Weekend Update: Easy Come, Easy Go...
Earlier this year, I almost got my book published.
Almost.
It happened very fast. My science fiction novel, Entanglement, is what I refer to when I talk about my thesis novel, as it was written as my graduate thesis for Seton Hill's Writing Popular Fiction Program. While I attended SHU, I met a lot of people, and aside from my critique partners, other people talked to me about my novel, as I talked to them about theirs. A few people got to see snippets pop up in workshop, and they provided wonderful feedback.
Fast-forward to earlier this year, the end of May, to be exact. I have three email addys, two of which I only check on my phone because not a lot is happening on those addys. One of them, I rarely check at all, because the stuff that does come through there tends to stay on the back-burner. I had a few emails under that particular addy marked as unread, because I needed to take care of them, eventually, when I was home from work, and because I knew I had those marked as "new," I didn't check that address. However, one Friday morning, I decided to click that mailbox anyway and do a sanity check, and an email had been sitting there, since Tuesday, from one of my SHU colleagues, Heidi Ruby Miller.
What she had to tell me can be best summed up in this video, which announces a new science fiction imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press, called Dog Star Books.
Miller invited me to submit a small synopsis about my novel -- she'd remembered it from our SHU days, and the novel had stuck with her all this time. So I sent it to her. And then two days later, I was submitting the entire manuscript. A week later, I got the call: Dog Star wanted my novel.
The reason it's not getting published now is no one's fault. In the process of reviewing the manuscript, we realized that my word count was just too long for what Dog Star wanted to tackle. I'm not adverse to editing, but even as I discussed potential edits and changes over the phone with Miller, we both realized that the kind of word count cuts necessary to make the book Dog Star friendly would, essentially, destroy the book. So we parted on very amicable terms, and I decided that I would use this opportunity to really dust off that manuscript, go over it one more time (I'd like to cut 10K from it, which I think is doable), and start shopping for agents in earnest, something I haven't done, despite graduating in 2008.
It was a surreal situation that was taught me one thing: easy come, easy go. That it's not getting published next year is a little disappointing, no doubt, but at least it gave me the kick in the pants to do what I needed to do and really try to get the novel out there.
On the plus side, I've now got an inside scoop for the upcoming books Dog Star will be publishing in 2013! One of them is from another Seton Hill colleague, K. Ceres Wright, and she'll be publishing her novel, COG, next year with Dog Star. The cover's already out, and I can't wait to have the book in my hands. There's been no other news about who else will be published (other than what's mentioned in the video), but I know quite a few of you are fans of small, independent presses, so if you're also a fan of SF, Dog Star Books might be a publisher to follow. They even have an LJ: raw_dog. Despite the fact I won't be published by them (at this time; who knows what the future might hold!), I'm very excited about the launch. The covers will be designed by Bradley Sharp, and you can see COG's cover to the side. The blurb for Wright's novel is below.
Wills Ryder, heir to a global wireless hologram company and mental giant, is conducting his own Phase 1 clinical trials on unsuspecting victims to upload their personalities to a quantum computer and download them into other bodies. But after Wills has a fight with his father, Geren, over a recently discovered half-brother, Geren falls into a coma and Wills leaves town.
Upon hearing the news of her father’s illness, Wills’ sister, Nicholle, is compelled to leave her job as a museum curator and head up the family hologram company after learning Wills also stole $500 billion of corporate money.
But when the bodyguard assigned to Nicholle tries to kill her, and the company vice president locks her bank accounts, she has to turn to her gang leader ex for help. The only problem is, she embezzled money from him before she sobered up, and neglected to perform Step 9-“Made direct amends”-of her 12-Step Program.
With time running out to save her father from Wills’ experiment and keep the family business from going under, Nicholle must perform a death-defying act to appease her ex, dodge a government agent pursuing her, and enlist a reluctant ally for her cause. But help comes from an unlikely source, and current events shed light on an unsolved mystery from her past.
