The Book Bin

How To Get Published by 'The Right Track' Jill Limber

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 Jill Limber, author of the contempary romance novel, The Right Track (Boroughs Publishing Group)    .  Jill is taking a different approach and telling us what inspired her to write her book.

The Right Track is my third book, but my first contemporary. It was such a change from writing historical romance I decided to write about something I was very familiar with. The plan worked, because I submitted it to a New York publisher without the help of an agent, and it was picked up right away.

 

This book was perhaps the most fun to write of all my books. The fun part involves the setting of the book. It takes place on a private railroad car as the hero and heroine travel across the United States.

 

The setting is a real car, built almost one hundred years ago, and the book was written on that car. My other job is being a professional chef and the owner of a catering company. I have worked as a personal chef for the owner of the railroad car for years.

 

The inspiration for the book was a complete no-brainer, and I didn’t have to do a lot of research. When travelling by train, even if you’re working, there is enough downtime to get a fair amount of writing done. The hardest part is to not get too distracted by the scenery and lose your concentration.

 

I remember writing one scene as we started up into the Rocky Mountains. We had spent the night in the station in Oakland California, and the car had been switched from the back of the Coast Starlight up from San Diego to the rear of the California Zephyr for the second leg of our trip to Chicago. It had rained during the night, but the day dawned clear. It was in the spring and as we left the city, there were wild flowers everywhere.

 

We climbed into the foothills of the Rockies, where the views are always spectacular. By the time we got to five thousand feet or so, the snow started to fall, and within an hour, the forest was transformed into a winter wonderland. Needless to say, I didn’t do as much writing that day as I had hoped. Between gazing out the windows and treating the owners and staff to fresh baked cookies and hot chocolate, as well as the usual three full meals, there wasn’t a lot of time left over.

 

I suppose my best advice for someone starting out is the old standard: Write what you know. It is easier to craft a great story if you are on familiar territory. 

A multi-published author and former RWA President, Jill Limber’s latest books are Montana Morning, A Heart That Dares and The Right Track. As a child, some of Jill’s tales got her in trouble, but now she gets paid for them. Residing in San Diego with her husband and a trio of dogs and one very ancient cat, Jill’s favorite pastime is to gather friends and family for good food, conversation and plenty of laughter.

You can visit her website at www.JillLimber.com.

 

How to Get Published by KJ Steele, author of "No Story to Tell"

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 KJ Steele, author of the literary fiction novel, No Story To Tell(Fiction Studio)

Getting published can often be a bit of a tricky business for the aspiring author. Too much focus put on it during the writing of one’s novel, can disrupt the delicate flow of the emerging story. Too little focus can well leave you with a wonderfully written novel, that has no niche for it in the marketplace. My experience often straddled this dichotomy.

I was fortunate in a way, in that I never actually set out to write a novel. I had taken a writing class where our first assignment was to: create two characters and a conflict, and write a paragraph. When my pen engaged the paper, it literally took off, with me scrambling to keep up to the words streaming through my mind. When I tell people that my novel, No Story to Tell was a story that demanded to be told, I am not exaggerating.

Because I had not set out to write a novel, I was able to proceed for some time without the burden of publication expectations weighing me down. I was able to just write for the sake of writing. Once the manuscript began to take shape, however, I began to realize that I’d have to immerse myself in the business side of writing, as well.

Upon realizing this, I knew the first thing that I needed to do, was to have the work critiqued by well-qualified teachers, preferably writers themselves. I sent a sample of the  novel to the Humber School for Writers, and was accepted into their mentorship program. Over the next few years, the manuscript evolved under the informed guidance of one of their excellent mentors, and Booker nominated author, DM Thomas.

I believe strongly that any work which will eventually reach the marketplace should be able to stand up to this sort of rigorous standard. Fortunately, mine did, and I knew it was ready to move it forward to the next stage, which was finding an agent, or a publisher. And, it was here, that I, like most new authors, found myself stymied.

For the most part, agents and editors were very positive with their feedback. They liked the work, and the quality of the writing. But, they could not take it on. Why? Invariably, it was because the novel was too dark for the books they brought to the market. So, there I was. A completed manuscript that the industry saw had merit, but which also held some challenges, as well. A very frustrating place to arrive at.

