable rejection. There are many great outlets for how to structure your query (Writers Digest, AgentQuery.com, etc.), so I won't go into detail as to what needs to included/excluded from your cover letter. Suffice it to say that you MUST do your research and repeatedly revise the content of your letter before presenting it to a potential agent/publisher. Stack the odds in your favor by doing your due diligence before you make a rookie mistake.
Second, you have to consider what the market trends currently are. The reason you see so many generic YA dystopia novels right now (Divergent, Matched, etc.) is because The Hunger Games books and films are such a massive success. Whether it's fair or not, a lot of manuscripts with a similar plot and setting were/are being picked up even when they might not be the most well-written or original works available. Publishing is a business, and a pretty ruthless one at that. With the increasing prevalence of eBooks and self-published novels on Amazon, it's becoming harder and harder to make a substantial profit through traditional publishing routes. For that reason, agents are far less likely to take a chance on something unusual and creative that may not sell as easily to publishers as something that's more in-demand.
I'm not saying you should drop what you're writing and cater entirely to what's trendy, because by the time you're finished with your novel it won't be trendy anymore. Just keep in mind that not every agent or publisher is going to be brave enough to take on something out of the norm, regardless of how good it is. Just keep submitting (pretend that Dori from Finding Nemo is singing that to you) and sooner or later, someone will.
A third reason might be that whomever you're submitting to simply doesn't need the book you're querying at the moment. He or she may have just signed someone else in the same genre, and could be unable to justify another writer so similar to what she just picked up. It's hard enough to find a home for one author, let alone two that are competing for the same market. Just like when following trends, agents can't afford to take chances on something good when they already have something comparable. They may also have a limited number of clients they can take on at one time and therefore must be far more selective than others with more flexibility.
There are other reasons why a publisher or agent might pass on your material, but the hardest one for a writer to stomach is when the agent just doesn't like it. Literature, like all other art forms, is a subjective medium. Some people absolutely love The Giver, for example, while other people think it's boring and uneventful. Neither one of those opinions is wrong, but if the person you're submitting to has a different taste, they might not connect with your material the way you were expecting. Hopefully it's just a matter of personal preference and not an indictment on the quality of your prose, but it can be hard not to take these kinds of rejections personally regardless. Though most responses you receive will probably be form letters, some agents are willing to level with you when they send a rejection, often saying things like, "While I found the premise intriguing, I just didn't connect with the story the way I hoped." They almost always finish with an encouraging statement to continue querying to other agents, but that doesn't always mend your bruised ego.
Regardless of the reason for the rejection, I urge you not to give up on your project just because somebody (who's most likely looking for something very specific) doesn't want to risk their career to promote and sell your writing. As long as you genuinely feel there's something special about what you've created, then don't let anything get in your way. There's always an audience for a good story and relatable characters, even if every agent and publisher in the world can't see it. If that's the case and you've done everything you can to make it better (received critiques from trusted sources, made revisions to your manuscript, researched story structure and plotting, etc.), publish it yourself. There are more resources and opportunities now for a self-published author than ever before. Take advantage of it and do all you can to make it a success.
Above all, don't get discouraged in the submitting process. It can seem like a laborious and even excruciating endeavor at times, but stay optimistic and open to criticism when you get it. Be objective about your work and strive to make it as good as possible. Someone somewhere will read your book and they'll love and appreciate every second of work you've lovingly put into it.
I'd like to end with an invitation to whoever's reading: if you have a query letter and you want some honest (and free) feedback, please email it to jaketheauthorblog@gmail.com and I will be happy to help. As a fellow aspiring author, I know how hard it can be to find readers. Let me know what you thought of this post in the comments section below and let me know how your writer's journey is going! There are lots of demands on my time at the moment, but I'll try to be a little more consistent with my posting in the future. Thanks again for reading and don't forget to write!
