If you ever choose to try an agent or commercial publisher again, then these links might help, too:

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2008/03/query-letter-mad-lib.html

http://www.spacejock.com.au/QueryLetter.html

Agents I’ve talked to are actively looking for new writers to sell, so it’s not a lottery situation and depending on luck or the agent’s mood. They tend to discount the query and go straight to the writing.

You may want to do get some workshopping on a piece. In that case, check out Absolute Write. They have beta readers for all genres and a Share Your Work forum. No need to go it alone!

Annnnnd it’s free. That’s my favorite part.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=160

Just for grins, they have a forum called “Query Letter Hell”!

Thanks for the tips. To be quite honest I knew that it was a question of whether something like this would sell in a shop or not. I did get 3 replies eventually, but I had to kick one a month later for them only to tell me that they didn’t want to risk it as the market was flooded with books on Afghanistan. That’s a fair assumption, but the market’s flooded with books about WW2 and that ended 67 years ago.

As for the perfect query letter that matches the Agent’s mood at the time of opening the e-mail. Maybe I titled the e-mail incorrectly, maybe the Agent got out of bed on the wrong side of the bed. Too many factors and I have decided to self publish rather than, skuze my French, fuck about with Agents.

I have resigned myself to the fact that it’s like attempting to win the Lottery and am going to publish just for the pure joy of spreading my work for whoever would like to read it. My root reason for writing for others to enjoy this, not for me to enjoy the material gains; however… There’s always that ounce of hope, isn’t there? Ha ha. I can’t help but be human.

I’ll be having a look at your link on ‘Lessons on self publishing success’. Thanks for the advice,

Craig

I can commiserate; it is disappointing to not get a reply. At least with a rejection you can tic a name off your list.

I would venture to guess that your query letter may have had some flaws. Agents don’t care where you plan to put the earnings from your book, a worthy charity or flush it down the drain, they’re looking for something they can sell to a commercial publisher. Publishing’s a business as well as an art, the bottom line for it is, “Can this book sell in shops?”

That aside, your book may be a niche market item, which often are passed on by the bigger houses, so a smaller press is a better option. However, the rule is to start with the biggest name you can find and work your way down.

Annnnnd THAT aside, you may have hit the right spot by putting your work up on an ebook host site. It’s a free upload, and you can charge a small fee for a download and pick up some cash that way.

You may want to check this story. The writer sold his .99 mystery on Kindle and got 33K downloads. With a .35 royalty, he got 10K+ dollars in one month of sales.

Results NOT typical, but many writers are finding an instant audience by going indy and taking advantage of Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, etc.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231476&page=4

There are other success stories as well. They are RARE!! Keep that in mind; every success may mean tens of thousands of failures. But it’s worth looking into for an afternoon.

http://www.mywritingblog.com/2011/03/lessons-on-self-publishing-success-from.html

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/09/konrath-ebooks-sales-top-100k.html

Good luck!

I am considering self-publishing some of my flash fiction. I also have two (working on the third) what I call ‘novelettes’… stories that run right at 10,000 words.

Might I pick your brain when I get closer to doing this? I would greatly appreciate advice from anyone who has already done some self-publishing.

Thank you.

All the best.

Lily.

That’s cool, Craig. You must be a mind reader. I was wanting to put my larger sidebar sections into drop down menu’s BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT. Help/advice would be worth a few “virtual beers!”

Thing is, I’ll probably change it again in a few weeks. I changed it about 3-4 days before you looked at it.

The header image is the smallest that blogger would let me have it?? Blogger does my head in sometimes.

Thanks, buddy!

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