Catherine Dilts is our guest blogger today. She is the
author of the Rock Shop Mystery series. Her short stories appear
regularly in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. With
a day job as an environmental regulatory technician, Catherine's stories often
have environmental or factory-based themes. Others reflect her love of the Colorado
Roadblock
Perspective
You’re on
the way to work. Traffic stops. You’re angry that you’ll be late. If only you’d
left a few minutes earlier. You vow to stop being so darn last minute about
things. There are huge consequences at stake. As you inch along, you imagine
your boss frowning. What’s the hold up? Get moving! Then you see
the reason for the traffic jam. A fender bender? No. A vehicle crushed like a
soda can. An ambulance speeds away. Yikes. Being late doesn’t seem so important
now.
The
publishing business presents roadblocks that can imitate the emotional
rollercoaster of being held up in traffic. Here’s the process many of us have
been through recently.
You finally
get the darn thing written. You shop it around for months, delighted when you
get a “send it” from an editor or agent. By the time you have a contract in
your anxious little hands, it has been years from idea to sale. Another round
of agonizing delay begins as your manuscript travels through the publishing
house with the blazing swiftness of an undigested coconut in the intestines of
a brontosaurus. Hint – that dinosaur has miles of innards.
You realize
why your Indie published friends are smug about how fast their process goes.
But you wanted this traditional route, and by golly, you’re sticking with it. You
let everyone know your projected release date. Maybe have a celebration or two.
Before your novel is released, you receive a somber email that the publishing
house is closing up shop. You wonder if your book had anything to do with their
demise - as if this situation hadn’t been fermenting for years. Businesses
don’t extinct overnight.
Roadblock.
I’ve heard
this tale from way too many authors. You’ve read the stories on the blogs and
loops. Some are multi-published, award-winning folks. It happens to the best of
us.
I’ve given
enough doom and gloom to choke that constipated brontosaurus. It’s time to find
the rainbow in the storm.
1.
First,
take a breath. Give yourself a brief period of mourning. What it is you really
want out of this writing business? Fame and fortune? Do you write to maintain
your sanity in a crazy world? To make a point or make a difference? What is
your definition of success?
2.
If
this roadblock hasn’t utterly crushed your artistic soul, the most important
thing you can do is start your next project. Keep writing!
3.
You
have a finished product. It was accepted for publication. That puts you at the
head of the pack. Maybe one more rewrite will propel your work to a higher level.
4.
Consider
independent publishing. Avoid vanity publishers like the plague, but you might
try one of the new crop of publishing services that guide you through the Indie
process. Or save your money and go it alone.
5.
Do
your homework. Don’t jump into a bad deal with a mediocre outfit because you’re
heartbroken and desperate. That never works in the romance department, and it
doesn’t work in publishing, either. You have resources to use in vetting
agents, publishers, and Indie businesses. Ask for references, ask around, check
the usual Preditors and Editors type sites.
Going back
to my original roadblock scenario, as you drive past the tragic scene, a thought
occurs. If you had been five minutes earlier, you would have been in that
wreck. In my twisted pessimistic-yet-optimistic worldview, I often see failure
turn into a blessing.
The fact is,
you broke through a hundred roadblocks to make that sale that eventually fell
through. If you did it once, you can do it again. There is a home for your
story. Maybe a better one.
I could
write an entire blog on Indie versus Trad, but due mostly to my work schedule,
I have taken the traditional route. I reluctantly headed down the independent
trail when the third novel in my Rock Shop Mystery series was orphaned by the
demise of the Five Star mystery line. A month away from my Indie publishing
date, an unexpected opportunity arose to join a brand new small publishing
company.
Maybe this
roadblock will blossom into the best thing that could have happened to my
writing career. Maybe I will exit stage right as a semi-digested coconut. I’m
just thrilled traffic is moving again.
What’s your
roadblock? What are you doing to get moving again?
Learn more about
Catherine at http://www.catherinedilts.com/ Find her on Amazon at http://amzn.to/2d2exez
Comments welcome!
