A Different Approach
If you saw my comment in Supriya’s post this week, you already know that, like her, I haven’t sent out any query letters. It’s not that I haven’t faced my fair share of torment, criticism and rejection though. I enter contests.
Considering contests are likely a topic for another week, I won’t go into the gory details. I will mention I once read the advice, writers should place in a few contests before they send out query letters to publishers and agents, which is why I opted for entering writing competitions first. I guess I got lucky when I finally co-won a contest last year. It landed me an agent, although I’m still trying to figure out what that bought me. Again, another topic…
Okay, now back to this week’s post. Well kinda.
Besides not having a novel quite ready to submit to a publisher, there’s another reason I haven’t sent out query letters. The publishing industry is changing. Funny, but Greg reminded us Wicked Writers of this fact earlier this week when he emailed a link to The New York Times article With Kindle, the Best Sellers Don’t Need to Sell. Heck, as a Kindle owner, I take full advantage of the free stuff to figure out what books to purchase. So I expect to give away my first novel to sell more novels in the series. Oh yeah, I am over @TheCourierNovel, along with copies on Textnovel, Authonomy, Booksie and my website. I also expect to give away the second novel, initially. So this article is right on in my opinion.
Also call me a glutton for punishment, because no matter how many times I’ve been warned not to do it, I still haven’t ruled out self publishing. Sure, I’d rather go with a big publisher. Who wouldn’t? There’s just something about going through the experience that I think would be valuable.
Oops. Am I rambling and getting too far off topic again?
I know I’ll be writing a query letter within the next couple months, but I’m really in no hurry, expecting it to be like resume writing. I used to edit resumes for an IT consulting company once upon a time. And since I can’t provide much more value to this week’s topic, I’ll cut it short and take off to enjoy my Friday.
C.J. Ellisson
Gregory Marshall Smith
David Sartof
Anastasia V. Pergakis
James Garcia Jr.
George Allwynn
Sharon Hamilton
J.D. Brown
C.J. Ellisson lives near Washington DC with her husband, two children, two Staffordshire bull terriers and a young cat to whom she’s newly allergic. 
After spending most of her working life associated with real estate, she’s now pursuing a new passion of fiction writing. Her Erotic Urban Fantasy series stars a smart, strong, and slightly sarcastic female vampire running a resort for the undead in Alaska.
J.D. Brown lives with her two Pomeranians on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois. She enjoys the best of both worlds: peaceful country side and neurotic city life. J.D. began writing for publication in 2009, when she started her first Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Thriller series, Dark Heirloom. She fell in love with the craft and her writing became a wicked hot obsession.
Gregory Marshall Smith, born in Somerville, Massachusetts and raised in historic Medford, is a jack-of-all-trades. 
Anastasia V. Pergakis is a high fantasy author, mostly. She also writes Sci-Fi, Urban fantasy, and mystery novels. Her main novel, The Faery’s Tale Saga is a four part series, a high fantasy mixed with action/adventure and romance. She also writes dark poetry and the occasional twisted or humorous short story. Besides writing, Anastasia also loves reviewing/editing, cover art design, and web design. 
The eccentric George Allwynn not only pens GLBT romantic suspense, but at times, has been caught sneaking in some paranormal, humor and (gasp!) erotica. 
Sharon Hamilton loves all things paranormal: angels, vampires, a witch or two, and even some hybrid beings who don’t know what they are. 
David Sartof has a PhD in management philosophy, has served in the Merchant Marine and as an Officer in the UK’s Royal Air Force. In addition, he spent most of the first decade of the 21st century developing businesses as an entrepreneur. 
David is the author of River of Judgement, a crime novel set in the City of London during the start of banking crisis of the late-noughties.
James Garcia Jr.began writing when he discovered horror novels in junior high. Later, he set aside his dream of being a writer while he and his wife started their family. 
Not bad, you landed an agent without having to send out a single query. We should all be so lucky. And yes, I’m also prepping my copy for contests before working on the query. Sort of like stage rehearsal, huh?
You mean agents don’t just magically produce contracts from interested publishers overnight?
Ugh… I really think it will be the waiting that kills me… or drives me to self publish…
You might want to rethink the self-publishing route. My friend Starlene Stringer (actress/writer/radio personality/voice-over artist) went that route and found it very difficult.
I agree with Greg on the self-pub route. A publisher gets you distribution and reviews. Both of those get you into libraries. Libraries represent a huge channel to reach readers.
Some rejections are a delight to receive. They’re the ones that arrive after the publishing contract is in your hands.
The AgentQuery discussion list is great for giving support to those who are in query mode. Folks on that list help each other tighten queries online. AgentQuest is a sub-group of Guppies, which is a chapter of Sisters in Crime. And there’s an annual contest for those who tally the most rejections.