Plans, plans, plans
Nov. 9th, 2023 01:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkWell...after my last post, things with my agent have gotten worse, so I'm 99% sure I will leave her and look for a new agent next year.
But...well, there's a problem: I can't leave right away.
There are still 2 editors remaining who have Novel #4, so it doesn't make sense to pull submissions from them at this point; if there were more editors, I might have been more comfortable pulling all submissions and restarting with a new agent. However, I'm also kind of afraid those two editors both might end up being ghosts? So I don't plan on waiting forever; if they still haven't responded after a few more months, I will leave and ask my agent to pull the remaining submissions.
So what that really means is that I can't leave my agent until I finish drafting and revising Novel #5 and have something new to query with.
Which...puts a lot more pressure on me than I initially wanted. Novel #5 was initially my casual, therapeutic, "I'm not even sure if this is commercial" book. And now I have to rely on it to get me a new agent, since Novel #4 has already been on submission and it would be risky to query it again (I mean, unless I wanted to try querying UK agents with it, I guess).
I have 59k words drafted for Novel #5, and it's about halfway done. Which means that I have roughly another 59k words to draft before it's finished.
It's a lot. However, I was able to draft the first half of the book very quickly using a chapter-by-chapter outline, so if I can nail down the outline for the second half, the drafting process will also hopefully not take too long (two or three months? Maybe?). My goal is to finalize the outline by mid-December, so I can take a week off between Christmas and New Year's and start seriously drafting then. So...basically, I'm under a lot more time pressure to finish Novel #5 ASAP. Cue once again putting parts of my personal life on hold to finish writing a book.
Sigh.
Of course, the scariest part about querying is not knowing if you'll be able to get a new agent. Though, what I've learned is that it's not worth having an agent who isn't passionate about your work or isn't able to sell your book; then the relationship becomes a waste of time.
What's even scarier is how Adult Fantasy traditional publishers have radically shifted their acquisitions strategy starting this year to acquiring mostly romantasy and cozy fantasy. I'm fairly certain this trend had a negative effect on my submission experience. And I don't know when it's going to end, and when I'll have more of a fighting chance for my dark, grief- and trauma-focused fantasy books.
***
In other news, it's been an absolutely terrible reading year for me—I've quit SO many books, and I've only finished reading 23 as of today. I might post some DNF book reviews soon.
I'm trying to soothe some of my stresses with retail therapy, lol. I'm upgrading my 5-year-old Kindle Paperwhite (on which I not only read a lot of ebooks, but also edit my own books) and am currently eagerly awaiting the Black Friday sale. I may also try some new skin care products. Who knows!
But...well, there's a problem: I can't leave right away.
There are still 2 editors remaining who have Novel #4, so it doesn't make sense to pull submissions from them at this point; if there were more editors, I might have been more comfortable pulling all submissions and restarting with a new agent. However, I'm also kind of afraid those two editors both might end up being ghosts? So I don't plan on waiting forever; if they still haven't responded after a few more months, I will leave and ask my agent to pull the remaining submissions.
So what that really means is that I can't leave my agent until I finish drafting and revising Novel #5 and have something new to query with.
Which...puts a lot more pressure on me than I initially wanted. Novel #5 was initially my casual, therapeutic, "I'm not even sure if this is commercial" book. And now I have to rely on it to get me a new agent, since Novel #4 has already been on submission and it would be risky to query it again (I mean, unless I wanted to try querying UK agents with it, I guess).
I have 59k words drafted for Novel #5, and it's about halfway done. Which means that I have roughly another 59k words to draft before it's finished.
It's a lot. However, I was able to draft the first half of the book very quickly using a chapter-by-chapter outline, so if I can nail down the outline for the second half, the drafting process will also hopefully not take too long (two or three months? Maybe?). My goal is to finalize the outline by mid-December, so I can take a week off between Christmas and New Year's and start seriously drafting then. So...basically, I'm under a lot more time pressure to finish Novel #5 ASAP. Cue once again putting parts of my personal life on hold to finish writing a book.
Sigh.
Of course, the scariest part about querying is not knowing if you'll be able to get a new agent. Though, what I've learned is that it's not worth having an agent who isn't passionate about your work or isn't able to sell your book; then the relationship becomes a waste of time.
What's even scarier is how Adult Fantasy traditional publishers have radically shifted their acquisitions strategy starting this year to acquiring mostly romantasy and cozy fantasy. I'm fairly certain this trend had a negative effect on my submission experience. And I don't know when it's going to end, and when I'll have more of a fighting chance for my dark, grief- and trauma-focused fantasy books.
***
In other news, it's been an absolutely terrible reading year for me—I've quit SO many books, and I've only finished reading 23 as of today. I might post some DNF book reviews soon.
I'm trying to soothe some of my stresses with retail therapy, lol. I'm upgrading my 5-year-old Kindle Paperwhite (on which I not only read a lot of ebooks, but also edit my own books) and am currently eagerly awaiting the Black Friday sale. I may also try some new skin care products. Who knows!
