The waiting game

Tuesday, August 03, 2010


Yup. Still waiting on hear back on the werewolf book. ::fingers crossed:: I had two primary choices for submission with it. I could have either sent it to my old editor (who had moved to a new publisher) or to my new editor at my current publisher.

I knew my old editor wanted to see the revised manuscript, and in fact her feedback on why she passed on the story in the first place is the reason I undertook reworking the story. Even after she left the company, I confirmed that she was still interested--at that time(!)--in the story. But the new publisher was a NEW publisher (always a gamble) and was only doing electronic releases.

On the other hand, I already had one title out at Samhain, knew they had an established reputation for quality reads in the community, and kinda felt it would be easier for potential readers to find me if I had a bit of a backlist in one place before spreading out. Actually it would be easier for new/potential readers to find me if I had any sort of backlist. :-P

In the end, while I did (do) feel that my old editor should have had first crack at a story, revised based quite a bit on her feedback, the story ballooned to a final word count around 50K, which gave it a slim chance of going to print. Which means that real-life friends/coworkers/family--who only read dead tree books-- would be able to buy/read it. And would also help keep me on bookstore shelves. While I don't have 10 copies of my book in every single store around here, or co-op placements or what have you, there's a handful of Chapters.Indigo stores across the country that have consistently sold and re-ordered/kept 1-2 copies on their shelves since the print release last July. Not going to retire on my royalties by any means, but not bad for an unknown/debut author with a small publisher.

So I'm in week 6 of a possible 16week wait. In hindsight it might have been better to submit to both publishers at the same time, rather than waiting up to a possible 8months in total, only to (maybe) end up making it a free read or uploading to Kindle as a self-pub effort, since the level of explicitness/kink in the story doesn't meet the requirements of (m)any other epubs.

I don't do a lot of 'writing' post because, to be honest, the whole situation at the day-time job has really sucked the creative life out of me and I do more 'not writing' or 'struggling' than enjoying that pure energy of just sinking myself into a story. And I can't tell you how depressing that is as a writer. It's like there's this dead spot, a black hole, inside of you. I'm really working at handling the stress, especially since it's become a health concern in the last couple of months. And while the situation at work continues to be very trying because of various upheavals, the workload has evened out some, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully I'll be back to writing consistently sooner rather than later.

Going to try to do more writing process/craft & excerpts, etc, posts going forward. I think I've avoided it because if there's no progress being made one starts to feel like a fraud--or worse, a failure. On the other hand making these types posts--talking about process, progress and struggles--work as a sort of positive reinforcement or a check of sorts to keep thinking about the writing.

Another thing I need to do is get my butt to my monthly chapter meetings. And who knows.... maybe make it to Nationals one of these fine days... New York in 2011 might be doable.

I still reserve the right to post silly shit here, just because. ;)
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2 comments:

the author said...

I've been waiting since mid-April on an agented submission to several pubs, and have not heard a peep from anyone yet, so you're not alone. I figure it'll be another month or two before I get the first response.

I always send out my new stuff to more than one prospect. As a courtesy I also let them know via the agent that it's making the rounds.

Don't worry about writing about writing. Write what you can when you can.

vanessa jaye said...

Hey Lynn, thanks for weighing in. Sometimes all one needs is a friendly face. :)

I forgot how hard the waiting is, (not that i was complaining. After taking a year to revise, I have no leg to stand on in that department).

Next time, depending on the circumstances, I just might do a simultaneous submission.

As for the writing about writing, I really think it will help me but we'll see how that goes.

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