Comments on: Ask the Agent: Having It Made https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/ Literary Agent Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:45:17 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Gloria McQueen Stockstill https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3230 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:20:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3230 >I was one of the blessed ones who went to a writers’ conference to see if God was leading me to write and, while there, had four chilren’s books picked up.

That’s the good news.

While it is a plus to put in my query that I’ve got books published, it has not been a great door opener. I am still receiving rejections. Each royalty check may pay for a meal at Burger King (only if I don’t super-size).

So, don’t get the idea that a few books is going to make you big bucks and provide notoriety. Of course, if you write a blockbuster, all of the above is negated!

]]> By: Anonymous https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3214 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:07:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3214 >My novel is coming out next summer, and I *do* feel like I have it made.

I know there are a lot of next steps: Maybe I’ll get bad reviews, or not get reviewed at all. Maybe it won’t do well. But, even worst-case, I’m not going to be back where I started.

I finished a book that was good enough to make it this far. I have an agent who’s committed to looking after my whole career. I’m in the game! There’s no guarantee of winning, but at least now I’m in the game.

I wouldn’t want to go back to querying agents, wondering if my book really is as good as I think it is. I like where I am now.

]]> By: Anonymous https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3213 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:39:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3213 >I hear you, travis, but it worries me that idealistic types (and I am one), especially in a Christian community, might be nodding in agreement. But if a writer sells only 4,000 copies, it might be a short career.

]]> By: Travis Griffith https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3212 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:52:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3212 >I had a book published in 2005. It’s sold just over half of its initial printing and the reviews have been absolutely glowing! Which is very cool. So- do I have it made? Financialy, not by a long shot. But that’s not why I write. I write because I love it, and because sometimes the things I write have a real impact on people. In my mind, that’s what ‘having it made’ is. I’d rather sell to 4,000 people who LOVE the book than 400,000 who don’t.

]]> By: Marla Taviano https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3211 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:13:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3211 >anonymous 2:28, I’d love to know your name (unless it’s a secret).

]]> By: Pam Halter https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3210 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:12:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3210 >I think you have it made if you are doing what you want to do. Truly, it is harder after you publish and have a higher standard to keep to. There is more freedom to write before you are published.

Still, if you love what you are doing and you are able to keep doing it, you have it made … whether you are financially set from it or not.

]]> By: Marla Taviano https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3209 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:36:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3209 >Here’s my publishing history for what it’s worth:

Proposal #1: book (2006, now out of print)
Proposal #2: book (2007, going strong)
Proposal #3: sorry, that kind of book won’t sell
Proposal #4: sorry, that kind of book is a little too crazy
Proposal #5: book (2008, has sold over 5,000 copies in 4 months)
Proposal #6: book (releases January 2009, different publisher than the first three)
Proposal #7: To be finished by July.

My first book went out of print because I sat in my house and prayed it would sell itself. The 2nd two are doing well, because I started speaking (mostly locally) and actually getting the word out about the books.

I can buy milk and eggs (and more books) with my profits, and that’s about it.

I’m living my dream (praise You, Lord!) but it looks much, much different than I imagined.

]]> By: Anonymous https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3208 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:30:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3208 >oops- that cut off…

the so was an accident

]]> By: Anonymous https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3207 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:28:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3207 >I guess I’m the odd one out. I do feel like I have it made.

My first contract was for two books. The first one hit maybe 12000 the next one definately bombed with maybe 2000 copies sold so far (lots of transition in marketing and the first one although did ok still wasnt as great in sales as they thought it would be).

Since then we’ve sold two different books to two different houses (my agent is amazing!) and have still got decent, realistic advances (the first one was crazy over the top).

The books have given me more of a platform for freelance writing. Now I am able to stay home and write and am having a baby soon that I can now be with at home.

God has opened this door for me so that I can stay home and write, even though just a few years ago it never would have seemed possible.

I thank God for this blessing and that I can be home with my family. I never ever thought it was something I would beable to afford to do, but if I continue to write books and freelance articles I can.

So

]]> By: Anonymous https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3206 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:30:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3206 >I have nine books published.

Do I have it made? No way. You have to prove yourself every time. Published writers sink out of sight every day.

Listen to Brandilyn. The most “freedom to write” comes BEFORE you publish. If you do achieve the dream of signing up multiple books, you will learn what deadlines are all about. You will turn writing into at least some semblance of a 9-5 job, if not the identical thing, and you probably already HAVE a 9-5 job that you cannot afford to quit. Your next books will have to be perfected in way less time than you had for the first one.

I don’t think getting the first book published is the hardest. I’d say the SECOND book is. Now you know how hard it is, and you have to do it again and prove you are not a fluke.

]]> By: Chatty Kelly https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3205 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:19:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3205 >My goal this year was to get published. I have an article being published in November. So after I did my happy dance “I’m getting published, I’m getting published…”, my next thought was “what is my next goal?” To get published again! So do I feel like I have it made? well, it does feel mighty good to have not been rejected (again), but does it make the next one easier. nah.

And one day maybe I’ll write a book, but I’m a fan of starting small.

]]> By: Matthew Botsford https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3204 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:36:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3204 >I too have had two books published and have sold very few so my POV would it is an honor to be published but in no means have the books been able to effect their intended audience en masse. My question at this point is do I find a literearary agent to represent me? the 2 books are out of a 7 book series for youths in process of penning.

]]> By: Jessica https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3203 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:16:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3203 >I don’t think it’s having it made. An honor, yes. A possible career, yes. But it will still be work, it will still be hard.
This is a great post. Thanks, Rachelle.

]]> By: ~ Brandilyn Collins https://rachellegardner.com/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3202 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:50:00 +0000 http://rachellegardner.flywheelsites.com/2008/06/ask-the-agent-having-it-made/#comment-3202 >Being published for the first time is not the end goal. It’s only the beginning. You will never feel like you “have it made.”

Even as regular contracts come in, everything else gets harder. Writing gets harder–you realize how little you know of the craft. Reader expectations mount. Your own expectations mount. There’s always a higher number of books to sell. Most of all–the deadlines. As an unpublished author, never underestimate the incredible ability to be able to walk away from writing when you want to. Can’t do that on deadline. You write when you’re sick, when your family life’s a mess, when you have no ideas, when you’d rather be doing anything but writing. It is a whole other thing writing because you HAVE to, than writing because you WANT to. A different level of craft altogether. And for me–never easy.

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