How long is long enough to submit your MS?

by Diana McCollum

 

Should you give up on submitting a MS that has 5, 10 or 20 rejections?

If you believe in your work and have had it edited to within an inch of its life, I say no, don’t give up.

 

There are many writers who don’t want to self-publish and take on all the jobs the publishing house normally does. They just want to write books that people can buy and enjoy. These writers work hard on their babies and when they send them out to agents or publishing houses and the MS’s are rejected, maybe 1, 5 or 20 times they give up and move on to the next story.

 

Don’t give up! If you’ve made the book the best you can and you believe in it, keep sending it out.

 

I used to critique with three other ladies around 1997.  One of the ladies was Sue Grant, a three time Rita finalist and one time winner. In the 1990’s she had yet to publish a book. I remember her telling us that she was papering the one bathroom wall with rejection notices. She felt the one she wanted most, the letter buying her book would eventually arrive in her mailbox. And it did. After 23? Some rejections. 

 

She sold her first two books in 1999. She is now a NY Times best seller with many books written and bought by publishers. And with a big fan base she ventured into self-publishing too.

 

In 1973 horror writer, Stephen King sold his first novel, Carrie, the story of a bullied teen who gets revenge on her peers.

 

He sent Carrie to over 40 agents and publishing houses and then threw it in his office trash can. In his book on writing the novel he says his wife picked Carrie out of the trash and sent it in one more time. That was when it was bought and sold and he was able to quit his job and write full time.

 

I guess what I’m saying is if you believe in your work, and you’ve polished and made the MS as good as possible, don’t give up on it. If your dream is to be published by a publishing house keep trying, keep sending don’t give up.

 

Are you self-pubed or are you sending to agents and publishing houses?

If you are a reader, do you buy a mixture of self-pubbed and publishing house books? Or just one or the other?

Now, off to finish my work in progress and start sending it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who hates scary movies? by Kristin Wallace

Can you believe it’s October already? Before you know it, we’ll be knee deep in Christmas decorations, if you’re not already buried in tinsel and holly. But we’ll stick with October (for this week at least), and more importantly...Halloween. The theme on Romancing the Genres is actually “Why I read scary books/Watch scary movies.”

Well, the truth is, I don’t do either. I don’t watch horror movies or read scary stories. (My one exception is seeing a few movies based on Stephen King novels, including The Shining and Carrie (and I’ve actually only seen the end of Carrie). I did see The Exorcist once and that freaked me out. I think the only scary/horror book I’ve ever read was Amityville Horror, and that was enough for me.

I grew up in the heyday of Friday the 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. Jason and Freddie Krueger were pop culture icons, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch them. I just can’t get into blood and gore, and extreme violence, especially stupid violence. If you hear something in the basement, why would you go down there? I do remember a time when I was in junior high and had a sleep over with my friend. She wanted to watch one of the Friday the 13^th movies. I don’t remember which one…could have been 3 or 5 or 6…as they were pretty much the same. Start with 6 pretty teenagers and by the end there are 6 dead pretty teenagers. Or maybe one does finally get away. I didn’t want to watch it, but my friend insisted…then spent the entire movie covering her eyes and asking me to tell her what was happening. Mostly, it was a STUPID movie. It confirmed my firm belief that I don’t like those kinds of movies.

Give me a romantic comedy or a drama any day. You can take your scary movies this month and I’ll just wait for the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies to start. It should be next week, right?

Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”. Look for her latest releases FALLING FOR YOU AT CHRISTMAS, which is part of SWEET CHRISTMAS KISSES 3, a box set featuring 17 holiday stories by NYT, USA Today & national bestselling authors for only 99 cents, including. For info & buy links, visit Kristin's Website

Want a FREE book? I’m on Instafreebie where you can download FINDING YOU AT CHRISTMAS. CLICK HERE!