Dailey Figments and Musings

I am getting ready to query again after about a six-month hiatus and looked back through my records of responses and was quite pleased.  In the past, I’ve had many close calls. I’ve had full requests from publishers and agents alike for a few different books I queried. I could have given up with the mounting rejections but the rejections I’ve gotten over the last year and a half have MOSTLY been inspiring. This might not make sense to anyone who hasn’t been through the querying trenches but there is such a thing as a good rejection. A good “no” per se. In posting this I want to say that if you are a writer seeking publication, you need to keep writing, revising and editing…but especially keep submitting. Here are a few of my rejections: “I loved the concept and was riveted by the world you have created, but ultimately I just didn’t fall in love with the voice. It’s not for me, but I wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.” ‘There was so much he

The Best advice I can give to writers can be summed up in five tips and is partly what I've read, heard or learned on my writing journey.    First  – Keep writing and be ready. Write as many novels (and short story, poems, essays, etc.) as you can. Learn how to write a synopsis and query if you plan on submitting to agents and publishers. Learn the mechanics of writing and structuring a story. Take classes, enter contests, find mentors, work with beta readers, critique partners and editors - all with the goal of improving your skills and making your novels better. Second  – The road to getting published is not for the faint of heart. If you can’t learn to live with constant rejection then you might not want to publish your work.   Writers must grow thick skin. We are going to be judged by our work constantly and must remember why we write in order to overcome haters, trolls or simply people who don't like our work/style. Not everyone is going to like your work

Agent  Protocol - W hat is the standard protocol when dealing with agents? Should you respond to a "no" from an agent with a polite thank you? Although we want to be courteous to agents who take the time to look over our submission materials, you have to remember than they get a ton of emails a day and if everyone who got a no responded with a thank you or anything else then they would get inundated with more emails. Can you respond by asking why or for more in depth feedback? Agents aren't here to make us feel good or give us feedback-plain and simple.  If feedback is what you are looking for then find a good beta reader or critique group, enter a contest or a Twitter pitch party. If you enter a Twitter pitch party and an agent favorites your pitch sometimes if they reject you, they will give you a little feedback.  When should you nudge? If an agent hasn't responded to your query and it is two weeks past their normal response time then I would say nudge. Howe

So now you're on Twitter but how do you find other like-minded souls? Hashtags and suggestions of people to follow by Twitter are the ways to go. These two elements help you network. Networking and remaining active by engaging and using hashtags is the key to becoming a force on this social media site. If you aren't aware, suggestions pop up when you click on someone’s profile/twitter feed. You then can click on the people Twitter suggests and follow them. You can also peruse through their tweets and note hashtags they've used. Having a popular hash tag to attach to your tweets helps you interact and find people who write and read or have similar tastes. You'll find a community of people you never knew existed.  Even as I've written this more hashtags have been invented and will continue to be invented. That's the internet for you.  New and trending twitter hashtags are made up everyday so search what's trending by pressing the explore button or look

About my year of participating in Twitter pitch parties and why you should participate too. First let's start off with the basics. A twitter pitch is 140 characters (less with appropriate hashtags) about your chosen novel. A Twitter pitch party is a predetermined hash tag (ex:#PitMad) that groups all tweets together so participating agents and publishers and the writing community can find pitches and any related social media postings. With additional genre hashtags added to the pitch party hashtag (#A, #YA, #NF #PB) and even more specific genre hash tags (#SFF, #HF #MR) agents and publishers can read pitches they are interested in. Example of a pitch:  3 generations of Black woman are bonded not only by life experiences but by a passed down pearl necklace. #DVpit #OWN #AA #A #WF #HF   (The hashtags include the twitter pitch party tag:  #DVpit  and the genre tags:  #OWN #AA #A #WF #HF ) One of the precursors to pitching in a twitter pitch part

I have not decided whether or not to self publish at this stage in my career, however, I am a person that likes to be prepared. So I have researched across the net and through personal resources in order to figure out a solid business plan that might work when and if I do self-publish. I am posting this because my research and plan might help some of you authors who want to self publish successfully. Please note, many who have reached best sellers status and have made money in self publishing, did not have such an elaborate and costly plan- they simply got lucky. However, I want luck to be a small percentage of my success, since it's such a feeble thing. My Bestseller Plan: Note: The down and upside of self-publishing is that it is still growing rapidly. "Because it's that much harder for your book to be recognized, you have to step up your game not only with a great story (fiction or non), but also great writing, and professional editing and design." (2