It’s been a relatively quiet week on the writing front – I’ve been busy doing stuff about the house instead. Slippery Souls is in the capable hands of my auntie still, and my new novel Monday is coming along well at 14,000 words.
I sent off the first three chapters of Slippery Souls, along with a cover letter and synopsis to a literary agency – and they responded almost immediately. Unfortunately this was to say that they weren’t interested – something along the lines of them being ‘all vampired out.’ They did however urge me to keep trying with other agencies and publishers. I’m actually amazed at how many agencies and publishers specify that they DO NOT want any fantasy, horror or sci-fi manuscripts though. I can only guess they’re all sick to the back teeth of wizardry mayhem and bloodsucking romance. The aforementioned obviously must sell well – but on the flipside, agents and publishers must be inundated with similar stuff...and not all of it will be a worthy read. I can almost imagine literary agents holding their heads in their hands as yet another vampire manuscript arrives on their desk. There are, however, agencies and publishers who specialise in the fantasy genre – so I will try these places. But the more I look into it, the more I keep thinking I will end up going down the self-publish route after all.
...which means I will have to purchase a copy of Adobe Photoshop, because after months of pondering over the front cover that was designed for me by a graphic design student, I’ve decided, alas, it isn’t quite right for Slippery Souls. So I need to get back into graphic design mode after all these years and do it myself.
On a different note, I joined the committee of the local community centre this week – with an aim to help promote its events and services to the press, and to put together a newsletter. So that’s a new project to get my teeth into, as and when time permits. I haven’t done anything yet...must make a start soon. Although I still haven’t made a start on Assignment 17 either...oh dear.
I have a new post on my Rachael’s Travels blog called Cozumel – Mexican Island in the Caribbean, which can be found in the usual place: http://rachaelhdixonstravels.blogspot.com
Well, until next time, I’d better go and crack on!
Good luck! Which agencies are you trying?
ReplyDelete