Fortunately, it was at that point that someone suggested I send the manuscript to Lou Aronica, of The Fiction Studio for some editorial advice. Lou has been the publisher, and deputy publisher at some very successful publishing houses. He is also a New York Times best-selling author. This was exactly what I needed. Someone who could provide the bridge between what was written and what the market was willing to accept.

Lou took my manuscript on an editorial basis. He read it and offered back some truly excellent advice. He immediately grasped the essence of my novel, and identified where I needed to make changes. Because of his understanding of the work, I was able to trust his advice, something I did not find with some of the other editors I’d dealt with. Lou knew his business. I set about weaving a couple of new themes into the novel, and saw its complexity and richness intensify. 

I still didn’t know how I was going to get the novel into the marketplace, but I did know that it was now truly complete. Lou provided the answer for this dilemma, as well. Unbeknownst to me, he had started an, invitation only, writer’s collective for works he loved. He invited me to publish with them. Becoming published in this way has been a wonderful experience. With Lou’s expertise, my novel’s introduction into the industry, has been guided by a very accomplished hand, and I am fortunate in that.

I know what it is like to be a yet-unpublished author reading these words. I was there once, as well. The best advice I can give, is to keep pushing forward. Write from the deepest, most honest place within yourself. Don’t write to the market. Write the story that so desperately wants to be told. There will be time later, with the right guidance, to streamline the work into a story the market will be comfortable with. And try to remember that if you have a good story, and you write it with excellence, someone will be willing to take it on. But, they will not come looking for you. It is your job, to find them.

KJ Steele is an emerging writer who has learned that the process is not so much about choosing what to write as it is about having the courage to write what chooses to be written. Having spent the first half of her life creating an amazing family with her husband, Victor, she intends to spend the rest of it creating equally amazing fiction.

You can find out more about her and her book by visiting her website at http://kjsteele.com, on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KJSteele4 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Story-to-Tell/122592254511039

 

How to Get Published by 'Real Eyez Realize Real Liez' by Robert Nelson

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 Robert Nelson, author of the urban thriller, Real Eyez Realize Real Liez (CreateSpace).

In late 2008 I landed myself a stay in the ever-so-luxurious NC Department of Corrections. Amongst the chaos, stress and angst of Prison Life, I dove into the pages of my various notebooks as a way to vent. I started with poetry and particular song lyrics that I scribbled according to the rhythms bouncing around inside my noggin. I sent most of it home and my family and friends seemed impressed enough to start passing it around. Surprisingly, this accidentally developed my first inner ripples of an actual ring of fans.

 

I continued the best I could despite the interruptions of the Correctional Staff I continued to right as vigorously and as controversially as possible. See, C.O.’s have a free range policy on routinely trashing anything, literature or otherwise, that they might deem harmful to an inmate or other inmates. Which means, after I let the wrong people glance over my work my cell was invaded and all the notes and scribbles any other author concur as essential were confiscated. This happened repeatedly over the next 14 months. Write, trash, write, trash, until eventually I knew the story so well that I could commit it to memory until I could transfer to a camp more conducive to my creative processes.

 

After which, I cranked out the rough draft of Real Eyez Realize Real Liez in a blissful 31 day spree. Of course I was criticized by my peers and my Spades partners for sitting stone still hovering over a table amidst the monotonous whirlwind daily prison activities. As the pens drained and pages turned I filled my notebooks until my release in 2010.

 

Over the next year I worked 11 hours a day, went to school for 4 hours every night, fell in love, partied like a madman, and sat hovering over my illuminated keyboard until the first installment of the Real Eyez Realize Real Liez Trilogy was birthed and self-published through Createspace.com. It wasn’t easy, but through endless trial and error and dedication I’m currently a vendor of record with Barnes&Noble.com, Createspace.com and Amazon.com. The hardest part I found was getting the cover absolutely 100% perfect while there is a week long wait in between ordering drafts from Createspace.com. Though thankfully, they installed an auto-option so you don’t need approval to order a draft. Or maybe it was the sheer number of drafts I had been ordering. The rest of the actual self-publishing process was a breeze and seemed to fall into place naturally once you rifled through the BS and started talking to people who could actually help you. So the best advice I could give is to either A.) find a worthwhile agent FIRST…  or to never settle for less in the self-publishing industry. There is always a better offer or an easier way to do things right around the corner.

