Plot Monkeys

From Novice to Professional
Winning the First Sale War in 10 Strategic Steps
PART 2:

From the workshop Carly Phillips, Lori & Tony Karayianni aka Tori Carrington, and Harlequin Editor, Brenda Chin presented at the Romance Writers of America Conference, Chicago, 1999

Last week I left off telling you that if you wanted to get published, you needed to GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE. Be sure to go back and read last Saturday’s blog if you happened to miss it! Today I pick up with what happens when you become the person whose name is known to an editor …

7. INCOMING!!!!... Even more than an editor admires persistence, they admire someone who learns from past experience. And that experience is ready to happen. You walk out to the mailbox, forgetting for a moment you’re engaged in battle. You relax, lose focus. And that’s when the first landmine blindsides you. An incoming missile slams you in the gut. There in your mailbox is the red white and blue priority envelope with your neat handwriting on it. Or the larger manilla envelope with the Harlequin—Canada label. Your stomach plummets and you realize you’ve lost.

Take heart. Yes, a returned manuscript is a battle lost, but the war wages on. And a good soldier is ready, willing and able to regroup. The first step is to take stock. Assess the damage and see if there’s anything salvable in the ruins. The best way to look at the letter in your hand is by line quantity. The less said, the worse your position. The more said, the further you’ve advanced in your battle plan. The editor is looking for publishable material.

If the letter in your hands mentions your characters by name or points out a flaw or flaws in your precious manuscript, it’s time for back-slapping, military hugs. Because you’ve crossed that first hurdle. You’ve given an editor something to criticize.

Wait a minute. This is a good thing? I know you’re wondering if that last landmine shattered something in my brain. But I haven’t lost my mind. If an editor takes the time to point out even one tiny flaw in your work, as a reason for passing on a particular story, you’ve accomplished a major objective. With hundreds of other soldiers fighting the same fight, you’ve relied on your prime weapon—your talent and unique voice—and captured an editor’s attention. Good job, soldier.

Even better is if an editor suggests you revise the work and resubmit. You’ve advanced higher in the ranks and you get that all important second chance to show what you can do. Be cautiously optimistic and be prepared to work harder than you have in your life. Be in for more emotional highs and lows than you thought were possible.

If you really want to sell, be flexible. Learn to listen. Hear what the editor wants. Hear what the problems are with your work. And accept them. It may be your work, but if you want to sell, you need to prove to an editor that you are willing to change your work vision to suit their vision of their publishing house or line.

8. DEFEAT… But be prepared. Even if you’re the most flexible, reliable soldier, sometimes a year or more of revising and waiting will pass, only to discover this manuscript isn’t the one.

Then you are facing your worst enemy, a rejection. Scan down to the bottom of the page. If you check out the last paragraph and see “I’m sorry this story doesn’t work for me but I’d be happy to see more of your work,” don’t laugh it off and shove the letter in a drawer. Or worse, the trash can. Editors don’t say things they don’t mean.

For one thing, they don’t have the time. In many cases you’ve submitted to her umpteenth times before. In others, she’s logged in your work and recognizes your name. Regardless, though one book isn’t suitable for publication, the next one might be.

No one said it would come fast or easy. And if you thought it would, we’re here to correct you. In this business, as in life, there are no guarantees. Not even when the senior editor holds your manuscript in her hot little hands with a glowing recommendation to buy by the editor who you believe will make your dreams come true.

9. DON’T WAVE THE WHITE FLAG YET… It doesn’t matter if this story doesn’t work for the editor. I see you scratching your heads out there. Isn’t that the point? To sell the book? Of course. But if you’ve received the incoming missile, dismantled it and sent an even better submission back out there, you’ve shown an editor you’re someone she can work with.

Editors are professionals. They demand the same of their recruits. If selling is your objective, you’ve just learned an important combat rule. Be willing to revise. Because if an editor sees a difficult author, no matter how talented, you’ve shot yourself in the foot, soldier. And there’s nowhere to go but back underground.

