I wrote recently about receiving rejections from literary agents. There is always a little disappointment to receive a negative response, after all, you are trying to gain a positive one. But I thankfully never feel it personally, or as a criticism of my idea or writing.

My initial approaches painted the complete picture of the Table Rappers project: it’s scope, plans for the future (seven books), details of the existing audio series, etc. But advice in the 2009 edition of Guide to Literary Agents, suggests a current negative reaction to multi-book proposals:

We’ve been seeing a lot more of these types of “series” presentations lately – the feeling being that the author needs to present a future “franchise” for the agent and publisher to get them more interested. In fact, it may send up a red flag about the author’s expectations.

I can see the logic in that thought. However much passion I have as creator of a series, if the first book doesn’t get a bite on its own merits, there’s never going to be a series.

I can understand why Agents, and publishers, are inundated with series proposals right now, with the successes of Harry Potter and Twilight for example.

When an agent reads about an author’s very first book, there is no way for them to measure whether that author is truly capable of more than one novel – some writers are simply one-hit-wonders.

Change is afoot

So, despite every instinct in me from my professional side to present the complete picture, I am pulling everything but the merest hint of hoping to write a series, focusing on the first book as something that will stand alone if it must.

In addition, I am trying a series of query letters rather than full submissions. If I cannot get some interest in the core idea in the first place, there’s little point in the cost and effort of sending a full synopsis and manuscript sample.

Targets have been designated, so watch this space for news of more rejections once I have them!

I am under no illusions about the nature of the climb ahead of me to get Persistent Spirit and the rest of the Table Rappers series published and out on bookshelves. (Why I have swung a u-turn back from online publishing to traditional publishing is for another post.)

The chances of me landing an agent without already having some kind of publishing deal, or at least an offer, is very slim. But not impossible. A superb post on advice in finding a literary agent can be found on Neil Gaiman’s site.

It has to be the right one

Last weekend I waded through a database of Literary Agents and was surprised how straightforward it was to filter out those clearly not suitable for my submission. It took about 3 hours of research to pin down three possible candidates, carefully assessing the requirements and tone of their websites, and, of course, their current author list.

The principle criteria for me is to find an agent that understands a long running series of connected novels and associated online and offline elements. One that will respect my career experience and how that can be applied to promotion ongoing is also important.

This begs the question: If I get an offer from a agent who I feel does not properly fit those criteria, will I turn down the offer?

I hope the answer will be: yes, I will walk away for a more appropriate deal. But unless I am actually in that position, I don’t think I can make that decision ahead of time. There is too much to weigh-up.

Waiting for rejection

Sending the three submissions in the post this afternoon was an interesting experience. There is no nervousness, no fears, no nail-chewing whilst listening for the rejection letter response to pop through the letterbox in six to eight weeks.

Thankfully, the notion of rejection is something I came to terms with very early on, when I began venturing into writing. Fear of professional rejection is irrational and as a guaranteed stepping stone on the usually long, winding path to be published, is something no-one can side-step.

I do not lack confidence in my work. I know there is an audience for it, and I’ll just keep hammering at doors until I find someone who understands where that audience is.

What’s next?

Agents, like publishers, quote around six to eight weeks for a response. I’ll not confuse the issue by submitting to more agents in that time, but may make some direct to publisher submissions if I feel it is necessary.

Work on the final chapters of Persistent Spirit continues, and work on the second book, A Shot in Time, is accelerating in the background with story structure and planning starting to kick-in when there’s the time.

This one will be an exciting project for me coming to a new novel after my experience with the first – there will be less mystery, and less trying to work out just how to make it happen. This is a good thing because the story is promising to be more complex being split into two distinctly different locations (I’m not giving anything else away on that, it’s a surprise!).