Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now. A colleague was in touch with me recently about a novel she has been working on for some time. The story is finished. It has been edited and polished. It is ready to go. Still, she hesitates to send it into the world.
I Understand this Writer’s Hesitation. There is always more that can be done to any manuscript, more tinkering and tweeking. But the time comes when you must decide – whether you will let your book go or most likely hang onto it forever.
A Substantial Fear Factor Resides in this Decision. I understand that also. Especially after you have worked on a story for a long time. The act of actually submitting it somewhere feels like a finality, as if it could be make or break for your career. But none of this is true.
You are merely taking a first step, seeking a professional response to your work. After that step has been accomplished, you may ask yourself, “Where do I go from here?” Meanwhile, however, your work is off your desk and into the publishing universe, where it needs to be.
We Have All Heard that Rejection is More Likely than Acceptance. This is entirely true, but you must move forward anyway. What is the alternative? You can of course collect story files, one after the other, never allowing yourself to discover what might or might not happen to them.
This is the safe alternative, but it is also a dead end. Dead means the same thing in the writing world that dead means in any circumstance. Life is over, at least on this side of eternity. Your hours, months, years of work have been consigned to a drawer somewhere, digital or otherwise.
Instead, Let’s Address the Question “Where Do I Go from Here?” Have you researched where it is appropriate to submit this story? Have you identified other successfully published books in your genre, where exactly they were published, and who their editors might be? Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now.
You Need a List of 6 Appropriate publishers for Your Work. You need the name of a specific editor at each house who already works in your genre and has made a success of other authors there. You will go on to identify 6 more houses eventually, and 6 more after that, but this is where you begin.
Prepare Your Most Impressive Submission Package. Include first chapter and synopsis even if the submission guidelines say not to do so. A writing sample and synopsis proof of a full, compelling plot give you a fair chance to showcase your abilities. Blame the rule break on me.
Top Your Package with a Carefully Written Cover Letter. Then, let that baby go. Six submissions at a time. Be sure to mention in your cover letter, with deliberately diplomatic subtlety, that this manuscript package has been submitted to “a very select group of publishers.”
Move on, Immediately, to Your Next Book. Forget about the submissions you just made. Do not sit around waiting for responses. But when the responses do come, keep track of them in a file for that book. Meanwhile, submit to a new editor on your next six-publisher list.
Do What each Responding Editor Requests. If she asks to see something more, send it. If she suggests revisions, incorporate them and resubmit. If she turns you down but adds what she did like about the work, enhance that element further and resubmit. Thank her profusely, and sincerely, for the inspiration her comments were for you – so inspiring in fact that you felt you must show her the result.
At Last, You may Turn to the Other Stuff. Like marketing to gain name visibility online, via the platforms that work best for you. That part of your career is important, but submitting your work must be your first priority always. Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now.
Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com
ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Email aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Or add a comment question to this post. Alice will be honored to respond.
Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community. Her latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.
Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!”
Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.
https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/
Such good advice. Or say forget the publisher and do it yourself. Hire an editor, get formatting, a great cover, and self-publish. Nothing holds you back better than your own fears and insecurities. No time like the present. Go for it.
Hi Kayelle. Yes. The Indie route indeed. I chose that way myself, even after a dozen traditionally published books and a career as a publishing professional, both book editor and literary agent. Maybe especially because that career and my close-up look at the inside of legacy publishing sent me flying to the indie track. I was attending a writers’ conference in Texas and in the van on the way from the airport to the conference hotel, a writer I knew and respected regaled me with the joys of her own experience turning indie. It happened that there was an entire presentation track at that very conference devoted entirely to indie publishing. I went to every session, deeply resenting my own presentation which prevented me from also attending the indie workshop in my presenter time slot. I returned home hooked and began my own indie publishing experience. Everything about it was wonderful, except for the aspent in which you,Kayelle, excel so powerfully – marketing and sales. I never really got the hang of how to promote my work and make it sell. Skilled editing didn’t help. Professional-level book production didn’t help. Enthusiastic reviews didn’t help. Blogging didn’t help. Public appearances didn’t help. I was never able to crack the online code and its algorithms. I have sound reason to believe many other indie authors share my story. I don’t know what the answer might be. I’ve been told that the magic window for achieving indie success is long since closed, yet you began your meteoric rise after that period (way back somewhere around 2011). Perhaos the key is simply that you, and others like you, know what you are doing and the rest of us, not so much. I’m thinking about putting out a post around these two indie stories, mine and yours. Maybe we can chat about how I should approach that. In the meantime, as always, I am grateful for your input and that you are you. Bless you Kayelle. Alice
I study how to promote and read about the craft of writing. A good 4 hours of my workweek is devoted to training. One of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is “Sharpening the Saw.”
Success is 1% inspiration and 99% work. I don’t give up easily, sometimes, even when I should.
I’ve learned how to say no to good things so I can say yes to better things. I’m consistent. I blog 4x week, send a newsletter 2x a month, am active in a few Facebook groups, and I run a book blog where there’s a daily post for other authors. I schedule 2-3 hours a day to write.
How do I get all that done? I’m organized, and I have an assistant who handles some of the nitty gritty for me. But most of the work is my own.
If I could say it was any one thing, I would say it’s that I am consistent. I show up, even when I don’t want to. Easy? No. But when a reader connects and tells me how much they love a character or a book and it makes all that work worthwhile.
When I stopped and asked myself what it was that I wanted most, it was reader reaction. To get that, I have to go where the readers are.
What I do is stop and ask myself what I want to get out of what I write. Then I look at ways to attain that goal, and take steps every day to reach it.