Just heard from the publisher -- Mainly Murder Press -- and Dying to Dream is online now. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, etc, e-book ($2.99) and paperback ($15.95) are available. ***Have to add ... right now Amazon is offering a preorder deal: $10.82, which remains at that price until June 1st. That's almost $5.00 off the original cost.
It's hard to believe that it all started last September when I signed my contract, more than eight months ago. I think the waiting periods got to me more than the busy ones. Fortunately, the experience remained void of "artistic" differences. The cover art is beautiful, like I never could have imagined -- especially since I'm not really talented at that kind of thing. All in all, I've grown to appreciate the whole process, going from creation to publication, after having ventured down the self-publishing road a time or two. Of course, the parts I enjoyed the most so far is seeing my cover and searching to find it on Amazon. But cliche as it sounds, I'm really looking forward to holding the paperback in my hands.
I have to thank a few people for giving me support and help along the way. LIke those who so kindly and generously agreed to read my story and write reviews ... Michael Murphy, Cherie Jung, and Sand Pilarski. And to my husband who showed patience (most of the time) while I'd spend hours churning out chapters. Can't forget the crew at MMP, especially Karen with her fantastic creative talent. I absolutely love the cover. All the elements, the symbolic representation, right down to the font used in part of the title, which I agree gives the word dream a truely dreamy feeling :-) And a future thanks to all those readers who may decide to read my work and maybe even write a review comment or two. I'm eternally grateful.
So, now what happens? Well, as they say, this is when the real work begins. Promotion. Book signings, virtual tours, peddling to book stores, more book signings, and on it goes until the next creative tidbit comes out! Bottom line, it's fun. I love writing. Otherwise, why would I put myself through such a challenging workout?
At least I've made that first marketing step ... a book signing at my local library in July. Hopefully, a lot more to follow :-) Until then ... enjoy reading!
Well, I sent off my list of corrections to
the editor and now I wait once again. I know I was able to catch a few errors,
but always the worry that there may be more. After all, if the pub's editor
missed some -- ones that I noticed -- then what? I'm not going to stress over it
though. At least I feel between the two of us we did a great job.
It's
difficult to read my work so many times. I wish I could be one of those who
experience it anew. I envy that. Still, I think it's good, really good, the best
story I've written so far. I love my characters, especially Tante Louise
Picault. She's old but feisty, and colorful with the perfect touch of french
culture. The southern feel to the characters makes them approachable and
loveable. I'm optimistic that readers will find them endearing and drawn to
their story that weaves mystery from the past and the present. The touch of
paranormal with the main character who uses dreams from spirits to gather clues
is yet another layer to interest, I hope, many. We will see.
In the
meantime, I wait, patiently.
I finally received an email with lots of goodies attached ... my ARC and editor comments. And I have 20 days to read through it all, make my comments, corrections, etc. Yikes! I can do this. Yes, I can. Uh ... right? Fortunately, nothing really big going on at work, so I should have time. I just want to make sure I do a thorough job. So, nobody better bug me! Or ... grrrrrrr. (Just noticed: is it any wonder my editor says I use maybe a few too many ellipses?)
I read and reread the email, and then a few more times to make sure I didn't miss anything. So, this is the skinny: my feedback on the first draft ARC is due March 23rd. Cover should be coming around the beginning of April, so I need to start collecting reviews. If I would like them added to the back cover, that is. Of course, as anxious as I am, I already sent out requests for reviews to several mystery review websites and authors. Keeping fingers crossed. -- Thanks Michael Murphy for agreeing to do one :-) And to Cjung at Over My Dead Body. You both are great for responding so quickly, and settling my nerves since this means my back cover won't be blank! haha
Okay, what next? Well ... (yet another ellipse ... sigh) just have to wait and see! If all goes well and according to plan, I will be seeing my baby in print sometime in June. Then, I'd absolutely love to have a book launch event. Maybe at our local library or perhaps at one of the area bookstores. I'll have to start researching. Hmmm. Yet another task to consider, but such fun!
Update: Yet another thanks goes out to Sand, a wonderfully kind and helpful lady who happens to run the very cool ezine, The Piker Press and also agreed to do a review. Then finally, to Apex Reviews who will take a look and see :-)
All great people who help to make this project a success.
Manuscript is finished ... check. Edits,
Revisions, More Edits, and Revisions ... check. Final read-through ... check.
Now what?
