I don’t stress out too much over cover or query letters, as I have surrounded myself with knowledgeable and helpful professional writers. I’m so lucky! They are always willing to review and make suggestions that will improve my chances. In turn, I pass on what I have learned to other writers who are unsure about the submission process.
The waiting doesn’t bother me either, as it’s all in how you look at it. Consider what will happen when you are accepted for publication. That’s when the REAL work begins! You’ll be dealing with all kinds of things that require a ridiculous amount of your time. These things will take away from your personal writing time, slowing down your opportunities to develop new ideas. You’ll be so busy with rewrites, one-on-ones with your editor, promotions, school visits, etc., that your time for continuing your writing education will be limited. Let’s face it, know matter how good we get, there will always be new things to learn!
Many unpublished writers can barely see beyond their first real publication, but the reality is, successful writers must continue to crank out winning manuscripts long after their first book is published. In fact, the most successful writers are the ones who are able to publish consistantly, creating a public following and a hunger for the next installment in their list of publications.
I keep this idea in the back of my head at all times, using my “waiting time” as an opportunity to develop new characters for future books I will write or illustrate. I keep a notebook of story ideas, writing down as much as I can when inspiration strikes-but there’s no time to get started on a manuscript. There’s the probability that most of these ideas will never find their way onto a page, but it makes me feel better to know that I have them set aside for future consideration.
Waiting time is also the perfect time to work on websites, blogs, social web connections, personal relationships, and other creative passions. It’s the only chance I get to experiment with different approaches and styles of writing and illustrating.
When you look at “waiting time” as the time to do whatever you like, and a time to work towards your future ambitions, it takes the sting out of it and time passes so quickly that you don’t have a chance to agonize over the thought of rejection.
My biggest gripe is the amount of time it takes to research publishers in search of a good match for each manuscript I’ve written. If a writer does their research correctly, there’s a lot more to it than just looking up websites and blankly staring at the multitude of submission guidelines.
Those of us who are driven (to the point of exhaustion), spend endless hours digging up little details about editors, hoping that it will give us an edge. We drink in their personal blogsite entries and twitter pages, searching for clues as to who they are and what makes them tick, …trying to decide if what we’re “selling” is the goods they seek. This eats up precious writing time, and often leads us down dead end roads, but occasionally you strike gold.
Some editors leave a trail of breadcrumbs. If you follow them, and read between the lines, pick up on all the hints, and do everything they suggest, you’ll get past the gatekeeper and get a “read”. For me, it’s all worth the struggle when I get an editors personal reply, even if it’s a rejection. The thought of an editor at his or her desk, actually sitting there sipping coffee and reading my manuscript, is enough to make this author’s heart do a little dance. And so I begin again, with the hope that one day an editor’s “read” will be followed by a phone call.
Lisa J. Michaels:
Illustrator and author, Lisa J. Michaels, conducts illustration workshops, participates in fine art shows, mentors other illustrators & authors, and produces illustrations for her growing list of clients. She has been a member of the SCBWI since 2003, and is the developer & moderator of the “SCBWI Florida West Coast Critters” the official SCBWI on-line critique group, open to all Florida illustrators.
In 2007, Lisa won 2nd place in the national “ABC Children’s Picture Book Competition”, and her work was featured in “Flavor and Fortune Magazine”. In 2008, she won 1st place in the national “Dragonfly Publishing’s Cover Art Contest”, and in 2009, her illustrations were published in “Thank You Story”, through DragonPencil Publishing.
In addition, Lisa is the developer & moderator for “The Yellow Brick Road“, a private critique website for professional children’s book writers. Her writing has been published in the SCBWI Bulletin Magazine and most recently, she published a four-page article in “How to Write & Publish a Successful Children’s Book” through Atlantic Publishing, as well as the having the honor of writing the books “Forword”.
Currently, Lisa is hard at work illustrating her next Picture Book, “Alphey Loves Letters”, by author Marty Flynn, to be released in the Spring of 2011. She is also working on her first mid-grade novel, as well as preparing illustrations for her own picture book manuscript, “Polly O’possum’s Country Music Jamboree”.
To read more about Lisa, please visit her blog, at http://wscribbles.blogspot.com. Her illustration portfolio is viewable at www.ljmichaels-illustrator.com.
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Comments (2) »
Your point about not sitting around while waiting for a yes or no is a good one, but I am not sure it goes far enough. The wait times in this business can be longer than you ever imagined–my first novel spent six years getting from the editor’s desk to the bookstore shelves. And this is a book that sold to the first person who saw it.
Gathering ideas and educating yourself about the market are always great strategies, but where that time really should go is into writing another book, and then another, and then another. Then you are ready if the answer is “I like this, but it’s not quite right–do you have anything else?”
You can’t control how long it will take to hear back. You can’t control how long it will take to get a contract, or an advance payment, or a pub date. You can keep writing books you’re excited about, as fast and as hard and as well as you can, so that whenever you get your shot you’re ready to take maximum advantage.
Good Lord, Alyx, why did that first novel take so long to make it to the bookstore shelves? I’ve heard two years is normal, but SIX?
Do you go straight into writing the next novel after delivering a manuscript to an editor? Or do you need what Andrew Smith calls his “un-writing time” where he changes gears and does totally different things while his creative well refills?
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