After finishing* (see footnote) my first novel, I joined SCBWI, and submitted to editors listed in their newsletter. And I bought a copy of the Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market to find more editors that might be interested in my book.
I did this for years.
Send a letter plus three chapters, check the mail box daily, open rejection letter, cry...rinse and repeat.
And guess what?
I survived. But I didn't get my book deal that way. And most of the 2009 debut authors I've met didn't get their book deals that way either.
After years of submitting, I switched camps. I firmly, vigorously, most vociferously insist that you (first purge all the superfluous adverbs from your mss and then) query agents instead of editors because--
-an agent will give you access to editors that don't take unagented submissions
(like mine)
- an agent will often help you improve your mss and your pitch
- an agent will negotiate a better deal for you
- many slushpile submissions to editors are read by an underpaid assistant
- some editors want to read through their slushpile, but never get around to it
An aside: Don't submit to both. Many agents won't (joyfully) represent a mss that has been submitted all over the place...and rejected.
* And now for the footnote:
How do you know when your mss is finished?
I'll present my thoughts on topic in my next blog.
So please come back.
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