Aspiring writers sit at home writing and waiting for THE CALL. This CALL is supposed to signify the attainment of a dream, a new start, the beginning of a career. But over the last few weeks I’ve heard from a few published authors on listservs who have fulfilled their contracts and are now… back to square one. They’re getting rejections, they’re researcing the market, they’re not feeling any further ahead then they were when they started. Whose fault is this? Or is it no one’s fault?
Should your agent be actively keeping your work out there? Should they keep the sales going or is that your job as the writer? How does this work? *scratching head* These are things I’ll be asking-my-agent-to-be.
I’ve heard a few people say that the secret is an editor who loves you, who approaches you for projects, who keeps the work flowing your way. Is that the secret? Or is it our job to be more proactive? Or perhaps it’s nothing we can control at all. 
Stop scaring me!!!!
I’m seriously starting to think that I should be enjoying my unpubbed time…
by Larissa December 29th, 2004 at 8:17 amSorry, Larissa. Really.
Not meant to be scary. I just feel so bad for the authors and I’d like to find a way to avoid the same fate. 
by SylviaI actually lost my New York publisher BEFORE I was able to fulfill my two-book contract. I got a ton of subsequent rejections, and it took me a long time to get going again. This is something I’d like to think an agent would help new writers avoid.
by Ellen Fisher December 29th, 2004 at 8:58 amThis is a great point Sylvia. My local RWA chapter has a published author who after the sell of her first book couldn’t get a second. Took her years so it is a potential after effect to be wary of.
by Teresa December 29th, 2004 at 9:33 amYou know Sylvia it IS scary but in my humble unpublished opinion, I think it’s a combonation of things. Writers have to work their ass off writing, you have to have an editor who loves your work and an agent willing to get out there and hustle your work–which means the agent has to love your work too.
Maybe it’s my naievity but I don’t really understand writers who can’t sell subsequent books anymore than I can understand writers who write for 20 years, only have five manuscripts and still can’t sell.
I think you have to HUSTLE your booty off–no perverted puns intended. Once you’re done with one project get something else ready to go. Take that break but don’t sit on your ass waiting on your agent or editor to approach you with new projects. And don’t be afraid to write for more than one house because IMO putting out one book a year ain’t gonna get you where you need to be. Hustling is how you build name recognition and a readership.
But again it’s just my humble unpubbed opinion..
by Cece December 29th, 2004 at 10:04 amIt’s not an agent. (Sorry to disappoint whoever was hoping that was the answer.) The answer is in YOU and that’s all. I sold my first book to a long-defunct publisher (Meteor Kismet). It took me two and a half years after that to sell again (to Silhouette Romance). But the sales still came HARD. I got an agent, hoping that would improve things. Nope. My publisher wasn’t excited about me and an agent just can’t change that. (I dumped the agent a long time ago and have never gotten another one.) I started writing for other houses and other lines, but the real success I wanted still eluded me. I finally stopped, got off the boat, and thought about what I really wanted out of my career, and started writing books I *loved* not books I just thought would sell (though I’m a marketing ho, so don’t get me wrong on that ). There are so may trials in this business. It’s NOT EASY! I figure people who sold hand over fist from the get-go were robbed of the tenacity that was built into me from my struggle. I’ve written for seven lines at four houses, and most of the authors who wrote with me at those lines have disappeared. People get discouraged, give up, fade away, and the less they’ve struggled in the early years, the easier they give up. It’s so important to believe in yourself even when publishers and editors and the world doesn’t believe in you. If you keep going, you’ll win the game. It’s that easy and that hard. But it’s true. In the end, I came back to the same house I had left because they weren’t excited about me and in six months sold them five books. It wasn’t =them= that changed. It was me. I learned to believe in myself more and I learned to write the books I loved. Well, hope that helps someone! Man, I can go off on this subject…. It’s all in YOU. Which is the cool thing, huh? Nobody else controls YOU but YOU. 
by Suzanne December 31st, 2004 at 1:26 pm