My interview with the wonderful
Women's Fiction Writers blog went live this morning. Head on over and check it out!
ASN: What was your journey to publication? Did you find Eternal Press or did they find you, and what was it like working with them?
SJD: "I’d love to tell you I wrote the manuscript, blanketed cyber-space with query letters, and immediately received a “YES!” Wouldn’t that be wonderful? *Insert hysterical, eerie laugh.*
"The truth is, for most authors, the road to publication is very, very long. I spent nearly a year writing, revising, having others critique the manuscript, revising again and self-editing before I sent out my first batch of query letters to agents and editors.
"After I received a few responses that went something like: “I like the premise, the writing was solid, but the beginning didn’t draw me in…” I sat at my desk and contemplated setting a few items on fire, or possibly placing my laptop atop the gravel in my driveway and running over it repeatedly with my SUV for daring to allow anything but acceptance letters to enter my inbox.
When I calmed down, I realized these rejections were actually good. They weren’t form letters, they were personalized responses from agents/editors who didn’t HAVE to take the time to give feedback. So, I highlighted my first chapter, took a deep breath and hit ‘delete’. Then, tweaked the second chapter to become the first and sent out a new round of sample pages.
"I was offered a contract with Eternal Press somewhere around 8 months after sending my first batch of queries. I liked their cover art and the books I’d read that’d been published by Eternal Press were suitably edited. For me, the decision was an easy ‘yes’..."
