Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Marilyn Meredith: Persistance Pays Off

All---

Many writers, when confronted with the bleakness that exists in the publishing industry decide to take refuge outside of the major presses in seek solace among the small publishers.  If you know anything about my views on writing and publishing, hopefully you know that I view all avenues as valid, and that I believe every author must find the venue that's a personal fit.  The bad news for people who seek refuge among small publishers is that it's not a panacea there either.  There are rejections and glitches everywhere.  The good news, as mystery author Marilyn Meredith explains, is that persistence pays off if you keep your chin up and keep plugging away:



Despite what you see in movies and TV, getting published is not easy. Oh, yes, there are lots of ways to do it yourself these days—but that doesn’t mean people will buy your book. You need a good book that has been professionally edited and it definitely helps if a publishing company is the one who published it. After that, you must do lots of promoting on your own no matter who publishes you. Something I didn’t know in the beginning.

In my case, my first book was published after nearly 30 rejections, after every 5th rejection I rewrote the book. At the time I neither belonged to a critique group or had a clue about professional editors. When the book came out I thought I had it made—surely anything I wrote after that would be published. Wrong. The editor who bought the book left the company and her replacement didn’t like the next book I submitted. I found another publisher—but one that wasn’t the caliber of the first publisher.

When I started writing mysteries, I began another large collection of rejections from agents and publishers. A mystery was accepted and published—50 copies was all that was printed and were sold at my first book signing. The publisher disappeared. I found another small publisher who republished that book and later she published four in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. Sadly, she died unexpectedly and the publishing company along with her. So I was back to searching for a publisher.

I have no idea how many rejections I’ve received over the years, possibly more than 100. In the meantime I read many books on writing, attended lots of writing conferences, joined a critique group that I still belong to, and spent hours and hours rewriting and editing.

At this time, I have two mystery series being published by two different small presses. I still write, read my chapters to my critique group, rewrite, and both publishers have editors who go over my work and make suggestions and ask for changes.

This is my advice to anyone who wants to be a writer:

  1. Read the kind of books you want to write.
  2. Read books on the craft of writing and go to writers’ conferences.
  3. Write and rewrite.
  4. Have someone critique your work whether it be a critique group or someone who know something about writing. (If you hire someone, make sure they are a professional.
  5. When submitting, read the publisher’s guidelines carefully and do exactly what is asked for.
  6. Never give up.
  7. Keep on writing.

Marilyn Meredith,


For a complete listing of all of Marilyn Meredith's works and how to purchase them, visit her website.  Marilyn's most recent book is The Invisible Path, which is available in both print and electronic forms.  Watch soon for Angel Lost!

.Nevets.


15 comments:

  1. Great advice- I'm so glad you posted this! thanks C.N.

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  2. Great post. It arrived just at the right moment. I've just received the editorial report on my latest novel, and was having the obligatory half an hour of despair that accompanies such documents. But the advice is - keep writing. And so back to the task in hand, with excellent advice taken on board.

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  3. Thanks, Summer, Aliya and Elena. I still have my moments of doubt. Just today, wondered why my ebooks aren't selling like so many authors I've heard about. And I shook myself, and thought, I just want those who read my books, whether paper or electronic, to enjoy them.

    Marilyn

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  4. Marilyn, thanks so much for sharing your struggles. That's a long and arduous path you took, and it's helpful to see you come out of that on the other end with 17+ published novels and a couple of awards. It's very encouraging!

    @Summer - You're welcome! Glad you read it!

    @Aliya - Awesome! I'm glad it came at the right time. Good luck with those edits!

    Also, I need to figure out why my fingers insist on putting an -h on the end of your name when my brain knows full well it's not there.

    @Elena - I'm glad you liked it! I always find Marilyn's openness very encouraging.

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  5. Thanks for hosting me, Nevets. I loved visiting here today.

    Marilyn

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  6. Wonderful post. On one of my publisher lists we've been talking about the road to publication and that it isn't easy. It's not just a matter of tossing words on to a page. It's knowing your genre, knowing what readers are looking for, knowing how to write decent prose (harder than it looks), querying, completing submissions, surviving edits on those first few books and then promoting while writing your next book. It's a lot of work.

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  7. Great tips. Thanks for posting them. :-)

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  8. "And I shook myself, and thought, I just want those who read my books, whether paper or electronic, to enjoy them"

    I think that's the best mindset of all. Better thay 1,000 people love your books than 100,000 read them and forget them.

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  9. @Regan - Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. What I love about the post is that it not only shows that the publishing world is rough (as you say), but it shows that Marilyn (and hopefully, therefore, the rest of us) can overcome the roughness through that hard work you describe.

    @Misha - Meredith's great, isn't she?

    @Tim - It's a very mature and responsible attitude. I'm not 100% sure I'm there yet, but it sounds like the ideal attitude for any creative person, writers included.

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  10. @Chris - The best advice seems to come from hard experience, doesn't it?

    @Marilyn - You're quite welcome. I really appreciate your contribution to this little project. You're a phenom!

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  11. great advice! Persistence pays~ :o) <3

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  12. Thanks, everyone for reading this post. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed visiting on Nevets blog.

    Marilyn

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  13. *HUGS THIS POST*

    I love this, Marilyn, thank you! I had no idea you had been with so many publishers. What a story! It's so true that once you're in you're not REALLY in all the way. You never are. Your attitude and professionalism really says a lot! :)

    ReplyDelete

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