Book update – I have an agent!
Wow, its been over a year since I’ve given an update on the book I’m writing! In that post (where I shared that I decided not to self-publish but rather find a book publisher to represent the book) I shared the process I’m following. It goes something like this:
- Find an editor/writing partner ✔
- Create a proposal for the book ✔
- Write a sample (in my case, the first 25 pages) ✔
- Find an agent
- Agent finds a publisher
- Work with publisher and agent to write/finish the book
- Publish and promote that sucker
- Rest…*
Late last year my editor and I finished the proposal and the book sample, and started looking for an agent. We actually reached out to agents and publishers, just to cast a wide enough net to hopefully gain traction.
For almost the entirety of 2017, this has been the focus. I would bet we sent out at least 50 letters, mostly to agents, over the last nine months. We had many conversations and in some cases, the book I’m writing did not fit with the type or style of book that the agent typically represents; in some cases the agent was simply too busy; and in some cases we rejected the agent for various reasons.
Let me tell you, I did not expect that one of the hardest things to do when writing a book would be finding the right agent! So, without further ado…
I’m incredibly excited to share that this week we finally signed with an agent! Our agent is the CEO of Savvy Literary, Leticia Gomez. Right from the start, Leticia, “got” what we were trying to accomplish with the book and thought it had real potential. She’s a published author herself (big plus for us) and is one of the top bilingual agents in the country, which is great because I have hopes for this book making its way out of the US one day ;) She represents a very diverse group of authors and her reputation is stellar in the industry. I’ve heard that agents turn down over 90% of the authors that reach out to them, so needless to say, I’m blown away that someone like Leticia would take us on!
So, you have an agent, what’s next?
We’ll be working with Leticia and the Savvy team on improving our proposal over the next several months. The publishing world kind of shuts down from Thanksgiving through the end of the year, so the plan is to start reaching out to publishers in January of 2018. The hope is we will have a publisher on board by March, and, if things break properly, potentially have a draft of the book by the middle of 2018.
My best guess is the earliest the book could be published would be this time next year. I started this project two years ago, so we’re talking a three year process! That’s a lot longer than I thought this would take :)
One last thing:
Many, many people have told me not to write too much of the book until I have a publisher on board. The publisher will likely have ideas and suggestions that will help shape the book, so we should allow for that creative input within the process. Given that, over the next several months I’ll be working with Leticia on the proposal and further refining the outline for the book, so that when its time to write we have a fairly fleshed out plan to write against.
Thanks for hanging in there, I know this is a long post…but its been a long process!
* and repeat :)
Congrats on finding a publisher! The traditional publishing process is super slow, so three years sounds about right.
Indie publishing is usually faster since you control it and you can’t beat the royalties. But it is a business. With marketing and the whole she-bang. And it’s all on your shoulders. So if you don’t want to make that a full time career, traditional is the better way. You just have to deal with the iceberg speed in which it runs.
As an author myself, I love to hear when others write a book. It can be daunting and it’s a marathon, but it’s so worth it in the end! Can’t wait to hear more!
Congrats again!
Oh, thanks so much for the note! Can you share what you’ve written? I’d love to see it :)
I have written some short stories that are complete in an anthology. I can send you those. I’m in the middle of writing three books that I will publish early next year about six weeks apart. One of those marketing strategies! =)
And I just launched a blog on the writing craft, marketing, and indie publishing for new romance authors like myself. https://kimpashawrites.com/
I primarily write fiction under the pen name Eliza Peake, but have some plans for some non-fiction under my own name. I love the whole process of writing and publishing. It’s hard, not an easy road, but’s my passion. In my case, since I still have a day job, it takes a while to get things out. But I’m hustling!
This is all so inspiring! Thank you for sharing. Your blog is fantastic, its obvious you take a lot of time and pride in building that!
I’d love to take a look at your short stories!
I would love to send to you, but couldn’t find an email. Let me know where I should send it! :)
Hope you’re doing well!
It’s Jeff AT Dragonarmy DOT com. You have to write it that way in forms so the spam bots don’t attack ;)
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