Monday, January 17, 2011

Twists in the Road

Last July I submitted my novel to a small publisher hoping I would be accepted.  Last week I heard from her.  While I was rejected, she had many nice things to say about my novel and told me she would consider a rewrite.  That's considerable better than most rejections I've received.

As it turns out the draft this publisher saw was not the latest.  I had found several things in the text I wanted to change after I submitted the book to her and I had gotten feedback from another small press to work on the characterizations (which I did).  This is why would like to change the submission process by giving out only a url instead of the whole manuscript.  That way, I can update the files at the url until the publisher actually reads them.  But I digress.

In the weeks since I self-published the book, I've come to realize other changes were needed too.  For example, the beginning of the story does not reflect the true focus of the story.  Armed with this information, I am now revising the novel for this publisher's review.  If it is accepted I can *finally* move onto the book 2.  If not, I will republish the e-book.

Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.  Self-publishing has much to be desired I think unless you are giving your work away for free, which I would rather not.

What I find amazing and strange is the way events play out.  I self-publish only to have some small press show interest.  Ironic.  And expensive because I was about to release the print version of my novel through Lulu, ISBN and all.  That's over $100 potentially wasted ($75 for the ISBN and the rest for three proof copies).

But it is a small price to pay, I suppose if I can sell the story to someone.

Now what do I tell all the people who purchased the ebook?  The story was revised and your copy is erroneous?  Hmmm.  I've have to give that one some thought.  Maybe I'll give them free updated copies.
Maybe.  We'll see.

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