I'm having an oxymoron day.
Definition of oxymoron: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
Think: Jumbo shrimp.
While simultaneously getting interviewed, receiving fan mail, positive reviews, and personal notes of thanks from reviewers about SHUT UP, I am also shopping THE LINE (my YA Dystopian) to select literary agencies in the hopes of cracking the traditional YA book market, and with that comes a seemingly never-ending flow of emails that read something like this...
"This is great, but..."
"We love your writing, however..."
"We enjoyed reading this. Unfortunately..."
There were those of you (you know who you are!) who told me that landing a traditional market literary agent was a pain in the ass, and I don't mind admitting out loud, that they were correct. It is.
It does not matter if you are freaking Mark Twain (and I'm nowhere close), but unless you find the right agent, in the right mood, with the right list, looking for the right kind of manuscript, who also happens to like your query - then MAYBE you MIGHT get lucky enough to submit a draft of your work.
Then, this said agent has to love your work, present it to their co-workers, who also have to love your work, and evaluate the market to see if they know the right people to buy your work, and 9 times out of 10 they will ask you to re-write your work, (and 9 times out of 10 their notes are steered toward making it more "traditional"), and even then that's no guarantee they will ask you to sign with their agency, even if you do change it, and jump through all the right hoops.
As one friend put it so astutely: "It's a craps shoot."
So -
Rejections one minute.
Fan mail the next.
"We appreciate your contacting our agency, BUT..."
"I bawled through one whole section of your book..."
Yeah.
It's a roller coaster over here, and I wish I were having more fun.
Don't mind me.
I'm oxymoronic.
Definition of oxymoron: A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.
Think: Jumbo shrimp.
While simultaneously getting interviewed, receiving fan mail, positive reviews, and personal notes of thanks from reviewers about SHUT UP, I am also shopping THE LINE (my YA Dystopian) to select literary agencies in the hopes of cracking the traditional YA book market, and with that comes a seemingly never-ending flow of emails that read something like this...
"This is great, but..."
"We love your writing, however..."
"We enjoyed reading this. Unfortunately..."
There were those of you (you know who you are!) who told me that landing a traditional market literary agent was a pain in the ass, and I don't mind admitting out loud, that they were correct. It is.
It does not matter if you are freaking Mark Twain (and I'm nowhere close), but unless you find the right agent, in the right mood, with the right list, looking for the right kind of manuscript, who also happens to like your query - then MAYBE you MIGHT get lucky enough to submit a draft of your work.
Then, this said agent has to love your work, present it to their co-workers, who also have to love your work, and evaluate the market to see if they know the right people to buy your work, and 9 times out of 10 they will ask you to re-write your work, (and 9 times out of 10 their notes are steered toward making it more "traditional"), and even then that's no guarantee they will ask you to sign with their agency, even if you do change it, and jump through all the right hoops.
As one friend put it so astutely: "It's a craps shoot."
So -
Rejections one minute.
Fan mail the next.
"We appreciate your contacting our agency, BUT..."
"I bawled through one whole section of your book..."
Yeah.
It's a roller coaster over here, and I wish I were having more fun.
Don't mind me.
I'm oxymoronic.
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