If you've written a novel and are lucky enough to get picked up by a publisher, do yourself a favor and don't make waves because suddenly, after all the rejections you've received, that acceptance letter and contract has a funny way of making you arrogant and giving you a sense of importance. But remember the reason you feel that way--because that publisher chose you and not necessarily because you're some special entity or the best author who ever lived.
Editors have a way of wanting to make your work marketable, and when this happens you need to listen.
As a writer who is soon to be published, I understand how attached you are to your work, but the thing is a publisher who submits a contract to you in order to establish your work might have second thoughts in dealing with you if you are a huge pain in the ass.
For example, my editor wanted to change my title. I was attached to said title; I had modeled it after the pulp westerns from the 1800s. But I agreed with my editor that most people today wouldn't realize that, and I begrudgingly agreed with him in regards to changing my title. The publisher's marketing department liked my editor's title better, and because they want to sell copies of the book and make money (making you money in the process) they often know better. So I had to let my title go. And really, what's the big deal anyway? It's not as if my story changed. I might have preferred my title, but in the end, I understood the need for the title they chose.
If your editor makes suggestions, take them seriously. Remember, they're investing in you. Unless you're an accomplished writer in the sense that you've written several books and therefore have some clout with the publishing industry, think about the last time someone financially invested tens of thousands on you based on their belief in you and your work. Probably never. Based on that alone your editor/publisher deserves some respect in making marketing decisions.
And it's okay to ask questions, but don't question your editor. What I mean to say is your editor is more than happy to explain things to you, but if you begin to interrogate him/her on their ideas/decision making, you will not ingratiate yourself to them at all, and the last place you want to be is on bad terms with your editor. Suppose, like myself, you have a sequel in the works? If you're a difficult person to work with, even if your publisher goes ahead and publishes your current work, they may not want to be bothered with the second work and it's back to the drawing board and rejections for you.
As for me, I not only want to publish my sequel with the same publisher who is putting out my first work, but I chose my publisher based on the fact that they publish the premier authority on Billy the Kid, Frederick Nolan, and I am honored that they chose me back. Therefore, I want to stay on their good side and remain with them. It's a feather in my cap that I am not only being published with the same publisher that prints one of my favorite authors who writes about and is the number one expert on my favorite historical figure, but also because after submitting my manuscript, they gave me many nice compliments, one of which was the statement that I obviously knew what I was talking about. Being that my story is a period piece that's based on historical fact, this was a major deal to me, and it helped instill even more confidence in myself because they saw and admitted that I knew my stuff.
So, if you are lucky and get yourself a publisher and a contract, and you've done the research on your publisher (see my post on Attempting To Get Published), make sure you don't grow too big for your britches simply because you're getting published. The same person who made you feel that way can make you feel incredibly small conversely if you fail to be modest and listen to their point of view with an open mind.
Author of the Bandita / Billy the Kid Series and currently working on and writing a contemporary novel with plans to publish soon. www.nicolemdixonauthor.com Follow Me On Twitter: @NMDixonAuthor Like My Bandita Page @BanditaBonitaandBillytheKid Website: NicoleMDixonAuthor.com
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Dealing With Publishers
If you've written a novel and are lucky enough to get picked up by a publisher, do yourself a favor and don't make waves because suddenly, after all the rejections you've received, that acceptance letter and contract has a funny way of making you arrogant and giving you a sense of importance. But remember the reason you feel that way--because that publisher chose you and not necessarily because you're some special entity or the best author who ever lived.
Editors have a way of wanting to make your work marketable, and when this happens you need to listen.
As a writer who is soon to be published, I understand how attached you are to your work, but the thing is a publisher who submits a contract to you in order to establish your work might have second thoughts in dealing with you if you are a huge pain in the ass.
For example, my editor wanted to change my title. I was attached to said title; I had modeled it after the pulp westerns from the 1800s. But I agreed with my editor that most people today wouldn't realize that, and I begrudgingly agreed with him in regards to changing my title. The publisher's marketing department liked my editor's title better, and because they want to sell copies of the book and make money (making you money in the process) they often know better. So I had to let my title go. And really, what's the big deal anyway? It's not as if my story changed. I might have preferred my title, but in the end, I understood the need for the title they chose.
If your editor makes suggestions, take them seriously. Remember, they're investing in you. Unless you're an accomplished writer in the sense that you've written several books and therefore have some clout with the publishing industry, think about the last time someone financially invested tens of thousands on you based on their belief in you and your work. Probably never. Based on that alone your editor/publisher deserves some respect in making marketing decisions.
