Sharon Dow

The past few weeks have been hectic and heady. It has been a fascinating ride since the arrival of the books. I wondered what 1000 books would look like. Would they fill my house, fill every corner and empty space? I was pleasantly surprised to receive a very compact delivery; four layers of boxes loaded on a wooden skid and shrink wrapped in heavy plastic! Very convenient and easy to manage.

The Book Launch was the next big event on the book calendar. It was exhilarating and overwhelming. Many people attended; family, neighbours, friends, reporters, and people from the community. It was a great beginning for Antipas: Martyr.

I’ve spoken to one senior’s group, had a book signing in my church, have been asked to do 5  more book signings, have at least two bookstores that are carrying my book with several others considering it. I’m still waiting to hear back from Chapters’ head office regarding whether their distribution centre will carry the book. I have received information that several distribution centres in the USA are carrying it also. I attended a conference this week and sold a number of books.

The internet has proven to be an amazing vehicle when promoting a book. I have used many aspects of it. My facebook page has 600 friends, so I am able to communicate information quickly to a large number of people. Antipas now has his own facebook page where I can post things about the book. One regular posting I do is a daily total of number of books sold. Since the day of the launch, I have sold at least one book every day, and several days have had multiple sales. To date, I have sold 226 books.

Also on the internet, I’ve been able to access email and postal addresses for churches, libraries, bookstores etc and have been able to promote my book through these channels.

I have some other speaking engagements and opportunities to sell my book which are in the process but not yet finalized. Every day brings forth some new avenue for the book.

It was brought to my attention that there is a writers’ conference here in Guelph in June. I have registered for it and look forward to being able to meet with publishers and other members of the publishing world to promote my book.

But the big news of the week came in the form of an email from my publishing company. I have been asked to attend a conference in Atlanta, Georgia in July. Here are some quotes from the event.

“Special Invitation to Select Deep River Authors to the

International Christian Retailing Show

July 10-13, 2011

Atlanta, Georgia

ICRS is where the Christian resources industry meets. There is no other time or place where so many people, products, services, media, authors, artists, and craftspeople are gathered together in one place. The show incorporates more than 125,000 square feet of exhibit space, 425 exhibits, and nearly 100 meeting rooms. The show brings together more than 10,000 attendees and exhibitor personnel from across the United States and more than 50 other countries. Thousands of book store buyers come, many of them making major year-long buying decisions about which books to stock in their stores.

Deep River has selected you as one of the authors we would like to feature at this year's ICRS.

·    You will be scheduled for Author book signings in the Deep River booth. DRB will furnish 100 copies of your books for these signings.

·    Your book will be displayed at the STL/DRB booth on the convention floor during the entire show where there will be on-hand sales people to take orders for your book.

·    You and one other person of your choosing will receive badges for entry into the show for all 4 days.

·    You will have opportunities to attend various special events at the show at no extra charge to you.

·    Your name will be placed on the media list for possible interviews by Christian radio and TV talk shows broadcasting live from ICRS. You will receive PR services from Bring It On! Communications who will create a media kit, posters, and will assist you in securing interviews.

·    You will receive two passes for a complimentary dinner held exclusively for Deep River Authors on Sunday evening.”

So, we’re going! I don’t know where this will lead; I only know that, at least for now, I will follow. There are exciting possibilities for this book and books to come.

I am almost at the end of the journey; the finished product has cleared Canadian Customs. I should be holding my first copy within the next several hours. All the hours, days, weeks, and months of waiting and work are almost over.

But is it really coming to an end? I don’t think so! My lifelong dream of writing and publishing a book has expanded since the writing journey began. I now have a goal of writing and publishing ten books. Book two is complete and is the sequel to Antipas: Martyr. At present it is entitled, Pergamum: Satan’s Throne. Book three, not in the series but a stand-alone book, has almost 10,000 words already written. It will be called Huldah: Prophetess. I have the ideas for books 4 and 5 and bits and pieces that may make up 6 and 7. It’s possible: it’s doable. If I can maintain my energy level and my brain activity for a few more years, I just may reach this second goal.

When I last wrote a JustWrite blog, I had completed the editing and thought the process was nearly over. I did not realize that typesetting was a long process as well. I’m not sure if the process is long or if my book was in a queue and had to wait. The manuscript was then returned to me twice to check for errors that can occur during typesetting. The back cover had to be proofed and corrected, all before it went to print.

Printing also took longer than I had expected (on book 2, I’ll have a better idea of time frames) and shipping took another few weeks.

