How to Set Realistic Goals as a Writer

Since everyone is setting their goals for the new year, literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan discuss how to set realistic and inspiring goals for yourself as a writer!
BookEnds is dedicated to making publishing a book traditionally a more transparent process, and it starts with these videos!
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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds KZbin channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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James McGowan is a Literary Agent at BookEnds and writer for children. He began working with the agency as an intern in the summer of 2015, and basically never left. He represents a talented group of authors and illustrators working in everything from board books to middle grade graphic novels. He also works in adult nonfiction, and adult mystery and suspense projects. James is the author of GOOD NIGHT OPPY, which is available now.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
Instagram: bookends_literary
Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks

[@jwalker6187]

I think with becoming a writer one of the biggest challenges is that you don’t know what you don't know. I appreciated that you broke down some of the steps that might not be visible when someone starts mapping out this path.

[@ArtbyMSB]

True, we don't know what we don't know.

[@ArtbyMSB]

I love how James says that we would want another best seller.

[@melissamackinnon1982]

I appreciate Bookends attitude to responding to queries.

[@ArtbyMSB]

Thanks for making this video. It is great to see you two again!

[@jwalker6187]

Hold up, wait a second. I was curating my list of books to read this year and realized there hasn't been a recent reads in ages 😢. Pretty please with a cherry on top🙏? It was so much fun to just see y'all just talk about books. Y'all get that special book love twinkle in your eyes 🥰.

[@jwalker6187]

A James and Jessica rereads list would be amazing too 😉.

[@JenniferJones-t1y]

Hoping to get better at my craft this year by trying something I've never done before. Writer's conference maybe? Taking a course?

[@ArtbyMSB]

Cool ideas!

[@nodailyactivist]

Totally agree with career jump - A publisher reached me on Wattpad and now I'm writing a book from a short story I published there a year ago, and doing that with an editor! That was pure luck, nothing else, but I'm grateful for it.

[@rewritelondon2780]

Happy New Year 🎉🎉🎉

[@teresajones5973]

I love making goals, big and small. I’ve had a certain big goal on my list for over 4 years. I might get to check it off someday, but in the meantime I’m checking off lots of smaller ones. It’s so satisfying.

[@hgoingceleb2961]

Thank you both,Jessica and James for your generous sharing of how authors can set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic,and timely,(also known as S.M.A.R.T), goals. You inspire us.🙏🏽🙌🏼❤

[@ArtbyMSB]

I love your KZbin Banner with the picture of your office with the Book shelves. I wish you still made these videos there.

[@ArtbyMSB]

Crocheting is cool, I have been thinking about taking up the hobby of sewing. Think I might start out by making a pillowcase, but first; I have to get back to my writing!

[@shelbymaalouf4261]

James clear supremacy ! Thank you for this informative video ! Realistic attainable and measurable goals are best for all aspects of life ! Thank you !

[@tubbiestbeef4222]

I love these videos! They’re so helpful!

[@lisakaufman3029]

James: Mine are not! Ha! Ha! It finally dawned on me that hoping and wishing wouldn't work because it takes hard work! My highly successful mom, a mortgage banker, says, "If it's going to be, it's up to me!" When I asked her why she became successful, she said, "I never thought I wouldn't be a success!" Ohh, the confidence and mindset! I surrounded myself with people believing in me before I believed in myself, and it worked!❤

[@marleneyoung3170]

Thank you, great information! Setting my goals, and action plan.

[@tinaheard3866]

Good to see the two of you back! Sending well wishes, positive vibes and a very pleasant and happy new year ahead. Thank you again for the advice and yes, knowledge truly is power ! 🌠

[@ArtbyMSB]

Great comment, thanks for leaving positive in their chat!

[@rachel-self-help-guru]

Great video! Really helpful breakdown of steps.

[@theenlightenmentshowwithlauri]

Loved this!!! Thank you. Atomic Habits has been such a fantastic guide.

[@Ruthie888]

Thank you.

[@alexpiteo9825]

I believe you two just said earlier in the video that, "You can't just sit down and write whatever you feel like/you must research what's on the market now, and write that," or at least •something• to that affect. My question here is: does that necessarily mean you can't-or shouldn't-write whatever story just naturally comes to you that you feel like doing, and simply bring yourself to write whatever is popular on the market these days, regardless of •how• you feel, or did I to a certain degree hear you wrong? If so, would you please clarify for me so I may understand what you mean a little bit better in the future, and not wrongfully assume anything? Thank you very much... Again, I highly enjoyed this latest video of yours, and moreover learned a lot once more

[@BookEndsLiterary]

Hi! You should still feel passionately about what you're writing, but if you're writing with the intention to publish it's good to have awareness about what's going on in the market around you! This can just come from reading recent releases and doesn't have to be a particularly strong intentional effort to research things-for example, just from paying attention to recent releases, you might have realized that after Twilight was very popular paranormal romance had a huge boom, then died down for a while, and now appears to be making a bit of a comeback. If you wanted to write paranormal romance during the time that it wasn't as popular, it would be important to be aware that it might not be what the market is looking for and might be a hard sell to an agent (but not impossible!)

[@relle4667]

Thank you for the helpful advice! One of my goals this year is to finish polishing my manuscript so that I can begin querying, so this was a super timely video for me :) I do have one question -- when we are sending queries, should we send them under our real names, or is it okay to use pen names? The Internet has given me conflicting answers.

[@BookEndsLiterary]

You can query using your pen name! The agent will only need your legal name when it comes time to sign the agency agreement :)

[@relle4667]

​Good to know. Thank you!!

