Old Moon
Sunday, August 10, 2008
What's an Author to Do?
I'm wishing I'm not harboring a vain hope that an occasional writer reads these posts. I'd like to ask what advice one might give when the options offered by a small publisher are: (1)stick it out, or (2)take the book back--and decide within 72 hours. The contract is now over 2 1/2 years old, and no release date suggested, let alone promised. I understand (all too well) that I blew it when I signed on, but that's water over the dam. Any suggestions now?
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6 comments:
Hello Joan, just read your opening words. I can't offer anything on a contract, but I would think you should have something solid by now. I too have just started a blog and love to see comments. They are slow coming. Plese check me out at http:dogspuppiesandprose.blogspot.com
Hi Joan,
How much energy do you have for sending this work out to other publishers? If you're going to actively seek publication elsewhere, then pull it. I don't think you have much to lose. You won't be able to count on hlep with marketing your book with these folks, I bet. Not that that's not true of most small publishers -- they just don't have the resources. I wish you all the best of luck, and bet you wil be able to somehow find a "perk" in all of this...
Hello Joan,
Glenda Beall gave me your blog site. I'm rooting for you and hoping your book will soon go to press. I
have a suggestion for your blog that may get you more readers. In the lables, put your name first and N.C. novelist, author of... then put any word that might get a web surfer who is searching for something very specific. That is what they are doing. Looking for something specific. For example book covers yes but no to choosing and no to appeal. Yes to Writer's Life but no to education and no to discovery. Those words are vague. If you have a short story that has already been published, consider reprinting it on your site. I am new at this blogging myself, but when Glenda got me to post to the netwest blog, I started seeing more articles about my writing on the web. Put the title of your books, published work in lables every chance you get. I hope you get lots of hits in the future and action on your short story collection.
Nancy Simpson
Dear Maureen--
First, apologies for having not seen your comment for so long! I did what you and others recommended. Without much trouble, I got a release from the publisher. The teouble now is to start all over from scratch less than a month from my 80th birthday! Somehow it seems unrealistic to umagine I might see my second child in print. Thank you for responding!
Shirley, thanks so much for your take on the situation. I did what was suggested, got a release, and am now back to sqaure one, trying to find an agent first, or another small publisher second. Cross your fingers, and thanks for bothering to send a response. I wish I knew why I saw none of them until the 8/25!
Dear Nancy--
Isn't Glenda the best? Thanks so much for your advice! It's worth waiting for, and I apologize for the fact that no notice of comments showed up on my blog site for such a long time! I'm taking your suggestions--as many as I dare. I feel a real time constraint, since my 80th birthday is less than a month away. Given the realities of the publishing world, even if I can find someone to take on the second novel, it might take so long to get it out...you understand what I'm getting at. But the comments I found when I went to put up a new post today really gave me a huge boost. Misery loves company, eh?
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