KISMET - THE STORY BEHIND THE SUBMISSION

I posted a status on facebook a few weeks ago where I admitted that I had sent a manuscript to a publisher back in May but have heard nothing from them. A few people messaged me saying they would never be brave enough to admit that, especially on Facebook, as they saw it as a 'failure'. I don't see why, as that is the journey all writers face and I am happy to share my failings as well as my successes...and here is why.

I submitted a story to a publisher and that is something to be proud of. Some people can't even finish a novel but I've completed 16 since October 2009 and have several in progress. My work has been read millions of times on-line, been number one in Romance, Chicklit, NonTeenFiction charts. It had received both good and bad feedback. That prepares me for the critics.

One of those stories is made it to the top 25 of Harlequins SYTYCW (So you think you can write) contest on Wattpad, where there was a chance to win a 3 book deal. Regardless of whether I 'won' or not, I still entered. I wrote the story in 23 days and designed my own book cover. People enjoyed reading it and it received over a million reads in a month.

The same goes for my story 'Kismet'. I had a story in my head, I typed it out and let people read it for free so I could get feedback. I designed the book cover for the entire series and that is another string to my bow.

So I've decided to share this books journey in the hope you will see why anyone who submits a story should be patting themselves on the back and not hanging their heads in shame. For the record the only time I hang my head is to look at new shoes, talk to small children and animals... or when I am drunk ;)  

Where it all began:

I started posting draft work on a writing site called Booksie in October 2009. At the end of 2010 I started to write a story called 'Kismet'. It was written in the style of a soap opera and in first person so the readers could feel like they were the character and become emotionally attached. I updated it several times a week, writing a couple of chapters after work and posting them. A bit like telling a tale around a camp fire before bed. Every morning I would find comments from readers all around the world who loved it and begged for more. They started to call themselves 'Kismet Junkies'.

I wrote 4 books in the series between 2010 and 2012, along with several other stories. It became one of the most popular books on the writing site I was using. This led to the site owners contacting me and expressing an interest in publishing it. As well as owning Booksie, Booksie Silk (adult), they also own 'The Next Big Writer' and have laughed a publishing company. However, I declined as it wasn't ready yet and I didn't feel that they were the right publisher for the series. At the same time I received offers from other publishers of the same standard, who I felt were again not aiming at my target audience or offering me anything I couldn't do for myself via self publishing.

(For those who don't believe, here is proof with anything that could identify people blurred out)

Instead of accepting the offers, I started to edit the series in-between writing other stories and working full time. I wanted to be ready to publish if a deal came along worth accepting. I also started to post Kismet on another writing site called Wattpad for more feedback. I started receiving offers on that site from Independent publishers, and again I said no. I want a romance publisher as that is my target audience and the editor would be one with a passion for romance and not figures. For the record publishers are not allowed to create accounts to contact members on Wattpad, so were quickly tapped on the shoulder and asked what they were up to when I received mine. They soon disappeared which speaks volumes for their professionalism. Eeek!

In September 2012 I was given the heads up that Harper Voyager were looking for submissions. Unfortunately I was in hospital having surgery so didn't have time to meet the deadline. I hadn't finished editing Kismet and wasn't sure which of my novels they would prefer given the publisher was more sci-fi, fantasy than romance. I asked them to choose and they chose 'Marriage Made in Heaven' a Supernatural Romance. They told me not to worry if I couldn't get it through to them as a submission as they would take a look at it on Wattpad. I couldn't believe my luck. What a lovely thing to do!

Unfortunately, that didn't happen as they were inundated and obviously the submissions took priority. However, a couple of months later I received a message saying 'Just to give you the heads up, we are launching a new brand called HarperImpulse and they are looking for Romance submissions'. There was no deadline so I shared the news with all my writer friends and gave Kismet the once over.... deciding it needed more editing.

I set about editing Kismet and stopped writing anything else. I booked time off work and got my head down. Unfortunately everyone who said they would help me with editing got caught up for whatever reason, in other aspects of their life, and I was left to do it alone. The wasn't the first time that has happened so I figured 'you wrote it alone, you can edit alone,' and that is what I did.

I spent a week editing, sitting up until god knows what time in the morning. On one occasion I noticed it was 7:00am as I was going to bed but my phone alarm went off and reminded me I had a 9:00am appointment so I went without sleep that day, and was still up editing at 6:00am the following morning. I would go to bed for 4-5 hours and get up to start again. I also redesigned the book cover, and for the first time ever put my 'real name' on the front, as apparently 'Maria' is far more romantic... but I'm not sharing my full name on this blog.

