Yo. I finished.
Draft 8 is officially in the hands of multiple betas and I am building my query list and supplies.
Editing that draft took…less than a month? I only sent it out to betas to make sure the changes I made didn’t ruin things or make anything worse. Now, I am researching agents and building a query list for when I get the feedback and put the final touches on everything.
Today, I *think* I finished rewriting my synopsis. (We’ll see if I find things to polish as time goes on.) I already had the query letter basically done before I finished editing the draft and now I feel 90% confidant about it. To any wondering, this is important stuff to have ready when you are submitting your novel to agents/publishers/editors.
Usually, the agent will ask for at least two of three things: the query letter, a synopsis, and a specified portion of the novel itself. Maybe I will make a post explaining what these things are and how they work later.
This is exciting, but with a taper for me. In 2017, I queried the 5th draft of this novel and got 32 form rejections (ask me in the comments if you don’t know what that means). After 3 revisions, I look at that manuscript, query, synopsis and anything else and cringe. I’d have rejected me too, or at least told me it needed a lot of deep polishing and cleaning. XD That being said, I feel confident about this draft, but tentatively so, because I remember how confident I felt about that draft.
Still, experience builds fortitude and resilience. I’m going into this with determination, but more wisdom. I’m also going into this with uncertainty. I’ve been researching the different publishing avenues, and I’m not sure which truly is the best for me. Traditional, Self, or Hybrid. Probably Hybrid, honestly, but I need to do more research on how that works, I guess. My main thing is needing guidance and assistance with marketing, but I’m also concerned about who gets what rights.
At which point, maybe I won’t even need an agent after all, though so far, it’s the only path I know the most about.
Well, anyway, that’s my update for now. Make sure you’re drinking enough water! ❤
Edit: After writing this, I did more research and discovered this website about “agent-assisted self-publishing” and I am *very* interested.
N. K. Valek: Author 