My Publishing Journey (The Short Version)

My Publishing Journey
(The Short Version)

I was thrilled to be the guest speaker at the Gulf Coast Writers Association July 2012 meeting at the Orange Grove Library in Gulfport, Mississippi. What a fabulous group of diverse and talented writers! A big thank you to CGWA President, Dr. Philip Levin, for the invitation, and Charles McInnis of the Five Rivers Writers’ Group for suggesting the idea.

Dr. Levin at GCWA

I spoke mainly about my publishing journey, which began back in 2005, then answered any questions from the group about writing, publishing, and promotion. Here’s a summary of my talk: 

After “retiring” from the television news business, I decided to try writing novels, which was a much bigger challenge than I EVER imagined! While attempting to finish two (terrible) manuscripts, I sought assistance from a talented and knowledgeable freelance editor from Texas to help me through the process. It was a good thing that I did, as learned a lot about the craft of novel writing and the art of revision!

Talking to the GCWA

In 2006, I wrote manuscript #3, the first version of Stay Tuned, which I sent out to more than forty agents. The response was positive, and I had several requests for the full manuscript. It was agonizing waiting for responses and disappointing when I received all of the rejection letters, but overall, it proved to be an invaluable learning experience about the publishing industry.

Exhausted from the process, I took a break from writing for about a year and a half. When I started back, in late 2008, I decided to try a different genre from women’s fiction–something darker–with drama and thriller elements. I wrote two manuscripts (#4 and #5), both of which I revised and finessed with the help of another freelance editor, Emily, in the spring of 2010. Her experience included working with a variety of publishing houses in New York.

Chatting with GCWA member Jeana Weiss

Emily challenged me to think critically about my writing, expand out of my comfort zones, and have fun with my novels. She introduced my work to several literary agents, one of whom liked my drama manuscript (#4) well enough to offer me a contract. After my agent shopped the story around to publishing houses in the fall of 2010, I was fortunate enough to be invited to chat with the VP of Hyperion, but no offers were made on the book.**

Meanwhile, the indie publishing movement was growing and gathering support, and I began thinking about Stay Tuned. While my agent wasn’t interested in shopping my women’s fiction or chick lit stories to editors at publishing houses, this allowed me the opportunity to release the novels myself. After much agonizing and debate, I hired a publicity company to help me indie publish Stay Tuned in November of 2011, which to-date, has sold 2,500 copies and won numerous awards.

Buoyed by the Stay Tuned‘s modest success, I wrote and released a second chick lit title, Dancing Naked in Dixie, May 21, 2012.

This time, armed with much more knowledge and familiarity with the indie publishing process, I hired a new designer

for my novel’s cover, a different formatter, DuoLit, and a new publicity company, 30DayBooks. I was also fortunate enough to work with some fantastic blog tour companies to promote Dixie in May and June. So far, most readers have really embraced the storyline and characters in Dixie. To date, the novel’s sold 1500 copies in three months!

 

I’m indebted to my author friends, review sites, bloggers, and fabulous readers for helping to spread the word about Stay Tuned and Dixie. I couldn’t have done it without all of you…and I treasure every email, note, comment on my website, and review that I receive!

Display of my promotional materials, awards, and newspaper clippings

**If you’re wondering what happened with my agent (and manuscripts #4 and #5)…Novel #5 is being edited as I write this post. My agent plans to shop the revised version to publishing houses this fall. We’ll see what happens!!!  I’ll keep you posted right here.

 

xx, Lauren

 

*Did you enjoy this post? Sign up for Lauren's newsletter & stay in the loop with all of her writing news here!*