But has it been worth the work and effort? You bet!! Absolutely! I can’t wait to start the process again for the next book!

But that will have to wait. Antipas: Martyr is demanding my time and attention for the next several weeks and months. Once my 1000 copies arrive, the sales need to start. My book launch is scheduled for March 12 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Optimist Club, 89 Beechwood Ave in Guelph. The book will be launched, copies sold, I’ll be signing books, and light refreshments will be served. If you have not had an invitation to this event – this is yours. Everyone is invited!

Next week I will be speaking to a Seniors’ Group and in a few weeks will be doing a book signing at my church. I’ve also been asked to speak at a few more places but as yet the details are not in place. The books will be available at the launch, at a bookstore near you, on my website, as well as online. I hope you’ll find a copy for yourself and I hope you’ll enjoy the read.

Stay tuned for the next episode in ‘The journey of the dream’.

This blog will be a little different from my other ones as I want to update you on the progress of my book, but also want to share some thoughts that have been circling in my mind the past three months.

The editing is done, done, done!! I’m now doing a read-through to catch minor errors and then later this week, the manuscript will be going directly to the publisher for type-setting. Progress indeed! I have no idea how long this next step will take, but every day brings me closer to holding the book in my hands.

Life is filled with contrasts and events that are seemingly in direct opposition to each other. I began to think about this in early summer as I awaited two events that would touch my life. My next door neighbours were awaiting the arrival of their first child; a sister-in-law many miles distant was fighting her final battle with cancer. As the days went by, the contrast became sharp. I was, and still am, very excited about baby’s arrival; I was saddened by my sister-in-law’s passing leaving behind a husband, three children and a number of grandchildren. A stark contrast.

But isn’t that what makes up our lives? We each have experienced the first. We do not remember our birth, but our very existence gives evidence of the fact. Each of us will experience death. Our very existence gives evidence that we have yet to experience death. No one wants to die; yet it is a fact of life. A stark contrast.

This weekend I was again reminded of the contrasts. I’ve heard of a family who have lost their teenage daughter to cancer; so sad. I celebrated the wedding of a special couple embarking on a new phase of their lives; so exciting. A stark contrast.

Our lives are made up of chapters. When I ‘retired’, a chapter closed; but a whole new chapter opened with my writing. I embraced this new venture. Another contrast.

I don’t know where you are in your life’s journey. You may have come to the end of a chapter. Take heart; another chapter will open for you. Don’t spend time lamenting the closed chapter; embrace the new. In the whole process of writing I’ve learned about chapter hooks. A good writer needs to end each chapter with something that makes the reader want to read on.

What is your chapter hook? Find it and move on into the next chapter and enjoy what is being written on each page. The end of a ‘chapter’ is not the end of the ‘book’. That will come; but until it does, live life to the fullest.

Once the revision was complete, I sent it off once more to the publisher. Surely now it would be accepted. I’d done everything they’d asked me to do. I was still nervous, but more hopeful.

After the required waiting period, and what would life be without those periods of waiting, the email arrived. This time I opened it with hope in my heart. Allow me to quote again:

Hi Sharon,

We have completed our editorial review of your revised manuscript and I am happy to report to you that your proposal has been approved for publication. Congratulations! Susan said you have done a good job in making the suggested revisions. We agree that “Antipas-Martyr” has some exciting potential.

Wow! I was excited beyond words! It was finally happening. My dream was about to become a reality. I remember being in a happy daze the rest of that day and into the night.

There was still work to be done. Now I would be issued an Author Agreement, which is the contract. I happily signed two copies and mailed one back to them. Now it was official! I had a contract with a publishing company!

Next I was sent an Author’s Guide which gave me information on their house style, submission guidelines and instructions, information on the production process, and more. My manuscript had to fit these guidelines.

Decisions! Decisions! How did I want my name to appear on the book? Sharon Dow, Sharon E Dow, Sharon Elizabeth Dow, or did I want to write under another name? Not another name: I wrote it, it’ll have my name. I decided that simple is often best. Sharon Dow it would be.

Then it was endorsements, picture for the book cover, all the little details, then through the editing process. I was thrilled when they assigned Susan as my editor as she was the one who had done the revisions with me. We work well together and she has the gift of encouragement. As a new author, I needed her gift. Her attention to detail pleased me as it fits with my personality so well.

So as of right now, September 10, 2010, she has finished the editing and I am making adjustments. I should be finished by the first of the week, then it goes back to her for one last perusal. Once she is finished, the publisher takes over and we’re on to the next step.

