Monday, July 17, 2006

Sad day.

Stay Of Extinction is probably not going to be published in a traditional agent-to-publisher way. Maybe not even in an untraditional self-publishing way.

I got rejected by Tor books. They accept unsolicited manuscripts, because they understand that a mere query isn't enough to show the mettle of a good book. They have also published many books about off-the-wall subjects. I considered them a slam-dunk, but alas they sent me the dreaded 'Dear Author' form letter. At the very least I was hoping for an explanation (no matter how small) about why it was not up to par. I have one more email query out there, and will probably not pursue querying other agents at this time.

So there it is. I do eventually hope to publish the story, but it looks unlikely at this point. I will continue to write with the goal of getting published, which might provide me an opportunity to have Stay Of Extinction published at a later date. But I'm not really expecting much in that way.

I continue to enjoy writing, and please do check in on my short story page for updates.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Another short story for you.

Click here.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Agent? Maybe not.

I'm not sure how much more I'm going to try to land an agent for 'Stay Of Extinction'. As I've said before, they seem put off by cryptozoology.

I've found two publishers that might be a match for this book. It would be a big risk to go at them agentless, but what the heck. They both accep unsolicited manuscripts, and both deal with the wierd. Right up my alley.

So, it's off to the local office supply store for a couple of reams of paper, some extra ink, and a-printing I will go. Then it's off to the post office to send them off at 5 bucks a pop.

Wish me luck.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Funny....

The google ads on the bottom of this page are selected based on the content of your blog. I got a chuckle when I saw one of them was an ad for 'Employer Rejection Letters'.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Proof positive.

In a recent post I hypothesized that agents are scared of cryptozoology when offering representation. I believe I have what is irrefutable proof.


Dear Mr. Haddon:

Thank you for your recent correspondence. I regret to say that your
work doesn't appear to be the kind ofmetarial I am currently looking for
at this time. I am looking to take on new clients, but only with material about which feel very strongly on a personal level.
..blah blah blah, good luck, blah blah blah...


So there you have it. There's no problem being a first-time author, no mention of a schedule being too overloaded - nope. I don't like the premise. Normally I wouldn't gripe, but this particular agent has gone on record in some online interview that one of her pet peeves is grammatical mistakes in authors' query letters. And there she goes and makes one herself. (Read that last sentence again, I made sure it was copied verbatim)

Oh well, at least she bothered to type my name in the letter instead of 'Dear Author'. Man I'm sinking into that cynicism I was hoping to avoid. Ah who cares, there's only a couple of you reading this anyway.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

At this point...

the screenplay route might have a better chance of success. My co-writer, John (who's a very talented writer) is going to speak with a casting agent in early Feb. He's got connections, so this might take off.

We'll see.

As for the book, I've been fishing for critique from the general public via the internet, but nobody seems to really want to offer it. Weird.

I've got two queries out right now. One e-query, another through snail mail. If I get rejections on these, I might have to revamp the query to downplay the scifi element and uplay the historical fiction aspect to it. Probably a better move these days.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

I'm resisting the urge to get cynical

I just got an email rejection - nine weeks after the query. Why bother responding?

I'm getting the feeling agents are scared of cryptozoology (the main subject of the book).

Wussies.