Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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The Answers: Publication, My Agent, and Dreams vs. Reality

14 Comments

I’d love to know more about your road to publication and how you found your agent.
I started writing in earnest almost thirteen years ago. This was before blogging and Facebook and critique groups on-line (at least that I knew of). I did a lot of stumbling around for years, learning through my mistakes, from the how-to guides I found at the library, and from the middle-grade novels I read and shared with my students.

During those years I’d faithfully send out queries to publishers who accepted unsolicited manuscripts. Most of the time my work would be an exclusive submission, and I would wait month after month for those rejections to come. I can still remember anticipating the mail, the surge of hope that accompanied every SASE in the mailbox, and the frustration that after months and sometimes years on submission, the answer was always no.

Because children’s authors can still get published without an agent, I never consistently pursued one until 2009. I had just decided to stop teaching and try out writing full time, without a book deal, agent, or lead of any sort (yes, really). I queried a number of books to a number of agents, trying to match my books to each agent’s preferences and got a good number of requests for fulls and partials. My strongest piece, this little verse novel thing, was one I only sent to a select few because honestly, who would want to represent a quiet literary historical for kids? 

After a few months of this, I decided I had to shop my best work. Whether is was salable or not, it was what I believed in, and I hoped it would attract someone who could see beyond its non-flashy surface to the story beneath. With my focus just on MAY B., more agents responded, and long story short, I signed with the super-wonderful Michelle Humphrey, who had just the right combination of risk, enthusiasm, and hard work to sell MAY B. at auction. 

I found Michelle through Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog. By the time I signed with her, I had received seventy-five agent rejections and over two hundred editor rejections over eleven years.

How is the reality of achieving your dream different than the dream itself?
The reality is one hundred times better. It’s harder, too, but in a really, really good way. I’ve learned so much about writing this past year. Going through the revision process has been like going back to school, except this time around I’ve got the advantage of having my instructor’s undivided attention, interest, and commitment. Even that rough patch, when my book was homeless for a few weeks, as harrowing as that was, I didn’t go through it alone. I had an agent backing me, a former editor willing to fight for my book’s survival in any way she could, writing friends to help with perspective. It wasn’t like those years before. I was waiting again, but this time waiting with the support and backing of people who knew the industry and my work. There was a lot of comfort in that.

Honestly, almost every night I fall asleep thinking, “I really have a book deal!”




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Filed Under: publication, the writing life

Comments

  1. Heather Sunseri says

    April 20, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    Thanks for sharing a piece of your journey, Caroline!!

    Reply
  2. Sheila says

    April 20, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Thanks for sharing this, Caroline. And soon we’ll have the book!

    Reply
  3. Julie says

    April 20, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    I love stories where people have to work hard and believe for years to be successful. They (and you) give me hope. And I truly believe that the struggle creates an appreciation that an easy ride never can. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Irene Latham says

    April 20, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    ….and your release is getting closer! Excited for MAY B’s entry into the world. Way to hang in there!!

    Reply
  5. Caroline Starr Rose says

    April 20, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Thanks, everyone. It’s all been worth it.

    Reply
  6. A.L. Sonnichsen says

    April 20, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    This was so fun to read. So encouraging. Good job sticking it out, Caroline!

    Amy

    Reply
  7. Natalie Aguirre says

    April 20, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    Thanks for sharing your journey. I learned a lot I didn’t know about you. And it inspires me to not give up.

    Reply
  8. Joanne Fritz says

    April 21, 2011 at 2:41 am

    What a great happy-ending story, Caroline. You deserve it after all that hard work.

    Reply
  9. Hardygirl says

    April 21, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    Thanks for sharing this. My story is similar–I sent things out directly to editors for years because everyone told me it was impossible to get an agent if you’re an unpublished children’s book author.

    Anyway, as soon as I started sending my work to agents, I started getting interest and FEEDBACK. I paid attention to the feedback and soon I had offers from agents …

    It’s such a learning process–all of it!

    I’m excited about your release!!

    sf

    Reply
  10. Kiki Hamilton says

    April 21, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    I always love to hear about an author’s journey to publication and almost every time there are years and years of hard work behind the book that eventually sells. This business is much tougher than it looks from the outside but I’m not sure there is anything more gratifying than knowing a story you’ve created will be read and loved by others.

    Reply
  11. Jessie Oliveros says

    April 22, 2011 at 1:34 am

    Thirteen years-you are a great example that patience and persistence pays off!

    Reply
  12. Jade says

    April 22, 2011 at 9:38 am

    I love reading stuff like this!

    Reply
  13. Andrea Mack says

    April 22, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    It’s inspiring to here about how other people’s routes to publication. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  14. Valerie Geary says

    April 23, 2011 at 2:50 am

    You inspire me.

    Reply

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