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Wednesday 1 May 2013

Submissions once again!

So, I've finished my edit bar rewriting a couple of chapters slightly and next week I will be sending out submissions again. Well, I say again but I only sent three last time.. I'm not even sure that really counts as a submissions round - I plan to send more this time, I promise! 

I'm going to rejig my synopsis too, hence the 'next week' deadline. I will be revisiting Nicola Morgan's 'How to Write a Synopsis' as well as her 'Dear Agent' book. I'm pretty happy with my current synopsis and pitch but these things can always be improved. 

 I've already done some research on agents which was surprisingly difficult. It seems that if you write in any genre other than romance, you can collate a list of agents as long as your arm in a relatively small amount of time. Given that romance is one of the most popular genres, it sure is difficult to find an agent who lists contemporary romance as a genre they represent. Weird, no? 

Anyway, I have found a few but it took a lot of delving around the internet to do so. My top tip is:
Look at the websites and blogs of authors you think write the same sort of stuff as you and check out who they're represented and published by. There are still publishers who accept unsolicited submissions, especially digital publishers! 
You could also take a peek at the acknowledgements page of books which are similar to your own - authors tend to thank their agents. 

I've got a list of five agents and three publishers now including Novelicious who have started up their very own publishing company, Novelicious Books.

Novelicious are also running a competition to win a subscription to Agent Hunter but hurry - it closes on Friday! 

Agent Hunter is 'the most comprehensive literary agent database anywhere' and promises to be the easiest way to find agents for your work. Fingers crossed for a win on this one - I need it!! 

So, my writerly to - do list now looks like this: 

  • Rewrite two chapters
  • Write a blurb
  • Revisit synopsis and tweak as necessary
  • Write agent emails and send! 

Scary exciting times ahead... I think I'm going to need lots of chocolatey sustenance like these:

Joy the Baker cookies

and also this:

Because it's totally healthy even though it's chocolate, right?

You will get fat but you will be oh so happy if you buy this book!