Haha, same here

I watched another video on this. A few of the agents featured explained that sometimes they just don't click with the story for a variety of reasons. It could be because they don't feel as though it would sell well, or maybe something about the story isn't something they want to represent. One said that she won't publish books with scenes of women being mistreated. There are a lot a reasons, which is why you just have to keep trying.

I watched another video on this. A few of the agents featured explained that sometimes they just don't click with the story for a variety of reasons. It could be because they don't feel as though it would sell well, or maybe something about the story isn't something they want to represent. One said that she won't publish books with scenes of women being mistreated. There are a lot a reasons, which is why you just have to keep trying.

@@chocolate-bunny774 And one agent froths at the mouth on reading about talking birds. I thiught to myself, 'she's first on my list'.

She found an agent who sat down with her, took a look at the whole picture, and was willing to take a risk. I know people who LOVED her books, but criticized the writing. I know people who LOVED her books, but had a hard time remembering all of the characters she created (which, by the way, die-hard fans loved). Both of these things are considered the kiss of death when it comes to trying to get a book published, as per every writer and agent I've seen here on KZfaq. So, I guess what that agent saw was the overall vision, and the core story-telling...none of which I've seen every agent and writer on KZfaq talk about. Which is probably the reason why J. K. Rowling is a billionaire, and the people on KZfaq are wringing their hands trying to stay monetized.

@J D Yeah, it's often the case that people who are persistent are lucky and those that aren't generally aren't.

Haha

Did you get published

No 's' in 'loves'. I'm not being a keyboard commando; merely providing constructive criticism for writers. It starts with the basics.

thats a long time to write a book - is it good?

The number of characters is correct English. The amount of characters is not!

How's the search going?

@hidetakamiyazaki1825 Self-published on Amazon. It's the only way nowadays.

@wordstar sandesh. This is my username on Instagram. May be we can talk there about your book. I've recently self published my debut novel Mr. Single and I'm going to submit manuscript to literary agencies

The agent will be thinking about whether they can sell the book, and so knowing where it fits in the market might be helpful. It could also help you demonstrate you understand the market you have written your novel for.

Wow, no! If you’re not approaching a literary agent thinking that your work is as good if not better than what’s on the shelves then you are setting yourself up for a fail.

'Don't give up'. The best advice on here.

Good point. I'm learning that. Do you know WHAT has caused such a sea-change that so many people want to write a book these days?

(Not a publisher) in my opinion, I think it depends on the a) quality/originality of the proverb, aka is it something everyone has heard before , and b) if it's 100% needed. Proverbs and quotes can come off as pretentious if they're overused or extraneous. Plus, proverbs are just another way of using other people's words to convey your idea. People get bored if they have to slog through a quote every chapter.

Haha. I get the joke. But if it wasn't a joke i would like to clarify he didn't mean you would get an agent in under 5 mins. He meant he would tell how to get an agent in around 5 mins

@@robcornejo9597 yeah... Fair.

I was asking about books I have not yet published?

It is the same.

You are dead right.

Could be. I'm not an agent or a publisher, but it's annoying when people don't follow the guidelines, and instantly makes one look like a beginner who doesn't yet know what to do. Which is fine of course, but beginners aren't professional writers, and publishers aren't going to teach anyone how to write.

That was insightful, thank you for sharing. I've gone back and forth between wanting to get an agent or just keep self-publishing, as I have been doing that since 2008. My main objective for finding an agent now would be to find one who could direct my stories toward video gaming concepts, graphic novels, or made-for-TV movies. The challenging part is knowing where to start that search.

I completely disagree with the idea that publishers and agents 'failing' the author by not getting work published. Most works won't sell and would be disliked by most readers. Not only would money be lost, but the publisher's name would be tarnished and people would expect the quality of the books to be poorer and so might avoid them. They don't owe authors anything and it's childish to think they do. It's not a fair system for sure, but people shouldn't act so entitled

@@Dorma_ See, that's precisely the problem: MONEY and thereby greed. It's by no means about entitlement, far from it. It's about an industry that is ruled by greed rather than an objective view on what they are here for: to publish books. They are not here to judge books -- that is for the reader and the market to decide. I had this whole debate years ago with my mom who worked as a publisher for almost two decades. You can be a good publisher, but if you are too picky about what you want to publish, you'll go bankrupt instead. JK Rowling was dismissed for a whole year by numerous of publishers before she was finally given a contract, with everyone telling her that her books wouldn't sell -- not even a copy. What an absolute LAUGH! Aside from the cases where the book itself simply isn't 'ready' for publishing, meaning there is still work to be done, which is one thing, publishers are very narrow sighted. And it also depend on what genre we're talking about, naturally. I am here talking specifically about novels and novellas. Even if a book sells 3-5000 copies or much, much less, that is still a book worth selling, unless you regard everything in terms of money and have the ridiculous idea that books you publish should sell 10, 20, 30.000 copies. And that is the problem. Not everyone is Stephen King, Tolkien, Rowling, Jerry Jenkins, Dan Simmons, John Gilstrap, etc., to name but a FEW of the many highly talented writers. And as far as quality is concerned, that's highly subjective, gramma and language skills aside. Frankly, I would argue that two-thirds of the books published nowadays are absolute junk, mostly because of the extreme politically correct climate we live, wherein writers are afraid to go beyond what is regarded as "mainstream genre's" and not wanting to take the risk they might be turned down. So they go with what is already on the market. And that's sad. Writing is about being creative; about telling a good story. And there are plenty of those out there. But they cannot all of them be a golden egg, and publishers only want the golden eggs and so they are pushing writers inadvertently towards things like self-publishing and internet platforms, which also has its' downsides. And this behaviour by the publishing industry is indirect censorship, regardless of motives and excuses to the contrary.

@@TheAngelOfDeath01 Firstly, publishers will loose money from most books people give them (printing costs, distribution and paying employees etc.) People are greedy of course, but they also have to be picky else the market with be saturated with junk people with stop buying the books if they hate them. Also, don't be salty about 'politically correct stuff', as most of stuff I see that goes against that is straight up hateful or bigoted. Anything can be talked about, but promoting awful stuff would go badly with most decent people, leading to them not buying the books. I feel you're simply angry that no publisher or agent wants to take your book. Maybe the problem is your book. Maybe you need to keep trying queries. However, no-one owes you a published book. Especially if they don't like it

Indeed, I'm learning that agents, and publishers are remarkably overwhelmed these days. Everyone wants to be an author! The term I've heard that best fits is that the author "endures" the process of getting published. As depressing as the landscape is, one should take note that thousands of books ARE published every year. And there is an argument that it's not about the odds. If it is time for you to be published then your odds are better than it may first appear. But that still means do your homework!

I agree with you, Steve bakker. The last paragraph in your comment is very encouraging. Writing is very hard work, but I enjoy it; so I'm going to keep working at it. When it's time for me to be published, it will happen.

You're right. There are always exceptions. Congrats to you for your success.

Grammatical errors: that's proofreading. Far more to editing than that.

Thank you for the suggestion

Thank you for the suggestion

If writers can't write grammatically, they shouldn't be writing anything. Using clichés like 'no-brainer' isn't a good idea, either.