Well, I had two options, both of which I'd taken
before. If I chose option A -- query to agents, it will be a much longer road,
much longer wait, but if it happened, I could get doors to open that would never
be possible without an agent. Or option B -- submit the work to small,
independent publishers who don't require an agent. Quicker, less fuss, but not
the big payoff. Okay, so I'm not so patient any longer. Go with option B.
Besides, I had accumulated a waaaay long list of indies to submit to. It would
be a really long time before I'd run out of "doors to knock on".
I started with 4 or 5, one of which responded
right away and asked for the full manuscript. Turns out this was to be a big
delay in getting Dying to Dream published because this particular pub wants the
suspense they accept to be big on romance. The good part is they were willing to
work with me to get the story to the point where they'd like it and want to
contract.
Two good things happened during this process. One,
I did manage to add some romance. And two, I narrowed down the POV's to three,
which I hadn't realized is such a very big deal :-). The downside was that there
wasn't enough romance, and I wasn't willing to add more, so we parted ways after
almost a YEAR! "Sigh"
Back to square one: This time, I submitted to five
more pubs (that's a total of about 10 submissions -- really low number for me
since the last work I'd written went out to probably about 50!) That was in the
first week of August, 2012. Mainly Murder Press replied right away and said
they'd get back to me after reading the sample chapters. Two weeks later, they
asked for the full (8/22/12). By the end of August they offered me a contract.
(WOW! That was fast.) But wait. I'm not through.
While I was taking time to read through the
contract and deciding what to do, I received an email around the middle of
September from yet another pub I'd queried, offering a contract. By this time,
I'm thinking, what is going on and what a gem of a story I must have written! In
the meantime, MMP is wanting an answer. I'm researching, even reading some of
the books they've published and liking what I see. We go back and forth with me
asking questions about certain things in the contract.
I finally make my decision and decide to go with
MMP. It's a good fit. But the story doesn't end there. Geesh! A couple of days
later, one of the other pubs asks to see the full manuscript. And a couple
months later, yet another wanted to offer a contract! That's 3 out of 5 this
time around who wanted to contract, and 1 that showed interest. The odds don't
get better than that! And the expression, "you snooze, you lose" comes to mind
:-) Sorry, you other guys. MMP caught the fish and I hope they are as happy as I
am.
Now, of course, I can't help thinking, if I'd
known what a great thing this novel of mine was, would I have gone the agent
route and caught a bigger fish of my own? Well, I'll never know, and that's not
how I'm gonna play this act in my life. No sir. I'm gonna drink the wine and
enjoy the ride!
Almost ten years ago, I had this dream. Someday, hopefully in the near future, I'd write a story good enough to be noticed and wanted by a reputable publisher. That was in 2004. Fast forward to 2012, and I made the dream a reality. I had queried before on other work, submitted to publishers and agents alike, by the hundreds. Some wanted to see more. Some gave me a polite rejection. None wanted what I had to offer.
Then, I had this idea. I would write a story in the most unique fashion, using any particular skills/knowledge I had to make it different. The result: Dying to Dream, a mystery with paranormal and romantic elements. But that wasn't all. I wanted to make the characters and setting something special. I know French. So, the story takes place in Louisiana. Tante Louise, a peculiar old aunt who dabbles in voodoo, doesn't hesitate to blurt out a phrase or two in French. The street names of my imaginary town, Saint Toulere, are in French, such as Tant Pis, which means "too bad" and is an appropriate label since the street's buildings have a certain history. And I didn't stop there in creating this unique nature for my work. Each chapter has a quote from classic poets and authors about ghosts. After all, there are ghosts in my story. Marin, the main character, dreams the dreams of spirits who need to communicate a message to her. In other words, she becomes them.
So, I had my story completed. Next, I wanted to query some small, independent publishers, and I really expected to be bogged down with querying to dozens and dozens before any resulted in a contract. However, I did feel strongly about the work and that it certainly would eventually have its moment in the limelight. Maybe in another ten years! And then ... it happened ... so very quickly that I was stunned. First, one and then another offered a contract. I actually had to choose! That amazed me even more. I decided to go with Mainly Murder Press. It seems like a good fit.
So ... Dying to Dream will make its debut in June, 2013. I can hardly wait, but have much to do beforehand. It's been a long struggle with lots of heartbreak and perseverance on my part. Still, I made it and life is good. And if you have time, head on over to check MMP out. They have many really cool books! And they even undercut the prices on Amazon. An extra plus :-)
