I’ve had a few requests to see my query. Literary Giant Jay Kristoff, and many other authors, have posted their successful queries, so why not? This baby netted me 9 full requests, so it must have done something right.
Click here for the goods. I’ve also added a permalink to the top of the blog.
May it help you in your own quest for publication.
Warning: this post is entirely “inside baseball”. If you don’t care about Publishing and Things, feel free to check out right… now.
So what happens now? Edits. That’s what. There have been signings-of-legal-documents and rumblings of getting a headshot and bio together for the agency site, and even the selection of my Proper Published Name–it will be Ben L. J. Brooks. I’m all about exacting revenge on those forms with only a single space for middle initial. You can’t imagine the trauma that causes a child with two middle names.
But for the most part the past week has been all about the edits.
I’m precisely halfway through marking up the hardcopy of the manuscript. I like to edit a hardcopy with red ink, rather than keep staring at a word processor all day. I see things differently when I’ve got real pages to flip back and forth between. Repetitive words and phrases really stand out. But honestly this pass isn’t about the line edits: it’s about the Big Edits.
Last 2 pages of Chapter 1. Bits of Chapter 11 on the right.
My agent and I talked about a few things to clean up before going out on submission. Most of them minor, but one–changing the tone of an entire character–will be a bit of a mess to untangle. But she was dead on in her analysis, and I’ve felt it in my gut as well that this character needed work.
So the goal, by April 10th, is to have this tightening pass done, as well as a proposal for not one but four more books in this tale. I was beyond thrilled that one of Rosemary’s first questions was “So how many books are you thinking here?” because I’ve always known that RYOJI was crying out to be a Proper Series™.
Nobody can make any promises, and the publishing world is an enigmatic nut wrapped in puzzling subjective spaghetti, but there’s a chance this could end up at least a five book series someday. This picture I took of John Flanagan’s RANGER’S APPRENTICE series all on a shelf at the local bookstore is one step, however infinitesimally small, closer to reality.
That John Flanagan guy sure is prolific. I want to go to there.
Don’t stop dreaming. Expect more updates as the process rolls along.
Bonus “inside baseball” fact: If you’re preparing to query or accept an offer of representation, give some thought to how you want to sign. Do you want to go out as You, the Individual, or You, the Corporation? Don’t ask me, I’m new here. But I’m setting up a meeting with a CPA tomorrow, and will gladly update all interested parties on the pros and cons when I have a list myself.
It seems to be a rite of passage for authors to do That Blog Post: the one about getting The Call. This is that blog post.
I’m happy to announce that after quite the roller coaster ride of querying a novel, I’ve accepted an offer of representation from Rosemary Stimola at the Stimola Literary Studio. You should go check it out. You may recognize some of her clients.
I saw the email in the inbox this morning, was afraid to open it, fearing it was a rejection. But open it I did… and I skipped straight to the bottom where I fully expected to see the “Sorry, maybe another agent will feel differently” line. Instead I saw this:
I would love to have a chat today, if possible, and learn a bit more about you, how many books you are thinking of, and where you want this series to go.I ran downstairs, heart all aflutter–I may have even squealed–to give my wife and children a big hug and share the news. All before I’d read the rest of the email. Realizing I may have been getting ahead of myself, I read it–and sure enough, a mention of representation was made in the opening.
I can’t wait to see where this book goes now. Rosemary is an amazing agent–I told her myself this morning that she was on my longest of long shot lists, that I never expected to hear anything back from her. And when she said “Well, I’m glad you took that shot!” I don’t think there’s a lens wide enough to capture my grin. She gets this book, she gets where it can go, she truly fell in love with it, and I believe I’ve found the right person to champion this Thing I have created.
When I got off the phone, there were two more query rejections in my inbox. This seems to be another rite of passage all authors go through. I just smiled. I’m sure I’ll get a few more as the months go by.
Thanks to all the beta readers, the crit partners, the friends and family who were there and believed in me even in those times I found it hard to believe in myself. I wouldn’t be here without all of you.
Saddle up, kids. It’s time for the next stage of the journey.
Final query stats (for those interested in the “inside baseball” aspect of this):
59 sent.
