Selling Books and Taking Names
Fellow Firebirds, thank you for the opportunity to blog today. You ladies make the e-mail/group messages fly in a most dizzying way! I confess to lurking like crazy and to grinning when the news is good and frowning when the news is bad. I’ve said a few prayers. Maybe you’ve felt them even if you didn’t hear me say them.
Today I’m going to talk about selling books.
Because I FINALLY sold a book. Sold 3 books, in fact. I still can’t believe it. Someone pinch me!
In the interest of honesty, I have to admit to writing and deleting four five posts already. I mean, you only get to tell your first sale story for the first time. . . once. So…I decided not to tell my first sale story yet. I know. I’m a hopeless tease. (Don’t throw things!) I’m hoping *fingers crossed* that RWA will pick up both of my workshops, and that story fits in well with one of those. Instead, I’m going to give you a few stats:
15 years from the time I finished my first serious novel* until I sold
9 manuscripts written—the last 3 sold
4 computers I’ve gone through
3 contests I’ve finaled in
2 kids I’ve brought into the world in those 15 years
1 incredibly supportive husband who’s had my back every step of the way
??? rejection letters—I should probably count those, huh? Let’s just say I have a binder full.
*Define serious. It was a historical western with some very serious problems: lack of internal conflict, meandering plot, ridiculously improbable scene where the hero saves the heroine by shooting the rope she’s about to be hung with just as the trap door opens underneath her feet…
At any rate, I can now agree all things come in good time. If I’ve critiqued with you, I’ve learned from you even if I didn’t agree with you. If I wrote it, I learned from it. Even better? I get to feel like I finally know something about writing because I sold some books! (That just doesn’t get old.) Here are the top 6 things I’ve learned on this journey:
Patience is a virtue. If you like speed, take up drag racing.
Don’t compare yourself to others; therein lies the path to madness. The sooner you can honestly be happy for other writers around you and honestly take pride in their successes; the sooner success will find you.
Volunteer in your writing organization. I would’ve never connected with some of my favorite folks if I hadn’t volunteered for Georgia Romance Writers. Someone remind me of this bullet point during the next two years while I’m serving as president of GRW.
Set goals that you can accomplish. You can say you’ll write 1000 words a day or enter a contest. You can’t say you’ll win that contest or that you’ll be a successful writer by the time you’re 30. I said I was going to be published by the time I was 30. Um, I’m going to be 40…..When?…Someday! (Sorry had to have a When Harry Met Sally moment there) In all seriousness, I’ll almost assuredly turn 40 before I hold a finished copy of my first book in my hot little hands.
You can’t beat yourself up when you fail. Instead, get back to work. As they taught us in pole dancing class, when you fall down….get up sexy.
Good critique partners are worth their weight in gold. And Nicki Salcedo is totally right about criticism. You gotta internalize those critiques and really think about them. Only then will you be able to sift through what your pride’s telling you not to change and what your writer’s instinct is telling you not to change. (Confession: this is STILL a work in progress)
Advice is just that. . . advice. Ask my dad about what opinions are like if you want to know how much advice amounts to. So anytime I, or anyone else for that matter, dispense pithy suggestions like this, you know to take what you like and leave the rest.
To sum it all up, it’s been one heckuva awesome week. 3 books sold. Still something dead in the fridge. Still a mountain of laundry. But, hey, I’m gonna whistle while I work. (And hope for small woodland creatures to come out of the woodwork to assist me)
*deep cleansing breath* I finally sold a book. I sold 3 of them. *squees* *frolics* *twirls the first person who comes by the blog and kisses him/her on the mouth*
Please look for Beulah Land and the Happy Hour Choir in 2015. If you’re here in the Atlanta area, be on the lookout for the book launch. I’m thinking it’s only appropriate that it be a Happy Hour, yes? In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter (@SuperWriterMom) or at www.sallykilpatrick.com and my new Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/SuperWriterMom (when I remember I have an author page).
Thanks again, Firebirds! As always, it’s an honor to hang with you guys.
