How do you stay sane while being an author - the update thread

[CakeRage]

So two years on from my thread about submitting to agents which ended up massive and included so many people’s journeys, I thought it might be nice to see where everyone is now. I know we have at least one superstar in the ranks these days!

As for me, I got the agent, went on sub, had a few near misses but ultimately failed to sell, then eventually, a year and eleven days after it first went out, one of the near misses got back in touch to say she hadn’t stopped thinking about my writing since, and though she still wasn’t convinced she could market the book she’d read, wanted to know what else I was writing. I sent her a sample and synopsis of my then WIP and was offered a 2 book deal a couple of days later. One book’s out later this year and I’m busily writing the next, which will publish in 2023.

I know we all dream about huge, multi-way auctions, or immediate preempts or massive advances for our books, but it didn’t happen that way for me and yet I couldn’t be happier with where I’ve ended up.

Anyway, if you were on that original thread (or even if you weren’t) let us know how you’re getting on. How’s your writing going?Who’s still staying sane?

@stepuporshutup This might not always be the case but I think for non-fiction books, agents tend not to expect the finished manuscript - rather, they want to see a proposal. See, for example, the section on non-fiction submissions on this agency's website. Though the advice above re beta readers is still excellent.

We meet again, I recognise a lot of the names from @CakeRage's original thread and then I started another one -Got an agent, didn't get a publishing deal which tells its own story. It's great to get progress reports and hear some new stories.

I've been working periodically on my second novel, getting enthusiastic, getting despondent but I feel that I am too far in (third draft - I think it may need a dozen or more) not to keep going. I met my agent at a social even for the first time a few weeks ago (I was a lockdown signing) and she was lovely and very enthusiastic and complimentary about my writing which was lovely - I was just relieved that she remembered me.

Hello! @CakeRage I was on that thread too (and many more here!) I'm so pleased to hear your update. That's exciting news!

I'm submitting my novel at the moment (a new one - on the last thread I was submitting a YA which got some full requests but went nowhere in the end). No luck yet apart from some very nice rejections and requests for further work...hmm. this is women's fiction so v different from the YA - a bit like you by the sound of things, @HolidayByMistake!

Planning to keep going for now with a few more submissions rounds. I'm an author of non fiction and have had a couple of traditional deals for that but so want to break into the fiction market if I can. Why does it all take so looong?

Good to read all your stories here but sorry for the frustrations. @Dontrocktheboat hello! :)

Ahh best of luck @Madhairday - definitely sounds like a similar journey. That’s so interesting that you’ve had trad deals for non-fiction.

And lots of luck on the redrafting @everythingcrossed. I also read your thread here at some point and ‘enjoyed’ is perhaps not the right word as I definitely felt the frustration, but it was fascinating and helpful so thank you, as ever, for sharing your story. Is your new novel very different? And great that your agent was so enthusiastic and complimentary when you were finally able to meet in person!

Hi, @everythingcrossed I remember your other thread, great to hear you are getting on with your second novel and still on good terms with your agent.
@Madhairday think we have been on a few of the same threads! Best of luck with the new submission, sounds positive you are getting requests for further work.
I am still stalling over whether to contact my agent about my new novel, waiting for some beta readers to feedback first!

Name change fail in above post!

Thanks @celestebellman and @HolidayByMistake . I've been working quite intensively (as in work-work) but I'm taking my laptop on holiday and determined to get to the end of Draft 3 by the time I come back home in a fortnight. Then onto Draft 4...

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone was in the submission trenches at the moment as I’m about to dive in head first again. I’m actually re-reading the original ‘how to stay sane’ thread as it had quite a lot of good advice in it!

I have been wondering whether to try again. Every time I am about to give up, I seem to get a surge of new hope.

@PreparingForDisappointment it is tough isn’t it? I’m trying to be more realistic this time around but it’s not always easy. However just reading stories of people getting agents (also in this forum) I’ve come to the conclusion a significant percentage of one’s chance of success is to do with persistence.

Good luck if you decide to go for it!

Hi all, thought I'd check back in with an update following my last post re the 'agent ghosting' situation - from which I got some very helpful and pragmatic advice on here.
Finally finished my second novel, had it looked at by trusted beta readers and reasonably happy with it - so I did contact my agent, with whom I've had no contact for a couple of years, and she got back in touch very quickly to say she would love to read it. Now waiting, which I am anticipating may be a while, as things move so slowly and I imagine she has many competing commitments. So, am feeling a lot better - even though it may end up going nowhere again it is good to have acknowledgement and feel on good terms.
I hope everyone who was waiting for agents/ out on submission has been getting on well - would be great to know how everyone's doing.

That is very encouraging @Dontrocktheboat - please keep us updated. (I'm still redrafting, get to a stage where I feel a little happier, once or twice I've been borderline confident, then get consumed by self-doubt again.)

That’s great news @Dontrocktheboat! Hope you get some positive feedback soon.

I wanted to highlight something for @Coucou2021 @PreparingForDisappointment and others on the thread who have been talking about submissions to agents - the Curtis Brown Discoveries programme, deadline coming up early next year.

