David Weller Author Blogspot

Secret of Heathcote Manor is still out on submission with several publishers. With the festive season fast approaching, my agent doesn't expect to hear anything back until after New Year. Even though this tale is out on submission, I continue to find ways in which the writing can be improved. Sometimes it seems that the editing process will never end.

Now that Secret of Heathcote Manor is out on submission with publishers I've turned my attention back to Truthseeker again.  I'm currently going through the manuscript prior to sending it to my agent for her to begin work on the line edits. Once we're both happy the tale is in the best possible shape for submission we'll send it out.

 I'm finally able to report that the manuscript for Secret of Heathcote Manor is now out on submission with several leading publishers. The opportunity to have my work read by top drawer editors is something which I didn't have prior to signing with my literary agent. As this is new territory for me, I'm unable to say how long it will take to have the work accepted for publication. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be too long.

I'm currently working through line edits with my agent prior to going out on submission to publishers. So far this has been a fairly painless process and should be completed shortly. As soon as there are any further developments I shall post them.

It's been a while since my announcement that I'd accepted an offer of representation so I thought it might be time for an update. Over the coming weeks I shall be working with my agent, Cindy, on line edits in preparation for her going out on submission to publishers with Secret of Heathcote Manor. I'll share more about this process in future blog posts. An author's journey is often a solitary experience so it's nice to finally have a travelling companion to share the road ahead with.  

These past few days I've been constructing a brand new author website to provide information about my writing journey. I've also constructed a new Facebook page. The following is a list of my social media links: Twitter. @DavidWeller06 Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorDavidWeller06 Author Website: https://davidweller06.wixsite.com/2021 I shall continue to update this blog as well. Featured at the moment on my Twitter page is a video of Georgina Keyes reading the first 700 words of Secret of Heathcote Manor.

I started this blog to chart the progress of my debut novel from first draft through to publication. However, Truthseeker has now been leap-frogged by another of my tales entitled Secret of Heathcote Manor which recently caught the attention of a literary agent. Over the coming months I will chart Secret of Heathcote Manor's progress as I work through the manuscript with my agent in preparation for submission to a publisher. That doesn't mean that Truthseeker will be entirely forgotten as that still features in my long-term plans. Should there be any further developments I shall document them. I hope you will join me on the next stage of my writer's journey

This evening, I received an offer of representation from Cindy Bullard at Birch Literary which I have accepted.

Since I completed the first draft of Truthseeker, it has been revised and rewritten several times. Even now, whilst the full MS is under consideration by a publisher, I continue to find things which need to be tweaked. The same is true of Secret of Heathcote Manor, which is on the verge of acceptance by a literary agent. It would seem to me that no story is ever really finished, and that the editing process could go on forever. 

An author's optimism soars whenever an agent or publisher requests the full manuscript. Then, as the days pass without any further response, pessimism gradually sets in. Waiting to learn whether or not an agent or publisher wishes to make an offer can be the hardest part of the querying process. When the answer is no, it brings with it a great deal of disappointment. A bad advocate is worse than having no advocate at all, so it is important that an agent or publisher is just as enthusiastic about an MS as the author. I find the best way to manage the process is to assume that the agent or publisher is going to decline and continue looking for other possible publishing partners. That way when the dreaded rejection slip finds its way into my inbox, I am ready to go.

No news is good news is said to make someone feel less worried when they have not received information about someone or something, because if something bad had happened, they would have been told about it. I currently have the full manuscript of one novel under consideration by a literary agent, and the full manuscript of another one being read by a publisher. As neither has sent me a rejection letter I suppose that no news is good news.

I recently came across a couple of titles on Amazon featuring stunning artwork on the covers. Both instantly caught my attention and made me want to look inside. Sadly, both were littered with typos which should have been found at the editing stage. It just goes to prove that you should never judge a book by its cover.

A second publisher has requested the full manuscript for Truthseeker. As it is still under consideration by another one it seems to have become a two-horse race. Both publishers might ultimately decline, but it's nice to know that this tale continues to attract interest. One day it might even find its way into print.

