Tag: submitting to small presses

Finding a Passion Project

Sigh.

I realized I just don’t feel enough of a push to actually work on my memoir, When I Went Crazy, as I thought I did.

I’m not rushing to the computer to work on it like I did Hurricane Baby last year. I was seriously excited to do that project, and when I wasn’t excited, I was fueled with a grim determination. I WAS going to finish it, and I WAS going to revise it, and I WAS going to sell it whether anyone liked it or not. I had a real drive that pushed me through all the hard work.

And I’m not feeling that right now except about one project–selling my novella, Looking For Home, as a standalone project.

Looking For Home grew out of a scene I had written while floundering around with Hurricane Baby the first time. I had written it in the context of Wendy and Judd’s baby growing up and going looking for Judd when she was a teenager. I didn’t go that direction with Hurricane Baby, but I did think I had written a perfectly serviceable scene. So I dreamed up a new idea for a story about a teenaged couple, Carlton Dixon and Merrilyn Beck, giving up a baby for adoption because Merrilyn was only sixteen–and that baby coming to find Carlton once she got to be a teenager.

I had a really good time writing that story just like I had enjoyed doing Hurricane Baby, with a rich backstory, told with multiple narrators. On the advice of an editor I had asked to help me with it, I cut it down to one point of view and created a novella, which I sold to a publishing house in 2018 as part of an anthology. Well, the rights have reverted back to me, and I want to sell it as a standalone book.

So I’ve been researching publishing houses that publish novellas and sending off to them. But the story has really held up through the years since I wrote it. I don’t see anything that really needs to be changed about it. And if it doesn’t sell as a novella, then I may take it and redo it just like I did Hurricane Baby. Only this one I think I would write as a duopoly or trilogy of novellas in one book. I would harvest the original manuscript to write the story of back-when in Carlton’s point of view, write the intervening story in Merrilyn’s point of view, and leave the current novella in Cassie’s (the teenager) point of view.

(Hm. I will think about that some more.)

But back to my point. If there’s no flame to fan in your heart for a project, maybe it’s not time for you to work on that project. I have No real excitement about going back into those thoughts and feelings right now. So I will wait for the right project to come along. (Or I may have just found it. I’ll keep you posted.)

Liminal Space

So now I am in the liminal space between querying my book and publishing my book. I’ve done what I’m supposed to do (get the manuscript in the best shape I can, look over sample covers, get leads on publicity avenues) and now I’m waiting for the edits and the ironing out of final details before we go to print in February 2024. Suddenly February 2024 doesn’t seem that far into the future as it did in September when I signed the deal.

I am working on When I Went Crazy–I’ve finished the first chapter and am looking at the next. I will likely start on it tomorrow night when I write. I’m also researching places to try to publish my novella Looking For Home as a standalone book. So far I think I’ve sent it six places (I don’t have my list in front of me so don’t. hold me to that.) Not many publishers do novellas, so there aren’t many places to send to. But I’m going to give the ones I can find a shot and see what happens.

I love that I’m finally able to think about a future in writing and publishing my work. I had resolved to myself that if Hurricane Baby didn’t publish by 2025 (the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina) that I would just give up on writing fiction altogether and just stick to my bipolar work and labor for a better world for the mentally ill in my little corner of advocacy and education. But now I feel like I have a chance to do more, be more, get more visibility for the issues surrounding mental illness. And that’s a good feeling.

My Final Copy

I turned in my final copy of the manuscript on November 1, early last week. Now it’s time for the editors to get going on it and find what I might have missed. I really worked hard to do all the corrections and typos and continuity errors, and I thought of one this afternoon I probably left uncorrected–in one particuIar spot, I called Tommy Hebert’s truck a diesel truck–and it’s not. So I need to at least correct that as soon as possible once I get the edited manuscript back. I’m hoping that’s the only glaring thing that’s there. I imagine there may be stylistic discussions, etc. as well. Which I do not mind getting into. If something needs changing to make more sense, etc., by all means, fix it.

I don’t know when those are going to come across–I figure after the new year with the way people usually work during the holidays. It needs to go to print February 1 or thereabouts. I just want the editing process to be smooth and not rushed. So I hope I hear back sometime in December while I am off for the holidays. We will see.

