Just a quick note. I found this website when I was searching for Christian outlets. It seems like it has a lot of possibilities. You might want to check it out if you're a Christian writer.
http://www.christianmanuscriptsubmissions.com/
I'm not quite sure my books are a good fit for this one or Christian market in general because they are not overtly Christian. I myself do not see them as "Christian" books, but books with Christianity mentioned in them as an integral part of the story. In Kwangsook's case, it's part of Korean history, so if I'm going to write about that period, it's going to have to be a part of it.
So, I'm still searching, but I'm now thinking I might go through a last, before it gets published kind of editing/cleaning of the manuscript and send it straight to Kindle. People who have read it tell me that it's quite a compelling story which they haven't been exposed to before. I guess I have options, but it's still difficult to give up on your dream of going through the traditional route.
Happy writing to you all.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
A New Direction
Sorry about the long absence. It's very hard to be motivated and keeping at something when nothing seems to work. But the thing is...if I give up, here and now, then I'm beaten. There is no hope. But I always believe there is hope, always. The glass is always half full. So, here I am, after licking my wounds and taking time off, I'm back with a new plan.
I'm a Christian. Sometimes irreverent. Sometimes heretical in my thinking. Always questioning and seeking. But I do believe in God and that God is love. I didn't pursue the Christian agents/publisher route 1) because my books aren't overtly Christian and 2)I wasn't sure I wanted to be known as a "Christian" writer (whatever that might mean...). I now realize that I'm penalizing myself by not looking into that option for both of my books.
One of the reviewers of my book on Goodreads.com complained about my "Hallmark" ending for Waiting for Appa. I like "Hallmark" endings and I like the ending on Waiting for Appa. I hope a new segment of publishing industry might be willing to look at my work more favorably.
Update on the second book which I'll call by the main character's name from this point on - Kwangsook (means Virtuous Light in Korean). Two agents have read more substantial amount of the manuscript and both have rejected it for several reasons, but the frustrating thing is that both have told me that I'm a good storyteller. I don't know if I need to go back and rework the manuscript or keep trying to find someone who will like it the way it is.
My husband, that wonderful man, says I'm too hard on myself. I'm a busy mom with two young kids who has her hands full all the time. I'm going to take his advice and just try to enjoy my life as it is, agonizing wait time for agents/publishing opportunity and all.
I'm a Christian. Sometimes irreverent. Sometimes heretical in my thinking. Always questioning and seeking. But I do believe in God and that God is love. I didn't pursue the Christian agents/publisher route 1) because my books aren't overtly Christian and 2)I wasn't sure I wanted to be known as a "Christian" writer (whatever that might mean...). I now realize that I'm penalizing myself by not looking into that option for both of my books.
One of the reviewers of my book on Goodreads.com complained about my "Hallmark" ending for Waiting for Appa. I like "Hallmark" endings and I like the ending on Waiting for Appa. I hope a new segment of publishing industry might be willing to look at my work more favorably.
Update on the second book which I'll call by the main character's name from this point on - Kwangsook (means Virtuous Light in Korean). Two agents have read more substantial amount of the manuscript and both have rejected it for several reasons, but the frustrating thing is that both have told me that I'm a good storyteller. I don't know if I need to go back and rework the manuscript or keep trying to find someone who will like it the way it is.
My husband, that wonderful man, says I'm too hard on myself. I'm a busy mom with two young kids who has her hands full all the time. I'm going to take his advice and just try to enjoy my life as it is, agonizing wait time for agents/publishing opportunity and all.
