Friday, October 17, 2014

All my writing related mistakes

It’s normal to make mistakes in everything we do. Life is all about learning from one’s mistakes. My writing career is littered with the many mistakes I have made, especially when it comes to my books.

For a long time I submitted the first book I had written, to many Indian publishers. That was more than 10 years back. It was much later I realized that I was flogging a dead horse. Once I pushed that manuscript in my drawer as a hopelessly lost cause, I was at peace. All the anxiety faded away.

Another mistake I made was by querying agents just because they repped MG books. I had no inkling about an agent’s personal reading taste or choice. As the rejections piled up, so did my disappointment. It was only later when one of my blog buddies pointed out that I should query an agent only if they represented my kind of a book. Else, all I would see were rejections.

Another mistake I made when I submitted to Indian publishers was not submitting simultaneously. Simultaneous submissions cut the waiting time for us writers and also make us widen our search.

Depending on one book for too long is a mistake I hope to never repeat. Nowadays, once I am done with one book, I move on to the next one immediately as one never knows which book will capture an agent or editor’s attention.

Follow up is not my strong point as I don’t want to come across as pushy. But it’s a must when it comes to Indian Publishers. Unless and until we follow up we never get replies.

Personalizing the query to a specific agent. Though I never sent bulk queries starting with Dear Agent, I didn’t personalize it either. Nowadays I research an agent, read all their interviews, try to see what books they have repped, check them on Twitter and then mould my query so that it doesn’t look as though I am sending queries at random.

Whew! That’s a whole lot of mistakes, right? I hope never to repeat these mistakes again.

What about you all? Care to share your writing related mistakes so we can all learn from it?

14 comments:

  1. Sometimes that's the only way we learn. Sad you have to bother them for a reply though.

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  2. I don't like the concept of approaching publishers, waiting for their response, etc. I am more willing to approach readers any day. Maybe that's why I love self-publishing :) Of course, I too keep learning a LOT :)


    Destination Infinity

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  4. I agree wholeheartedly with all of these! When I was querying, I had a spreadsheet where I listed agents and I had about 5 books I was shopping around at all times. You're right--too often I sent things to agents who might not even like the type of book I was writing. But for me, it helps to have more than one book in the works so that when one is rejected, you still have other possibilities!

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  5. I love this, Rachna!

    Learning from our mistakes is important and how awesome of you to share so we can all benefit from your lessons. I have to think of my mistakes and post about them now, I like this idea a lot!!!! :)

    S.K. Anthony: Deleting the Best Part of You

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  6. Hi friends, most of us learn things the hard way, but hopefully we will remember the lessons and not repeat the mistakes. My publishing lessons have been quite hard and harsh :(

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  7. I'm pretty sure all of us have made those mistakes or others like them. Querying is exhausting, especially when you have to research agents, but you're right - it makes a difference. Wishing you no more mistakes and good luck in your querying! :) (And big hugs for your book-buying comment on my post!!)

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  8. You have learned much. Just watch out with simultaneous submissions if you ever decide to write short fiction. Short fiction markets usually prefer that you not do simultaneous submissions (they'll mention whether they allow them or not in their guidelines).

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  9. Nice share, Rachna. In the course of my writing life, I've made all of those mistakes. But, like Alex says, it's the way we learn. It sounds like you are having much better luck with your submissions these days.

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  10. Good on you, Rachna. Firstly, it's not many who would accept their mistakes. Secondly, it's not many who would share it publicly. Thirdly, it's not many who would share it to help other people.
    Keep it going. :)

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  11. I don't think there is anyone for whom learning stops, regardless of age:)

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  12. So long as you learn from them, it's all good. After all, how else are we supposed to learn? :)

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  13. Trial and error has always been the best way to learn. Also the most painful.

    mood

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