As I noted in these pages prior, I am trying out two publishing coaches (this happened by accident when I realized I'd verbally committed to two different people). I spoke with coach #1 yesterday and this is what I learned:
1) My cover letter needs to be more personal. I had no idea of this -- I'm used to writing business letters, and that's what I did. I rewrote my cover letter keeping this in mind.
2) I need more of an online presence. This blog, for example, is an online presence, but few people know about it. I have a twitter account which posts links to this blog. I'm putting up a page on Facebook and have invited friends -- but few people etc. etc. In other words, I haven't been letting the agents into my online presence. I'm fixing this.
3) I have a writing quirk that could be dropping readers out of the story -- and it shows up on the first page. The quirk is that sometimes I give background in a blunt manner rather than through narrative or other storytelling. I break the adage "show me, don't tell me". My publishing coach is going to look for this in the first 50 pages; I need to edit the rest of this.
Being a serious writer, it turns out, is hard work. In my arrogance, or perhaps my ignorance, I thought my writing was publishing-ready when I finished it. I thought all that was needed was to proofread and change up some awkward language.
At the same time I'm grateful for my coaching and editing and I'm sighing about having to go through the document again.
But hello, online presence! Thanks for sharing the day with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment
I believe that everyone here comes with good intent. If you come to spoil my assumptions by verbal abuse, excessive profanity, spam or other abuses I had not considered, I reserve the right to delete your notes or delete your participation. I am the arbiter of what violates good intent.