I recently, and reluctantly, asked
for a reversion of rights for two of my culinary mysteries in the “Dinner is
Served” series. Mission Impastable
was in print. Prime Rib and Punishment waited
in the wings.
It was very difficult to admit it
was time to move on. My publisher had been wonderful to me, but her health
issues over the past many years had made the future of the company precarious. For
my own career, I decided to sever the connection.
It was clear it was the right
decision, but that didn’t make it any easier. In fact, I delayed the actual
request for rights until several months after I had made the decision. Maybe,
it will work out. Maybe the company will right itself. But Maybes were all I
had.
Last spring I compiled a list of
small publishers of mysteries. There were quite a few of them who were open to
submissions without an agent. Not a huge number, but still a respectable number
to pursue. I prioritized them and wrote a query letter template. Still I
stalled.
Procrastination. What caused it?
Reluctance to start over. It’s a hard road, submission is.
Grieving for what had been was
another cause. I thought I was done with submissions for this genre, and I
liked where I had landed.
Fear of rejection was another. I’d
been “accepted” to traditional publishing. Why did I have to prove myself
again?
What if no one picked up my series
right away? Did I abandon it? Indie publish? Continue submitting until I grew
too old to hit the send button?
Serendipitously, I encountered an
acquisitions and development editor for a small press at a conference I
attended over the summer. I hadn’t come to the conference intending to pitch to
anyone, but I quickly pulled something together and pitched my series while
handing over a printed copy of the first book. I described book two. Told him I
had three books completed in the series beyond the published one, and that
books four and five were outlined. He loved the titles of books three through
six: Potluck, Ancient Grease, Tequila
Mockingbird, and Cooks in the Can.
He asked me to submit the
traditional submission materials: a query letter explaining book two and the
series, synopsis of book two, the first fifty pages, and a brief bio. I asked
if he wanted a marketing plan, also. He seemed surprised I had one, and agreed
I should attach that as well.
I sent it all off three months ago.
And so the remembered-wait from previous submissions began. I am hopeful but
not confident. Small presses only put out a few books a year. I was asking for
one of those slots. So were hundreds, maybe thousands, of others. Did already having
completed manuscripts give me an advantage? Or was it a liability to commit to
a series before sales data on book one was in?
Another piece of the equation
always is: so what if they do want me? Do I want them? Am I willing to sign
with the first one queried? Shouldn’t I be searching for other publishers to
get this process moving in multiple pathways and to soften the blows of
rejection? I can always tell myself, “Oh, well. ‘Mysteries Are Us’ didn’t want
me, but I still have ten more publishers to hear from.”
But the procrastination continues.
I’ll wait to hear from the conference publisher. If the highly-likely (given
publishing odds) rejection comes, I do have my fall-back list of small presses
to pull out, make my spread sheet, and send off submission materials. And wait
again.
But my fingers, toes, and eyes are
crossed in hope that won’t be necessary. You’ll be the first to know how it
ends. Well, not really. But you know what I mean.
If you found this post interesting
enough to share with your friends, you can make your own social media posts or
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Authors, trad publishing has numerous submission heartaches especially when you
have to change publishers. Sharon Arthur Moore-Author describes a recent
process she has gone through. http://bit.ly/2xDuvAN
Twitter:
#Writers face disappointment, long waits, and likely rejection when they submit
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