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Jake the Author: An Intro
Welcome to Jake the Author! You may be wondering a few things: first, who is Jake? Well, I'm Jake. You probably know who I am if you're reading this, but let me introduce myself briefly just in case you don't. I'm a sports buff, film nerd, literature fan, and music enthusiast. You may or may not have read some of my movie reviews, and if so I think the second thing you may be wondering is why I'm writing a second blog when that one is already fairly time-consuming. Good question. I think the answer has something to do with my caged desire for people to see the projects that I've spent the last few years of my life writing. Yes, I do have a day job, and I am actively continuing my journey for higher-education, but I have a passion as well that I feel I must indulge. My name is Jake, and I'm an (aspiring) author.
I don't know when my quest for authorship first began, though I can think of various times throughout my life when I've dipped my toe into creative writing. One of my early forays into storytelling was a childhood attempt to completely rip off a story that was already spoofing another series of novels that I loved - Goosebumps. These children's horror books used to enthrall me as a kid, so much so that I even enjoyed the parody that was Gooflumps. Looking back on it, I have no idea what I saw in the two-part series of books that clearly had little sophistication in its satire of the R.L. Stine stories, but it inspired me to write a very derivative copy-of-a-copy entitled, "The House that Threw Up". Given that I was barely old enough to use a word processor at the time, I'm sure it was complete garbage, but that didn't stop my mom from fawning over it as a would-be work of classic literature. Regardless of the sincerity of her compliments, I went on from that experience with a renewed confidence in my ability to write.
The next time my flair for creativity (if you could call it that) made an appearance was during fifth grade, when everyone in my English class was required to write a story of their choosing. With no limitation on genre and hardly any structure to the assignment, there were autobiographical stories, fantastical stories, science fiction stories, and all kinds of crazy mash-ups of other genres that made their way into our notebooks. My best friend at the time created a fairly unique monster tale that I was desperately jealous of. In fact, it was his story that I chose to emulate for my own version starring Karl Malone, Jr. fighting a variation on Godzilla. Needless to say, it wasn't my best work, and I seem to remember getting a somewhat disappointing B or B- on the assignment when all was said and done.
From there, I slowly became more technically proficient in word-crafting through necessity. Junior High and High School brought with them a multitude of English classes that required a certain amount of writing, not to mention the numerous essays that were assigned in History classes and the like. Eventually, I developed into a competent writer, even imagining a future occupation for myself as a journalist. I managed the sports page in my High School newspaper as a result of that goal, and went on to do the same for my college newspaper, The Snow Drift, during my freshman year (though that didn't exactly end well).
Years have passed since my days as a journalism student, and I've since focused most of my efforts on pursuing a degree in the field of Psychology as well as spending time with the love of my life. Still, there has always been a part of me that didn't want to give up the idea of progressing as a writer. In 2010 I was working a call center job that had a lot of downtime depending on the time of year. As our computers weren't compatible with YouTube or social networking sites, I had to come up with some other way to wile away the hours until I was off the clock. I began by re-reading some of my favorite books (the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games series, etc.), but it wasn't until I was half-way through the Sherlock Holmes stories that I began to entertain the idea of writing a novel of my own.
That may seem like a much longer personal history than you were promised, but I wanted to give you an idea of my background in writing to set the tone for future entries. Unlike a lot of these kinds of introductions, however, this does not end with my success story... at least, not yet. I did use my downtime to write a young adult mystery book and even completed two sequels. I'll go into more detail on this series and what it means to me in future posts, as well as the other projects I've been developing. The point is, none of these books have been published, either professionally or through a self-publisher. I don't believe a passion should necessarily be in pursuit of a financial reward or even public recognition. That's not why I choose to spend hours of my time translating my imagination to the page, nor is it the reason I'm starting this blog. I just want to share my passion and maybe establish a dialogue with others who share that passion. Whatever your goals in writing, I believe your time on the keyboard or scribbling on a notebook is well-spent regardless of the outcome.
