Okay, so, in Part 1 I gave you kind of an overview of my whole journey from "Wow, this would make a cool story!" to "Hey, I just received an award for Best Thriller!"
So now, let's bust it down into chunks, and I'll do my best to support each step with something that I learned.
I already shared the book I discovered at the company Little Free Library: "Manuscript Submission" by Scott Edelstein.
I followed Scott's instructions and started submitting my manuscript. I wanted to go "traditional," or what I like to call "Contract Publishing." I also thought I could do well without an agent. This trade-off is also covered in Scott's book. Agents get 15% as a standard, off the profit of a book. Anyone who wants more than that is a coon artist. Just a side note. Anyway, I decided not to option an agent. Whether that was a good choice or a bad choice remains a mystery.
After about twenty rejections from publishing houses, I changed my mind and started querying agents. And got about another twenty rejections. All form rejections: "After a careful review, we have decided your manuscript is not for us at this time. We wish you luck in your future endeavors."
Oh, believe me, I took all these very personally. It damaged my ego to the pint I was wondering if there was anything I could do to please these people. I actually started to get depressed (even more than usual, but that's another story).
But something inside told me not to quit. So I started digging in even harder. And that's when my first acceptance latter came, from Whitmore Publishing. They billed themselves as a Christian-run company, and that appealed to me. I figured they would operate as a company with integrity and honesty. Little did I know. They sent me a contract to sign, in which they offered me their deal, and all it would cost me was three thousand dollars.
Yay. Three grand. Now, if only I had three grand to spend.
You know that little voice inside that says, "Wait. Something is wrong with this picture?" Well, that little voice was screeching in my ear. And I did a little more digging. Now, this was back in the days of dial-up internet. Some of you remember dial-up. You had to hijack the phone lines, and the Internet was known as "The World-Wide Wait." Oh, dude.
Anyway, I found the website for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website. I probably mentioned that to you before. They had a template for a contract on one of their writer's help pages. Guess what that template did NOT include? Payment for publishing. It said the publisher pays YOU.
The Publisher Pays YOU.
Boom. Okay, run away from Whitmore.
Another thing the SFWA gave me was a referral to a critique website, where I could have other writers look at my work and help refine it. And here I thought all I wrote was supposed to stay secret until I unleashed it on the world. So what was this website? None other than Critique Circle dot com. Basic membership was (and still is) free. Other levels of membership do have fees, but I'm telling you here and now those extras are worth every penny if you use them. And no, they don't pay me to send people over there. I just believe in their model.
I ran my whole manuscript through the mill over there, and the first thing I had to do from there was develop a thick skin. People help each other, with the qualification that they don't pull their punches. The thing is, in the abundance of counsel, there is much wisdom. I had about a dozen steady critique partners who stuck with me, and we helped each other with ideas, corrections, and advice. Many of them are successful authors. Other members are actually professional editors, and some are publishers. It's a great place to make contacts.
And in writing, contacts are life.
After I reworked my manuscript, I started submitting again. Got about a dozen more rejections, and I told My partners in one of the discussion threads that I was done. I just wanted to quit. My wife even told me, "Maybe God is just testing you, to see if you'll obey him. Maybe he wants you to quit and go on to something else." That's an easy pill to swallow, after endless rejection notices. Anyway, one of my crit partners came back at me with a not-so-gentle "Don't you F***ing DARE quit!"
The next submission came back from a small house in Montreal, where the email read, "We love your story and your voice. Please review the attached contract, sign, and return it to us."
I did read this contract, very carefully. I compared it to the template contract on the SFWA website, and though it was a different business model, it fit all the tick boxes.
And that's how I received my first REAL acceptance.
We'll talk about more in future installments.
The take-away I want you to leave with today is that you need to develop a very thick skin in a highly competitive industry, in order to maintain your sanity. Not everything is personal.
Drop your comments, and let's talk.
