I’ve been thinking this week about the whole submission process and the paths that authors take. I’m currently self-published and sell well for ebooks, with best selling books at Fictionwise and a loyal readership, but I don’t want to spend my whole life writing ebooks. I want to take the risk and the harder path to being published. I want to submit my stories to publishers and agents this year, and even if they’re rejected, I won’t mind, because I’ll be able to say that I tried. If you don’t try, you’ll never know if you might have succeeded, and who knows, I might succeed. So this year, I’m resolved to try to luck and take the leap. It’s a frightening one, because rejection will always hurt no matter how many times it happens. It’s something no one can ever become used to and emotionless about, not unless they’re a robot or not a human at all. But I want to do this, I want to see if I have a shot at being print published by a non e-publishing company, and want to see if I’m good enough.
I have been busy these past few weeks. I’ve finished the second draft of Arcadian and sent paperbacks out to a selected audience to get their feedback on the story before I start the polish/third draft. I’ve done the second draft of Heart of an Assassin, the fifth Daughters of Lyra story. I’ve proofed the first four Daughters of Lyra stories and got the first one ready for release as an ebook. And I’ve started the proof of Winter’s Kiss, which will be done by the end of next week.
On top of all that, I’ve been redesigning my website and rebuilding it. It’s much nicer now, although hasn’t been launched yet, and I can’t wait to show everyone. I think you’re all going to like it a lot more than my older website. It’s easier to find specific genres and the covers are bigger so you get a better view of them. I think it’s just easier to use all round and I love the little bits of functionality I’ve built into it, like scrollers and a countdown to the release of my next book!
And, I’ve also been thinking heavily about Ascension as I want to finish that this year and get it out to publishers and agents next year. It’s definitely going to become a novel, but a shorter one than Arcadian. Probably a 70,000 to 80,000 word one, which is the length most publishers are searching for.
I’m also about to start going through my small stack of notes for around 50 billion stories to find some novellas and shorts to write for next year. I have a mix of paranormal romance, science fiction, historical romance and romantic suspense to choose from. Should be interesting digging through the huge stacks and finding some gems to write.
Phew!