 

In closure, the grabbing appeal of Real Eyez Realize Real Liez is not only the struggle and strife I went through to bring it out of the fences to the real world and publish it, but the lessons I learned during the writing itself. Through my tutelage underneath the Aryan Brotherhood and the thousands of hours of eavesdropped Gang Knowledge I absorbed; I entered Real Eyez into a state of realism unheard of in modern day Urban Literature. With my pen, I intend to grab the reader by the scruff and bash their face into the ugliness of the modern day underworld. Then through the tribulation and transformation of my characters, Real Eyez actually teaches the reader HOW to defeat the spread of the Gangsta Lifestyle into Suburban America. The lessons are there; all the while shrouded in a veil of gunfights, conspiracy, blood money and the cocky smart-ass humor I’m so infamous for.  Endless respect to all my fans and for The Book Bin for letting me share this with you all.

Robert Nelson was born and raised in Garner, North Carolina where he earned the connections and street credibility needed to bring a sense of authenticity to his work. Consequentially, this lead to his stay in the luxurious NC-DOC where through a lot of retrospection he developed a strategy to defeat what he had become. Through the guidance of the Aryan Brotherhood and the variety of other hardened criminals he  played cards with he focused his energy into developing his skills as a writer to keep the youth from making the same mistakes he did. If he can open just one pair of eyes through his writing, everything he’s put into these pages would have paid off.

 

 

How to Get Published by 'Babes in Bucksnort' Davis Aujourd'hui

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 Davis Aujduvd’hui, author of the humor/satire book, Babes in Bucksnort (Outskirts Press).

I had never dreamed of writing a book, let alone writing a series of books. Consequently, I had never dreamed of becoming a published writer. That all changed when I sat down at my computer. I began to write a story based upon zany characters I'd developed in order to entertain a former colleague of mine when I'd been a social worker. That's when I really got the writing bug. I quickly began to craft a series of books based upon my hilariously wayward nun who loves her bourbon and her Marlboros - Sister Mary Olga Fortitude.

The question that remained was how I would go about becoming published. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. I had no knowledge whatsoever about the publishing industry. I was about to receive an education.

I bought a reference book called The Writer's Market. With The Writer's Market in hand, I began to search through the listings of agents and publishers who might be interested in my first book. Many of them were able to be approached via email. That was how I began my search. I began to fire off query letters, sometimes attaching sample chapters in those instances when the listings indicated that the agent or publisher was open to receiving unsolicited material.

While I was pleased that I received some very positive feedback, no one offered me a contract. I didn't lose heart. Having a book published via a traditional publisher is very difficult, especially in these tough economic times. I soon learned that there are over 400,000 books published every year. It's a highly competitive business. That's when I decided to consider other options.

The beauty is that, if one can write well, it's possible to get published. This is due to the proliferation of publishers that will help an author self-publish a book. In some of these cases, the author retains creative control of his or her book and retains all rights to the book. That was how I made my decision to go with Outskirts Press.

The pitfall to self-publishing is that the author usually has to pay the publisher to publish his or her book. There is also very little if any marketing assistance provided. This means that an author has to be willing to put a lot of time and effort into marketing if the author has any hopes of creating a financially successful book. That became the task which lay before me.

This was the beginning of a new adventure. The publishing process didn't take as long as it does with a traditional publisher. My book hit the market about two months after I began the process. It was an exciting day when I received my first copies of the book I had written two years earlier.

Most of my reviews were excellent. My readers loved the book and the professionals who reviewed the book also gave me resounding thumbs up reviews. The vast majority of my reviews were rated at five out of five stars. Many of my readers expressed the sentiment that they couldn't put the book down and that they couldn't wait for the next book in the series to be published.

They wouldn't have to wait long time. I was once again signed by Outskirts Press to publish my first sequel to Misadventures. It is another deliciously silly satire called Babes in Bucksnort. It was published in 2010. My next book to hit the market will be Have A Heart.

