Being a writer seeking to become a traditionally published author is quite a weird experience. Writing is one of the few professions where you have to do the vast majority of the work up-front, with no guarantee that the work you have done will ever see the light of day beyond your own computer screen. For instance, you can’t even query literary agents or publishers until the book you are querying is complete. By complete - it means complete. That doesn’t mean you won’t be open to revisions and recommendations; of course you will. However, you don’t query agents and publishers with your good ideas or things that you would ‘like’ to do with your writing in the future. The first contact you make is letting them know you are ready and willing to share a partial or full representation of your book.
Please don’t be tempted to query with a partial, without having the full book already written! Inevitably, that is the one time you will be asked to immediately send the full manuscript. You will then be faced with admitting you didn’t have it done, or hastily throwing together a book that isn’t quite up to the standards that you set for yourself or a true representation of your skill and vision.
This is one reason that before anyone becomes a traditionally published author, they are first a writer. They write a book. I wrote a book. I wrote more than one book. Yes, before any query letter is sent out, I’ll have two full manuscripts available for viewing. They are in varying stages of the editing the process, with only one truly ready for ‘prime time’ today, but the second close on its heels. I am not unique in this process, this is what writers trying to be traditionally published authors do.
You query, then you wait. You send out letters (or emails) introducing yourself and your work, and you wait for a response. That response can be a flat out rejection, a request to learn more about you and your work, or a request for a piece of your manuscript (partial) or your entire manuscript (full). What do you do while you wait? Well, you write. Remember, you are querying manuscripts that are already, initially, complete works. So that means, when my query letters go out, I’ll be writing the next book. I will also continue to revise and edit the works that are already complete. As I have my work reviewed by other writers, editors, and people that just really enjoying reading and providing feedback - there is always something that can be tweaked to flow a bit better. However, there is still more writing to be done, beginning other titles that need to get from my head and heart to the page.
You write. You write without any guarantees that even one publisher or agent will find you a good match. You write without any assurances that this will pay off in the end. You write without any foreknowledge that your intended audience will ever read what you have prepared for them. It is only when you know, deep down in your soul, that you have to do this; regardless of what happens in the end, that you become a writer.
I wrote a book. Then, I wrote another book. Whether I ever become an author or not, I am today - a writer. In this moment I know, I am exactly where I should be in this journey. Just like everyone else that has ever started this long and sometimes trying road, from a place of relative obscurity, one must be a writer, before they become an author.
With Love and Laisi-epo,
Doresa Ayanna