I have gone through the query process, sending off to numerous agents and sometimes hearing back from them and sometimes, frequently, not hearing anything at all. They are busy people and get hundreds of email queries in a single day, so I can understand that it takes time to answer all of them.
But 3 months is a fairly long time to wait around for a form letter, no thanks. If I was an agent and it took me three months to get through my emails, I’d put up a notice on my agent website a statement along the lines of – if you haven’t heard from me in 30 days, it’s a no. Otherwise, it’s a waste of the agent’s time, and since they don’t seem to have enough, maybe it’s better they limit what they spend time on that has no value to them.
I didn’t wait for most of the agents I queried to get back to me before I moved on. I was already reading about the changes in the industry that led me to this day, on the cusp of having my novel go ‘live’ on Amazon.
I just read another great post on Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog, about the changes taking place in the publishing industry, about the dilemma so many writers are facing now, along with their agents and editors. It’s a good read, as is the entire series, The Business Rusch. Go, if you’re wondering if you can do this self-publishing thing. She’ll set you straight!
Just click on the link to her blog to the left, since my ability to link is not working today.
Independently publishing puts my percentage for my work the right way around, meaning I get paid more for my writing than a Big Six publisher would dream of paying me unless I’m Stephen King or J. K. Rowling, and even they are self-publishing. (Rowling just left her agency behind).
Check out Dean Wesley Smith’s post about the math. It’s interesting and easy enough to grasp for folks like me who don’t do math.
Same as above, links to the left.
It’s my life and my career and I think I want more than 10% or 25% as Random House now determines. Amazon gives me 70%. At Smashwords, it’s 85%.
So I laughed when I got the form rejection note from Agent Z. I was tempted to write back and say, well, that’s ok because like so many other authors, I’m taking it all into my own hands.
