| | Bittersweet Sacrifice | |
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vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:51 am | |
| First rejection slip printed and stuck to the wall. Penrose Publishing. Very positive and personal. Thank you for that Michiel. Lot's more of those to come no doubt! Plan is to paper the study. May have to get a bigger study! |
| | | dkchristi Five Star Member
Number of posts : 8594 Registration date : 2008-12-29 Location : Florida
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:25 am | |
| Personal rejections are the best kind. Treasure them. |
| | | vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 9:14 am | |
| It's a strange feeling, when I was young, I sold newspaper advertising over the phone. It didn't do to have thin skin in that environment. Since then, I started my own business and have risen up to the top where I am considered something of an expert in my field to the point where I've appeared on TV a number of times as an engineering 'expert'. Now I find myself all naive and exposed. Feels a little like handing your children over to someone for a 'valuation'. Must be tough for someone starting out with no other commercial success under their belt. It's something I want though so bring it on! |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 12:33 pm | |
| Definition of an expert: a guy from out of town with a bunch of slides. |
| | | vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 3:00 pm | |
| - Shelagh wrote:
- Definition of an expert: a guy from out of town with a bunch of slides.
Ow! Thank you Shelagh the sceptic. That sand you just kicked in my face stings the eyes! I am an engineer. It’s not really an area which you can bluff your way through with brylcream and blarney. In this instance the 'Expert' tag was applied after 30 years of experience in the field. A raft of technical qualifications, the necessary skills and the ability to do the job asked of me in just 10 hours with a TV camera jammed in my face! |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Thu Mar 21, 2013 5:35 pm | |
| LOL! I was joking. The first time my husband taught at a summer school at the University of Victoria, we met another visitor doing the same thing. The quote was his. We thought it was very funny because my husband had brought along the ubiquitous bunch of slides, so he could call himself an expert! Since then he's attended court on several occasions as an expert witness in injury compensation cases. We still laugh about the slides! BTW, I see that you have earned a star! |
| | | vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:02 am | |
| Well, you got me. I had my mouth open at the time too We do have such 'experts' in my field, we refer to them as 'salesmen' Wehay! I have a star! it's a shame Royalties don't come so easily! |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:15 am | |
| If you're an engineer, and an expert one to boot, you should be able to put together a Word document file of your story and upload it to Amazon's Kindle. Or have you already done that and announced it somewhere that I missed? Oh, and about the rejections, shouldn't publishers offer contracts to writers pursuing writing careers before they consider anyone else? Complaining about rejection is the equivalent of someone without any qualifications tendering for a contract and then complaining that the jobs keep going to qualified engineers. Like you. |
| | | vmaxnick Three Star Member
Number of posts : 94 Registration date : 2012-11-29 Age : 61 Location : Somerset
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:36 am | |
| Shelagh, I think you may have me in the wrong pigeonhole. I think publishers should offer contracts to writers who present them with manuscripts they like, and feel they can sell. I am not complaining at all, early days etc. I expect to get a whole heap of rejections especially as the trilogy I have started changes genre through the series. Very risky but it's the way I want to tell the story.
I can publish to Kindle and Createspace POD and will be looking to do so eventually as part of my overall marketing strategy.
I already design and publish my own sales/marketing literature, workshop manuals etc. so I have the trade contacts to format and print my book myself if necessary. I have designed my covers using Gimp. I am just waiting for my ISBN numbers from Nielson before having a short POD run of book one printed as this works out not much more expensive than printing out loosely on my own printer.
If I can get an agent/publisher on board it will be easier as my business is very demanding. Sorry if I come across as a little blasé, I’m really not. Staying up until three in the morning writing is exhausting. I’m not in a position to give up working as I have a mortgage Children etc.
I really hope I can have some success as a writer as it is where I want to be, my dream. I like doing what I do for a living so at least I’m not one of those unfortunate souls stuck in a job they hate, but at the age of 50 I feel the reapers breath on the back of my neck. This is something I passionately want to achieve before I stop running.
The advice I have found on your site has been invaluable. Even if I haven’t had specific answers to my questions, such a wealth of information is available for those willing to search. Thank you for such an amazing resource and a special thank you for making it available to unpublished, under the radar authors. So many sites are so elitist, you have to be in the room before anyone will answer the door! |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: Bittersweet Sacrifice Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:46 am | |
| - vmaxnick wrote:
- I expect to get a whole heap of rejections especially as the trilogy I have started changes genre through the series. Very risky but it's the way I want to tell the story.
This will be the biggest stumbling block. Publishers rarely (one in a million?) accept manuscripts that do not fit onto their list. They have spent a considerable sum of money building a reading audience for a list of books that, although different, are very similar. It cuts down the risk and makes it easier to deal with submissions. Agents know which publishers accept what, which is why publishers ask authors to find an agent. You might be interested in reading an article I wrote about self-publishing: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/self-publishing-not-easy-option (The opening paragraph uses the word "their" three times -- it's a play on words, me, me, me -- because most new authors write what they want to write and not what readers want to read.) |
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