Patience Has Truly Paid Off!

A few weeks ago, I blogged about the importance of patience for writers, especially when submitting one’s work. Well, this week I received an email from a publisher telling me that she’d like to publish the first mystery in my new series. This came after three separate queries to this publisher over a span of 23 months. But, really, the submission history for this book is much longer.

I first started submitting Deadly Resurrection in 2000, one of them to an agent who liked the novel, took me on as a client but, in the end, couldn’t sell it. In 2004, I found a new, small publisher who offered me a three-book contract. As fate would have it, the publisher tanked, but rather than resubmit elsewhere, I decided to edit the book and later submitted it to two more publishers in 2008. Five months afterward, I began yet another edit because I’d been to a conference, pitched the book, and received some good advice from an experienced agent; advice that has contributed to this week’s success. But, as you can imagine, none of this has been an easy road.

Deadly Resurrection was submitted to 31 publishers over a ten-year period, though some of these submissions were only query letters, sample chapters, and the synopsis. Has it been worth the wait? You bet. I’ve found an established publisher I’m confident I can work with. I’m meeting the editor this week which will result in another edit. But if it makes the book that much better, then I’ll embrace the experience and continue to learn. After all, that’s what it’s really all about . . . Learning, gaining experience, and learning some more.

FATAL ENCRYPTION can be purchased at http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl
TAXED TO DEATH can be purchased at http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n

Patience, My Friends ... Patience

For years, it was a daily ritual to check my mailbox in search of that elusive, much hoped for acceptance letter. More often than not, I received rejections, but I figured this was part of the learning process. A number of editors offered great advice and requests to see a revised version of my stories, and I’m happy to say that all of these stories eventually wound up published.

When I started writing three decades ago, snail mail was the only means of submitting one’s work and the wait could be terribly long. I remember one magazine taking four years to publish one of my stories. Book publishers would take a year or more to respond. My experience with agents wasn’t any better. I spent four years with one agent and two years with another, to no avail, and it took many months to find them! Right now, I’ve been waiting to hear from two publishing houses for eighteen months, and I’ve lost track of the number of times an editor has responded with, “Thank you so much for your patience....”

When e-zines began to flourish, the waiting grew mercifully shorter. Five years ago, I could submit a story and hear back in a week; sometimes the same day! And I still do occasionally, yet I’ve noticed over the last couple of years that even many electronic publications are taking as long to respond as their print counterparts.

All this experience has taught me that being published is as much about patience as it is about writing well and getting your polished pieces into the hands of editors and publishers. So, to aspiring writers, I would strongly recommend that you add this trait to your list of essential writing tools. Patience can and does pay off, and the time goes much faster if you start a new writing project while you wait. Best of luck to you!

Fatal Encryption is available through amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/ddzsxl and Taxed to Death can be found at http://tinyurl.com/czsy5n