S is for Saia, Submissions and The Soul Seekers

I ran a submissions contest a year or so ago on my blog for WiDo and one of the entries was from Amy Saia. It didn't win, but the submissions editor loved the first chapter!

At some point, Amy was asked to rewrite and resubmit. She worked super hard on it and got a contract for publication of her YA paranormal, The Soul Seekers to be released by WiDo Publishing on August 7.

And check out the very cool cover, designed by the author, the multi-talented Amy Saia.

When Emma’s father dies, she and her mother move cross country to live with Gran. Now the only constant in Emma Shay’s new life is him. Beautiful, silent, him—the mysterious guy at the library she secretly calls Superman because of his dark, good looks. Emma is puzzled and intrigued by this boy’s behavior. He speaks at her but never to her. He comes up to touch her hair and then suddenly leaves. An impulsive meeting between them uncovers a strange truth. Only Emma can see time-frozen William Bennett. Now it’s up to Emma and the gift she has tried so hard to deny to reclaim William’s soul. But ghosts can be very stubborn. He tells her to leave town and forget he ever existed. Not on your life, Superman.  

Set in Southern Indiana during the summer of 1979, The Soul Seekers is about one girl and the ghost only she can see. Can she bring him back from his purgatory, or is she doomed to turn into a ghost herself?

The Letter S is also for SALES, because I hope that The Soul Seekers gets lots of them!

Worried Writers

While agents and editors can lay it all out in their blogs and say pretty much anything, writers have to think about getting readers and followers and fans who will buy their books-- thus we are nice and pleasant. As I wrote about here. After all, we're writers, we hate rejection. Our entire careers are based on avoiding it.

Have you ever wanted to post something but feared going too far? Do you ever hold back thinking, "Better not say that. People who matter might get upset. What if AN AGENT reads this"?

I used to read a book to my kids called Worried Walrus, and when anyone in our family got excessively worried about something, we'd say they were a worried walrus. I think sometimes we writers are worried walruses, afraid of saying, doing or writing the wrong thing to hurt our chances at publication, attracting readers, or achieving success in our careers.

Yesterday I read a post that was brutally honest in expressing what the industry has done to this writer's head since she began. I won't summarize but you can go here to read it yourself if you haven't already. Altho many have looked up to Natalie Whipple as having it all-- the dream agent *no longer in the business*, an editor at a dream publisher who loved her story *didn't work out*, and now still out on submission *where many would kill to be*-- still, the entire process put her through hell and back until she had to pour it all out on her blog.

And as she wrote it I'll bet you anything she worried about saying "too much"--about sounding whiny or ungrateful, about offending someone in the industry, perhaps alienating her blog readers. But she had to let it out, so she wrote the post and struck a chord, getting a zillion comments.

Let's pretend there'd be no repercussions if you wrote a post like Natalie's. What would be on it? What would you say about the industry? What's on your worried walrus writer list?

The Joy of Editing a Brilliant Writer

Last year, my publisher asked me if I would consider taking on a few editing assignments. Well, sure, why not? And lucky me landed one that is probably the easiest editing that could have come my way.

This manuscript was a rewrite and resubmit. It originally was over 100,000 words, with a story line that should have been YA but veered into adult territory. The acquisitions editor wanted to know if the author would rewrite and resubmit it as a YA adventure and get it below 100,000, the ideal being 80,000. The author was willing and eager to do so.

The resubmitted manuscript got passed around and approved, and I was so excited to get to be the editor! It's a fantastic story. I want to talk about it but I can't. I've been editing this week and really getting into this story. He's done an incredible job with his second rewrites. It's down to 80,000 words, the narrative goes at a fast, exciting pace and I just can't wait to see this in a book!

The author lives on the East Coast, so who knows if I'll ever get to meet him. But he's a super-talented guy who deserves every success with his writing career!

Today--Writer or Editor?

Today I'm going to the BYU Publication Fair in Provo to represent WiDo Publishing as an editor. Along with another WiDo editor who is also a writer. So today I guess I'm an editor. We'll be meeting writers who may be anxious about:

*the pitch

*the submission

*meeting an editor

*their talent or not

*the company-- would WiDo be a good fit for them

*rejection

So today I'll be an editor. But I'm also a writer who's been there. (Well, not at a conference or a fair like this, lacking opportunity AND guts.)

So today of all things I hope I will be kind. And pleasant. And not let the fatigue and boredom show on my face. Hmm, that doesn't sound very nice, does it? I'll work on that.

The Nicest Rejection Letters

I've had my share of rejections, and each one is imprinted on my mind forever. Especially the nice ones. One editor critiqued my story and asked me to submit something else, a longer work. Which I never did since they wanted books and back then I only had time for stories.

Through years of writing and getting rejected, the helpful rejections are what kept me going. When I sent Uncut Diamonds out (under a different title back then), an editor sent suggestions on how to improve it. When I rewrote and wanted to resubmit to that publisher, I was bummed to find they were out of business. I actually figured I had a shot there. Another rejection letter suggested it would be a difficult sell because LDS women like to read novels set in either modern times or historical eras, and the 1970's was neither. Whether I agreed with that or not, I appreciated her time and trouble in writing me a personal letter.

When I finished Farm Girl, I sent it off to the University of Nebraska Press. They said it was too short for them, but listed several regional Nebraska magazines to try, who might be interested in publishing it as a series. I didn't follow that route since I couldn't let go of my vision of Farm Girl as a book. I didn't want it published in a magazine as a series of articles or stories. But still, what a promising rejection letter! And it came after just two weeks, which really impressed me. It's the worst to wait six months and then get a stupid form rejection.

I used to get those as a matter of course. Then one day came a glimmer of hope-- a form rejection postcard with these words written in blue ink: "Nice work, try again." I saved that one for a long, long time--my first rejection that was more than a form letter.

You can tell you're getting closer to publication when the rejections get more promising. When they contain a kernel of something more than "It's not right for us." When you get one of those, keep going. It means you're getting closer.