Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights
I agree with Comic that editing today can be on the shoddy side, especially in the area of copyediting. I have been lucky that all of my books have had first-rate editors, and the one I'm working with now, for my 2019 and 2020 novels, has been superior to all of them, both in understanding the work itself, and in choosing excellent copyeditors. That said, I always try to submit work that is as perfect as I can possibly make it.
As for getting an agent these days, very often an agent who has responded positively to your query will read ten pages. If they don't work for him or her, or are sloppily-written, you'll get a pass. Agents have reputations to protect as much as authors do, and they don't want to be known as the agent who sends unpublishable work around.
Writing a novel-a good novel-is an apprenticeship. As I've noted here before, I wrote twelve novels before I was ever published. It takes time, it takes learning from rejection, and it takes perseverance.
I agree with Comic that editing today can be on the shoddy side, especially in the area of copyediting. I have been lucky that all of my books have had first-rate editors, and the one I'm working with now, for my 2019 and 2020 novels, has been superior to all of them, both in understanding the work itself, and in choosing excellent copyeditors. That said, I always try to submit work that is as perfect as I can possibly make it.
As for getting an agent these days, very often an agent who has responded positively to your query will read ten pages. If they don't work for him or her, or are sloppily-written, you'll get a pass. Agents have reputations to protect as much as authors do, and they don't want to be known as the agent who sends unpublishable work around.
Writing a novel-a good novel-is an apprenticeship. As I've noted here before, I wrote twelve novels before I was ever published. It takes time, it takes learning from rejection, and it takes perseverance.
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