[@melissamackinnon1982]

Reading in your genre current books

[@rosieradcliffe5578]

Jessica - at last!! I've long suspected that "you can't just write any book", and you just actually said it. ALL the advice out there is to write whatever you want, don't attempt to write to market, etc etc, but it's wrong isn't it? You have to research the market, especially now, and be sure that what you're putting out there meets a need, fits into a genre etc etc.

[@AnnGoldberg-t4c]

Their focus is commercial fiction rather than upmarket or literary. Also see their comment below that relates to a similar question.

[@EIrwin-od5xo]

Hey guys, thanks for your continued helpful points. I’ve been following your channel for a while now, and appreciate the insight. I have a question regarding querying. I am a previously published author (5 novels). My publisher decided to close down and all rights concerning my books reverted to me. I’m now trying to republish and get an agent in the process. One agent I queried, said a trad publisher would not republish a previously published book, but another agent claimed differently. Any insight you could give on that? Am I wasting my time trying to get agented on those books? Should I pursue self-publishing instead? Thank you in advance.

[@BookEndsLiterary]

Hi! If your books sold really really well with your previous publisher, or if your books seem like they were "ahead of their time" and are now a perfect match for the market, you might be able to find another publisher to publish your books. But if your books kind of just sold averagely (or less) then it's unlikely that they'll get picked up again. If your books sold really well the first time, it probably means that they appealed to a broad audience, and that the audience has room to continue expanding. But if they didn't sell that well the first time, a new publisher is either going to think A) the book has a niche audience which was already dipped into the first time it was published and therefore has a limited ability to gain more reach or B) the book itself is subpar (even if that's not the case) and therefore couldn't sell well. Right now, we're seeing a lot of dark romances which were originally self published hitting the shelves via traditional publishers because publishers have realized that the market has shifted and what used to only appeal to a small niche of readers now appeals very broadly. So that's why I also say that if your book might have been "ahead of its time" but now could fit into a wider market, then that's another scenario in which you could consider pursuing traditional publishing with them again. However, in 99% of cases, we would argue that it's better to just get started on your next project and look towards the future rather than spending more time on a previously published book. Publishing is finicky, and it's very hard to break something out into the market after you've already dipped into your audience.

[@DrummerAndrews]

How long should we wait before closing a query as unanswered? I have a query with one of your agents (91 days old so I guess it's probably a pass), but I would really like to send a query to another of your agents who recently opened. Thanks.

[@BookEndsLiterary]

Sorry to hear you haven't gotten a reply yet! Depending on the agent, we usually say our query response time is between 6 and 12 weeks, but with the two week break we just had at the end of last year, a lot of our agents are just getting back into reading queries. All of our agents are required to respond to all queries, even if it's taken longer than expected, so if it hasn't been rejected, you are still under consideration! However, if it's taking too long and you think another agent at BookEnds would be a better fit, you can withdraw your query at any time and query someone else.

[@shanerdude4]

Say an agent told you, send me your next book. But your next book isn’t something they typically represent. Say ur first was a romance and ur second is a mystery. Should you send it to them since they asked or still stick to their submission guidelines?

[@BookEndsLiterary]

Hi! I assume from the context that you mean that an agent you previously queried had turned down your first book but said they'd still like to see your second book because there was something about your first project that they were interested in. If your next book ends up being in a genre they don't represent, you could still try querying them and mention that you're querying because they said they wanted to see your next project, but don't be surprised if they reject on the basis of the genre. Alternatively, if you would rather skip over that possibility, it might be worth finding someone else at their agency who does represent your new genre and query them instead. Hope this answers the question!

[@ArtbyMSB]

I am sorry for spamming your email this morning Jessica, it won't happen again. I am calm after publishing and fixing my problem. I am going to rewatch your videos. Time to take the next book slower. Just released four products today, 3 day wait period.

[@franciscoojeda8986]

I appreciate the information provided in this video but apparently, I either do not understand overall the marketplace and publishing world or I have difficulty "begging" for attention. In regards to "begging", I feel it applies to both the attention of agents and or readers. Thus, there is something about writing stories in which I neither have an interest nor ability (talent) because I (as a writer) have some need to be accepted. I have a problem writing for people because the "IN" thing right now is wizards, vampires, dystopian worlds, or whatever there is an interest in. Just because there are other books and/or movies with the same subject (Elvis), then maybe I should consider writing the 1000th book about Elvis. I guess I will just write and maybe, maybe one day, someone, anyone will be interested.

[@BookEndsLiterary]

It's a complicated balance between understanding the market and writing to it! We never recommend that you write something solely because you think the market wants it, because trends are constantly changing and by time you finish it's likely to no longer be the big thing. You should ultimately write the book you want to write. But we also recommend understanding what is marketable in the current time so that you can pitch yourself accordingly (for example, maybe you're not writing vampires but you ARE writing about a found family. Found family is big right now, so emphasizing that element of your story can be helpful for making it marketable).

[@AuthorWASimpson]

I've always believed that the whole NYT Bestseller List goal is merely the luck of the draw. You can do all the promo, various projects, signings, readings, guest appearances and the like and still not get anywhere near them. I know that for a fact. 😟

[@ArtbyMSB]

Jessica you are Amazing, but please reject me. I will go with James when he is available. You are both awesome!

[@ArtbyMSB]

Jessica's background is cool, but maybe a bit too bright.

[@smeastwest]

Goals? What are those? 😂