Losing Faith in Watty Readers

@princessharley If you're looking to really get your work into publishable form, I recommend http://www.ladieswhocritique.com/ . It's a good site where you can find another writer to go through your work as you go through theirs. I found an awesome critique partner there and she's really helped me polish my manuscript. Also, http://www.agentquery.com/ is a great website for finding and learning about literary agents. Just be prepared for the rejections (that's nothing personal just that I've never heard of a newbie writer not being rejected at least a couple of times).

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@LaurenDMSmith Thanks so much for the links. I've been meaning to look into agents (did a few) but it was like trying to run under water lol! I do need a good critique for the finished version just so I know if there's things I need to change (no doubt there will be!) Yeah I heard you can get rejected a lot! That's fine though, I'm a big girl :)

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@princessharley No problem. I've been down that road and now have a collection of useful links. I highly recommend giving the agents a try first. Also, if you're interested, http://internspills.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-ten-reasons-you-should-rewrite-that.html and http://queryshark.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=6 are useful. The first for editing your work and the second for getting your query letter up to snuff.

And the rejection thing's true. I have well over a hundred rejection letters now from my two attempts. Oh! This last one is for amusement/spirit bolstering purposes. http://users.erols.com/veritas/CR.HTM

If you want more, let me know.

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@LaurenDMSmith Thank you. Haha one of the first things they said was identify the genre :S I'm still undecided on exactly what it is! I'll have to properly think once it's ready.

Whoa a hundred. I guess that's like fifty each so not bad really, especially considering how many were turned down in that link! How long did it take you to get published?

Had a look at the last one and I wonder if the publishers that turned some of those people down thought damn after lol!

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@princessharley Yeah, genre's important especially when approaching agents. You need to find someone who represents what you've written and even better, something that fits their tastes. Ideally, you want an agent who's just as excited about your work as you are.

It's actually about seventy for the first story and I'm up to about the same on the one I've got out currently. But I've had three partials requested, one of which is still out, a full request, and one agent who loved the idea but wanted me to rewrite it because it wasn't quite up to the standards she needed to request a full. I'm unpublished, aside from the poem and the short story but I don't really count them. Getting published is an exercise in perseverance, hard work, and luck.

I'm sure they all kicked themselves later. And repeatedly. But it's a subjective business so you need a thick hide and persistence to survive. And talent of course.

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@LaurenDMSmith Yeah it's between two but actually because of the issue it tackles it's probably best as Young Adult (that's a genre right? I saw it on that agent shark thing)

That's promising then! Hopefully one of them will want it. Fingers crossed it happens for you soon. You should count them!

I'd kick myself too. But I guess they've had many successes so they probably don't worry about it too much.

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@princessharley Young Adult's a genre. That's typically 14/15-20 year olds ad the target age group. There are a lot of agents who specialize in young adult and children's fiction so you shouldn't have any problems finding people to query. It's a good idea to see if your secondary genre falls in with what they represent as well, since they're obviously more likely to like your work then. Agent Query's good for that because it lets you search by genre. Just beware of scams. http://pred-ed.com/ and http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ are good places to check out agents and publishers to make sure they're legit. Basically, you shouldn't be paying anyone anything directly.

I do. I have a tally. I also organize the rejections into personal and form and into the two stories. I just can't remember the exact number off the top of my head.

Yeah, publishing's all about trying to predict what will sell and even veterans can't always be right about it.

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@LaurenDMSmith Oh really?! Damn I thought it would be older than that! I'll have to research genres and see which one it fits.

Yeah, I read about not having to pay. One girl told me she was saving up for a publishing package! I did advise her not to go with them as that did not sound right.

I've checked out two or three agents and found one for children's and young adult. I was going to look at the books she 'published' and see if mine was along the same line.

Oh, I didn't mean count the rejection letters! Sorry, I should have been clearer, I meant count the poem and short story! But it's a good idea to organise the letters, I'll do that when they start pouring in *sigh* Getting anything published is great.

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@princessharley Yeah, you really need to nail down your genre, at least so you know who to approach. And checking to see what they've represented is a great way to see if they're a good match. Also check out your favourite authors and see who they're represented by.

Only self-publishing, vanity publishing, and scams require you to pay upfront fees.

lol. My bad. I don't really count them cause, one, I hate poetry and only submitted it to the online magazine because I was bored one day, and the other was to my university's literary magazine. It's not hard to get accepted by that.

