My Yaw-Yaw is Zipped . . . Almost.

I read an post on the Amazon discussion threads early this morning. It pointed to a blog by Nathan Bransford, stating that there was an interesting article. I followed the link, and low and behold, there was not just one interesting article, there were piles of great stuff, useful tips, helpful advice, funny things, encouragement. The list goes on and on.

As it turns out, Nathan is a literary agent, and from what I see, a very nice one, who is more than willing to provide us writers with the info we need to get our feet in the door of the publishing industry. After spending some time surfing his site, I confess to feeling like a bit of a complainer, having blah, blahhed on about the negatives in the publishing industry. Henceforth, I shall resist the urge to spew and vent, and will work at just enjoying what I'm doing, even if that means I'm working toward the Guinness Book of World Records for the number of rejection letters recieved for any one book. (And, no, I'm not even a quarter of the way there yet). Everyone needs to get paid. Everyone needs their jobs. Yes there are problems in the publishing industry. Yes there are problems with us writers. But ultimately, there are solutions to every problem, and whining about the problem does nothing more than keep it stuck. It's much more productive to work harder, play harder, and have a lot more fun.

If you'd like to see Nathan's blog, you can find it at http://nathanbransford.com . Now pardon me for deserting you all but Hawaii's beaches are once again calling my name.

The Publishing Industry is Tanking?!

Just a short note tonight while I take a break from the b#*ch that is my pitch/query/potential blurb for the back of my book. Articles on the web abound on the fact that the publishing industry is hurting, no one is reading, and sales are slumping . . . except for YA fiction (young adult), where the demand for books is increasing.

Hmmm.

Let's examine this problem.

Ten years ago, there was a dearth of young adult fiction. As someone in my friends from Seattle writer's group mentioned yesterday, it was only a few years ago that the market for teens and adolescents changed. It used to be that if you were a kid, you read books written for a kid. Remember 'Dick and Jane'? I loved those books. Once you reached 12, or 13, though, it was on to the adult books, because aside from Judy Bloom, and the Outsiders, the choice of reading was limited. Some smart cookie in the publishing industry eventually figured out that teens wanted variety, and the dawn of YA was born. Apparently that smart cookie left the industry for a better paying job, and now we're left with the rather more dense publishers and agents, who haven't figured out that variety is the spice of life, and there's only so many Zombie/Vampire/Harry Potter rip-offs a teen can read before they bail out of the culture that is today's publishing industry.

Publishers and agents seem to be afraid of anything new, anything that doesn't fit into their smart little boxes of categorized genre. It's easier to spin off the success of something that's already been done, someone that's already had a success, rather than to take a chance on something, or someone new. And so, authors that have had one best-seller can sell a piece of crap second book, banking on their name, and their publisher's backing, and the public buys it, trusting the publisher and the author. I've done it. It did it as recently as last week, trusting the author, and trusting the publisher. I bought a piece of junk. With no warrantee. Grrrrr. I guess it's fair marketing, but it certainly doesn't inspire any faith in Jane/Joe reader. And it doesn't inspire any faith in me as I push forward, looking for an agent or publisher who is willing to take a risk on someone new, something new.

I'm a reader, and I'm tired of same old, same old. I don't want to read the next Sex and the City Spin-off. I want something different. And that doesn't mean the same sort of characters in the same place with a new set of shoes, that means something about women that's funny, but waaaaaaaaaay different. Maybe that's why I read the English and Irish markets of books as well. I'm sic, sic, sic of New York women wanting diamonds and Gucci. And I'm still waiting for the Canadian Publishers to move their heads out of their arses, as they realize that some of us in Canada aren't great literary aficianados. We want to see some Canadian spunk. Just like there was in the Olympics.

Knowing what I know now, I have no doubt that there are incredible authors out there who've been waiting 5, 10 and even 15 years to be published. It's time the publishing industry hired a few more smart cookies. It's time for them to take a few more smart risks. It'll be that, or all of us who are too impatient to wait, too determined to have our voices heard, will be taking over the self-publishing industry, and when Joe/Jane pubic finally figures out where the really interesting stuff is, they'll be following us, and the world will start reading once again.

Apparently I'm not good at the short blurb, and now you know why I've written a novel.

Waking up this morning, I just want to add that I in no way want to slam any authors who have written YA Vampire or Zombie books, or any other genre, because that isn't fair. The overflooding of anything in any market, tends to lead to a drop in followers. Us humans get bored easily, and unless something is of very high quality, we're more than happy to move along.

Thank you to those who are commenting. It is appreciated. I haven't yet figured out yet how to reply. And if nothing else, if I've stirred up some discussion, I believe that's a good thing. :)

The Morning After

Well, it's the morning after the first cut in the 2010 Amazon Breakthough Novel Contest. And . . . I was slashed. Luckily, no major arteries were severed; I have survived, which means my writing will continue, along with my nightmares about pitch and query writing.

The good news is that I was cut soley on my pitch. No one got to read a word of the book. The bad news is that if I'm ever going to get an agent or a publisher to read my book, I have to have a good pitch/query/scandal to get my foot in the door.