Friday, March 25, 2011
A New Hope
I can be very stubborn and tenacious, if I want to be, but I also give up easily if and when I decide that it's not worth the effort. Well, once I decided, last summer, that I was going back to work (which hasn't quite worked out, yet because I don't want to travel too much), I gave up trying to schedule book talks/book signings, etc. What I should have done was to look more into other options. I didn't look into Kindle because iUniverse had offered my book in ebook format, but it's not offered on any other websites besides iUniverse.
iUniverse, which published my book in paperback, also offers the ebook option on their website. So, I didn't think much about the ebook option until yesterday when my brother forwarded me a link to an article about an author, Amanda Hocking, who had found success on Amazon/Barnes and Noble selling her ebooks. I think she sold 100,000 ebooks a month! She does sell these books for $0.99 to $2.99 per ebook (their lengths suggest that they may be shorter stories). When you can keep 70% of that, that's a lot of money. I only get $0.75/book for royalties and my book sells for $14.95/book, supposedly.
iUniverse has not lock me into anything. I have all my publishing rights. So, I'm currently working on Waiting for Appa so that I may publish it for Kindle and Nook readers. You may want to consider this option also.
Because I already had a book on Amazon and I was already on www.authorcentral.com, it was really easy for me to take a look at what I need for Kindle publication. I don't know what a new author without a published book needs to do, but it can't be that difficult (because Amazon wants to make money). So, take a look. I'm going to take a chance. What do I have to lose?
REVIEWS:
No one likes reading negative reviews (less than 3 star rating, I guess), but I have to admit that those negative reviews provide a wealth of information on what I can do better next time (unless of course, it just says you suck). Now that I have an opportunity to work on the Kindle version of Waiting for Appa, I'm actually in the process of writing some additional material. So, please, don't feel bad about writing negative reviews. I'm always ready and willing to take my reader's advice to make my book better anytime.
Ebook publishing note - Amanda Hocking signed a four-book, $2 million plus deal with St. Martin's Press. This is something to inspire me and aspire to.
Good luck everyone!
iUniverse, which published my book in paperback, also offers the ebook option on their website. So, I didn't think much about the ebook option until yesterday when my brother forwarded me a link to an article about an author, Amanda Hocking, who had found success on Amazon/Barnes and Noble selling her ebooks. I think she sold 100,000 ebooks a month! She does sell these books for $0.99 to $2.99 per ebook (their lengths suggest that they may be shorter stories). When you can keep 70% of that, that's a lot of money. I only get $0.75/book for royalties and my book sells for $14.95/book, supposedly.
iUniverse has not lock me into anything. I have all my publishing rights. So, I'm currently working on Waiting for Appa so that I may publish it for Kindle and Nook readers. You may want to consider this option also.
Because I already had a book on Amazon and I was already on www.authorcentral.com, it was really easy for me to take a look at what I need for Kindle publication. I don't know what a new author without a published book needs to do, but it can't be that difficult (because Amazon wants to make money). So, take a look. I'm going to take a chance. What do I have to lose?
REVIEWS:
No one likes reading negative reviews (less than 3 star rating, I guess), but I have to admit that those negative reviews provide a wealth of information on what I can do better next time (unless of course, it just says you suck). Now that I have an opportunity to work on the Kindle version of Waiting for Appa, I'm actually in the process of writing some additional material. So, please, don't feel bad about writing negative reviews. I'm always ready and willing to take my reader's advice to make my book better anytime.
Ebook publishing note - Amanda Hocking signed a four-book, $2 million plus deal with St. Martin's Press. This is something to inspire me and aspire to.
Good luck everyone!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Lessons Learned: Making sense of rejections
I used to work at a high tech firm in the Silicon Valley. I had 8 direct reports and some of my direct reports had direct reports. The thing about hiring people is that black and white qualifications might get you in the door, but it doesn't get you hired. I used to get a stack of resumes and I had less than a minute to spend on each of them. At this point, I'm looking for the qualifications on paper. But after an interview, I'm looking for that spark, that chemistry, that indefinable quality I can't put down on paper to justify why I'm hiring this person over another person who was just as qualified. It's the gut feeling that tells me that this person will make a good team member.
I recently received a rejection letter from an agent who wrote that she didn't feel the spark, the indefinable quality with my manuscript. I wrote back, asking if there was anything I could do differently to improve my synopsis (which I absolutely hate writing) or my manuscript. She replied that there wasn't. If she thinks of something later, she said she would let me know.
Of course, I was frustrated. I wish she had told me my grammar sucked or plot was weak or something. Something concrete that I could work on. But there was nothing. Nothing for me to work on to make myself feel I'm actually doing something constructive to better my chances next time.
