EDITOR’S NOTE: I shared this earlier, as a post from a WOW book tour, but felt it was worth repeating. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Kim. If you have a marketing story you’d like to share or a question you’d like to ask, please send your query or question through the contact box on the home page.
BELOW her post are a few tips for you if you’re promoting your work or someone else’s. There’s also a request for reviewers, so if you’re looking for a review opportunity, please scroll down.
How I Found My Publisher
By Kim McCollum
Hooray! I finished my first novel. Time to celebrate, right? Yes, but the celebration was short lived when I realized I had no idea what to do with it. How would I find a publisher?
I purchased a subscription to Publisher’s Marketplace and watched for agents who were publishing books similar to mine. Then, I took multiple workshops on how to write the perfect pitch letter for my novel, created a spreadsheet to track my submissions, and began submitting to five agents per day, five days per week, as I had been instructed by fellow authors and professors from my MFA program. Then, the rejections began rolling in.
My friend said that rather than allowing the rejections to get me down, I should celebrate and give myself a reward when I hit 100 rejections. I believe I hit this mark about one year into the process. My writing friends told me to be encouraged by the number of partial and full manuscript requests I had received. It was true, I had received quite a few requests, but somehow, this just depressed me more. If my query letter was good enough to get an agent’s attention, what was wrong with my manuscript?
I plugged along for another year and focused on writing a second novel. I was about to scrap this first manuscript altogether when I friend told me she’d accepted a contract with a small, independent publisher on the east coast. She felt the terms of the deal were good and it was a great way for a new author to get her first book out into the world.
I decided to research small publishers. I was impressed with what I found. It seemed these small presses were a way to bridge the gap between the big five publishers and their nearly impossible gatekeepers and the rest of the world who just wanted to read a great story, regardless of the resume of the author. I started watching where people were getting their books published at the bottom of the WFWA (Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association) newsletter and googled all the small presses my fellow debut authors were using and one came up quite frequently. Black Rose Writing (BRW) out of Texas.
Turns out, they have published nearly 3500 titles. The covers of their novels looked amazing. What I found most impressive was that they had published quite a few bestsellers. But the most important fact was that these bestselling authors had chosen to go with BRW again for their second novels. I was impressed. And nervous. Now that I had gotten my hopes up, would they reject me like so many agents had?
Thankfully, they enjoyed my manuscript and even made suggestions for its improvement. The process has been wonderful. While they did not offer free developmental editing, they recommended a few wonderful editors who discounted their services for Black Rose authors. I also paid extra for additional marketing services, but those are the only costs I incurred. I absolutely love my cover and have been more than happy with the quick response I receive from the team whenever I have questions. They even got an audiobook version of my novel released as well. Overall, I am thrilled with my decision to publish my novel with Black Rose Writing.
NOTE from the editor: I was attracted by the title, but I stayed for the story. There’s some really good storytelling in What Happens in Montana as well as some likeable characters. Thanks for sharing this slice of your journey with us, Kim.
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Kim McCollum graduated from Barnard College as a Japanese major and headed to work on Wall Street. Many miserable all-nighters and the birth of her first child led her to stay home to raise her children. Eventually, she pursued her passion for writing. An excerpt from this novel appeared in The Copperfield Review Quarterly and her short stories have appeared in The Dillydoun Review, Beyond Solace, and Fiction on the Web. She lives in Bozeman, MT with her husband, Brian, and their blended menagerie of five kids, two dogs, and seven spoiled chickens. What Happens in Montana is her first novel.
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And a few hints that just might help you market:
HINT: Try publishing stand-alone excerpts from your book in literary e-zines.
HINT #2: If you speak with ease, this might be a good resource. Radio Guest List
HINT #3: Look for a blog tour, even if you have to put it together yourself. You never know what might work out for you.
HINT #4: Does your town have a local paper? Why not promote yourself there?
HINT #5: Offer reviews and put the name of your latest publication with your signature. If you’d like to review Disrupted, let me know and I can set it up. The link is DISRUPTED
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