So you’ve written a few books, had them edited, paid
for a cool cover, learned how to market, and as a result, had a great deal of
success selling them online. You’ve even quit your day job. Maybe bought a
house or a car…or both. Life’s coming up roses. You’ve achieved something
special. Something spectacular. You are
a professional novelist! Moreover, you’re an experienced indie, well
qualified to pass on your wisdom to the never-ending river of up-and-comers
dreaming of emulating your accomplishments.
That’s more or less how I felt a few months ago. For
seven years, I have enjoyed a degree of professional success in indie fantasy.
Not to say I was at the top of the heap. But I sure wasn’t at the bottom. I had
an agent, had made a few significant audiobook deals, and been nominated for an
award or two. But that’s where it stopped. I’d reached the limit of where I
could go on my own. If I wanted to continue up the ladder, I had to find a way
to break into traditional publishing
My agent had submitted several times to the Big Five,
without success. I was perfectly satisfied with my achievements as an indie, but
the game was changing, and I was rapidly facing the possibility of fading away
into obscurity. New indie talent was emerging, and they were hungry, energetic,
and motivated. I’d been working at a feverish pace for seven years, and I’m not
ashamed to say I was running low on steam. This new class of indies half my age
could produce at a rate I simply could not keep up with. And their facility with
social networking made me a horse and carriage to their self-driven car.
I decided that perhaps it was time to try something
new with my stories, so I wrote The
Vale, which is based on the tropes, plotting, and pace of RPG’s
like Final Fantasy and Tales Of. I was aware of GameLit and
LitRPG, but this was different in the sense that it read like a novelization of
a game – no stats, no being sucked into the game world, no other criteria placed
on the genre by its fans. I landed a substantial audio deal for the series,
which basically crushed my chances to sell it to the Big Five. Still, my agent thought
it was worth a shot.
As expected, they weren’t interested. However, an
editor over at Tor (Macmillan) read it and liked it very much. And while unable
to make an offer, asked that they be given first look at my next project. That
alone sent me over the moon. By the way, I saw the lunar lander while I was up
there. Take that, conspiracy theorists! I had a mountain of work to do, but I
didn’t want to waste the opportunity. I had a new series in the beginning
stages saved in a file, so I banged out the first few chapters along with a
synopsis. Tor took a quick look and replied by saying that the complexity of
the world was too much to make a decision without a complete manuscript.
So, defeated, I went back to my indie work and plodded
on, forgetting all about Tor, the book, and transitioning to traditional publishing.
Yeah, right! This is Tor we’re
talking about. As a kid, most of the books I read came from Ballentine, Del Rey,
or Tor. Becoming a Tor author would be the fulfillment of a childhood fantasy. So
I shoved everything else aside and worked like my life depended on it.
After about eight weeks, The Bard’s Blade was finished. BEA (BookExpo America) was about a
month away, and my agent contacted Tor, offering an exclusive look before
shopping it to other publishers while she was in New York. Now, here’s where it
gets weird…in a good way.
For anyone who has been through the submission
process, you know how mind-numbingly, soul-suckingly, nail-bitingly long an
ordeal it is. Aspiring writers can spend years finding an agent just to spend
years more submitting to publishers. Tor seemed excited to read it and told us
that they would have an answer ahead of the convention. While I wanted to
believe this, I fully expected to hear back from them saying they couldn’t make
a decision within the allotted time frame. I had mentally prepared for this
likelihood so as not to drive myself nuts checking my inbox every five
minutes.
Not only to my
disbelief but to that of every traditionally published writer I know, this isn’t
what happened. Tor received the manuscript on a Friday; on Monday they emailed
my agent, stating they were interested and intended to make an offer. That
alone had me grinning from ear to ear. I had three numbers in mind. What I
would take; what I wanted; and the imaginary number that would not happen.
There was, of course, the chance they would come back with a lowball figure
that I would be forced to reject. That was the nightmare scenario. To turn down
an offer from Tor would haunt me for the rest of my life.
But my astonishment increased when Wednesday arrived
and my agent received a deal memo. It was to the dollar what I wanted. Sure,
there was some tweaking pertaining to rights, but overall, I could not have
expected better. It took a full day for me to absorb what had happened.
