My Updates 6/6/2015

Hi All,

I thought I’d take some time out of my June long weekend (happy birthday Queen Elizabeth!) to write an update about what’s been happening re ‘shopping my book!’

As most of you know, I’m currently looking for a US agent. I created my top 10 list, researched each agent, slaved over my query letters and sent my baby off into cyberspace. It generally takes 4 to 8 weeks before you hear back IF you’re lucky enough to hear back at all. I’ve managed a 50% hit rate with an initial 4 x polite/encouraging rejects followed by a 5th email from a very reputable NYC agent requesting my full manuscript. I squealed the news to my now deaf hubby, Pete, and danced around the house like a crazy woman. Then I called my daughter, Lisa, and emailed a few key people about my thrilling news. I prefaced my optimism with, ‘don’t get too excited! It’s fairly unlikely this will go any further BUT I’m rapt just to have the request as it’s soooo rare, especially after only 10 submissions!’ You’ll have to keep reading to find out what happened next (sorry, it’s the writer in me…gotta build the suspense hehe).

For those of you who are unaware, simply being asked for a ‘full’ manuscript by an agent of this caliber is HUGE! According to publishing marketers, www.kadaxis.com, the odds of a randomly selected query letter eliciting a positive response is remote – something like 1%. When an agent actually requests your manuscript, the odds of receiving an offer of representation can increase between 3% and 20%, depending on the agent. That said, Kadaxis reports only 5/10% of manuscript requests result in a new client being signed.

Sad, isn’t it?

Still, I’ve never been short on positivity, drive and persistence. I’m also used to working in an industry with an oversupply of talent in a dwindling market. The music biz isn’t unlike the publishing industry. It can be a bit of a lottery to get anywhere and you definitely need an element of luck on your side.

So what happened with my big NYC agent? After spending the following 4 weeks stalking the poor woman on the internet (well, not literally – I just read on-line interviews and watched her speak at several seminars on youtube), she finally came back to me. I ended up on the 90/95% side, however, she did say my novel was ‘very’ entertaining but the market is impossible right now and she wished me luck.

Naturally I would have LOVED to have been on the 5/10% side but I can’t help seeing this as a positive. I mean, it’s not every day that someone of note chooses you out of a massive pile of queries, requests your manuscript and actually enjoys it. This is an agency on 7th Ave NYC, established 25 years and representing well known, best selling authors! Since I was only dipping my toe by sending out to my first 10 agents, I can’t help but feel chuffed at a 50% hit rate and a read manuscript.

So what’s next? I’ve decided to send to 10 more ‘biggies’ while I continue working on the second book – mostly research, plotting and chapter summaries. I’ve made a small change to my query letter by briefly outlining a possible marketing strategy. From everything I’m reading, publishers need to be more convinced than ever that your book will sell. They want to work with authors who are proactive when it comes to marketing and promotions. This means more work on my writer’s platform, building facebook likes, twitter followers and blog readers so please help me spread the word! In the meantime, I’ll be looking at other ways to increase these numbers.

I’ve said this a thousand times – it really doesn’t matter what happens so long as I continue to enjoy every second of my writing. Success equals happiness and I’m happiest when I’m writing. Who knows what tomorrow will bring and, like my main character Grace always says, “anything is possible”.

Take care all, Viv x