9 of 43

Write now Article Tools

Page 4 of 5

the manuscript to go to print.

Then one day, you come home, and you listen to your answering machine messages, and an editor from the publishing company has left you a message to call back. You call back as requested only to be told your book is not going to print after all. The publisher has decided that the book is no longer inline with what is hot in the industry, so they are shelving it in the storage of their dead manuscripts, and perhaps they will bring it back out later.

The good news: "You can keep the advance as a kill fee on your contract."

Wow. All that work, all those adjustments, the changes I made to 'my baby', all my integrity down the drain because I wanted to be published, and now, the book will not be published after all.

This happened to me on my second contract. Fortunately, my first contract did go to print, but my second contract was killed. It's devastating. Additionally, the publisher actually held the print rights on that book for the duration of the contract, even though they were not going to print it. When the contract expires, I can shop the manuscript around again, but until then, it sits, unpublished.

Is It Worth It?

You've poured your blood, sweat and tears into your novel, worked and reworked it, and given all you had to give to the writing process, and dealt with all the things I just described above. Was it worth it?

Let me tell you something - the day I finally held the completed, bound, perfected copy of my first novel in my hands, shipped to me at my front door before the books went out for distribution, with MY NAME in big letters as the author on the cover of the book... well, that day ranks right up there with the days my children were born as one of the best moments in my life.

No One Loves Me

However, the pain and rejection doesn't end with the book actually being published. Now the book has to sell. You go to Amazon.com daily to check your rankings. You check the bookstores every week to see if you've received shelf placement yet. You ask the publisher until they are tired of answering you about how many books sold that day, that week. Every day that passes with no sales or very few and you wonder if anyone will ever buy your book.

Then there is the book signing, when the bookstore orders in fifty copies of your book, sets up a table for you, and you dress up in your best, with your fancy pen and a nervous smile, and sit and wait for people to show up to buy a copy of your book and get it signed.

And then only ten people besides

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The realities of being a writer?
We want to hear your view. Write now!