Confessions of a Big Five Publisher Intern - a Guest Post by Sara Wildes

Hi! This is Patricia Beal. I'm happy to introduce my new writer friend Sara Wildes. We met after the publisher she works for rejected my debut novel early this year (I later sold it to Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). Enjoy this unique behind-the-scenes Sara wrote for us. She is young, about to get married, and an aspiring author herself.

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Becoming a Publishing Intern 

My entry into the publishing world began December 2015 during my last semester of school at Lipscomb University. My class was required to attend mock interviews with the intent to discover how we would do in a real job interview. I almost skipped the interviews, but my senior year motto pushed me forward: when the only thing better to do is sleep, you don't skip. So I breezed through the interviews without much thought and was glad when they were over, never to reenter my mind--until a couple weeks before graduation, I received an email from one of the interviewers. It was the lead editor from a major publishing company in Nashville, wanting to know if I'd be interested in interning starting the next month as an editor/marketer while one of their members would be out on maternity leave for five months. For a student about to graduate and already getting depressed about possibly getting stuck working as a fast-food cashier for the rest of her life, this offer was just what I needed to get launched into my first year as an official adult. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 

My first day on the job, I was overwhelmed with the amount of books on shelves throughout the building. The perfect place for a reader. Even the front counter desk was made of stacked books! The first task I was given was to print out a manuscript and bind it. This task has gotten old three months later, but it was cool the first couple times to know I was holding a young book in its early stages of being created. Other exciting aspects of being here have included meeting authors, attending a sales conference, titling books, and gaining an insider's perspective on how publishing actually works. 

Within two weeks, my naive positive outlook on publishing was crushed upon attending my first acquisitions meeting. A dozen editors and marketers sat around the table to discuss three of our latest debut titles that hadn't been immediately declined. A couple days prior to the meeting, we had all been sent the book proposals followed by a survey for us to rate each 1 to 5. Believing them all to be interesting stories I'd like to read, I think I gave one a five and the other two a four. I felt embarrassed when the others' scores were revealed in the meeting. Several 2's. A couple 1's. The rest 3's. What was wrong with these people that they didn't want to immediately acquire these books?! 

It was called: social media. For acquisitions meetings, everyone reads the proposals then does research on the writers to discover how many followers they have, how many platforms, and determine the quality of social content/website/blog. Typically, Twitter and Facebook are the two important sites, along with either a website or a blog which serve as a central platform to point to the others (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). It's up to the writer how many platforms they utilize--a couple good ones will impress, several good ones will really impress, while several bad ones will look bad. 

Do what you think suits your content best and will reach the audience you want to publish to (don't bother with Google+). If the writer has been published before, we also look to see if their books have at least 300 ratings each on Goodreads. Ultimately, if a writer hasn't marketed themselves well enough already, the team won't even consider acquiring their manuscript. Realizing this was what discouraged me about ever getting my own book published. Maybe being an author really was just a crazy dream. Until the day came when I thought, If other writers have become famous, who says I can't too? And so I decided to start taking action to become another great author. 

What I will do differently now as a writer 

All my life, I have wanted to have my own book published. My friends would say to just go get them published. What held me back? I didn't know how to just "go publish my book." I wrote my first complete book when I was twelve. Since then I have begun several others, completed two, and written half of two others. The first two are Christian Fiction, the others young adult fantasy, and future novels mystery/suspense. Since coming to a publishing company and seeing the process writers have to go through, I have begun serious edits on my favorite manuscript, started a blog, and begun building my social platforms to gain an audience (more details on this process can be found on my blog post Adventures in Social-Land). Both my blog and social media have allowed me to connect with a lot of great writers I never would have met otherwise. They have helped to both encourage as well as provide guidance in the areas I need it. Getting the numbers I need to impress a publisher will take a while, but they are increasing steadily. Now my next step to getting published (after finishing final edits on my manuscript) is to prepare a proposal to start sending out to agents. 

