Querying and selling your work

Well, it’s official – my vacation is over.  While the weather is still very much summer – 38 degrees here in Sydney - the return of my students today marked the end of my vacation.  

Along with my break from the kids and blogging – I’m now faced with a return to querying and trying to land an agent/publishing deal. 

This is only my second attempt at selling a manuscript.  This time last year, I attempted to sell my fiction manuscript Plan B to the American agents.  No success there.  In fact, by about mid year, I reached a point where I stopped querying because I’d had enough rejection.  Yes, I know…rejection is part of the journey – I get it – but there’s only so much rejection this little black duck can take.   The net result of all that rejection was positive, I realised I needed to do more work on the MS, which is still in progress.  Thankfully I scored a couple of writing wins towards the end of the year which have boosted my confidence and willingness to try again. 

Along the way I co-wrote a non-fiction how-to/job success manual (which I fully believe will sell) so that’s what’s on the sales agenda now.  

I plan to blog-ument my querying and sales journey each week.  I’m going to share the process I use to select publishers, how many queries I make and the responses I receive.  I’ll also share the other side of it – the emotional journey.  I plan on being open and honest about how I’m feeling throughout the sales process.  I’m doing this as a form of rejection therapy and in the hope that my honestly will help others who are going the through the same gut wrenching process.

Buckle up kids, think it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Opportunities for You!

You know with this economy you might think that opportunities for writers are drying up.  But that’s not so, and we have a line up of writers coming here to Rule of Three who are going to tell you about concrete things you can do to jumpstart your writing career.

First off, in case you missed it, Julie Bonn Heath did a wonderful article on writing for anthologies this weekend ( just scroll down for her hands on post.) She will be blog touring with her book, Then Along Came an Angel, so check her blog.  Anyone who comments during her blog tour (at our site or another) will be entered into a drawing to win books.

Next week, we have 3 blog guests, Cassie Exline, Marc Nobbs and Savannah Chase are a bit like Rule of Three.  They are three different writers from three different countries and they’re going to tell you some of the obstacles they’ve faced with that along the way. I had a sneak peek at some of their posts and I have to tell you they’re telling it just the way it is.

Keep checking back all next weekend as they take turns posting.

And coming in December, we have Jean Henry Mead, author of A Village Shattered, who will tell you why you should think about writing a senior sleuth novel.

All in all, I’m excited about our guests and I hope you are too.

More on Editing and Finding Writing Time

I want to tie up a couple of loose ends that I found after I posted last week. First the very talented Pauline Jones tweeted to me that she gets her editing checklists from the book, Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. There are lists at the end of each chapter. I don’t know how I forgot that one, because I love that book. (Whoever borrowed that one from me, please give it back!).

As to the subject of juggling our works in progress, our other writing, and just our lives, telling myself I can’t go to bed until I’ve written a page a day is working for me. I have written without fail since I started back doing that. For those of you who need accountability, I found a group called the club 100 writers. The idea is to write 100 words a day for 100 days. Members report in with their word counts each day.  If you are more motivated by prizes, try the Novelsisterhood. They offer a challenge each month for the member who can write the most words.

Me? I’m trying both, but since I am usually writing late at night, so I can finally go to sleep, I am lousy at reporting in. On the other hand, I wrote this blog while I was running this morning (I was 3 feet from a doe–it was so cool.) so I haven’t given up on the MP3 recording/writing quite yet.

Found something new to help you write? Tell me! I can use the help.

What YOU can do about Domestic Violence

Since Narelle wrote such a great post on domestic violence, I couldn’t help but want to jump on the bandwagon and ask for your help. Times are hard. We all know it. Gas is expensive so food is expensive and let’s not even think about going on vacation. As an author, I guess I should tell you to remember to buy books. After all, that is my bread and butter (or would be if I made anything at this). But books you can get at the library. If they don’t have the book you want, many libraries respond to a patron’s requests to buy a book. Look for the suggestion button on your library’s website. Hey, request Safe Beginnings while you’re there. Also check out Dreams and Desires: A Collection of Romance and Erotic Tales published by Freya’s Bower. All net proceeds from this book go to a battered women’s shelter.

