7-22-2013: The Day I signed my first publishing contract

Have you ever had a goal so unlikely, that as time progressed it became less of a goal and more of a dream? I have. My dream was to become published - to become a 'real' writer. "But Perrin," my friends and family would say, "You are a 'real' writer, no matter if you are published or not."

I can't argue with them. After all, a 'real' writer isn't just made after a spontaneous decision to sit down and write one's first, perfect novel. A 'real' writer is made after years and years of writing pretty shitty novels, or stories, or poems, or whatever. A 'real' writer is made after taking the hard criticism (from their friends and families brave enough to give it) and building off of it. A 'real' writer realizes that their first novel, their second novel, their third novel, and even the novel which is finally accepted, isn't perfect (can there truly be a 'perfect' novel? A question I first heard asked by Dennis Lehane). A 'real' writer is a person who has reached the decision that they will write, no matter what, because they can't not. When I came to this realization, when I knew that I would be writing for the rest of my life no matter if anyone was reading my work or not, that's when I realized I was indeed a 'real' writer.

I came to this realization a few years ago. I had chosen to work seasonally so that I could write in my off seasons. I thought about getting a 'real' job, about abandoning my writing for something more 'fruitful' (at least in terms of stereotypical societal success) but each time I hit that low, I always dragged myself back to the computer and began to work on my latest story. It was like an addiction. It controlled my life. Then finally, when my email was brimming with unanswered query letters, I decided I'd just self publish. Screw the publishing world. I was going to take control of my destiny as a writer.

Don't do it! People would tell me. Self publishing will be the end of your career before it starts! I did it anyway. Did I become the next Hugh Howey? No. Did my e-book languish and become almost invisible on Amazon's shelves? Yes. But did I feel empowered? Yes. People who I didn't know reviewed my book, and they gave me stunning reviews. People who I hadn't spoken to in years messaged me and asked when the second one was coming. People at work would surprise me by becoming my biggest fans. Finally, I had something I'd never had as a 'real' writer. Confidence. I knew that my work was good. I knew it was good because people who had no obligation to tell me they had even read my book were not only telling me they'd read it, but that they'd loved it.

Finally, my problem wasn't my writing (but let's go back to paragraph two, one's writing can only improve), but my marketing. People liked my book, but only the few people who knew about my book liked it. Did I want to spend the rest of my life married to my computer, chatting, tweeting, posting, liking, starring and the rest of it in order to move my good book from virtually obscure to visible?

This was the question I was asking myself, when I got the email. I'd been communicating with Glastonbury Publishing for several months. Glastonbury Publishing had treated me differently than any other agent/publisher I'd contacted. They had taken the time to answer my emails personally, but ultimately I knew what their final answer would be - Glastonbury Publishing isn't the right representative for your book and blah, blah, blah.

Then one day I opened my email, and my dream became reality. In something as anti-climatic as single digital sentence, I was told that Glastonbury Publishing wanted to start drafting a contract. A month later, on 7-22-2013, I signed that contract with Glastonbury Publishing. I was finally going to be a 'real' published writer.

And now, as a signed author, I'm back to the last hurdle I faced as a self published author. How am I going to self market my book and raise it from the invisible depths of Amazon's virtual shelves to the light of well received science fiction? I've got the backing of a publishing company now. I don't have to fight the uphill battle that faced me as a self published author, but if I don't market my work, my work won't go anywhere. I'm realizing I'm lucky though. My time as a self published author taught me the basics of virtual marketing. I learned how to build a blog, how to navigate Facebook and G+, how to participate in chat rooms. Most authors don't start with the knowledge base that I have because they didn't do the self publishing route. It turns out that what I learned from being a self published author, might be some of the most important knowledge I apply to being a 'real' published author. Who knew?

We'll see what the future brings. As excited as I am to hold that first copy in my hands, I am scared to death that my book will join the ranks of obsolete freshman novels that never got off the ground. That fear motivates me though. Often, when thinking about a task as huge as this, I think back to my first marathon. It was in 2007 in Boston, and I hit the uphill at mile 23. Everyone told me it was there, but I didn't believe them. I'd trained on mile 23 and never felt a hill. Then, on the day of the race, I hit that uphill. Everything inside of me wanted to stop, but I thought, Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot... and you know what finally happened? I finished. I got my medal, and now, no one can ever take that finish away from me. I put one foot in front of the other and got there. I'm going to apply the same strategy to being a signed author and see where it gets me.

My book, A Searcher Summoned, is going to be re-named and re-vamped by Glastonbury Publishing. I'll post details on its progress.