Fiction Scribe

Literary Agent Janet Reid recently posted about Why You Got Summarily Rejected Today.

It never fails to amaze me how many people don’t seem to understand that there are guidelines for a reason. Guidelines for your submissions make lives easier for agents around the world, so why would you not follow them?

As I said in Pet Peeve #21 - Questioning Guidelines:

“I can understand if you want to clarify something like a technical term or the like with someone who knows, but my teeth truly grind when I see someone ask something like this:

“The guidelines say to submit three consecutive chapters, but can I submit chapters three, nine, and eleven?”

Yes, I’ve seen it.

First, it’s not “can I” it’s “may I”. Secondly? Open a Word document, type in “consecutive”, and press shift and F7. (I’m assuming if you have a question like this about the guidelines, you don’t have an actual hard copy of a dictionary or thesaurus.) In none of the alternatives does it even hint that “three consecutive” is anything other than three in a row or three chapters - one after another.”

And yet people still go on and on, wondering if they can do something other than exactly what the agent/publishing company has asked for. That doesn’t make any sense as far as I am concerned.

But if you don’t want to take it from me, then listen to an agent: “There’s a reason that query letters have a certain form to them. There’s a reason I ask for a hook before I ask to read the pages. I’m not doing that to make you crazy. I’m doing it so that when you send me an email, I don’t go crazy, and auto-reject you.”

The Writer Beware Blog has entered into 2008 with what I feel is a great piece of advice – especially for new writers:

“Don’t look for agents on the Internet.”

Writers, agents, and publishers have been working together for a long time before the internet came into being, and you can survive doing a little extra legwork to make sure your time, work, and money are as safe as they can be.

Like anything on the internet, it’s more than easy to simply take everything for truth. And like in the offline world, that’s exactly the right way to get someone to take advantage of you.

Yes, the internet is a fantastic resource, but what harm does it do you to check out your local library for The Writer’s Market or talk to someone you trust about things?

Before you do anything, you should at least have an idea of who you want to talk to, what you’re after, and at the very least learn some publishing industry terms. Don’t learn for the sake of dropping words; learn for your own sake. You are trying to get into an industry, here.

Many of the agents, publishing houses, etc listed in The Writer’s Market and other books like it list their websites. If nothing else, you’re narrowing down your scope easily instead of treading through Google pages and wondering what’s reputable.

Not only does this post give great advice, it also list many links you might find useful.

In the spirit of the post, though, keep in mind that I haven’t had the time to check out all the links, so use your own discretion.