For now, I am excited about the blogs which Mindy Schwartz of Full Circle Administrative Services has completed for me. Within them, I keep my readers updated about the progress of my series. I also tempt them with tasty nuggets as to what my books are about. My first blog is: http://bestsatireseriesofthedecade.blogspot.com

I have also written vast array of articles about my own personal experience. I cover topics such as recovery from alcoholism, recovery from sexual addiction, coming to a place of acceptance of being gay, and recovery from mental illness to name but a few. That blog is: http://authordavisaujourdhui.blogspot.com

For any other aspiring authors, I would say this. If you've written a good book, believe in yourself. It is possible to become published. Just keep on trying and don't give up.

Davis Aujourd’hui is the author of the Sister Mary Olga Fortitude series of hilarious satires. The first book is entitled The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude. It was followed by Babes in Bucksnort.

Davis possesses a rich life experience that has enabled him to draw from it in order to create a colorful canvas upon which to paint very human lives. He is a retired social worker, having worked for Adult Protective Services in New York State for nearly twenty years. He developed the characters within his series of books in order to entertain a colleague by using the gift of humor.

As will be the case with Sister Mary Olga in his third book, he is a recovering alcoholic. He also happens to be gay as are several of the endearing and humorous characters within his novels. He can speak from his own experience. He has possessed all of the foibles of his cast of characters who are naughty, nasty, and nice.

Davis lives in Upstate New York where he is currently sharing his life with his partner of seven years. He is socially-minded and spirituality is the most important ingredient in order for him to maintain a happy and successful life.

Visit this blog for information on the series: http://bestsatireseriesofthedecade.blogspot.com

Visit this blog for information on the author: http://authordavisaujourdhui.blogspot.com

Connect with him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Davis-Aujourdhui/138584429540046.

How to Get Published by 'Empire of Light' Gregory Earls

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 Gregory Earls, author of the general fiction novel, Empire of Light (Simon and Fig).

My wife was born and raised in Milan, a city based in the north of Italy. The first Christmas we spent together here in the states, I wanted her to feel at home. So one night I took her to see a movie, Gomorrah, a critically acclaimed move that took place in Naples, which is based in the south of Italy. It was about half way through when I asked her if she was digging the film.

She replied, “Ma dai! I don’t understand what these people are saying. I’m going to sleep.”

What I didn’t understand at the time was that even though Italy shared a common language, Italian, the dialect and local colloquialisms between the north and south were just unusual enough to make the inhabitants of these two regions feel like they lived on different planets. My wife needed an interpreter.

After years of hustling in the film industry, and banging out scripts, the literary world seemed just as bizarre to me. For example, after years of being confined to one hundred and twenty pages, I couldn’t wrap my head around the freedom of writing a novel. What the hell was I going to do with sixty-five thousand words? You know those chickens who spent most of their lives trapped in cages, then suddenly an hour before their beheading, they’re released into the a fenced yard so they could be stamped “free range.” Envision a chicken’s brain trying to comprehend the idea of space. 

That chicken was I.

Luckily, my good friend, Stacey became my interpreter in this new world. She was a published author who had volunteered to help me edit my manuscript, and then point me in the right direction when the time came to find an agent and, hopefully, get published. I had just begun sending out inquiries to publishers and agents, when Stacey was blessed with an epiphany, and decided to launch her own small press, Simon & Fig.  She took a chance on my novel, Empire Of Light, and thank God she did because after a scant month of mailing inquiries and I was about two rejection letters away from stuffing my manuscript down some agent’s throat. 

About a week before Stacey offered to publish my book, a major Hollywood agency showed mad interest in the book, a colleague informing me that I had made it pretty far up the pipe before they finally dropped it. Screw them. Simon & Fig had my back and I hope I can reward their faith by giving them an acclaimed book. Some black in their ledger would be nice, too.

So please hit up Amazon.com and support the cause, and enjoy the read!

