No one takes a chance on debut authors anymore…
I keep seeing this in articles lately. I saw that phrase or something like it at least three times yesterday. That’s not entirely true, or even a fair statement. Absolutely it is harder than ever to get an agent to look seriously at your work. Absolutely it is harder than ever go get your book sold right now. The economy is crap, things are changing at a rapid pace and everything is crazy and new and cool and scary right now. That doesn’t mean that you won’t get a shot.
In my experience everything is awesome. I got an agent in a non-traditional way. My writing is raw and by raw I mean incredibly flawed. The point of me putting my flaws out here for all to see is that my agent is developing what raw talent I have. She is working incredibly close with me on a rewrite. She is explaining to me every technical thing I do wrong and she is making me a better writer.
Maybe this book won’t sell. And while that will be disappointing to me, because I love my world so much I know that I have gotten something so valuable out of this experience of working with Laurie McLean and learning so much about writing.
What I am getting at is, I can’t be the only one having an amazing experience. I am sure plenty of you have an awesome editor or agent who are helping you succeed. So why is it we only hear the horror stories? The Story Siren has a very successful debut author reading challenge every year. I read tons of debut books every year and a lot of those debut books get very special treatment from publishers.
There are people who will believe in you. They are out there. You just have to work hard to find them. So don’t read those fatalistic articles and give up, giving up is for pansies.
By: KB/KT Grant (@katiebabs)
The problem with debut authors, especially in the YA genre is that they’re offered unrealistic advances and are expected to meet those sales or pay off their advance within the first 6 months. Expectations run high then and everyone is watching. it puts a great deal of pressure on the debut author to deliver.
By: Jennifer (@jen_loves_books)
I’m hoping that like you (congrats btw), I can find a editor or agent that will work closely with me and be a guide. Definitely not giving up and really liked this post. Optimistic but real! =)
By: April Books & Wine (@booksandwine)
KT has a good point. I didn’t even think about that when I read your post.
I mean, I read a lot of debut authors and perhaps in our insular blogosphere, we give a lot of attention to debuts so it doesn’t seem like they are doing all that bad.
By: Rose Glitschka (@RoseGlitschka)
Bad news travels faster and is more prevalent than good news because people can commiserate about bad news where as good news makes people feel jealous or lazy. When a story is told about how a writer queried agents and publishers, but nothing happened an audience can relate. There are thousands, if not millions, of writers in the world and a great percentage of them will never be published. This audience relates to the plight of another rejected writer. It also gives them solace because they can point to that story and tell themselves it’s not just them being rejected.
However, when a story of success is told about a debut author that got signed by an agent and got a publishing deal (no matter how long it took) a larger percentage of the audience can not relate. In fact, seeing this debut author’s success makes the audience feel inferior. It’s like feeling the rejection of agents and publishers all over again.
For those reasons articles like the ones you mention can be found more often than success stories of new authors. You’re also right that these “poor me” stories are written and consumed by writers that don’t want to improve their craft. They want an easy road to follow. A + B = agent. That isn’t life or the publishing world.
Personally, I love to hear about how a writer got an agent or publishing deal. Some are standard stories like Marissa Meyer for her book Cinder. Other people have non-traditional stories like yourself or P. C. Cast (I had the opportunity to listen to her speak last year about how she got signed). In each of these success stories a dedicated writer who actually wants to work for their goal learns something.