Submissions, Rejections and Presentations
March 26, 2019 at 5:00 am (Marketing, Time Management)
March is going out like a lion, with whirling, swirling thoughts. There’s so much going on!
I’ve recently received two short stories back from the publications I had submitted them to with a “no, but thank you for letting us read it.” Sent one back out yesterday to a new pub and will pick a new pub for the other one in the next couple days. Doesn’t do any good to let them sit.
I’ve been using Submittable and Authors Publish to find publications to submit to. They certainly do make it easier, though you need to spend the time checking out the current specs from the publisher.
For example, I read through everything on how to submit to one publisher then clicked on their link to Submittable and couldn’t submit. Why? I didn’t click the link to see their publishing schedule; they’re closed for submissions until the first of April. My bad. Next!
I’ve been reading through my plague novel, UNPREPARED, making myself cry all over again, which leads me to believe that besides needing an ending to tie up the loose ends, it might need a few more moments of levity and/or hope. I’m afraid it’s a little TOO bleak. I can do that though. Next week.
This week, I’m pretty focused on my presentations for a writer’s conference I’ll be talking at Saturday in Corning, New York. The first presentation, on Book Trailers, has SO many options on how to create them that I’ve decided to go the simplest route, creating one in Powerpoint with only images, text, and music, then talk about how to upgrade from there by adding video and voice overs. (I do love book trailers with voice overs. There’s something very inviting about them.) And with royalty free video clips available out there, you don’t even have to be able to take video yourself!
The second presentation, on getting book reviews, is not nearly as big but still has LOTS of options. There are so many avenues to approach people for reviews, from Amazon to Goodreads to professional reviews. I’m definitely going to try a Goodreads Giveaway myself very soon.
And real life goes on. Not sure yet whether I’ll be posting a new haiku this week or something from the poetry archive on Friday. We’ll see what I can come up with.
I’ve got some seeds.
March 19, 2019 at 5:00 am (Editing, Marketing)
As always, the past week seems to have happened at light speed. I accomplished quite a bit and yet not nearly as much as I wanted to.
A friend finished her beta read of my novel, “Earthbound,” and now I’m going to apply those edits and hope to submit “Earthbound” to a publisher within a few weeks.
I’ve been reading through “Unprepared” to get a cohesive picture so I can write the last bit. It’s hard to remember everything you’ve done when you’ve written a book in two sections, over two years. For example, I didn’t remember I’d written one scene twice, in rather different ways.
I’ve also spent quite a bit of time researching book trailers on Youtube and getting excited about the different ways to make them and the different options for how you want the trailer to feel. There are some basic elements – text, still images, video, music, and voice overs, but you don’t have to use all of them and you can use the different elements in many different ways to tell the potential reader about your book. It’s a fascinating topic and I’m looking forward to creating one.
I may not have a book deal yet, but I’d say I’ve got some seeds that just might grow into one.
Work in Progress Update: Unprepared
March 12, 2019 at 4:58 am (Editing)
I’ve been reading through of my work-in-progress, “Unprepared,” and it’s already making me cry again.
“Unprepared” – When a particularly virulent flu pandemic hits Upstate New York, an agricultural engineering professor is quarantined not far from home with his wife, a medical doctor, and his daughter. As the pandemic rages on, the professor feels helpless but he may be one of the few people who can help put his town back together again when it’s all over.
Melora Johnson's Muse 