When Gregory Earls isn’t eating at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, he pays the bills by taking up space at 20th Century Fox in the Feature Post Production Department. He’s a proud graduate of Norfolk State University and the American Film Institute, where he studied cinematography. He’s an award-winning director who has amassed a reel of short films, music videos, and (yes) a wedding video or two. Steadfastly butchering the Italian language since 2002, he hopes to someday master the language just enough to inform his in-laws how much he loves their daughter, Stefania, who was born and raised in Milan, Italy. Gregory currently resides in Venice, California where he goes giddy every time he spots that dude who roller skates and plays the electric guitar at the same time. During football season, he can be found at the Stovepiper Lounge, a Cleveland Browns bar in the Valley where he roots for the greatest football team in the history of Cleveland.

Visit his website at www.gregoryearls.com.

 

 

How to Get Published by 'Lucas Trent: Guardian in Magic' Richard Blunt

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 Richard Blunt, author of the fantasy novel, Lucas Trent: Guardian in Magic (Author House).

Greetings Book Bin! Wanne hear another story of a first time author on his way to publishing? Well, then buckle your seat belts, ‘cause it’s going to be a bumpy ride…

It all started more than a year ago when I finally finished Guardian in Magic, which is part one of my fantasy story. I had no clue about publishing, didn’t even plan to publish at all at the beginning, so I walked the internet up and down and read about other people’s experiences in discussion boards and blog posts. What I read there was quite shocking for me. Many posters honestly thought that writing a nice story and sending it to one publisher is all it takes to make millions off a book. Well, luckily I was never that naïve… The ugly truth for a first time author in the fiction world is: it’s hard. And it’s not cheap at all. If you want your book to have any chance on the market you have to spend money on it to get the ball rolling.

So I started at square one: Editing. I am not a native speaker, so for me this was a no-brainer. But still I can tell you from that experience: You need a professional editor, no matter how good your English is. The 1.000 bucks I spent on having my 268 pages proof read was money very well spent. I learned a lot about writing styles and ways to express certain things to make them more readable through that. It’s more than worth it.

Back then I thought those 1.000 bucks would be my major investment for the publishing, damn, I am naïve after all… Yes, there are publishers that will cover all expenses and do everything else for you, but I have to ask you two questions there: 1) How much time and money does it take to find such a publisher and convince him to accept you? 2) Do you really want to give the complete control over your book to someone else? I heard from friends in regard to the first question that they spent weeks and months traveling from one book fare to the next, just to talk some publishers into even taking a look at his work. (None of those have published so far by the way…) I definitely didn’t want to do that, but my real decision for self-publishing only came when I per accident got hold of a publishing contract. Bloody hell… You need a lawyer to understand that… Luckily I do have some experience with this, so at least I figured out some passages in the paperwork that I definitely didn’t want to have in mine. Getting 20% royalty on the list price is cool, but what’s it worth if you can’t control the list price? The publisher is per contract allowed to even give your book away for free if they see fit… I don’t care about that…

OK, so self-publishing it was. After bumping around the internet again for a while, I chose my publisher: AuthorHouse. And there another 2.000 dollars went out the window… Why not start with the smaller package? They start at $599. Well, because if you look at the details it just makes sense. The “booksellers return program” is something that just convinced me, especially as a first time author.

So, 3.000 dollars so far, but that’s it now, right? Well, no… There is one thing I just could not live with: the “Custom full color cover” is nice, but it is always based on a picture that comes off a gallery. It might do, but in the end the cover is the first thing everyone sees on a book. Do you really want to do a half-ass job there? I didn’t… And it cost me another 500 dollars. But again it paid off. The cover illustration took 8 weeks to finish, but when I looked at the final piece for the first time it rendered me speechless. Once again worth every penny…

But now we are done, right? Well, no… The book is out now, after a painstaking process that took another three months to complete, where I had to be more of a project manager than an author, even though I hired specialists to do the job. But what good is a book that’s out there if nobody knows about it? And that my friends is where it gets REALLY expensive… The magic word is called “Marketing”. You can have everything from simple postcards to full blown marketing campaigns and even a specialized rewriting to target Hollywood producers. Beware of your budget is all I can say… You will burn through it fast if you are not extra careful.

How much did it cost me in the end? No comment… Was it worth it? I am quite sure that it was. Will I get rich through publishing? No.