I am starting to turn my mind to my next project, and I think it may be my memoir project rather than any more work on Missing and Mentally Ill in Mississippi. I haven’t gotten any replies on it from the batches I sent out in August and September, and I was too sick to send many queries during October. And most of New York publishing shuts down during the holidays until the second week of January. I have the proposal, and it is still solid.

But I think I am going to invest in rewriting the story of those 24 months between when I told Bob I was pregnant with my youngest daughter and when I was actually diagnosed bipolar. And I can have my stats (if any!) from sales of Hurricane Baby to bolster my case for getting another publishing deal. Not sure exactly when I will get started, but maybe soon, maybe after the new year, maybe after i finish edits for Hurricane Baby. I’m going to start by reading that part of my thesis manuscript again and see what (if anything) I can incorporate from that manuscript to the new one.

Wish me well! Happy writing to you all!

Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

So if you’ve been on social media for the past couple of days, you’ve probably seen the kerfuffle on this topic. A Famous Author spoke disparagingly recently about those who self-publish rather than get an agent and a Big Five deal. She called self-publishing the “easy way”.

Now, I understand this line of thought. Back in the 2000s, self-publishing was synonymous with vanity presses, those you paid to simply print your book for you (often at great expense) and left you to your own devices to sell a few copies and be able to say you wrote a book. Often, they were riddled with grammatical errors and looked very unprofessional to the savvy readers’ eye.

However, that’s no longer the case with the current generation of writers. Many act as their own publisher, hiring editors, book designers, publicists, printers, and other professionals to aid them–or taking the initiative to do all of these jobs themselves and–most importantly–keep all their profits from sales.

I knew I didn’t have the expertise or desire to incorporate and run my own publishing business. So I opted to pursue a small press or university press deal, where I wouldn’t be too busy doing all the technical work to publish a book to be able to write the next one.

Self-publishing is also democratizing and diversifying the publishing trade. The Big Five have a problem common to multinational corporations–appealing to the lowest common denominator to make a quick buck or billion. But very little of that money goes to the author–most is eaten in taxes, agent commissions, and other expenses of the publisher.

I was blessed to find a regional press that published what I was selling–a book of Southern literature, a short story collection, a book set in recent past. They take care of the technical details, and I set my own publicity schedule, going where my book is likely to find an audience. As far as I am concerned, it’s a win-win.

Writing a book is a big accomplishment. Finding an agent and a publisher is darn near impossible for someone just starting out. The main thing for an author to watch out for is someone who wants to draw you into spending a lot of money and have very little to show for it afterwards–agents who charge upfront fees, publishers who hoodwink you into a ironclad contract then take you to the cleaners for expenses, editors who want to turn your book into something other than what you meant to write.

But making the choice to self-publish, with your eyes open to the demands that path entails, is often a case of getting a book out into the world that is everything you wanted it to be. And that’s not as “easy” as some might think.

To God be the Glory!

I. SOLD. HURRICANE. BABY!

Deets: We had come home from church on last Sunday and I was checking my email when I saw Madville Publishing’s message. I had sent the book to them August 15, and they said it would be a few weeks before I heard back from them.

I was bracing for a rejection.

Instead, Kimberly Davis, the publisher, told me their reader had loved the book, and they wanted to make an offer on it and publish it in August 2024 and told me the terms of their standard contract.

I thought. Twenty publishers still had the book, most of whom I had submitted it for contest consideration. But there were still a few where I had simply answered open calls. So I asked for time to contact some other publishers to see if they wanted to counteroffer. I asked if I could wait until Wednesday to decide. I got the okay for that.

Both publishers I contacted said they were not in a position to counteroffer. So I accepted the offer and got a contract to sign. I asked to retain the rights to Hurricane Baby the play. She said that was fine.

I asked a publishing friend to look at the offer to see if it was fair. We discussed it, and he mentioned some of the finer points to look into, and I took his advice. The contract was modified, and I signed it on Thursday afternoon right before dinner.

