Yesterday I completed my second revision of my novel AND I also wrote an alternative ending—then sent it off to my editor. I will be sending it to some beta readers to get some more eyes and feedback.
The next step is querying agents. I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not I want to go through traditional publishing or self-publish. I decided I will ‘try’ the traditional route first and if that doesn’t work out then I’ll self-publish. If I self-publish, all control is in my hands, which includes finding someone to do the cover art, binding the book, distribution (won’t be in stores), sales, and marketing and publicity. If I go the traditional route, I need to get an agent (receives 15%), the agent finds a publisher and they do the cover art, distribution to stores, but I’ll mainly be responsible for marketing and publicity. The publishing world that existed when John Irving and Stephen King started their writing careers is long gone.
Since I am going to attempt traditional publishing I need to get an agent first, which means I need to write a great query letter. A query letter is a letter that pitches your book idea. Agents receive hundreds of queries a day, so they don’t have time to shuffle through words to find out what my book is about. I’ve been doing some research about querying, such as writers with similar books, who their agents are and how to write one. Hopefully, I can start practicing now and get some drafts done.
