Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Expansion of the mind

As I've mentioned, I'm working towards a first submission with my story, Touch.

What a lot of folks, myself included, never realize is the almost overwhelming amount of work that's needed AFTER the birth of a story.

Sure, writing the darn thing is of utmost importance; however, I've discovered that I needed to have a publisher in mind almost before I'd started that process.

Do I want to aim for ePublishing? Submit for actual paper publishing? Do I reach for the stars, and sit on my hands for up to a year, by sending my manuscript to a BIGNAME publisher, or dip my toes into the industry with a smaller one where I have a better chance of getting accepted?

Then, I have to make a list, based on the order I want to submit to, of all the publishers, and read their guidelines to make sure the formatting is right, etc.

Writing a synopsis is high on the to-do list, too. This is a complete summary of the story - opener to 'The End' - but has to be written in a way that grabs the editor immediately. Boring synop = no reading of the MS.

Before they even GET to the synopsis though, you have to grab them with your query/blurb (that's the part you read on the back of the book before you buy it at the store).

Some places will accept simultaneous submissions from authors, some I can sub to them, and only them, until they get around to reading it.

Once I've got that all done, providing I still have hair left and a functioning brain, I've got to consider the fact that I'm most likely going to get an "REJECT" notice. This may take anywhere from a couple of days up to a year, depending on the publisher, but apparently most are within 4-6 weeks.

Commence gnawing on the fingernails.

There's a possibility that they'll send an "R&R" though, which is a Rewrite and Resubmit. Cause for joy! They like the premise enough to want to consider it, but there are parts that don't jive so they have to be redone. Like the ending. Or the entire middle section...

If, by utter dumb luck, I've gotten the blurb, synopsis and actual book right, I may get accepted.

This part will involve lots of jumping, screaming in happiness and public announcements, so Don't Worry; you'll know if I ever get accepted.

But then I'll have to think about contracts. And promo. And a cover, and editing! *gulp*

Promo might mean trailers, will definitely mean pimping the upcoming release on websites/blogs and will require me to get a website set up - not just this modest little blog.

After it's released, and hopefully some sales happen, I'm going to have to think about income tax ramifications, and all that sort of stuff.

*deep breath in, deep breath out*

And then write my next story.


So... wanna know what part I'm at?




Step 1: Picking a Publisher

Um. yah. Going to write now.

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