The first person I told was my husband, Bob, the day they made the offer. I also told my parents after I drove up to see them that same day. My dad just about fell out of his chair. Then I sent the news out to people who had already agreed to blurb it and sent the book when they said they were still willing to do so. Over the week, I shared with other people who were important to me and knew the story of how long I had been involved in this project and supported me through it.

To say I have been stunned at how quickly it has happened is an understatement.

But really, it came right when it was supposed to. I am free to travel on weekends to promote the book. My kids are out of school and more or less on their own. I am in such a better mental headspace than I was when I first started trying to market it.

You all reading have been a part of their journey also. Thanks for reading and for your support. In my intent to demystify the writing process and the journey, I will continue posting here about writing, the craft, the business, and the ups and downs of selling a debut.

And lastly, I welcome God’s intervention in my life to accomplish this. I am going to follow through on my pledge to the church. And I will give him praise whenever possible for this miracle I had just about given up on ever receiving. Thanks for reading!

The Triumph of Hope Over Experience

The above is part of a quote often attributed to Oscar Wilde about second marriages. I like to think it applies to writers trying to get their work published as well. We get rejection after rejection, but we keep pressing on, hoping to find that one fit, that place where our words are welcomed and shared with the world.

That leads into my latest update about Hurricane Baby:

Queries sent–69

Rejections-49

Places still considering–20

Places left to send to-2

I got three rejections in a row this week. Dampened my spirits a bit. But not as much as usual.

It’s been on submission now for a year. I will send it to another press on September 30 and yet another on October 1. Then I am going to stop. I will have sent to 71 publishers by then.

I don’t know how many people I will have heard back from by October 1. Not all of them, I’m sure. And I will just wait on the rest.

In the meantime, I will continue sending Missing and Mentally Ill in Mississippi’s proposal to agents. So far, I have sent to twelve agents and heard back from four, with the waiting period having passed on one other. That’s seven agents still considering it.

I’m not sure I will keep sending it out as long as I have Hurricane Baby. I am sending queries out weekly for it so far and plan to continue until at least the end of the year.

Hope is less fragile that it seems. It’s less a soap bubble and more a spiderweb in my heart at this point. I will continue persisting. And that’s a good thing at this point.

Encouragement

Well, I got the nicest rejection letter I believe ever written in the history of the world on Monday.

Very clear that they were not going to be able to publish, but also told me why: short- story collections are a hard sell in the best of environments, that this editor was unsure that Hurricane Baby (based on a reading of the first four stories) would be “something greater than the sum of its parts”; and that he didn’t feel he had enough time with each character in each individual story.

But in the letter, he also complimented me on my writing skills, my ability to portray these emotional moments in the characters’ lives, and my ambition in taking on such a topic of import and delivering exactly what I promised in my cover letter: the mental and physical toll Hurricane Katrina took on those experiencing it.

This letter is the kind of rejection you want–kind, respectful, and honest.

Thank you so much, sir. Hats off to you for keeping my dignity and self-worth intact. May your tribe increase.

Numbers Update

Total queries sent–48

Presses that sent explicit rejections–20

Presses that have ghosted me–9

Presses where it’s still being considered–19

Presses to still send to–10

Oof.

I’m not depressed. I’m not mad. But I’m sidling up next to being resigned to the book’s eventual fate.

It’s not been without its supporters. One press was kind enough to say that they enjoyed it–but they had a full slate of books already. One press noted they are waiting on a final decision from their executive director.

At least I know I tried. And I will keep trying until I run out of ideas.

By The Numbers

So today is going to be a numbers post about how trying to find a publisher is going. These numbers are after being on submission for about a month and a half–I sent the first queries out on September 7.

Total queries to publishing companies sent–33

Rejections–4

Number of queries through Submittable–14

Number of queries through QueryManager–1

Number of contests entered–10

Number of publishers I still plan to send to–14

Queries to agents–0

By the time I send out to everybody on my list, it will have been on submission for a year.

I am trying to give this book its best chance to get published I can. That’s why I’m sending it far and wide within the parameters I mentioned in an earlier post. No use in sending it to people who don’t publish what I’ve got. So we will see where things go from here.

Wish me well. Happy writing!