Timelines

I spent four months writing the book.  I spent another four months editing the book.  So should I really be surprised if it takes me four months to create a query letter and proposal?  Preparing the manuscript should be the hard part.  Guess what?  Writing a book is actually the EASY part.  Preparing an attention grabbing query is a whole lot harder.  How am I supposed to condense a 70,000+ manuscript into a concise, entertaining 1,000 words or less?

And I'm not just selling the story.  I have to prove that my book is better than the competition and that I can market myself and the book.  But I have to do all of this in one to three pages, depending on the requirements for each individual publisher or agency.  I guess this is what weeds out the willing-to-work-hard writers from the if-so-and-so-can-do-it-so-can-I writers.

So I am writing summaries and synopses trying to find the best angle.  Then I'm hitting up people who haven't read any of the manuscripts to give their opinions.  Is it interesting?  Confusing?  Make you want to read more?  However, if my timeline is correct, I have another two-and-a-half months before I will be finished.  Whatever it takes, though, because I want to be one of those willing-to-work-hard writers.