Things were coming together but like most amateur writers I can't afford an editor. Plus they would need to be British, as I use English Dialogue and UK spelling. There is nothing worse than sending off a chapter and getting it back weeks later... Americanised! 

In May I finally submitted it to HarperImpulse but by this time, they were inundated with submissions from authors who were far more prepared.Some were already signed with other publishers, others were self published or ready to click submit the day submissions opened. They were 'polished' and could helped launch the brand immediately. That meant Kismet had to take a seat in the email box gathering dust in HarperImpulses office.

I was happy to leave it there and started talks with Avon Books, Harlequin, Beachwalk Press etc. The only issue was my stories were too long. They had to be 50,000 words or 65,000 max. We agreed I would write something for them instead as I didn't want to cut my current stories in half. Also Harlequin US were referring me to the UK branch but the UK branch replied saying they only accept series from their 'own' office. In the end I spent far too much time trying to get one office to talk directly to the other and gave up. I decided to focus on writing new stories to the 50K word count instead. 

The word count started to niggle at me and got me thinking about Kismet and how I wasn't happy with the end of book one. I discussed it with others and agreed a new place to end book one which would lower the word count. That meant I had to withdraw it from HarperImpulse but I didn't think they would mind, as it had been sat in their inbox for 5 months... it was now September and I'd bet a case of wine they hadn't even looked at it. 

I advised them that I wanted to change the end of the first book and transfer it to the beginning of the second. This would lower the word count. They agreed, I fixed it, formatted it with the help of another author and sent it back. I also had 4 other stories ready to go. I wasn't sure if they wanted them so asked and they said 'Ooo yes please'. I got them ready and sent a quick email asking if they needed to be one email or separate. They were 'excited' to receive them and each was sent separately. I felt better about this submission... until my laptop connection went 'tits up' and I wasn't sure they received them. Lucky for me I received email confirmation. Job done... move on!

It has been 8 months since my initial submission and 4 months since my resubmission, with the 4 additional works. I have not heard anything from HarperImpulse other than the automatic email response. I haven't sat back and worried about it or convince myself they don't like it, as I know they will. That is not to say they would ever publish it, just that I have confidence that should they take the time to read it they would probably wonder why they left it there so long. 

Kismet is realistically still sat in an email box with a pile of other stories... 4 of which are mine, and the chances of it being read this year, zero.  I know authors who HarperImpulse have already published, who have sent through their next novel as requested and been told don't expect to hear back for a few weeks as they are a small team and very busy. I know other who have been given 'the call' and are busy working with the publisher to get their novel released. 

KISMET will have it's day! (As will my other stories), at the moment it is 'my friends' day. 

I don't sit on my bum worrying about it. During Kismet's stay in the HarperImpulse inbox I've wrote three new books, finished two others, carried out reviews and entered writing competitions for the first time in my life. I've met hundreds of other authors on line and built wonderful friendships. Been given advice to help me becoming a better writer and been read millions of times. 

HarperImpulse have published some great stories this year. To do that they have had to read countless submissions, agreeing offers, cover art design, editing, marketing, attending lush award etc. I bet there are days when they don't want to see another bloody submission. They want to go get drunk and talk about anything so long as it isn't 'Romance Novels'. 

I am not sitting waiting on them to open my email and read my story. That would be foolish and unambitious. I am carrying on as normal. Writing, editing, cover designing, entering competitions, researching other publishers so when they are looking for submissions I am ready like the others were before. Not forgetting my personal and work life that demands attention and isn't as easily sated by 'wifi' as my writing life.

I am not putting all my eggs in one basket either. Next week I have two more stories going to a publisher one of which took me a weekend to write and is about to be featured on a writing site, it is called 'Love In Bloom'. I wrote it in the space of one weekend. 

A few weeks ago Harlequin asked for the full MS of 'Do Not Touch' for SYTYCW which took me 23 days to write. I let readers chose the names etc... all except one. Annie, as the book is dedicated to my aunt who passed away a short time before I started to write it. The story didn't win SYTYCW but Harlequin are going to send me 'feedback' and were impressed with the high standard. That in itself makes it worth the submission.

