I’m shooting for the 40,000
word mark on my DEMON sequel this weekend. Maybe I will have the trilogy done
by the end of the year. It’s kind of funny writing a trilogy when the first in
the series isn’t sold to anyone or garnered representation… yet. It’s been
around six weeks since I sent out the requested full manuscript to an agent
interested in DEMON. It would have been nice to get a note that the manuscript
was received, and I know it should have been me sending another request after a
few weeks as to whether DEMON even reached the agent. There’s a funny quirk
about not asking that I suspect many querying authors share – sometimes you get
the feeling maybe it’s best to hold on to what you have – a requested full look
by an agent – rather than inquiring as to progress on the look, only to find
out they either didn’t get it, haven’t looked at it, or haven’t had time to
send you the ‘not for us’ line in an e-mail. Man, this writing gig is weird. I
sometimes wonder how many of us ride the wave of ‘maybe’ so long our skin
wrinkles from exposure to the elements. :)
That’s where having pioneers in
easy publishing come in to play for good or bad. The publishing giants are not
calling all the shots anymore. Amazon, Smashwords, Nook, etc. provide an outlet
for free market publishing we sure never had before. In a wild market like that
with innovations happening every day there will be the unfortunate looting and
pillaging going on by less scrupulous individuals. They steal names,
manuscripts, and launch sock puppet armies to wrest their ill gotten gains on
the free market from unwary buyers. The self publishing places like Amazon work
to shore up the cracks by neutralizing the sock puppeteers with false reviews
and denigrating comments when the reviews are questioned. The predators with
lookalike names and plagiarized material have risen to the top now. They have proven
to be an illusory foe, capable of shifting from name to name, genre to genre, and
market to market. Pretty soon, the publishing houses will have to hire reformed
word thieves to work against the unreformed thieves as the security software
giants have had to hire ex-hackers to go after the active hackers. It’s a mixed
up, crazy situation, with new problems to conquer every day.
5 comments:
Congrats on the progress, Bernard. :)
Yes, it's definitely a weird gig, and rarely a dull moment in the business.
And I got out of the "drawing out the hope" thing when, after having a requested ms for over a year and a half and assuring me it was still "being considered", an editor finally confessed to me that she'd never received it--but I was welcome to resubmit to their slush pile. O_o
That is HORRIBLE, Raine. I'm going to find out tomorrow at least whether she received the manuscript. What that editor did to you was criminal.
Raine, wow. That is unconscionable.
Bernard, I started the sequel to Swords of Talera right after finishing the first one, but actually never did finish it until eventually Swords sold. It's nice to have them ready when the good news comes, though. And I'm sure it will for you.
You're making good progress, Bernard, as always. I must say I envy you, but only in the best of ways. That means I'm very glad you can do that. And I wish you the best of luck. I just LOVE Demon! Might you have a little story with him, on the side, to post here for our enjoyment?
I'm not at all sure, Charles. It just seemed like a good one to try out a trilogy on because of my affection for the characters. We try new things whether they sell or not, my friend. :) I've already sent an inquiry into the agent who asked for a full look on DEMON immediately after reading Raine's horror story.
Thanks, Vesper, although I haven't done anything to be envious of, but I appreciate the comment. :) I did post the beginning of book two of DEMON I think you'd like. Take a look if you have a chance:
http://bernardsblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/another-cold-blooded-5-star-review.html
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