Watch this video! It’s hilarious!!
Occasionally, I get questions from unpublished writers – and I’ve had a number of people to contact me, stating they want to get a book published, but then admit that they don’t read books…at all!!! The horrors to hear that from a person who wants to get a book published! It’s not easy, by any means, and this video spells it out pretty clearly, especially when someone has a naive view that they can get a book published, pronto!
Photo courtesy of Vintage Little People.
I’m blogging over at Writers’ Rest today about my writing passion – when did I first discover that I wanted to be a writer? Come on over to Writers’ Rest and leave a comment!
Photo courtesy of Luigi Diamanti
Maria wrote to me with the following question:
Dear Cecelia,
I have written a Christian novel for children (middle graders), and I would greatly appreciate your advise on how to get commercially published. I am currently an unpublished author. My manuscript has been professionally edited, but I am new to the writing arena and don’t know much about how to get noticed by a publisher.
I’d appreciate any advice you can give me.
Maria, you’re off to a good start since you had your manuscript professionally edited. I did this for the FIRST TIME myself. Although I’m a commercially published novelist, and had to go through the editorial process with a publisher, I recently paid for editorial services on an unpublished manuscript and it improved my story a lot, and I’ll probably go through the same process with future manuscripts. I blogged about my experience briefly here.
From what I’ve heard, breaking into the YA market is harder than adult fiction. Why? I’ve heard that they don’t publish as many YA books as adult books. The first thing I’d do if I were you is go to a bookstore and see what publishers are publishing YA fiction. I’d then search for those publishers online to see what their submission guidelines are. Make sure your book would be a good fit for their YA imprint, though. You don’t want to send a sweet romantic YA novel to a publisher that appears to publish only YA suspense titles. You might also want to see which authors are published with the YA publisher that you’re targeting and see if they have any information on their website/blog about how they got published, or contact them to see what they say.
Find out if the publishers that you want to target will be attending any writers conferences. If they are, you might want to go and meet the editor to see if they may be interested in your story. Having a personal connection with the editor helps when you’re submitting your manuscript.
Also, pray about it! 🙂 Ask God to help you find a home for your work and listen and weigh the advice from other writers! Also, join a writers group in your area. Look online to see if there are any groups that specialize in YA fiction – or just fiction. The two groups that have helped me are Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. Being part of a professional organization can help put you in contact with published novelists, editors, and agents!
Hope my information helps!
I’m blogging over at Writers’ Rest today about putting emotion into your writing! Come on over and leave a comment!
Photo use courtesy of photographer Suat Eman
Lately, I’ve been hearing about writers, both published and unpublished, getting their work professionally edited before submitting to a publisher or agent. I decided to seek out editorial services for this project since I keep getting rejected, and it’s a bit of a different book than the category romances that I write.
I kept hearing about this editorial service on blogs that I read regularly. Since I recognized some of the staff members as former editors at large, commercial CBA houses and some were former agents of large, highly respected literary agencies, I felt comfortable using their services.
I used the manuscript evaluation service and this included a short write-up from the editor who was assigned to me, as well as a forty or fifty minute phone call. I was surprisingly pleased with the outcome of the notes and the phone call. My evaluation was only based upon first three chapters and synopsis, but the editor was able to point out things in my writing that I didn’t see myself. I have pages of notes from our conversation and I hope to sell this manuscript someday. I’m not one to give up easily.
Have you ever used a professional editor before submitting your manuscript? If so, who did you use? Were you pleased with your experience?
I’m wondering why people want to get published? When people find out that I’m an author, there’s a good chance they’ll say to me, “I’ve always wanted to write a book.” Or they’ll say they know a cousin, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, or some other relative who wants to write a book.
I’m wondering if people mistakenly think that when you write a book and get published, you get tons of money and can quit your day job, writing pages and pages of prose everyday?
Or, I wonder if they think they’ll be famous and admired, like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer?
Why did I want to get published, and why do I STILL want to get published? I’ve been reading books practically all of my life. Reading has given me an enjoyment that surpassess all of my other hobbies. When I was twenty-eight, I was at my lunch break at work and I didn’t have anything to read. So I decided to write a book.
I’ve been writing ever since.
I guess getting published just gives me a jolt of happiness because I’ve accomplished something that I’ve admired others doing my entire life. Books and reading have always been a big part of my life and the people represent a community that wasn’t really a personal part of my life – meaning, I didn’t have direct contact with authors, publishers, etc. I just read and enjoyed the books. Now being a part of the community that has brought me such joy over the years just gives me a feeling of warmth? I guess that’s why I want to be published so much. Also, I love just knowing that thousands upon thousands of people have read my books and I’ve gotten several letters and emails from readers, stating how much they’ve enjoyed my work! Hearing those words gives me a euphoric feeling and I’m glad that others have enjoyed my books!
I didn’t want to get published for financial reasons, that’s for sure! Most writers are poor, barely able to make a living, which is why most of us have day jobs or we’re living off of our spouses. Initially, I’d thought that writers made about as much as full-time workers. After I became acquainted with the writing community I’ve found that it’s a rarity for writers to make a steady income from their published works.
Now it’s your turn. Why do you want to get published? This inquring mind wants to know!
