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The GRRRR!!!!!! thread
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Christine
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Apr 10, 2018 11:31AM
Welcome back, Sam! I'll go follow you.
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Thanks you, Christine! Will follow you and others I'm able to find! Hugs!
Thank you Alex! Right back at you! Huge Hugs!!
Thank you, Carole! Missed you all! Hugs!!
Amy wrote: "Just when I thought I was a hypochondriac...I'm getting really annoyed (wow, that's polite) with this BRVO (Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion) in my left eye. Basically, a blood clot at the back of t..."
sorry to hear that, Amy, my daughter has had something similar for years and gets monthly injections. Take it easy, relax, and eat spinach and swiss chard
Hello all. I know I haven't been around much. I've been working really hard, but I've tried to keep up by reading your posts even if I haven't replied.I have my own grrrr today. My first ever rejection from a publisher. It sucks, particularly because I wrote it particularly for them, using many of the elements they claimed the were looking for in books. *sigh*
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Thanks, I'm really miserable about it. I'll try to grieve quickly and move on. No idea what to do with this book, though, since it was written specifically for them.
No thanks. My self-publishing venture has been pretty much a failure, so my goal from this year is to move away from that. Or at the very least become a hybrid author.
Aislinn wrote: "Thanks, I'm really miserable about it. I'll try to grieve quickly and move on. No idea what to do with this book, though, since it was written specifically for them."That blows.
Are there things from the book you can recycle for another story for another publisher?
I don't know. Probably. I'm going to take some time away from it and come up with a new plan. I have a few ideas, I just have other submissions to worry about right now.
Sorry to hear that. The first rejection is awful. The second third and fourth weren’t much better. I was also writing things specifically for one publisher. It’s why I self-published. I don’t sell many copies doing that but I can get the books out there. Good luck.
Thanks Amy. The books I'm writing now are for different publishers, so maybe they'll be a better fit. I'll find a home for the other one. Hopefully.
That was the bit I found difficult-writing what they wanted rather than what I wanted. Hopefully you’ll find one that fits.
I don't actually mind that so much. I like the challenge and stretching myself. It's like when people sent me prompts in my fanfic writing days, and I'd find a happy medium between what they requested and what I was comfortable writing.
So sorry to hear this. Nearly every successful writer has been rejected umpteen times so don't get discouraged. Smile - it's good for you, apparently!!!!I've had patches where I've not been able to take part in discussions on N.I. but it's good to look in and see what everyone else is doing, so don't feel you can't flit in and out - some of us get like that only because we need to.
Thanks Anna. Hopefully I'll be able to smile about it tomorrow. For now I'll just be grumpy, I think!
Being grumpy is so nice sometimes. It allows me to have a currant bun and a cup of tea.
Aislinn wrote: "Thanks Anna. Hopefully I'll be able to smile about it tomorrow. For now I'll just be grumpy, I think!"They suck for not giving better feedback!
I am going to follow your example and send my manuscript to some publishers as well. I’m already feeling miserable so it’s the perfect time to do it lol.
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I looked at her book- it had lukewarm reviews- I don't remember the name- but I think I have more reviews on If You Were Me and LIved in...Hungary.
People think if they publish with a publisher it will be instant income. From my experience with Michael, I can tell you we made more money with self-publishing. The publisher did little to nothing to sell the book and still took out "expenses." The best benefit was he had to be "traditionally" published for the film agent to send the book to producers- (that's another story- let me know if you are interested- crickets, anyone?)
Also, I felt Amazon 'respected' the book more in the marketing. They left up more of the reviews than on our Createspace ones.
The publisher got him about eight radio spots- I did everything else oh- and he edited the book way better than I ever could. I loved his editing staff. If you read the first version of the book and then the second- you can't believe the differences. It made the story shine.
I am working with other small publishing house and I think I spend more on marketing than any of them and I SLASHED the budget for the last two years. Since I cut the fund- his (Michael's books have stayed in the top 200 to 300 hundred of his genre. vs spending nothing made them soar into the thousands guaranteeing NO reads. )
I was recently contacted by a group asking who does Michael's marketing- they want to hire them hahaha. I told them I did everything and they asked if they could send authors my way- now that is not my business- I don't mind doing all the stuff I do to help- but what I'm saying is when I invite people to be in the newsletter or ask you to write articles for the magazine and each other- I do it because I think it will help you sell.
I have never sent any of my books to a publisher and today is my first meeting with my new publisher and the professional they hired to help me with parts I didn't feel confident about. My point is- push through- get your name in as many places that will take you- write on Medium and get noticed using the resources you can- Any publisher is going to look up your "history" and when they see you are marketable- it won't matter what you write.