Once the contracts were signed, it was time for me to
come to the realization that experienced as I was in the indie world, I had a
lot to learn about working on a Big Five publication. To her credit as both a
person and a professional, Lindsey Hall, Senior Editor at Tor, was
understanding, and she bent over backwards to help me acclimate to new
procedures and expectations. She was always available to talk and responded to
my questions, no matter how silly.
After seven years of indie work, I’d ironed out a
method of production that worked well for me. There is the first draft, of
course, where I give little consideration to prose. This is for getting down
the plot and fleshing out the characters. The second draft smooths out some of
the rough edges. Then, depending on deadline constraints, one of two things
happens. One: If pressed for time, the manuscript goes to my editor, with whom
I’ve been working for five years. He knows my style intimately and can make
additions and adjustment so close to the way I would write I can’t even pick
them out. Or two: A third pass where I give it polish and pay close attention
to detail. From there, I send it to my first editor.
Once I have it back, I give it a read through, then
send it to my copy/line editor and proofreader. She’s fast, and has it back to
me in a few days or a week at most. After another final read, I format it and
then upload the manuscript to the online platforms.
During this period, I’m working with cover artists and
interior designers for the paperback edition. I’m also busy on my social
networking sites, getting the word out and prepping fans for the release. The
details are many, and would take a book unto itself to explain. But from
writing the first page to publication, I can produce a full length 100,000 word
novel in roughly 4-5 months.
On the traditional front, though, things move at a
different pace. The Bard’s Blade is
not slated for release until January 2020. So the first thing I had to learn
was patience. An indie making the transition must understand that this is not
just a business – it’s a BIG business, with entire departments dedicated to
aspects of publishing that an indie manages alone. Where I was the shot caller,
now there were committees. Where I could make a choice and then act on it
instantly, now even the discussions about making the decisions were scheduled
months in advance. But this was not what had me screaming at my computer.
Switching to traditional publishing meant I was giving
up the total dominion I’ve enjoyed over the content of my work. I was not the
only one invested in the story and concerned about how it would be received by
fans. There are good reasons editors pick some books and pass on others. They
are there to pick winners. The books with which they are associated are closely
watched by their superiors and the industry at large. How long will an editor
keep their job after too many flops? In other words, my success is in a real
way tied to my editor’s.
Knowing this did not make it any easier when I
received the first round of revisions. Holy moly! I sat at my desk in a stupor
for…I’m not sure how long. From my perspective, the entire book needed to be
rewritten. Whole chapters – gone. New chapters needed. Even my beloved pointy-eared
elf-like people were to be eliminated. It…it was…genocide! It was also as close
as I came to refusing to go along with it.
But in the end, I set aside my ego and made the
changes. And that’s really what it takes. When you make a success out of any
endeavor, like I had with indie publishing, you begin to think you possess
insights that you do not. You’re surrounded by people looking to you for
answers on how they too can sell thousands of books and quit their day job. It
makes you feel important; wise. Your association with other authors and the
conversations you have can trick you into thinking it’s given you even greater perspective.
But until you have experienced the pride-killing blow of being wrong about your
own work; yelled at the comment box only to lose the imaginary argument; then
looked at the end result of what you did (were forced to do) and grudgingly admitted
how much better it turned out, you really can’t know what it’s like.
That’s not to say my skill sets learned as an indie
were wasted. I work fast as a necessity. When given a month, I’d only need a
few days. When plot issues arose, I was three steps ahead with solutions. And
it wasn’t as if Lindsey took over the book and changed what it was about. It
felt a bit like that in the beginning, granted, but that was just a visceral
reaction, like when an only child has to share a toy for the first time with a
new sibling. I was still the one creating the plot points, shaping the
characters, building the world. But now I had someone helping me stay on track
who could see what I was too close to notice.
I’m still putting out indie books, and will be for
some time. Tor, surprisingly, has encouraged this. But I intend to slow my pace
considerably. Three novels a year for seven years has taken a toll. Now, thanks
to Tor, I’m carrying more tools in the bag, and it’s making it easier for me to
move forward. There’s still so much to learn; curtains to be pulled back.
And for the first time in a while, I’m eager to find
out what’s next.
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