If you're looking to get a foot in the door by getting some poetry or short stories published, try http://duotrope.com/index.aspx . It lists literary and poetry magazines and some smaller publishers. It's a really good website and free to sign up for.

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@LaurenDMSmith I really do. But the first half fits more one genre and the second part another. I suppose when it's fully complete and ready I will know which one it fits best. That's a good idea, I'll definitely check out who my favourites are with.

I'm not keen on poetry, I like a long book I can really get into!

Wow you have a lot of info! Thanks for sharing :)

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@princessharley yeah, you get proper lengthy critiques if you ask nicely, a couple of paragraphs long! @LadySyn yeah, i know what you mean. People should spell /grammar check before posting. I may not read through mine, but i run a spelling and grammar check on word before posting, always.

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I think that the reason that there are a bunch of clcihed stories in the awards is because they categorize winner by the amount of reviews and reads a story has. I think that's unfair to stories that don't have much reads or reviews, but maybe I'm worng.

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ikr! If they did a perentage or ratio of reads:votes:reviews , it would be a much different outlook! @ComfortablyPlump

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@ComfortablyPlump The awards were public vote. @HomeInMyHeart The categories were worked out on a read/vote ratio thingy.

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@princessharley I know this is completely unrelated but since you're talking about the watty awards I have a few questions :P Does anyone here think that each entrant into the competition should only be able to enter one book? And that the "round winners" should be based on the ratio of reads to votes?

Also how are the other categories chosen? LIke Best trailer? Best Villain? Best Cast list? How are those categories even narrowed down since there are SO many? Is it again to do with how high they are on the watts hot list?

Because if it is then its completely unfair >.

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thanks for telling :) @princessharley

Oh yeah, and to give you an idea of the reviews you can get on booksie, i just gave a 163 word review/critique :) i don't feel inclined to on here, though.

@MusicIsMySoul i don't know! :S

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@MusicIsMySoul No, I think that because it's a public reader thing you should be able to enter more than one.

The 'popularity' levels Popular, On the rise and Undiscovered are not what's hot related. It's based on some math calculation thingy (forgot the proper word!) it's to do with reads and votes - but not just the highest or lowest etc. The what's hot is calculated differently.

The Best or special categories are basically for fun and something wattpad created so people that don't write (cover makers for example) have a chance at winning something too.

Did that make sense? I don't know the exact calculations because that's top secret and only wattpad HQ know how it works.

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@princessharley Ahh okay, that makes sense now. I was just curious as I was discussing it with my co-writer and were thinking about entering because we thought our trailer was pretty good :]

Anyway, thank you for explaining and best of luck in all of your endeavours :]

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To be honest I think the Cliche books should be separated from the unique books in the watty awards. -.- I think it makes sense!

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@RichSpirit Who decides that though? It's pretty subjective, people have different ideas on cliche and unique. Also things become cliche when people catch on and write about them a lot. Wattpad would forever be chucking a new subject over.

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There's one thing that I don't really like: a lot of the stories on the What's Hot list are clique. I'm not saying all of them are, but most. After a while, reading about falling in love with your best friend's hot older brother (for example) gets irritating. You really have to search to find a truly good and original book, one that is thought out and the author put a lot of effort into making the story the best it could be.

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@Kara_bananas You have to think about it, though--the writers that post here? They all try hard. You can't deny that. They put in the effort. Maybe they don't have 2093482034830298402398 ideas spouting out at once like some other authors do. Just because the stories on the "What's Hot" list are "cliche"--which I think is not a very fair stereotype, because some ARE quite good--doesn't mean the author doesn't put in effort to write a story.

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@a_colorful_dreamer I know that they try really hard. And I know that this is an amateur site where most of the authors are teenage girls. But I just don't like how hard you have to search for a story that isn't either romance or teenage humor, or even both. I do like some of the stories that have been on the What's Hot list, but I find myself seeing the same plot over and over again, albeit with slight differences.

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@Kara_bananas I do understand what you mean. If you'd like, I have a few recommendations for books that, I think, are original and not cliche at all. I can name a few if you want me to =]

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@a_colorful_dreamer Yeah, I didn't mean to offend anyone, say that nobody on this website tries, or anything like that. That would be great!

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