Query established agents and publishers who like your genre. I find Writers Market a good standby. It lists who takes unagented work, offers guidelines, pays advances, etc.
Have had good success with writers conferences and networking, where I could meet panel members and ask questions. Those people like Jerry Gross, the "book doctor" were sincere in wanting to help new authors.
You do not need an agent. You can get an intellectual property lawyer to advise you once you land a contract offer, BEFORE you sign. Your local bar association should know who handles that sort of thing and refer you. They may or may not charge a fee.
In Cleveland, one group asks $30 fee, on use of the attorney, and the other does not.
Many houses do electronic submissions, so query first. Unless they want the mss, why send more than the electronic sample chapters? They may even accept the mss on disk. No one likes or opens attachments, BTW.
I see you started the 2nd book. Good!
You will get better and better, so keep it up.
They also buy in cycles, per what will sell (they think) and your skill at pitching. If an agent will take it, that is very encouraging, but that is competitive too.
Worst case, you e-publish, and go from there. A number of hits went self-published, and later were "discovered" when they were getting popular. A safe bet, you see.
Laurell K Hamilton was kicked out of her MFA program for her writing! She's a top horror writer now.
Keep on keeping on.
Have had good success with writers conferences and networking, where I could meet panel members and ask questions. Those people like Jerry Gross, the "book doctor" were sincere in wanting to help new authors.
You do not need an agent. You can get an intellectual property lawyer to advise you once you land a contract offer, BEFORE you sign. Your local bar association should know who handles that sort of thing and refer you. They may or may not charge a fee.
In Cleveland, one group asks $30 fee, on use of the attorney, and the other does not.
Many houses do electronic submissions, so query first. Unless they want the mss, why send more than the electronic sample chapters? They may even accept the mss on disk. No one likes or opens attachments, BTW.
I see you started the 2nd book. Good!
You will get better and better, so keep it up.
They also buy in cycles, per what will sell (they think) and your skill at pitching. If an agent will take it, that is very encouraging, but that is competitive too.
Worst case, you e-publish, and go from there. A number of hits went self-published, and later were "discovered" when they were getting popular. A safe bet, you see.
Laurell K Hamilton was kicked out of her MFA program for her writing! She's a top horror writer now.
Keep on keeping on.
