Back to the grind of researching agents and refining the query/pitch to try to hook them. In the meantime, QueryTracker.net is sponsoring an interesting contest:
http://querytracker.net/contest.php
You provide the one-line hook and if the agent picks yours, he'll take a look at a partial or a full manuscript. I think it's great that agents are using a proactive approach towards authors trying to break into publishing. Personally, it lets me know that at least some of them are actively searching for new clients and new talent. I hope this is a new and continuing trend!
As for me, still tweaking the novel and trying to get it picked up. Once I scrape a few more coins together, I'd like to get a more professional looking copy edited and packaged through lulu.com
Hopefully I'll have copies for sale by the end of summer!
~VK
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Out of the Contest, but here's the review:
Hey all!
So I didn't make the semi-final cut for Amazon's contest. No big deal (because I really wasn't expecting to make the final 3 anyway!). But here is the review I got from a Publisher's Weekly rep:
An unseen creature known as “Crawl” terrorizes the newest residents of a purportedly haunted house in this absurd horror story. When beloved middle school teacher Mr. Fairweather dies of a heart attack at Fairweather Manor, it’s only the first in a series of increasingly bizarre deaths. Twenty years later, Mark Carson moves his family from Steel City to quiet Oakdale (and into the manor), determined to raise his children in a safer environment. While Mark’s gold-digging second wife spends her husband’s money and watches their baby daughter, Mark throws himself into repairing their new home. But strange noises and perpetually blown fuses make him think that perhaps the renovation project is more than he can handle. Interspersed with the Carsons’ story are the observations of the mysterious Crawl, an unidentified creature who lives in the walls and watches the family, whom it dubs “The Others.” But soon Crawl becomes so attached to its Others — Big Father, Big Mother, Little Father, Little Mother, and Tiny, Tiny — that it ventures into their lives with deadly consequences. There’s little here to frighten readers, as the novelty of seeing the world through Crawl’s eyes wears soon wears thin, especially since the author continually interrupts the marginally more interesting daily lives of the Carsons with passage upon passage of Crawl watching its “adopted” family.
[FIN]
Ok so the original reaction was to tear this reviewer a new one for:
a) probably not having read the entire manuscript
b) providing no real concrete criticism or basis for which to improve
c) being so jaded by the world and his/her failure as an author that he/she settled for being a poorly paid reviewer and chopping down others' ideas
But I'm a better person than that (clearly). So I'll file this one away and pull it back out once the 6 or 7 figure advances start rolling in!
More news coming soon since now I'm back in the hunt for an agent/publisher!
~VK
So I didn't make the semi-final cut for Amazon's contest. No big deal (because I really wasn't expecting to make the final 3 anyway!). But here is the review I got from a Publisher's Weekly rep:
An unseen creature known as “Crawl” terrorizes the newest residents of a purportedly haunted house in this absurd horror story. When beloved middle school teacher Mr. Fairweather dies of a heart attack at Fairweather Manor, it’s only the first in a series of increasingly bizarre deaths. Twenty years later, Mark Carson moves his family from Steel City to quiet Oakdale (and into the manor), determined to raise his children in a safer environment. While Mark’s gold-digging second wife spends her husband’s money and watches their baby daughter, Mark throws himself into repairing their new home. But strange noises and perpetually blown fuses make him think that perhaps the renovation project is more than he can handle. Interspersed with the Carsons’ story are the observations of the mysterious Crawl, an unidentified creature who lives in the walls and watches the family, whom it dubs “The Others.” But soon Crawl becomes so attached to its Others — Big Father, Big Mother, Little Father, Little Mother, and Tiny, Tiny — that it ventures into their lives with deadly consequences. There’s little here to frighten readers, as the novelty of seeing the world through Crawl’s eyes wears soon wears thin, especially since the author continually interrupts the marginally more interesting daily lives of the Carsons with passage upon passage of Crawl watching its “adopted” family.
[FIN]
Ok so the original reaction was to tear this reviewer a new one for:
a) probably not having read the entire manuscript
b) providing no real concrete criticism or basis for which to improve
c) being so jaded by the world and his/her failure as an author that he/she settled for being a poorly paid reviewer and chopping down others' ideas
But I'm a better person than that (clearly). So I'll file this one away and pull it back out once the 6 or 7 figure advances start rolling in!
More news coming soon since now I'm back in the hunt for an agent/publisher!
~VK
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Semi-Finalists Announced Soon!
So it's hard to believe that a month has passed already, but tomorrow the 100 semi-finalists for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest should be announced. I'll keep you posted!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Quarterfinalist!
Since I'm pretty new to this whole blog thing, I'm guessing I should have posted the news here first. Whoops! Every other source of social networking has been updated prior to this but hey, I'm a slow learner.
Anyway! The news came in at about 1:34am EST on St. Patrick's Day. I'm officially in the quarterfinals for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest!
"Hooray!" you say. "Now what the hell does that mean?"
It means I'm one of 500 people vying for a publishing contract from Penguin. It also means that a for-real, legitimate editor/publisher/person-in-the-biz will be reviewing my entire manuscript! That's big news when you're trying to separate yourself from the flock of other people trying to get an agent/publishing contract. Here's the catch:
An excerpt from my story is up at Amazon's page. I NEED people to download it (for free!) read it, hopefully post a short review and score it. Fairly straightforward. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/csdn77
There's a "Download for Free" button to the right of the book information. I assure you this is very important as the judges look at customer reviews as well as the professional reviews. Help a brotha out!
I'll be updating any progress that occurs in the next month or so, as I await the list of semi-finalists released on about April 15th and try not to go insane.
Thank you in advance for all your help!
~VK
Anyway! The news came in at about 1:34am EST on St. Patrick's Day. I'm officially in the quarterfinals for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest!
"Hooray!" you say. "Now what the hell does that mean?"
It means I'm one of 500 people vying for a publishing contract from Penguin. It also means that a for-real, legitimate editor/publisher/person-in-the-biz will be reviewing my entire manuscript! That's big news when you're trying to separate yourself from the flock of other people trying to get an agent/publishing contract. Here's the catch:
An excerpt from my story is up at Amazon's page. I NEED people to download it (for free!) read it, hopefully post a short review and score it. Fairly straightforward. Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/csdn77
There's a "Download for Free" button to the right of the book information. I assure you this is very important as the judges look at customer reviews as well as the professional reviews. Help a brotha out!
I'll be updating any progress that occurs in the next month or so, as I await the list of semi-finalists released on about April 15th and try not to go insane.
Thank you in advance for all your help!
~VK
Friday, February 27, 2009
Update
So the first short story submitted to Glimmer Train: REJECTED!
(I wish I had a big red rubber REJECTED stamp gif that I could use here)
No big deal, it was a shot in the dark anyway. There's still one under consideration.
Also! Two weeks now until I find out if I'm a quaterfinalist for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest. 1 of 500 is much more satisfying than 1 of 10,000.
Stay tuned!
(I wish I had a big red rubber REJECTED stamp gif that I could use here)
No big deal, it was a shot in the dark anyway. There's still one under consideration.
Also! Two weeks now until I find out if I'm a quaterfinalist for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest. 1 of 500 is much more satisfying than 1 of 10,000.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
Just submitted "Crawl" to Amazon's Breakthrough Novel contest, with a scant 2 hours before the deadline. I'll track my progress on here, but as of now I have a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting my book published by Penguin. I likes dems odds!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The White Sheep
Just submitted a short story to an online literary magazine. We'll see if it sticks. I'd love to post it, but since the submission is part of a contest I don't want to jinx it (or break the rules!) So when the magazine publishes it I'll post a link or at least put it up on webook.com
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