13 Things To Do On the Journey To Being Published
Here are my suggestions for new authors trying to write and sell their first story to an epublisher. These are things that I personally found helpful in the last year. Your mileage may vary.
1. Write a story you care about. I mean, don't try to analyze the market and write something only because you think it will sell well. I wrote Sleeping With the Wolf because I liked my characters and wanted to tell a story about them. Of course, I have to admit that werewolves are pretty hot right now and I'm sure that helped me sell the story.
2. Find a professional writing group to be part of. This could be a local or online branch of Romance Writers of America, or another group like AbsoluteWrite, or a local writers group that might meet at a library or bookstore. There are also chat groups online like at www.writechat.net For me, this is Romance Divas. A great, welcoming goup of romance writers who are amazingly supportive and helpful. I don't believe I would be published without them.
3. Let your friends be your cheerleaders. When I was writing Sleeping With the Wolf, I would write every night and then email what I had written to a couple gals at work. Their lavish praise and enthusiasm kept me writing even when I was tired. Since I didn't have a dedication for Sleeping With the Wolf, I'd like to take a minute to thank these two ladies now. Without Carla Busche and Lisa Hill that book would not have been written.
4. Find Beta readers. Lisa and Carla were cheerleaders, and they kept me writing because they wanted (loudly) to know what would happen next. But they didn't critique the story. For that I had Gayle Bitker and Megan Ramsett. They read the story and made helpful suggestions and corrections. They caught small plot holes and asked questions like "If there's no power, where do the people get their clothes? Can they wear Tshirts if there's no machinery to make the fabric?" So Gayle and Megan, thank you for helping me make my book better.
5. Research publishers before submitting. This is so important. I had a 40,000 novella that was on the sweeter side of romantica. It was futuristic, werewolf and time travel which is quite a mix. Since I've been reading the genre for a decade I was already familiar with publisher names and lines. Ellora's Cave, Samhain, Changeling, Liquid Silver, Loose id, Cobblestone, Freya's Bower, New Concepts and others are all publishers I have read. So i knew what kind of product they put out. I went to their websites to see which of these my story would fit and what their submissions guidelines were. Then I researched online at places like www.erecsite.com to find out what kind of reputation they have. That helped me choose www.LiquidSilverbooks.com.
6. Follow submission guidelines. This seems so obvious to me, but I understand many submissions completely ignore the guidelines provided.
7. When your story is accepted, read the contract carefully. My contract with Liquid Silver is short and sweet and easy to read, and I had no questions before signing it. But if you have any questions, you should ask. If you belong to a writers group you can ask there if you don't feel comfortable asking the publisher.
8. Rejoice in cover art. When I first saw my cover for Sleeping With the Wolf I loved the colors, the layout and the font but Iwasn't too sure about the guy. H didn't look like Taye. But in a week I loved it. Ishowed it off to everyone, even complete strangers 
Lyn Taylor is a wonderful artist and I hope she can design for me again.
9. Start working on another story. I fooled around too long before settling on the next story. I had several other stories planned, but I couldn't decide on a timeline and which story would come next. It cost me three months of writing. So the second story in the series was just submitted a couple weeks ago. It should have been submitted in October.
10. Consider before rejecting edits. As a brand new author I was willing to accept almost all of the edits my editor suggested. I figure she is more experienced than I am, and she wants this book to sell well too. Distance yourself and pretend the suggestions aren't about your baby, but about a stranger's story. My editor Jean Cooper did a fantastic job and I hope to work with her again.
11. Be patient with the process. I signed my contract in early July. I didn't get my edits until September. I didn't get my final line edits until November. My book was released in late November. Since I had never been published before I had no idea what to expect and I wanted things to go faster. (I know that non-electronic books take much longer)
12. Don't change your writing just because of a review. I've gotten a few reviews. One reviewer said that Taye wasn't Alpha enough. One reviewer said Carla was pouty. After I read that I began to change the character of Wolf's Shadow. But a comment made by Stacia Kane made me realize that would be a mistake. A review is an opinion. Most of mine have been 4 stars, which is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I would like a 5 star review, but now I have something to shoot for. o shoot for with the next book.
13. If your friends want to throw a release party, let them. I thought without a physical paper book it would be kind of weird to have a release party. But my friend Brandi Malarkey put together a fun evening and I had a blast.
What have you done or are you doing in your pursuit to be published?
