January 10, 2009
Now that I’ve wrapped the latest revised and rewritten draft of my “75% There” novel, it’s time to set my sights on other projects. I’m thrilled at the prospect, as the revision/rewrite took a long time and made me pine for fresh creative work. At the same time, I’m a little intimidated; my writing To Do list is super-long. What I most look forward to doing is starting a new novel. In fact, I’ve already chosen the story, characters, and some of the details for that novel, and it has me excited. (Always a good sign!) I’d most like to have it done in time for the workshop I’ll be attending in May in Oregon (more on that later)…but to make the workshop, I’ll need to turn in the book by April 1. So there’s some time pressure on that item, though the schedule is not impossible. The thing is, I need to do some other work before I really get rolling. Specifically, I need to hit the marketing side hard for my existing novels. One in particular, my latest (let’s call it Book X) is in need of a big push. I did a limited mailing to some agents and editors in late Fall but haven’t sent any queries for Book X in quite a while due to the holidays. The thing about the holiday season is that the publishing world slows down (and in some cases virtually shuts down) from Thanksgiving until January. It’s true that some folks still make sales over the holidays (I know someone who made a 3-book deal just this past December!), but it’s tougher, and I admit I didn’t push too hard this last time around. So now we’re out of slow season and back into publishing prime time; let’s call it Wabbit Season. And I need to get jamming. I’ve done some good prep work, compiling lists of good prospects to whom I plan to send queries. Now it’s time to do the leg work, the hard part: writing query letters that are effective and personalized (without breaking my back and spending hours at a time on each one). It’s tough, time-consuming, and discouraging, because I often don’t hear back at all from the folks I query. (Silence often means “no” in publishing.) But it must be done. There’s no shortcut, as much as I wish there was. So I’m going to have to try to strike a balance in the coming weeks, hitting the queries hard for Book X while moving forward with the budding Book Y. It’s times like these when I wish I were making a living off my fiction writing, because I really do need the time to do not just the writing itself, but the marketing, business, and all that other ancillary stuff. Plus the blogging. 🙂 See you tomorrow!
