A Book for Sale: Chapter Six

Well, I made it to the finishing line.

As in, my first book pitch has been sent to the first literary agent on my list.

(Deep breath).

I’m not exaggerating when I say this has been HARD.

As a writer, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I have never heard my inner critic scream louder than it has over the past few weeks.  And it’s harder still, when I know the overwhelming likelihood is that my book (that I) will be rejected.  I feel a bit like those misguided, first-stage X Factor contestants of yore: reminding myself that wanting something – even working hard for it – doesn’t always mean getting it.

For now, my plan is to send pitches to my shortlisted agents at the rate of one a week, so I can tailor each one properly.

If that fails, I’ll move on to my longlisted agents.

If that fails, I’ll start looking at indie publishers, instead.

And if all else fails, I’ll publish Something Else myself.

Whatever happens next, I’m so glad I’ve done this.  Preparing this book pitch won’t just help me support my mentoring clients through the same process.  It’s also evidence that I’m here.  I’m “in the game”*.  That’s a phrase borrowed from Mike Ehrmantraut, the moral(ish) hitman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

OK, so in Mike’s crazy world, if you’re “in the game” then you’re a criminal just like he is, so you’re fair game to be murdered.  But I still think of those words whenever I do something scary in words.  Like last year, when I wrote a film review for a prestigious competition.

I didn’t win that competition.  I didn’t come close.  But after the initial sting of rejection, I felt strangely uplifted.  I was “in the game”.  Getting rejected means you had to do something in the first place.  It means you didn’t give into the fear of being rejected.  You just did it.

So for me, being “in the game” means writing hard, then putting it all out there.

It means I’m serious about this.

One of the reasons I decided to blog about my book-pitching process is because I wanted to share the bumps.  We’re all so used to seeing important things going smoothly and successfully; curated to within an inch of their lives for an eager online audience.

It’s also because pitching your own novel to a literary agent is a murky, sort-of unknowable, downright terrifying process.  It takes a lot of work and a lot of grit, and I wanted to shine a light on that in its own right.  Because if by some miracle my pitch gets accepted, and my book published, and I’d saved all of these words until then, it would read like a done deal.

Which this absolutely, categorically, isn’t.

* FYI: “in the game” has nowhere near the same meaning as “on the game”.  That one little word makes all the difference!