Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

Dale’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Alex wrote: "Unfortunately, life has taught me to shy away from rejection, lol. Fortunately I am okay with self-publishing, I like the freedom it gives me over my books - I'm not sure I'd be happy with giving u..."

There are pros and cons to both. I've been running a small publishing company since late 2010 and have published about 25 books, mostly other people's. But with all that I've learned, I still find marketing to be extremely difficult, especially when I don't have a lot of money to throw around. I would welcome a good agent and a good publisher as partners for my writing career. I might change my mind after having them for a while, but there are definite advantages to the marketing reach and (if one is so inclined and one's work allows for it) the movie industry contacts they have.

Carole wrote: "Congrats. Dale!!"

Thank you!

Alex wrote: "Good on you for having the courage to do this, Dale. I wish I had the same courage. I'm too afraid of rejection, though, couldn't handle it, lol."

Well, you get over that by being rejected over and over and over, and by learning that some of the greatest writers went through exactly the same thing before finding the right fit, and eventually realizing that it's nothing personal, just a business with a lot of tough competition. My problem was always getting past the third or fourth rejection. I'm determined to spend the whole year submitting Space Operatic to various agents, though. I figure I can hit as many as 10 of them over that time period if they all have response times around 4 to 6 weeks. At that rate, I only need a 10% success rate. ;-) And if I can't find someone to take it on by then, I'll either reevaluate self-publishing it or push on for another year. We'll see how I'm feeling at that point...

Theodore wrote: "Dale wrote: "About 20 or so years ago, I sent out manuscripts with some regularity to publishers and agents and collected a lot of rejection slips. It's been a long time since I did that, but on Ja..."

Thanks, Ted, I'll have a look at that. I've learned a hard lesson or two from my previous experience, too.

And here's my Indies Unlimited article on writing flash fiction. Enjoy!

Thank you, Ted! I've also posted this link in my "all over the place" thread.

About 20 or so years ago, I sent out manuscripts with some regularity to publishers and agents and collected a lot of rejection slips. It's been a long time since I did that, but on January 2nd I sent Space Operatic (my SF/humor novel) to an agent. I got their rejection yesterday. I'm back in the game! :-P

I immediately sent it to another agent. This one might be a better fit for me. The other one was a recommendation from a friend, but it wasn't clear to me from the guy's info that he was really that great of a fit for this MS. It was worth a shot, though.

Yeah, something like that. I expect they're just slooooooowwwww . . .

Next up on my blog, K. T. Munson and her fantasy novel The Sixth Gate. Please help me help a fellow indie: enjoy and share around!

Thank you, again, folks!

Ted: The workshop was cancelled in January due to snow, so I haven't seen anyone from there since December. I generally only send out one or two emails a month to let people know about upcoming meetings, etc.

I'm not too worried about it, though. I'll have another chance next week without either of you two to get in my way. ;-) And I rather think if the editors don't pick this one for an Editor's Choice, they're off their rockers. Of course, I won't know until, what, next October. :-P And I have thought that before without winning . . .

Anna Faversham wrote: "Ah... and I've missed what's been happening with your wife, Dale. Hope the meds help."

I may not have mentioned it all that much. Thank you, though. So far things are looking better...

Need more votes for my IU story. Ted's not in the running, but now someone else is beating me up. *sigh*

Thank you folks. She's been doing fairly well lately. She still has up days and down days, but the down days aren't as bad as they were a month ago. Some of it is giving the meds time to kick in, some of it is learning how to cope with a new reality.

And Carole, you and your husband will be in our thoughts and prayers, too. We know how rough it can be to go through this kind of thing.

Love the name. ;-) I'll pop over there shortly.

Thanks, folks!

Carole wrote: "You didn’t miss it. I didn’t say anything until today. I think this is going to b my reality for a while so I wanted people to know why I’ve been quiet"

Ah, okay. I've been so wrapped up in my wife's medical adventures lately that I wouldn't have been surprised if I did miss it.

Carole wrote: "I am sitting in icu. This is my 24th day here with my husband..."

I missed that somehow. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Voting is open in this week's IU flash fiction contest.

The stories are here, in the comments. Mine is the 6th one.

To vote, go here.

Thank you!

Thank you, everyone!

Well, in a few places, anyway.

First, Denise Baer interviews my character Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller on her blog. Rick is her first character interview, a series I'm honored to help her kick off.

Second, I've written a new Flash Fiction story for the Indies Unlimited weekly competition. This one is inspired by a beautiful photo of the moon, but unlike the others entered so far mine is set very far away. Personally, I think it's among the best I've written so far.

Third, also at Indies Unlimited, on Friday they're publishing my guest post on the subject of writing flash fiction stories. I'll provide a link to that once it's available.

Please enjoy them all, and share them around if you can. I (and I'm sure Denise) thank you!