I can't remember what I used to think about being published. Okay, I can sum it up as: Sell book to publisher. Book comes out. I'd sell millions.
I'll give you moment to stop laughing...
Not what happened at all. It seemed like overnight I had to worry about a million things and the last thing on the list was the actual book I contracted. I needed a website. I needed to wait on my first round of edits. I had to think about promotion, sells--cue debut author's head exploding. I can say with honesty I never thought past the sell. Of course I imagined holding my book in my hands, but never the process from submitting to selling. It was very overwhelming and eye-opening at the same time.
So today's questions: Were you prepared for your first sell?
The the unpubbed: Are you ready?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Prepared? Not really. Since I got that contract, it seems all I do is promotion. Not only do I now have a blog and website, but also a myspace and several other networking sites, and I belong to dozens of yahoo loops and forums. And all I've written is a novella that will be e-published. Six months ago I barely knew any of this stuff existed. Now I'm up to my ears in it. AARG!
I've had a personal blog for several years, and now have maintain facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plaxo, and LinkedIn pages. I'm the new blog editor + PR person for my local SCBWI chapter, and I'm building a list of local media contacts. I'm querying agents for a completed novel, finishing another in November, and starting a third right after. I'm trying to be ready. I'm certainly willing and able. I have a lot to learn.
LMAO!!! Heaven's NO! I was lucky. It took a while to GET published. Before I had a contract, I found Romance Divas and found out so much information about what things I needed.
I got a website. It was a free one at GoDaddy, but I could upload stuff myself and it worked. Once I had a few contracts,Crystal suggested I revamp my website. I think she couldn't stand it anymore. LOL.
No, I wasn't ready.
I kind of *was* ready. I set up the website 6 months before we ever submitted anything. I had succumbed to MySpace reluctantly about 3 months earlier. I'd been on Romance Divas learning and learning some more for a year before I sold.
So I wasn't surprised by how much went into it. I felt really prepared. I think that's because I really took the time to learn about the business end of it before I took the leap to submitting and publishing.
I don't envy folks who aren't prepared, who don't know how much goes into doing this job. I'm forever grateful to Romance Divas for allowing me to be a fly on the wall as they all went through and shared what I hoped to go through someday. Now that it *is* me, I hope other people are learning from my experiences.
It's kind of like the Neverending Story, when you think about it. :)
Post a Comment