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Question for Published Authors (But Anyone is Welcome to Join in!)
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I am currently in contact with an author through her blog first and now emails...She has been posting one of her books chapter by chapter for weeks. We are almost done...so I post on the blog and it starts conversations...and also chat with the author.
Always nervous! It's your baby, part of your soul and heart. You're basically giving them the inside of you and you want that approval.But we have to remember, taste is subjective. Just remember no matter what, SOMEONE is loving your books, even if they don't email you.
Ebony, that's so cool! What a great experience. I am sure it's just as rewarding for her as well.Stephanie, I am glad I am not the only one. I thought maybe other authors didn't feel this way. LOL! And you are right, we have to remember that no one is gonna love everything but there are a lot of people that will.
Love you guys!
I've been fortuante thus far that the responses I've gotten personally have all been positive. I know it takes a lot for me to write an author I like and tell them how much I enjoyed their work, so when it happens to me I feel really flattered. Janet
Absolutely! I'm always, "Please, please, like it." Lol. I think as authors when you create something, you create it because it speaks to you and you want your readers to like it. You don't want it to 'let-down' anyone so to speak.
I can understand where you all are coming from. I am an aspiring author and I have two books out right now for critiques and I am nervous as hell.
Seriously...my stomach has butterflies
I have a question, how long did it take from the time you signed your contract to date your book was released? How long did it take to get through edits? Just curious about other writers experiences.
I still get butterflies, especially when they say they're enjoying it "so far." Then I automatically wonder "will they like the ending?" Luckily, I've been getting a ton of love for my books. I recently concluded a Make My Book Cover Your Facebook Profile Pic contest. To my surprise, several people used my book cover as their profile pic--before reading the book. That made me a little nervous, too. Would they regret using my book cover once they read the book? I think it's only natural to have butterflies because we want readers to enjoy our work as much as we do.
Hi Rasheedah,I can't remember with the first book but I think it was two years. That was a celebrity bio so we had to do a lot of consulting, permissions, that kind of stuff. I got the deal for it in 2002 and it came out in mid-2005. The second and third (novels) were with one of the big six soI'd say about a year or year and a half for the first novel on that deal which came out in 2007, then the next came out in 2008. The second one with them was pretty quick considering it being a big house. Now I'm with an independent press. My fourth one, (first release with them), took almost a year. My next one comes out December of this year and we're just getting started with it now so it'll be the remainder of these months I'm sure to get stuff done.
Note, I've only been published with print houses. I think it's faster for folks who go through epublishing (depending on the publisher) I have a lot of friends who are published only through ebooks and they say it's a myth that the books are always released fast. The bigger epresses like Samhain, Ellora's Cave, etc can now take up to the same amount of time as if you were with a big print press. I am now hearing authors say they are waiting 18 months or so for acceptance or rejection from the top epublishers and after that up to a year sometimes for a release if accepted. So epublishing doesn't guarantee speedy releases anymore. It was different when epublishing first started but it's so many writers now that the bigger ones can no longer provide speedy turnarounds.
It depends on the publisher you're with. Be careful of author mills. They are the pubs that pump out book after book and they do no editing, promotion for their authors, nada. They are just in it for the money, not the author's best interest.
I can say though that this is the first time I will have two books released in one year so I'd say my current house is fast enough for me. Since this is a part of a series, even better. LOL!
But it depends on different things. Sometimes stuff happens where your books can be pushed back, etc. Every situation and pub is different.
Best Wishes!
http://www.stacy-deanne.net
Hi James, So true about them butterflies. LOL!
Thank you Stacy that was very insightful and informative. I just signed my contract in April and the editor started working on my book last month. I am a total newbie and just thought I would ask other writers about their experience. Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Guess I will just chill and keep writing my other books :)
Stacy-Deanne wrote: "Ebony, that's so cool! What a great experience. I am sure it's just as rewarding for her as well.Stephanie, I am glad I am not the only one. I thought maybe other authors didn't feel this way. LO..."
You're definitely not the only one! Especially if it's a racy one and the person who's reading it is a friend of my mother's -- or my children! lol.
Stacy-Deanne wrote: "Hi All,This is humorous to me but it's true. Am I the only one who gets nervous when someone tells me they are reading one of my books? LOL! I mean, I'm happy that they are but I always get ner..."
I used to get nervous, but now I love hearing from my fans. They give me advice on what they like to read and they want to know what's coming up next in my series. Enjoy it.
I can't say I get nervous. I'm happy to hear this news and I strongly hope the reader will like it. Bottom line, every book is not for every reader. I know I can't say I absolutely loved every book I ever read! The important thing is that the reader felt your book was worth their time.
Mod
I always write for myself. I'm very shy when it comes to my writing. It took guts for me to share stories on this group and other gropus that I am on.
I don't believe people are telling me that they like my stories, because they don't want to hurt my feelings. I like honesty. I never want people to see me when they see my stories. If a person don't like my story, it will not hurt me.
I know that my stories have holes in them. I write for fun.
Ok...what do you all think this is. I have a few friends who are published authors (they became friends recently) They read my MS and love it, and have given me some great critiques...enter another Author who I didn't ask to read my ms, but volunteered. I let her. I get a crit back from her basically saying she only read one page and skimmed the rest...and then told me there was no plot etc...WTF? why even bother critiquing if your not going to really do it...?
Stacy, I can honestly say I no longer get nervous when someone is reading my books. Of course I want them to like them--no, LOVE them and beg for more!--but it doesn't make me nervous the way it used to. When The Arrangement came out, I nervously awaited feedback. It was my first baby. I practically stalked the review sites like Amazon, GR, and ARe to see what readers thought. If I got a negative review, it hurt and I thought about it for days.
Fast forward 8 months, and I'm no longer a stalker! Lol. I still check the reviews, of course, because I'm curious to see what people think, am I on the right track, did they get it, etc. But low ratings no longer crush me. Of course I'd love it if everyone gave me a 5 across the board! But like Bettye said, every book is not for every reader.
I had to get it in my head that a negative review is not the end of the world, and even if I feel the reader missed the mark, it's OK. I focus on the positive reviews instead of the negative. Readers have emailed me privately and I've received more positive than negative reviews on review sites.
The positive feedback is very encouraging, and now I even email authors whose books I'm enjoying to let them know how much I appreciate the work because I understand how important a pat on the back is.
I enjoy hearing from readers, and I know other authors do too.
Rasheedah, I'm with an epublisher. The Arrangement took 3 months from the time it was contracted to the date it was released. Fight for Love took two months. My latest work is with a different publisher and doesn't have a release date yet and I haven't started working with an editor yet, so I imagine it'll be about 4 months.
Ebony, toss out what that last author said (but I'm sure you know that). You can't properly critique a book unless you read it. Skimming is no substitute for reading.
Delaney thank you so much. Yeah, I have tossed the critique from her, which truly wasn't a critique.
This is humorous to me but it's true. Am I the only one who gets nervous when someone tells me they are reading one of my books? LOL! I mean, I'm happy that they are but I always get nervous when folks tell me they're reading something of mine. I guess because I know someone is reading it and I want them to enjoy it. I don't know. It feels awkward but I do love just that people are reading them.
I remember a few years ago a lady was reading a book of mine and she emailed me once a week to tell me how far in the book she was. LOL! You guys ever come in contact with someone like that? It tickled me.
Am I the only one who gets butterflies when someone tells them they are reading their work?
Best Wishes!
http://www.stacy-deanne.net