I'm really glad that self-publishing has worked for you, Carole, but it's not for everyone. And I get very frustrated with people saying it does. Particularly when they imply I don't work hard enough or just need to do "more". I'm sick of working my arse off, trying EVERYTHING for success, and not even seeing a blip of improvement. I've sunk a year of full-time work of over 10 hours a day into this (both writing and marketing) and still make the same tiny amount of money than when I started 2 years ago with only 1 book out.So I'm trying something new. And there's no shame in that.
If what you are doing is working for you, that's great! But it's not the answer to everyone's problems. I'm glad you could make I go of it without a trad publisher. I clearly can't.
And please don't imply that I have no hope of a trad deal now. That's not what I need to hear. I'd really appreciate if you could support this difficult decision for me. I've only ever wanted to be a self-publisher. I wanted the control and the freedom. But it Just. Doesn't. Work. Not for me. If you're going to keep preaching on about how great self-publishing is and how it worked for you so must work for everyone, I think I need to step away from this group while I pursue this new dream of mine.
I find that very heartening for Indies. I think I read the same thing on Medium too. If you sell a book to any trad you're doing well. But how many books are churned out by publishers every year and how many of those has the average person actually heard of? I am dismayed that trads don't do as much to help with promo. But this is something I've heard for a while.
Out of the few agents I sent Missing Remnants to this year only one gave me more feedback than "not for my list". I'm hardened to it now. This is my second round of testing those waters. You do actually get used to it. I told somebody yesterday that I could die before I got a trad interested in anything I've written so I'd continue doing it myself. I'm not being melodramatic, I'm being realistic. My goal was to be a published author. Been there, done that x4. My next goal is to sell enough books to make back the cost of the cover £32. (Maybe I set my goals too low lol) Maybe one day a trad will pick one of my books up, in the meantime I feel I just have to plough ahead without them.
What great heroes we'd make... We push on, one way or another, we keep going towards that goal. Nothing will stop us. We get stuck in mud, we climb out; we get kicked down, we stand up and brush ourselves down and move forward; we are ignored, we shout and we gather a group of friends around to shout too; we feel we can't go on even another day, but when tomorrow comes we press on and on. Gutsy lot, aren't we?
Aislinn,Find another likely publisher and send it. Don't worry too much that you wrote it to a particular publisher's specs. A well-written book can find a home in any number of publishing houses, if it arrives at the right time and on the right person's desk.
A rejection doesn't mean your work isn't good enough. Often it just means it didn't spark enough interest in an overworked and possibly jaded reader. Agents and publishers may receive thousands of submissions every year but can only accept a small percentage of them. Even if every single submission were an absolute gem, they'd end up rejecting the vast majority of them. I once read a comment from an editor who said, "Most of the submissions we get are not inept, but many are inapt." So long as you make sure your writing is as good as it can be and you submit to agents or publishers who are looking for the kind of material you've written, you've done everything you can do. The rest is largely just the luck of the draw.
I've semi-self-published three of my own novels (a mystery series) through a small company my wife and I own, but I'm looking for an agent for an SF/humor novel I've written. So far this year I've received four rejections and am awaiting the fifth. I've gotten to the point (because a long time back I submitted oodles of short stories to magazines and never sold one) where I can shrug my shoulders at rejection slips. I expect to receive them. That way, if the happy day comes when I receive an acceptance letter instead, I can be pleasantly surprised, but rejections will just earn a shrug of the shoulders and I can move on.
It's not a terribly fun process, but make up a list of possible submission targets and send your work to each one in turn. It's sort of an assembly line process. And meanwhile, work on your other writing projects.
Also, if you'd like a neutral opinion of your manuscript and where else you might submit it, I'll offer a bit of my limited time to look it over and make a few suggestions, no charge. (Er, this is a one-time offer only extended to Aislinn; as much as I'd love to similarly help everyone, I don't have the spare time.) Send me a private message so we can make arrangements.
Stay positive, and good luck!
P.S. I totally get the "indie publishing is not for me" thing. I'd love nothing better than to have the resources of a major publisher in my corner. But as others have said, there is no guarantee of success, and not every publisher has the resources to fully market every book. As I understand it, they pour most of their marketing resources into books you might think don't need much of it--those by big-name authors--because they can get a substantial return on that investment. That enables them to publish us "smaller" folks, but they may be reluctant to put much into marketing us. I've heard that during contract negotiations it's worth asking for a marketing budget, even a small one. You might get one if you ask, but might not if you don't. That's just 15 or 20 year old hearsay, but it may be valid.
All of you wonderful people have great advice. But I think, actually I know that by now we all know how this works. Sometimes you’re just looking to VENT. I think, that that is what Aislinn was looking for today. My own input? Sigh. It’s all a question of getting lucky. Being picked by the right reader. The right editor. The right publisher. It’s all just luck.
May we all get lucky as hell soooooooooooooon.
Personally, I’ve been dreaming of a trip to Bora Bora for ages.