Despite being out of the contest so early in the game, I'm really glad I entered it. There's a great group of people involved in the contest, and for a new writer looking to learn things, hanging out on the discussion boards is an easy way to get some help and assistance that can only benefit them on their journey. Writers were willing to help other writers with their pitches, their grammar, their blogs, their contacts, their editing, their knowledge of writing websites, and even with assistance for getting out of bad publishing contracts. The generosity of spirit and atmosphere of kindness and assistance was truly amazing. And there's nothing like the camraderie of being with like minded souls are are all struggling along the same twisted, windy, hilly, frustrating road as oneself.

I want to wish good luck and happy travels to all those who made it to the second round. I'll be keeping my eyes on your journey. In the meantime, it's time for me to re-work my pitch once again, re-edit my manuscript with a sharpened eye, and to move past page 2 of my second book. I'm so glad I'm in the place I've found. It's up and down, crazy, stressful, and heart-breaking at times, but now that I've finally come home, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

A Day in the Life...

It's been incredibly busy since I elected to enter the Amazon Contest. Up at 6:30am I've spent every spare minute, editing, revising, questioning, re-doing, grumping, editing, and re-doing again, my pitch, my excerpt and my manuscript. And that wasn't just today, it was on the weekend too.

Wrote a great initial pitch, which though having been told the writing was glorious, was also told is was glorious for a recipe book. Oops. Revamp. revamp. revamp. The other authors in the contest are awesome. Encouraging and more than helpful with their advice.

In between all the re-vamping recieved a few emails. Here's the first:

Dear. Ms. McLellan,
Thank you for your query. As interesting as your novel sounds, I don't believe I would be the best agent to represent your work. Best of luck to you though, and thank you for thinking of me.
Cordially,
xxxx

My response?
#@%$ a duck.

But I didn't send that. I did however, email her back to ask if she knew of anyone who might be the best to represent me. Who wants to bet on whether or not I get a response?

More revamping, obsessing and emailing of a great friend who has more than generously encouraged me since reading my manuscript. He has agreed to be my 'author breakdown' spam buddy by virtue of his non-response when I asked if I was bugging him yet.

Then, later on, another email:

Thank you for your submission to XXX
Currently, I'm not considering new material at this time.
I will be requesting projects again starting in April 2010.
I invite you to resubmit your query in April.
I will be deleting all those coming in from Feb. 1st 2010 to March 31st, 2010.
All the best,
XXX

Sure, great, just fine. I spent hours and hours, revising, re-working, re-doing, re-everything, and you just take your finger and in a millisecond, delete everything I've done.

I will not re-submit.

But me and a thousand or so other authors, may just end up going bonkers. Buy books people. They are treasures and all those people including publishers and agents who take the majority of the money from the books we've written...well...they're hurting. Help them make their 20% so that we can make our buck and continue to be published. Along with the magic of the written word, books contain so much more that isn't seen: intense commitment and devotion, dedication, hours and hours and days and weeks of passionate slogging along as the story builds, obsession and attachment, blood, sweat, tears, high blood pressure, headaches, sacrifice, numb fingers.....If you could only see what each book you bought really contained, you'd be willing to pay quadruple the price and would believe you'd recieved an awesome deal.

I'm exhausted and done for the day. Smart thinking of the friend who suggested I detail all this minute goings on. It really isn't so minute after all. And buy books. My sanity and the sanity of thousands of others depends on you!

WHEW!

I entered Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest for 2010 today.
Here's to hoping I make it past round one.

Went to work...unfortunately no one else showed up, so I had to therapize myself. It must have worked. I entered the contest.

Recieved comments today about the manuscript from a friend of mine who was kind enough to help me with some edits. I hadn't realized the painful quandry I'd placed him in when I asked him to read it. Guess he doesn't know me well enough to know he wouldn't be getting utter slop to review. Following are some of his comments from emails as he was reading, and his final comments:

First comments:
While I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, I wanted to say that I am really, really enjoying your book! In spite of the ergonomics, I keep forgetting that I'm reading a manscript and not a published novel. I just got back from a short work-out in our gym (on the recumbent bike at work) and I got funny looks when I'd burst out laughing at certain passages.

Danny is really coming into focus for me; in her own quirky way, she makes some kind of sense. Should I be worried?

Later:

Well, I finished the book. The bottom line, I suppose, is I enjoyed it immensely. I looked forward to the next opportunity to pick it up. I'd love to discuss the book with you whenever you'd like. IMHO it's definitely publishable, in Canada and/or the U.S.

And today, through email for this blog:

Being somewhat of a purist and a snob, I was measurably apprehensive about reading a friend's manuscript. My misgivings quickly turned to delight as I came to know Danny, Laurie, Andy, Bonaparte (the monumental turd) Haggeth the Shrew, Bryan, Alex, even Icabod! Such real people, such believable circumstances, such satisfying outcomes! Please tell me there's a sequel in the works -soon!

