My big project this year is to try to get my debut sci-fi novel a) sold and b) published – with a bunch of short story submissions as a side dish. It has been interesting…
The thing you usually hear the most is how difficult it is to write a novel in the first place: people try and fail, or they incubate their precious idea their whole life, or they participate in the NaNoWriMo project. The act of having written, of having created, seems to be the ultimate prize. No one tells you about the next stage – finding a good agent by cold-messaging them with a query.
I’ll be honest: I hadn’t given this step much thought. All of my favourite writers (Pratchett, Scalzi, etc) had more or less stumbled on their agents, and I’d assumed I’d figure it out once I got there. (And that was a good tactic at the time: why stress about that before the book is even finished?) Now that I’m here, though… Wow. Wowowow. This is an entire world, an ecosphere of its own, with so many rules and quirks and occasionally contradictory advice.
A query should be short but not too short. Funny but not too funny. It should reference comps (comparable works) directly but without being too arrogant: in the style of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – not similar to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The comps should be relevant but recent, and not too old. I’m going to start a mini-quest to find relatively recent books that combine quirky revisionist history with snarky time travel narratives: in theory, there ought to be at least a couple of them. In reality, I haven’t heard of any. There is, in fact, an actual free service for writers where, if you leave a voicemail describing your book, a team of booksellers will brainstorm to help you find recent comps. We live in such a strange (and occasionally incredibly kind) world…
The more I learn about all the different query styles, and preferences, and conflicting pieces of advice, the more I feel like an uncouth barbarian at an elf castle. So many rules (written and otherwise) so many ways to mess this up, so very much to learn… This truly is fascinating – and a worthwhile challenge at long last.
I have no relatives or buddies in the industry, no rich parents who have a golfing buddy with a publishing house, no giant social media following. In a way, that makes my hunt a lot more difficult. In another way, though, it’s a reassurance about something I always worry about: when I succeed, it’ll be based on merit, and nothing else. The road ahead will be difficult, but I know that someday I will reach my destination, with my yet-to-be-discovered awesome agent, and my as-yet-unknown editor. I do not know what form the end result will take, nor how long this will take me, but I know my novel is the exact sort of thing my 20-year-old self would’ve adored, and I will get it published – someway, somehow, someday.
And now… Off to hunt down the comps of historical and/or time travel novels that occupy my very specific quirky niche. Followed by major revisions of my query letter. Followed by a bit of an email blast, and waiting, and hoping, and dreaming. All shall be well.
EDITED TO ADD, A LITTLE WHILE LATER: Well, it took some googling, but I’ve found a few books that are somewhat-but-not-quite similar to mine. This should work I think: “The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England” by Brandon Sanderson, “The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.” by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, and the “Time Police” series by Jodi Taylor.
Also, I realize how ridiculously self-assured my post sounds. I promise that I know what Dunning-Kruger means. I am not perfect, but neither am I terrible. What I am is extremely patient, in possession of infinite time, and quite good at handling rejections. Someday, I shall succeed.
EDITED TO ADD, A BIT LATER: Ho hum, apparently the comp titles should be from the last couple of years. (Sorry, Mr. Stephenson.) Behold, the new comps! Jodi Taylor’s “Time Police” series, Bill O’Neill’s “The Big Book of Unexplained Mysteries,” and “The Umbrella Academy.” I really think this is the best trio of recent fictional works to describe my novel. Let’s hope this works, eh?
Grigory Lukin.com 