Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Much Ado About Agents

The publishing industry is in flux.  Anyone with half a brain and an internet connection knows this.  It's reported on almost daily if you follow publishing or writing blogs/newsfeeds.  And it's been this way for a couple of years now.  Because of this, I've been giving my attempts at finding an agent a lot of thought lately (let's just say that when you drive over 17 hours to get to BC for a little R&R, you have a lot of time to think...).

I've been going through the motions of seeking literary representation for the last couple months now (well, years, really, but it's been a more concerted effort as of late), and as you've probably guessed, without much success.  There are two fairly obvious reasons for this.  One: my writing sucks.  Of course, pure hubris prevents me from accepting this notion.  That and the fact that I've had at least one novel accepted for publication from an epublisher (shameless plug alert : http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/), and from what I've seen, they put out some quality stuff.  So that leaves me with option two: the industry is in such trumoil at the moment that most agencies have closed ranks.  Meaning, of course, that they are focusing more on existing clients rather than actively seeking new ones.  Now that's not to say it's impossible to find an agent anymore, but I honestly believe that in today's business climate and with another global recession looming, things are tough all over.

Now, I could keep soldiering on, slogging it out in the query/submission trenches, but I don't think I will.  At least for the time being.  Anyone who has ever had the strange compulsion/notion to become a writer is probably quite familiar with the process.  Granted it has become easier since the advent and acceptance of email queries/submissions, but don't ever kid yourself.  It's still a time consuming process.  Which is why I won't be submitting to anymore agents for the foreseeable future.  I'm going to let my current submissions run their course.  If they garner some attention, great.  If not, it's no big deal.  I have a lot of other things to do.  I'm going back to school in the fall to complete my teaching degree.  And I have about a dozen ideas for upcoming books and a couple of YA series that I've been mulling over for some time now.  And when Cold Fear is released next year, I'll have some major marketing/promoting to do.  I'm a busy little bee, and will be for a while.

The agents will wait.  Either that, or this new business model in the publishing industry will eradicate them completely or change what they do so drastically as to render them nearly unrecognizable.  I hope it's the latter, as I bear no ill will towards agents or what they do and I have no wish to see anyone put out of work.  I'm just not going to expend all the energy needed to find representation until things have calmed down a bit.  In the industry and in my own life.

Is this folly?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But thems the breaks, I guess.  Things'll shake out one way or another.  They always do.

And now I'm off to write.  The vacation was great, but it's time to get back down to business.  I've been pre-planning, outlining and writing in my head for over two weeks now.  I need to get some of this down before it drives me completely round the bend...

Talk to you soon.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

My Brief Hiatus

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably already know this, but I'm on holidays at the moment, so regular blog posts won't be starting again until I get home.  I've been doing a lot of thinking while breezing around BC and I've come to a decision in regards to my attempts at finding an agent.

But more on that upon my return...

Cheers,

Derek

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Are Zombies Dead? (Redux)

This isn't really an answer to my question on the popularity of zombies, but it does make for an interesting article.  This, from the NY Times Book Review section:   Click here

Sneak Peak

Okay, so Cold Fear isn't being released until next year, but I thought it might be fun to post a blurb of the book to whet your appetite.  Hope you enjoy.

On a lonely expanse of tundra near the small, subarctic community of Churchill, Manitoba, an unholy evil has been awakened from its ancient slumber—and now it is time to feed.

Ben Russell has just lost his young wife, his job, and any semblance of happiness he once had. A trip north to visit his former brother-in-law turned RCMP corporal is a last ditch effort to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. But Ben soon finds himself face to face with a living nightmare as he is thrust headlong into a terrifying journey that will test the very boundaries of reality—and his sanity.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Are Zombies Dead?

Well, of course zombies are dead (well... undead), but that's not what I mean.  What I mean is, is the zombie sub-genre dead? 

The reason I'm even bringing this up is because I've been shopping around a YA zombie novel to agents over the last couple of weeks and had nary a hint of interest.  Now, of course, it's hard to get any real inkling as to the reasons for such a snub from email form rejections alone (a pet-peeve I will save for another day).  I mean, maybe said agents simply aren't digging my writing (but of course, that can't be it), but I thought I would blog about it and see if I could elicit some opinions here.

So, have zombies reached peak saturation among book buyers and movie goers?  Or do you think there is still room for a few well written stories starring everybody's favourite rotting brain-eaters?

Personally, I think they're getting close.  There have been a lot of horror movies and adult horror novels that have tapped "the zombie well" over the last few years, which is why I decided to write my zombie novel for a YA audience.  Now I know there have been a few YA zombie novels already, but I don't think the youth demographic has been as inundated by the undead as the older markets.  YA still seems to be the domain of angst-ridden teenage vampires a la the Twilight Series, and werewolves seem to be making a bit of a comeback.  But zombies don't seem to be as well represented.  So I figure I still have some room to maneuver with a well written zombie novel.

And so that's what I did.  I wrote an edgy zombie novel for teens.  And I set it in Canada's isolated Northwest Territories, which in and of itself offers some interesting situations.  But as I've said, I haven't gotten a sniff from agents (so far).

So what do you think?  Am I flogging an (un)dead horse with this one?  Are zombies finally dead?

I, for one, sure hope not...

Friday, August 5, 2011

Muddling Through

Okay.  So here goes... my first official blog post.

I've agonized over this for a couple of weeks now.  With the imminent release of my first ebook later next year, I thought it would be a good idea to create what is generally referred to as a "web presence".  This, as it turns out, is what you do when no one has a clue who you are, but you're attempting to become better known to the general public.  In this brave new(ish) world of social media, it apparently means starting a Twitter account, a blog, and a website.  So I've done the first two, but I'm holding out on the website (for now, anyway...).  Twitter and blogging I can handle, but the whole website thing seems a bit pretentious.  Especially when you're just starting out and your book hasn't even been released yet.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not trying to slag off anyone with a website.  It's just not for me (at this juncture).

Anyway, I digress.

As I was saying, I've been agonizing over this whole blog thing for some time.  And the reason for it is quite simple: I don't have the foggiest clue what to actually blog about.

I've always been a glass half empty kind of guy, so my first inclination when it came to starting this blog was to think, Who's going to want to read a blog about me?  In the great scheme of things, I'm nobody.  So I waited.  And slept on it.  And from those very misgivings came the answer I was looking for. 

This blog is going to be a personal journal of sorts.  I'm going to keep it fairly casual.  I'll talk about things I like, things I don't like.  Heck, maybe I'll even throw in a few recipes.  Who knows?  (I do make a mean pulled pork sandwich).  But what I'll probably focus on most is this writer's journey I've embarked on:  the ups and downs of the craft, my experiences in this new digital publishing frontier, perhaps some previews of my upcoming work.  All I ask in return is that you have a little patience as I try and wrap my head around this whole blogging thing.  Well, that and buy Cold Fear when it comes out...

So, with that being said, welcome to my blog. 

I think this'll be fun.  I hope you do too.