Thanks for the comments and support Rick, as well as your editing finesse. ( It turns out the dude is a hard-core (no, not porn) reader, willing to drop a book if it's at all dull or unsatisfying) Little did I know this when I asked him to read. I just knew he was really smart. And he wants a sequel to my manuscript. Can somebody please hurry up and publish me so I can help the guy out? Gotta go back to work. Hopefully this time someone shows up. I've had enough of my own therapy. Stay tuned. I'll probably put the pitch on here that I posted on Amazon for the contest. I was quite happy with it. I'll be happier when it gets past round one.

Random Musings from a Former Bathroom Inmate

The last time I posted on this blog was January 7. It was shortly thereafter that I began painting our upstairs bathroom. Out with the dark dreary old paint and in with the funky bright spring colors. A great project to deflect my brain while I waited for a friend of mine to finish reading and editing my manuscript. Or so I thought. At first. But then after hours and hours and hours of painting and several small breakdowns later my husband and son kindly pointed out that the green I'd chosen clashed with the fuschia, and it all looked rather stupid with the floor. A new paint color was chosen, a darker burgundy/purple...which somehow translated long days painting later to a crap red brown in the bathroom light. ARGH. The bathroom is now a light green and white, having been repainted by my husband who could no longer stand to be around me, and who knew that after all that hard work and disappointment, the only place in the house he wouldn't have to encounter me would be in that bathroom.

The lesson in all this? I can be one unhappy camper when I put a lot of hard work into something, sacrifice other things, and come out of it all with an end product that is crap. I mean, I sacrificed my social life for that bathroom, I sacrificed my exercise time. I sacrificed time devoted to my manuscript, family time, and I put up with chaotic surroundings, all to get something that isn't remotely like anything I wanted. My time spent in the outhouse feels like time I just lost. I made those same sacrifices last summer when I wrote the manuscript for No One In Particular. The good news is, I love the end product and that made all those sacrifices seem worth it. Over the weekend, I completed draft number 3, cleaning and polishing the manuscript with the assistance of a friend's notes. I now have another believer in the manuscript and he's passing it on to people he knows, trying to help me on the journey toward publication. I have the support of everyone who has read the manuscript fully, which has been great, because self-doubt has a way of creeping in when you're dealing with the publishing industry.

I'm still debating whether to post chapters on this blog, or on another site www.authonomy.com . Then there's the possibility of self-publishing, and publishing on Kindle on Amazon. We'll see. It's kinda like my manuscript is stuck in that upstairs bathroom. It wants to see the light of day, wants to enter into people's lives and create relationships with them, wants to make people laugh and feel good, but it's trapped...stuck because it's author is an unknown, trapped because maybe so far it's creator just hasn't found the right match for it, or hasn't written the query letter that sends agents and publishers into spasms of delight. I'm working on getting it out again now, my friends are working on getting it out. I will persevere. This baby deserves to see the light of day.

Zoom, Zoom

The holidays are over, and my back is much better...nothing like some extreme tobogganing to snap all ones discs back into place! I was a good girl though and didn't try skiing. My legs on a snowy hill tend to have a mind of their own, and the thought of ending up in weirdly contorted positions while splatted on my back facing the sky was just a little bit to risky to bear when I was still feeling the odd twinge of pain.

I'm waiting to hear from a reader who has also kindly offered to help me with edits on my manuscript before proceeding much further with agents and publishing houses. I've had some good feedback so far...yahoo. I'm up to about 11 or so rejections from agents, most very kind, and so far, no one has said, "Your talent is less than that of a blind two-legged cockroach," so that gives me hope. The reality of No One In Particular is, I believe, that it doesn't quite fit into any one neat little category. It's not just a romance, it's not the typical chick lit with a heroine who shops at Prada. It is a twisted, dark, quirky, but very funny look at life, death, work, injustice, love and relationships. It makes sense that I wrote a book that doesn't fit neatly into any categories, my life has always had that theme running through it. Not quite fitting, always sort of floating. Floating has its advantages though. One is never pegged as only being a certain way, and therefore there's a mystery that is appealing to others. One can sit back, observe and learn and not be shut out of anywhere because one doesn't quite not fit either.

Now that I've had some time to sit and reflect about the process of trying to get published, I think it's really funny that I titled my manuscript No One In Particular. That is pretty well how I am looked at in the publishing world. No one famous, no one well known, no one who has created a scandal. So, despite the fact that my mansucript might be leaps and bounds better than something written by Paris Hilton, or Tori Spelling or any other scandalous, but famous person, I am looked at as No One In Particular, and am therefore seen as a huge risk for marketing. Can I just say here that I would be more than happy to have my manuscript, written solely by me, compared and rated against some of the books out there that are being published? Fair? No. The reality of the publishing world? Yes. So come on Paris, I challenge you. Get me published so we can really see who writes a better book. That being said, apparently there is a huge population of people out there who are more than happy to plunk their hard earned money down on a book by Paris vs. a book by No One In Particular, who also happens to be a counsellor, a real life Jane, and a woman with a lot of life experience. That's smart. No wait, that's hot. No wait, that's not.