And it's okay to ask questions, but don't question your editor. What I mean to say is your editor is more than happy to explain things to you, but if you begin to interrogate him/her on their ideas/decision making, you will not ingratiate yourself to them at all, and the last place you want to be is on bad terms with your editor. Suppose, like myself, you have a sequel in the works? If you're a difficult person to work with, even if your publisher goes ahead and publishes your current work, they may not want to be bothered with the second work and it's back to the drawing board and rejections for you.
As for me, I not only want to publish my sequel with the same publisher who is putting out my first work, but I chose my publisher based on the fact that they publish the premier authority on Billy the Kid, Frederick Nolan, and I am honored that they chose me back. Therefore, I want to stay on their good side and remain with them. It's a feather in my cap that I am not only being published with the same publisher that prints one of my favorite authors who writes about and is the number one expert on my favorite historical figure, but also because after submitting my manuscript, they gave me many nice compliments, one of which was the statement that I obviously knew what I was talking about. Being that my story is a period piece that's based on historical fact, this was a major deal to me, and it helped instill even more confidence in myself because they saw and admitted that I knew my stuff.
So, if you are lucky and get yourself a publisher and a contract, and you've done the research on your publisher (see my post on Attempting To Get Published), make sure you don't grow too big for your britches simply because you're getting published. The same person who made you feel that way can make you feel incredibly small conversely if you fail to be modest and listen to their point of view with an open mind.
Editors have a way of wanting to make your work marketable, and when this happens you need to listen.
As a writer who is soon to be published, I understand how attached you are to your work, but the thing is a publisher who submits a contract to you in order to establish your work might have second thoughts in dealing with you if you are a huge pain in the ass.
For example, my editor wanted to change my title. I was attached to said title; I had modeled it after the pulp westerns from the 1800s. But I agreed with my editor that most people today wouldn't realize that, and I begrudgingly agreed with him in regards to changing my title. The publisher's marketing department liked my editor's title better, and because they want to sell copies of the book and make money (making you money in the process) they often know better. So I had to let my title go. And really, what's the big deal anyway? It's not as if my story changed. I might have preferred my title, but in the end, I understood the need for the title they chose.
If your editor makes suggestions, take them seriously. Remember, they're investing in you. Unless you're an accomplished writer in the sense that you've written several books and therefore have some clout with the publishing industry, think about the last time someone financially invested tens of thousands on you based on their belief in you and your work. Probably never. Based on that alone your editor/publisher deserves some respect in making marketing decisions.
And it's okay to ask questions, but don't question your editor. What I mean to say is your editor is more than happy to explain things to you, but if you begin to interrogate him/her on their ideas/decision making, you will not ingratiate yourself to them at all, and the last place you want to be is on bad terms with your editor. Suppose, like myself, you have a sequel in the works? If you're a difficult person to work with, even if your publisher goes ahead and publishes your current work, they may not want to be bothered with the second work and it's back to the drawing board and rejections for you.
As for me, I not only want to publish my sequel with the same publisher who is putting out my first work, but I chose my publisher based on the fact that they publish the premier authority on Billy the Kid, Frederick Nolan, and I am honored that they chose me back. Therefore, I want to stay on their good side and remain with them. It's a feather in my cap that I am not only being published with the same publisher that prints one of my favorite authors who writes about and is the number one expert on my favorite historical figure, but also because after submitting my manuscript, they gave me many nice compliments, one of which was the statement that I obviously knew what I was talking about. Being that my story is a period piece that's based on historical fact, this was a major deal to me, and it helped instill even more confidence in myself because they saw and admitted that I knew my stuff.
So, if you are lucky and get yourself a publisher and a contract, and you've done the research on your publisher (see my post on Attempting To Get Published), make sure you don't grow too big for your britches simply because you're getting published. The same person who made you feel that way can make you feel incredibly small conversely if you fail to be modest and listen to their point of view with an open mind.
The Fallout of Being Published
After discussing how friends/family do not take you seriously as you're writing your novel, a funny thing happens when you've completed it and finally find a publisher who does take you seriously. And it could be my imagination, but in all honesty, it seems as though there's a bit of jealousy going around.
People seem to think that once you become published you automatically get a large paycheck. While this is true in some cases (provided you're super lucky and have a commercial publisher pick you up), in most cases this does not happen. But, that doesn't mean you won't make any money.
