Allison wrote to me with the following question. I’ve edited the question for clarity:
I have a story now in my brain and have written it down, first couple of chapters, but how do you know that God is calling you to write? I have experienced one rejection, well two. One agent responded and said I was involoved with an important work, but said she couldn’t take it due to health reasons. This agent is now taking proposals, but I’m not sure if I should submit to her. The other one said no because he thought it would be a hard sell in this market. So he said he was gonna pass. Should I listen to them? What am I doing wrong?

This is an open-ended question that I could answer in a few blog posts. All I can do is speak from my writing experience. I’ve never had an agent, so I’m probably not the best author to ask about advice as far as agents go. I’ve searched for an agent off and on for about two years now, and so far, no represenation.

However, what you really should do, is figure out what type of book you’re writing. If you go into the bookstore, where would you imagine that book shelved? Then, you need to figure out how to approach editors (and perhaps agents) that represent that particular genre.

I’ve read romance novels since I was a teenager. When I was about twenty-eight, I was at my desk at work during my lunch break. I had no romance novels to read, so I started writing a book, and I’ve been writing ever since. I joined Romance Writers of America because I knew I wanted to break into that genre of fiction. I attended local RWA meetings, as well as yearly national conferences. These conferences placed me in front of people who were looking to sign on new authors. Plus, I learned oodles of information from the workshops and I made a ton of friends! Since I’ve gotten married and had a child, I don’t go to conferences as much as I used to, but I still go when I can. Since I write Christian fiction, I now attend the American Christian Fiction Writers conference when I’m able to do so.

I started off writing secular romances, but, I was throwing a message in there without realizing it. If you have time you can listen to this interview to hear more about my publication journey. Just suffice to say that I was rejected more than two times…I was rejected dozens of times, I’m not sure how many rejections I got before I received my first contract but it was a lot. It took five and a half years of attending conferences, workshops and networking before I got a book deal. Even after that first book contract I still had trouble getting other contracts. It’s hard.

I have heard that having a good agent can make things much easier, and that’s why I’ve been searching for one. It’s probably best to look for an agent because in the Christian market, most publishers will no longer look at submissions without your having an agent. I have been able to submit on my own to the few who do take unagented submissions, plus, if I meet an editor at a conference, he/she will usually allow me to submit, even if they only take agented material.

How did I know that God was calling me to write? When I found out about the Christian fiction market, it just felt like something I wanted to do. My love of books and reading has always been strong, and once I knew I wanted to get published, the desire to see my novels in print never went away. I just knew I wanted to do this, and I worked hard at it, having a strong feeling that it was what I needed to do.

You might want to check out this recent post on Literary Agent Chip Macgregor’s blog. Gina Holmes shares her publication journey. She also tells about how she found her literary agent…all I can say after reading it is…it wasn’t easy, and she was persistent!

I hope that answers your question! If anybody else has any other questions about writing or publishing, send them my way! I’ll do my best to respond!

~Cecelia Dowdy~