Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
This month I’m celebrating three years as an agent at Books & Such! I started here at the agency as an intern in 2005, but was officially welcomed in as an agent in October 2007. I love my job, but there have been surprises along the way. I’ve learned so much in the past three years.
I think the biggest surprise for me was learning just how long everything takes in publishing. As a reader, I had no idea that a book on the bookstore’s shelf was probably in production for 1-2 years before it was printed. I also had no idea the manuscript likely sat on an agent’s desk for a few months, then an editor’s desk for a few months, and then had to get through at least two committee meetings at the publishing house before the contract offer was made. The manuscript then went through editing, revising, and production before becoming an actual book.
I’ve been agenting since 2007, but I had to wait until this year to see the books I helped to sell finally start to release. The first was Cheryl Wyatt’s A Soldier’s Devotion, published in January 2010.
I’m not an extremely patient person; so the waiting has been a learning experience for me.
Because I’ve learned how hard it is to wait a long time for answers and results in the publishing world, I try my best to respond in a timely manner to proposals and manuscripts sent my way. I fail miserably at this all the time (see Wendy’s posts from last week about #agentfail), but I do try. Not keeping up on everything myself actually has helped me to be more patient with the other long processes that go into getting a book published. Each step of the way somebody just like me is working as hard as he or she can to finish everything. It’s a good idea for us to keep this in mind as we wait. 🙂
When did you realize just how long producing a book takes? Were you surprised as I was?
I was, and still am. It’s odd to see authors whose books sell and then have publication dates in the late part of next year! But I think it gives them time, new authors especially, to build a marketing base, to publicise, and to hit the ground running on that day.
I was definitely surprised 🙂 But for my situation, the patience factor has been a good thing. I started writing when my kids were young (like all in diapers… and I mean all :P). Now my kids are in school, I have a finished manuscript and working on another. So when the time comes to publish, I’ll be ready (or at least think I will be lol).
At first I was surprised by how long this process takes. But when I stopped to think about it, it made sense. There are SO many aspiring authors out there and only a few spots on the bookshelves. It stands to reason that the process of whittling down the hopefuls to the maybes, then the maybes to the yeses would take forever.
Waiting isn’t easy for anyone, I’d imagine. But I find that the “downtime” gives me an opportunity to conitnue writing in a no-pressure zone where I’m not thinking about queries and submissions. I can take an editing eye to my WIP (no matter how many times I read through it, I always seem to find another mistake… why is that??), finish up the rough draft of the next in the series, and even poke around with infant ideas outside of my genre, just for fun. Though I’d love for the process to be lightning-fast, these times are probably important so that I avoid any sort of burnout and continue to love what I do. 🙂
Happy 3 years Rachel!!! 🙂
I was the most impatient person ever, but after sending query after query, I finally accepted the fact that o would have to learn to become patient. The only way one can learn to be patient is by being patient. (That’s a bummer isn’t it?) I was definitely aupprised when I leaners how long it takes to get a book published… I was in a fantasy world…I used to think from submission to shelf it only took 3-4 months! Lol 🙂
This time gap first hit me when people asked me about stuff in my book, and I’d written it so long ago I forgot what was in there! I had to refresh my memory of my own book to prepare for interviews…
Happy anniversary month! Waiting has taught me SO much about myself, my story. We are both stronger because of it. 🙂
This post is another great one to point to the need for grace to all involved. Patience is quite a virtue in the publishing world, and I was surprised as well when I began researching publication and found out how long the process takes!
I think Lindsay, who commented above, has a great point about the probable benefits of that waiting period. I think about Daniel’s story in the Bible. Though he was anointed early on, he was sent back out to the fields to continue as a shepherd. He lived an ordinary life in the fields (I wonder if he waited patiently?) until God deemed the appropriate time for David to take over the throne from Saul. During all of this time though, David gained experience in trusting in God to protect, strengthen and guide him, saving him from the “paw of the lion and of the bear.” Though we may not want to wait, there’s some great growing that happens in that time!
BTW…. congrats on the 3 year mark! That’s huge. Great job.
Thanks to all of you for the wonderful comments!
Caroline, thanks for pointing to that Biblical connections. What great illustrations. 🙂 I guess Joseph would also be a Bible guy who had to learn patience the hard way. The rewards were great for him in the end, but the suffering was huge along the way.
Congratulations Rachel.
At 60, I have seen a lot of things speed up (think emails, Google for research, and microwave cooking) But while technology is speeding up, I think life experience still comes at the same pace today that it did for David, or Joseph, or Paul & Barnabas’s assistant Mark. I read an interview this week in which Jerry Brown talked about the things he learned being governor at age 36, and how he will be a different governor if he is elected again at age 71. I know how different a teacher I am at 60 than I was at 30. I don’t think we ever get over wanting things to happen NOW, but we learn to adjust to the pace at which things get accomplished. It’s not just publishing that moves slowly. “Slow” is the speed of most human institutions.
Which is okay.
At twenty, I was bummed that hadn’t yet won a Pulitzer. That year I started a project that I intentionally put on a back burner when I got married, started a family, and began my teaching career. I pulled it out again when my youngest child left the nest, and I’m making slow but steady progress. I may not actually finish it until I retire from teaching. When it finally lands on a desk at Books & Such, I may have a full 45 years on the project. Can I wait a few more months at each further step along the route to publication? Yeah. I think so.
In 2003, I pitched a gift book idea to an editor at Glorieta. The editor was intrigued by my title, but wanted to change the entire concept of the work in a direction that I knew I was not capable of doing. So the project got put on the shelf.
Six years later I found an acquisitions editor who was intrigued not only by the title, but also by my concept of the work. That little work (48 pages) will be available in early 2011, a mere eight years later.
Gives me some hope that my stories, some of which have been rattling about in my head since the 1970s, may still be publishable.
If you pray for patience, you will surely get the opportunity to exercise your patience muscle.
Happy Anniversary
Thanks for your post Rachel! I don’t think anyone realizes how long it takes and how much effort and time goes into one single manuscript unless they are involved in the production of it. Patience is hard but the realization that GOD always has perfect timing helps me immensely. 🙂
Congratulations!! Three years!!
Yes, I was shocked to find out how long everything takes. I’m blessed to have published friends who shared this info with me.
In some ways it’s a relief. If publishers rushed to get books out within a month of reading them, the books would suffer. Plus, it gives authors time to work on new books and to plan ahead for release dates.
Again, congrats!!
Absolutely, Rachel! Joseph would definitely be another amazing example of waiting on God’s timing and cultivating patience during struggle. Good point.
Happy three years of agenting, Rachel!
Hugs
Cheryl