How this Works

On Monday, I did it.  I finally came out of the closet to all of my friends and family... the writer's closet, that is.  I figured that if I'm serious about publication, then I need to start building up a support base. A lot of close friends already knew that I was writing or had written a book, but I had always held back most of the details for what equates to little more than prideful reasons.  Writing is very personal - it reveals your passions, your concerns, your viewpoints on life, your weaknesses.  It's scary to open that up for critique.  But, it comes with the territory for those who want to write professionally.  So, I told everyone and the response was... unbelievable.  I never expected that much support or enthusiasm.  To say that I was blown away would be an understatement.  I was touched and encouraged like never before.

I'm sharing all of this to lead into the following:

The process to go from manuscript to publication is not an easy, simple one, as I think some of my friends might believe.  There are a few steps involved that require a lot of patience and vigor.

So far, this is what my path has looked like

1 - Development of the premise.  In my case, this was started with a dream.  It sounds cheesy.  Maybe it is, but that's how the novel came to me.  I wrote down the dream and let it percolate, and then I began writing.  (October)

2 - The first draft.  This was basically just a mad rush of writing in which I got everything possible out about the story.  Truth be told, it only took me a couple of weeks to write the first draft.  Granted, it was terrible and riddled with holes, but it was there.  (January - February)

3 - The first revision.  I went back through and started stitching loose seams together with dialogue and more story.  Then I let it rest for a few days.  (February)

4 - The second revision.  Ditto.  Only this time, instead of trying to start the third revision after only a few days, I set it down for about four - five months.  (February)

5 - The third revision.  I came back after a couple of months, read through the manuscript, and decided to pretty much completely redo it.  The same characters and elements are still there, but I took it from first person to third person and added a lot more action and dialogue. The result?  Not as bad.  Then I let it rest some more.  (July)

6 - Beta Readers.  I then asked several close friends and family members and a few other people who are nuts about young adult literature to read the manuscript and make notes.  This took a few months, and I got back the results somewhere in October, I believe.

7 - The fourth revision.  Taking the beta readers' criticisms in mind, I started at the beginning and retyped the whole thing, adding in elements, fixing dialogue, upping the romance, fixing the pace, and revising the beginning.  It now has no prologue and very little "slap you in the face" backstory.  Instead, the book now starts where Chapter 2 had begun in the third draft.  The result?  MUCH better.  (Thank you, lovely beta readers.)  I now believe that it is prime for querying.

9 - Querying.  In traditional publishing, the first step an author needs to take is to find someone - a literary agent - to represent his or her work.  You can't just take your novel and send it to Scholastic and ask them to publish it... it doesn't work that way.  So, essentially you take your entire novel, shrink it down to a few key points, and write a hook - something to get an agent interested in your manuscript.  This makes up the body of your query letter.  I have gone through about 8 different versions of my query letter, and I still tailor it specifically to each agent in whom I have interest.  Once your query letter is submitted to the agent, it becomes a matter of...

10 - Waiting.  At this point, I have had one manuscript request in the week since I emailed agents.  It can take an agent anywhere from minutes to months to respond to a query and another couple of months to respond to your manuscript after they've requested it.  It's enough to drive someone nutty.  I just emailed out another round of queries last night as well.  My goal is to cast my net as wide as possible without exhausting my resources.

Now, IF an agent liked my manuscript, this is what would happen.
1 - Most likely, I would have to make revisions to my manuscript to make it as publishable as possible.
2 - If the agent liked the revisions that he/she had suggested, they would offer me representation.  This costs me nothing at the time - they don't make money until I make money, and their typical commission is 15%.
3 - The agent would then begin to try to sell the manuscript to publishing houses.  Just because an author has an agent doesn't mean that the book will sell or ever reach publication.  The editors and houses have to be interested in the idea and see a market for it.
4 - If a publishing house liked the book, we would go under contract.  It would take another round or two of editing/revision, most likely, and then it would probably be another year or so until paper copies hit the shelves.


And there you  have it.  The whole process could die out at any moment or never even get brought to life if an agent doesn't like my work.  So, here's hoping that SEVENTEEN draws someone's eye and that they believe in the story enough to help me through the process.