How to Get Published is a continuing feature at The Book Bin where we ask authors to tell us their publishing stories. Was it a rocky road or did it come easy for them? Did they start with an agent and get a NY publisher interested in their book or did they self-publish? What words of wisdom do they have for all of us who would like to be published one day?
Today’s guest is Christine Norris, author of the YA fantasy novel, The Mirror of Yu-Huang, published by Zumaya Thresholds.
I saw my first book published in December of 2005. Since then, I’ve had four others published, including the most recent, The Mirror of Yu-Huang, and they were all different,
publishing-wise. When I was shopping my first book around, I was a total newbie, knew NOTHING about publishing or agents or any of it. I must have made a hundred mistakes and given some agent or another a few laughs. Eventually that book found its way to a small publisher in Pittsburgh, which has since been sold to a Canadian publisher, Lachesis. They also published the sequel to that first book.
Over time, I gathered a little more savvy, meeting authors and hanging out on writer’s forums and learning. I tried again to get an agent for the first book in my Library of Athena series, and had some luck getting them to read parts of it, but no offers. Eventually that book and the sequel sold to Samhain Publishing.
But, then, as so often happens in publishing, things didn’t go as planned. I submitted the third book, The Mirror of Yu-Huang, to Samhain, but they didn’t accept it, because they were taking the publisher in a different direction, focusing more on Romance and less on YA or YA without romance—which sometimes happens in publishing. So I had a series book and no publisher. And a panic attack.
I put out a call for help to my friends at Broad Universe, a great professional group that focuses on promoting women in speculative fiction (www.broaduniverse.org ), and asked if anyone would be interested in looking at this book and taking a chance on a third in a series book. Liz Burton at Zumaya offered to look it over, and thankfully she accepted it! And the rest, as the cliché goes, is history, and so far, so good.
Looking back over the publication journey, and seeing how far I’ve come, I really see how I’ve grown. I know so much more about this business now, and I see how it’s changed. Just five or six years ago, most agents weren’t taking electronic queries, now they almost all do. Ebooks are huge, when just a few years ago they were like some underground movement. I wonder where we’ll be in another five years!
Christine Norris is the author of several works for children and adults, including the Library of Athena series and the Zandria duology. When she’s not out saving the world one story at a time, she is disguised as a mild mannered substitute teacher, mother, and wife. She cares for her family of one husband-creature, a son-animal, and two felines who function as Guardian of the Bathtub and Official Lap Warmer, respectively. She has also done several English adaptations of novels translated from other languages. She reached a new level of insanity by attending Southen Connecticut State University Graduate School’s Information and Library Science program, so that someday she, too, can be a real Librarian. She currently resides somewhere in southern New Jersey.
Her current book is a YA/Fantasy titled The Mirror of Yu-Huang.
Visit Christine on the web at www.christine-norris.com. Connect with her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/ cnorrisauthor and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christine-Norris/131776641000.
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I'm curious at what Ms. Norris will do once her books are out of print.
Posted by: U.L. Harper | 05/01/2011 at 06:36 PM
Love Broad Universe. They're such a great resource and such supportive peeps! Glad you were able to continue your series.
Posted by: Gloria Oliver | 05/02/2011 at 04:31 AM
I may be wrong, but her books will never go "out of print" with Zumaya, that's the beauty of some small presses.
Posted by: Dorothy | 05/02/2011 at 06:05 AM
Sounds very familiar, Christine. :) Will you move the other series books to Zumaya at some point, or keep them with Samhain? I am just curious, because I know that having works scattered everywhere can be a challenge. I am trying to consolidate a bit more myself, and wondered what your thoughts on multiple publishers were.
Posted by: Rie Sheridan Rose | 05/02/2011 at 06:20 AM
That depends, Rie. So far the first two are doing well with Samhain, and I think that helps bring people to Zumaya, when they go to look for the third book. It can be a challenge, but Samhain has a big enough name now (2 of their books made the NYT list!) that it can also be an asset ;)
At this point I have no plans to pull them from Samhain. They have been great to me, and just decided to not publish the type of books I write anymore. If they agree to renew my contracts, I will probably stay there.
Most publishers I've been with , all three, have options to renew the contracts. I think my first two books, with LBF, MIGHT be up this year. If they'll have me I will probably stay with them as well, unless I think I can rewrite and put out a better edition, but honestly I'm so busy now that I don't think I'll have time for that.
Thanks for the questions!
Posted by: Christine Norris | 05/02/2011 at 06:33 AM
Thanks for sharing your story, Christine!
Posted by: mayra | 05/02/2011 at 06:38 AM
Great post. We learn so much by going through the process. I wish you the best.
Posted by: Cheryl C. Malandrinos | 05/02/2011 at 09:24 AM
Great post, Christine!
Posted by: Kim Baccellia | 05/02/2011 at 06:53 PM