Accuse me of living in a cave for awhile, but that song by Dido – White Flag is THE pop song of the aughties. There’s something about her voice that just rocks. I think she could sing – “you will take out the trash and scrub the toilet” and I’d buy it. Sure the wife understands that her voice doesn’t have quite the same effect on me.

On other fronts the meeting with Editor Person yesterday about the first 53 pages of Velocity revealed the following:
1)It’s way, way better than the first draft of the Ridge Runner was ( and the second draft for that matter )
2)It’s way, way darker than the Ridge Runner.
3)It’s dark enough that I agreed to lighten up some spots, cause frankly some of it was giving me nightmares and affecting my focus. I’m not writing Fight Club here ( as much as I love that book ).

I’m going to check my mailbox today. We’ll see if the prospective agent has responded yet. : )

I compiled a new list of agents to query. I’ll expand ( or contract ) that list as necessary.

Ever wondered what the odds of selling a book are? Here’s a sample of how the math breaks down. In reality the numbers may be better, or worse.

Let me temper this by stating that the book industry publishes 10,000 new books by first time authors every year.

At present there’s roughly 1,200 literary agents. Of that 200 will consider new clients ( or will admit they will ) and have a listing in Jeff Herman’s book. Of the 200 agents considering clients the rejection rate is 99%.

Assume an agent receives 1000 queries a year. This is a very low estimate, as some agents receive 10,000 queries or more.

1000 queries X 99 % rejected = 10 writers who advance to the next round per agent. Some agencies handle many clients, some less.

Still want to try and sell a book now? Really? Please repeat after me.
1) AA meets on Wednesday nights.
2) The Carrier Clinic is now accepting applications for inpatient and outpatient treatment.

I’ve been staring at the clock over my PC for the last five minutes wondering what to blog about, then I decided to start blogging and see what happens.

I’m going back to my short list of agents and organize the list and add another name or names to it for contact at a later date. I’ve read that two weeks for a response from a prospective agent is the norm procedure. This Thursday will be two weeks.

However, since I queried in the middle of the week, the agent’s office is in NYC and there was a holiday, I’m allowing two more business days before trying another agent, pushing it to Tuesday of next week. It’s ill advised to call an agent unless you’re a client, so I have no way of knowing if they got my query letter in the first place.

Now mind you, I understand why agents do this, particularly if you’re reading my blog, prospective agent. If you have 100 query letters to read a week and perhaps only 5 pique your interest enough to ask for more, I doubt I would be anxious to read them either.

Anyway – I’ll be funny tomorrow again. Right now I need more coffee.

Is it just me or are there lots of holidays in February, especially since it’s the shortest month of the year? February houses some of the the most critical days as well, Groundhog Day, President’s day, Lincoln’s Birthday, Valentine’s day and my birthday.

More US presidents were Aquarians ( which covers nearly all of February ) than any other astrological sign. Coincidence? I sure as hell hope so, because add my lack of a presidential pension to the fact that I’m not Hugh Grant and I’ve failed my mom once more. My photo ( coming next Sunday ) will prove that.

Now closing in on the 50 page mark on novel number next, we enter the second week of waiting for a response from the prospective agent. I checked my mail box on Saturday afternoon. There was no rejection letter there, so that’s encouraging. Kinda.

One of the more frustrating things is that publishing scorns certified mail. Since they also discourage phone calls, there’s no way to know they received your communication unless they contact you. Well, good for them. They don’t make their money by telling me they got my letter in the mail, right?