So here is my conclusion about all this: If you expect to make quick money with little effort, seek life elsewhere. If you think you can get rich with your first book, think again. If you rely on the professionalism of the publishers or support companies you are out of luck. But if you still want to be an author even with knowing all this, you will have loads of fun. And you will most likely agree that it’s all worth it in the end.

Being an author is about telling a story, not about making money. Sometimes those two combine, but many times they don’t. That’s how it is…

Richard Blunt is the author of the fantasy novel, Lucas Trent: Guardian in Magic.

He is currently working on his second book in the Lucas Trent series.

You can visit his website at www.lucastrent.com.

Visit him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lucas_trent and Facebook at www.facebook.com/people/richard-blunt.

 

How to Get Published by 'Act of Grace' Karen Simpson

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 Karen Simpson, author of the contemporary speculative fiction novel Act of Grace .

When I finished my first novel, I promised my character Grace that I would find her a good home. I kept my promise, but it didn’t happen the way I always imagined it would.

After about ten years of writing, critiques groups and workshops, I queried and finally got an agent out of New York. I was hopeful, she was hopeful. She did her best to sell the manuscript, but it seemed that while many of the editors loved my work they turned Act of Grace down because they didn’t think there was a market for a speculative fiction novel that dealt with issues of race.

“I’ll keep trying.” My agent said; however, I could tell she was discouraged.

Now, I knew I was suppose to wait on my agent to do the magic that agents do, but as the rejections from editors continued to piled up I realized I was probably going to have to do something different to pave the way to publishing success. I knew I didn’t want to self-publish my book so I began to consider the option of finding a small or independent publisher.

One November morning my agent sent me a flurry of rejection emails from editors and I got angry. I typed “African American Literary Publishers” into Goggle and up popped the name Plenary Publishing.

Sometimes you have to take a leap off the cliff into the unknown and trust that God and the ancestors will throw you some wings on the way down. I followed Plenary’s detailed submissions directions, pressed the send button and waited and waited and waited. I waited so long I almost forgot that I had submitted to them. Great blessing sometime come to those who wait. On May 13, the day after my birthday, I received a request for the full manuscript of my novel Act of Grace. A month later I had the contract in my hands.

The editing of the novel went smoothly. Of course, there were the general delays that come with any publishing project but I am very happy with my novel and have received excellent reviews.

My advice to new writers is if you are serious about getting published, work at writing as you would a career or job. Learn the craft by become a part of critiques groups, go to as many conferences as you can afford. Read all kinds of novels and writing books, but, in addition, read books and blogs about how to conduct the business side of writing. A good book to start with is The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry.

 

Karen Simpson is passionate about the craft of writing fiction, the art of quilting, and the discipline of historical research. She received her bachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry, M.A. in Foreign and International Trade and a M.S. in Historic Preservation. A historic preservationist trained in heritage interpretation and administration, the subjects and themes of her fiction are often taken from the stories she discovers while doing research for museum exhibits. In 2009 Simpson was awarded the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Older Writers Grant.  She is lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Act of Grace is her first novel.

You can visit Karen Simpson’s website at www.karensimpsonwrites, her blog at www.lafreya.blogspot.com or connect with her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lafreya1

How to Get Published by 'Telegraph Island' John Milton Langdon

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 John Milton Langdon, author of the historical fiction novel, Telegraph Island (Tate Publishing & Enterprises).

It is true to say that I had no ambition to become an author, even 'though the poet John Milton was an ancestor, but circumstances dictated otherwise.  In 2004 when I was working in Abu Dhabi, my wife and I visited a small Omani town called Khasab which is located close to the Straits of Hormuz.  One of the attractions is an area known as the Fjord because of its similarity to Norwegian scenery.  The transliterated Arabic name for the fjord is Khor as Sham.  We sailed into the fjord on a dhow and moored at an island located about half way along the waterway.

The island is named Telegraph Island and anyone with Google Earth on their PC will be able to locate it quite easily as the co-ordinates are 26° 11' 43.13"N and 56° 20' 34.31"E

I discovered that a small group of British telegraph operators had lived and worked at the repeater station on the island in the middle of the eighteen hundreds and also that it was one of the links in the chain of repeater stations on the electric telegraph between Britain and India.  This was at the very beginning of the age of electronic communication that we take for granted these days.

