The Publishing Process In Detail

People have so many questions about the publishing process, including me. I bought a book about it, I have read dozens of articles, researched even more publishers (including self publishing avenues), researched literary agents, researched how to write a query letter, and finally I have sent my first query letter to a literary agent. I know that it’s going to be a long process. Nonetheless, I want this to be a play by play blog post with updates on every setback and achievement. I am sure that if I sat down to write this article after the entire process I wouldn’t remember the dates or even pertinent information. That is why I am starting it now. I hope that this will be a thoroughly detailed analysis of the publishing process and that it will inspire you to push through adversity in your dreams and aspirations.

Backstory

At the age of 14 (in the year 2017) I started seriously looking into publishing companies and was sorely disappointed by what I found. Either the publishing company had terrible reviews which made me want to avoid them at all costs, or you would have to pay them $1,000+ for them to publish it, or they did not accept unsolicited manuscripts, or there was simply too much ambiguity to make an educated assessment. I was discouraged. I started looking into literary journals and magazines. And finally—at the age of 15–I spent several hours perfecting a cover letter and bio, and then I submitted my short story to a promising literary journal. They never responded. Disappointed once again, I stopped my search for publishers and returned to what I knew, writing fiction.

A year or so later I started looking for publishers again with the same result as my first search. Disappointment. There were too many companies out there, not enough information, not enough reviews, or just plain bad reviews. It wasn’t until the age of 17 that I got anywhere.

In 2020 I started researching again. It did not take me long to give up on publishers however and start to research literary agents. I was overwhelmed. There were thousands of literary agents, and I didn’t know of any by name. I had no point of reference. Then one day, on my search for literary agents, I stumbled across a book called Guide to Literary Agents 2020, it was the book’s 29th annual edition (which sounded promising).

I promptly bought the book and once it arrived in the mail, I began to devour it. It taught me how to craft a query letter (though I supplemented that with this article: Querying Tip: Include an Author Bio — mariavicente.com). It taught me how to craft a synopsis (which I supplemented with this article: How To Write A Book Synopsis – Carly Watters, Literary Agent Blog). It told me what had to be done to land a six figure deal (blow up your social media platform and gain at least 100,000+ rabid fans). It taught me how to build my platform in 30 days (which is why I am writing this!). It told me who the three most important people would be in the publishing process (literary agent, editor, and publicist). This book taught me a tonne in a short amount of time (seriously, go buy the book already!). In short, Guide to Literary Agents 2020 has started me on the road to greatness (I hope...). Anyway, enough of that. You want to know how I found an agent.

Entry #1–August 3, 2020

I bought a book called Guide to Literary Agents 2020 in mid July and I have been reading it religiously. Aside from enormously helpful tidbits, it contains “information on more than 1,000 agents.” After reading all of the information above, I started reading about the agencies, their agents, and the genres that they represent.

After all the travail I had experienced over the years in my search for a publisher, finding a literary agent was easier than it should have been.

I highlighted the names of several agents and their agencies and then proceeded to their websites to learn whether they were accepting submissions. Most agencies were open to submissions so I proceeded to the staff or literary agents page to learn more about the agents I had found to be hopeful. One thing I did learn over the course of my search for agents is that the query letters MUST catch their attention and—ideally—be personalised. Even though I didn’t know any of the agents I was querying to, nor did I have a mutual contact—whether professionally or personally—I tried to personalise the letters as best as I could. For instance, if their bio says that they like a confident protagonist and your novel has a confident protagonist, make sure to mention it.

Some details about your story may not be necessary to relay to the agent, but if they particularly like something, and your story has that something, make sure to say so, otherwise you’re not selling yourself and you may be gypping them of an enjoyable read.

My next course of action was creating a synopsis for my story...which I hate. Is it normal to hate your own story synopsis (let me know in the comments!)? Anyway, you can read about how to write a book synopsis in the link, (https://carlywatters.com/2013/11/04/how-to-write-a-book-synopsis/) as I know I am not an authority to offer advice on the subject. All I can say is, good luck!

The last point I would like to make on your search for a literary agent, is to query more than one agent at a time. Most agencies accept simultaneous submissions, so querying multiple agents will save you a lot of time and grief (as many agencies do not send you a notification letting you know that they have chosen not to represent you).

So far that is all I have to say. Do your research on the agent, personalise the query letter, write a better synopsis than mine, and query more than one agent at a time!

Entry #2 August 9, 2020

I have queried 14 agents over the last week. No response yet. Hopefully that means that I submitted something thought provoking and that is why no one has answered my query yet. Fingers crossed.

Entry #3 September 4, 2020

I got my first rejection letter from a literary agent. Not a peep from the rest, though.

Entry #4 October 2, 2020

Got my second rejection letter.