Also, I want to remind everybody that Chesapeake Weddings is now available at Christianbook.com for only $2.79! Do a bit of your Christmas shopping early and purchase multiple copies to use as gifts and stocking stuffers! Where else can you get a brand-new 367-page, trade-sized paperback book for such a low price?
Gina wrote to me with the following question:
I am wanting to get my first christian book published. I came across Strategic Book Publishng company who say they want to publish my book. They are telling me I need to pay $995.00 and will get royalty of 50%, then after selling 1000 books I would get a bonus of $1000.00.
Does this sound legit to you? Have you heard of this company?
Please let me know what you think.
My response?
I’m probably not the best person to ask since I’ve never paid a company to publish my work. Since I’m commercially published, I usually submit my work to a publishing house, and if they decide they want to publish it, they offer me a contract. The contract usually grants me an advance and after I’ve earned the advance back, I get royalties. I don’t get 50% in royalties, commercially published people usually get royalties somewhere between 5%-15% per copy sold, give or take…BUT commercially published people USUALLY sell several thousands of copies of books since our books are distributed widely via bookstores and places like Walmart, Kmart, etc.
Also, you have to remember, it’s a major feat to sell 1,000 copies of a self-pubbed book because you have to practically hand-sell each copy. Your book won’t have the same distribution as the books you’ll see on the shelves of most stores. Do you have a platform, or a means to sell your books so that your money is not wasted on this venture?
If you decide to pay to have your work published by this company, I’d see what kind of marketing support they give you. Also, you might want to see if there are any other writers online that have used Strategic Publishing’s services. You may want to ask Strategic Publishing’s customers if they’ve found their services useful. I just visted the site and saw that they have books advertised on the sidebar. I’d look through those published books to get authors to contact, and then see what they say.
You might also want to see if you can find other self-pubbed people who use other companies besides Strategic. I’ve heard you can publish your stuff cheap nowadays and I’ve heard others state that $1,000.00 is a bit pricey?
Another option would be to use Lightning Source to publish your novel. They’re cheap, BUT, your manuscript needs to already be edited and you’ll need your cover before you approach them. I’ve heard they publish the book “as is” so you’ll need to be sure it’s perfected before you send it to them. You might want to hire a professional editor to edit your book before you publish it yourself.
Hope that helps!
I just received this rejection yesterday from a large publishing house. I think, when I get a rejection from now on, I’m going to post what the rejection says on this blog. Why? So that other authors and aspiring authors can see the reasons for rejection. Also, for those who haven’t started submitting yet, they can see what a real rejection looks like. I’ve placed my comments in caps and brackets. Here’s what the letter said:
Dear Cecelia,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read [NAME OF MANUSCRIPT INSERTED HERE] I really enjoyed this project. Unfortunately, however, the general feeling was that the initial print numbers would be too small for our list. So, therefore, I have to pass.
It was a pleasure meeting you at the Faith and Fiction Retreat in Atlanta. I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for us but I wish you the very best in finding a good home for your work.
Best-
[EDITOR’S NAME HERE]
I’d submitted this manuscript on June 20 and I think this editor was nice to respond within three months. I’m glad she gave me a compliment. Although rejections stink, it makes me feel good when an editor for a large publishing house has something nice to say about my work.
I keep a spreadsheet with all of my submissions so that I can track them. I have more than one manuscript floating around out there now since I want to find a home for my books! After I receive the rejection, I keep it in a file and I remove the line from my spreadsheet since I’m no longer tracking that submission. I also try to keep track of where I’ve submitted a project so that I don’t make the major mistake of submitting a manuscript someplace twice!
Do you keep track of your submissions? What do you do to keep track of your manuscripts? If you have an agent, does your agent keep a similiar spreadsheet to track the status of your manuscripts?
Hands down, this has got to be the quickest rejection I’ve ever received in my whole writing career! The project that I mentioned at the end of this blog post was submitted on September 11, 2010. I received the snail mail rejection in the mail today! Oh well, I’m not upset or anything like that. It was one of those, what I call, shots in the dark – I didn’t really think they’d take it, but it’s a completed manuscript, sitting on my shelf, collecting dust…
A good friend of ours, Ron Johnson, is out with a group of people in Kenya doing missionary work at Tenwek Hospital and the surrounding area. We receive daily emails from his group about their experiences and the emails bring both laughter and tears to our eyes as we read about babies dying and AIDs orphans who receive their first pair of shoes. If you feel led, keep this hospital and this ministry bathed in prayer.
My novel collection, Chesapeake Weddings, received a favorable review in The Examiner.
I’ll be heading to ACFW tomorrow morning. If you’re coming and you see me, stop and say hello, also let me know if you read my blog! I’ve often met my blog readers at conferences. I’ll try and report on what I see and hear at the conference, but, as in past years, I find I do a terrible job at reporting. By the time I get back to my room, I just feel like going to sleep! I usually end up staying awake much later than normal, socializing!
Also, I forgot to mention, about a week ago I submitted one of my old, rejected manuscripts to another publisher. This particular publisher markets their novels primarily to libraries and the pay isn’t much, but, the reject is just sitting there, gathering dust, so I might as well try and make a few dollars from my weeks worth of labor! 🙂 I’ll keep you posted about that!