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Writing Update! The Good And Bad (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-19 03:30:19
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

So I've been putting feelers out to see if I can get any attention from a trad publisher. It's a long process but it starts with an agent. Long story short, I had an agent for a minute but, thruogh no fault of the agent, the relationship wasn't right and I had to move on. Fortunately, a new agent I won't be naming because nothing is signed yet is showing interest in what I am working on and challenging me in the ways I was looking for.

What do I mean?

Well, as you may know, I am working on a book called Better Dead! An unedited first chapter is available if you scroll down a bit. I went through about 3 drafts of the first 8 chapters and got roughly 30k words done before sending it off to see if our mystery agent wanted to shop the story around. So, how did that go?

(Now is the point where I'll ask you to read the title of this post if you haven't yet.)

Let's start with the good.

I think I'll be signing with our mystery agent! HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, YES! I was crushed when I realized my last agent wasn't the right fit, and thought I might never find another.

They liked how much I'm focusing on improving as a writer between each book and are excited by my platform. (Duh, any agent will like that.)

This brings us to the bad, which is fortunately undercut with some more good.

While they thought Better Dead was a neat idea, it wasn't a genre/concept that would sell.

Hear that? It's the harsh reality of trad publishing.

The problem wasn't how it was written, but what it was and ain't that put an unsolvable break in the gears. So, it was back to the drawing board and 30k words down (probably 60k drafted) are being put on ice. (Maybe I'll post the unfinished story here for now? Thoughts?)

BUT that takes me to the the undercut of good news. I'm not dealing with a yes man, and I'm already workshopping a story I'm really excited about! I don't really have a traditional epic-fantasy-style world under my belt, and this seems like a good opportunity to take a stab at doing one. With me being me, I'm already 7k words into the new story with series potential...

...oh god that phrase just comes out now.

Thank you all,

DG

Comments

puhtahtoe

Wooo agent! My mostly uninformed advice given without a true understanding of your situation or work flow - keep Better Dead in your back pocket for when you have writer's block with or need a break from what you end up working on for trad publishing. When/if you eventually get it to a place where you feel it's complete, publish it as self or indie published. You've done that before, you can do it again.

Breezaholic

We're proud of you, Daniel. It takes a lot to shelve something you were really excited about in Better Dead, but maybe it just needs time in your subconscious to make it better while you work on the new thing! Regardless, keep going. Do not stop.

glass laughter

I think you should shelve better dead, publishing is tough and agents will always say something won't sell. Best thing to do is get something under your belt that is published and successful, so that way you can put your foot in the door, or in the funny case a brick through a window. I'm glad to see you doing well daniel, it makes me hopeful for my own writing goals.

Bill the Alderman

I'm barely an aspiring writer, so take this with a barrel of salt. Hold on to Better Dead. Maybe they'll be more open to it later on. Congratulations on the agent! If your head and gut say they're a good match for you, then putting some trust in them to steer you in the right direction seems like a solid idea. Best of luck my illustrious Host!

Rogat

Hey Daniel. First, congratulations on the agent, I hope it will turn out well for you. Now, I want to share something that happened to a friend of mine, it's about being a yes man and handling criticism. My friend was writing an epic fantasy book about a group of villains overtaking a city from the shadows. He finished the first draft and handed it to me. The characters were classically evil without many redeeming qualities, but they were fun and engaging, of course there were many things to improve in the book but overall it was an enjoyable experience. Then he said he got a new editor, whenever I saw him he talked about her challenging him in some ways, at first saying that the characters need more motivation, then saying that they need more redeeming qualities otherwise the book wouldn't sell, it goes on. He gave me the final book and it was considerably worse, he even said himself that he has no idea why people like this book (beta readers). So this is probably a very extreme example but I just want to emphasize that criticisms and challenges should always be taken with a small grain of salt, some games and books might surprise and blowup even though they don't have a big market, just thanks to a word of mouth and being good. So like other people say, shelve it if you're not feeling confident in it, but do remain open-minded for the future.

Deriving_drunk

Congrats! I will say, though, if you make a video on this topic, please note that your agent experience sounds very different from a new, non-platformed author’s. Everyone I know (I’m in a grad school writing program, so it’s a pretty large sample) who has gotten or is looking for an agent for a debut book had to have a complete manuscript in hand before they even got close to signing. There was no back and forth with incomplete work or rewriting or anything like that. If the agent didn’t like the sample or didn’t think it would sell, that was an instant rejection. One person got asked for the full manuscript after a good sample, she said the full thing wasn’t ready, instant rejection. It’s very different if you’ve self-published and have good sales already.