No Hat Trick For Piercing Through

My recent e-mail from Viking Children's Book Assistant Editor Kendra L. Levin has put the kibosh on my dreams of scoring a hat trick with my young adult dark fantasy novel Piercing Through.

Hat trick? For those of you who don't follow sports as closely as I do, the hat trick in hockey is when one player scores three times during a single game. How does that apply to my efforts to get published?

My dream was to score big with Piercing Through by marketing it as a young adult novel. The reason I chose the young adult audience is that there is no denying it's a very hot category. Landing a publishing deal with one of the bigger publishing giants in young adult would get you three scores; the hardback edition, the trade paperback and finally the mass paperback. Yes, I was aiming high, a little greedily I might add.

However, Kendra's latest correspondence has put a damper on that dream. Here's what she said:

"Hi Robbie,

Thanks for your patience in awaiting my response to PIERCING THROUGH. I really enjoyed discovering how your writing style differs between the picture book manuscript I’d read before and this much older piece. But what remains the same is your vivid imagination and your dark sensibility. You’ve got a great flair for the macabre, and in this manuscript, you’ve given yourself much more room to play and explore different morbidly fascinating details of Kelly’s world.

But I’m afraid I have to agree with Kelly Sonnack’s comment that PIERCING THROUGH is not appropriate for a YA audience. The content is just too graphic, from Alma ’s perversions to what happens to Kelly when she “pierces through.” I just can’t imagine a librarian or a bookseller feeling comfortable recommending this book to a teen reader. I think your best bet may be to target this for the adult market instead.

I hope this is helpful, and I’m sorry if it’s not the response you were hoping for. You’re a talented writer and I know you’ll find the right direction to take this manuscript!"

Paragraph 2 says it all. Now that I've had 2 professionals, one a Viking editor, another my former agent who ditched me after deciding she couldn't market my novel as young adult, maybe it's time for me to face the music and market Piercing Through as adult horror.

In reality, the story began as an adult piece, and perhaps it will become so once again. My hesitation to market it as adult came from the fact that horror is not a viable genre at the moment. If your last name isn't Barker, King or Koontz you're out of luck landing a hardcover deal. That means at best Piercing Through will be relegated to the mass paperback field. Not that that's a bad thing. Just getting my foot in the door will be a major accomplishment.

As I contemplate marketing Piercing Through as adult horror I'm faced with another problem. The word count is too small for an adult sized novel. I'm roughly 10,000 words shy of the average adult novel length. That's about 40 typed pages. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. As soon I finish this post I must apply myself to the task of revision. 40 more pages? Any ideas? Anyone?

Sample chapters of Piercing Through as well as some of my other work can be found at my website:
rjfanucchiwriting.ws

AgentQuery.com is an excellent resource for writers to meet other writers as well as possible agents and publishers. Check out my profile at the end of this post and join me there.

Endless Optimism

"So goes the endless optimism one must nurture to make dreams a reality. I'm not too fond of the theory behind The Secret which everyone is into these days. I'm a little skeptical that the universe can be shaped to our liking by the power of positive thinking. But I do know this. The optimist is always putting his best foot forward, at least giving himself the chance for success. The pessimist never bothers to make the effort and so he always loses out."

When I wrote the above words in my last post I was pretty sure I'd be signed with a new agent within weeks. Alas, it hasn't come to pass. So I ask myself, am I still a believer in the "endless optimism" theory? What choice is there? I could bid adieu to my dreams and settle in to a safe existence where taking any chances is too big of a risk to my fragile ego. But what purpose would that serve?

As always, I can see the silver lining in every cloud. And there is a silver lining. A little over a month ago I dropped an email to a prestigious New York based agent. Without dropping names I can tell you she represented the book HOLES that was eventually sold to Disney and made into a popular movie.

Within five minutes I had already received a reply, the quickest turnaround time I've experienced. She responded to my query email by requesting to see several sample chapters of my young adult dark fantasy PIERCING THROUGH. Again, a big thanks to my pals at AgentQuery.com who helped me polish my query.

Three weeks later, the agent responded with this, "Piercing Through is an engaging if shocking concept and one which you exploit effectively especially in the theatrical scene. Kindly send me the balance of the manuscript."

Finally, my first request for a complete read. With fingers crossed and bated breath I hope this will result in a contract. I always wonder if somehow I'm jinxing myself by speaking to soon. I know a lot of authors who won't even speak of their manuscript out of superstition. Oh well. I can't help myself. Partly it's out of pride and a sense of self-fulfillment, but a good portion of it is about wanting to share positive news with fellow writers. So many of us authors give up when things get a little turbulent. Hopefully, my positives will help others see the silver lining in their own gray cloud.

One quick plug. I recently finished a website with sample chapters of PIERCING THROUGH as well as some of my other work. Check it out if you're so inclined:
rjfanucchiwriting.ws

AgentQuery.com is an excellent resource for writers to meet other writers as well as possible agents and publishers. Check out my profile at the end of this post and join me there.