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I've finished my book, finally, and it seems in today's market that you pretty much have to have an agent representing you if you don't want to go the self-publishing route. However, all the agents seem to want a referral from a published writer (seems you need to KNOW a writer to BE a writer, which really annoys me, BTW). So, do you know/have a good agent in a fiction area? Or, would you be willing to write me a quick referral note to help me get in the door with some of these agents? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

bjornolf wrote:I've finished my book, finally, and it seems in today's market that you pretty much have to have an agent representing you if you don't want to go the self-publishing route. However, all the agents seem to want a referral from a published writer (seems you need to KNOW a writer to BE a writer, which really annoys me, BTW). So, do you know/have a good agent in a fiction area? Or, would you be willing to write me a quick referral note to help me get in the door with some of these agents? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I'll bet you can get a lot of readers/critics about 37 days from now... ;)

Good luck!

devildeac wrote:
I'll bet you can get a lot of readers/critics about 37 days from now... ;)

Good luck!

wilson wrote:

devildeac wrote:
I'll bet you can get a lot of readers/critics about 37 days from now... ;)

Good luck!

At some time in the past, various folks had talked about proof-reading some articles/stories members at CT and/or DBR had written and I thought bjornolf had asked a while back about that. EJ may have even volunteered to do that. It was also another subtle way to try and get him to a Brunchgate... ;) So the reference/offer was kinda old and obtuse. :oops:

My life is fiction...???

However you work it out, I wish the best for you and your book. Do you have a copy of the most current Writer's Market? It's full of contact information.

I've always wanted to be a fiction writer. In fact I've written half a page of my first novel. :roll: When I'm done, I'll come asking you if you can refer me to an agent.

There's far too much drama involved with the non-fiction part of my life.
Oops. Wrong thread.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:However you work it out, I wish the best for you and your book. Do you have a copy of the most current Writer's Market? It's full of contact information.

I have the 2004 and 2005 editions (yes, I've been editing for a while!). I was planning on getting the 2009 edition today. Unfortunately, it seems there are a lot of sham agents out there, so I'm gonna have to cross reference it against the internet lists of bad agents.

bjornolf wrote:I've finished my book, finally, and it seems in today's market that you pretty much have to have an agent representing you if you don't want to go the self-publishing route. However, all the agents seem to want a referral from a published writer (seems you need to KNOW a writer to BE a writer, which really annoys me, BTW). So, do you know/have a good agent in a fiction area? Or, would you be willing to write me a quick referral note to help me get in the door with some of these agents? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I know nothing about this front-end of the publishing industry, so forgive me if my ideas are a little naive. Have you thought about forgoing the agent route (for now) and taking advantage of modern technology? Maybe you could create a blog and post chapter excerpts from your book, get people to review a few chapters which might generate some buzz; a few thousand new web hits each month might garner some attention and serve to strengthen a "resume", which might get the attention of an agent. Who knows, maybe an agent would find out about you through some viral marketing.

Good luck.

I was thinking about something like that, if I wanted to go the self-publishing route, but I'm just not sure how it would work. I'm not even sure HOW to set up a blog, or how I'd get word about said blog out there.

I'd be happy to help you set up a blog.

bjornolf wrote:I was thinking about something like that, if I wanted to go the self-publishing route, but I'm just not sure how it would work. I'm not even sure HOW to set up a blog, or how I'd get word about said blog out there.

Step 1. Take up DukeUsul's offer.
Step 2. Send link to friends with a brief explanation of what you need and ask them to forward to folks they feel might enjoy
Step 3. Post link here and DBR.
Step 4. You might also start looking for online forums for writers; try posting there.

You are beating the streets digitally. Think about what you would do if you opened a new restaurant in a little neighborhood. Walk around to all the other shops and folks on the streets and hand them a flyer advertising what your restaurant has to offer. This is the same concept except you get to do it from the comfort of your own home.

Miles wrote:

bjornolf wrote:I was thinking about something like that, if I wanted to go the self-publishing route, but I'm just not sure how it would work. I'm not even sure HOW to set up a blog, or how I'd get word about said blog out there.

Step 1. Take up DukeUsul's offer.
Step 2. Send link to friends with a brief explanation of what you need and ask them to forward to folks they feel might enjoy
Step 3. Post link here and DBR.
Step 4. You might also start looking for online forums for writers; try posting there.

You are beating the streets digitally. Think about what you would do if you opened a new restaurant in a little neighborhood. Walk around to all the other shops and folks on the streets and hand them a flyer advertising what your restaurant has to offer. This is the same concept except you get to do it from the comfort of your own home.

Social media. Link to your chapters on Facebook and Twitter. Get your friends to start following you. Maybe they'll repost your FB updates or re-tweet your tweets when the chapters come out.

The other problem is that my book is a little adult oriented. Not that there's a lot of racy content, but there is quite a bit of hacking and slashing in the first couple chapters, and I'd be worried about kids reading it.

bjornolf wrote:The other problem is that my book is a little adult oriented. Not that there's a lot of racy content, but there is quite a bit of hacking and slashing in the first couple chapters, and I'd be worried about kids reading it.

Clearly state that in the beginning of your blog and your e-mail. Then suck it up and turn it loose man. If you're completely honest, and give full disclosure about the content then you've done more than your local library will do when you're published and printing copies in the millions.

Remember, you don't have to release the full chapters either; you can release excerpts and then adjust the amount of data you release. Get a feel for what your readers like and respond to, and adjust accordingly.