The next cycle
Published by on May 12th, 2009 Leave a comment »
The first round of approaches to literary agents are back – all rejections. So it is time to regroup and prepare for the next batch, with a new tactic…
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!
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