The jealousy, I suppose, is well founded because when you write a novel and a publisher takes you on, you still have the opportunity to make serious money, whereas those friends of yours who never truly supported you and left you to dangle out there all on your own, stuck in your head while your sanity waned, will never have that opportunity. So even though odds are a big check isn't coming your way as soon as you sign a contract, you're still in the running for a big check to possibly find it's way to you some day.
Most novels take a while for the public to notice them. Many authors need to work at getting their novels out there via word of mouth, book signings, the internet, and other various, creative ways that involve making your brainchild known to the public.
Anyhow, it really just flat out sucks when the same friends who couldn't be bothered to help you by listening to your lamentations or to offer help in the form of advice during your writing period when you needed it most become some version of a jerk after you do finally become published because they aren't going to receive a piece of the pie. The sad thing is this: I would have remembered anyone who had been there for me while I wrote my first novel. Unfortunately, no one was truly there for me with the exception of my husband, and he would have received the spoils anyway.
***Be careful how you treat people--you never know who they'll become later in life.
People seem to think that once you become published you automatically get a large paycheck. While this is true in some cases (provided you're super lucky and have a commercial publisher pick you up), in most cases this does not happen. But, that doesn't mean you won't make any money.
The jealousy, I suppose, is well founded because when you write a novel and a publisher takes you on, you still have the opportunity to make serious money, whereas those friends of yours who never truly supported you and left you to dangle out there all on your own, stuck in your head while your sanity waned, will never have that opportunity. So even though odds are a big check isn't coming your way as soon as you sign a contract, you're still in the running for a big check to possibly find it's way to you some day.
Most novels take a while for the public to notice them. Many authors need to work at getting their novels out there via word of mouth, book signings, the internet, and other various, creative ways that involve making your brainchild known to the public.
Anyhow, it really just flat out sucks when the same friends who couldn't be bothered to help you by listening to your lamentations or to offer help in the form of advice during your writing period when you needed it most become some version of a jerk after you do finally become published because they aren't going to receive a piece of the pie. The sad thing is this: I would have remembered anyone who had been there for me while I wrote my first novel. Unfortunately, no one was truly there for me with the exception of my husband, and he would have received the spoils anyway.
***Be careful how you treat people--you never know who they'll become later in life.
The Fallout of Being Published
After discussing how friends/family do not take you seriously as you're writing your novel, a funny thing happens when you've completed it and finally find a publisher who does take you seriously. And it could be my imagination, but in all honesty, it seems as though there's a bit of jealousy going around.
People seem to think that once you become published you automatically get a large paycheck. While this is true in some cases (provided you're super lucky and have a commercial publisher pick you up), in most cases this does not happen. But, that doesn't mean you won't make any money.
The jealousy, I suppose, is well founded because when you write a novel and a publisher takes you on, you still have the opportunity to make serious money, whereas those friends of yours who never truly supported you and left you to dangle out there all on your own, stuck in your head while your sanity waned, will never have that opportunity. So even though odds are a big check isn't coming your way as soon as you sign a contract, you're still in the running for a big check to possibly find it's way to you some day.
Most novels take a while for the public to notice them. Many authors need to work at getting their novels out there via word of mouth, book signings, the internet, and other various, creative ways that involve making your brainchild known to the public.
Anyhow, it really just flat out sucks when the same friends who couldn't be bothered to help you by listening to your lamentations or to offer help in the form of advice during your writing period when you needed it most become some version of a jerk after you do finally become published because they aren't going to receive a piece of the pie. The sad thing is this: I would have remembered anyone who had been there for me while I wrote my first novel. Unfortunately, no one was truly there for me with the exception of my husband, and he would have received the spoils anyway.
***Be careful how you treat people--you never know who they'll become later in life.
People seem to think that once you become published you automatically get a large paycheck. While this is true in some cases (provided you're super lucky and have a commercial publisher pick you up), in most cases this does not happen. But, that doesn't mean you won't make any money.
The jealousy, I suppose, is well founded because when you write a novel and a publisher takes you on, you still have the opportunity to make serious money, whereas those friends of yours who never truly supported you and left you to dangle out there all on your own, stuck in your head while your sanity waned, will never have that opportunity. So even though odds are a big check isn't coming your way as soon as you sign a contract, you're still in the running for a big check to possibly find it's way to you some day.
