Aubrey Curry's Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on Oh wow...don't I feel like a horrible writer?

2009-07-15T17:14:34Z

Thanks for the comment! As of right now, I'm still unpublished. I've been submitting to agents and publishers like crazy, though, so I'm keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed that something will happen eventually.

Comment on Oh wow...don't I feel like a horrible writer?

2009-07-11T03:58:46Z

Hi :)
Thank you for sharing this great blog post. I am going to read your books. Is there a link to see where they are?
Love From Canada
twitter.com/RKCharron
xoxo

Comment on Wading In

2009-03-06T22:00:02Z

Ha, looks like things worked out with the dating experiment! Aren't you hot and heavy with someone now? :)

Comment on If I Had a Million Dollars

2008-09-13T19:02:59Z

If I had a million dollars I'd first pay off credit card debot (ouch, ouch, ouch). Then I'd buy a new, very serviceable car - I'd love a pickup because I'm a huge gardener, but with gas what it is, and I'm really a green soul at heart, so just a nice car with a big trunk. THEN, I'd buy a nice old big rambling house in the country - say Vermont, my favorite place - with a big barn, and I'd fix it all up and I'd adopt as many rescue animals as I could. This would save animals, it would also get me away from the neighbors who are all around me and remind me of the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. They are all freaking weird. But best of all, I'd buy this house and make sure it had lots of property, trees, gardens, ponds and streams or a whole lake (yummy!), nestled in the mountains. I'd make sure it had a beautiful little cottage house and I'd turn that into a writer's retreat for myself. I'm not a clothes gal, dont' care much about "stuff" - except for books (20,000 and counting). Just want to be alone to write. Oh, and I'd travel to Scotland to see where the ancestors came from. Wouldn't it be loverly?

Comment on The Agent Search - How to Decide

2008-08-06T03:10:59Z

Honestly, I think it depends upon the author, what you're writing and which publishers you want to submit to.

For e-publishing, you don't really need an agent. The contracts are very straightforward, and you don't get into anywhere near as many complications as with traditional print contracts (from what I understand, since I've never seen a print contract).

Harlequin will accept unagented submissions, but a lot of other publishing houses won't. Considering you write women's fiction, I think most of those houses want agented submissions.

The thing is, I don't want to deal with all of the legalities, either. It isn't that I can't handle them (I'm the rare writer with business sense--thank you North Texas business school *g*), but rather that I would prefer to spend my time writing than deciphering legal jargon. Plus, an agent's going to make sure you get the best deal possible, and fight for your rights. She'll make sure there aren't any clauses in your contract that will hurt your career or cause problems down the road (especially if you write under a pen name, too). If you're writing under more than one name an agent can handle contracts for both, and make sure things don't start conflicting.

Plus, agents have their fingertips on the pulse of publishing, since they work in it day in and day out. Let's face it, by the time we writers hear some news it's days or weeks or even years old. A good agent has an eye for what will sell, knows what editors are looking for, and can help guide your career in the right direction.

Do you necessarily have to have an agent? No. But I think having one makes life a lot easier, and I'm all about anything that makes my life easier so that I have more time to write.

Comment on The Agent Search - How to Decide

2008-07-29T23:31:30Z

You make some great points Aubrey! I'm not quite ready to submit to agents yet, but it can be an overwhelming process to figure out who to submit to. I found one agent last year who was practically begging for Women's Fiction (he'd successfully agented in the non-fiction market), but then I found out he had some shady history when I searched further.

At this point, my plan is to submit to the junior agent at a big firm who represents one of my favorite Big Name authors, and then to also find some agents who are looking for what I write.

Then there is also the whole question, should you have an agent at all? I don't want to have to decipher all the legal stuff, but keep hearing it's better to submit straight to the publishing houses. I think I'll probably try the agent route first though.
:)
~Stephanie