A Journey into the Publishing World

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday. It was crazy busy from the time I woke up until my head hit the pillow, and there just wasn't a spare minute.

But now, I'm going to share my experience with publishing (which isn't much, but still). This is not easy for me to do, because I've had a very long road to the mindset I have now, and it definitely hasn't been easy. Actually, it has been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I've always liked to write. As a little girl, my mother would find stories stuffed under my mattress, hidden in my closet, just all over the place. There were constantly stories in my head, and characters that wanted to have a chance to share their voice. As I got older, I ignored them. I'm not a confident person. Or at least, I wasn't for a long, long time (my husband changed that about me, but this story isn't about him. I'm sure there will be one in the future). Anyway, why would I think I could write a book? Surely I wasn't good enough to do that, or even to attempt to. Besides, I had no idea what you DID after you wrote the book. Where does it go? Who do you talk to? So, I didn't do anything. Typical of myself as I was growing up. I wasn't all about branching out and trying new things.

Fastforward to the fall of 2009, when I was 26 years old and had just had my second child (and my first was still under 2. Yeah. I know.) One late night when my husband and toddler were sleeping and I was up feeding my baby, I stumbled upon Sandra Brown's website. She has always been one of my favorite authors. Reading along, I noticed a link to the website AgentQuery, so I clicked on it. To me, it was like opening a treasure chest. My screen was filled with information about what authors did when they got started writing. There were these people called Literary Agents. I had no idea what that was, but I decided to learn.

A Literary Agent for a writer is a lot of things. They are your cheerleader, your voice to editors, your salesperson, your confidant...just so many things. In the world of publishing, if you don't have an agent, you're not likely to ever capture the attention of an editor, especially at any of the big houses in NYC.

But there are steps you have to take to GET a literary agent. You don't just hire them. No, after you write your book, and it is as polished as you can get it, you must write a query letter, or as I like to call them, SATAN. I HATE query letters! I've never been able to write a good one. But, they are a necessary evil, because they show agents a lot of things. A query letter is a concise description of your book, but it has to show the agent your hook, your writing style, your book's marketability. Like I said, they're hard. They're like a sales pitch to the agent.

And agents receive a LOT of query letters. I had no clue how many writers were out there in the world trying to be successful when I started this journey. If I had, it probably would have scared me off. Agents probably receive hundreds or thousands of queries per week. Sometimes they require you to also send a synopsis or a small page sample. But everything is so subjective, and everything isn't for everybody. Even if you are a good writer, and you have a good idea, a particular agent may not want it. They might already have a writer who has a similar style as you, or a similar book, or they're just not looking for that kind of story right now. So, they'll reject you. That's also a necessary evil, but it still hurts when you get rejected. A lot. Stephen King was rejected dozens of times. So was Stephenie Meyer, and JK Rowling.

Okay, back to me. When I found out all of this information, I decided, I like to write. I think I'm good at it. I'm going to try and do this. So, I did. I wrote a book. My first query was awful. I mean, laughingly awful. And that first rejection I received was like a punch in the gut. But I kept going. I joined a writer's forum, where a wealth of information was again at my fingertips. I read, I learned, and I was determined.

I've now written four books. Unfortunately, early last year I learned the hard way about backing things up on flash drives and multiple computers, because my laptop crashed and I lost three of them. So, now, I have one completed young adult novel, which I am very proud of.

Anyway, I made friends on the writing forum. I joined twitter as a way to network with other writers and agents (@ryannjansen; I have it locked, but will welcome new followers!) Some of these writing friends eventually became beta readers, people who read and critique your work. An invaluable source for a writer, especially one starting out. A couple of these writers became my best friends.

I queried. I queried for a long time, and to a lot of agents. I had interest. I received lots of requests for partial samples of my manuscript(s) and lots of requests for the full manuscripts. And they are not going to request anything unless they think you have potential as a writer.

The agents read them. And then the rejections came. And with rejections, you don't always know WHY. Sometimes they'll send a note just saying it isn't for them, but thank you for letting them read. Yet another necessary evil, because agents are so busy, and it is just impossible for them to personalize every response for every writer. But rejections on queries are one thing. When you receive a form rejection on a full manuscript, it is...gut wrenching, ego busting, morale sinking. I cried a lot. I wondered why I was even trying.

Last year, I even gave up, for a pretty long time. Then, in December I got a Kindle. On my kindle, the first book I downloaded was After The Sky Fell Down, by Megan Nugen Isbell (great book-you should definitely check it out). I liked the book a lot, and I noticed that Megan was self-published (or, an indie author). I googled her and found her blog, and left her a comment about how much I enjoyed her book, and how I was a writer too. She invited me to e-mail her, and we became fast friends. She's a wonderful person, and I'm so glad I left that first comment on her blog.

I learned about self-publishing. After thinking about it for about a month, I decided I was going to do it. I would love to go the route of traditional publishing. Especially because to a lot of people involved in traditional publishing, being self published isn't something to be proud of. But I've waited so long, and I've felt so beat down, which isn't the fault of any of the people in the publishing world who I've queried, because they're just doing their jobs, and I completely understand that. Everyone's journey is different, and maybe this is supposed to be mine. The beta readers I've used have all complimented my writing and my books. If I thought I was awful, I wouldn't go for it. I'm not saying I'm the world's best writer. I'm just saying I'm hopeful I can provide entertainment to an audience through my books, and I'm ready to try with actual readers. I know everyone won't love it, and some people will probably hate it. I like to think of it as like this. Everyone doesn't love Angelina Jolie. Some people really dislike her. I'm one of them. But she still has millions of fans and has been uber successful. I know I won't be THAT successful as a writer, but it helps to think of it like that.

I hopefully won't have to wait too much longer to get Hearts Don't Break Quietly available exclusively on Kindle Publishing. I have to make my own cover, which I'm having help with from one of those amazing best friends I mentioned in my very first blog post.

Like I said, this isn't easy for me to share. Before I created this blog, there were very, very few people who even knew I was trying to pursue writing. My husband of course, who has been amazing. I love him more every day. Those three best friends again, who have been so supportive. My writing friends. My sister-in-law and brother-in law, who I would trust with anything, so of course I trusted them with this. A few colleagues, and a few of my husband's friends who stumbled upon my twitter account before it was locked ;). I hadn't even told my parents, because most of the time, I don't even know how to bring it up.

I know this has been a long post, and maybe kind of boring. It has been a long road, and I'm very excited for the next step. I am currently writing my next novel, which doesn't have a title yet. I'm hopeful that my future is bright, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it that way.

Until Next Time,

Ryann