Author of "Agency in the Hunger Games"
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To my fellow authors, I know that rejection letter stings. I know that it sinks down into your mind and heart. It makes you doubt whether you should even continue writing. DON’T LET IT. Rejection now does not mean rejection later and it certainly does not mean rejection forever. Let me share with you some well-known authors who experienced rejection themselves!
Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is one of the most successful children’s author in the world. His well-know works include Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat and the Hat, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Many of his books have been remained into cartoons which were later remained into live-action movies. And now, even his movies are being reanimated closer to their original form.
Needless to say, his success is obvious everywhere!
However, it wasn’t always that way. Did you know the Dr. Seuss’s first children’s book, And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street, was rejected twenty-seven different times!
In fact, he had almost given up on getting his book published at all! It was only due to a chance encounter with a friend, who had recently become an editor, that Theodor Geisel ever became Dr. Seuss.
Can you imagine though, what would have happened, if Theodor had been too broken by his recent rejections to even mention his book to his friend? What would Christmas look like without his classic tale?
If Dr. Seuss, the genius behind children’s stories, can take twenty-seven different rejections and keep moving forward, so can I and so can you!
Have you been rejected before, or does the world of traditional publishing seem too intimidating to venture into just yet? Let me know in the comments below!
©KaylaAnnAuthor2022
© KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com, 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
As I am walking through this difficult, oops typo, lovely querying process where I am laying my heart on the line and praying it does not get trampled (or worse, left lying there completely ignored with no closure), I figured I would share my experiences, tips, and tricks with any hopeful authors out there! So today, let’s talk about agents.
Do You Need An Agent?
Yes. If you are looking for traditional publishing with the majority of traditional publishing houses. It is extremely rare, in my experience, for publishing houses to welcome unsolicited manuscripts. In other words, publishing houses have become so overwhelmed with new authors that they needed a way to weed through the submissions so that they are only looking at the best of the best. At the most basic level, an agent basically backs your claim and tells the publishing house “yes, this is a good book, you should read it.”
How Do I Find An Agent?
Not all agents are created equal; just as all writers are unique in their own respects. You cannot and should not just mass query dozens of agents hoping that one sticks without doing your research FIRST. Yes, you heard me, research! Many agents have specific requirements for what they are searching for, how to query them, and whether or not they are even accepting queries at the time. If you just find a random listing of agents and hit mass send, your odds of success are nearly zero. (I only say nearly, because, hey, people win the lottery every day).
Here are some steps:
©KaylaAnnAuthor2022
© KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com, 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
In my post titled “So You’ve Finished Writing Your Book… Now What?,” I discussed the necessity of writing the author’s bio, query letter, and book synopsis. My plan is to share my experiences with each of these items as I walk through this process of publishing my YA Fantasy Fiction WIP. Let’s deal with the second of these items today: the query letter.
What is a query letter?
Such a simple question, with a seemingly simple answer, and yet I have also found that the answer can sometimes change based on who you are querying. For the majority of the time, however, a query letter is your chance to tell the agent a little about you, but mostly about your book. It’s your attempt to sell your agent on your book before they ever even look (or request) at your manuscript). If you don’t sell your book here, it’s over.
With that being said, a query letter is clearly important, but how do you write one?
What elements does a query letter typically include?
One last thing, keep it brief. As in, you must absolutely remain under 500 words brief.
Here are a few querying articles that I found particularily helpful during my own research that I highly recommend!
©KaylaAnnAuthor2022
© KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com, 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Months
Of scheduling, waiting, fearing, praying
Hours
Of prepping, nausea, pain, cramping
Minutes
Of waiting, signing, consenting
Seconds
Of relief, clear results, the promise of a future
©KaylaAnnAuthor2020
© KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Hey Everyone! Man, I have an exciting announcement today!
I really want to share with you my latest project! It’s both new and old at the same time. I began writing a fantasy fiction series back in Middle/High School (over a decade ago). I spent years on it, finishing it, revising it, changing it; in college, I even submitted several chapters for review during my Creative Writing classes. I officially finished the 394 page book four years ago.
I haven’t touched it since. Not until last week that is.
For four years, this finished novel has sat and waited for my attention to return. I am grateful for the distance, we both needed it, but I am ready to dive back in! Having read through the entire thing last week, I can see the potential in my writing, but I can also see the weak, “youthful” (let’s admit it, cheesy) areas of my writing as well. Therefore, I have decided that my latest summer project will be to return to this fantasy fiction series with a twist and a challenge!
It is entirely possible that I am biting off more than I can chew, but I know that by being open about my intentions here on WordPress, I will be more motivated to actually reach my goals. Just as I did with Agency in the Hunger Games, I will be setting bi-weekly goals to project on my social media author sites to keep me accountable.
Hey Everyone,
It has been a long time since I have accessed WordPress and I really miss this interaction. You all know that I had been slowing down my online presence since January as I began to get overwhelmed by trying to release my first book, finish my first year of teaching, and be a present wife during my first year of marriage (lots of firsts).
Then came COVID . . . Teaching went online which meant that I went from working 10 hour days to 14 hour days as I strove to create online content for my students that mirrored the exact education they would have been receiving without COVID.
All that to say, something had to give and unfortunately that something was my blogging, which really sucked, if I’m being honest.
Now, with school ending in just nine days, I can see the glimmer of hope that summer brings teachers. I plan on diving back into blogging and reconnecting with old friends. So if you’re still there and reading my blogs, please send me your most recent blog post link in the comments! I’m craving some awesome blogging content!
I’m Back!
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Apples aging on desks,
Achievement and Ambition sought as
Adolescents adjust, apathetically accepting the
Approach of another academic year
©KaylaAnnAuthor
© KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to KaylaAnn and KaylaAnnAuthor.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Let me be honest. Failure is going to be a part of your writing career. It just is. And let me honest again. Failure is going to be a part of life.
We are humans, we cannot succeed at everything, all the time.
So, before you begin your career as an author, an artist, a composer, a teacher, whatever you choose, accept that at some point you will fail.
Failure is only a moment in time, a response to a singular incident. Failure does not define you or your career. The best option, and really the only option you have to success, is to accept failure and then move on from it.
Sometimes our failures will be small. For example, I failed a lot of my daily word count goals between the months of November – January. However, I did not let that stop me. I did not throw my hands in the air and say, “Well, I failed, it’s over!” Nope, I moved forward and planned to begin writing in earnest again.
Sometimes our failures will be big. For example, I’ve just recently received my review from my third reader and let’s just say, it wasn’t great. Now, I’m stuck where I have two decisions and either decision will require drastic change to my manuscript. However, that does not mean that I give up, I pick myself back up (after I cried my eyes out) and I get ready to face the problem head on.
I’ll keep you updated on my book, The Agency Games, once I have some more information. Please wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I work toward this goal and attempt to decide what is best for my manuscript.
KaylaAnn 
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