But it’s not that simple, in life or in my book. To get lethal weapons out of our lives, which I’m for, we still have to deal with the millions of people who believe in a right to bear arms for defense and sport. And I see a clear need for self-defense against attackers, rapists, etc., especially for women.

Well, my book deals with all of the aspects of the problem, including carrying personal weapons for self-defense. Hey, read the book and tell me what you think.

Thanks again.

I’ll take a look at your query and the first fifty pages if you want to submit to me as a Word doc to to the email above.

Best,

Colleen

But there are a couple of factors that I think make this a better approach than the traditional.

1. I had some kind of relationship with these agents, some more than others. Several had read a couple of examples of my work and, based on the strengths they saw, have been open to dialogue now and then. One has even recommended me to three other agents.

2. Actually, the query is self-screening–I don’t want an agent to ask for the manuscript for customary reasons because I don’t think that the story side of it will be perceived as sufficiently commercial. I want an agent who is interested in a work of fiction that has a different level of depth, and who have sympathy with the cause.

I don’t need to hire an agent, I need to *enlist* one.

Hey, one agent did ask for it, and the others won’t be wasting my postage or their time. I have a chance, and that’s what the letter was supposed to get me.

Best, Ray

I applaud your passion for your book and its message. I also appreciate your desire to give it away, and I’m sure you have, or are, exploring venues to getting the book out there.

Your query letter, however, needs to be tightened up. It reads like a protracted advertisement rather than a pitch.

Assuming that a query will get all of 30 seconds viewing, I suggest you try stating the premise or message of the book in the first paragraph, perhaps as bullet points or in the form of an open ended question.

Either way, give the agents a reason to ask for the manuscript.

Thank you for sharing your efforts to get this book published,

-suzanne.

I have not lightly entered into this enterprise. I’ve been working on this project for over 8 years.

Careful thought was given to the other kinds of outlets that you suggest. Without reading the book that you have prejudged, you might not understand that such an approach, in my view, will not get the job done. While you may think that other media would be better suited than a book, unless you have some knowledge of the scope and nature of what I propose, you have no way to understand how inadequate media other than a book are.

Ideas just put out there in a nonfiction way are intellectual in nature, abstract. My feeling is that what I propose needs to also be “felt” in order to be thought about in a truly understanding, comprehensive way.

So I wrote a novel and wove the ideas in so that people can try them on for size. The book deals with other social ills than guns. It’s not a simple-minded, in-your-face, didactic diatribe. And the novel is a good, solid suspense read without paying attention to the ideas.

It’s unfortunate that your particular filters caused you to react in such a way. As for the agents, I only contacted those who “know” me to some extent. Eleven of them. I did not flood 100 agents with a sensational, can’t-you-see-how-important-this-is approach.

You assume a diatribe, not a dialogue. You are wrong. If you want dialogue, you might have tried having one with me before posting your accusations and assumptions. You might have downloaded the PDF of the novel and read a few pages. You might have emailed me with your thoughts.

Many, many, many writers have written to me to thank me for the contributions I make to their work on Flogging the Quill (which you will no longer be reading). I do not charge for this. (Interestingly, since I added a donate button about a month ago, generous writers have given almost $300.) I contribute to their professional development in my own modest way.

I cannot see why someone who does that should automatically be seen to be exploiting an issue with a diatribe. If you’ve read my blog to any degree, I don’t think you’ll see a hint of that kind of personality.

Here’s a thought to leave you with: you get what you give.

First, I thought comments were moderated.
Second, I appologize. I didn’t mean to say you were sensationalizing. Obviously, I should have edited more.

My first point was that you shouldn’t be a surprise that you might deter agents because of the perception of sensationalizing and the can’t-you-see-how-important-this-is approach.

My second point was that if it was really important to you, then other media would probably be better suited to getting your view known than a book.

Anyway, sorry. I wasn’t lurking. But the manner in which you are pushing you book out sends up red flags for me. It causes me to assume a diatribe not a dialogue (however biased that assumption might be).

I’ve thought about that skit often in light of recent events. Especially since I have two college kids and one to soon join their ranks. Heck yeah, it’s an important issue and I applaud your efforts to get your book and discussion of the escalating gun violence phenomenon out there. So get yourself and your book on Facebook and network like crazy. Maybe try the Amazon Shorts program? Good luck.

As for the book, maybe you can POD publish it - Borders just teamed up with Lulu to offer POD publishing and editing to anyone with $499. They also agree to place copies in their stores.

To take it a step further, perhaps you can go on speaking engagements at schools and organizations and offer your book for cost or direct the audience to your website to download the PDF for free. Just some ideas off the top of my head.

Lots of luck.

This doesn’t seem like a bad idea, honestly. Maybe this is something you can do to supplement your other efforts, Ray? In any case, I completely support your right to offer your story–for free–to the masses, and to speak about your passions on FtQ and WU and anywhere else you care to. Yours is a story with a message, and it’s frustrating for you to have that message gathering e-dust in your Word folder on your harddrive. I get that.

Best of luck getting your story out!

Let me get this straight–because I believe I can contribute somehow to dealing with the lethal weapon problem, and that the key to that is in a novel of mine (not non-fiction articles), and I’ve been trying through conventional publishing paths for well over 5 years to get it out there (BTW, most readers really enjoy the novel side, too), you are accusing me of sensationalism and then sign off my blog.

You’re welcome to sign off. I don’t feel that, in my three years of blogging (all the time working to market this novel), that I’ve displayed a lack of integrity such as that.

In addition, before the most recent crisis, I was (and am still) engaged in getting proposals for the book to agents and publishers.

As for a year and a half before a book can come out, publishers can put out a book in weeks if they want to. And do you somehow think this problem is not going to still exist, and still be current in a year or two?

I resent the charge of sensationalism, and it is not true. If I wanted to be that way, I could have done the same thing at the time of the Virginia Tech shooting. I held my breath then, but this put me over the edge.

As I said in my appeal to agents, this is not about me getting published. In fact, if anyone takes me up on this, I will not accept an advance, but would ask that the funds be put toward promotion.

And I’m giving it away.

I’m trying to help. What are you doing?

The unintentionally funny aspect of this is the robotic query reply by the agent (who apparently has their own blog too–the new media has become the old). Obviously, that agent can only deal with cookie-cutter queries.