Standing in burning sunshine on a barren lump of rock, surrounded by a sea edged with equally barren but precipitous mountains, I could only marvel at the fortitude of men who could live and work under such appalling conditions.  Water, food and all the other essentials of life had to be supplied by sea.  They lived in Arab style huts made of barasti and must have suffered enormously in the heat and humidity.  The operators spent long hours listening to incoming messages in Morse code which they then had to retransmit along the next section of the cable.  It was small wonder that many became ill and the phrase ‘gone round the bend’ was coined by sailors recovering mentally sick personnel from the island which is beyond a bend in the inlet.

I felt there was a story to be told about these men, with the development of the telegraph system as a background theme and consequently an unplanned visit to a remote and uninhabited island provided the inspiration for my story, and my retirement from full time employment gave me the time I needed to write it.

When I completed the first chapter I gave my late wife a copy of the text to read and her verdict was, "I like the story but----."

When I had received the same opinion for each of the first four chapters, I realised I needed advice and sent the text to a professional reviewer.  His report was long and detailed but the first line provided the key that solved my problem.  He wrote, "I like the story but you are writing a report not a novel."  He was correct.  After more than 40 years working as an engineer it was not a surprising conclusion; it was the only way I knew how to write.  Initially it was quite difficult to persuade my practical engineer's brain that it was now acceptable to use my imagination and describe my characters more fully and to include conversation and emotion.

I anticipated writing only one book; it would begin in England and end on Telegraph Island.  I didn't have a specific plan to follow and allowed the characters and events to develope logically and essentially the story wrote itself.  I noticed quite often that a particular situation in the story could have several different outcomes depending on the personalities of the characters involved.  I would choose one of the options and continue writing.  If I liked the way the story continued to develope I would keep the text; if I didn't I would try another option.

As I was writing the final chapters of the book I started to search for an agent or publisher.

I don't remember exactly how many letters and samples of text I posted but it must have been about a hundred and the extremely frustrating result of this intense activity was the almost total lack of response.  Those few who were courteous enough to reply, simply informed me that they were not accepting new authors.

I started researching on the internet, discovered Tate Publishing and was very happy to receive a positive response from them.  I was prepared to contribute to the costs of publication because my writing had become my retirement hobby and had never been an attempt to make money.  I reasoned that my hobby could have been model railways and I could have spent money on locomotives and track instead.

My next problem was the length of the book I submitted to Tate Publishing.

It was about twice the length of the maximum work they normally produced and consequently it was unacceptable.  That was an extremely disappointing outcome and initially a reason for abandoning the whole project.  However, and after some thought, I realised the existing book could be modified slightly and divided into two volumes.  This was acceptable to my publisher and as a result Against All Odds was published in 2005 and Telegraph Island in 2006.

I had accumulated a great deal of data whilst researching for the first two books and realised that I had enough information and ideas to write another book.  In actual fact I was able to write two more and Full Circle was published in 2007 and Ring of Gold in 2009 by Tate Publishing.

My writing activities came to a halt when my wife's cancer returned in 2009 and I have written very little since her death in 2010.  Hopefully the desire to finish the two books I started to write in 2008 will return.


John Milton Langdon, Klagenfurt, Austria.

Author John Milton Langdon is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and has a master’s degree in maritime civil engineering.  Langdon retired and became a professional writer after an active and rewarding engineering career.  Initially he worked in Britain but from 1972 until 2008, he dealt with project development in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.  Langdon lives in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt which has a history stretching back to mediaeval times.  Langdon has three children and five grandchildren from his first marriage and two step sons from the second.  Langdon has many interests including travel, the British canals, music and literature but hiking in the mountains surrounding his home is a preferred leisure activity.

His latest book is the historical fiction novel, Telegraph Island.

You can visit John’s  website at www.jmlangdon.com.

How to Get Published by 'Glorify Each Day' John Banks

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 John Banks, author of the literary fiction novel, Glorify Each Day (819 Publishing).

