When I review proposals, one element often missing is publishing history. How do I know this?
I own a computer. With a Keyboard. And a Search Engine.
Guess What? So do All The Editors.
Granted, not every proposal piques my interest enough for me to do a search. But when I get that far, I must search your name to see your publishing history whether you have offered it or not. Because believe me, if I don’t perform due diligence, the editor will.
1) But Tamela, I wrote my book on dogs in 2012 and this book is about Mars.
Yes, but we still need to know.
2) But Tamela, I wasn’t writing for the Christian reader when I wrote “that” book.
That’s okay. You are now. Besides, I can name several authors who once wrote for the general market and are now writing for the Christian market. Just let us know.
3) But Tamela, I wrote that other book under a different name. No one will ever find out.
Until they do.
4) But Tamela, my book sold only five copies. My mother bought four and Grandma bought the other one.
We still need to know. A poor selling book can be overcome, but it is harder to overcome if we don’t know about it.
In other words, no matter why you think you don’t need to tell us about your past publishing history, you do. It isn’t a good idea to keep secrets. When we decide to work together, we can decide how to present your history to editors. If, as your agent, I proceed without knowing, then an editor asks me later, I’m left surprised and somewhat ambushed. Then I’m scrambling to form a response out of the blue for you. Don’t do this to a team member. Let’s work together for your success.
Your turn:
Are you worried about your past publishing history? Why?
Do you know of or know any Christian authors who once wrote for the general market? What are your favorite books by them?
When It’s One of THOSE Days…
One of the key reasons why I have chosen not to go Amazon, is because I did not want to compromise my future relationship with a longer-term agent/publisher partner. I always felt a sense of stewardship in all my works and felt that when God was ready for things to move on He would open doors and show me how. He was right. I was not ready 10,9,8,7 … 1 years ago – He still needed to complete the picture. I did try self-publishing, once, years ago. What that book contained and what it looks like now is about as different as east is from west. Beyond that I sobered up and instead opted to build my public profile and be patient. In the ensuing 10 years I did so much writing and editing that in His own mysterious way God taught me how to write. I doubt if I am a world-beater even now, but patience and bearing the yoke of learning has helped. We are too conditioned to an instant age. God isn’t, He is timeless and never rushed. Extending it a bit, I always heard people say, “be careful of social media because it leaves a finger print”. My view is that I have neither now nor in the past done anything in the field of writing that I have cause to regret – so search away Tamela – I have walked with care and with deference for the God above us all and with respect for those who would have to work with me in the future. If we are stewards of God’s truth, that is how we ought to be and then, when our time is right, we must be willing to step up and defend our position. When Jesus fulfilled his time, He proclaimed as much in the synagogue and then waded through every detractor without ever looking back.
Well you did say, “tell me everything” …
Peter, your ability to follow instructions will take you far! 🙂
Thanks Tamela.
Christian authors who once wrote for the general market? Terri Blackstock is the first name that comes to mind.
Hi Tamela,
You only mean books, right? For a few months I wrote a tiny column for a retirement home on older adults and their medications. It was volunteer and before the Internet. I don’t have the copies, and it was so long ago, I’m sure most of the residents have passed on to glory. I gave up the column when we moved to Kentucky.
Thanks! I hope you all have a great weekend.
There’s definitely a part of me that is concerned by the “stigma” of self-publishing in my record. After much prayer, I chose to go that route with my first book in 2013, publishing through a small printing press in my state, because I felt the need to overcome my own inertia. I’m glad I did. It taught me so much about writing, publishing, marketing, promoting, and sharing that I never knew before. Are there things I’d love to do over? No question. But the education alone was worth a four-year degree.
Since then, I’ve written short works offered through Kindle Direct Publishing and on my website, and, with each one, the fear is dropping away. I spent my life up until 2013 afraid to show people what I write because it wasn’t perfect. Well, it’s still not perfect, but I’m having a blast sharing and building an audience through my short fiction and blog. I’m still making mistakes, but instead of letting them freeze me, as they did in the past, I own them, correct them, and move on. It’s a very liberating experience.
Now, however, I plan to slow down a bit, polish my novels, and send out proposals to traditional publishers. If I had done this before 2013, I would have been too afraid to move. Now that I’ve seen what it’s like to try to be author, publisher, and promotor in one, I have so much more respect for those who work in the industry, and I’m so much more excited about learning from their expertise and guidance. I hope publishers are willing to accept my self-publishing experience for what it is, and to see what I have to offer them. I’m ready to take the next step in my writing journey!
Please excuse me while I revise my book proposal … thank you!!
Tamela,
I know I’m way behind the time curve for this conversation, but today I started thinking more about what you wrote. It raised a question.
When you say the whole publishing history, you do mean the whole publishing history in fiction, don’t you? I’ve been publishing in scientific journals for more than 30 years in addition to some book chapters and an engineering monograph. Aren’t those all sufficiently irrelevant to publishing as a novelist to omit from any proposals? They don’t count for the Genesis contest, so I was assuming they don’t count at all. They were all written either from stilted first person plural POV or as passive-voice omniscient narrative (although I would be the first person to deny omniscience even in a small topic on which I might be fairly expert). The Genesis judges have me trained now to analyze even my irrelevant writing in terms of POV, and I thank them for it.
Francine Rivers’s bio says she wrote award-winning general market romance for 10 years before she became a born-again Christian in 1986 and started writing Christian-themed novels. I’ve read her Mark of the Lion series that has been selling strongly for more than 20 years, and all three books are superb.
Carol, I’m working under the assumption that you have published hundreds if not thousands of articles over the years. You can simply make that statement in your bio. Great question!
Thanks for letting me know. I’m not a university prof, so it’s only about a hundred that I actually wrote instead of merely being the editing coauthor on grad students’ compositions.
A woman scientist romance novelist-that’s more than a bit incongruous. I hadn’t planned on making the connection between my two endeavors. Romance novelist decreases credibility with male scientists, and research scientists are typecast as weird. I’ve been thinking a pen name might be a good approach. Your thoughts?
I’d say send out the proposal as the person you really are. Then go from there.
Proposal under legal name with publishing history – check.
Author web presence that I’m about to start creating this month -pen name? I think I have to have that to even get from the paddock to the track for a shot at the starting gate. (Yeah, American Pharoah!)
These are my personal issues, but I’m sure others, like people in witness protection programs, have similar ones. Thanks so much for all the wisdom you share with your blog fans. We appreciate it even when we’re silent.