10. RETURN TO BATTLE… It’s back to the bunker to regroup again. To revise that manuscript or complete the next one for submission. All in the name of the secondary goal. To GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE. So take a minute, take a deep breath, and … write that editor a thank you note. Yes, she said your baby is ugly or needs cosmetic surgery, and yes, she may have taken months and months to do it. But the point is, she did it. Consider the thank you note a major point in your campaign to sell. So sit down, write that note and let the editor know you’ll be submitting again in the future. Then sit down to write that next story.

At this point, you need to take a minute and revise your initial game plan. How is the battle progressing? Where are you going in your career? You need to step back and make financial decisions. Beyond submissions, there are other ways to further your objective. To GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE.

Conferences and contests can play an important role. They also cost money and you need to decide which, if any, are the most cost effective. Contests come in all shapes and sizes, the same as aspiring authors. The RWR lists all chapter conferences. Assess them according to your level of expertise.

In all cases—contests are a like a Kamikaze mission. You may soar with a win or crash and burn. They are a decision to invest money with no guaranteed return. You might learn more about your craft. You might interest an editor enough to request the full manuscript. And as Brenda will tell you, she’s found more than one potential author this way. But there’s no guarantee. A good soldier is trained in the art of developing a thick skin. You’ll need it for the battles ahead.

There never comes a time when you can sit back and rest on your contest wins or pin your hopes on the latest manuscript in the mail. If you do, the newest eager recruit will bypass you in an instant. This never changes, not even once you’ve made that first sale.

Which brings me to another point. The call. Jump up and down … scream, yell and call everyone you know. How you handle that first sale call is for another workshop. But this is as good a place as any for a reality check. Selling that first book isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. The beginning of a new career and new challenges. You’re no longer at the top of the unpublished food chain, among the ranks of the almost published. You’re published now and that’s a crowning achievement. But you’re at a new place—the bottom of the published food chain. And you will need every ounce of perseverance and determination you learned on the climb towards publication. You’ll need to keep your skills honed and your talent fresh. Because you’re in a new league now and you want to not only compete, but succeed.

While you’re still in the pre-sale stage though, there are a few more points I’d like to make. Just because you haven’t yet sold, doesn’t make you less of a writer. Military jargon and fun aside, there is no formula that will enable you to sell. There are no easy answers as to why some people make it and others don’t. I personally had ten completed manuscripts over seven years before I sold one and that doesn’t include revisions.

The ups and downs I mentioned? Been there, done that. Over those six years, I had manuscripts passed up to senior editors with recommendations to buy four times. Each time, the senior editor passed. As I said, nothing is guaranteed. Two weeks after I’d submitted a proposal to Brenda at Temptation, she called to see the rest.

Two weeks and a phone call to an unpublished writer! Isn’t that unheard of in publishing? She says now she remembered my name—enough to pull my unrequested manuscript out of the slush pile and give it a look. Remember what I said? GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE. I believe in it. It works.

I didn’t sell that manuscript. But Brenda—the best editor out there—she’ll kill me for saying that because you’ll all probably flood her desk with submissions now—believed in me. She worked with me until I sold. Two and a half years after that first call. Two and a half years.

So continue to do everything you can to make your dream come true. And be proud of yourself. You’ve followed the rules and stuck it out when lesser writers have fallen by the wayside. And believe it or not, if you’ve been through everything we’ve discussed here today, the editors know it. They respect you for it. You’ve managed to stand above the other potential recruits. And the only thing left to do is keep up the good work.

With talent, perseverance and a little help from Lady Luck, your dream of being published can come true. Just don’t forget my best piece of advice. GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE. And Keep It There.
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I hope you’ve enjoyed the mini-workshop on Getting Published - We’re trying to give you new and fun things for your Saturdays. If you aren’t an aspiring writer, don’t worry. We’ll be bouncing back and forth with new things often!

Thanks again for stopping by!