I would like to share with you, the contents of the letter I wrote to my agent, which eventually put me on the path to self-publishing. I am by nature, a person with an incredibly short fuse. A person who sometimes acts first, the spends an inordinate amount of time trying to fix whatever bad decision I had made in the heat of the moment.
I was still incredibly pissed about being raked over the coals by people who, at the time, I thought were my friends (things have long since been worked out between all parties involved, and are now very good friends with each other), so the tone of the letter, while not readily apparent to the receiver, was apparent to anyone else who read it. So, without further ado, here is the body of the letter, verbatim.
It has now been approximately eight months since I gave final approval for your agency to shop my manuscript around, and from the monthly correspondence that we’ve been exchanging, I believe that you and your agency are doing your very best to sell my manuscript.
However, I do have a few questions about what has been going on, that I hope you can answer for me, or at least point me in the right direction.
From what you’ve told me so far, I have about three rejections of my manuscript. Have all of these been outright rejections, or have they been rejections coupled with advice on how to fix the manuscript? Are the publishers actually reading the manuscript, or are they simply rejecting it sight unseen? With only a few rejections received over the course of eight months, is this normal for this particular time frame? Lastly, is there a realistic chance that this manuscript will be sold in the next few months?
The reason that I ask the last question, is that it is now mid-October, and there are a few writing contests that will be starting up in late 2007/early 2008 that I am giving serious consideration of entering my manuscript in. But I really don’t want to do that if there is a reasonable expectation that my manuscript will be sold.
I have enjoyed working with your agency for the past fourteen months and I really don‘t want to give contractual notice, but I am simply trying to do what’s best for me and my manuscript.
Any help or direction you can give me, will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Georgie B
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Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.
About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.
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G. B. Miller