Well, after a day of fussing over it, it finally occurred to me that I know exactly what this agent is talking about. She's not being difficult or vague. She just didn't feel the Chemistry. So, since that revelation, I've redoubled my efforts to send out more query letter to different agents who might see a spark or feel some chemistry with my book.
I recently received a rejection letter from an agent who wrote that she didn't feel the spark, the indefinable quality with my manuscript. I wrote back, asking if there was anything I could do differently to improve my synopsis (which I absolutely hate writing) or my manuscript. She replied that there wasn't. If she thinks of something later, she said she would let me know.
Of course, I was frustrated. I wish she had told me my grammar sucked or plot was weak or something. Something concrete that I could work on. But there was nothing. Nothing for me to work on to make myself feel I'm actually doing something constructive to better my chances next time.
Well, after a day of fussing over it, it finally occurred to me that I know exactly what this agent is talking about. She's not being difficult or vague. She just didn't feel the Chemistry. So, since that revelation, I've redoubled my efforts to send out more query letter to different agents who might see a spark or feel some chemistry with my book.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Lessons Learned: Queries 2
Since the first material an agent will ever see of your book is a query, I'm very interested in anything that will peak the agent's interest, and I think I found a great article from an agent's website. It's called the Perfect Pitch from Sarah Jane Freymann's website. It's really interesting, and it's packed with good ideas. The thing about the perfect pitch is that whenever I go to a bookstore or library to talk to someone about scheduling a book talk or book signing event, they always ask me what the book is about. And the perfect pitch really helped me hone mine down. So please, take a look at the Perfect Pitch.
Another thing, comparing your book to the current bestsellers is not the best idea, but on the other hand, there are a few agents who ask for that info. For instance, one of the early readers for my current book told me that my book reminded her of the book Gone with the Wind. She and I would talk about the book, referring to it as the Gone with Wind, Korean style. But I didn't mention that at all in my query letter. It's not that I didn't agree with the reader. I did. There were many similarities, but I didn't want to come across as pretentious. However, I've done something like this before. "My readers would also enjoy readying xxx, xxx, xxx, and xxx." Trying to give the agent some idea as to how I see my book being marketed, but ultimately, I stopped doing that for the same reasons. I didn't want to come across pretentious, arrogant, or worse yet, clueless. So, beware.
As far as bio section in the query, I write about my writing credits, such as an essay contest I've won, a short story that got published, and self-publishing Waiting for Appa. I don't include much else because I'm not sure if it'll be helpful. It could also be that since engineers are not known for writing emotionally moving prose, I just keep that to myself. However, there are agents who specifically ask for 1 page bio, so have that on hand and be ready to submit that.
At the end, I end with the basic ending of "I look forward to hearing from you soon," along with included SASE. I know. This could be boring, but I like hitting the basics. When I was a manager at a high tech company, I would receive 500+ page stack of resumes for one or two openings I had in my organization. All I cared about was finding the relevant information as quickly as possible. I spent matter of seconds on a resume. All the other stuff that people did to make their resumes supposedly "interesting" only irritated me, and I would quickly pass on those. So, that's what I'm going for here.
If and when I'm lucky enough to get an agent, I'll post my "winning" query letter and the query letters of my past for your comparison.
Another thing, comparing your book to the current bestsellers is not the best idea, but on the other hand, there are a few agents who ask for that info. For instance, one of the early readers for my current book told me that my book reminded her of the book Gone with the Wind. She and I would talk about the book, referring to it as the Gone with Wind, Korean style. But I didn't mention that at all in my query letter. It's not that I didn't agree with the reader. I did. There were many similarities, but I didn't want to come across as pretentious. However, I've done something like this before. "My readers would also enjoy readying xxx, xxx, xxx, and xxx." Trying to give the agent some idea as to how I see my book being marketed, but ultimately, I stopped doing that for the same reasons. I didn't want to come across pretentious, arrogant, or worse yet, clueless. So, beware.
