Timothy's Thoughts

I’ve been sending out query letters. The jargon is different, but sending out query letters is equivalent to the government or a business making an announcement that they are looking for a contractor to do a job for them. Government agencies and businesses put announcements on websites and in newspapers. Authors attend conferences and send out query letters. With both processes, there is the possibility that no one will submit a bid, or in literary agent jargon, offer representation. This is probably more common with literary agents, but there are often government sponsored projects where a bureaucrat dreams up a project that no one knows how to implement. Likewise, publishers are especially reluctant to take a risk on authors without a proven track record and a recognizable name, so agents are reluctant to represent them. Some agents know they aren’t going to offer representation to unknown author and have published notices saying so on their websites. I am trying to respect that, so ...

This blog has been something of an journal of my writing activities, I thought it appropriate to post my form query letter for my latest novel. This is the letter that I am sending to agents. If you happen to be a literary agent and you haven't gotten your own personal copy with all of the information filled in then there are several possibilities. I may not know about you. I may know about you but I read the statement on your website that says something like "I'm making so much money with my existing clients that I don't want to look for more." Of course it could be that I just don't like you very much. If you want your own copy, you're welcome to ask for one, but for the rest of you, this is all you get. Timothy Fish [My Address] ...

Many Literary Agents see themselves as the gatekeepers of the publishing industry. The sad thing is that they say this with pride. “We are the ones who keep out the riff-raff. The quality of books being produced by publishers is better because we only allow good books through.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? Too bad it isn’t true. Talking that way is good for a few people’s egos, but the publishing industry doesn’t work that way. You would think that there is a single point of entry that an author won’t be able to go through until his work is good enough to make it through the quality catches that an agent uses prior to agreeing to represent an author. Going with the gatekeeper analogy, what actually happens when an author approaches an agent and the agent says, “access denied” is that the author goes and finds another agent or looks for an unguarded gate. Instead of one gate, there are many gates. The true gatekeepers are still employed by the publishing companies and they always will be. ...

Dear God, I know you love me and want to bless me. I know you own the cattle on a thousand hills and all that. I know that all the wealth of the world is yours, so it is a small thing for you to do this one thing. To you, it isn’t a very big thing at all. Could you give me a big book contract? I don’t ask for much. I just want enough I can go buy a bigger house and a new car. And I want to enough to be able to quite my job so I can go to speaking engagements all over the country. And I don’t want to have to worry about money again. I know it’s a small thing for you and I am trying to ask in faith, even though there are thousands of other Christian authors out there who don’t have a publishing contract. Now I know I might be asking with the wrong attitude, but at the very least, won’t you get me a contract so people will see that I’m as great of an author as I think I am? In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. Ever pray like that? I’m afraid that I have all too often. That is part of why th...

Rabbits are funny creatures. They can fight and be quite vicious, if they choose to, but most of the time they just run. Or if they are in a cage they will just sit there, though breathing very heavily when they are scared. They are built for sprinting, so in an open field it is possible to chase a rabbit until it can’t go any farther. It will run out of energy and out of breath. It will just lie there catching its breath while its captor approaches. Do you ever feel that way? You have your eye on the prize. You run and run and run, but then you reach the point that all you can do is just lie there and try to catch your breath. We either want to cry or break something and we know that neither will do any good. If we keep lying there, we’ll die or we’ll fail or live out our lives in a miserable state. Whatever happens, we won’t reach our goal if we don’t change something. We don’t enjoy being in that position, so why should I bring it up? It isn’t because I have some profound advice on ...

Today, I'm being lazy and posting a video link from the digital marketing group at MacMillan USA. It is obvious that they have too much time on their hands, but it provides for entertaining videos. I can't help but wonder. If digital marketing groups have time to do this kind of stuff, why aren't we seeing more book trailers that might actually sell books? On second thought, here's the real post for today: Writer's Burnout Passion is the spark That starts the blaze. Passion is the stone That ripples the lake. Passion is the twinkle Before the smile. Passion is the luster Of finest gold. Passion is the heart Of every story. Passion is the hope When all is lost. Rachelle Gardner recently asked about passion and training . Her question dealt with how naturally talented authors can learn the craft of writing without losing the passion. A number of people responded. Among those was Brandilyn Collins who stated, “And here's the other side of the coin. Your passion ...

I watched Get Smart the other day. There are some things that it would have been better if they hadn’t been in the movie, but if we ignore those things and just consider the story it was great. It is one of those stories that you know how it is going to turn out from almost the beginning. As soon as you see the interaction between the two main characters, you know that they are going to argue for a while and eventually fall in love. You can pick out the double agent villain almost as soon as he makes his appearance. Then you sit through the show and think, “I hope I’m not wrong. I hope I’m not wrong.” We talk about writing unique stories, but people don’t want to read unique stories. People want to read predictable stories. They want the guy and the girl to fall in love. They want the father to defeat the bad guys and carry his wife and children home to safety. They want the monsters from outer space to turn into a smoldering pile of ash. Yeah, it’s predictable, but that’s okay. While...