Advice for authors to sell more books 

Listen to your marketers. I can't speak for every publisher in the world, but here our marketers take care of the book sales. A few weeks ago, I mailed out boxes to booksellers with a couple copies of a new book, a few bookmarks, pens, personalized M&Ms, and a magnet (all the products were designed specifically for that book). To spread a book's popularity to readers, we also regularly give out digital versions of books on Net Galley as well as physical ARCs (advanced reader copies) to people who either blog book reviews or review books on places like Goodreads and Amazon. These sort of things are the reason a writer should strive for a contract with a publisher before attempting to self-publish. A publisher will take care of all your editing and marketing for you. They want you to succeed, because they are as dependent on your book's sales as you the writer would be. 

Advice for people hoping for a contract with major publisher 

Connections make a huge difference for people trying to get a contract with a major publisher. Even if a book proposal doesn't sound immediately enticing, it will still be voted on in a meeting, if it has been suggested by a respected author or agent (Not many proposals actually get voted on. We may receive five or ten a week, but only two or three will appear in the biweekly acquisitions meeting). Become friends with published authors and meet good agents at writing conferences. Also, don't try to self-publish if you want a major publisher. With the belief that a self-publisher will be hard to work with, the marketers here don't want to work with someone who will likely think they know how to do everything themselves. Marketers want a writer who will follow their direction without question and put in the time to upkeep their social platforms. 

Where will I go from here? 

Once this internship is over, I plan to continue marketing myself as a writer (on Facebook, blog, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads) to gain an audience for my books. Hopefully you'll see one of my books published within the next few years. For now, I'm working on my blog livinglitup.wordpress.com to educate and inspire other writers while searching for an agent to represent me. As far as my career is concerned, I'm not sure that an 8 to 5 indoor job is suited for me. I'm too much a free spirit to be indoors all day from sunrise to sunset. And I have too many dreams to pursue. Between writing, I'd love to open my own restaurant featuring a bookstore then pursue marine biology to become a dolphin trainer. If those don't work, I'll move to gardening. Honestly, my list doesn't end. I'm a writer and an adventurer. I don't believe in having to find one job and sticking with it forever. We get one short life to live. So I live through both my characters and through myself, seeking adventures and living life to the fullest.

Connect with Sara:

https://livinglitup.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Sarawildesauthor/
https://twitter.com/sara_wildes
https://www.instagram.com/sara_wildes_author/
https://www.pinterest.com/sbwildes/

Aspiring Writer. Blogger. Reader. Dreamer. Adventurer. Lover of hot chocolate, rainy days, and nature.



(Dream Big Image by Dan Elijah Fajardo - Dandingeroz Designs; Social Media Image by Shutterstock)

The Contradictions of Life as a Writer

Writing is such a fickle thing. I've been at this for a good many years, and you'd think by now I'd have it all figured out. Strangely, the only thing I am sure of, is that to live as a writer is to live with contradictions, things that aren't logical no matter how you look at them.

Productivity is a perfect example. For the longest time I bewailed (real wailing, not just the metaphorical kind) the fact that I couldn't just stay home and write. Imagine how many books I'd write! All the best seller list scalps I could hang on my belt!

Here's the reality - as a painfully slow writer I can spend a few hours writing and produce around 700 words. If my day turns busy and I can only squeeze in an hour? 500. What if it goes completely pear-shaped and I only get 20 minutes? Still 500. That makes no sense right? But there you have it. Turns out for me, 90% of writing is thinking before I go near my laptop. So to 'stay home to write all day' will probably never work for me.

The distraction of real life is another thing I used to kick against. The sink full of dishes, ironing for five, school runs and homework. Wow, just think how much I could write if I didn't have to do all that stuff! And yet it is all that 'stuff' that gives me my best material. For one thing, it doesn't use up much brain space to wash a batch of dirty dishes. Ironing isn't exactly rocket science. So while my hands are busy, guess what is going on in my brain? Plotting, scheming, character arc'ing. The other thing is how much actual material real life dishes up for you. Remember the time you locked yourself out the house in pouring rain or had to roll start your car because the battery died? Dress those up and parade them through your stories and your reader will be going Oh my word! I can relate! 

