Still Working!

I am still working on my proposal for my book ideas! There is so much to learn in the world of writing and getting a book published that I never knew. You think it's somehow like the movies. You write la-di-da and then you publish...pow!

Movies lie. Why? It's a lot of writing, re-writing proposals and back and forth. So if you are wanting to write a book, just know that you are in for a lot of rejections and work. Many of you want to know how to get your book published? Well all I can tell you is how I am trying to do that. The #1 thing is to get an agent. If that doesn't work, try re-writing your query letter and re-sending it or find new agents to send it to. A query letter is a small synopsis of your work. Kind of like what you would find on the inside of a book jacket. Something that tells a little about you and the book. Something that will really reel them in! Here are some sites to go to to find agents (remember to research each agent and find out if you are the right fit for them and what they are looking for in a query letter). Here are some of the sites that really helped me:

Start with this one first! It was the best. I went through the entire list and e-mailed every agent that I thought would fit the bill. Some only wanted paper/snail mail queries so I skipped those. I am going green like many agencies and I couldn't afford the money to print and mail to all of them so I did all the e-mailed ones first. If I didn't get a response then I was going to do the paper/snail mail ones. I was't going to give up no matter how many rejections! I knew that this was an awesome book and that I had soooo much more to share!

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3575/wn/writerstext-uspublishers.html

http://www.literarymarketplace.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp

http://www.spywriter.com/litagency5.html This guy really kept me going! Check out how many query letters it took him. He's got me beat. I sent out 350 individual query letters (do not spam agents, they do not like that and you will most likely be rejected. Personalize each query. It's slow but do it!).

http://www.author-network.com/agents2.html

I also went to Stephanie Meyers website here http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

and read about how she did it, got a subscription for a month to writers market http://www.writersmarket.com/ and went to Janet Evanovich's website http://www.evanovich.com/. This is where I learned to write a query letter. Then by researching on agents sites I found out more and more. When agents tell you that your work is not right for them but offer suggestions, take those suggestions as if they were pure gold. Take them into consideration. I did. An agent told me that it wasn't long enough. I had about 16 ideas in the book then. So I added a bunch more and it really has been good advice!

So #1 FINISH YOUR BOOK

#2 get family and friends to help you edit it

#3 Send out a million query letters and don't give up until you get an agent or if you have tried your best, then go for a publishing house that takes un-agented work. But don't go that route unless you have queried at least 400 agents. Yes really that many!

I hope this helped and good luck!