Opportunities

So I really didn't do the promoting I wanted to do for THE VASE at the WonderCon last Saturday, which is really a shame, because that's mainly what the WonderCon was for. Everyone was promoting everything. Comics, Graphic Novels, Books, Movies, TV Shows, and there I was NOT promoting THE VASE beyond a short talk with a movie promoter. If only I had some kind of flyer or even a business card available to hand out, I might have called the trip a successful promotional effort. As it was it was only a successful outing for a father and his two sons. Which is OK, really, but you have got to take advantage of your opportunities.

But there was something I was glad I didn't have to do. Promote my book to publishers. That's a relief. Because there was this guy at the WonderCon walking around with a sign hanging over his chest that read: Publish My Book! and below that he had the title, and then some writing which I couldn' read. Maybe a teaser or a logline.

I thought to myself, "That's not how it's done, Dude!" You have to have a polished manuscript, which I'll assume he has, but then you've got to have the query process down, which anyone who is reading this blog surely knows about. You have to write a query letter to an agent or an editor of a publishing house that doesn't require an agent. And it's got to be a polished query letter, too. You've got to have a well-written synopsis ready, and an "elevator pitch" to boot. You don't walk around a Comic Convention with a sign over your chest saying, Publish My Book. It was so lame. But then again, maybe he did go the query letter route. Maybe he did try everything the "right" way. And maybe this is what it's come to for him.

But to walk around with a sign on your chest? Maybe this guy should look into self publishing. It's not something I would ever do, but for someone like that it could be an option. OR you just keep trying. You write another book,maybe. You keep trying. You don't just throw your hands up and carry a sign that says, Publish My Book. I would bet that will never work. I just can't believe it would.

So here's what worked for me. First you have got to have a good story and you have to write it well. I did in KILLER OF KILLERS. You query agents, and don't stop revising your MS the entire time. You gotta keep going over that book and over it making it better every time. Then when agents start to bite, you know you've got something. OK, so an agent signed me for KOK, but never sold the book, but you don't stop there. You write another book. I wrote THE VASE. My agent didn't even want to represent it, which made me feel horrible, to tell you the truth. It was like if my own agent doesn't want to represent THE VASE then WTF, you know? So I queried publishers myself. And the whole time, I revised it, over and over, like KOK, and then publishers started nibbling. Partials were requested. Fulls were requested. A publisher offered a contract. Another publisher offered a better contract, and BINGO, THE VASE SOLD!

But the lesson is you don't give up. You keep on working on it. Over and over, you keep working on it. You write another book, and you keep working on it. Someone posted somewhere about a writing teacher who said most people won't get published because they don't work hard enough to get published. Well, that may be true. And if it is, then I can pat myself on the back, knowing that I did indeed work hard enough. But the work doesn't stop there. Once THE VASE is published, I'll have to work hard in promoting it, too. And that's where I began this post, isn't it. So I better be ready for that. More so than I was last Saturday. Because I don't want to be like that guy walking around with a sign that says, BUY my book. That would be just as lame.