Yesterday I had a query writing crisis. I have 9 versions of my book's query, from two completely different angles (each with several revisions, totalling 9). Yet I'm still not anywhere near the right hook or "advertisement" that I need to be at. It was crushing that both ways didn't work, when I thought I was on the right track.
So when I saw this on How Publishing Really Works it brightened my day:
"To paraphrase James D Macdonald: if you can write something that’s grammatically correct, which doesn’t contradict itself too many times and which shows a reasonable understanding of both spelling and punctuation then you’re already in the top ten per cent of the slush-pile, with a good-to-excellent chance of getting read—and getting published."
Hope it brightens your day too!
(I recommend reading the whole post)
10 comments:
Oh, WONDERFUL! Okay, that's my new favorite quote for forever. :)
Thank you so much for sharing!
And yes, the rest of that article was wonderful. Thanks again!
I've always suspected that this was the case! Thanks for posting the hopeful news!
I recommend everyone read the whole blog post too--because I wrote it!
Thank you for linking to my blog: it's much appreciated. I hope there is a little more over there for you to enjoy, too.
Great quote and great post!
Good luck on the query writing, I was playing around with ideas for my own last night and it was exhausting!
Glam and Davin - glad you liked it as much as I did
Miss Jane - of course I enjoy more from your blog. I follow it, so see most of what goes up. By the way, do you have something that alerts you when others link to you or were you here by random chance?
Anette, it was Sitemeter which brought me here but it was your writing that brought me back.
Thank you for following me: have I linked to you on my front page? If not, do please let me know so I can add you to the list: it's only fair. And if there are ever any questions you'd like to ask, or anything in particular you'd like me to blog about, do let me know and I'll do my best to respond.
Aww, thanks. :)
No, I don't believe you have me on your sidebar, but it would be great to be there!
The only question I can think of off the top of my head is about markets. Do writers from one country work exclusively with the editors and agents within their own country, or do markets cross?
You're now on my sidebar: and I've added your question to my looooong list of posts I have to write. Thank you for asking, and let me know if there's anything else you want to know.
That is a great article and great news! Thanks for the link! :-)
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