Andrew! You're on like a Joe DiMaggio-caliber hit streak here. There's so much wisdom in this piece and things worth commenting upon, but I'll highlight two points about finding your people, and looking for agents who get you and your project.
I had eight beta-readers for my novel: 5 men (3 White, 1 Black, 1 Latino) and 3 women (2 White, 1 Asian), and all of them enjoyed the project, because they got what it's about. Like you said, I wasn't writing for a certain person or group, I was writing the project that spoke to me.
Candidly, on my agent search, I wasn't having much success with my initial queries, which were directed largely to White women. Once I kind of had this insight that I wasn't targeting the right agents, and started focusing on male agents in particular, everything took off. By no means did I feel discriminated against, but I do think I was trying to sell to people who weren't interested in buying. That said, once I got an offer and seized the leverage in the process, a few women agents reached out with particular interest. So, as you mentioned, it wasn't a gender/race thing as much as a "was I targeting the right people" thing.
I'm stoked AF to read Victim and I'm rooting hard for you! One of these days we'll have to get together and dig into this shit over drinks.
Thanks so much, Amran! I always appreciate your support and I'm glad the piece resonated with you. It sounds like you went about the process with a great mindset and, as I've mentioned, I'm very excited to see what is in store. Thanks for reading and engaging--I really value it.
I needed to read this. For the past year I’ve been working on an extremely unromantic organized crime novel that displays men at their absolute worst, and I’ve been having serious doubts that the book can survive a (white, moralistic, upper class female) editor’s room if it were to even get picked up by an agent at all.
There have been mafia books published in the last few years but the ones I’ve read are all very sanitized versions of the mafia.
Maybe I just need to keep writing and stop thinking about it.
Man, so glad to hear it gave you a bit of encouragement. That would certainly be my advice: Head down, focus on the work, and worry about all that other shit later.
Andrew: This post is so gracious and wise and grounded. It’s a good reminder for any writer about where to keep the attention and what is under the writer’s control.
Thank you so much, Tara. I really appreciate you saying that. I tried hard to be as honest as I could. Hope all is well, always appreciate you reading and commenting!
I'm puzzled. I've been publishing books since 1992 and it's always been true that a majority of the working force in publishing has been women. In my fiction and non-fiction careers, I've only had female editors. I've only had female publicists. For my YA novel, the entire team was female. And I'm not an anomaly. I'm not sure why people would think the publishing world has become more female. Perhaps it's because more women have become high-ranking editors and CEOs and other high visibility peofessions.
Appreciate you weighing in with the long-term perspective, Sherman! I'm a baby in this shit so I really didn't know what to expect. I guess I did come in with these images conveyed to me in movies and interviews with "esteemed" writers about a back and forth with their male editors and agents over cigars and whiskey and what not, so perhaps I was just sold on a Hollywood version of things. Lately, too, I've seen a lot of hot takes bashing the fact that the industry is largely female as a means to suggest that this is the result of less than stellar fiction, which is interesting given your perspective. Not that any of this matters, to be honest. As I mentioned, the fact that the business workforce is largely made up of women doesn't seem to be of much consequence if you can focus on finding the people who want to champion your stuff--as it seems to be the case that you did. Appreciate you reading and engaging!
Andrew! You're on like a Joe DiMaggio-caliber hit streak here. There's so much wisdom in this piece and things worth commenting upon, but I'll highlight two points about finding your people, and looking for agents who get you and your project.
I had eight beta-readers for my novel: 5 men (3 White, 1 Black, 1 Latino) and 3 women (2 White, 1 Asian), and all of them enjoyed the project, because they got what it's about. Like you said, I wasn't writing for a certain person or group, I was writing the project that spoke to me.
Candidly, on my agent search, I wasn't having much success with my initial queries, which were directed largely to White women. Once I kind of had this insight that I wasn't targeting the right agents, and started focusing on male agents in particular, everything took off. By no means did I feel discriminated against, but I do think I was trying to sell to people who weren't interested in buying. That said, once I got an offer and seized the leverage in the process, a few women agents reached out with particular interest. So, as you mentioned, it wasn't a gender/race thing as much as a "was I targeting the right people" thing.
I'm stoked AF to read Victim and I'm rooting hard for you! One of these days we'll have to get together and dig into this shit over drinks.
Thanks so much, Amran! I always appreciate your support and I'm glad the piece resonated with you. It sounds like you went about the process with a great mindset and, as I've mentioned, I'm very excited to see what is in store. Thanks for reading and engaging--I really value it.
I needed to read this. For the past year I’ve been working on an extremely unromantic organized crime novel that displays men at their absolute worst, and I’ve been having serious doubts that the book can survive a (white, moralistic, upper class female) editor’s room if it were to even get picked up by an agent at all.
There have been mafia books published in the last few years but the ones I’ve read are all very sanitized versions of the mafia.
Maybe I just need to keep writing and stop thinking about it.
Man, so glad to hear it gave you a bit of encouragement. That would certainly be my advice: Head down, focus on the work, and worry about all that other shit later.
this sounds like a book I need to read and I think your overall approach is spot on
Appreciate that, Alex! Hope you check it out
I appreciate you and this so much!
Thank you! I appreciate you reading it
Andrew: This post is so gracious and wise and grounded. It’s a good reminder for any writer about where to keep the attention and what is under the writer’s control.
Thank you so much, Tara. I really appreciate you saying that. I tried hard to be as honest as I could. Hope all is well, always appreciate you reading and commenting!
I'm puzzled. I've been publishing books since 1992 and it's always been true that a majority of the working force in publishing has been women. In my fiction and non-fiction careers, I've only had female editors. I've only had female publicists. For my YA novel, the entire team was female. And I'm not an anomaly. I'm not sure why people would think the publishing world has become more female. Perhaps it's because more women have become high-ranking editors and CEOs and other high visibility peofessions.
Appreciate you weighing in with the long-term perspective, Sherman! I'm a baby in this shit so I really didn't know what to expect. I guess I did come in with these images conveyed to me in movies and interviews with "esteemed" writers about a back and forth with their male editors and agents over cigars and whiskey and what not, so perhaps I was just sold on a Hollywood version of things. Lately, too, I've seen a lot of hot takes bashing the fact that the industry is largely female as a means to suggest that this is the result of less than stellar fiction, which is interesting given your perspective. Not that any of this matters, to be honest. As I mentioned, the fact that the business workforce is largely made up of women doesn't seem to be of much consequence if you can focus on finding the people who want to champion your stuff--as it seems to be the case that you did. Appreciate you reading and engaging!