So I went ahead and jumped in...

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Tienci

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And here I shall chronicle my SP journey.

So many members here have been immensely helpful in helping me come to this decision and plan this whole thing, so I'm just going to thank you all for your reports and candid experiences because now, I'm happier than I've been in a while simply getting started with this experiment!

Background: I wrote a novel for my very first NaNoWriMo years ago that came to me almost "full-grown." Still, after four more novel projects it's not only in the best shape but the only one I can call 'finished,' 'polished.'

It's been through at least ten beta readers at various stages, and was sent to over 100 agents, received about 80 rejections--15 of which began as partial or full requests. Of course I had to improve my query over time to even get it to that point.

Some agent quotes after reading the full:

"...though you have a well written and captivating novel, we ultimately decided it's not quite right for the agency at this time."
"...While I greatly enjoyed the writing, I'm afraid I just didn't connect strongly enough with [the main character]."
"You write very well, and I enjoyed reading this--but I'm afraid that this is not quite right for us."
"I found this novel very interesting, but ultimately cannot take it on. You write really really well, and I'd be happy to look at anything you do in the future." *agent mentions very specific issues* "...But again, I read all of this and was fascinated by a lot of it. Given the demands of my time, that is really a compliment."
"I think your novel is clever and well-written and I enjoyed it. That said, I'm very sorry to say I'm not confident I can find a publisher for you in this difficult market for new writers."
Since no one said the writing sucked and agents had different issues with the story--plus I realized a particular market/type who end up loving it--I figure there are others out there who might enjoy it too, so instead of having it sit on my hard drive while trying to find the right literary/women's fiction agent, I decided to release it to the world.

Emancipating Alice is currently available on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A0B9UIW (kindle), and will soon be available on paperback (waiting on CS proof).
It's enrolled in Select which gives me time to put other things in place and prepare for wider release through Smashwords Feb 1st.

About the story: A literary family saga, Emancipating Alice follows Alice Owens, a middle-aged homemaker who returns from a routine grocery-shopping trip and finds her husband George dead--to her satisfaction. Now that he's gone, George's oppressive reign over her life is over--so she thinks, but she is wrong. George thwarts her attempted freedom both mentally and physically from beyond the grave.

I've also decided to put shorter works up; currently I have 1 short story up on Amazon--one that was previously picked up/published by a magazine.

The majority of my short stories are still in submission and I ideally want to have them picked up by a publisher first before re-releasing them like the first one, but I'll probably end up putting up pieces (then collections eventually) myself.

Well, off I go. Thanks for reading! Be back with updates. :)
 
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Ann Joyce

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Yes, I too will be following along as we embark on our exciting journeys. I will be watching for your updates, and congratulations on your great start.
 

Tienci

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Thanks Norman--I'll be following yours as well (just read through your thread). :)
 

Tienci

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So I decided to run my first 2 free Kindle days much sooner rather than later (yesterday and today).
I'm not sure how much exposure the book got before or how much it's getting right now, but as for actual numbers, the book is currently #25 in the Kindle store (and #1674 Free in Kindle Store). Number of downloads so far= 140.
I don't imagine a whole lot more than that by the end of the promo in 7 hours--the promo has only been listed on a few sites (specifically Snickslist and Free Book Dude) and I mentioned it here in the announcements thread.
Oh--and I contacted about 20 people I thought might be interested in reviewing the book, letting them know about the promo.
That's basically what I'm hoping to come of this first run (besides actually getting some people to read it)--some reviews.
I do have some friends/family who've read the book and loved it (and 1 or 2 might even gladly review it) but I haven't let any of them know what I've been up to in terms of self-publishing this book and probably won't for a while. I'd like to keep them out of it at this stage--I have my reasons. :)
Depending on how things go, I might let them in on it...eventually!
 

Ann Joyce

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Sounds like good stuff, Ada. I hope you get tons of sales from it!
 

Tienci

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Thank you Ann.
I'm currently working on getting other work ready to put up alongside it to increase the chances that some sales can be made (my expectations for it as it is are pretty low at this point, lol). :eek:
 

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Your story about agents & replies to QLs sounds very similar to my own. I wonder if we're special, or if we're just deluding ourselves into thinking that these responses are unique. :)

Best of luck!
 

Polenth

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Your story about agents & replies to QLs sounds very similar to my own. I wonder if we're special, or if we're just deluding ourselves into thinking that these responses are unique. :)

If in doubt, copy/paste a bit of the rejection into Google. Most form responses will be online somewhere. That's how I know one agent who has a form saying the credits are impressive sends it to everyone who lists credits... be it a story in The New Yorker or winning your village's pig weighing competition.

If it is a personal rejection, it isn't something everyone gets, so yay and feel special. I haven't managed to get one yet (for novels).
 

retlaw

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If in doubt, copy/paste a bit of the rejection into Google.

That is an excellent idea! For those trying this, you can use shorter string values in double quotes (e.g., "shorter string values") vs. an entire sentence. So when I put in the name of the publisher and (pulling at random one of the 52 "no thanks" emails I've received) "manuscript sounds interesting and reads well", I get zero - yes, 100%

No results found for XYZ publishing "manuscript sounds interesting and reads well".

