September 30, 2023 Carol Brennan King
Did you ever finish a project but not know what to do next? Well, that has been me this last month.
I finished the book I have been working on for several years, submitted it to a couple of places, and to be honest, I felt a bit discouraged. All of that said, I do know that is normal.
“Within the book publishing industry, it is agreed that the odds of an author getting their work published stands between 1% and 2%.” https://wordsrated.com/odds-of-getting-published-statistics/
The same researcher gave these reasons for why this might be so:
- 1. “More than 95% of manuscripts received by publishers and agents are below the level the standard required.
- 2. Often, submissions are made with spelling/grammar mistakes, odd narratives, are too imitative, or simply lack originality.
- 3. From the remaining number of high-quality manuscripts, under 5%, the vast majority are still rejected, usually due to not being a correct fit.
From the same site as above : Odds of Getting Published Statistics: February 2, 2023 by Dean Talbot
Let me speak to 1 and 2 first because they are linked: “below the level the standard required.” That means the publisher gave aspiring writers a clear idea of what was expected in a submission. I must say this also: there are some standards so universal the publisher assumes the author would know them. The most common requirement here is no spelling or grammar mistakes.
Did you ever look at how many editors, publishers, or agents will have a look at your book? I mean, look closely for a variety of errors. Remember there are different stages of editing (structural or developmental), copy (line by line), proofreading, and page editing. And…some manuscripts must go through these edits more than once. The first time they point out errors. The second time they check to see if you have a clean, corrected manuscript. The third time might be that the second time through you introduced new errors. That must be fixed!
Let me ask you this: have you ever read a book and wondered who edited the thing? When that happens, it is usually because you, as a reader, have noticed so many spelling or punctuation errors that you lost faith in the writer. And you finally determined that the book was self-published.
The same thing can happen when you lose track of what is happening to whom in the book. The author made leaps in the manuscript, and you don’t know how the author or character for from A to B. Again, a good editor will have pointed this out.
The editing of your book is necessary. My daughter has traditionally published three books, but she still used professional editors on the fourth. So, just paying attention to having your manuscript professionally examined makes it much more likely to stay out of the wastebasket– where far too many good stories end up. I say this because the errors blinded the agent or publisher to the story potential.
Let’s look at my third reason for rejection: Your manuscript does not fit what the publisher or agent is looking for. This happened to me a couple weeks ago. I found an agent who looked great – a woman looking for women authors and who handled historical fiction featuring women. My kind of agent.
When I heard back from her, she said it was good work but not a good fit. I thought I had done everything right, but I had missed a biggy. I HAD NOT LOOKED AT THE TITLES SHE HAD PROMOTED.
I never checked Amazon or googled her name to see the titles she had worked on or promoted. When I did, far too late, I found piles of middle-grade historical fiction titles. Middle-grade means the main character is that age – somewhere between eight and twelve. My book could be promoted for that age group, but I just never thought of saying that. And truthfully, it is aimed at adults, and to be really specific, adult women.
If I had been certain of my title, and I was not when I submitted that query, I might have gotten further.
My proposal was for Leaving Ireland. Now, I might use this title: Leaving Ireland: and Leaving Without Her Babies.
So, there’s what I have learned in the last month. I am almost ready to send out another query, but this time I will be very clear on the genre audience. Remember, the agent cannot sell your book until you and the agent agree on who your audience is, who is most likely to see that title and now want the story.
Leaving Ireland:
and Leaving Without My Babies (Note: a final title has not yet been decided.)
Carol's Notes 
Hi Carol
I so appreciated reading your latest post. How true, the challenges of getting an agent and publisher! Very intriguing!
I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind getting around to them whenever you feel like it.
Who, specifically, is your audience? Even though any adult woman would enjoy reading it, I’d think your target is American and Canadian women of Irish descent, and there are so many of those! It’s as if they’re reading their own family history.
I am quite confident that your spelling and grammar are excellent, so no issues there!
I would love to help you with the title. It has to be catchy. I thought she had brought her children with them. Did she leave any behind? If you were to boil down the story, is it about moving forward or did she spend her time trying to reunite with her babies? It was such a desperate life!
I will give some thought to a title, but would love to see your 2-3 sentence summary of the story.
I hope all’s well with you. Diane and Colin had a beautiful wedding! Frank’s progress is a mixed bag at best. We’re still back and forth PA to VT.
TAKE CARE,
Love Josette
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Audience: adult women, especially of Irish descent, but I think any immigrant woman could relate to much of it. YOu comment of American and Canadian was on point because enormous numbers of Irish went to Canada.
As far as spelling and grammar, I am so thankful I use Grammarly—picks up a lot that I miss when I am on a run.
You are right about the title change. I checked today and found 4-5 variations on “Leaving Ireland.”
About the babies: she bore four babies who did not live much past their first birthday. I don’t know why but earlier famines and epidemics certainly contributed to the high death rate. She lost another baby born after she arrived in the States and another child lived to be twelve but died, after Johnannah died (she only lived seven years after arriving in the States and just a few months after John did) and again, it likely was attached to an epidemic. We cannot even guess and the long term cost their bodies paid for the hunger and disease.
Two sentence +summary: John and Johannah Brennan realized their living children had little chance of surviving this famine, the landowners eager to reclaim the land for their own profit, and the Poor House, the Brennans’ only option, other than immigration, meant the destruction of their family unit. But Johannah had buried her first four infants, dead of disease before they could walk, and leaving Ireland meant abandoning those babies, the ones she talked to, the ones whose grave she laid wild flowers on and the graves she watered with her tears every Sunday while John took the living children to mass. Could she leave so some would live, and would she survive leaving them behind?
More than two sentences, I know. But I have just come to realize I need to share some of Johannan’s inner thoughts.
I loved the wedding photos and I am sorry about Frank. Mental Illness is indeed sometimes the silent killer, like some cancers.
Love you so much and I am so grateful for your comments, your help.
What is happening in your writing world?
hugs
Carol
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