Brianna sent me the following questions:
I have a few questions about getting published commercially. First do I need an agent? Second what is the process?

I answered this question last June on this blog post. Read that post, word for word. Also, be sure to study the market. What kinds of books do you like to read? What are publishers putting out on the bookshelves? Getting commercially published takes a lot of work and a lot of time. Sometimes, when I meet people who say they want to commercially publish a book, they’re not really serious about it. I’ve even noticed this at some writers’ conferences I’ve attended over the years. I’ve met writers who attend every year, yet, they never finish writing a book, they never submit anything to publishing houses. I’ve even given unpublished writers my advice to join a writers group that focuses on the type of fiction that they’d like to get published – to help them glean a contract from a commercial publisher. I’ve had a few to state that those writers groups were not helpful when they’d joined, and after some gentle probing, I discovered that the unpublished writer had never submitted anything…ANYWHERE! This proved to me that the writer was not really serious about pursuing publication if they’d joined the group, said the group was not helpful, and then never submitted. How would you know if the advice given by these groups is not helpful if you’re not even submitting your material? It’s a process and a writer can’t land a contract unless they’re submitting to editors, to agents….to somebody!

Also, it’s somewhat unsettling to meet those who say they want to publish a book, but they don’t read very much. In my opinion, people like this are not real authors. If a writer is serious about pursuing commercial publication, then that person is an avid reader. For example, since I can recall, I’ve spent a great deal of my spare time with my nose in a book. Reading is always (with few exceptions) one of the favored past-times of those who commercially publish, and for those who are seriously pursuing commercial publication. An acquiring editor or agent would frown upon someone submitting a novel for publication only to discover that this person doesn’t read. Also, I’d think the writing would be somewhat sub-par and sub-standard – how would you manage to write a good novel if you don’t even read them? Read a lot and write a lot. I saw this video of Stephen King awhile back and he gives the same advice.

Brianna also asked:
Lastly do you know how to submit material for a movie?

My response?
I have NO IDEA, and if you find out how to successfully submit material for a movie AND actually land a deal that gets your story onto the silver screen, then you let ME know! LOL!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I sent sample chapters and synopsis for my manuscript awhile back to a publisher. As I’d said in an earlier blog post, they asked for the full manuscript. My manuscript is too long so I’m cutting words. While I’m deleting words, I’m reading through my book and I hate it. I’m puzzled that they wanted to see the whole thing based upon those sample chapters.

I used to think the book was good, but, now I don’t think it’s great at all. I feel desensitized. I doubt they’ll contract the book, but I’m going to finish revising and send it in. I have to at least try. If they don’t contract it, it’ll be okay…I can always start with a new, fresh idea.

These are some pics I took yesterday. We took our son to see the ducks and geese and he wanted me to take pictures with my new camera. We fed them popcorn.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I received a nice surprise on my birthday last Friday! I got a letter from a publisher about my submission of this project! They’d like to review the entire manuscript and I’m thrilled! I was starting to think that I’d never find a home for this book, but, now, things are looking up! Now, I’m just hoping and praying that they buy it!

If any of you know me, you know that normally, I would have already had this book printed and out the door to the requesting publisher. Only problem? My book is a bit longer than what they want in their guidelines, so I’m going to have to cut some words. I’m getting ready to do that now and I won’t be blogging until I’ve completed my revisions and mailed this book to the publisher!

It shouldn’t take me too long to get that task accomplished and after that’s done I’ll post my reviews for Final Touch and Finding Jeena.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I took my son to see Toy Story 3 yesterday but we had to leave early. The movies were too loud for him! The loud sound bothered my ears, too, so I’m not sure if I’m getting old, or, if the movies are getting louder! At first, I thought the loudness was due to the fact that they were showing previews, but then the movie came on and the sound stayed up there, at several decibels! My four-year-old son started crying and covering his ears and said he wanted to go home! So, we got up with our jumbo popcorn and soda and I asked for a refund for our tickets. Do you think the movies are too loud nowadays? The movie was also in 3-D, which I thought was cool! I really wanted to see this movie, too, because I enjoyed Toy Story 1 & 2, but I was sure that when I left that theater, my ears would’ve been ringing.

I went to see Avatar in the theater on Mother’s Day weekend and the sound of that movie didn’t bother me. However, it was in an older theater. I paid a reduced price to see it since it was already out on DVD when I saw it in the theater.

