@MitchellDHadley Same here. They will consider carrying a book if I pay them dough, give em a free copy. And, if it sells well, they might let me do a reading. Woo-hoo!!!
I didn’t follow up.
@qmaddenwrites Too commercial? As in too many units might be sold? This doesn’t sound right to me, as if she has another reason for the rejection, and isn’t honest enough to do so.
@DebsHof I went down that path in 2010, needed a pacemaker to keep me alive, four more pacemaker operations since 2018, and I’m still here. Best wishes on a successful operation, and going forward, your thriving in life.
@LVTeacherman@REstepLit You’re welcome. Keep in mind that larger word counts equal higher page counts, and those equal higher printing costs. Publishers are trying to avoid books that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
@LVTeacherman@REstepLit Writer’s Digest addresses word count issues per genre. However, it’s a moving target that’s constantly evolving. One writer thing I’ve learned is that targeting your work to 80-90K should put you in the ballpark without scaring off potential agents from considering your work.
@GennaMattioli Without knowing your work I’d advise ending the first of the trilogy on a thrilling high note that leaves things unsettled, and set up for the next two books. Since you already have 206K into it, you might be able to end book one sooner than you think, like I have a clue. LOL.
@GennaMattioli Good luck with the revisions. It sounds like the agent likes things about your book but it’s longer than one she can sell. Make sure you keep the story’s heart in place. Genre?
@GennaMattioli That’s challenging. It’s amazing how many things are hard to cut that seem organically important to the pace and overall structure.
I hired an editor to reduce a similarly long novel to 105K. The requesters failed to reject my efforts, leaving me in permanent limbo.
@SRaeEvans Who knows? Especially not me. I’ve been sending queries for years. Other than a couple of requests for more pages, and even full requests, I’m still in the wilderness waiting and watching. Maybe they’re not gripped by your story or writing? Maybe you don’t have a platform?