Most novels take a while for the public to notice them. Many authors need to work at getting their novels out there via word of mouth, book signings, the internet, and other various, creative ways that involve making your brainchild known to the public.
Anyhow, it really just flat out sucks when the same friends who couldn't be bothered to help you by listening to your lamentations or to offer help in the form of advice during your writing period when you needed it most become some version of a jerk after you do finally become published because they aren't going to receive a piece of the pie. The sad thing is this: I would have remembered anyone who had been there for me while I wrote my first novel. Unfortunately, no one was truly there for me with the exception of my husband, and he would have received the spoils anyway.
***Be careful how you treat people--you never know who they'll become later in life.
Brief Synopsis Of My Upcoming Book: Bandita Bonita: Romancing Billy the Kid (Soon To Be In Print)
Brief Synopsis:
Lucy, a New York societal heiress, is sent to New Mexico Lincoln County
The Santa Fe Ring is a notoriously crooked band of men who run Lincoln County and plot out the murder of John Tunstall in order to remove him from his role as their competitor in business and to relieve him of the audacity he exhibits in setting up industry within their territory despite their threats on his life. When The Ring finally eliminates John, they set their sights on the murder of Lucy to make a further example of their power after she threatens the town Sheriff due to his errant ways.
The Regulators, a gang of deputized men including Billy the Kid, are created to serve justice to those involved in the murder of Tunstall, Hearing of the plot on Lucy’s life through the capture of Santa Fe Ring prisoners responsible for John’s death, they bring Lucy into their protective custody, as to do otherwise would mean the near certainty of sealing her fate by The Ring’s nefarious plan to do away with her.
Now riding with The Regulators, Lucy is recognized and becomes considered an outlaw with the gang after the prisoners in which The Regulators had been responsible for are killed while in their custody. With her new status, she is forced to continue on with The Regulators until her safety to return home can be assured. A problem arises with this plan, however, as Lucy herself wishes to not only stay with Billy, the boy whom she loves, but refuses to go back to a life that is confining and where her marriages are arranged as she is traded like chattel at her family’s convenience in order to contract business propositions. Lucy’s life in New York harbors no regard for her own happiness, a virtue she has discovered while experiencing the freedom of New Mexico
Further hindering her safe return is the bounty of a large sum of money Lucy’s father has placed on his daughter in the interest of having her caught and safely returned home which threatens to bring droves of bounty hunters and regular men alike to track her down. This not only potentially jeopardizes her life in the event she is found and a fight breaks out in order to capture her, but jeopardizes the lives of the men meant to protect her as they now must consider additionally contending with those outside the pack of their familiar enemies.
The Regulators, now stripped of their lawful position, are resigned to fight The Santa Fe Ring and demolish this band of corrupt law and businessmen who cause the oppression of the territory’s people, and employs the use of crooked law in order to attain wealth and justice for their own evil ends. Lucy fights with her own conscience over the war that breaks out between the two factions, but ultimately decides to keep running with her friends, The Regulators, as she is willing to die in order to preserve her own freedom, a desire which runs parallel to the ideals of The Regulators in eradicating The Ring and ridding the territory of them.
Lucy experiences a whole new side of life in the west and feels as though a newborn babe experiencing for the first time the autonomy she had been denied all of her life. It is during all of this when she meets James Moffey, another young boy to whom she becomes attached and who, in return, falls in love with Lucy much to Billy’s chagrin as the latter is both in love with Lucy, sharing a special, unbreakable bond with her, and feels responsible for her protection from any harm which could befall her in such a vicious climate as the west. Further causing Billy agitation is the fact that he makes every effort to talk Lucy into going back to New York
In addition, Lucy must face the torment of dealing with the girls Billy carries on relationships with in the towns that sympathize with and hide The Regulators, protecting them from their enemies. She is forced the humiliation of these girls who taunt her out of jealousy over Billy. Each trial and tribulation that Lucy must face contributes to the alteration of her lady-like refinement into something hard-bitten as she is obligated to survive the harsh climate she is caught in the middle of as it wears down her polish and roughens her edges. The influences of both The Regulators and the circumstances of what results in the Five Days War of Lincoln County shifts Lucy’s once distinguished character into something resembling a radical who is willing to do what needs to be done to defend herself and guard her friends in the midst of an ugly battle devised from greed.
Among other things, this novel touches on the concept of the levels in which we as people, sophisticated or otherwise, are willing to sink to in the interest of self-preservation.
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