It’s funny, when one links job satisfaction to financial compensation alone, they’re never paid “enough.” Yet, when they see “work” as a way to dance with life, meet new people, and unleash the creative tiger within, they become very rich, indeed.
Every kind of rich.
More gr-r-r-r-r please,
The Universe
Funny, Isn’t It?
By Jeanne Charters
Remember these old song lyrics?
When it all comes true, just the way you’d planned, it’s funny, but the bells don’t ring. It’s a quiet thing.
Life’s like that, I think. I’ll explain later.
If you know me, you know I’ve spent the past five years writing a novel called Shanty Gold and trying to get it published. Well, actually in that time, I wrote three novels, but Shanty Gold was the one that I thought had a shot.
After so many rejections from literary agents that I lost count (I needed to lose count or I’d have been on an anti-depressant), I had pretty much given up. I had signed with an agent a couple of years ago and was so excited and hopeful. Sadly, she turned out to be a bit lame. When, after 11 months, I was still waiting for her second round of edit suggestions, I resigned that contract.
Many times during the past year, I’ve done that second guessing thing. Should I have hung in with her a bit longer? Maybe she really was having all those family problems and/or celebrations. Maybe I’m being unreasonable. It’s easy to rationalize that way when the form-letter rejections just keep flooding your email.
Which brings me to an important point. If you are ever a literary agent, please, please, please do not use this phrase in your rejection letter. “Because of the huge volume of queries we receive here, we are not able to consider your novel. Perhaps another agency will feel differently.”
That just tells the poor author that the agent is super-duper important and that others are good enough, but that you’re not. That is one crappy sentiment to let settle into your brain.
Funny, isn’t it, but I had given up. No, that isn’t funny. My book is good. Think how many good books go by the wayside because the author just cannot take one more rejection.
On a friend’s recommendation, I decided to give it one more shot. It’s a small agency (Loiacono Literary Agency) in Texas…not on Fifth Avenue. What I liked about the agent is that when she got my query, she wrote back immediately. “Thanks, Jeanne. I like the concept and will put it in my queue. Please give me at least 12 + weeks. Jeanie”
So, I did. And promptly counted two months and two days and wrote in my Day-Timer to send her another email.
Then, I forgot about it and lived my life.
A week before the two months was up, I got a contract from her. It was a standard and reasonable contract, so I scanned it, signed it, and sent it back to her.
Immediately, I received by email a fully edited manuscript with clear instructions for how she felt I could make my book better and more salable. Wow!
I agreed with nearly every one of her suggestions and took a couple of months implementing them into Shanty Gold.
Two weeks later, my novel was acquired by a publisher. It’ll be out next year. And there are no bells. It’s a quiet thing. A thing I can scarcely believe is happening.
Now I’m immersed in that dreaded beast I have avoided all of my adult life—social media. Publishers now-a-days really do not do much marketing for books, unless you’re a multi-published, A-list author. I am neither of those things.
So far, I have a beautiful new website at www.jeannecharters.com and invite you to visit it and let me know what you think of it. I will be posting a new blog each week about writing Shanty Gold and sharing fascinating historical Irish tidbits that you can repeat at cocktail parties and beer blasts. Sign up to receive notices when a new blog is posted and you will be informed by email. Come on along on my journey to publication. I promise it’ll be a fun ride.
Jeanne Charters is a New Yorker blissfully relocated to Asheville. She lives here with her husband, Matt Restivo, and their dog, Bucky. Her novel Shanty Gold will be published next year, and she invites you to enjoy her weekly blogs on Irish historical tidbits as well as the process of writing and publishing a book at www.jeannecharters.com.
The dialogue from the movie The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, an action/thriller, posed some very interesting questions and answers to the conflicts the world has faced since the beginning of time; at least since jealousy, greed and corruption. You get my point.
Wilhelm Wexler: We cannot control the things life does to us. They are done before you know it, and once they are done, they make you do other things. Until at last everything comes between you and the man you wanted to be.
Shadows on Iron Mountain by Chuck Walsh
Book Trailer – Shadows on Iron Mountain Book Trailer
www.chuckwalshwriter.com for info on all upcoming events and release dates. Published by www.champagnebooks.com Represented by www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com
Be Kind to Your Publisher
—Aurelia Sands, Publisher, Deer Hawk Publications www.deerhawkpublications.com
This is a subject that’s been broached before, and I know I go on and on about being kind to your editor, your agent, your publisher, but it truly is something you need to do if you want to get your book out there. If you’re self-publishing, be kind to yourself; it works just the same.
Just like any other profession or any other person you talk to, kindness will get you further than pretty much anything else you try. A lot of small publishers, myself included, publish not because they want to make money at it, but for the love of words. If I had been doing this for money, I probably would have stopped trying four to five years ago. On average, it costs approximately $1500 per book to go from submission all the way to publication. That does not include the amount of time spent with the authors, editors, artists, agents, the computer, bookstores and businesses where book shows will be held, the advertising, or the research. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less, but this is simply the amount of money it takes to publish a book.
Many small publishers also have a job, a spouse, kids, etc. On my breaks at work, I’m usually focusing on my business. After I get up in the morning, before I go to work, I’m focusing on the business. After I get home, and sometimes eat, I’m focusing on the business. When I take my child to the park, go to the store, check my emails, talk to friends, I’m thinking about the business because there is no option to fail. If I fail, it’s not just me who fails. I have authors who want to get their books out and I fail them, too. I have built a rapport with agents. If I fail, I fail them, too. I have editors to pay and cover artists to pay and people who do my advertising. If I fail, they lose, too. All of the money that has been sunk into the business, which is quite a lot, would be lost. This is the difference between a small publisher and a big publisher. One book may not make or break a large publisher, but it can a small one.
