ok, plan B?

[thehefner]

"Dear John,

Thanks a million for sending your manuscript our way. We enjoyed reading
it, and of course are thrilled to receive references from B_____. I have
to confess, however, that we're very skeptical about all fiction these
days, as it is very hard to sell, and I don't see a way to make your
material into something we would know how to represent well. I apologize
for the delay in getting back to you. Good luck with this project, and
my very best regards.

Sincerely,
Yadda Yadda Yadda"

Ok, so now what? Start to try to shop it around to publishers on my own? Look for another agent? Go into self-publishing?

Alternatively/simultaneously, should I try to finish THE HEFNER MONOLOGUES as a book? I think THM would be more palpable for the tastes of today's market, generally speaking. A bit more for the David Sedaris/Garrison Keillor/Denis Leary crowd, y'know?

I still want my novel to see the light of day and to reach an audience somehow.

Comments

[aeonata.livejournal.com]

Keep sending it! That's the only way to get it out there. Because someone, somewhere, will read it and say "I want this!" The sucky part is that, well, soemtimes that's the 150th person you send it to...I'd say working on THM is also a good idea, because who says you should only publish one book?

[gnort.livejournal.com]

agreed, getting published is not easy. You just have to be persistent about it.

[surrealname.livejournal.com]

ye old punk rocker in me says go into self publishing. Be an independant. Get the thing printed, then go to book stores, and tell them to take it. Good old fashioned american know how and elbow grease. you won't sell more than 100 copies now, but in 20 years every one will talk about how influential you were. Just ask Greg Ginn.

Isn't that right mr. ginn?

"Yes, yes it is, and may i ask what the fuck you are doing in my office?"

[banquo26.livejournal.com]

Keep at it. I have a friend who is right now trying to self right now. He'll tell you that's it's even harder than submitting it to companies. My idea would be to find out what it would take to self publish wile submitting it, so that if/when you get fed up with others not seeing your brilliance you have a plan "B".

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you mean by "reach an audience".

If you have a story that you're aching to tell, an idea you must impart or burst, you can make it available for free. If you want to get rich or have a prize committee acknowledge your genius, you're going to have to hire somebody to make sure the book gets in front of people. That means either badgering publishers, or badgering the people individually.

Publishing your book has never been easier. Print it to a PDF and put it on your web site. Maybe even point cafepress at it; they print books the same way they print tee-shirts, for those who want to read it on the bus, and sell it at cost. Then you can advertise it any way you like: on LJ, telling your friends, etc. That's what you should do if you feel you're done with the project.

Otherwise, my suggestion is to put it in a drawer for a few years, then come back and re-write it. You can keep shopping it around to agents in the meantime, but be prepared for lots and lots of rejection. I say, put it away, do a whole new book, and let this be the one every author has sitting in the closet.

[interdisciple.livejournal.com]

brilliant advice.

every time i come back to writings after a year or more, i cringe and scream rewrite...at some point, though, one has to just stop. see: aldous huxley's foreward to newer prints of brave new world.

i've been collecting material from over the years--from undergrad until now--poetry, fiction, nonfiction, audio-visual, etc.--which will one day end up as a "best of" on a well-designed website--years from now, i'm guessing, hopefully a cross-collaboration with ty's site-to-be.

anyway, point is, get it out there if it matters to you. sitting on it has its pros and cons. pros: aging like a fine wine, adding the insight of revision via hindsight. learning from audiences, from their reception of the work. cons: collecting dust and growing stale, losing hope and motivation, fading drive and relevance, driving oneself mad with constant revision and re-revision...never getting it done.

best of luck with it. the path of the artist-in-waiting is on par with torture--the more dedicated you are, the more tortuous it becomes. but you already know this.

with that said, back to work we go.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That's the thing, if it doesn't get accepted enough times that I feel like giving up, then I'll post the damn thing for free. I've already written the book that's sitting in my closet. This one is very important to me and the start of something I've been dreaming of doing for ten years. I want it to be read and read by as many people as possible. I just worry it won't be read by as many people if it's not published.

Maybe I should get a website, but I don't have the capabilities to design anything that doesn't look totally ghetto (I tried too; that was my final for Basics of Computing 101).

But I do agree with the re-writing thing. Hell, it feels like I'm just gonna keep revising and revising until someone wants to publish it, and only then will I stop. It's come a hell of a long way since you started to read it. This is one that I want to see the light of day.

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

Then the only thing to do is to find more people to send it to. There's really no alternative. If you really want it to see the light of day, I don't think self-publishing is going to work for you. It's just too hard. You'll end up with a few copies of the book and maybe you can convince your local bookstore to display them, but that's about it.

If you don't own a copy of the latest Writer's Market then you need to revise your Christmas list. Or get to the library with a pocket full of quarters.

Either way it's a whole lot of talking to people. The trick is talking to the most influential people, and eventually getting one of them to see the genius in it. Don't expect anything you do to be so obviously brilliant that it's apparent even on the first read. As I've said before I'd have chucked Hamlet away within the first three pages. Keep submitting and maybe it'll find the right audience.

Don't get discouraged until you've been at it for several years. I wish it were easier than that, but it just isn't.

[winterist.livejournal.com]

hard to sell? please.

keep at it. i'd shop it around yourself, if i were you. less middle men involved, that way. don't give up. you have some great material.

[icewolf010.livejournal.com]

To echo the mob: Keep at it. Remember, though, that I actually know a published writer. Really. Adam Meyer. Nice guy, twisted storyteller. (Here's the part to remember), and after 10 years of screenplays, novels, and short stories he was an overnight success...

Back to Bonaventure and Cusan...

[fishymcb.livejournal.com]

Hey, you've gotten that early rejection out of the way. Now you can keep at it, says I. You've still gotten farther in the process than many of us. There's always plenty of encouragement waiting on the other side here. If all else fails, you also have Richards to curse.