2015 is only four days old and I am already thinking about 2016. That’s because I have some happy news to share: “Publishers Marketplace” has announced my two-book deal with Month9Books, the Young Adult speculative fiction imprint of the Georgia McBride Media Group.
My first book comes out in 2016 and is about an 18-year-old girl who has never been on the Internet. Her lack of a virtual footprint makes her so valuable that she is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The sequel will be released in 2017.
If you’re thinking, “What the heck! Jennifer writes fiction?” you’re not alone. After six years of writing I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing — except for my family and a couple of friends — until I was officially signed by my literary agent, Liza Fleissig.
I kept quiet because writing involves so much rejection.
With non-fiction you write out a book proposal and then contact publishing houses until somebody likes your idea. Next, with a contract in hand, you write your book.
But with fiction you write the entire manuscript, revise it a bunch and then query agents hoping that somebody will represent you. Typically the most an agent will read is the first 10 pages. If you are fortunate enough to be signed by an agent, your manuscript then goes out on submission to publishing houses and you face rejection all over again.
Hyperbole be damned, the process is soul crushing.
I didn’t know any of this before I wrote my first story over six years ago. I didn’t foresee how bruising all of that rejection would be. It’s really difficult to hear “No” over and over again.
The other thing I didn’t understand is that fiction writing isn’t as lucrative as you might think. The Society of Children’s Book Writers &Illustrators says that a typical royalty advance for a first book is between $5,000-$7,500. An author needs some of that money to pay for a webpage, travel to book signings and writing conferences and ink for the endless printed pages. Plus, the agent gets a cut.
It’s no wonder so many writers choose to self-publish their books on Amazon. They can bring their words to market quickly and control most of the process.
For me however, my dream was to be traditionally published. When my daughter was in preschool I would sit in the Edmonds library and work on my manuscript, always imagining the day I’d have a book on the shelf.
Not to be all “Kumbaya” about it, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to not give up.
For me my dream was to become an author, but for you it might be opening a restaurant, performing on stage, or going back to school. There might be a hundred people telling you “No.”
But remember, all you need is one “Yes.” It’s 2015 and the possibilities are endless.
Jennifer Bardsley is an Edmonds mom of two. Find her on Twitter @jennbardsley and at www.heraldnet.com/ibrakeformoms and teachingmybabytoread.com.
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