To Shorten Or Not To Shorten

24 Mar 2013 Leave a comment

by Sandy Wierman in Uncategorized

Writer’s Relief. Kind of sounds like welfare for starving authors, doesn’t it? It turns out to be an organization that purposes to do a lot of the legwork for you, in terms of getting your book published. They’ll track down the most likely agents and publishers; edit your book, synopsis and query letter; and send you a packet of stuff that’s all ready for submission. All you need to add is postage and a prayer. I admit, I was very drawn to the idea, in spite of the huge price tag. Being completely overwhelmed at all the different roads to publication, the idea of a professional organization removing a lot of the guesswork and streamlining the process was quite tantalizing. So I went ahead and applied. It only took a couple of days for the verdict to come back … my book is too long for them to bother with.

Operating under the philosophy that any feedback, good or bad, is better than none, I’m nevertheless confused as to what I should be doing with this particular nugget … if anything. The news that my baby is a little overweight isn’t completely surprising to me. I read at least one professional editor’s blog that claimed any new author is going to have trouble selling a book that’s more than 100,000 words long. Mine tips the scale at over 200,000. I find it highly ironic that I’m now hearing the book is too long, when the very first comment I got from my husband (my first reader, my biggest supporter and an avid Sci Fi fan) was that my first draft was way too short. In the world of books like the “Song of Fire and Ice” series by George R. R. Martin — books that can take weeks to get through (for slower readers like me) — how can a book that took my husband two nights to read be too long?? Granted, he’s a fast reader, but still …

After I gave my first draft to my husband, my sister, and several friends, I incorporated all their comments into a year-long effort that I thought made the book stronger … and, yes, longer. I didn’t THINK I was making it longer for the sake of adding heft, I thought I was making it a more interesting read. I can’t remember the exact source, but I remember one author saying that a story was like a meal. You can dine on plain bread and water, or you can dine on a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Both will fill you up and sustain you, but which one are you going to enjoy more? So I thought I was doing a GOOD thing by adding gravy to my stuffing, topping my sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and replacing the water with wine (or beer in my case, since I don’t like wine). Did my efforts merely take my book out of contention?

Ever since I purchased the 2013 Writer’s Market and signed up for their on-line site, I’ve been inundated with e-mails from Writer’s Digest advertising any number of webinars designed to help me be a published author. Included in these ads have been webinars claiming they can teach you to write the next young adult bestseller; aimed, no doubt, at aspiring authors dreaming of creating the next Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen. I, of course, would be lying if I said I didn’t care to aspire to those heights, but I also don’t see myself writing a book from scratch based on someone else’s idea of a good story. My story started with a tiny sprout of an idea many years ago and I’ve allowed it to grow where it would. I’d like to think that there are lots of people out there who would love it as I do, and who would be glad that you can’t finish it in one sitting. If I start cutting it back to suit one person’s idea of appropriate length, aren’t I short-changing those who want something more?

So what does one do with such a trenchant observation? Do I immediately go back and see what I can heave over the side of my overladen ship? Or should I be taking their observation quite so much to heart?

I suspect it’s far too early in the process for me to be ditching so much of my work on the recommendation of one organization. Until I have a few more rejections under my belt, I don’t think I should be abandoning my vision just yet. I think I’ll continue to hang on to the hope that there’s a niche out there somewhere for my story cycle, even if I have to e-publish to find it. But that’s an entry for another time!

Manuscript Received

24 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by Sandy Wierman in Getting Published

The postcard has come back!  I now know for sure that my manuscript has arrived at DAW Books.  Now begins the period of waiting while they analyze its potential.  Obviously I’m hoping for a phone call instead of a rejection letter.  Keep your fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I’m working hard on editing the second book in my Skytrain series, The Magdalita, and finding out fascinating little factoids in the process.  In my fictional world (400 years in the future), all Human spaceships are in the same ‘time zone’, so to speak, to aid in coordination and communication.  I had thought to make this common time zone Greenwich Mean Time, but in a foray to Wikipedia, I discovered that Greenwich Mean Time, as an officially observed time, has been replaced by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).  I think Coordinated Universal Time has a snappier ring to it, as far as being future-sounding, so I was quite excited at the discovery.

I know, it doesn’t take much to get me excited!

I felt a similar thrill when I was doing a little research on the first moon landing.  In my first book, The Brigand, I have a scene where vandals defile the landing site of Apollo 11 on the 400th anniversary of the first moon landing.  I had thought to have one of them destroy the American flag left on the moon by Armstrong and the others, but it turns out there’s a strong possibility it’s not there anymore, or at least no longer standing.  General wisdom has it that the flag was most likely blown over by the engine blast of the ascent module as it took off, and that whatever was left has since been destroyed by the degrading affects of the sun.  I found that to be a fascinating tidbit, as I’d always thought the flag would still be standing exactly as they’d left it.  (No doubt I got this idea from the opening scene of Independence Day.)