I mean I know Curtis Brown is very well known so probably this is very much on your radar, but similar things were a really helpful part of my own journey, and it’s great because you don’t need a complete word count if you don’t have one.

Not much change here - still waiting to hear from my agent as to when she reckons submission can happen - hopefully later in the autumn! Trying to keep calm and remind myself that the waiting game is jo doubt only just beginning….

Thank you for the info, @HolidayByMistake

@HolidayByMistake thank you so much for this, I had not seen it yet and am very happy not to miss it.

Anyone else still querying at the moment? I had two full requests but neither has worked out so far, and a whole lot of no’s / radio silence. In the meantime have finished the next novel so I’m editing again.

@HolidayByMistake I’m crossing my fingers your novel will be on submission soon!

@Dontrocktheboat that's great about your agent, hopefully means you will be able to skip the agent search and go straight to submission.

This whole thing is soul destroying, though, and I'm glad to find company here. I'm four months into my agent submitting my first novel (well, first to have made it this far) and have received a handful of passes already. Don't have all that much hope this'll sell and it's going to be heartbreaking to shelve it. Why I have this compulsion to do this difficult and frankly very unhealthy thing called writing I do not know.

@groundhoglet I hear you! I go through phases where I think, why do I bother to try and submit anything at all?? It's not the writing I wonder about as I can't stop doing it, but I do wonder why I feel the need to share it.

Oddly, there's one specific rejection I received early on when I had just started writing seriously (I was writing short stories at the time) which keeps me going when the going gets tough. But even so, it is really tough!

I hope you have some good news soon!

Hi all, just checking in - would be great to hear how everyone is doing with submissions/ agent queries, and hopefully to hear some positive stories.

So, in my continuing saga, my agent (who I did feel ghosted by, having last heard from her in 2019, after my first novel didn't sell) did express interest in my new novel which I sent a few weeks ago, however has now got back to me saying she is unable to take it on. I didn't have great hopes given previous lack of communication, but I guess it's a bit disappointing. I checked my contract and pretty sure I am still subject to it, no mention has been made of this but I think I will make sure it's ended so I can get on and submit elsewhere.

Ironically, I personally am overall happier with this novel than the previous one - though it's maybe not very conventional, and I realise everything is market driven. @HolidayByMistake thanks for posting the Curtis brown link above - might look into this, as well as getting back on the submission treadmill. I agree with @groundhoglet tbough, not sure why I still feel driven to do this really difficult and quite lonely thing - it makes life interesting I guess!

Ah @dontrocktheboat rejections are so hard but keep going! If you've got/had an agent then you are more than halfway there!

Have you heard of Storm Publishing? It's recently been launched by the chap who started Bookouture and you can submit directly and get a response back in 2 weeks.

Thanks @LouisaMayAlcott, I will have a look at that.
Rejection certainly doesn't get easier, and it's been a long process so far - you are right in what you say, I guess, although wonder if I am just making life difficult for myself with no likelihood of success!

No news from me. I'm trying to work up the spirit to get back on the treadmill, but finding it very hard. I'm questioning whether I even want my novel published now - I wonder whether just to self-publish it on Kindle and get a few printed author copies for myself and as gifts for (doting )family/friends and if anyone else should happen to read it, well, that's a bonus.

Don'tRock - I'm glad you're personally happy with your latest work - I hope your confidence will help you find a new agent who's properly on board, once you've tied things up with the old one.

LouisaMay - thanks so much for the Storm recommendation - I will add it to my spreadsheet for if/when I want to submit again. The two week timescale is great news.

Hi @PreparingForDisappointment, I can certainly relate to the feelings of wondering whether to persevere - by the time I got to
the end of the process with my first novel
I was so wracked with self doubt about it that I wouldn't consider self-publishing it. I've started to think of it as my apprenticeship! So when I said I was happier with the current one, I did mean happier rather than entirely happy! I think there is less there that makes me cringe so I could see myself, as you say, self-publishing it just to have an object for me and my family if they are interested. I don't think I've quite given up on the traditional route yet though - I feel bound to give it a bit longer...

Also thinking need to get on with another project at the same time (which is even harder!)

I often find it hard to get into 'the writing zone'. Once I'm in, it's fine, but I work full-time and obviously have all the 'life' stuff to do, so it's easy to find excuses to procrastinate; and then discouraging thoughts overtake me and more and more time slips by.

It is hard, @PreparingForDisappointment - I work part time, although have taken in some extra work recently, but am impressed at you managing to get so much done whilst working full time as well. I find on days I have been at work I am so tired I can't focus on writing! Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and if you decide to submit your novel again.

@Dontrocktheboat I’m sorry to hear about your agent. Hopefully you’ll be able to find someone who will be able to fully champion your work soon, not someone who makes you doubt yourself by not staying in touch! It’s great you’re happier with this novel than your previous one!

I don’t have any news really, have more or less accepted the novel I’m currently querying is not going to fly (1 full request still outstanding but I don’t believe it’s going to happen). So off to get properly going on the next one, only a bit torn between two different projects at the moment and not sure which one to work on first. One is in a different genre which I’m not sure is wise to try to do, but it’s beckoning!