It’s been quite a journey, and it’s not over yet. I’ll walk you through the rest of the process as it unfolds. Keep tuned in for publication dates, book launch time (you’re all invited!!), book signings and all the other fun things.  

Sometimes it’s hard to be totally honest. We want to show people the best about ourselves. We want to be perceived as successful all the time. I shared with friends last night that I was the child who in school always had to have my work completed first and it had to be all right, otherwise it did not meet my standards! That’s a heavy burden for a child.

Have I changed much? Probably not. But hopefully I have matured to the point where I can accept that I’m not always first and I’m not always right.

As I waited for word from the publishing company, the one that had found my book proposal online and was interested in my work, I imagined a multitude of scenarios. Yes, of course they would accept my book: they were the ones who had found it and expressed interest. Well maybe they wouldn’t like it once they saw the whole manuscript. Maybe they would tell me that I had a bestseller on my hands. Maybe they would say give up, you’re not going anywhere. Who could tell?

The email arrived: was this the end or the beginning? Let me quote again: We have completed the evaluation of your manuscript. You do have a strong concept, and there is significant potential for this to be a very good book. But unfortunately . . . They went on to suggest I have an evaluation done on the manuscript with one of their editors and then re-submit it to them for consideration.

Now what? I was disappointed for a moment but then my determination kicked in (my mother had another name for my determination: stubbornness). But I now had caught the bug. I wanted this book published. I wanted it published by this company. Once again I held on to their words of encouragement: strong concept, significant potential . . . very good book . . . I signed up for the evaluation.

Now began the remarkable journey. The editor, Susan, is one of the best in the field. Under her careful guidance, my manuscript began to come to life. I could see the changes making a difference. She was incredibly encouraging as we worked our way through.

I tackled the revision with joy. This was going to work! I just read on someone’s face book this morning that talent is spelled W O R K. If this is true, and I believe it is, then I would work.

Isn’t that true in all of life? If something is worth doing or having, it’s worth working to achieve. When things don’t work out the way we had hoped, we have a few options: we can give up and blame someone else: or we can re-evaluate, decide it’s worth it, and get going.

I chose to ‘get going’ and I’m so glad I did, because the silver lining was just around the corner! Next week I’ll bring you ‘The Silver Lining!!’

Writing is certainly a journey. It begins with a desire in your heart followed by a thought in your mind. The thoughts pile up and spill onto your page. Once you have emptied your mind of the river of thoughts: your book is done, right? Wrong! The work now begins.

So I’m sitting with my critiqued section of manuscript, but no publisher. I began to check out Publishing Houses online. While on several sites, I discovered that the big publishing houses refuse to take manuscripts from new authors. On one I was instructed to not send it in as it would not even be read.

How then can a new author get started? I knew there must be a way because new authors appear on the market on a regular basis. I was becoming frustrated when I landed on the Bethany House website. They also don’t accept new work, but they directed me to a site called Christian Manuscript Submissions. This is a site where, for a fee, you can post a book proposal consisting of a tentative title, category topic, potential market, similar books, promotion ideas, summary of your book, table of contents, and two or three chapters of your manuscript. Many publishing houses use this site to find new authors. In fact, their websites stated that they would only consider manuscripts that were posted on this type of site.

We discussed this and decided this was the route for me to pursue. I had gathered information about self-publishing but wanted to save that as a last resort. For me; I wanted the advice and criticism of an editor, the cover designed by a professional, marketing done by a professional and promoted to a wide market, etc.

Many of the things this site required, I had already done when I had sent my work in to the first publisher. It was only a matter of adding a few things and making a few changes here and there. I had it ready in a few days and emailed it in. Now to wait again. I had a six month window to leave my work on the site. If a publisher was interested, they would contact me.

Within a couple of weeks I had an email stating that a publishing company was interested in my work! I was so excited. But there is always a catch. This company was a full publishing company; editors, cover designers, promoters of books to all the major book stores in Canada, the US, and Great Britain. The catch? It is a Partnership Publishing company which means that I, as the author, would need to purchase the first 1,000 copies and sell them myself.

Could I do this? We began to brainstorm ideas of how to promote my book without going to bookstores which is not permissible as the Publisher does that. I was amazed that in a few days, we had come up with several ideas. I emailed back that I was interested.

Now the process would start again. I would be submitting the entire manuscript this time and then the wait for the decision would begin. At this point they had only seen a small portion of my work. Would they feel it was good enough to publish?