I also participated in NaNo again this year and won with over 70k word count, despite a late start due to SYTYCW and designing covers for others who were taking part in NaNo. Wattpad have a competition where you can win £2k for being part of NaNo and sharing your story on their site :) I'll have some of that thank you.

So as you can see there is nothing for me to feel a failure about. Plus I have received this from Wattpad! Mae Day has achieved a 'milestone' as one of their 'Most Read' in 2013 with nearly two million reads. I didn't even know there was such a thing but I still screamed and clapped like a sea-lion when I read it. It made my day! 

Then I received another email from them announcing I had achieved another Milestone. 'Love is in the Heir' was also one of their Most Read of 2013. It has over two million reads and was used to celebrate the Royal Birth, which made me one proud Brit!

I was so proud of my stories success that when I received the next email congratulating me on being one of Wattpads Most Active Members e.g. Followed, posting stories and interacting with users via comments sections on my stories etc, I was stoked!

In reflection, Kismet may be sat in that 'Inbox' waiting to be read but it is also on Wattpad users phones, tablets, Laptop etc all over the world. It is being read at this very moment by someone who doesn't care if it is sat waiting in a publisher inbox. They are just happy to read it for free as some of them don't have access to libraries or money to buy books. That is why I post on writing sites like Wattpad because now I can truly say I have been read by millions of people, worldwide from every background. At present I have nearly 12,000 followers (fans) and that is the best focus group any writer can ask for. :)

Here is to another successful year! (Pats self on back and holds head high!)

UPDATE: I still hadn't heard anything by the end of January 2014. As such I figured it's been 9 months and that is long enough to leave a story in an email box, let alone the 4 other stories. I didn't receive a reply to three emails asking if they had been received ok. Also enquiring if the time to hear back was still 3 months', one in November, December and January.

I spent a sleepless night pondering over a decision I had wanted to make the previous week but held off as I didn't want it to be 'knee Jerk' reaction. The next morning I was absolutely positive I wanted to do it and withdrew my submissions.  I've had no reply to my email to withdraw them either.

I felt much better for the decision. I was taking the power back instead of waiting and waiting... it was like exam results. Was your work up to scratch? When I made the decision I shared it on my social network, several authors congratulated me on being brave enough to do it. Some even shared their own experiences and it confirmed I have made the right choice.

I am now going to use my time to edit and consider serial publishing. It is far more productive than waiting in an email box. Wish me luck! 

Getting ready to publish - KISMET

Those of you who follow me on FB, Twitter and Wattpad etc will know that I am in the process of editing KISMET ready for publishing. 

Having received several publishing offers for KISMET I decided to go down the Self Publishing route as I didn't feel that the offers were of a high enough standard. Plus they were unable to offer me anything I am not already doing for myself. 

I have been asked to share an offer so people can gauge what 'an offer' looks like and why I refused. * Please note this is not the worst offer I have received but it is a good example of what I look for and the reason for turning down the offer. At this point I had already asked this publisher what they could offer me that I can't do for myself via Create a Space etc.... this was their reply.

An offer: 

(publisher name removed) is a rapidly growing full fledged publishers of ebooks. We concentrate on publishing the best of the books and the most popular that we find across the Internet. You can indeed choose to publish by yourself via CreateSpace or one of the other publishing services, but we bring a lot to the table. When you sign with us, we bring a team of professionals who have experience creating and marketing paperback and ebooks. You are no longer working alone to achieve success. Every book we publish receives the following, free of charge (we do not charge authors for any publishing services).

• Professional cover and interior design
• Full book editing
• Marketing support before and after launch.

I'm interested in Kismet to start. If you are interested in discussing this further, can you send me your latest draft of Kismet. We will read it over and decide from there. In the meantime, we're happy to answer any further questions you have.

Full book editing:

I am more than capable of editing my own work and have loyal fans who check it for typos whilst getting a sneak peak. Plus the publishers site was only a free web template they were populating and was littered in typos and poor formatting so my faith in their eagle eye was shattered. The last thing I want is to publish a book, charge the reader and find out it has typos... I know loads do e.g. Harry Potter but I want to be as perfect, professional and polished as possible. 

Professional Cover and Interior Design:

I design my own cover art, not the best but compared to what was on their site... god it was appalling and made me feel sorry for the authors to have such amateur cover art on their work. It was never going to jump off the shelf at a reader screaming 'read me', instead it would make them grimace and reach for their sunglasses as they were either very garish or bland. Plus as previously mentioned the site was poorly formatted so 'interior design' and attention to detail was not their strong point.

