Sara Zarr on Getting Published
January 23, 2008
I finished my first novel in 1996; I was twenty-six years old and decided that I’d have a novel published by the time I turned thirty. So I followed all the usual steps everyone tells you to follow: querying agents, going to conferences, networking with other writers. I even got a good agent pretty quickly and figured the rest of the pieces would fall into place like clockwork. But nothing ever happened with that book. I wrote a second novel and never sent it to my agent because I was so full of doubt. Age thirty came and went. I wrote a third novel, sent it to my agent, didn’t hear from her for six months and then terminated our contract. Right around the same time, I got laid off from my day job. At thirty-two when all my friends were getting settled into careers, I had no job, no agent, and no prospects. Sometimes I’d see those commercials for technical school and think, “Yeah, maybe I should be a computer help desk person or dental hygienist.”
Nonetheless, I wrote a fourth novel---the book that would become STORY OF A GIRL---and set out to find a new agent. I always knew I wanted to be published traditionally, and I also always knew the way that would work best for me would be with an agent, so I focused a lot of energy there. Also, by this time I really felt like I had something to prove---to myself, mostly. It’s hard to work for something for ten years only to find yourself wondering, repeatedly, if it might be time to let that dream go. I did consider stopping, and took some breaks, but I had a feeling about STORY OF A GIRL. A strange kind of tenacity that is not organic to my nature took over. Eventually, that paid off. I found my dream agent in early 2005 and a few months later he sold the book at auction to Little, Brown. STORY OF A GIRL was published in January 2007 and went on to become a National Book Award finalist.
The journey turned out quite a bit longer and more convoluted than I’d imagined it, and that makes me appreciate the career I have now all the more. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t trade in those twelve years (between starting my first novel and getting published) for immediate success or an easier time of it. It’s natural to want early success and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with getting it, but I also like to talk about the advantages of experiencing a bit of a delay. During those years I learned a ton about the business, myself as a writer, hard work and patience, and the vagaries of trends and taste. Also, I built a little community of writer friends whose support means the world to me. Most importantly, waiting made me come to terms with my identity apart from my writing and mellowed out a lot of the desperation that I think can work against you when you’re trying to break in.
About Sara Zarr
Sara Zarr is the author of two novels for young adults: STORY OF A GIRL and SWEETHEARTS, both published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and on the web at
www.sarazarr.com, where she blogs regularly.
Sara Zarr Profile at OnceWritten.com
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