The Fellowship Cafe

Deb Kinnard said:

DMac, welcome to the Revision Pit. Most of my first drafts are unusable junk. But, as someone wiser than I once said, "You cannot revise a blank page." May your rewrite go smoothly and may its end product please you more than the original.

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Wasn't that a quote by the Nora? So true!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was lovely.

Can't delete this. Just ignore : >

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was peaceful. Friday and Saturday were great, too. Sunday was...something else, but that's okay. That's just life sometimes.

I hope this qualifies as "burn it up." I'm about 3/4 ready to burn PEACEWEAVER. Hey--the husband didn't put the Weber grill away yet! There's still hope!

Reason? Two (count 'em! two!) more Rs today. One from Moody, the other from Zondervan. Interestingly, the last time we sent Zondervan something, it was a contemporary and they said, "Send us a historical." So we send them a historical and of course, they don't want it...

Moody's opinion is that I should develop a higher online presence and publish more books. I'm like, "Whaaa---?!"

When do you decide it's time to cut straight to the chase and go direct-to-reader? I'm not sure I haven't hit a wall here and will never sell to any of the main Christian houses. I can sure sell to the ones without distribution, marketing, or any clue how to get print books into stores...

Gahh!

Maybe it's time to dump the CBA, Deb. After four novels there, I did.

I may crash and burn in the general market with my new stuff, but it's for dang sure I'm going to give it my best shot there.

Deb Kinnard said:

...When do you decide it's time to cut straight to the chase and go direct-to-reader? I'm not sure I haven't hit a wall here and will never sell to any of the main Christian houses. I can sure sell to the ones without distribution, marketing, or any clue how to get print books into stores...

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I made that decision in January, after realizing the likelihood of selling anything to a CBA publisher did not depend on the quality of the book. The quality is a given, and has to be there. But there are a hundred books of adequate quality submitted for every one they can publish. Selling to them (or even in the general market) depends on sequential gatekeeper decisions that your book will sell. They are guessing at best, sticking a wet finger in the air at worst. Their track record is abyssmal. It's a crap shoot, and even that has much better odds than being published.

So, in February 2011 I eSP-ed a short story, and in May a non-fiction book. I plan on following this up with more books in 2012. Sales are poor, but 26 sales is a whole lot more than I'd have had trying to publish with the CBA.

Best Regards,
NDG

Sorry to hear about the R's Deb! I guess you have to ask yourself, how badly do you want that contract from the big guys in CBA?

It will work out!

I've always wanted the book-on-the-store-shelf thing. I've been the small press route ad infinitum since 2002, and I feel like I've got the tee shirt. The whole reason I got an agent in the first place was in hopes of taking all this to the next level.

So we are going to send to LI, which is a plus because if they like it but cannot use it, they can kick it over to the mainstream Harlequin Historical line.

I wish it were fantasy or spec-fic, but this one is a straight historical. Wales, 10th century. A fascinating time period that apparently none of the C-fic houses want their readers to be fascinated by.

And yes, that's a preposition. It's been a crummy day.

Sorry to hear about the R's, Deb. You're scaring me as I am on the eve of sending my queries out. Not really eve. I'm still applying the beta comments to the ms, but I should be querying in a couple weeks. Keep us updated on your progress. If I net the same results, I'll be looking to you for advice as to where to head next.

On one of the writer's blog sites that I visit, she has published 30 books, but has finally went self pub, because she was tired of dealing with big publishers. Maybe your R's are a blessing in disguise, although the self pub route is equally as scary as netting a big house.

Deb, I think LIH would jump at that time period. They are constantly pushing for more historicals and here is a quote from a recent interview:

Western settings do really well in Love Inspired Historical, but because of the expansion, we also have room for many more. We’d love to find more great Regency, Scottish Highlands, missionary, Amish, Medieval and any other setting or time period that you could imagine.

http://www.rubyslipperedsisterhood.com/guest-editor-emily-rodmell-of-love-inspired/

Hope to hear some good news soon!

Oh, I hear what you're saying, KV, but what they say they want and what they end up accepting for publication are often two very, very different things. I once pitched a story to an editor who said she loved loved loved medievals, and told me to send it -- then when I did, she responded with an R that said "medievals are fine if they're set after 1500, and in Scotland."

I'm like, "Whuuu???"

And David, don't let my experience scare you in any way whatsoever. The stuff I write is known as a hard sell. Everyone says so. My path is not yours, and I've had many, many friends who've sold stuff I privately thought didn't stand much chance. You can never tell which way this industry will jump. Truly. Be of good courage.

Deb, you are so right. It can really be a coin toss...

callalily61 said:

Dear Santa:

As a counterpunch to the snarky review I just got from the Scrooges at K1rku$, please get my book in front of the Pope or his minions and have them issue a Papal edict saying: "Back in the Habit is a danger to to the reputation of the church, and Catholics should not read it." Cha-ching!

Thank you,

Lily

PS: There'll be homemade spiked eggnog waiting for you on Christmas Eve. Not that I'd stoop to bribes or anything like that.

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LOL. sorry about the snarky review!

Just to get the lingo correct, when people talk about "subbing," does that mean when you are querying, or when you have officially sent fulls to agents? If it's querying, then I'm officially there tomorrow. I just sent The Park online to Fedex Kinko's for printing. I'll pick it up tomorrow. (I can't use my jump drive on my work pc, so I have to print it to Kinko's first. Then I can make as many copies as needed with the copy machine at work.)

I always thought "subbing" was the same as submitting, whether queries, partials, fulls, etc.

Either way, good luck, Dave, with the querying. Hope you get lots of requests. Cheering for ya!

"Subbing" can be (1) to an agent you're hoping to interest in your work. You send him/her the package they request on their website, following their guidelines to the letter, no matter how skawapity they look; or (2) sending a full proposal (proposal package which includes a synopsis plus a number of chapters) either directly to a publisher or to your agent for him/her to sub out to the publishers you've targeted.

Instead, just use the word "stress" and you'll have it about 100% nailed.

Deb Kinnard said:

Instead, just use the word "stress" and you'll have it about 100% nailed.

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I like Deb's idea the best, hence the new sig.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! And if anyone needs a beta reader I am always at your service.

And the same to you, drfrazier.

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas writing friends!

Merry Christmas to all my brothers and sisters. I've been busier lately than a New Orleans pump, so I may not weigh in again before Jesus' birthday celebrations start hereabouts. Have a great one!