Publishing my first novel has definitely been an eye-opening, and somewhat humbling, experience.  I have confidence in my writing ability and I knew that the book I was writing was well written and would be entertaining to anyone who enjoyed a good story.  As I sent out queries to agents and publishers I knew, because of everything I had read about the book publishing business, that it was quite a crapshoot finding an agent and getting a publisher.  But I think there is a little voice inside every writer’s head that says, “Yeah, but my book’s different.”  Even though I tried to remain clear-eyed and cautiously pessimistic about my chances of immediate best-selling success, in my heart-of-hearts I believed that any book of high quality and value would catch the eye of some discerning agent or publisher who knew top-quality when they saw it. 

After I sent out my first batch of query emails to about ten agents, I remember being excited about the possibility (or was it probability?) that at least one of those agents would respond positively.  When none of them did I was a little perplexed.  Weren’t they at least a little interested in reading a sample?  The most discouraging part about my failure to hire an agent was that no one I queried even asked to see a partial manuscript.  If you’re a first-time author of a literary-minded novel with no niche audience to sell to, I have no idea how you’re supposed to get anyone in New York interested in your work.

So I decided to self-publish.  I formed my own publishing company and signed a contract with Lightning Source. 

I think things turned out really well.  The book looks great and it’s gotten some really positive reviews.  I’m still hopeful that Glorify Each Day will find a larger audience.  There’s still a part of me that refuses to accept the possibility that good work will be unfairly neglected.

John Banks was born in Asheville, NC.  His storytelling is very much in the Southern tradition, with a special affinity for humorists such as Mark Twain and the Old Southwest school of writers.  Though entirely imaginary, much of the material in Glorify Each Day must have come from his many years as a teacher in the public schools and community colleges of his native state and from the three years he spent as an a community college administrator.

Visit his website at www.819publishing.com or his Facebook Fan Page here.

How to Get Published by 'Nine Insights for a Happy and Successful Life' by Dr. Mitchell Gibson

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 Dr. Mitchell Gibson, author of the self-help book Nine Insights For a Happy and Successful Life.

Publishing my first book was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  I had written a number of pieces for local and regional newspapers and magazines, and during that time, I developed an idea for a new book.  Writing did not pay the bills at that time and I worked full time as a medical doctor.  I graduated from my residency in psychiatry in 1989 and I set up a clinic in Phoenix Arizona where I saw patients four days a week.  During this time, I wrote nights and weekends.  I had developed a passion for spiritual growth during my residency and I decided that I would write a book that incorporated astrological tools in the diagnosis of mental illness.  I pitched the idea to several large publishers and most turned me down flat.  After 40 or so rejection letters, I got the idea to approach a New Age publishing house.  Llewellyn Publications is one of the largest New Age publisher in the world.  I sent the Editor a couple of sample chapters and a copy of my resume.

He loved the idea!  However, he had one stipulation.  One of the world's most prolific astrological writers lived just a few miles from me, and as luck would have it, he needed a foreword for his new book.  He had been looking for a medical doctor with an interest in astrology.  If I agreed to do the foreword, then the company would look at my book. 

 

I read his book and wrote the foreword. The astrologer loved my foreword and offered to return the favor and publish a foreword for my new book after it was published.  After the book was completed, I sent him a copy and he refused to honor his word.  He never said why.  After a great number of phone calls, emails, and next day letters send via FEDEX, I managed to convince the company to publish my book without his foreword.  Astrology books are considered to be bestsellers in their genre if they sell more than 1000 books.  It is a very tight niche market.  Signs of Mental Illness has sold more than 10,000 copies and has been published in Spanish.  I learned a lot about my self and the publishing world from the experience of getting that book on the shelf.  Primarily, the experience made me embrace the philosophy that Churchill espoused in his now famous commencement speech, Never Give Up!

 

Dr. Mitchell Gibson is one of the world’s leading authorities on the interface of science and the frontiers of human consciousness.  He is the best-selling author of Your Immortal Body of Light, Signs of Mental Illness, Signs of Psychic and Spiritual Ability, The Living Soul, Nine Insights For A Happy and Successful Life, and Ancient Teaching Stories. Dr. Gibson has been a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes, A&E Network, NBC, ABC, and CBS regional affiliate television stations, newspapers, radio stations.  www.tybro.com