Believe in Yourself but Listen to What People Tell You
Something that never ceases to amaze me is how many times great novels by first-time authors are overlooked by literary agents or publishers.
It happens way too often, especially with genre-blending novels and books that are quirky in nature. When authors are asked during interviews what the process was like for them in terms of getting their first novel published, many of them often say something like, “I got rejected by 100 literary agents and then finally one said ‘yes.’” Or, “I lost count of the number of rejections I received, so I self-published my novel and eventually it took off to the point where agents and publishers were approaching me about my book.”
This particular blog is not about making the decision to self-publish – you’ll find that subject covered in a different blog – but rather to encourage you first-time novelists not to give up. You may or may not have written a great novel, but don’t let the fact that a long string of literary agents is rejecting you persuade you to quit trying to publish it.
By their own admission, agents are not perfect. They make mistakes and sometimes they fail to catch the vision for what you are pitching to them. And no wonder. Many of these literary agents only want to see a one-page query letter from an aspiring novelist, and that’s what they base their decision on when it comes to accepting or rejecting a book idea. It can be extremely challenging to fully convey your idea for a 100,000-word novel in 500 words, especially if your book does not neatly fit into a particular genre.
The key is to believe in yourself and your novel, and do everything in your power to make other people believe in it as well. You were inspired to write your novel. You spent ridiculous amounts of time thinking about it, writing it, and rewriting it. You’ve proofread it and edited it countless times. And – be honest now – you’ve fantasized about it being a New York Times bestseller, right?
With all that time and all those emotions you’ve invested in your novel, don’t give up on it just because the people who have the ears of publishers are not interested. They could be wrong, and it’s your job to prove them wrong. In fact, their rejection emails and letters can provide incentive for you.
Now, having said all that, it’s possible your novel is getting rejected because it’s not quite where it should be yet. This is where friends and relatives can come in handy. Find five or six people willing to read parts or all of your novel and provide you with feedback. Tell them you want them to be 100 percent honest and that nothing they say will offend you. Then, give serious consideration to the criticisms they make and determine whether incorporating changes based on their comments will improve your novel.
When I finished the first draft of Bamboo Harvester and had a couple of family members read it all the way through, it was suggested that I needed a strong female character. It had never dawned on me that the three strongest characters in my novel were all males.
If you’ve read Bamboo Harvester, you know that Lorker is a strong female character. But in my first draft, Drozik was the leader of the expedition to Earth and Lorker was his highly emotional, second-in-command wife. I decided to completely switch their roles – changing a lot of “he’s” to “she’s” along the way – and Lorker became one of the three strongest characters in the book.
I believe making that change had a profound, positive effect on the novel and helped me gain more female readers. By having a number of people read your novel and provide feedback, you might learn a few things that will help you improve your work. And even if it does not result in gaining the favor of a literary agent, your novel will still be better and have a greater chance of selling more copies after you self-publish it.