Stone of Names: September Update

This is probably going to be the last update about Stone of Names for a few months. I've sent the last query letter I intend to send for this book, and I need to wait a couple of months to let any late responses come in. I would hate to have this book uploaded and selling on Amazon and then get a note from an agent saying that they love it and want to represent it.

But the uniform series of rejection letters suggests that I am going to have to self-publish it. The book is clearly lacking something that makes it attractive to an agent.

It might be something simple. I had one response suggest that the book is too short to easily sell. This is a completely valid observation. The book is only 63K words and change, and I know that's pretty short. But that's as long as the story is. The story went everywhere I wanted it to. I'm sure that I could have padded it out with more stuff, but the book as written is the book that I wanted to write. If it's too short for the current market, then it's completely appropriate for me to self-publish.

Or I might be trying to sell a book that the market doesn't want right now. Urban fantasy is big right now, and there might not be as much room for a traditional elves-and-dragons kind of story.

Or my writing still might not have quite enough polish to catch an agent's eye. My beta test readers helped me quite a bit with Stone of Names; I've joined the Critters online workshop in the hopes of continuing to improve.

In the meantime, I'll be working on the cover art and the book description that will appear on Amazon. Hopefully, around the start of the new year, I'll have it available for download.