To be published means you've arrived is just not true. I don't think I'm the only one that lived for that one email to land in my inbox offering me publication. And yet after that happened, I had to face the reality that landing a publishing contract doesn't guarantee that the next book you write will find a publishing home. Getting a contract doesn't rocket you into becoming a household name, or selling millions of copies of your wonderful book. What it does do though, is establish a relationship with a team of people who are in the publishing business. It gives you access to editors who will grow your craft way beyond where you could grow by yourself. It moves you closer to the top of the slush pile for the next book you write. 

Those are just some of the contradictions that I've had to make peace with. How about you? Can you relate? Are there others that you've discovered along the way? I'd love to hear from you.

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

Traditional or Self-Published

It’s been a few years now since I completed the first draft of the manuscript for my first (as yet unpublished) novel. At the time I still had the level of excitement and expectation that occurs naturally before the reality of the difficulty of the publishing business sets in. Now, years later after struggles with rejections and the ‘interruptions of every day life, I still sometimes question what I am doing. Many people have asked why my book isn’t published. The quizzical looks on their faces leave no doubts about their thoughts. After all so many people are self-published, so why – especially for those who have read my manuscript aren’t I doing the same thing?

I always dreamed of getting an agent to sell my work, and of getting a decent (read that anyway you wish) offer from a publisher on the table. That has not happened. Yet.

It was my birthday on the 7th and I travelled to Dubai for a few days.

It wasn’t a ‘milestone’ birthday, but I’ve always loved birthdays and I typically experience anticipation and butterflies in my stomach as soon as November 1st rolls around. But this year was different. I was excited and had a fabulous trip, but there was something nagging at the back my mind. It might be my new age, but I have been questioning and praying a lot about my purpose. And about how I spend my time. Most of us write in our ‘spare’ time. Spare time is carved out of so much busyness, and is usually born out of sleep time.

In my musings I remember something the Lord said to me many years ago. You will never be fulfilled unless you’re living my purpose for your life. So. How do I work that purpose into my life? Or most importantly, how do I make my purpose my life?

This comes down to time and timing for me. Between working full-time, studying for a coaching diploma, learning French (supposedly) and family, I feel (as I’m sure everyone in this group does) that there are not enough hours in the day. But the pressure to achieve does sometimes keep me up at night. So while on holiday I asked the Lord to help me. And He led me to do a few things, and after a series of events I made the decision to release my book on Kindle. I was a bit hesitant to state that on this forum for fear of reprisals from people who think less of self-published authors, but I quickly got over that. I have to do what I need to for now. Only God knows what doors He will open for me though this.

I think that the business side of publishing is a many-tentacled beast. The love and joy of writing is not enough to be successful. As I always say to a few of my loved ones, everyone has their own journey to take. This is one step in mine.

Ufuoma Daniella Ojo is a Senior Technical Author and Software Trainer. She lives in Potters Bar just outside London. She is editing her manuscript and working on a story set in Nigeria, will be kindle publishing, but is still trusting God for connections leading to publication.

When Writing Dreams Come True + Giveaway

Phew! The secret that I had to try and keep for almost three months is out. Last week I finally FINALLY got to tell the world that I've signed a two-book deal with Howard Books/Simon & Schuster. The first book, Then There Was You, is a romantic comedy about a disillusioned academic-turned-tour-guide and an entrepreneur who knows nothing about Tolkien who fall in love on a Tolkien themed tour of New Zealand. So I'm so excited to be able to share on the blog today about how it all happened :)

I'm going to be honest. Of the four manuscripts I've written, none have broken me quite the way that Then There Was You did. I started writing it in October 2013 after a conversation with an editor at a writers' conference. I was six months pregnant. Nine months, and a new baby later, I finished it in July 2014.

I literally have no idea how it got written except to say that God carried me. What I remember from the time of sleep-deprived, new baby, haze is a lot of tears, a lot of being talked off the ledge by my amazing writing sisters, a lot of staring at the screen with nothing to write, dreaming up various ways that I could kill Jackson and Allie in a blaze of romantic glory, and a horrible weight that if IF I ever finished it, it would be the manuscript that convinced Chip, my agent, he had made a truly monumental error of judgement in signing me.

