As part of sending out more regular newsletters, I’m going to send out a progress-focused email every quarter to both keep you apprised of happenings, but also keep me accountable to my yearly goals.
Fuck I’m professional. 😎
Agent submissions for the new space fantasy series
I’ve sent out 20 queries to different agents so far and I’ve gotten back 10 very polite form rejections (a form rejection is a generic “nah buddy, not for me” message). I’d been hoping to get at least a personalised rejection since form rejections give you next to no information, but no dice this time.
This isn’t a great surprise, because snagging a good agent can be very difficult, and my book doesn’t quite the fit mould of what they’re looking for. It’s too short, too many books planned in the series, and not highbrow enough.
Interestingly, I’m not particularly disappointed by this result. Even though a bite would’ve been a nice ego boost, I’ve been thinking for some time that self publishing would be a better route for this series.
If a publisher signed this first book, there’s no guarantee they’d sign or publish more, so unless I got an initial contract for the full five book in the series, it’d be a gamble on whether I’d be able to finish publishing them. And due to the vagaries of how success is calculated by publishers, good sales might not even be enough. If you’re interested in learning more about the business side of publishing, check out the Publishing Rodeo podcast.
So my current thinking is to let the in-flight queries play out (typically up to 12 weeks before you call it a no), but not submit anymore for this series.
I’d still like to get a traditional publishing deal at some stage, but I think I need to be more strategic with the book I try to sell to agents and editors. I’ve got a book in mind already, but it’ll be a few years before I can even write it.
But write it I will. 😉
If I only get form rejections or no reply to the existing queries, I probably won’t mention this again, but if something more interesting happens, I’ll let you know.
Either way, my first goal for the year is a big ✅
Book 2 of the Slip Saga: A Phantom in the Forge
I’m currently in the weeds with the latest draft of A Phantom in the Forge, and I can see the finish line from here. It’s still a little ways off, but I can already taste the victory champagne.
I checked my saved versions, and I finished the first draft of Phantom back in May of 2022. Yikes.
It’s been a tough book to write, with lots of chunky rewrites to find the story I wanted to tell, but it’s been worth it.
It’ll be a huge relief to finally get it out into the world and into your hands. Not long now!
In terms of release timeline, I’m aiming to launch the Kickstarter for Phantom before the end of June, though hopefully I’ll be ready to do it even earlier.
Follow the campaign if you’re hanging out for it 😀
That’s it for today’s update. Have a killer weekend!