A small indie publisher of my acquaintance released a new title a day or so ago. Whilst I had been impressed by the quality and attention to detail of previous releases, this one fell far short of expectations. Sadly, the sample material, which can be viewed on Amazon, is so riddled with typing errors that it will put off many prospective purchasers. I've been editing manuscripts for long enough to know how difficult it is to catch every last typo. Missing speech marks and commas are especially hard to spot once you've read through a text for the hundredth time. However, the mistakes I encountered are ones which should never appear in a thoroughly edited and published work. A lot of time and effort has obviously gone into the production of this novel. The cover art work is particularly eye-catching, and the interior formatting is well executed. Sadly, an extremely poor level of proof reading has let the side down. I've sent the publishers a short note drawing their attentio...

About a month ago, a literary agent requested the full manuscript for SECRET OF HEATHCOTE MANOR. Today an indie publisher requested the full manuscript for TRUTHSEEKER. 2021 might just turn out to be my year.  Fingers crossed. 

Before contacting a literary agent, I usually check them out using Querytracker.  It really is a good resource for getting a feel for an agent. Below are three examples which I can personally verify. Agent #1 Always replies to queries within fourteen days. Agent #2 Has a habit of hanging onto queries for several months before sending out a rejection letter. Agent #3 Never replies unless interested although he will reply if sent a follow up email. I could probably compile enough examples of response times, willingness to give feedback etc to fill a book. But the point is that Querytracker does provide very accurate insights to the way each agent deals with the slush pile.

With Truthseeker under consideration with an Indie publisher and Secret of Heathcote Manor being read by a literary agent, my thoughts have now turned to another work in progress. Ravens of Ragnarök has been gathering dust for quite a while so is overdue some of my attention. Five chapters have been written so far. 

 The full manuscript for Secret of Heathcote Manor is now in the hands of a literary agent.

The problem with an author editing their own work is that they become blind to the errors it contains. In a previous post, I detailed some of the strategies I use to overcome this. However, not only does an author become blind to the errors in their work, but they also become deaf to it as well. I didn't really appreciate this until I started using the Read Aloud function on Word to check my writing. It was unbelievable just how many misplaced or missing commas I found. Listening to someone else's voice also enabled me to tighten up some of the sentence construction. The Read Aloud function really has been an asset, and I wish I'd discovered it sooner.

 I recently came across a tweet from an acquisitions editor, who complained about authors who accept an offer of publication or literary representation, but don't inform the other editors/agents they queried. I might have had some sympathy for this particular individual if I hadn't dealt with her personally. She solicited a five page sample from me during a PitMad event. I waited patiently for more than three months for a reply. I gave a polite nudge and waited several more weeks for a response. When I heard nothing, I emailed her and withdrew my interest. That got a response within an hour. An author who had read this editors post responded with " You snooze - you lose." I couldn't have put it better myself. I think the point of this post is to illustrate that courtesy should flow both ways. If an agent or editor operates a no response equals no interest policy,  or keeps an author waiting for an unreasonable amount of time, then they shouldn't expect to be i...

 Litopia is the Net's oldest writers' colony. Run by writers for writers, it is a place where you can hone your writing skills and take them to the next level. Every Sunday,  submissions by five aspiring authors are showcased, live on air, and commented on.  There are links to these broadcasts at Litopia.com. Alternatively, type in Pop-Up Submissions on youtube into the search engine and you will find a link there too. That is all I'm going to say about Litopia. Half the fun of discovering what they can offer is to check them out for yourself.

Once upon a time literary agents didn't exist, and authors submitted their work directly to publishers who'd wade through piles of manuscripts searching for the next best seller. When the first  literary agents made their appearance they were regarded with suspicion, and authors were advised to steer well clear of them. However, publishers soon began to see the value of using agents to sort through their slush piles as it freed up their own time to attend to more important matters. As the years rolled by the power and influence of agents increased, and they began to exert a strangle hold on unpublished authors ambitions to secure a traditional publishing deal. Indeed, even today, most large publishers still refuse to accept unsolicited submissions from first-time authors. Mind you, publishers also ended up at the mercy of agents who demanded increasingly higher advances for their authors work.  Getting an agent to represent you has becoming increasingly difficult. The adva...

SECRET OF HEATHCOTE MANOR was the winner of Litopia's Pop-Up Submissions programme, broadcast to a world-wide audience, on 13th October 2019. Due to other considerations it has languished in my bottom drawer for a while now.  Just recently, it has been screaming to go out on submission, so I've decided to devote some time to preparing it for the big, bad publishing world. To listen to an extract, go to my twitter page @DavidWeller06 and click on the pinned tweet.

First two agent queries sent out his year both resulted in a request for more pages. Things really are looking up.