Good News!

The day and the week got much better from my last post.  Thank you to all the people who poured out understanding and compassion on Facebook after reading it (and you too, Kerri, on the blogger site!). As you know, I use this blog as a way to share some of myself with my friends and growing reader base, and while I may filter the worst of what goes through my mind, that doesn’t always guarantee what you do see is pretty.

I’m a real person with ups and downs and I’ve had a year that deserved documenting (and of course, it helped my sanity immensely).

On to the good news!

Today I find out if V V will make it in the next round of the HUGE Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.  Let me clarify that I do not in the slightest way think V V will win. I entered the contest purely with the hopes that my novel would get noticed by someone that could make a difference – be that an agent, a publisher, Amazon’s own new publishing company called Encore, or (most importantly) by readers if they read my excerpt.

The fiction books that have won in the past two years were not fantasies, were not erotic, and sure as hell did not have vampires in them.  So I am a realist, not to worry.  But I also have hope it will advance past the first round or two. From my understanding, 1,000 next round choices will be picked today followed closely by the next round elimination as well.  I’m a little vague on the details, but I’ll pass info on as I receive it.

Is it coincidental that I planned to have my book released right after the winners would be announced in a few months?  No it is not.  I hoped that if the book makes it to the round where Amazon readers get to read my first two chapters as an excerpt, that some of them would have an interest in buying the book. Yes, when I plan, I plan big.

My fellow writer over at Wicked commented recently that once I started to move forward with self-publishing that it would be Murphy’s Law that publishers and agents would come out of the wood work.  While I can’t say that has happened yet, I did get some more good news yesterday.

A friend of mine introduced me via email to a Hollywood producer to discuss the rights to V V for an option to buy. Now don’t get excited – I sent my polite intro email and promised the man I wouldn’t stalk him ’til he read my work, so now it’s time to patiently wait.  There is a thread on my website forum (under the V V topic) and on the discussion tab on the Facebook Fan Page about who would play the role of such and such and it was fun to dream when we first started talking about it.

Do I honestly think it could happen?  Well, my answer to that is, not yet.  I don’t think anyone in Hollywood would sit up and take interest before a book is released.  I think maybe after it comes out and sells well would be the time they’d pay attention.  But what I know about the film industry could fill a one page article in a community newsletter, so I’m certainly far from an expert!

In addition, I got another request for my full MS from an agent yesterday.  This is particularly exciting because the agent is classified as a boutique agency.  Meaning she has a limited number of clients that she works closely with – not a large agency where your career and your book get lost among all the others. I would prefer to go with an agency like this, but whether or not they offer representation to me is something I’ll have to wait and see.

I’ve actually lost count with how many publishers have my full MS and how many agents have it. Yes, I kept all the emails, so I could check.  But what’s the point?  Most of them are all extremely busy and if I harass them with emails on the status that will not change how they ultimately feel about my book – but it may annoy the heck out of them and make them think I’d be a pain in the ass to represent.

So here I sit.

The woman who clearly thinks she is the master of her own destiny… waiting.

Wondering if a bunch of strangers think they can sell my work.  The woman who reached the position of regional sales manager covering two states and D.C. at the age of 25.  The youngest person the nationwide company had in the position.  Wowing the big guys and selling my heart out.  The same person who often jokes with friends – “Give me time and I could sell ice to Eskimos.”

I sit and wait to see if people, who can’t sell like I can, tell me if my book is salable. People who have not bothered to reach out to READERS like I have.  People who go with industry labels to categorize your book–and are afraid to step outside the box in a time when changes are occurring almost daily to set the existing business models in publishing on their collective ears!

Supriya is convinced I should eventually write a non-fiction book detailing my exact path to publication and advising others on how to succeed. She’s encouraged me to teach a writing class at a local college. She has told me that in a short time I have exceeded her own knowledge and have now become the teacher and she the pupil. Do I pay her to say such nice things? No. She’s just a really sweet person who thinks way more highly of me than I do of myself.

The knowledge and experience I’ve gained this year have been through hard work and research. There is no magic formula to success — it’s perseverance, belief in your work, and a drive to never give up. I’m hoping to do what a lot of other dreamers have done – and with your help I know I will get there. The real question is when.

Thanks again for listening and for being here for me.  Every comment and email I treasure.  Writing, by nature, is solitary and you all make me feel like I’m not alone while I move forward on the scariest of paths – publication.

Cheers,
C.J.