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Now I can't remember who it was, but I heard one author say that she used to send her submissions birthday cards when the one-year date came around.
Now I can't remember who it was, but I heard one author say that she used to send her submissions birthday cards when the one-year date came around.
It's easy to get discouraged in this rat race, but if we don't believe in our work (and each other's), who will?
I see that cookie batch and raise you a batch of scratch-made chocolate cupcakes. Iced.
My sob story is that my publisher is no longer promoting my book released 6 months ago. It got rave reviews and NO distribution to speak of. Nor will there be the second book in the time-travel series that the publisher wanted so badly that I dropped other projects to work on it.
But there's hope. I'm morphing the second t.t. into a straight medieval. And no more (really, truly) small presses for me. If the biggies don't want my stuff, it goes into the bottom drawer.
You can hold me to that if I start to whine about how a small press wants XYZ title from me...
My sob story is that my publisher is no longer promoting my book released 6 months ago. It got rave reviews and NO distribution to speak of. Nor will there be the second book in the time-travel series that the publisher wanted so badly that I dropped other projects to work on it.
I can think of one reason not to sell to small publishers, Karen -- that once you've done so, and pitch to a larger house, they ask how your sales numbers have been.
What do you tell them then? "Oh, they were great -- in the hundreds!" I can just imagine what the inner thought process is, in the acquisitions editor's mind.
"Small potatoes. Cannot effectively market her book. These aren't the projects you're looking for." (Insert Jedi hand gesture here). "Move along."
And they do ask. I pitched a separate project last month at the ACFW conference, to a big-house editor, and she asked exactly that question. Fortunately, at the time I had Sheaf House's assurance my sales were "quite good" and relayed that data.
Didn't know at the time that the assurance wasn't true. C'est la vie.
I can think of one reason not to sell to small publishers, Karen -- that once you've done so, and pitch to a larger house, they ask how your sales numbers have been.
What do you tell them then? "Oh, they were great -- in the hundreds!" I can just imagine what the inner thought process is, in the acquisitions editor's mind.
"Small potatoes. Cannot effectively market her book. These aren't the projects you're looking for." (Insert Jedi hand gesture here). "Move along."
And they do ask. I pitched a separate project last month at the ACFW conference, to a big-house editor, and she asked exactly that question. Fortunately, at the time I had Sheaf House's assurance my sales were "quite good" and relayed that data.
Didn't know at the time that the assurance wasn't true. C'est la vie.
Fewer than you might think. In the Christian market like the general market, there has been contraction and not a few mergers and outright acquisitions over the past several years. For example, Multnomah merged with Waterbrook, to become a single possibility to pitch to, rather than two. Several other known publishers were bought by general fiction publishers.
Among the small presses, there are several, including Sheaf, Whitaker, DeWard, OakTara, and others. Many, if not all of them, seem to have difficulty placing books in stores (I've heard such stories from authors who write for Whitaker, Kregel, etc.).
Why this is, I don't know. I do realize that with the market's contraction, the appeal of a small press may be so tempting that an author in our market can't resist.
Well, I've decided to resist, from here on out.
(Munching chocolate chip cookie -- therapeutic in nature)
And no more (really, truly) small presses for me. If the biggies don't want my stuff, it goes into the bottom drawer.
But if it goes into a drawer, the manuscript disappears.
You don't build a fan base, you don't have the (astronomically-small) chance of an editor/publisher finding and liking it on-line...and it does, ever-so-rarely, happen...and no one reads what you wrote.
Your choice, of course. You absolutely deserve a cookie for what's happened to you.
if you write sweet or more mainstream heat with e-pubs/small press, chances are your sales aren't going to rock the house. If an acquiring editor I pitched looked at the reviews and wonderful personal emails I've received, I'd be golden. If they asked about sales?
Had a pretty tough day at the day job. (I teach first grade. Six year olds. Enough said.) Anyway, wish I could stay home and write but the powers that be know where I live. Oh well, taking the chocolate chips now...