As far as bio section in the query, I write about my writing credits, such as an essay contest I've won, a short story that got published, and self-publishing Waiting for Appa. I don't include much else because I'm not sure if it'll be helpful. It could also be that since engineers are not known for writing emotionally moving prose, I just keep that to myself. However, there are agents who specifically ask for 1 page bio, so have that on hand and be ready to submit that.
At the end, I end with the basic ending of "I look forward to hearing from you soon," along with included SASE. I know. This could be boring, but I like hitting the basics. When I was a manager at a high tech company, I would receive 500+ page stack of resumes for one or two openings I had in my organization. All I cared about was finding the relevant information as quickly as possible. I spent matter of seconds on a resume. All the other stuff that people did to make their resumes supposedly "interesting" only irritated me, and I would quickly pass on those. So, that's what I'm going for here.
If and when I'm lucky enough to get an agent, I'll post my "winning" query letter and the query letters of my past for your comparison.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Lessons Learned: Queries1
As I was researching online to see which agent would be most suitable for my genre, I came across a very curious thing. A lot of the agents would list their email addresses in a very weird way, I thought. Like submissions at literaryagency dot com or something like this. When I saw something like this, the agent in question explained that he/she didn't want a writer to just cut and paste their email address and send out a massive mailings.
This got me thinking...why would anyone want to do that? First and foremost, a query, whether it's on a snail mail or email, is a business letter. Or a resume. No self-respecting job seeker would or should send massive emails out in one shot.
Last week, I've queried six agents, all via email. I wrote a query letter for each one, with appropriate business addresses, personalization, etc. It took a long time to write your book. Take the extra time to make sure that one of the last steps of this important process is completed to the best of your ability. Don't short change your efforts by doing a shabby job or cutting corners. This is what my husband told me after he read my first attempt at writing a synopsis. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. I mean, how much time do you actually save by mass emailing a query?
I think I write a pretty decent query, and I stick to the basics. I don't try to be cute or gimmicky. At the end, the cuteness and gimmicks just become unnessary distractions and irritations to the material you want the agents to read.
Waiting for Appa update:
I had hoped to schedule some book talks/signings at the local Barnes and Noble stores, but when I went to the biggest one in the are where I already had an event, I was told that 1)they don't usually hold two events for one book, and 2) that since my book came out in 2009, it's old. They wouldn't schedule any events for the book unless some school or organization asked for it.
I'm thinking that's $300 down the drain for renewing the returnability with iUNIVERSE when it seems like there's very little hope of me scheduling an event this way. Mind you, it's only been one store. I need to drive around to more stores, but with synopsis, manuscript, and job search in the way, it's rather difficult.
This got me thinking...why would anyone want to do that? First and foremost, a query, whether it's on a snail mail or email, is a business letter. Or a resume. No self-respecting job seeker would or should send massive emails out in one shot.
Last week, I've queried six agents, all via email. I wrote a query letter for each one, with appropriate business addresses, personalization, etc. It took a long time to write your book. Take the extra time to make sure that one of the last steps of this important process is completed to the best of your ability. Don't short change your efforts by doing a shabby job or cutting corners. This is what my husband told me after he read my first attempt at writing a synopsis. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. I mean, how much time do you actually save by mass emailing a query?
I think I write a pretty decent query, and I stick to the basics. I don't try to be cute or gimmicky. At the end, the cuteness and gimmicks just become unnessary distractions and irritations to the material you want the agents to read.
Waiting for Appa update:
I had hoped to schedule some book talks/signings at the local Barnes and Noble stores, but when I went to the biggest one in the are where I already had an event, I was told that 1)they don't usually hold two events for one book, and 2) that since my book came out in 2009, it's old. They wouldn't schedule any events for the book unless some school or organization asked for it.
I'm thinking that's $300 down the drain for renewing the returnability with iUNIVERSE when it seems like there's very little hope of me scheduling an event this way. Mind you, it's only been one store. I need to drive around to more stores, but with synopsis, manuscript, and job search in the way, it's rather difficult.