I submitted a proposal yesterday. I’m starting to feel kind of antsy since I still don’t have another contract on the horizon! Hopefully, this one will pan into a sale! I’ve been fishing a lot lately, but, so far, no bites! 🙁

I’m still waiting for news. At least I haven’t gotten any rejections with my recent submissions, so, that’s good, I guess…

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Marti wrote with the following question:
I am an aspiring author and I wanted to know how you found your publisher for your first book. Did you use an agent or did you just send out cold queries?

I’ve never been agented, and I’m going to talk a little more about that in my response to the question in the next paragraph. I found the publisher for my first book through a direct contact at a writers conference. I used to attend the Romance Writers of America conference every year and I met Tracie Peterson (the former editor of Barbour Publishing’s Heartsong Presents line). Although Tracie didn’t offer me a contract for my story, when her former colleague, Stephen Reginald, was looking for an African American Christian Fiction author to write a novel for a special 3-in-1 collection for Crossings book club, he contacted Tracie for suggestions and she gave him my name. As a result, I landed the contract for Someone For Toni, my first book in the novel collection entitled Promises To Keep that was released back in 2002.

Sue wrote with the following questions:
I’ve written two novels and pressing my way through a third right now. I’ve sent a query letter to a handful of agents, trying to concentrate my efforts to agents who represent “inspirational” or “Christian” fiction. I’ve had several reply with encouraging remarks, half a dozen requests for more material, and a few recommendations to send my project to another specific agency. I find this, so far, encouraging.

My questions are: How do I know an agent is good?

Again, I’m not agented, but can only speak for what I hear at writers conferences and on writers loops. You’ll need to find out the reputations of agents through other authors. Most agents have a list of authors that they represent on their website. Contact these authors and ask if they like their agent. Also, I’ve noticed that if writers have a negative opinion about agents, they’re more likely to open up about their agents if you’re talking to them face-to-face at a writers conference vs. email. However, if they love their agent, they’ll probably have no problem sending you an email singing praises about their agent. Also, I have an idea about which agents I want to avoid. There are a few that I know I’m not going to submit to because of complaints that I’ve heard from other writers. I can just sense that I won’t be a good fit for some agents, but that doesn’t mean that those agents won’t work for other authors.

What can I do to further my cause?

Keep writing books and submitting them. Also, you might want to join a writers organization and attend some writers conferences if you haven’t already done so. It took me five and a half years and several books before I landed a contract. Also, if you’re writing Christian fiction, you might want to join American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and attend their annual conference this September. It’s the best place to be if you’re trying to get your Christian novel published. Most major publishers and agencies will be there, under one roof, and if you’re savvy enough, you can get a chance to speak to all of them. If you can’t afford to go, do some research to see if there’s a Christian writers conference that’s in your area. Sometimes you can find one-day conferences in certain areas that are cheaper than the ACFW conference.

How do I ask authors to read my material in order to get that seemingly elusive recommendation that so many agencies are looking for?

Hmm. Are you talking about an endorsement? Most writers won’t give endorsements unless they know you. It’s best to hook up at a writers conference and make connections that way. I’ve never sought endorsements for my own work because I write category romances, and for category romances, the publisher usually does not care about having the endorsements for authors on the covers of the books. I’d think if your writing is strong enough, you can let the agency know that you’re a member of a large writers group and will seek endorsements once a contract has been granted. I’ve heard of writers doing this.

And, finally, do you have any experience with specific agencies that would cause you to recommend them to me?

Nope. Never been agented. Since this question has popped up more than a few times over the last six months, I’ll tell you about my agent search. I started searching for an agent about three years ago, but the search has NOT been on-going. I’ve searched for an agent for this project and most agents think it’s a hard sell because I have a blind protagonist. One of my faults is that I’m stubborn, and I don’t always listen to others if something is set in my mind. I’m determined to see this book published in spite of what the agents say. I’ve made some contacts with editors myself at writers conferences and I’ve been submitting it on my own to publishers. Most of the houses that I’ve been submitting the material to require an agent for submission, however, I was able to bypass that requirement since I’ve been meeting these editors at conferences and they’ve invited me to submit. I’ve also had one large Christian publisher to contact me looking for submissions for their African-American line. This project actually made it to committee before it was rejected. Strangest rejection I ever received. The editor did call me and we chatted for over an hour. She did suggest that I submit something in the future and I threw out a few ideas.

