I have to admit, I lost track of how many times I read the email from the acquisition editor saying my novel was accepted. Thrilled doesn’t even begin to cover how I felt and I made my husband come read the letter too. This was a publishing house I’d been watching. I’d checked their titles and read several excerpts from books they published. I felt my novel would fit in nicely with their young adult and paranormal romance lists and was ecstatic to know they did too.
If you are anything like me, you’ll do a lot of dancing and squealing. I know some people who pinched themselves to make sure they weren’t dreaming. I remember grabbing a cup of coffee and, just in case I had dreamt the email, sitting right back down in front of my computer to read the letter one more time.
You’ll want to tell the world the good news. My mom and dad were the next to know, then my kids and the rest of my family and friends.
At some point in all of this a little bit of panic may set in. I realized I was no longer writing for myself. I would soon see the schedule which would include deadlines. I also learned just how many different social medias there are out. But the panic passes quickly and you go back to dancing.
It's a wonderful time. If you keep writing and querying, it will happen for you too.
It's a wonderful time. If you keep writing and querying, it will happen for you too.
I am curious as to why you did not decide to self-publish via Amazon and other electronic avenues, now that epub formats are outselling print? Why would you give up control over your work and take a much smaller cut of the revenue?
ReplyDeleteThat’s a good question. I do know a lot of wonderful authors who self-published and are doing well. There are a few reasons I chose to go the traditional route. The main one is self-publishing just wasn’t the right route for me at this point in my career. I knew the right editor would be able see ways to tighten the plot and improve my story. Publishing with a traditional publisher provided me invaluable guidance and support. Another deciding factor had to do with the number of books self-published authors have to put out in a year. I knew at this point in my life I wouldn’t be able to produce 3 or 4 quality works in that timeframe.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that my experience with my publisher has been a good one and to date I’m very happy with my decision.