22 rejections.
10 full requests.
27 as yet unanswered.
It is finished.
Last night I finished writing RYOJI AND THE RIDDLE MASTERS. And maybe someday you can read it. It’s a tale about a boy becoming so much more than he ever dreamed possible, about the difficulty of changing the nature of things. The virtues and follies of pacifism, the role of honor, the shattering of our innocent worldview as we cross that threshold from childhood into our teenage years.
Did I mention it’s set in a fantastical version of Heian-era Japan, steeped in Japanese mythology with a dash of steampunk? There are riddle duels with spirits in the underworld, pirates armed to the teeth with swords and metallic flame-throwing birds, jealousy, betrayal, and at the center of it a boy torn between his parents: his father of the old guard, his mother leading the rebellion of the new.
It’s been five years in the making, and now it is out of my hands, and into the hands of the illustrious Beta Readers.
I hope they like it. And if they don’t, I hope to use their feedback to forge it into something greater. And someday I hope to share it with you all.
Saddle up, it’s queryin’ time.
Yes, yes, it’s been six months since I updated this thing last. But I promise I’ve got some really good reasons.
Second grade, Kindergarten, and Pre-K.
After returning from Japan last August, it was a rush to get all the things ready for school. For the first time we had three of the four off for some learnin’, and that required a Herculean effort to pull off–especially considering that in those same 3 weeks we moved across town. And by across town, I mean “nearly 40 miles away”. That may not sound like much, but compound it with jet lag and school preparedness, and you can see how much of a nightmare that can turn out to be.
After that, we had an obscene number of things come up. See, when you have three kids in school, that’s three times the number of events and class-specific festivities you have to attend. And in addition to school, there was work, where I’ve been finishing up a major project–to be launched in the next month!
Then you’ve got the Fall Rush, where you get the hypersonic Holiday gauntlet known as New Hallothanksgivingmas Eve. Once you get into October, the year kind of speeds by until you hit the brick wall that is the cold, dark winter. I don’t know about you, but the first six months of the year seem to take about nine months to get through, while the last six months feels more like two.
And during all of this, my wordsmithing efforts were directed solely at crafting a new novel. And I can say, with some caveats, that I succeeded! It’s done, at 80k words. It’s middle grade fantasy, with a mythological Japanese setting, and it’s tested well with a very small audience and my Most Trusted Alpha Reader.
Awesome concept art by Stephane Imbert.
And now to look back at my resolutions for last year. It wouldn’t be fair to ignore them. Here’s what I promised I’d do in 2012:
1 – Finish writing three drafts.
Well, I finished 2! I finished my multicultural romance set amidst the 2010 tsunami that has died the death of a million edits, and most recently I finished up my MG fantasy. (Yes, yes, I technically wrote The End in the first weeks of 2013).
2 – Cook something new every month.
Failure! While I ended up cooking something every month, and a lot more when my family was in Japan, it rarely ended up being something new. I’ve been too busy to research new, and I feel bad about it.
3 – Read two books a month.
Success! My next post will cover my 2012 reads, and what my TBR pile looks like for 2013. Here’s a preview: CLOUD ATLAS was my favorite last year.
4 – Finish up some of the cross-cultural tales for the blog that are languishing in draft status.
Also success! Not as many as I wanted, but I got quite a few finished. Maybe you can check them out. Perhaps they’ll even entertain you.
Sorry for such a dry post, but I mostly wanted to stick my head above water and say that I’m Alive!
I’ve been spending the summer in Japan with the family. Started working on a new project (middle-grade fantasy, Asian-themed), still waiting to hear on some queries from the last project, and just generally enjoying the heck out of a long break. I’ll be back to regularity sometime in the next few weeks!
I have probably left something out. There was a project I worked on in Japan for 2 years that never came to fruition. That’s not on here because it was never announced. “Gardens” *was* announced but we never had a cover so I’ve provided a picture of the epic Tanuki mascot we had.
Someday I hope to put up a gallery of 12+ novel covers. But for now, it’s fun to walk back through these video game covers and remember the good times I had working on each one. Here’s to 12 more.