Marketing and Support before and after the launch:

I'd never heard of the books or authors on their sites so that goes to show how well their marketing and promotion techniques fair. I researched the authors and was still none the wiser. They later offered to help me get into the Amazon book charts and reviewed on Goodreads etc. I can get myself on to Amazon at the click of a button and I am already on Goodreads. 

On-line Popularity:

They pointed out that they were making the offer based on my on-line popularity and had stated in the initial email that I had received over a million reads on-line and had a loyal fan base. Yes, that is my hard work for the past three years so why should I let you jump on the band wagon? If I had a £1 for each of those reads I wouldn't be eating beans on toast for dinner again and panicking about where the money is going to come from to pay the rent next month... so I will publish myself :O)

Free service: 

Some publishers seemed to think that their biggest selling point is that they were not going to charge for their services. Now remember nothing comes for free! You are signing a contract to give them 50-50 on all sales etc. They are getting half of what you earn!

Research:

Check out every offer. Not only their history or success as a publisher (as highlighted above) but include their financial history. You can check that out through Companies House etc. You will soon discover if they have owned several other companies, declared themselves bankrupt, bad debter or if they have just failed to do their returns. 

Publisher in your own Country:

It is often advised that you should sign with a publisher in your own country. However, reading is worldwide, the internet is possibly beaming your books to aliens ;o) and whilst it is ideal to have someone close I don't think it is a deal breaker. I know a few writing friends who have signed outside of their country and it hasn't been a problem as they use email, skype etc to hold any meetings.

Sending them the full draft novel:

They asked me to send them the latest draft of KISMET for them to review. My work is on-line and they are apparently expressing an offer of interest based on that. I would have assume they had read it. (Nope they just looked at the popularity and made the offer). They now want me to email them a copy so basically they have a word document they can do with as they please... I'll let another author tell you the response to this offer! 

My choice to self publish:

Having had far too many of these offers in my email box, and fans wanting to own a copy of KISMET, I decided to ask writing buddies if I should take the plunge and self publish. Here is one reply which also has some advice for anyone else looking into it. 

so I decided to take a month out and just edit. 

Editing:

I lasted two weeks out of the month before my eyeballs went on strike and document blindness became a disability. I took a few days off and came back fresh. I'm still not as far ahead as I hoped to be as I find myself wanting to rewrite large sections. Adding flesh to the bones is a task that can sometimes take 3 days for one chapter. What I decided to do was ask fans to fill out a questionnaire and give feedback which they have embraced and in the meantime I am still editing but will use this feedback to review the book before I hit publish on Amazon.

Fan Questionnaire:

1  How did you discover this story and what made you read it?
2.    What was your experience?
3.    Are there any scenes you would like embellished?
4.    Any back story you would like filled for the publication?
5.    Favourite character/s?
6.    Favourite scene/s?
7.    Favourite quote/s?
8.    Most shocking moment/s?
9.    Cutest moment/s?
10.  Sexiest moment/s?
11.  Anything else about this story you would like other readers to know about?
12.  How many stars would you give it out of 5 in a book review and why?
Write a recommendation: 

I will be using the recommendation later for something very cool. I am also posting their replies on Wattpad and dedicating it to them so it appears on their profile. As such there other sections of the questionnaire which asks 'about you', if they a writer (they can share their links), a reader (who are their favourites), how did they discover Wattpad (how do they find the service) and what they enjoy about my reading etc. It is a very cute project which allows me to 'give back' to fans before I remove my work due to publication. They have been absolutely 'Fan'tastic in the past few years and are looking forward to owning this novel so I best get back to it!

How to become a publisher:

All you need to do to become a publisher is chose a name, open up a business account at the bank and register as a limited company. It is very simple. That is what I suspect a large number of new publishers have be doing. They then scour on-line for fresh talent and offer to publish them which means they put their work on Amazon or Smashwords but obtain 50% of their profit etc. 

I've set up my own company called MLC Publishing... I checked it out via Companies House and it was available. I designed my own logo in two minutes flat and set up a bank account ready for publishing KISMET. Job done. Time taken one day. Cost £20. 

So lets see how I get on from here! Eeeeek it's getting nearer to being a reality. 

I will say one thing though editing is slimming I've lost 9lb in two weeks. (Not that you can tell but hey!)