#1—Querying too soon.

Okay, I hate to say it, but it’s true.  Most writers query too soon.  In the past, books could be less ready to go and still get picked up by agents or editors, and there are plenty of agents who still do editorial before they send an author’s work out on submission. 

Here’s the hard truth, though.  Those days are mostly past.  If we’re being honest, they only existed for a few lucky people anyway.

You’ll know if you’ve queried too soon by the feedback you get.  Usually something about the story being confusing, not connecting with the characters, perhaps that the stakes aren’t high enough or don’t continue to rise.  Maybe the plot sags in the middle or it takes too long to get going.  If you get similar feedback from several agents or editors, then it might be time to take a look and see if what they are saying has some truth in it.  

The good news is that you can probably do some work  and try again.  Lots of authors have stories of landing an agent or an editor after getting over fifty rejections. You can, too.  Of course, there are no guarantees in life, or in publishing, but getting some “no” answers does not mean you’ll never get a “yes!” 

Focus on your craft and make the book the best you can.  Consider getting some editorial help from a reputable editor or coach, maybe find some trusty beta readers.  If getting a traditional deal matters to you, do the work.  If you are writing for fun, then enjoy the process and do what makes you happy.  

Either way, understand why you write.  Is it for you?  Is it for readers?  Is it something else?  When you understand your purpose, it makes the bumps easier to take.

ICYMI, #10 through #6 are available here and here.

As promised, the last five are all content related and so a little more difficult to address than the technical errors.

#5—Not connecting the reader to your main character

It is vital that the opening connect the reader to the main character.  This does not mean that the main character has to be likeable, but it does mean they have to be relatable.  If there is no connection, the reader doesn’t care what happens to them, and will stop reading.

#4—Not planting curiosity seeds/giving the reader a reason to keep reading

Another way to make sure the reader does not want to keep reading is to write the opening so that there is nothing to be curious about.  Try not to over explain.  Give just enough context.  Leave a question or two hanging for future resolution.

#3—Beginning the novel with backstory

Please, I am begging you, do not stuff backstory into the opening.  It doesn’t go there.  The reader does not need the backstory up front to understand what is happening if you are writing an interesting story. Backstory is like salt.  You need just a little to bring out the character motivations, but too much makes the meal inedible or the book unreadable.

#2—the query and the pages don’t match

There are loads of workshops that teach people how to write great queries.  Problem is, if the pages don’t match, it doesn’t matter how great the query is.  Write a great novel to go with your great query.

See #10 and #9 here.

#8—Spending time on the set up in the query.

Think of the Query as a sales document for your novel.  If you spend any of your precious (really) plot paragraph on set up, then you are not selling the actual novel.  If you’ve done your job as a writer well, the reader doesn’t need the set up to understand.  Trust me.

#7—Using Themes instead of Plot in the query.

Don’t get me wrong, themes are important, and your novel should definitely have them!  However, when an agent or editor is reading your pitch, they want to know if the story “has legs,” which basically means they think they can sell it.  Themes don’t sell, the fact that you have a plot with narrative drive does. Even literary, for real.

#6—a word count that is wildly off of genre expectations or current realities in publishing.

I wrote about this a little when I discussed reading the submission guidelines.  However, I have received so many submissions that had inappropriate word counts that it is worth mentioning again.  If you are writing in historical fiction, it is true that you may have a higher word count (like speculative fiction) due to world building.  However, it is also true that with the price of paper getting higher, tariffs looming, and other business-related considerations, most publishers are not going to take a chance on a debut that is over 100,000 words.  Yes, you might be an outlier, but let’s be realistic.  The purpose of querying is to sell your book.  Do you want to go into the process with an aspect of your novel  that will make you an AUTOMATIC no for some agents and editors?  Put another way—would you go into a fist fight with Rocky with one hand tied behind your back? Save your doorstop for your second novel.  Chances are pretty good that you can get it down to 100,000 words without damaging the story.  Editing is a good thing!

On the opposite end—anything between 50,000 and 70,000 is no man’s land.  40-50k is a novella, and over 70k is a novel.  In between there really isn’t much of a shot.  It would not be impossible, but you are trying to give yourself the BEST chance of success.  Save your experimental fiction that clocks in at 60,000 for your second novel, because yes, there are some out there in this word count range, but probably not many debuts. 

Home Improvement is on my mind lately.  I have an old house and it needs some work—I can do some of it myself, but I will have to pay professionals to do the things I cannot do.  Looking at what the previous owners did, I have these words of advice: don’t cheap out when you do a home improvement project OR when you revise your novel.

I love to watch Reality TV where they flip houses, decorate houses, or renovate older homes.  I basically love home improvement and gardening shows.  There used to be a show called Trading Spaces where the owners of one house would trade spaces with another set of owners.  (The original was a British show called Trading Rooms.) Each team had a decorator and a weekend to redo a specific space in their neighbor’s house.  True confession, I watched this sometimes because the likelihood of spectacular failure was pretty high.  Sometimes the finished product was sort of okay, but everything was done on the cheap, with only a couple of days, so the paint sometimes looked crummy, because they didn’t have time to sand and prime the cabinets.  Sometimes they chose finishes that they could do in the time they had, not because they looked good.  The furniture was always cheap and they used stuff that they would try to recover themselves, which might be okay for a bit, but it probably isn’t going to hold up.  Watching this show, I learned how not to do home improvement.

Contrast this with a show like Restoring Galveston, where a professional team renovate a whole house with an eye toward quality work, historical accuracy (sometimes), and a finished product that will stand the test of time.  They never finish in a weekend.  The timeline is usually weeks or occasionally months.  They aren’t rushing it.  If something doesn’t work, they go back and fix it.  The home improvement isn’t a hastily applied bandaid, it is a job well done.

Is your revision strategy more like Trading Spaces  or Restoring Galveston?  Would you be willing to consider taking your time and getting professional help?