First Like

08 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by Sandy Wierman in Getting Published, Uncategorized Tags: ,

It’s been a week since I mailed The Brigand to the publisher, so I should be getting back the self-addressed postcard I sent them, stating that my manuscript has been logged into their system.  Now begins the “up-to-three-months” waiting period while they read and evaluate it.  Obviously I’m hoping for a phone call and not my own SASE back.  (That’s a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope for those in the know!)

I experienced a milestone of sorts yesterday, though.  I got my first ‘Likes’ on my blog!  Really quite exciting!  I’ll be forever grateful for those affirmations and would like to show my appreciation … somehow.  I’m not above admitting that I have no idea where to go from here.  I think I need to get myself to the nearest Barnes & Noble and look for a Social Media for Dummies book.  I’m sure there has to be one!

The ‘Likes’ came from a photographer and an author and I’ve already gone out and checked out their sites.  Patrick Latter was the first, and his website has some truly AMAZING photographs!  Really beautiful work!  And the second was Ellis Nelson, an author whose first book, Into the Land of Snows, was just published last February.  I was really quite excited to read her blog.  Not only does her work sound fascinating, but it was fun to read about a first-time author navigating some of the same paths I’m following.  I haven’t read all the posts yet, but her earliest ones sound SO similar to my first steps into the social media arena.  I can’t wait to read more!

Maiden Voyage of the Skytrain

30 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Sandy Wierman in Getting Published Tags: , , ,

Well, I did it!  I just got back from dropping my manuscript (Skytrain Series #1, The Brigand) at the post office.  Not ‘drop’ really, more like handed over with the formal air of placing a crown on someone’s head.  The girl behind the desk must have sensed the importance of the occasion, because she seemed to handle the transaction with a bit more elan than I remember from past forays to ship packages.  I suppose it’s entirely possible she saw my husband and me through the glass door as he took a picture of me standing in front of the UPS Store with my manuscript cradled in my arms.  It was his idea to take the pictures, starting last night when he took a picture of me standing next to the 30-pound pile of paper I’d just printed out.  (Or rather, the “thirty-pound pile of paper”, since one of the things I discovered about formatting a manuscript — that I didn’t know before — was that numbers under 100 should be spelled out, whereas numbers over 100 should be rendered in numerals.  Not quite sure where the actual number 100 falls.)

I wonder if J.K. Rowling or the great Alice Mary Norton (otherwise known as Andre Norton) treated their first submission with such solemnity, or if they would smile (snicker?) at the care with which I packed it into its box.  I packed it twice, the second time taking greater pains to make sure the pages wouldn’t shift in transit.  I chose to ship first class instead of the cheaper, slower media rate, since I’m apparently in a hurry to receive my first rejection letter.  I would actually have preferred UPS, since their tracking capabilities would let me see exactly when it got there, but none of the publisher’s guidelines mentioned UPS as an option, and at this point I’m terrified of committing some kind of faux pas that would cause an editor to chuck my baby into the round file!

The publisher I chose for this first try, DAW Books, is one of the few that asks for the complete manuscript up front and promises to read every one.  Not only do I feel that gives me the best chance, but it also gives me a little breathing space before trying again, since they won’t accept simultaneous submissions to other publishers.

One of my first lessons on this journey was what a ‘simultaneous submission’ is.  The 2013 Writer’s Market was somewhat vague on the concept, no doubt making the assumption that everyone already knows what it is.  I suppose it could be intuitively obvious that it means you shouldn’t try to interest more than one publisher at a time in your manuscript, but I reasoned that it could also mean you shouldn’t submit more than one book at the same time to the same publisher.  As it turned out, it was the former definition, and I certainly see where it would be annoying to an editor to take the time to read and evaluate a manuscript, only to find out that another publisher had snapped up the manuscript already.

It’s been a fascinating experience up to now, learning about how to format a manuscript and find a publisher.  I thought I was fairly knowledgeable in the area of literature, but it turns out I’m sadly out of date!  Tune in for more on my continuing education in future posts!

Hello world!

30 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Sandy Wierman in Getting Published Tags: , ,

Hello world, my name is Sandy Wierman.  After a long and successful career as a software developer, I’ve decided to embark on a new life adventure and become a writer.  Technically speaking I’ve been a writer all my life, judging by the stacks of story-filled notebooks and the massive volume of letters sent out to friends and family, but now I’d like to move beyond my tiny sphere and actually get published.  I’ve written a four-book science fiction series called Skytrain and am now attempting to get the first book in the series, The Brigand, published.  I have it on good authority that nowadays it’s good to do some self-promotion (a concept that causes me to quiver in my shoes), so this blog is my first, unsteady step in that direction.  I plan to share the steps on the journey in the hopes that some may find my discoveries to be beneficial and perhaps even inspiring, for surely there are other middle-aged first-time authors out there looking for like-minded souls to share the trip!