(From an author who possibly is inspired and maybe aspired and possibly soon will be expired, but might not really be an author in the strictest sense of the word)
I’ve been looking for a place to make a proposal.
Which, I would like to note, is entirely different from looking for a person to make a proposal.
I’ve finished a book. And in very good time too. Now. In the year 2013. When the tried and true publishing companies find new authors too risky to . . . well, risk. And most of the other publishing companies sound a bit fishy if the reviews I’m reading are any measure.
I learned about circular reasoning way back in high school. They didn’t tell me it affected the publishing world. It goes like this:
Me: How do I sell my book?
Them: Well, you have to have a platform.
Me: How do I get a platform?
Them: Well, you have to do something famous, like selling a book.
I’m currently spending my extra hours wading through various publishing sites (oh, and there’s all sorts of those, let me tell you!) in the search for their submission guidelines. If you can find the guidelines (They seem to like to hide in remote corners, chortling, “You'll never find me here! Mwa-ha-ha!”), they tend to read like a rejection from a rather frumpish old maid. “We’re sorry, but we do not at this time accept unsolicited proposals.” (Ie: A thousand pardons if you’ve already bought the ring, but I really didn’t ask you for one, so kindly take it away!”)
All those solicitings and proposings are rather going to my head.
I watch movies like Miss Potter and Becoming Jane and wish I could jump in my carriage with my bundle of penned parchments, drive to the nearest publishing company, and say in a clear British voice, “Pardon, but could you spare me a moment of your time?”
I suppose I could try renting a carriage, painstakingly write my manuscript out with a quill, and don an infallible British accent with the publishing companies of today, but I doubt it would help.
Can you be arrested for that sort of thing?
I am pleased to announce two very small bits of headway. First, I have an only-slightly-less-than-official editor now delving into my manuscript. And, second, I’ve started on my way to knowing all the options that will not work. (How many failures did it take before Edison perfected the light bulb?)
In the meanwhile, I’m tentatively sketching a plan for Book Two and wondering if I ought to find a second job.
