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Confessions from the Front Lines: Mistakes I
Made and How You Might Avoid Them
Author: Nicole Byrd (Cheryl Zach)
Original Publication Date in Love Notes: February 2005
1. Plan ahead. Let me say that I greatly admire those writers
who start out with a career plan. My first goal was to write, period, and
publish, hopefully. That was the sum total of my planning. I’d always loved
books and always spun stories in my head, and I wanted to see books with my name
on the cover. Like many writers when they start out, I didn’t know how much I
didn’t know and–despite earning both a bachelor and master’s degrees, academia
not always providing the most practical advice--I didn’t know where to find out.
Anyone reading this is aware of Romance Writers of America and its many sources
of information about writing skills, publishing practices, and career planning,
so you’re already two steps ahead of where I started! 2. Be
careful whom you listen to. When I began writing seriously, that is, with an eye
toward publication, I very much wanted to write historical fiction. The first
agent who was interested in my work told me the historical market was soft and I
should try a category. I thought having an agent was likely a good thing, so I
wrote a proposal for a sexy category romance. She loved the writing but wanted
more unusual characters and situation. I wrote a new proposal, which would sell
to Harlequin Temptation six months after submission. When they offered a
contract, I was ecstatic. The agent’s counsel was sound business advice in that,
at that moment in time, it would likely have taken me longer to have sold a
historical manuscript. Yet I also spent the next fifteen years yearning to write
historicals before I finally got the courage to just do it. It took courage
because by that time I was a widow and totally self-supporting, but when the
first Nicole Byrd book sold, (a Regency historical written with my daughter
Michelle Place) I found the joy of writing again, the bliss that had almost
slipped away.
3. Pay attention to your rejection letters. Before the agent
acquisition, I had written a complete historical novel and submitted it on my
own. I committed a number of classic no-no’s and no one bought it, but a
Harlequin editor very kindly sent me a two page rejection letter explaining that
a novel where the heroine is unhappily married and falls in love with another
man was not one that would be suitable for their historical line, but that she
was sure that I could write a good novel for them if I chose to, and she would
be happy to see more from me. I sniffed away my disappointment, but did I submit
a new book or proposal to this editor? No. Insanity–yes. You see, I thought she
was just being nice. . . (Okay, stop laughing there in the back!) I had yet to
learn that while editors are often nice, they don’t have sufficient time or
energy to encourage any writer to submit again unless they mean it. So pay
attention! 4. Read your contracts, whether you have an agent or
not. I have an agent now who is astute and experienced, and I like her. But this
agent is–depending on how you count them, there were some partnerships–either
agent number three or number five in my writing career. I also spent a number of
years representing myself when I was fed up with the whole agent thing. One
former agent was a warm person, full of charm and sympathy. Editors loved this
agent. Writer clients loved this agent, except, when pressed, they would admit
that perhaps this agent was not the best negotiator on the planet. It was only
later that I realized that several of the contracts that Charming Agent had
negotiated were hardly prize-winning; in fact; I had done much better
negotiating on my own. I should have paid more attention to the details.
5. Know when to hold them. Networking contacts, that is. Even before you are
published, and especially after you make the first sale, you will go to
conferences and workshops and signings, be taken to lunch or dinner or invited
to your publisher’s cocktail party. You’ll meet Famous Writers and Important
Editors and other Publishing Professionals. Be polite, be professional, be
friendly, but don’t try to make them your best pal in five minutes or drool on
their little black dress. Give other new faces some room to chat, too. If it’s a
social occasion, let the PP’s or FW’s choose whether or not to talk business.
