Monday, May 23, 2011

The WOW Factor

    
     I'm starting to get it. Really. I'm starting to understand just where agents are coming from and why authors receive so many rejections.
     I've read a lot of books lately. Like- ALOT. The main reason is because I'm reading mostly YA now and YA is just faster and easier to read than adult books. Also I've been reading a lot because I've simply lost patience for TV unless it's one of the few shows I watch. But that's a post for another day.
     With all this reading comes a loss of the WOW factor. Wait, did I sound like Simon Cowell just then? (Shudder). Most of the books I've read have been GOOD. There have been very few I haven't liked and most of those because they just weren't my thing. Example: I'm not into the whole zombie apocalypse thing for books (or movies or anything at all for that matter). I don't think I've read a really TERRIBLE book. But have I been WOWED lately? Ummm, welll... maybe. Sometimes. Not really.
     Ok, so I was wowed by Laurie Halse Anderson. But those weren't books that I'd read again. I want to read something that I just LOVE, like Harry Potter. I want to read about a world that I wish to lose myself in over and over again. I want a book that I have to force myself to wait to reread but all the while I can't wait to pick it up again. Holy Moley- I sound like an agent!
     Hence my inner glimpse into an agents job. They get piles and piles of books to read- books that haven't gone through the extensive editing that happens before a book is published. They probably spend countless hours reading and reading and reading, just waiting to be wowed. It's not wonder that with all that reading, the wow-ing doesn't happen that often. I mean, if it doesn't happen for me that often and I'm reading books that have already been published (and therefore wowed others before me), why would it happen that often for an agent?
     So I get it. I know I will never fully understand what it's like unless I was an agent myself, but I'm starting to understand. The thing is, I'm already TOTALLY WOWED by my own book. I mean, duh- it's awesome. So I guess I've gotta find someone else who is wowed by it as well!

1 comment:

  1. Hey, my book is awesome, too! But I wrote what I wanted to read, so of course I'm gonna like it. Maybe it's a matter of finding someone with the same taste, now.

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