Aislinn wrote: "I'm really glad that self-publishing has worked for you, Carole, but it's not for everyone. And I get very frustrated with people saying it does. Particularly when they imply I don't work hard enou..."You've got the same chance of being picked up by a trad as anyone. The more times you send it out, the more chances you have. Just because one or a handful say it's not for them doesn't mean it's no good, it means you haven't found the right publisher. Keep sending it out. Check the publisher's criteria and if you're ticking most of the boxes, send it. The more you send, yes the more rejections you'll get, but eventually you'll find the right one who says yes. And you only need one to say yes. You may have to read through many saying no until you get there.
Alex wrote: "I personally think everyone who has submitted to an agent or a publisher is incredibly brave, far more so than me.I have had my life threatened a number of times, in a number of ways, over the yea..."
That's a horrendous story Alex. And that fear may change with time, or it may not. We're all different. And no-one is wrong because whatever the experience or circumstance is, it's still valid.
We may have similar yet unique experiences as one another. Similar in that we want to be published, unique in that one way just doesn't work for someone that works for another. I've done the same things as other people in my weight loss business world and cannot see for the life of me why they are more successful than me. As has already been said-it's luck. It's not what you know, it's who you know. It's being in the right place at the right time. There's a certain amount you can do to put yourself in the right place, like sending to publishers, if trad publishing is your goal. Rejections get easier to deal with the more you get. The first ones are devastating. I cried. For days.
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Where is Bora Bora and should I go there?
Amy wrote: "Where is Bora Bora and should I go there?"YEEEES, Amy, Yess!
https://www.tahiti.com/images1/galler...
My dream is to sell enough copies of my books to be able to stay there for like a month.
He.
Okay. A week.
Okay a long weekend.
Okay maybe just long enough to just dip my toes in the water. :p
Oh Tahiti. Yes very nice. Dammit, I stopped doing the lotteries too!
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I want to say I didn't imply you have no hope of a trad deal- I stated quite clearly that all you need is one. That is the one publisher to publish it. Which to me meant keep trying until you find that one.
I also don't know where you get the idea that it's so successful for me- I've stated time and time again that I am no longer self-publishing children's' books because they don't financially pay . The amount of work and the profit are too small.
Again, I am sorry if you perceive what I wrote as preachy- I was comparing pros and cons, as well as sharing my personal experience with both of the publishing mediums.
I also don't know where you got the impression that I felt you were not working hard enough or that I didn't support you?
Perhaps you didn't understand my sarcasm when I compared the author's book with my cultural book on "Hungary."
What I was stating was that trad publishers are not the be all and end all- success comes in the perfect storm. I haven't found it and indie publishing has been relegated hobby territory for me, personally- hardly what I'd consider one of my more successful ventures.
There are a few things worse than being threatened by a knife wielding attacker. The fact you dealt with it and survived is to be celebrated. I don’t suppose anyone knows how they’d cope in that situation and I hope they never have to find out.
Alexis wrote: "All of you wonderful people have great advice. But I think, actually I know that by now we all know how this works. Sometimes you’re just looking to VENT. I think, that that is what Aislinn was loo..."Probably so. I have an excuse for my reply, though. I'm told that whereas women are looking for sympathy and understanding at such moments, men are usually looking for solutions. That apparently causes a lot of communications problems between us. ;-)
Alex wrote: "Surprisingly, most of the trouble came from the college kids not the pimps or the drug dealers. "That's because the pimps are already breaking the law and don't want to risk getting caught by adding more trouble. A small number of trouble maker youths haven't learnt they're not invincible yet.
Dale wrote: "Probably so. I have an excuse for my reply, though. I'm told that whereas women are looking for sympathy and understanding at such moments, men are usually looking for solutions. That apparently causes a lot of communications problems between us. ;-) "I'll take a mixture of both. (Although I'd prefer someone to say "don't worry, I'll sort it all out for you." Because that's definitely going to happen! Oh look my eyebrows are now on the top of my head.) Sympathy is great, but problems will still be there unless there is a solution. I'm very tired. I hope that made sense.
I'm with you in spirit, Alex. Huge Hugs!!
Amy wrote: "Dale wrote: I'm very tired. I hope that made sense.It did. :-)
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Thought some of you might be interested. Especially those of you looking for unique marketing opportunities. :)
Just don’t give up. My calendar says it’s US tax day coming up. So could be. However it’s school holidays here still. I have no idea if that affects anything. (Must do my taxes ugh)
Other writers have said the same re lack of sales - including me. Though I had two yesterday.
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Thanks for the shout out on the forum. I noted when I looked that the only self promo we are allowed to do is in our signatures. I'm not very good at joining places that have so many rules. I live in fear of forgetting them and getting into trouble.Hmmm. You never want to get your TNT mixed up with your tampons. Not even a cheap thrill. Wrong kind of explosion.
Even if it did look like a cover full of tampons, I fail to see the issue.
I would currently like to remove my left eye and put it in cold storage. It's irritated and I think the antibiotic eye drops are making it worse. Consequently I have promo preparations I can't face doing.
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