Okay, so now that I’ve done that—I have to ask you—please don’t forget to give to your local battered women’s shelter. You might not have much, but I can guarantee that whatever you’ve got, they need it. Battered women’s shelters need money to help them keep going but don’t put off helping them just because you’re feeling broke.

Many will take your old clothes for the women who came away with just the stuff on their backs. Some take donations of household items (gently used) sometimes to resell in a shop that gives the profit to the shelter, sometimes to give directly to the women who are starting over. Food donations are also appreciated. Did your daughter cancel the wedding two days before hand and now you have all this stuff? Call your local shelter. Is your garden overflowing with squash and tomatoes? You lucky banana! Call your local shelter.

We’re all facing the same economy. Some of us just have a couple more assets that we never even think about. Please, click on the link to find the shelter closest to you and be resourceful with your assets.

USA http://www.letswrap.com/usadv/

Australia http://www.hotpeachpages.net/auspac/aus1.html#ACT

United Kingdom http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_services_directory

Europe http://www.hotpeachpages.net/europe/europe1.html

Blogs we love

To make up for my l-o-o-n-g post on why I think writers should consider e-publishing, I’m going to make it short today.–and give you all a break. But I started thinking about this blogging thing and about how much we all get out of it. I like blogging–and reading blogs is my favorite procrastinating activity.

But ask any ten writers what their favorite blog is and you’ll get at least twenty different answers–and reasons why. I tend to gravitate toward mystery writer’s blogs like the Lipstick Chronicles or blogs that will help me as a writer Writer’s Write

So when I started thinking about this post, I was aware of my limitations. Of course I asked around. One blog that kept coming up in other writer’s top ten writer’s blogs was Freelance Writing Gigs. That’s it for non-fiction. Apparently I hang with a bunch of fiction writers only.
Karen Duvall is running an on-line workshop this week on writing description. Participants are in line to win one of three writer’s books.
And I got a suggestion for Romance writers-Romancing the blog.
So now I want to ask you folks. What is your favorite writer’s blog?

A Writer’s Resources

 
All this stuff about writing being a solutary thing is, forgive my french, crap. All writers need help to do what we do whether it’s to gather information for our work in progress (wip), find an agent or get published.
With that in mind, the web sure makes it a lot easier to get this help nowadays. In the U.S., helpful organizations like National Writer’s Union can still help you to figure out whether a contract you’ve been offered is good. And we probably all have gone to Preditors and Editors to see if an agent or a publishing house is legitimate. And most US writers would check the association for authors representatives for agents but would you think to check
Science Fiction Writers of America Writer Beware
Here a couple of other links you might not think of:
Need Information on E-Publishers?
Check out Fantasy Writer, Piers Anthony’s site

Need information on Forensics?
Check out Lee Lofland’s blog

Need tips in your genre?
Check out Moira Allen’s Writing-World

And if you’re quick–thanks to my friend Karen Duvall, for this snippet:
“If you’re looking for an agent, there’s a first page contest going on at the Miss Snark’s First Victim blog. Submit the first page of your completed manuscript by Thursday July 17 and it will be judged by a Secret Agent who the blog owner managed to wrangle for the job. Secret Agent will choose a winner and award a prize, which is still a mystery, but my guess is the prize will be a request for the full manuscript. The Secret Agent’s identity won’t be revealed until after the contest is over. For the complete rules, visit the Miss Snark’s First Victim blog.”

Back to Rule of Three, I visited Shelley Munroe’s blog this week as she hosted Romance writer, Marcia James–who gave tips on promo. Marcia will send you a 150 page document on promo, if you visit her website and request a copy through her contact page. Give it a try, Marcia had some wonderful tips with tons of links.

It occurs to me that a lot of the sites I’ve just given to you might not work internationally. Thank goodness we have Narelle and Michelle to tell you what works in the U.K. and Australia. And hopefully some of you will write in too. What web sites, blogs and yahoogroups get you through your work in project?