Another agent did call me about my query letter. The agent called over a year after I’d sent my query, but, at the time, I didn’t have time to finish the novel because I was in the midst of a three-book contract with Barbour Publishing and because of deadlines, I couldn’t focus on my other book. This agent ended up closing their agency a few months after his phone call to me.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

I’d originally shut down my blog for the second half of May to get a submission out the door. I’m still working on that submission, and I hope to have those sample chapters and synopsis out the door sometime in June. I am making progress, which is good, and I’m hoping this will turn into another book contract. Currently, I’m not under contract for anything, and I just found out that my book, Chesapeake Weddings, is out of print already! 🙁

It’s still available online and in a few stores, but, the publisher has discontinued the title and they told me that they’re out of stock, and, so far, they have no plans for printing more copies of Chesapeake Weddings.

Anyway, I received the following questions from Lashonda:

I write romance fiction novels and young adult novels. I love your blog by the way I would love to read some of your books.

I was wondering how did you get published?
How did you get your books published by so many different publishing companies?

I talk a little bit about my journey to publication here and here.
If you want to get published traditionally/commercially, then you need to join a writers’ organization. If you do romance, your best options would be American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. Once you join, interact with other writers at a writers conference. You can meet editors, agents, as well as mutli-published authors who’ll mix and mingle, and share loads of advice. You can also pitch your stories to editors and agents. That’s how I sold my first few books and I loved every minute of those conferences! 🙂

I want to be a traditional published author as well but I am worried about the rights to my work. Is there anyway I can be a published author and maintain all the rights to my writing?

About rights, I’m not lawyer, so, take the following advice with a grain of salt, but, when you traditionally publish, the copyright of the work is made in your name by the publisher. They register the copyright once they acquire your work for publication with the Library of Congress. If you look in most traditionally-published books, on one of the front pages – before the story begins, you’ll see the copyright symbol and then the author’s name and then the year. The publisher is simply “borrowing” your work for a specified period of time. For example, if you sell a book to Doubleday, you can’t turn around and self-publish that book yourself on the side – that would be unethical. The publisher has the rights to publish your book and pay you a percentage in royalties for each copy sold. Royalty percentages vary and I believe that they usually range anywhere between 8%-15%? That’s a question, so don’t quote me on that. I think the percentage is higher for hardcover novels. Also, if your book is picked up for bookclub distribution, the royalties are sometimes lower on the bookclub sales. It all depends upon the contract.
The rights to your work will usually revert back to you some years after the book has gone out of print. You’d need to read your contract to see how long that would be. Usually, once that time span has passed, and you want the rights back, you need to contact the publisher and tell them that you want the rights back to your work. You can then do what you want – self-publish it on your own, maybe do an e-book, maybe see if another publisher will acquire it and re-release it….I’m not sure what most authors do once they get the rights back to their books but those are a few options. If you’re unagented, then you should get a literary lawyer to go through your contract before you sign. Some things are negotiable!

If you have time I would like you to check out the first 3 chapters of my Christian Romance Novel I just completed.
Sorry, but I didn’t open your attachment and I don’t endorse or read work by others. I judge contests that’re hosted by different writing organizations every year, and that’s my way of giving useful feedback to others. If you want an honest review of your work, I’d suggest joining a writers group and a critique group. There are a number of critique groups online and by exchanging work with others, you might be able to improve your craft while helping others do the same. The first few critique groups that I was in were found through writers’ organizations. But, be warned, sometimes writers get their feelings hurt while being critiqued, also, it might take you awhile to find a group or partner that’s a good fit for you. If you want to know more about my policy on endorsements and reading work by others, you’ll find it on my website.

Oh and another thing can you add sex and making love in a Christian Romance? Some people have a problem with that.

Probably not. Most Christian fiction has no love scenes or sex scenes. Do you know which publisher you’re targeting? If you do, then read a ton of books that are published by the line/publisher to which you want to submit. Once it’s time to submit, you’ll have a good idea about the types of books that this publisher/line/imprint publishes! If people do have sex in a novel that most consider Christian, the door is usually closed. Also, if people have sex outside of marriage, and the book is Christian, there are usually consequences involved with having sex outside of matrimony.

I’d like to add that, I have seen books that use the church, and church-related business as the setting, and there are sex scenes in those books. However, it’s often been debated if those books are considered Christian fiction or Christian fRiction? Retailers will sometimes place books with a church setting in the Christian fiction section, and then readers will claim that those books couldn’t be Christian because of the sex and profanity in the novels. I’ve heard that those books are termed as Christian fRiction instead of fiction? This is just what I’ve heard, I have nothing to back this up. I’ve heard writers talk about this at writers conferences.

Hope that answers your questions Lashonda! I’m glad you e-mailed me those questions!

~Cecelia Dowdy~