Well we just received a “rejection” from our last query letter. This is one area where Crystal and I differ a little. To her this is a sad spot, a criticism, a negative. I, on the other hand, feel that this is just part of the natural process. It is just a matter of persistence and continuing to develop our platform. I feel very much like God has led us to write this book and equally convinced that he will lead us in its publication. On the positive side, so far there has been no criticism of our book or what we are trying to accomplish. One of the agents actually called our query along with a submitted sample, poised and polished.
The goal for now will be to continue to research agents, become more educated about the memoir and publishing world, and work on a thorough book proposal. Crystal is a great researcher and a veracious reader. She is finding articles and books about publishing memoirs and giving me highlights, and reading assignments. She is also reading other memoirs to find ones which are similar. I am currently working on chapter summaries for the book and will then move onto a marketing plan. The more we can do in advance the better it will be. We realize that many of the agents on our A list are just too busy for a new project/author. We will be more appealing if we are capable of doing much of the leg work ourselves. All the agent will have to do is find a publisher and cash the huge checks. Did I ever mention that I’m an optimist?