Hi, I'm Lauren! I'm a Young Adult author and guide to aspiring authors. I offer resources, courses, and editing services to make landing a literary agent and book deal accessible for all.
thanks so much for sharing your story. My first book has been out on sub for 9 months. Recently it made it to second-reads at a publisher, but they ended up passing. I'm currently finishing up the second book and then we'll send that one out. But it's hard to keep the faith
I'm not sure why people didn't want you to share that story. Thanks so much. My first book was also not picked up and I'm writing my second now. I appreciate you sharing your experience.
I first queried in the late aughts / early 2010s. I got a TON of "this is amazing. But... Can you make it straight? Readers don't want books with lesbian main characters." it wasn't a romance, it was an epic fantasy with an incidental lesbian relationship. It would have been easy to tweak it to be straight or just take the gay out. I *couldn't* take the gay out of my books though. It would stop being MY book. Lots of editors saying "we want this, but we want it straight. If you can edit it to be straight, we'll sign you now." I wasn't willing to do that. Mid 2010s I started getting "we already have our one (1) 'gay' book for the year, it's a contemporary YA and yes you write high fantasy, but we still can only afford one (1) gay book across the whole house. Make it straight and we will have a spot for you in the fall of (year)." I gave up because I had more stories than I could ever hope to tell in a lifetime and I valued my books being MINE more than the vanity of being able to say I was pubbed by a big house. I love being an indie author. I wish I had started it sooner. It took me six books to start breaking even, but now I am profitable with my books and I love my readers and I LOVE that the only people who can tell me that my books are too gay are my cats. The learning curve to be an indie author is STEEP and it's always changing. It's NOT for everyone. But it is for me. There's no best route. Just the best route for you.
I don't agree with the consistency is key, write every day kinda thing a lot of authors talk about. I find it harmful to the creative process. And stifling it led to writers block and almost giving up on writing forever because of it. So I believe write as much as you can when you can just don't force the words. But every thing else is very sound advice.
Is the series recommendation also apply to a children’s book series? My co-author and I have rough drafts of the first three books in a series geared toward children ages 4-7 years of age, and plans for four more books (but could be made into more).
Does this work for a children’s book series? I was born with Hydrocephalus, and when I was growing up, there were no resources for me. My co-author and I are writing a children’s book series about a child growing up with Hydrocephalus. We are trying to answer parents questions through the eyes of this child. The most common question I see is “Should I terminate my pregnancy?” This is almost always after the 20 or 24 week scan, and some doctor or ultrasound tech has given this the worst case scenario and recommended termination of pregnancy. I want parents to know it is possible for a child to have a good quality of life, and give children something I never had-the ability to see myself in children’s literature.
Hiring a professional beta reader with editorial experience who will tell you if your manuscript needs a developmental edit can be useful if you are on a tight budget. The need for a developmental edit can vary from essential to minor, and given the expense, you have to weigh up the 'bang for buck' aspect.
Can you tell the most gatekept secret... where the heck you found agents that were actively looking for books? Alot of these sites list lots of agents that are closed for submitting and not looking.
I would look at the list and then do your own due diligence and look up individual agents on their websites. They almost always note there is they are open for submissions.
I just downloaded Scrivener on my iPad and I’m trying to follow your intro. Video and your video looks nothing like my screen does on my iPad. What’s the problem again? I’m not seeing the same identical things you’re talking about. That’s on my iPad screen at the moment I need help.
I just downloaded Scrivener on my iPad and I’m trying to follow your intro. Video and your video looks nothing like my screen does on my iPad. What’s the problem again? I’m not seeing the same identical things you’re talking about. That’s on my iPad screen at the moment I need help.
I‘m from germany, so i have trouble finding agents by looking at my favorite authors (since most books are written my non-german authors). i try looking for german authors, but i rarely find,y see books of them in bookstores. and i don‘t want to buy a book online, without having the option to read the first page. any advice?
It is so easy to get frustrated. I think all of us can agree on that one. Luck does play into landing an agent. Not all of it is luck but it's there. We can't deny it.
I deeply appreciate you sharing this story. Due to some very unexpected events writing became my reason for getting up in the morning. A sort of lifeline so to speak. I've always dreamed of being a science fiction author and over the last few years I have genuinely fallen in love with the process of writing. It feels very intimate and an artistic expression of who I am as a person. The thought of commercializing something so deeply personal is a difficult thing to confront. I don't want it to destroy my love for writing as it already brings me so much peace and joy. I think I will try to compartmentalize the process. My writing is one thing and trying to publish it is something completely different. I will not let the latter destroy my passion of the former. I cannot risk losing my love of writing because it quite literally saved me.
I agree with what you say , and its very good advice you are giving i'm only a new author myself i started writing because of a traumatic event happened to me , and to get the anger and hurt i was feeling , my therapist suggested writting and it helped me a lot so my books reflect love and loss i write mainly romance novels and ive had a good response so far but its hard work my book covers on tik tok get around 40,000 to 60,000 views , my current book on tik tok has 24,000 views in 4 days
Thank you so much for sharing this story!! I am on my second book now and the first was definitely just a very drawn-out learning experience. I literally cried when you talked about writing your second book so quickly and getting such an amazing book deal! Congrats!! I'm going to read your book now haha
Awww, thank you so much! Writing is always such an emotional journey. A drawn-out learning experience may not feel like a gift in the moment, but I really think it can be a HUGE gift to your writing career overall. Keep going!