Some news
Sorry about being gone for so long. This is supposed to be a definite no-no for bloggers who are trying to build a following. All I can say is that I needed this time off to enjoy the holidays with my family, concentrate on finish editing my new book, and take care of a sick dog. We enjoyed the holidays, my book is finished, and the dog is still languishing with lung cancer. We're doing the best we can to make him comfortable.
After I finished my book, I started querying last week, and I've got some good news. An agent has requested my full manuscript. So, since last week, I've been busy getting that package ready. What she requested are a synopsis and the full manuscript. Now, my manuscript is ready to go, but my synopsis isn't.
I hate writing a synopsis. I hate it so much that in 2004, I've only queried the agents who didn't list synopsis as a part of the submission requirement. I thought I was doing that again this year when an agent who requested the full manuscript asked for a synopsis when it hadn't been listed on her website. Yikes!
Well, I've moaned and groaned but got down to writing a synopsis. My first one sucked. After my husband read it, and frame my effort to write the synopsis with what's at stake, I've thrown away the 1st effort and then started anew. My second one was much better, and I'm currently working on my 3rd effort. I'm hoping to make this one a keeper.
I'm not alone in hating synopsis'. I mean think about it. Trying to squeeze the "essence" of the book (my happens to be 460+ pages) on 1, 3, or 5 page synopsis seems like an awesome task, but I've done it in 7, trying to cut it down to 5.
In my desperation to do a better job after my 1st attempt missed the mark so spectacularly, I went online to check out some examples out there. The best advice I got was the one that said to write a synopsis IMMEDIATELY after finishing a book and BEFORE querying agents. Also, incorporate some of your material from the novel in the body of the synopsis. I wish I had read this article before I queried this time around, too. The only consolation I have is that the agent who asked for the full manuscript is probably too busy to keep tabs on how long it's taking me to send it to her.
So, please, write you synopsis before rather than later.
About querying agents, I like to shoot for the stars. If I fail, I'll fail spectacularly, but if I succeed, I'll succeed beyond my wildest dreams. So, I chose the best of what I could find for my genre. Do the same for yours. Why not?
I was initially going to write about lessons learned about agents this year, but I think I'm going to blog about my real time experience of trying to find an agent for my new book. In the next blog, I'll start with writing a query.
After I finished my book, I started querying last week, and I've got some good news. An agent has requested my full manuscript. So, since last week, I've been busy getting that package ready. What she requested are a synopsis and the full manuscript. Now, my manuscript is ready to go, but my synopsis isn't.
I hate writing a synopsis. I hate it so much that in 2004, I've only queried the agents who didn't list synopsis as a part of the submission requirement. I thought I was doing that again this year when an agent who requested the full manuscript asked for a synopsis when it hadn't been listed on her website. Yikes!
Well, I've moaned and groaned but got down to writing a synopsis. My first one sucked. After my husband read it, and frame my effort to write the synopsis with what's at stake, I've thrown away the 1st effort and then started anew. My second one was much better, and I'm currently working on my 3rd effort. I'm hoping to make this one a keeper.
I'm not alone in hating synopsis'. I mean think about it. Trying to squeeze the "essence" of the book (my happens to be 460+ pages) on 1, 3, or 5 page synopsis seems like an awesome task, but I've done it in 7, trying to cut it down to 5.
In my desperation to do a better job after my 1st attempt missed the mark so spectacularly, I went online to check out some examples out there. The best advice I got was the one that said to write a synopsis IMMEDIATELY after finishing a book and BEFORE querying agents. Also, incorporate some of your material from the novel in the body of the synopsis. I wish I had read this article before I queried this time around, too. The only consolation I have is that the agent who asked for the full manuscript is probably too busy to keep tabs on how long it's taking me to send it to her.
So, please, write you synopsis before rather than later.
About querying agents, I like to shoot for the stars. If I fail, I'll fail spectacularly, but if I succeed, I'll succeed beyond my wildest dreams. So, I chose the best of what I could find for my genre. Do the same for yours. Why not?
I was initially going to write about lessons learned about agents this year, but I think I'm going to blog about my real time experience of trying to find an agent for my new book. In the next blog, I'll start with writing a query.
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