The Bluff

Friday, September 23, 2005

Transit Gloria

Someone told me today that I needed to get started promoting my novel, Transit Gloria, though I still don't even have an agent, much less a publisher... but, since the person telling me to get started has both... agent and publisher... I'm going to defer to his judgement.

I'm not sure how to blog, really, I've never even kept a diary. I guess the way to start is to share my frustrations with the publishing process. I've got a finished manuscript that I love, a two page synopsis that I hate, and after some online help, I now have a query letter that rocks...

I'll give you my first paragraph, the hook:

Reno Sanders was rich, good looking, and charming, and when he asked Peggy Mallory to wear his 4-H pin, she wanted to tell the whole world. First, she had to tell her husband and three sons. This is their story.

I got some grief for going with the 4-H pin as a hook (seems a lot of people don't think New York agents will know what 4-H is). I was tempted to go with a class ring when I wrote the novel, but it seemed too cliched. I have faith that an agent who will represent my story will also get the cultural reference. If I get through my top 50 agents without a bite, I may rethink that.

Mark Pettus,
Friday, September 23, 2005

2 comments so far. Thank you, Anonymous, Mark Pettus,

Let me know what you think

2 Comments

at 10:11 AM Anonymous said...: I loved how you recounted your experiences at the writer's conference.

Nateskate- from Absolute Write WC.
at 12:58 PM Mark Pettus said...: Thanks Nate.