Don’t give up. No matter how many rejections you receive, never stop believing in your story. If you want to publish via the traditional route, you must exercise patience and persistence and no small amount of faith. Every time you receive a rejection (and you will receive them), pick yourself up and try again. Have another look at the opening chapters. Tweak the synopsis. Tighten (or expand) the query letter. Then send out an even stronger package to someone else.
Do your homework. Research agents and publishers wish lists and preferences. Many are also very explicit about what they are not looking for. You will save yourself time and heartache by making sure the story you have to sell matches the editor’s or agent’s interests and strengths.
Keep editing. Yes, you have a final completed manuscript. Yes, it’s already taken you years to write! But don’t be afraid to keep polishing your work even as you query. On rare occasions, you may get feedback from an agent or editor that will shed light on why your manuscript might not be as strong as it could be. If so, pay attention. The more polished your manuscript is, the more likely you are to land an offer (or at least a request for the full) the next time you query.
The first five pages matter. Many agents and editors don’t read past the first five pages. You must hook them with the opening lines of your manuscript, or they will go onto the next item in their slush pile. I know this sounds unfair. I know we all believe that if the publisher would just stay with the story for ten or twenty or thirty pages, they’d see the genius in our writing. Unfortunately, this is not how publishing - or marketing - works. Identify the earliest, best scene you’ve written for the story, and find a way to make that the beginning of your novel.
Cast a wide net. Knock on every door that seems appropriate for your manuscript. Keep in mind that some doors that appeared close may open at a later time. There’s often turnover in agencies, so the agents you looked at six months ago might be slightly different than the agents available today. Similarly, there’s always another press you haven’t heard about. Or, a press you looked into last month that has since opened to unagented submissions. No matter what happens, keep looking. Keep trying. Keep querying!
Soul Masters: The Hunting Grounds Soul Masters
Book One
K.R. Gastreich
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Date of Publication: February 7, 2024
ISBN: 978-1509253302
ASIN: B0CP6GMWRK
Number of pages: 320
Word Count: 90k
Cover Artist: Kristian Norris
Tagline: He wants to claim her soul. But can she capture his heart?
Book Description:
On a hike through the forest, Mayela stumbles into a terrifying world where immortals hunt souls. To survive she secures protection from a Soul Master. When he demands payment, Mayela fights back. But how can she fight the desire consuming her heart?
Every soul Nathan claims expands the power of his realm. In Mayela, he finds a rare gift that could guarantee his place among the Soul Masters. All he must do is secure her allegiance without losing his heart. And Nathan has no heart to lose. Or does he?
With eternity at stake, Mayela and Nathan ignite a transcendent passion that breaks all the rules. Among the Soul Masters, a malevolent force awakens. The final hunt is on…
Excerpt:
Then
everything froze. Joni, the customers, the cars outside. All movement simply
stopped. The chime on the front door sounded. My throat went dry. Somehow, I
knew what was happening. I knew who had arrived, though I didn’t understand how
or why.
Twisting around, I peered over the rim of the booth. Standing in the doorway
was the man from my hallucinations, a creature of the dark plains. Tall and
slim, broad-shouldered, dark in aspect. That same man had beheaded a snake in
my kitchen. Not my kitchen, I reminded myself. The illusion of my kitchen, part
of the same hallucination of an impossible world. The Hunting Grounds, he’d
called it. Where we go to hunt souls.
My
mind spun with the impossibility of what I was seeing. He couldn’t be real.
Yet here he was, in Joni’s shop. Except, he looked different. His hair
was peppered gray instead of black. His skin seemed a shade darker. Or maybe
lighter? It was like wrapping my head around a mirage, trying to remember what
he looked like in my nightmares. But the simple force of his presence, the
quiet luminescence of his spirit, was unmistakable. That was him.
Without so much as a glance in my direction, the man stepped into the shop and
started toward the counter. Everything stirred at once. Several people looked
his way. Joni let go a long, low whistle.
“Well,
I’ll be!” she exclaimed. "We haven’t had anyone that drop-dead gorgeous walk
in here since…Well, ever!”
She
kept staring, mouth agape, as he ordered coffee. Then her face lit up, and she
jumped into action, wiping down the table next to me.
“I’ve
got an idea,” she said. “I think you should go for him.”
“What?”
I croaked.
“He’s
totally your style.”
“I
don’t date men in suits.”
“What
are you talking about?” She laughed. “Look at him! It’s fate. I can feel it.”
“Joni
–”
“Sir!”
She called. “Sir, we’ve got an empty table right over here. Next to the
windows.”
Holy
crap! I sank deeper into my seat. “I’m serious, Joni! Send him somewhere else.”
“Straighten
up, beautiful.” She patted me on the shoulder. “Give it a shot. What’ve you got
to lose?”
Then
she was gone. I cast about frantically for an escape, but there was no back
exit from the booth. Unless I wanted to crash through the window. Could I do that?
Crash through the window?
Yeah,
I could do that. But I’d have to leave my insects behind, and –
And there he was, taking the table next to me. His chair scraped against the
floor. His clothes rustled as he settled in. Minutes passed while my heart
pounded inside my chest. I kept my face turned, pretended to stare out the
window, wondered whether it would hurt to feel the glass shatter against my
skin.
Idle
talk filled the coffee shop. Customers came and went, orders were taken, steam
forced through frothing milk.
Still
the man said nothing.
I snuck a glance in his direction. Damn, he was
handsome. Heart stoppingly so. Desire tugged at my gut, a strangely familiar
sense of attraction, as if we’d known each other before this moment. As if I’d
been bound to him in a time before memory.
K.R. Gastreich is a recipient of the OZMA Award for fantasy fiction and the Andrews Forest Writer’s Residency, as well as a winner of the Women on Writing Flash Fiction Contest. Her fantasy novels feature high-stakes romance, gripping battles, and darkly lyrical prose. In addition to Soul Masters and The Silver Web trilogy, she has published short stories in Zahir, Adventures for the Average Woman, 69 Flavors of Paranoia, and World Jumping.
A proud native of the American Midwest, K.R. Gastreich lived for many years in Texas and then in Latin America before returning to the Kansas City Metro where she grew up. When not writing she enjoys hiking, camping, studying dance, and spending time with her family.
To learn about new releases and other events, visit K.R. Gastreich’s website at krgastreich.com, or follow her on Instagram @EolynChronicles.
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