Search tips:


  • Ensure words are spelled correctly.
  • Try rephrasing keywords or using synonyms.
  • Try less specific keywords.
  • Make your queries as concise as possible.

I don't think I've ever seen that before. :)

If it is a personal rejection, it isn't something everyone gets, so yay and feel special. I haven't managed to get one yet (for novels).

Yay, Tom Slick. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E42QvbqorZI) I feel so special I think I'm going to jump on a short yellow bus just for kicks.
 

CaoPaux

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You need to leave off the "XYZ publishing", since most folks post rejections with identifiers removed/masked. E.g., there's a hit on the above right here on AW.
 

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I'm not sure there's any value in working out if the rejections are personalised or not: they probably aren't; and even if they are it's not going to change anything. It's still a rejection.

Perhaps spend your time writing something more publishable instead.
 
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Polenth

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I'm not sure there's any value in working out if the rejections are personalised or not: they probably are; and even if they aren't it's not going to change anything. It's still a rejection.

Perhaps spend your time writing something more publishable instead.

If my rejections were anything to go by, it's actually the reverse. If it sounds personal, it probably isn't. A number of agents use forms that say x was good and y was bad, but it's the same x and y for everyone (general things like pacing, plot, theme, etc).

Which in the scheme of the universe is not that important to know, but it was interesting, and it didn't take long to do.
 

kaitie

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This isn't an insult. If agents are saying the book is well-written but they don't know of a publisher for it, it could very well be amazing writing that isn't quite publishable because of marketing issues or because the plot is too similar to something else out there, and so on.

And honestly, when you're trying to be commercially published, if your first book doesn't succeed, you try to write something more publishable and hope for the best with that one. That's the way this business works.
 

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If my rejections were anything to go by, it's actually the reverse. If it sounds personal, it probably isn't. A number of agents use forms that say x was good and y was bad, but it's the same x and y for everyone (general things like pacing, plot, theme, etc).

Which in the scheme of the universe is not that important to know, but it was interesting, and it didn't take long to do.

Yep, I said it the wrong way round. I've edited my post to correct it. Sorry, all.
 

Tienci

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@retlaw: While I don't doubt probably half of those I posted were some sort of form, about half of them actually went into detail regarding my story/characters so there were definitely some personal Rs; I just didn't post those bits. :)
In any case, like Old Hack said, still a rejection and I don't bother obsessing over rejections. I consider personal Rs momentarily and see if the comments/criticisms resonate with me then move on (incorporating a suggestion or not).
Meanwhile, my more marketable pieces are being worked on and prepared for agent submission as we 'speak.' :)

Oh--150 downloads of the book by the end of the 2-day promo.
Now off I go--back to writing! :e2BIC:

ETA: Just realized the other Amazon sites on there! In addition to the 150, 72 UK downloads, 4 DE downloads so 225 total (not including mine :)).
 
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Tienci

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So yay! I finally finished proofing my CS copy, made changes and approved the paperback for sale 2 days ago. It is now available in the CS e-store and finally populated on the Amazon sites today.

I also realized the author info from the main Amazon sites doesn't automatically transfer to the other Euro Amazon sites so I set up my UK Author Central profile today.
Now that just about everything's in place, I'll amp up my marketing/working on increasing visibility (both online and offline) for the next few weeks!
 
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Ann Joyce

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So yay! I finally finished proofing my CS copy, made changes and approved the paperback for sale 2 days ago. It is now available in the CS e-store and finally populated on the Amazon sites today.

I'll join you with a great big yay of my own...Yay! So happy for you, Ada...onward and upward!
 

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Great stuff!

Must have been quite a buzz seeing your title on Amazon?

Well done.
 

Tienci

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Euphoria.

After using 4 KDP Select free days and having a total of 415 downloads--hoping to at least get some reviews out of them, the first one went up.

I consider myself prepared for the spectrum of possibilities considering the diversity of readers, but for a review like this to go up first, I tell ya--euphoria.

In other news, I let the Select expire and I'm currently working on getting the book up on other channels (mostly through Smashwords).

I ended up getting the CS Expanded Distribution so the print version has been up on Barnes and Noble for a bit, but I got the Nook version up a few days ago directly through PubIt.

I also put up another Goodreads giveaway which will end in a little over a week and did some other minor marketing, but I believe I've done about as much as I can for this particular work at this point.
I've been pretty busy with other work--short stories mostly--one of which I plan to release next to the book soon.

All of my polished stories are under submission however so it might be a bit before those go up. In the meantime, I've been writing like mad and I'm riding this wave for as long as I can! Lots of late nights. :eek:

I recently completed a novelette, and once I clean it up, it'll go up on KDP.
And now, at 3:30 a.m., bedtime.
 
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livewrite2teach

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Tienci,

This is the first time I have made a post to these forums but I follow them and like to read about everybody's experiences (and learn from them). I often check some of the books mentioned out on Amazon just to see what people are putting out there. I have to say that I loved the first couple of pages and the premise of your story.

When I have time I probably will read it and write a review. Keep writing. "Publishable" or not, I think you may have something here.
 

Tienci

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Oh boy, another surprise warm fuzzy! :)
Thanks for coming out of lurk-dom to say this--I really appreciate your kind words and hope you do enjoy it if you're able to get around to it!

And of course, :welcome:
 
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