8 months. It’s 8 months until my debut novel is published and officially launched into the world. Less time than it takes to grow a baby but no less arduous. I should qualify what sort of baby. It takes a baby elephant almost two years to gestate, and this process has felt like elephant twins.
When you mention to people that you’re writing a book, or thinking of writing one, or even finished writing one, their response is usually something like “oh, cool, when’s it going to be published?” Generally, they have no clue this is an arrow to your heart, because if you could predict that bit of information, the whole writing-publishing-being an author gig would be a walk in the park. Mostly these folks are well-meaning and intend their question as encouragement, so it’s not their fault.
In 2014, when my firstborn left for college, I turned back to writing and began a blog, where I posted personal essays of humor and musings. After about a year of working those muscles, I started submitting to publications now and then, both online and print. Now and then, one would get picked up and published. Occasionally, one would get shared far & wide and surprise me, like the one about Marbles that seems to get recirculated every spring.
Two years later, when it was clear the second (and last) would soon leave, I began a novel. The reading and research that went into this paranormal thriller filled my time. If Dan Brown and Michael Chrichton had a baby, this would have been it: a fast-paced, high-stakes romp through history, art, and science. It took over a year to write. When I finally looked up from the keyboard, a little myopic and dizzy, I began asking questions. Now what? Who would read it?
I did some research and decided I didn’t want to go the self-publishing route. Although that’s a legitimate and growing option for many authors, as part of my education approximately 100 years ago, I’d attended Denver University’s Publishing Institute one amazing summer, and I’d always had it in my head that someday I’d try to get published “traditionally,” meaning my book would be picked up by one of the larger publishing houses. For most of these, authors can’t submit their work directly to editors. They must acquire an agent for their work to get past the gate. This would be my next step.
After poking around on Twitter and stalking the writing community and agent tweets, I discovered a new language. I learned about querying from The Query Shark. I learned what hashtags to pay attention to if I wanted to see what agents and publishers were looking for. I started my query list and began The Ask: the part where you send a letter to agents and ask if maybe, possibly, they would consider reading your book and helping you publish it. MOST of them passed. Some of them never even answered.
I attended a couple of writer conferences and paid a little extra to be able to pitch the story in person (you get 5 minutes, so make it snappy!) to agents who attended. I got a couple of requests for a partial manuscript after these, but they ultimately went nowhere. So much depends on what’s popular, what publishers are looking for–not for NOW but to round out their book lists two or more years in the future, and they weren’t feeling it.
Almost 18 months in, I moved on to a new story idea to take my mind off what felt like the reverberating silence of the universe. A new book. Historical fiction this time, set in 1930’s Appalachia, centered on two families who learn the power of words. A big departure from my first one with its international vibe. More reading, more research. Some “field trips” to get the background and setting right. Then, the discipline part: days, weeks, months of having my butt-in-chair for the hours required to generate words on the page. This is the decidedly unglamorous part. The part where distractions become overwhelming and the push to get to the next chapter can feel like the most grueling marathon, even though I loved these characters, the place, this story.
2018. Done. Now to craft the query, the synopsis, the pitch that might catch an agent’s eye. Once more, the query list, submissions, and lots and lots of waiting. This time, the stars aligned! Not only did this story garner interest and requests from the people I offered it to, I got the call. An agent loved it enough that she was willing to give her own time and energy to it in hawking it to editors and publishers she knew! What’s more, it turned out she lives maybe an hour away, though, totally gets the story and its sense of place, and I knew she’d be its champion.
That was that, right? It should be on bookshelves everywhere in a month or two, tops. Not quite.
We went back and forth with some rounds of suggestions and editing. Some agents will help with developmental edits like this, and some won’t. The goal of all of them is to polish the manuscript until it’s so shiny that the editor who finds it in their inbox simply can’t look away. This, for us, took another chunk of months. It was early 2019 when it went on submission in earnest. By this time, I’d begun a third novel to take my mind off the waiting.
Again, we got nibbles. Positive feedback and lovely compliments, but no one wanted to put a ring on it yet. Then, in the fall of 2019 a book was announced and my heart sank. An author named JoJo Moyes–(maybe you’ve heard of her?) published a book on the exact same subject! What were the odds??
My intrepid agent assured me it only meant there was interest in the subject and not to worry. Then a pandemic hit and publishing, like many other industries, got sideswiped. My agent kept submitting, and I kept not thinking about it (as if!). It wasn’t until early 2021 that we finally got another call, this time from a publisher who was also a fan of the story and wanted to turn it into a book. I can’t emphasize enough how not just any agent and not just any publisher will do. Authors really need to stick it out to find true advocates who resonate with the story.
So, that was that, right? It should be on bookshelves everywhere in a month or two, tops. Not quite.
Remember, I’d finished the book in 2018. Three years earlier. Now that I had a publishing contract, the book would go through additional stages of editing–some developmental editing, copy editing, and a final proof stage. In between, we’d exchange ideas about cover design, promo blurbs, and other marketing aspects that, while exciting, isn’t what most writers specialize in. Each stage brought the book one step closer to the light of day.
And here we are–in the spring of 2022–eight months from launch! For most publishing companies, once the book reaches that point, their job is done, and they’ve moved on to the other books for their lists one and two years out. I’m sure I’ll climb a whole new learning curve this fall, when, at the same time I’m putting words-on-page for the NEXT book, I’m also thinking about how to connect with readers and make “birth announcements” for the foundling that’s toddling around out there in the world. Just like when parents “author” a child, authoring a book and helping it do well and reach its potential is the real crucible.
Can’t wait for the world to meet the new baby!
