I’m told it’s incredibly rare to find a publisher quickly or easily as a first-time author.
I personally know people who have tried for years even to get an agent interested in their work.
I was warned over and over that the number of people trying to write books is still more than the market has room for.
Even J.K. Rowling had to try multiple times before she found a publisher for Harry Potter.
That just makes me all the more humbled and thankful to have signed a contract this week with Morgan James Publishing for my first novel, which still has the working title of Brightstar.
God’s Provision
By pointing to J.K. Rowling’s difficulties with Harry Potter, I’m specifically making a point. This acceptance isn’t based on my own merit. If the most popular author of my lifetime got rejected (more than once), that says that the only way I’m where I am is because of God’s provision.
Over and over since last year when I started this book, God has provided what I need to get to the next step. Over and over, the doors have opened, and I can claim no credit.
I’m deeply thankful, first to God and then to everybody else who has helped me get this far. From my college friend Jacinta, who gave me an overview of what publishing looked like to all the beta readers and friends who have encouraged me along the way, I say: Thank You.
And I’m afraid I’m going to be calling on you even more before this is over, because this is where the hard part begins.
What’s Next
Morgan James is unusual. They never take ownership of their authors’ intellectual property. I will retain the copyright to my book.
The one caveat to our agreement is that I divide Brightstar into two books (or at least one and change). The original manuscript was too long for its target market (YA fiction).
This is not an issue for me. I wrote the book episodically and stopped when I had what I thought of as a full-length manuscript. The character arc for the main character will need a little tweaking, but I think a week of work should suffice for that.
Once that’s done, I have to find a professional editor, mostly for the purpose of copyediting. Morgan James’s analysis of Brightstar showed no structural problems with the first part of the book. That means it should be comparatively easy to submit a finished manuscript (if editing can ever be considered easy).
Those are my next steps, but that’s just the beginning.
The Publishing Process
I’ve now learned that bookstores buy their books in three seasons and that getting Brightstar onto bookshelves is going to take a minimum of 8 months (maybe 10). That may seem like a long time, but bookstores are the publisher’s only customer, and industry standards are essentially written in stone.
During that time, however, I have a tremendous amount of work to do.
The way my contact put it to me, publishers get the book on the shelf, but the author has to get it off the shelf again. Morgan James will help teach me how to market my book, but I, as the author, am responsible for the marketing.
Morgan James involves authors in the whole publishing process, from details like cover art to the price the book will have on the shelf, and they take care of the expenses for most of those details.
So What’s The Hard Part?
In a word, marketing.
Fiction authors sell books based on their name recognition and word of mouth more than any other factor. I could spend a million dollars on a book launch and only sell a handful of books (because nobody knows my name). Or, I could spend no money and sell a million books (because people love the book and they tell everybody how much they love it).
The reality’s going to be somewhere in the middle. I don’t have a lot of money to spend on advertising or a book tour, but I know Brightstar is a good book.
That means that I need help from every single person who has read this far into this post (because let’s face it, you probably know me personally if you’ve bothered).
Your life is busy and I genuinely appreciate you taking an interest in what I’m doing. Thank YOU too.
In the near future (probably four or five months, but deadlines are still fluid for now) I’ll be able to start sending out review copies of the book (which I will have to pay for).
When that time comes, I will need all the help I can get, first to read the book and hopefully review it, then to tell people you know who might be interested.
In the mean time, stay tuned. I do have other announcements in the works (including a short story I’ll soon be dropping on this website as an intro to the novel and the Energematrice6 world).
