Jazzed. Electrified. Popping.
Part of the process of this is to get the novel published. To that end, I started working on exactly how one does it – I know about as much about doing this as your average sixth grader. Taking some suggestions and encouragement by people close to the industry, I wanted this place to be a workingman's how-to on getting published; I know nothing, you know nothing – let’s learn and grow together.
So when other people had suggestions, I wanted to pass them along to you and not just to say ‘Go look at Writers Marketplace’ or ‘attend a workshop’. I took the suggestions and wanted to report back on what had happened so far…
One suggestion was to stroll to Borders and check out which companies published science fiction. I wrote down a number of them (7 or so) and started Googling for their web pages and then drilling down to their submission requirements. Most places either refused active submissions but others welcomed them – Here they are:
Doesn’t seem like a lot? You’re right – it isn’t. Out of 7 potential houses and all the places they led to from there, this is what I got down to: 2 publishers to start with. This is why getting as much info as possible up front is helpful. You can't assume one name, one company or one lead will be all you need. Next, I checked out book jackets for names of agents. My entire decision process was based on what the cover art looked like. I know my novel isn’t fantasy or mystery thriller so I felt free to skip those. Then I just checked the acknowledgements and looked for names. Names and [hopefully] publishing houses. This whole process took me about an hour to go through the entire stack.
I located agents and publishing houses – most of them push you back toward ‘Writers Marketplace’ or other places – the success rate there seems dubious because you’re looking at a phone book of names and it’s still up to you to dial the number – how’s that better than typing “Find a literary agent” in Google?
So, on a lark, I picked out a name I remember - a famous author who shall for our purposes remain anonymous. I remember reading his books for the first time years ago [and I still do] and wrote to him, asking if he'd consider acting as advisor during this odyssey. To my surprise [and delight] he wrote back and said he'd be happy to. Do you know the term 'walked on air'? That's what Dan did.
So yes - no big updates to the blog. I'm firing everything I can into making this book, the plot, the characters, live on paper. It's taking a long time because I've never done it before. In case you missed it, here's the first chapter:
Now scoot: I've got some writing to do.
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