Here are some questions I asked during the writing and selling process, and my current thoughts, based on the six and one-half year experience. Q: Do you need an agent? A: You should try to get an agent. Think of it as a stepping stone. If you cannot interest an agent in your book, your chances of interesting a publisher are very small. I think agents earn their fee. Look at is this way--do you know of any lawyer who would only charge you 15% of any money you got thanks to his/her work? Q: Should you let friends and family read your work-in-progress? A: Probably not. Unless they have fiction-writing background, they will not be able to make useful comments. But there may be exceptions--people who are critical readers and who are not afraid to be candid with you. I let my wife read an early draft and she told me it "lacked passion." She was right, and I never forgot that comment.
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Q: How do you know when your story is ready to send out? A: I will answer with a question: How bothered would you be if all traces of your story were destroyed in some accident, all computer files and paper copies. If you would be greatly upset, I don't think your story is ready to send out. Because only when you know your story well enough to reconstruct it from memory (not word-for-word, but scene-for-scene and almost sentence-for-sentence) have you really been through the polishing process. At the time I sent out Wideness, I have no doubt that I could have re-written the thing in two weeks, and probably improved on what existed. Q: Should you get professional assessment of your story? A: Yes, but not on an early draft. Write and re-write until you've done your best, then have a professional assess your work. Once you have their feedback, write and re-write some more. Quality feedback is extremely helpful, but it won't take you all the way. Only your persistence will do that. |