Wednesday Writerly Way ~ Determination to be an Author

Oops, I forgot it's Indie Life Day!

A writer friend of mine has a blog where he reviews and
posts on a variety of subjects. Malcolm Campbell has always had a witty point of view. So I ran across this on his blog and decided to share it here.

For those of you going through the query and rejection stage of publishing  You are not alone. HERE's the list. The most notable is the beloved Dr. Seuss. I was amazed at the comments that were given for the rejections because now in retrospective- it's a moot point.

The point is...the author didn't give up on their efforts. One author got 79 rejections before they finally sold their manuscript.

I can remember one author who lightning struck in reverse, like me, who got a publisher with contracts in hand and recommending agents in the past two decades. That other author is Jack McDevitt. But then he's been in publishing as long as I have. But Jack had been querying publishers after a long search for an agent.

What's an agent going to do when you tell them that TOR (or in my case Doubleday) has recommended them? Snatch them up, of course. It's almost guaranteed cash in the bank. Admittedly, this is backwards of what it's really like being an author submitting to an agent. Nowaday, you have to go through the agent gatekeeper first.

On a side note...I got a call last week from one of my old agents about the projected completion date on my new WIP, Don't Get Your Panties in a Wad.

Projected completion date? I've just spent two month NOT writing and dealing with my life. All I could answer was, "I dunno." Not very professional I know, but it was an honest answer. I haven't even made the decision to traditionally publish the book yet. Jokingly, I answered, "Never." Needless to say she didn't take it so well. I basically told her,  "Don't call me. I'll call you." Agents hate that so I might be in the market for another one eventually because I'll tell the other agent the same thing. If I traditionally publish this book. I've got to finish the rough 1st draft first.

This was one of the major reasons I've temporarily stopped traditionally publishing. I didn't need the added pressure. I used to only blog about my books when they were in their final editing stages and I changed tactics with this one because my stroke recovery is current and ongoing. Readers wanted to know what was going on in my life and my stroke recovery is up front in my focus right now. At the time it seemed like a logical decision.

You may have noticed I no longer post snips of this book on my blog. That's the reason why. It was garnering too much attention from agents and editors alike. I'm determined, yes, but not that determined. Once upon a time, I could handle set in stone deadlines, but that's not the case now. It takes the joy of writing away. Let's face it. I am are more apt to do what is pleasurable to do than what I am are forced to do. Hey, I'm human. When I am struggling to accomplish it during recovery in the first place, joy is important.

So why is determination essential to the author?

• To plow your way through from beginning to end of a manuscript takes determination. 
• To edit until you are bleary eyed and want to chuck the whole manuscript and not takes determination. 
• To believe that your book has merit and deserves to be published takes determination. 
• To get stacks of rejection letters and keep on searching for an agent takes determination. 
• When the quest for publication stretches into the years mark takes determination.

Do you have the determination to be 

a published author?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.

Monday Mailbox ~ Why Would You...

It's Monday and time to answer your questions.

Why would you stop being a traditionally published author and just do self-publishing? Isn't it cutting off your nose to spite your face? CM

My response was this and I've said it over and over again in this blog...

Dear CM,

For years my husband has been terminal with cancer. He's outlived every projected time frame for his demise. At the time I had a tentative contract with a subsidiary of a Big 6 publisher. I had a job in my own consulting firm, teaching culinary arts part-time, part time as a traveling minister, and writing. It was old hat to me, my writing life had always been a thing I wanted to do because I enjoyed it. Yeah I've always been an type-A overachiever.

I'd always dreamed of writing fact based fiction and dabbled at it in between contracts for nonfiction. In short after my husband had two heart attacks and a stroke in six months, and two months later was diagnosed with cancer, I ended up returning my partial advance and canceling my contract with the publisher. I just couldn't do a book written at this time in my life. There was just too much turmoil. I ended up telling my partners in my firm to buy me out of the business. See I'm an overachiever that recognizes my limitations.

After a seven year hiatus from publishing, I toyed with the idea of publishing again. During my hiatus I wrote four novels. I contacted my agents and was told that they didn't handle what I wrote. I'd have to search for another agent.

I searched for three years getting rejection letter after rejection letter. I'd been away from the business for seven years and things had changed in the business like author promotion except for reviews was now handled by the author and you needed a platform. I was also breaking into a new field of writing...fiction which is a harder sell. Although I had a proven record of sales in nonfiction, I was basically as the bottom of the slush piles of agents. It was a position I had no experience in. So I didn't really rejected my agents or publishers. They rejected me.

I also knew I couldn't leave my husband to traipse off hither and yon to go to this or that book signing, conference, or television show. I was stuck. At the time email and snail mail were big for promotion. MySpace was in its infancy but gaining ground. Self publishing was losing its vanity press stigma. E-books was still a new thing with a 10% of the reading market. I let the fact that I couldn't sell my fiction stew and fester. I decided to continue learning the craft of fiction writing. I'm still learning.

Enter FaceBook, twitter, and Google + to open up new avenues to promote self published fiction. They were to tools I needed to put myself out there without leaving home. I already was blogging and had a website which was the very basic tools I needed. I took college course that were up to date on web enhanced promotion and marketing. I read everything written on the subjects of web marketing and platform building.

Yes, I still plan on continuing a hybrid relationship between self publishing and traditional. Why cut off my nose to spite my face. I can have both butter and jam on my bread if I want to. The market is changing again from the big market to novellas and shorts versus saga type reads. Indie authors are making the best sellers lists by the handfuls, and the distinction between traditionally published versus indie published are crumbling. And no, I do not think traditional publishing is dying. It's just going through an identity crisis, and slowly listening to authors and readers. But the fact is, my husband is still living and I am still his caregiver. That is my priority.

Why would you pass up traditional publishing your manuscript?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.