As for this blog, I'm still working out the details of what I'd like it to become. I will probably share my thoughts on writing either in relation to my own works, or reflecting on books or screenplays that I either admire or in which see a lot of room for improvement. What would you like to see on this blog? Do you have goals for writing that you haven't had time to achieve or simply haven't had the courage to try? Let me know in the comments section below and maybe I'll make it a topic for a future blog post! Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to write!
I don't know when my quest for authorship first began, though I can think of various times throughout my life when I've dipped my toe into creative writing. One of my early forays into storytelling was a childhood attempt to completely rip off a story that was already spoofing another series of novels that I loved - Goosebumps. These children's horror books used to enthrall me as a kid, so much so that I even enjoyed the parody that was Gooflumps. Looking back on it, I have no idea what I saw in the two-part series of books that clearly had little sophistication in its satire of the R.L. Stine stories, but it inspired me to write a very derivative copy-of-a-copy entitled, "The House that Threw Up". Given that I was barely old enough to use a word processor at the time, I'm sure it was complete garbage, but that didn't stop my mom from fawning over it as a would-be work of classic literature. Regardless of the sincerity of her compliments, I went on from that experience with a renewed confidence in my ability to write.
The next time my flair for creativity (if you could call it that) made an appearance was during fifth grade, when everyone in my English class was required to write a story of their choosing. With no limitation on genre and hardly any structure to the assignment, there were autobiographical stories, fantastical stories, science fiction stories, and all kinds of crazy mash-ups of other genres that made their way into our notebooks. My best friend at the time created a fairly unique monster tale that I was desperately jealous of. In fact, it was his story that I chose to emulate for my own version starring Karl Malone, Jr. fighting a variation on Godzilla. Needless to say, it wasn't my best work, and I seem to remember getting a somewhat disappointing B or B- on the assignment when all was said and done.
From there, I slowly became more technically proficient in word-crafting through necessity. Junior High and High School brought with them a multitude of English classes that required a certain amount of writing, not to mention the numerous essays that were assigned in History classes and the like. Eventually, I developed into a competent writer, even imagining a future occupation for myself as a journalist. I managed the sports page in my High School newspaper as a result of that goal, and went on to do the same for my college newspaper, The Snow Drift, during my freshman year (though that didn't exactly end well).
Years have passed since my days as a journalism student, and I've since focused most of my efforts on pursuing a degree in the field of Psychology as well as spending time with the love of my life. Still, there has always been a part of me that didn't want to give up the idea of progressing as a writer. In 2010 I was working a call center job that had a lot of downtime depending on the time of year. As our computers weren't compatible with YouTube or social networking sites, I had to come up with some other way to wile away the hours until I was off the clock. I began by re-reading some of my favorite books (the Harry Potter series, The Hunger Games series, etc.), but it wasn't until I was half-way through the Sherlock Holmes stories that I began to entertain the idea of writing a novel of my own.
That may seem like a much longer personal history than you were promised, but I wanted to give you an idea of my background in writing to set the tone for future entries. Unlike a lot of these kinds of introductions, however, this does not end with my success story... at least, not yet. I did use my downtime to write a young adult mystery book and even completed two sequels. I'll go into more detail on this series and what it means to me in future posts, as well as the other projects I've been developing. The point is, none of these books have been published, either professionally or through a self-publisher. I don't believe a passion should necessarily be in pursuit of a financial reward or even public recognition. That's not why I choose to spend hours of my time translating my imagination to the page, nor is it the reason I'm starting this blog. I just want to share my passion and maybe establish a dialogue with others who share that passion. Whatever your goals in writing, I believe your time on the keyboard or scribbling on a notebook is well-spent regardless of the outcome.
As for this blog, I'm still working out the details of what I'd like it to become. I will probably share my thoughts on writing either in relation to my own works, or reflecting on books or screenplays that I either admire or in which see a lot of room for improvement. What would you like to see on this blog? Do you have goals for writing that you haven't had time to achieve or simply haven't had the courage to try? Let me know in the comments section below and maybe I'll make it a topic for a future blog post! Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to write!
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