Almost.
It happened very fast. My science fiction novel, Entanglement, is what I refer to when I talk about my thesis novel, as it was written as my graduate thesis for Seton Hill's Writing Popular Fiction Program. While I attended SHU, I met a lot of people, and aside from my critique partners, other people talked to me about my novel, as I talked to them about theirs. A few people got to see snippets pop up in workshop, and they provided wonderful feedback.
Fast-forward to earlier this year, the end of May, to be exact. I have three email addys, two of which I only check on my phone because not a lot is happening on those addys. One of them, I rarely check at all, because the stuff that does come through there tends to stay on the back-burner. I had a few emails under that particular addy marked as unread, because I needed to take care of them, eventually, when I was home from work, and because I knew I had those marked as "new," I didn't check that address. However, one Friday morning, I decided to click that mailbox anyway and do a sanity check, and an email had been sitting there, since Tuesday, from one of my SHU colleagues, Heidi Ruby Miller.
What she had to tell me can be best summed up in this video, which announces a new science fiction imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press, called Dog Star Books.
Click to viewMiller invited me to submit a small synopsis about my novel -- she'd remembered it from our SHU days, and the novel had stuck with her all this time. So I sent it to her. And then two days later, I was submitting the entire manuscript. A week later, I got the call: Dog Star wanted my novel.
The reason it's not getting published now is no one's fault. In the process of reviewing the manuscript, we realized that my word count was just too long for what Dog Star wanted to tackle. I'm not adverse to editing, but even as I discussed potential edits and changes over the phone with Miller, we both realized that the kind of word count cuts necessary to make the book Dog Star friendly would, essentially, destroy the book. So we parted on very amicable terms, and I decided that I would use this opportunity to really dust off that manuscript, go over it one more time (I'd like to cut 10K from it, which I think is doable), and start shopping for agents in earnest, something I haven't done, despite graduating in 2008.
It was a surreal situation that was taught me one thing: easy come, easy go. That it's not getting published next year is a little disappointing, no doubt, but at least it gave me the kick in the pants to do what I needed to do and really try to get the novel out there.
On the plus side, I've now got an inside scoop for the upcoming books Dog Star will be publishing in 2013! One of them is from another Seton Hill colleague, K. Ceres Wright, and she'll be publishing her novel, COG, next year with Dog Star. The cover's already out, and I can't wait to have the book in my hands. There's been no other news about who else will be published (other than what's mentioned in the video), but I know quite a few of you are fans of small, independent presses, so if you're also a fan of SF, Dog Star Books might be a publisher to follow. They even have an LJ: raw_dog. Despite the fact I won't be published by them (at this time; who knows what the future might hold!), I'm very excited about the launch. The covers will be designed by Bradley Sharp, and you can see COG's cover to the side. The blurb for Wright's novel is below.
Wills Ryder, heir to a global wireless hologram company and mental giant, is conducting his own Phase 1 clinical trials on unsuspecting victims to upload their personalities to a quantum computer and download them into other bodies. But after Wills has a fight with his father, Geren, over a recently discovered half-brother, Geren falls into a coma and Wills leaves town.
Upon hearing the news of her father’s illness, Wills’ sister, Nicholle, is compelled to leave her job as a museum curator and head up the family hologram company after learning Wills also stole $500 billion of corporate money.
But when the bodyguard assigned to Nicholle tries to kill her, and the company vice president locks her bank accounts, she has to turn to her gang leader ex for help. The only problem is, she embezzled money from him before she sobered up, and neglected to perform Step 9-“Made direct amends”-of her 12-Step Program.
With time running out to save her father from Wills’ experiment and keep the family business from going under, Nicholle must perform a death-defying act to appease her ex, dodge a government agent pursuing her, and enlist a reluctant ally for her cause. But help comes from an unlikely source, and current events shed light on an unsolved mystery from her past.