Today I contemplated the ms solicitation I received yesterday. You know, it is so hard, as a struggling writer, to see a request for your work and feel despair. A solictation should be a happy moment, a validation of the salability of an author’s work. And I do feel relieved and a little validated that this particular work was intriguing enough to get the request for more. It defies many standards and garnered the following judge quote, “I found this character not representative of a romance heroine.” You’re damn right! There’s enough of those to please everyone. How about a little variety? Thankfully another judge wrote, “Your characters are great. Loved the heroine! Very well-developed.” There’s a market out there for the original stuff, but not enough publishers willing to explore it.
At the time I sent the partial, I was thrilled to submit to this house, I had dreams of being one of their authors and gaining their established audience. And then, through my subsequent dealings with them, I grew disillusioned and now, solicitation in hand, I find a bad taste roiling around in my mouth. It shouldn’t be this way. And it’s so hard, when you want to get your work out there, when you want to publish as much as you can, when you suffer from self-doubt as every writer does, to see a request for your work and feel hesitation in sending it. Ray Bradbury had it right, but it’s not as easy as he makes it sound. And with a tight market, do I really have a choice?
Oh… and my AOL still doesn’t work!!!
Hm…that’s a tough one. You have to weigh the options of signing now, because you are eager to become published, and possibly being slung to the bottom of the heap by them OR signing with them, and making the best you can out of the situation. Is it a major NY publisher or a small press/e-pub?
by Sidonie July 29th, 2004 at 9:59 ammy frowny faces didnt show up in the last post.
Heck of a place to be, Sug. All I can think of is send it and maybe query agents at the same time, letting them know the requested ms is with Pub A. Maybe it’ll get you an agent who can protect your interest w/Pub A if they make an offer. If they don’t, you’ve still got an agent.
Sending it doesn’t equate with a sale.
Just my 2 cents.
by cece August 2nd, 2004 at 4:56 pmI haven’t sent the ms to the publisher yet, but I did sent it to an agent. I’d originally sent her the "MoMWR" and she requested the whole thing before saying that she liked my writing but not that particular ms. She wanted to see something else, so I’ve sent her a couple partials, including the one the pub wants to see. I’ll wait to hear from the agent before going any further with it. Wish me luck! I’m really hoping for the best!
by Sylvia August 2nd, 2004 at 5:37 pm