To Market, To Market…

I love to write but I hate marketing. I’ve read all the books and articles and from the professional attitude to networking, I do know the steps. At least in theory. In the last four or five years, I’ve been stymied by an agent who is a great guy but doesn’t do much for me. So why haven’t I moved on? A combination of being really busy and having icy cold feet.

So there I was, two completed manuscripts gathering dust and only a vague hope that the said agent was sending them out to editors.

One thing I did right over the years was to produce great children, one of whom actually works in the publishing industry in England. During her last visit, aside from the prerequisite rolled eyes, she took her floundering mother in hand. First she made me dig out all my letters that I had received from editors over the last two or three years. I remembered the “Thanks, but no thanks” part. She pointed out in a very businesslike fashion that these were mostly personal letters.

“Do you know how rare it is for an editor to send a personal letter?” she demanded in justified exasperation. Having been in charge of several mountainous slush piles, she knew first hand how very, very few submissions get to the editors.

I mumbled something about, “Of course, I know…”

And I do…in theory. But I remembered the rejections, not the all important positive comments and requests for other manuscripts. So much for being businesslike.

Next she took these letters plus my mostly complete records of what had gone to who. She made a spreadsheet with the editors’ names, dates, what had been submitted and who had asked to see more of my work. Despite a rather hit and miss attitude of late, there were an impressive number of them – now all cleanly organized.

Finally, I started moving, and with her encouragement did an internet search for the editors listed, in an effort to find out where they were and what they were buying. One editor who had been very encouraging had joined a literary agency. She wasn’t taking new clients but she was friendly. I found some websites, including Publishers Lunch, that give daily newsbites about the publishing industry, including promotions and new hires. From this and other sources, I’ve started another spreadsheet recording who is working where and what they are buying in the genres I write for. From this, I am developing a coherent plan of where to market my work and possibly search for another agent.

I still have those icy cold feet, but at least they are moving forward.

So, if you don’t have a daughter to get you started, feel free to borrow mine – or at least the steps she helped me take. They work.

f & f
Susan