The Plight of being an Author

I received a rejection letter today for “The Unwanted Woman”. I have not had much luck with agents, but this is a very good romance novel and I thought I would test the water by submitting a query letter to ten agents. This agent in question replied with.

                “I cannot take this project because your character conflicts are not developed enough throughout the story.”

                Is that so?

                And you have based this on... what? The only thing I submitted was a cover letter. If you are an author you know a cover letter has to be eye catching, but to the point, as your attempting to sell you book in nothing more than one or two paragraphs. This got me thinking. I have a published novel and a published novella. I have two more books being released this year, but I have also self-published three books. My free book having thousands upon thousands of downloads and the other two holding very respectable positions on Amazon Kindle. I have this base foundation that should say.

                This person knows how to tell a good story.

                Instead I get a very silly rejection letter that shows that the agent didn’t even bother to read my query letter. This is the plight of being an author. People have asked me how I got published and I honestly believe it was down to luck. I do not think for one second my books are bad. I think I am a very good writer, but I caught the right person, on the right day and in the right mood.

                My own personal goal is to step up to a bigger publishing house and get my books out to more people. That is my main goal with writing. The issue it that big publishing houses do not take submission unless they come through an agent, and finding an agent is like finding a needle in a haystack. I don’t know what other people’s experiences are with agents, but this rejection letter is the normal reply to my queries to agents.

                It begs the question how do you move to a bigger publishing house when agents do not give you the time of day? There has to be some good agents out there. I think the agent that sent me that letter was an idiot. I mean I am a published author, my books sell well, I know I can write good stories, but had I been an unpublished author  that type of reply could have been soul destroying.

                 I think it comes down to luck and persistence.

                You have to keep trying and trying and trying. You have to send your book to anyone and everyone and hope you catch them in the right mood.