And then, somehow, there were 90,000 words on the page. Not only that but, when I read them, to my utter amazement they were pretty good. And once my wonderful sister and writing sisters were through with them, they were better than good. And so, in mid-July, off they went to my agent and the editor who I had had that first catalyst conversation with.

Honestly, I wasn't holding my breath. I knew that the publishing house that editor worked for wasn't currently acquiring contemporary romances and I really didn't think any one else would be interested in it. After years of being told to write stories in America, that international settings didn't sell, here I was pitching a book set in New Zealand about Tolkien and Lord of the Rings of all things, and into a super tough publishing environment against so many other amazing books.

This was the worst part because some of those other amazing books are written by my best friends! I had read their awesome, award-winning, writing. I had critiqued it. I had helped them make it even better so it could beat me! I didn't even ask Chip what other houses he had submitted it to because I was terrified the answer would be that no one else had wanted to see so much as a sentence.

Fast-forward to mid-October. I'm on holiday with my family and get an email from Chip forwarding an email from an editor at Howard saying she loves my proposal but has a few questions. I almost fell over. Howard? The same Howard that publishes some of my favourite authors not only has it but might be interested?

Questions were answered, every word scrutinised, just in case that one particular word might cause her to change her mind. Or worse, a misplaced comma, my particular specialty. Then came a Skype conversation. Then a week waiting in agony for another meeting to discuss my book again.

That meeting was Wednesday 3 December, New Zealand time. Tuesday 2 December in the USA. The best I was hoping for was news that my book might be progressed to the next step in the publishing decision process. I kept telling myself that I probably wouldn't even hear anything that day.

After a morning of meetings, I walk into my next one with fifteen minutes to spare. My writing sisters are checking in frequently, "Anything? Anything yet?! What about now? Now?"

I check my emails. Tell myself not to hold my breath. It's 4.45pm in New York. 1.45pm in Oregon. 10.45am in New Zealand. Even if they have made a decision the editor probably hasn't had a chance to tell Chip yet what it was. Even if she has, he definitely won't have had a chance to email me.

Then my screen flashes. An email from Chip with the subject line "BIG news!!!"

And then, underneath it, in tiny little evil italic font, where the BIG NEWS SHOULD BE are the words "Unable to download email from server."

I try again. Same message. And again. Same message. My colleague walks into the room. I try to act normal and not like the DESPERATE CRAZED WRITER WHO CAN'T ACCESS THE EMAIL THAT MIGHT BE ABOUT TO CHANGE HER LIFE THAT I AM.

I text and Facebook my writing sisters that THERE IS AN EMAIL! I CAN SEE IT BUT I CAN'T READ IT. They make so much virtual noise I think they might melt the internet.

And then, as the people who we're meeting with walk into the room and the meeting begins, the email downloads. Before the screen fades out I catch the words Call... Howard... two-book deal.

I have endured some long stretches of sixty minutes in my life. Labour. Right up there. Trying to finish a marathon while struck down by a tummy bug. Pretty high on the list. But that meeting. Longest sixty minutes ever.

I finally escape Writers' Hades and call my husband. Then my sister (who doesn't answer and who I need to do some screaming on my behalf since my husband offers the to be expected low-key guy response). I buy lunch. For some weird reason something that I don't even like that much. I call Chip. I'm pretty sure my colleague thinks I'm having some kind of family crisis because I bail on our next meeting and keep ducking into meeting rooms to make phone calls. I call one of my writing sisters who is also woefully lacking on the screaming front because it might wake her children. I text another one. Facebook the others. Finally talk to my sister. Who is very obliging with the screaming.

I email my parents at some point. Three seconds later I remember that my father is the worst secret keeper in the whole world and email him back telling him to shhhhhh. Too late. He's already told every living creature in the vicinity. Fortunately he lives in Cambodia so it doesn't matter.