Lately, I’ve had a lot of comments from authors asking why they need a publisher when they can put their own stuff online and eliminate the middleman. It’s a worthwhile question. To many, I tell them if they believe they can do a better job, by all means, eliminate the middleman. I don’t say this to be malicious or rude. In fact, I’ve known a few good success stories with people who have self-published their books. However, self-publishing can be a nightmare. A self-publisher has to take the entire financial burden on their own shoulders. They have to know copyright rules and how to obtain them, what international standard book numbers (ISBNs) and the Library of Congress requirements are—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are a million tiny details that a publisher or publishing company has to go through and make sure that everything is properly set up before ever sending a book to press. There are things that one can learn in books, and other things that only experience will teach. Once a person becomes a self-publisher, it consumes every aspect of his or her life, and can even douse the dream of ever printing another book.
Most authors will never know just how much time and effort is spent on their books by a publisher, and that is as it should be. However, please be kind to your publisher; they do a lot more than just take your book and put it in print. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. I love seeing what a book can become. I love words. I love authors and editors. I talk about publishing all the time, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. It’s been an amazing journey, and I can’t wait to see what’s next. Just be sure to remember, the people publishing your book are still people, and they want to see you succeed as much as you do.
Download a copy of Chuck Walsh’s new murder mystery, Shadows on Iron Mountain, and enter the drawing to win a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses. After you download it, please send a screen shot of your purchase to cwalsh0107@yahoo.com so we can enter you in the contest. Happy Reading!! Check out my website www.chuckwalshwriter.com for info on all upcoming events and release dates. Published by www.champagnebooks.com Represented by www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com
Shadows On Iron Mountain –What happens on Iron Mountain, usually does not leave it — literally or physically… There is an abductor of women with the tendency to silence them permanently, when he is no longer amused; removing any and all obstacles – human specifically.
Jason and Kara are excited about their romantic, mountain get-away until they arrive at their secluded cabin on Iron Mountain. Although Kara immediately wants to head for a motel, Jason talks her into staying. The first night she sees someone outside the cabin, the next day she goes to the fridge to get a drink and disappears without a trace. She is not the first and won’t be the last. Iron Mountain has a rapist/murderer hiding in its depths. Thomas Jordan, a detective from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, is called in to dissect Iron Mountain, if need be, to find Kara. What he finds are mountain people who won’t turn in their own; willing to kill anyone who tries to ascend their fortress, and a mounting number of floating female corpses in Doe Creek.
Walsh holds your unwavering attention from the first sentence and refuses to let you go until the last word, or does he ever let go at all? This promises to be a best seller.
On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know that what your heart thinks is great, is great. The soul’s emphasis is always right.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, and he was correct. The mind is the last part of yourself to listen to.
It thinks of everything you can lose. The heart thinks of everything you can give, and the soul thinks of everything you are.
I will leave it up to you to decide which of those three is the most important. www.CWGPortal.com
“Research: Darling or Demon?”
—Jeanne Charters, author of Shanty Gold www.jeannecharters.com
So, when you’re writing an historical novel, research is sometimes fascinating and often frustrating. And sometimes, it’s downright maddening.
For instance, how long would it take my protagonist, Mary Boland, to cross the Atlantic from Ireland to Boston in a ship like the one above back in 1849?
Or, how does one get in touch with a friend in 1849 if she really, really needs to talk to him? She sure can’t pick up a phone or shoot him an email or a tweet.
Answer? She has to borrow a wagon, rig up the horse, climb in and say, “Yeehaw!” Unless she wants to ride the horse or walk. Hmmm…decisions, decisions.
One thing about research, though, it absolutely, positively must be impeccable.
What amazes me is that anything ever got written before we had computers. Of course, they make it easier to edit your manuscript and search for overused words.
But the biggest hurdle without a computer would be research. Especially if you’re writing a historical novel like Shanty Gold.
You must be so very careful about period details. In this case, from mid-19th century Ireland and Boston. To ensure accuracy, I traveled often to Ireland and Boston. I actually drove the road Mary Boland would have walked from Kinsale to Cobh.
Ireland is on the metric system and all my research indicated that had always been the case. So, I talked in kilometres (the English spelling) when it came to distances. When my agent sent me edits, she insisted on miles.
Ha! I thought, smugly. I was very certain. But guess what? One last obscure piece of data I found indicated that Ireland measured distances in “Irish” miles until 1870. My book is set in 1849. Now, God only knows what an “Irish” mile really was, but……
Oops!
The dialogue from the movie The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, an action/thriller, posed some very interesting questions and answers to the conflicts the world has faced since the beginning of time; at least since jealousy, greed and corruption. You get my point.
Wilhelm Wexler: Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.
For the next few days I feel compelled to share some of the dialogue from the movie The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. An action/thriller, it posed some very interesting questions and answers to the conflicts the world has faced since the beginning of time; at least since jealousy, greed and corruption. You get my point.
If you have the opportunity to watch the movie, do so. Although, I am prior Armed Services and Law Enforcement, which you get into because your family was/is or live in a delusional world where you think you can make a difference (in reality you may to a certain extent, such as being a deterrent or pawn). Either way it is admirable and honorable to die/put your life on the line for others, especially for those who are unworthy of breathing air/being called human.
To all those who serve, BRAVO!
Umberto Calvini: [In explaining the “true” nature of banking in the world] The IBBC is a bank. Their objective isn’t to control the conflict, it’s to control the debt that the conflict produces. You see, the real value of a conflict, the true value, is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything. You find this upsetting, yes? But this is the very essence of the banking industry, to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt.
If you kill or imprison one criminal, it is like squashing a mama spider—500,000 come streaming out. The only way to make a change is from the inside-out; soul-ly. — J. Loiacono