At Last. The Long Awaited E-Mail

Posted byFractured Faith BlogPosted inA Fractured FaithTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The long awaited e-mail from my editor, Laura, arrived yesterday, giving me the green light to commence querying literary agents with the manuscript for my first novel, ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square.’ Laura has worked wonders with the opening chapters of the book. Clunky prose now runs seamlessly from page to page. This is one rough diamond that has been well and truly polished.

While Laura has been editing, I’ve been researching agents online and have drawn up a shortlist of those who I feel would be the best fit for the book and selling it to publishers. I will be e-mailing them in the coming days with sample chapters, in addition to a query letter and book synopsis. Then it’s just a matter of sitting back, waiting and jumping three feet in the air every time I get an e-mail notification.

I’m hopeful, without being cocky. I recognise how competitive the market is out there and how tough it is to secure representation. Agents are flooded with hundreds of submissions every week. I just hope they see something in KSC that makes it stand out from the crowd. I’m prepared for rejection as well and have been busy thickening my skin for what may lie ahead. What will be, will be.

If all else fails, there is the self publishing route. But first I want to give the agents a shot. I may get invaluable feedback and at least I can say I’ve tried. The blog has recently passed 8500 followers so I must be doing something right. I’ll keep you all updated, of course, but if any of you know of any literary agents or smaller publishing houses interested in an urban fantasy set in modern day Belfast, then please let me know.

Published by Fractured Faith Blog

We are Stephen and Fionnuala and this is our story. We live in Northern Ireland, have been married for 17 years and have three kids - Adam, Hannah and Rebecca. We hope that our story will inspire and encourage others. We have walked a rocky road yet here we are today, together and stronger than ever. We are far from perfect and our faith has been battered and bruised. But an untested faith is a pointless faith. Just as a fractured faith is better than none at all. We hope you enjoy the blog.

57 thoughts on “At Last. The Long Awaited E-Mail”

  8. Congratulations! This is a major leap in the right direction. And from the very little I know about the publishing world, your 8500 blog followers is a strong vote in your favor for a book deal . One question a publisher wants an answer to is, “Does this writer bring any kind of built-in market for this book?” Clearly, you do.

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  19. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t receive an email about this post. (Plus your posts don’t appear in my Reader, so there must be a glitch somewhere in the bowels of WordPress). Anyway, I had a second thought on the Hogwarts House question… When I read your synopsis a few posts ago (and re-read just now to confirm), I recall thinking that the “Cornelius”, as in Dobson, and to a lesser extent, Starc, as in Meredith, sounded a tad Hogwartian. Though clearly, as you’re a Potter free zone, you would not have copied them from Ms Rowling. So maybe the agent is testing you…?

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