It’s a small world, publishing, and you want to make a positive impression, or
these people may remember you a long time and not in the way you planned. And
no, to the best of my knowledge, those are not mistakes I’ve made, but I’ve seen
them committed, and besides, this is good advice and segues nicely into my next
topic! What I personally have to fight is the urge to go hide in the corner,
especially at the dreaded publishing cocktail party. I conquer that, usually, by
telling myself I’m not in high school any longer and that half the people here
are just as nervous as I am. So get over the pity party–or the panic attack--and
go out there and mingle. 6. Know when to fold them. Another time
I had a Famous New York Agent. FNYA did good work, I have no doubt, for that
agency’s million dollar writers (and why FNYA even took me on, I have no idea)
but I was far from that level, and my work seemed to get lost in the shuffle.
When time went by and FNYA didn’t answer my phone calls or report back on the
status of my latest book manuscript supposedly making the rounds, I eventually
wrote a polite letter and ended the relationship–and later sold the book myself.
7. Make your editor happy, if you can. Pick your battles. Don’t argue over every
revision change. How vital is it to the story? Might his or her idea actually
help the book? If so--if there’s even a possibility this is true, try it. On the
other hand, if it’s really an awful idea, find a tactful way to–well, no, don’t
tell them that, but explain why you feel this change will not help the book and
might actually work against its eventual success. In the first years I was
publishing, my revision letters generally had creases in them–where I’d balled
them up and tossed them against the wall. How dare they suggest that I needed to
do this and this and this, I’d rant to my husband. (I was never dumb enough to
rant to my current editor!) But in a day or two I’d smooth out the letter and
concede that this suggestion here was actually a good one, and that idea might
just work, but this one, no. And so it went.
8. You have to be happy, too. I’ve met newly published writers
who were afraid to discuss their editor’s suggestions or argue with their copy
editor’s changes, even when his or her alterations were obviously wrong. (Me, I
always argued!) It’s your book, in the end. When it matters, hang in there.
Tactfully. And on the subject of being happy, celebrate your successes, big and
small. A new contract, a good review, a nice reader letter–cherish the moment.
Take the day off once in a while. Pet your cat. Talk to a friend. Smile.
9. Less is more. Most experienced writers I know will acknowledge that revising
is a delicate skill and often works best when applied with a light hand.
Remember that first book I sold on a proposal? The editor who loved it, who
raved about it, bought it and promptly left the company. I inherited a new Baby
Editor, one brand new to the business and who had not yet developed any editing
instincts or skills. She knew nothing, I knew nothing, and did we ever stumble
around in the darkness together. When she suggested revisions, I didn’t know how
to interpret her suggestions. I remember trying to decipher a cryptic sentence
she’d written on the manuscript and asking if she wanted a new scene in this
spot because it seemed to me that could slow the pace too much. Silence on the
phone, then she said, “Um, not really, maybe a new paragraph.” I wrote in two
lines, she was happy, and I hadn’t wasted several days of work for no good
reason. (It wasn’t the most necessary revision, anyhow.) On the other hand, I
have taken an entire book apart and rewritten almost the whole thing to make
changes proposed by an editor, and the book was the better for it. When you do
have an editor who has good instincts and knows her stuff, listen. (And count
your blessings.) You’ll be happy you did. 10. As Winston
Churchill famously said, “Never, never, never quit.” If you think making that
first sale–or the second, or the tenth--means you’ll have no more troubles
ahead, bless your heart and let me pour you a cup of tea. You’re going to need
it, or maybe even a shot of something stronger. I’ve had editors leave,
publishers go under, lines end, books that were sold and yet never saw light of
day, much less a bookshelf. I’ve had nasty reviews as well as good ones, bad
editors as well as wonderful ones. Published or not, you will still have
stressful or discouraging times. You may have to juggle genres, explore new
avenues, or reinvent yourself now and then; most of us do. But if writing makes
your heart sing, listen to good old Winston. ~ * ~
As Nicole Byrd, sometimes writing with
her daughter Michelle Place and sometimes alone, Cheryl Zach writes Regency
historical romantic adventure. The latest Nicole Byrd title is VISION IN BLUE,
Berkley, out in February '05. Despite her many missteps along the publishing
path, she has seen over forty novels in print, so go figure!
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