And then I head off for my next set of meetings and try and maintain some sort of facade of normality and productivity for the rest of the afternoon :)

And then, finally, ten weeks later, with all the contractual ts crossed and is dotted, I get to tell the world. To celebrate today I'm kicking off the first ever giveaway of Then There Was You because i get author copies to do cool stuff like that with (which you won't get for about a year but trust me, I'm awesome with spreadsheets, I will keep track of who you are and one day in early 2016, when you're least expecting it, it will show up in your mailbox!). Just leave a comment with your email address and the winner will be announced in the weekend edition :)

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand where she spends her days working in product management and being double-teamed by a ninja preschooler and his baby sister. By night she writes romantic comedy and still can't quite believe that the world will get to meet Jackson and Allie in 2016. She loves to connect with writers and readers on Twitter and Facebook

What Takes Eight Flights, Six Airports and an Almost Naked Man?

Eight flights, forty flying hours, six stopovers, an empty bank account and one middle-aged overweight  "gentleman" who decided that "night flight" gave him the green light to strip to his underwear to sleep is what got me to the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers') Conference in Indianapolis.

It was worth all of it, plus some more. Yes, even the almost naked sleeper across the aisle. It was even worth redefining the term "red-eye" and catching a flight that left San Francisco at half past midnight in order to get to Indianapolis. I didn't even know planes flew at that time! Though I probably wouldn't recommend catching one if you're planning to get off at the other end and walk straight into a four hour workshop that requires you to be able to think coherently!

It was an amazing time. Being a writer can be a very lonely solitary path. Especially in a country that isn't big enough for its own publishers, ACFW Chapters or even really critique groups. All of my writer friends are virtual and exist through Skype, Twitter, Facebook and email. So getting to actually spend time with people in person who understand the huge ups and downs and general insanity associated with this endeavor is kind of like having your first glass bottle of Diet Coke after a life spent on that nasty postmix/fountain stuff that is nowhere close to the real thing!

I got to have lunch with my incredible agent, room with three amazing writers, spend time in workshops learning soaking up wisdom from the experts, spend quality time with some great friends and cheer them on in their successes and even meet some of my favourite authors. And of course ribs. No trip to America is complete without a rack of ribs. And this trip came with a bonus - an introduction to the potato awesomeness of what I'm informed are "waffle fries".

But the most exciting thing about the trip? International settings are, well trendy would be a very big overstatement, but they are no longer a death knell for your pitch for your book before you've even started your second sentence. When I attended ACFW Colorado 2009 I was told by a number of people that (1) no one was interested in contemporary, they all wanted either historical or Amish and (2) 99% of publishers would never consider a contemporary story set outside of the U.S.

And they were right. I had a number of editors tell me that if I wanted my story to have a chance it needed to be rewritten to be set to be in the U.S. Four years later, praise the Lord, when I said that my manuscript was set in Australia not a single editor said they weren't interested. Admittedly, no one threw themselves over the table and begged me to sign on the dotted line straight away, but they were open to having the conversation about a book in that setting. Even open to having a look at it. One even said she'd be interested in a story set in New Zealand. Which is pretty much a miracle compared to a few years ago!

So this is my post to say thank you :) Thank you to all of you readers who have bought books in international settings and shown publishers that there is an audience for them out there. Thank you to all of the writers who have gone before me and convinced publishers to take chances. Thank you to the editors and publishers who have taken chances on books that aren't set in America and championing them through the long and arduous publishing process to make them happen. Thank you.

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her worship pastor husband, ninja toddler and a "Cloudberry" who is due for release in February 2014. She loves to read what she writes (contemporary romance), a really good fudge sundae and is counting down the days until Downton Abbey returns.

You can find her on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer and on Twitter @KaraIsaac

Discovered on Facebook and Other Publishing Urban Legends

We've all heard of them, they're the equivalent of the "supermodel discovered at bus stop solving Mensa logic puzzle" stories.

The unpublished writer who went to her wrtiers' conference and left three days later with both an agent AND a publisher. The unpublished writer who got found by an agent via Facebook after the agent saw their name on a list of contest finalists. The writer who got discovered because an editor was secretly reading her blog. The writer who met an editor on a plane and he liked her pitch. The writer who got asked for a proposal by an editor who saw her on Twitter.

