Publishing, Part II

Having just completed my first novel in a record time of some five years, I saw the next logical step to be figuring out how to publish.  I hadn't put any thought into it before now, so to figure it all out, I headed to the bookstore. 

My eyes bulging at the twenty-some "find-a-publisher" titles I had splayed out before me on the floor of the bookstore, I grabbed for the prettiest one I could find.  Steven King's On Writing. I read the back of the dust jacket.  Half memoir, half writing instruction.  I was already a Steven King fan, so it was second-nature to purchase it. 

Now if you have never read the book, I highly suggest it.  His writing autobiography is downright funny.  He gives such stories as being locked in a coat closet by his baby sitter (perhaps explaining his morbidity) and "yarking" in his mothers shoes, and using poison ivy to wipe while out in the woods.  When I made it to the second part, he gave all sorts of writing instruction, but only said a few things about publishing.  First, find a friend in the business like he did.  His friend just happened to be an editor at one of the big publishing houses in New York, and was the reason Carrie got picked up.  It was, after all, his third novel, the first two receiving complete rejection.  This wasn't very helpful, but his best advice for starving artists such as myself was to buy a copy of Writer's Market.  Some of the best advice I've ever received.

I soon learned that Writer's Market is the bible for publishing.  It shows the whole process of how to get published, including how to write the query letter.  It gives testimonials from other authors.  But most importantly it gave listings of reputable publishirs, mostly American.  I was set.

So taking King's advice, I located about ten publishers and wrote them letters.  Now mind you, each publisher asked for something different.  For example, while one publisher may only ask for a query letter, another might ask for a query, marketing plan, summary, and sample chapters.  Shooting for the stars, I queried only the publishers who had "New York City" in their address. 

My audacity was quite comical, as was my ignorance of just what it took to get published.  Actually, it was pure laziness on my part.  Maybe some of them wanted just queries, maybe some wanted more.  They got poorly-written queries from me.  Over the next six months I got my butt handed to me. When King was starting out, he drove a nail into his wall and shoved his rejection letters onto that nail as a reminder to keep trying.  The idea stuck, so I drove a nail into the wall above my computer (much to my wife's chagrin) and hung my rejection letters.  These responses (the ones who took the time to respond) were about as personal as my queries were.

That next summer, dejected but determined, I put that first novel in my desk drawer and started fresh on a new one.  I had a great idea, based on personal experience from getting cut from my Babe Ruth baseball team, despite being one of the best players.  Small town politics.  Less than three months later I had the first draft of a novel that would one day sell. 

But I'll be getting to that shortly.