Honestly, I can’t remember, and it’s not the minute
details that matter, at all, it’s the long run. It’s the point.
And the point is that it’s a good idea. It’s an idea
that had me starting this blog when I first decided I want to write, though
then I was reviewing more than really writing.
Anyway, I thought it a good idea. And even though he’s
going to be doing a quarterly thing, and ask a set of question in each time, or
whatever, I thought that maybe you’d like the idea from me.
A look into my head at what happens, and all that
(as long as it doesn’t make me brake my contract I’ll tell you everything)
Anyway, its an idea, one that can work weekly,
monthly, that sort of thing. A kinda of meme that might help you know if what you’re
thinking about doing is something you want to.
Okay, so first… (oh, and sorry if this is just a repeat of things I've already said)
So I’ve Written my Book, now what?
For me, I had actually written three books and was
well on my way to finishing my fourth when I got the balls enough to start
looking into submitting my book to a publisher.
I’m not sure if it was just me (I’m not) but I’m
shit scared of putting myself out there. I’m guessing it’s because I didn’t
want to have my hope and dreams smashed into little pieces at my feet,
resulting in me being so crushed I wouldn’t want to do this anymore.
Okay, so that’s reality.
The thing is I wasn’t concisely thinking these
thought. I was think, ‘it’s okay. I’ll submit it, what’s the worst that could
happen? They say no. big deal; I’ll just fix it up a bit and try again”
“It’s no big deal what they think, and really, it
might not be your writing that they don’t like but the story. So you’ll write
something else and try again.”
It got to the point where I was calling myself some filthy
names. Very descriptive and totally counterproductive. Who needs that much negativity
or abuse in your life—especially if you don’t deserve it? And mostly, even more
so if you’re the one that’s yelling the shit at yourself. Really, you believe
your own stupid thoughts before you believe others.
You see, and I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but
I didn’t have a beta read for these stories, so more than anything I was scared
for the fact that I had been the only one who had read them.
Which isn’t something you should do.
I just didn’t have anyone around me with the time,
or who would actually like what I write, and for a lot of reason I can’t push
my books onto people who probably wouldn’t like them (I’m gonna suck at
publication, aren’t i?)
Anyway, it was at this point, the start of 2013 that
I started to do my research.
Like everyone else I’m going to say this is
something you really should do. I’m not saying that you should be looking at
the background, or any of that crap. Like you don’t have to hack the system, or
even, really talk to other—though that probably helps. But you should at least
have a look into authors that are published there. About where else they are,
and what the publisher is looking for—or what they have published in their
past, because if you get a place that’s mostly published contemporary and you
have a very heavy paranormal, it will probably take them longer to decide if
your right for them, since there is a hesitant in the fact that it isn’t normal
for them.
And I’m saying this I a way that, a lot of companies will publish
both, but how I see it, if they largely swing contemporary, you’d probably find
them more willing to accept a contemporary then they are a paranormal, and then
if you really want to go that way. what type of paranormal did they publish, if
it’s all light, then a heavy one? Well, it’s unlikely, unless you’re a bestselling
author, and I mean a real one, not arrogant enough to think you are one.
When I was starting, and I mean before I was really starting to look, the shit was
going down with Silver Publishing, so to me that one was out.
I’m willing to not care one way or another, but to
me, there’s something tainted with that company, and I’m, as a reader, am a
little reluctant to by a book from them. I honestly only do if it’s from a
series that I was currently reading, or if it’s sold on a third party—since that
way I don’t particularly look at who published it.
Anyway, you want a pretty cover; you look at Silver,
because they always come out with great covers, no matter what. but what if
they decide they want more, are you willing to not be paid because of their bad
business ethics?
So, all that was going on, and it got me interested.
Which lead me into what publisher sold, what they seemed to sell more of, and
where my series, would be better suited.
As I saw the whole thing I had two chose, with this
series, I had total-e-bound, and extasybooks. They both seemed to have a lot of
books that were the same size as my series was, with the same type of context
and with authors that are still going back—that was a biggy for me. At the
time, with all things up in the air, I wanted a company that seemed to still be
publishing books by authors.
What alimentally had me choosing extasybooks (I’d
like to say it was a coin toss but it wasn’t) was because I have three authors
that I love who publish there, and I thought it be nice to see if I could be
too.
Then I had to learn what the hell you were meant to
do when submitting a book. For someone like me, it was a little hard to
understand some of the details.
I had to download a program just to get my document
on the right level.
I had to find sites that dealt with cover letter,
because what the fuck is one of those, and I roughly started writing out my
one.
It was hard, and I was nervous the whole fucking
time. Like my hands kept cramping up because I was having to hold them still
was I typed when all they wanted to do was shake to shit on me.
I didn’t really have much to say. I wasn’t sure if
what I wrote was actually right.
Then when I had to document ready—holly hell, that
was a scary time, when I realised I could get my hands on the write program and,
then as I downloaded it. My stomach played havoc with me. I’m not sure I even if
I ate for the week it took me to get it all up and loaded.
Okay, so that took a day. One day and I was ready
for everything to be loaded up.
I ended up pressing the send button on Sunday night
before I went off to dinner at my parents’ house; it was late May, and yeah… I
was there, my head all worrying and trying not to worry because it was going to
be a max of 6 weeks before I even knew one way or another (that’s what the
website said) and there wasn’t any point getting worked up about it until I
knew. I had to try and forget
Yeah, right.
Like you could forget something this fucking big!
But, for whatever reason, it worked, I got noticed. It
actually happened a shit load faster than I thought it would. I’m not sure why.
I can speculate that there wasn’t that may people submitting work.
That I was obviously sellable and that she would be
able to tell that within the first paragraph or two of a document, since it’s
her job and she’d read many.
That my book was short easily put in a space that
just opened up.
I fixed up my blog, became more involved in social
media. Signed the contract, and I’ve had four of my five books edited (okay,
the 4th was just sent back after its first round) and it’s only been four
months since I signed the contract.
I’m not sure this helps you or not, I’m not sure if
you care, but maybe in time what I have to say might actually help. Or at
least, maybe you’d just be interested in how it all started. Not that this
really talks about that, but I’m mentioned all this information more than once
but you have to start at the beginning with these things, and here’s mine.
Till next time…
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