Submissions, submissions

Now that my first manuscript is finally in a state that I feel like I can be proud of it, I’ve been sending it off to some publishers to see if someone will take it on. I decided to go first for publishers that take unagented manuscripts first, to see if I would have any success.

I think what I hadn’t really planned for is the sheer amount of time it takes to do each submission. Each publisher has slightly different requirements, and preparing a submission for each one usually takes a good few hours. And this is time that I could be spending writing…

I’ve never been good at writing selling pitches, but I think what really helped me when writing them is the fact that I really believe the story I have is one that has to be told. I really like my two main characters, and getting them published seems almost like it will making their happy ending “real”. I’m trying to balance submissions with more writing, doing maybe 1 or 2 submissions a week which leaves a bit of time for working on my new manuscript (which may turn out to be an even better story…I’ve learned so much from writing the current one that maybe I shouldn’t be surprised).

I have had a couple of rejections so far, but one publisher has asked me for a full manuscript, so watch this space. I’m on to agent submissions next. By hook or by crook, I will publish this book!