Twitter? I hear you say? C'mon, that's not even an urban legend, that's just fiction. And I would have said the same, until that very thing happened to someone that I know. Yes, someone that I know. Not that mysterious "friend of a friend", not my cousin's boyfriend's sister's college roommate, a living breathing person who is my friend.

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving gal. But I've told her she has no idea what she's done. Once the story gets out, it's going to unleash a host of writers onto Twitter, all tweeting wildly in the hope that there's a tribe of editors lurking out there in Twitterland just waiting for their story.

I think it would be safe to say that with my overwhelming three tweets in the last six months, the most recent being a photo of my son with mash smeared all over his face, it's unlikely an editor will be finding their way to my Twitbox anytime soon.

But it's true, it does happen. So be careful out there in social media land people. You never know who's watching ;)

What about you? What's the strangest/most interesting way you've ever heard of a writer snagging an agent or editor?

Rumor has it that Stephanie Meyer got discovered because there was a new intern on the agent's slush pile who didn't know a young adult novel was meant to be 70,000 words, not 110,000.

A helping hand

A few days ago, I received a brief email from a young friend who has written a book based on her experiences working with the Kurds in northern Iraq. It is the story of a brave Kurdish widow who survived Saddam Hussein’s terrible attacks and went on to forge a life for herself and her children.

Now this is her first book, so she turned to me for some advice. I was happy to help and in the end, edited it for her as well. This was a difficult journey, as our writing styles are almost opposite in many ways. In particular, she writes clearly and sparsely, using many short, simple sentences. I, on the other hand, often write long, convoluted ones that are probably quite daunting for some readers! So I tried to preserve her own writing style, but still help her towards preparing her book as best she could before submitting it for publication.

I suggested to her that she submit it first of all via the special ‘Manuscript Mondays’ and ‘Friday Pitches’ run by two large publishing houses here in Australia. But in her email, she told me a little sadly that her book had been unsuccessful in these.

‘So ... what’s the next step?’ she asked me bluntly in her email.

At first, I heaved a big sigh. I was busy editing my own first non-fiction work. I was tired. And I had other things to do. Perhaps I could get away with simply sending her some notes from a workshop I had presented on ‘Getting Published’ and leave it at that. But then I began to feel a little guilty. Some things in these notes would not apply in her case, I knew. She really needed a personal response from me, tailor-made to her situation. But was I prepared to put the time aside to do this?

Then as I sat trying to allow the more gracious side of me to come to the fore, I remembered clearly how I had felt when I was in the same place as my friend now is. I was so new to everything. I read books on publishing and on writing book proposals. I checked out articles on the net. I joined the New South Wales Writers’ Centre and attended various seminars there. I even joined American Christian Fiction Writers! I bought a copy of ‘The Australian Writers’ Marketplace’ and painstakingly went through every publisher listed to see if they would accept unsolicited and ‘unagented’ manuscripts from a first-time author. I engaged the services of a manuscript assessor—and so on and so on. And I remembered the feeling I had had when I had done all this and finally was offered a publishing contract. I decided I did not want another Australian Christian author to waste time unnecessarily as I had often done in seeking out all this information about publishing when I could easily pass my discoveries onto him or her.

I was duly chastened—and I suspect God had a hand in that. Over the next hour or so, I responded to her email, suggesting various steps she might take. And I sought to encourage her yet again not to give up. I believe she has written an important and moving story that deserves to be told and I hope and pray a publisher somewhere soon thinks likewise.

And today I will send her another email, because this morning I read the following in Isaiah 50:7-8:

Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. ...

How privileged we are to have the Almighty, Sovereign Lord on our side, fighting our battles and reaching out to help us! Surely then, as God’s child and in the light of the amazing grace I have received, I can help out another author without grumbling?

I hope I have learnt my lesson well.  

Jo-Anne Berthelsen grew up in Brisbane and holds an Arts degree from Queensland University. She has also studied Education and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry in Sydney. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has four published novels – ‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’, ‘Jenna’ and ‘Heléna’s Legacy’.  She is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and three grandchildren. For more information or to contact Jo-Anne, please visit her website, www.jo-anneberthelsen.com.