Awesome video and advice. Thank you so much for this candid video because we all need to know that rejection is part of the process, but we only fail as authors when we stop writing. Fun Fact: Even world renowned author John Grisham didn't initially get a deal on his first book either 😮. It was his second book, The Firm, that launched him to success, then he eventually got a deal on his first book, A Time to Kill, after his subsequent books. All of this is to say, your video is on point and please keep making them! Liked and subscribed 😉👍
You say you are jealous. REALLY? Envy is when you want what someone else has, but jealousy is when you're worried someone's trying to take what you have. YOU ARE CONFUSED. I DO WISH people who spend their time writing would learn the language they write in. Grrrr But thanks for the main purpose of this video.
Keep writing, pretty soon you'll be a bestseller. I'm rubbish at writing. I can't even put a coherent sentence together, I'm too rubbish to sell my books.
Young Adult...... ah, so basically your book was absolute dog shit, that purely got chosen coz we live in a time that mental retardation is celebrated and even pushed. Particularly in the YA novel genre, that typically involves authors that have no clue what storytelling is and don't even know how to structure one.
Thank you for the section on compile. It is always easier to understand something when someone shows you the ropes, rather than reading the same instructions from the manual. I absolutely love Scrivener. Whenever I tried to write in Word, my mind would explode in trying to keep all the various elements, the half-written & re-written bits, organised. I particularly like the Key Word function. I can add key words detailing not just the point of view, forex, but also the various narrative threads (I have too many of them; they need to be thinned out) & input a key word as search criteria to bring up those scenes. You do have to be disciplined about ensuring you add them, but it is a very useful tool.
Thank you so much for this. I'm brand new to the world of writing and just finished my first manuscript. Coming across your channel I had no idea how the process of getting a book deal worked at all. Now I have a pretty solid understanding though, so thank you for that. Best of luck in your future endevours!
Binge watching your videos! While ive got some really great feedback from agented beta readers and a former agent, im still having a tough time getting up the nerve to take the plunge and query (i think its a combination of worrying about the actual query letter + worrying that my 95k lgbtq+ YA urban fantasy novel isnt 'trendy' enough). Slowly bolstering my confidence w/ these vids!
That is awesome! Keep going :) Also I teach an entire master course about querying. If you want to learn more about that: laurenkaywrites.com/query-bootcamp
What if I don't want the book to be a commercial success? What if I'm not planning on a career as a writer? I have one book in me, at least for the time being. I want it to reach an audience, and be significant to people, but I don't care about publishing deals (indy is fine), and don't plan on making any money on it anyway (if it somehow still sells well, there's a charity I want all the proceeds to go to). What I do want and care about is making the most of the book's potential as a literary work, to get the closest to making it a literary masterpiece as I possibly can. Old school, I know. Are there editors out there who care about these things, and can really help with achieving this goal?
Hi! Most "literary masterpieces" begins with either a big book deal or a lot of revenue later on :) In other words: your goals sound like most writer's goals. They want to be great writers. To share great stories. And, yes, I absolutely think there are editors who also care about these things! But editors and agents all have their livelihoods tied to their work, so they will also care about marketability and sales.
@@laurenkaywrites For agents and publishing house editors, I see your point. But freelance developmental editors don't get paid based on book sales. They're paid by authors. So how and where can I find one who'd be willing to thoroughly set marketting considerations aside? I'm not saying a high-quality book can't also sell well, or have features that would potentially make it popular, but in places where there is a clash, my priority would be quality, not sales, and I'm wondering if I can find an editor who'd share the same order of priorities.
Generally I advise not to put the cart before the horse in terms of pitching a series in any genre. Make sure your book has a satisfying conclusion, even if there is series potential, and frame it as a standalone with series potential.
Hi Lauren! New anticipated author here. Would you recommend copyrighting your work before sending it to a beta reader or critique partner? Or do you have them sign an NDA? Thanks in advance! Francesca
Uhhhg! I know your video is amazing but I’m lacking so much in tech skills that I still need more help. At the part at 5:20 or so you refer to the ‘About me’ section. Are the pages you’re referring to somewhere else and you attach or is it created within this program?
This was the most honest and helpful information I’ve seen. Thank you for being so transparent! I am supposed to do a live pitch in September and now I’m feeling like I don’t know enough about this world of agenting or publishing. Where did you find the most helpful resources? Did you use Publisher’s Marketplace? I am a debut author and the more I learn it feels like the less I know. 🤷♀️
Hi! It can be really, really overwhelming, for sure. I went by a lot of trail and error, honestly, and worked with a book coach who helped with a lot of questions that came up. I created an entire course about the querying process, called Query Bootcamp, in order to put all I learned, and have learned since, in one place. You can learn more about that here: laurenkaywrites.com/query-bootcamp
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm still working on my first manuscript but hearing the real deal stories from published writers is super motivating. Thank you thank you thank you.
Lauren, I just signed up to be a critique partner! What an amazing way to not only connect authors, but give back to people so they don't have to struggle in the shadows. Thank you so much for providing this free resource, and I look forward to reading, critiquing, and seeing what avenues this can help open up!