Well, that lesson in patience was about to be put into effect again. Maybe I was a slow learner and had to have the lesson repeated over and over. Whatever the reason, the wait began again.

This time I was waiting for a long envelope to arrive via mail. The wait seemed long. Isn’t that always the way; we don’t like to wait. We live in an ‘on demand’ society. But again there are lessons to be learned in waiting. Apparently patience was one of the things I needed to learn.

One day when I wasn’t even thinking about it, it arrived. Now I sat holding the future in my hands. Would there be encouragement or only criticism? It was like receiving university marks by mail. I’d done my best, but was it enough?

Five typed pages greeted me when I at last opened the envelope. I decided to read each word as I came to it and not jump ahead. The critique was very detailed and very useful. The criticisms listed made sense to me and I could see where I would be able to make my book much stronger.

At last I arrived at the ‘Potential’ section. I was most interested in this. It would decide the fate of my manuscript. If they felt it had no potential; there was not much hope. Let me quote some of their comments:

            “This is a good story, better than many that publishers see and could have a good chance at being accepted for publication.”

            “The story is a good one . . . publishers will be able to see the strong plot of the story and the good characterization provided by the author.”

That was enough for me. It was a green light to continue. Now I just needed a publisher!

Where to begin? How would I find a publisher? That in itself was a journey. In my next blog, I’ll take you on that journey.

I received my reply by email. When the email popped up, I felt my knees go weak. Would I be on my way to having my first book published? Or would I be back to square one?

There’s no point in delaying the inevitable. It is whatever it is. I opened the email.

Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately we are unable to publish it at this time. We have our quota for fiction for the year. Your work has potential. May I suggest you have it critiqued? (condensed and loosely quoted)

Hmmm. Were they really booked solid? Or was that a kind way to say we don’t like your work? I’ll never know. I decided not to be upset or disappointed. They did say my work had potential. I would cling to that. I also felt it would be wise to follow their advice. One thing I knew is that I was the newcomer to the field. It would be foolish not to take the advice of people who had made this their career.

Fortunately they had provided me with a site, Guild Critique Service that would do the critique. I ventured onto the site and checked it out. After their title, they have a question, “Can you take it?” It was a bit intimidating but I decided, yes, I could do this!

I would be able to send 3500 words. Which 3500 to send? My manuscript had 120,000 words! I chose the prologue, chapter 1 and chapter 59 (one of my personal favourites). Now I began to polish. Each word was scrutinized; some were discarded, others were replaced. At last I had it where I felt it was the best I could do at the moment.

I contacted them, was accepted, and forwarded my manuscript via email. Once again the wait began. Could I take the shredding of my words? Would there be any encouragement in the response? Four to six weeks to wait.

Was this a lesson for me in patience? Sometimes we learn things we aren’t expecting to learn. That’s a good thing. It’s important to always be open to the lessons being taught. Don’t miss out on them. They are the life lessons that help us grow as a person. I thought I was learning how to write a book (and I did), but I was also learning patience and humility as I waited, and as my work was taken apart and critiqued.

Remember; don’t miss out on those hidden lessons!

Now I sat with a completed manuscript on my computer without any idea of how to proceed from here. My husband suggested I contact a friend who had experience dealing with publishers. I’m not good with cold calls, but if I wanted to make this happen, I had to take the steps offered.

I made the call! He was very helpful, giving me the name of a publishing company and the name of the person at the company that I should speak with. He directed me to their website where I could get the email address.

This would be the first foray into the unknown. Could I do it? It’s a strange sensation; putting yourself and your labour of love on the line, out there where no one knows you and will look at your work with a critical eye. But my dream would never be realized if I didn’t take that step.

The email address was easy to find. I worded my message carefully, checked it twice, then hit ‘send’. Now for the wait. To my surprise I received a response the same day. And, he asked me to complete a ‘New Book Proposal’ which he emailed to me. I was ecstatic. I began working on it the same day. I was on my way!

It was a very valuable yet challenging exercise. I had to write a copy line, a one sentence description, a one paragraph description, describe my audience, categorize my work, record the tone, give reader benefits, compare and contrast my work with other published works, prepare a table of contents, write chapter synopsis, as well as a bio. The work was pure joy. Someone wanted to see my work!  Someone other than family or friends.

Would the manuscript be accepted? Would this be my first rejection? Was I prepared for either scenario?

It’s a little bit like life, isn’t it? Some things go the way we want, but at other times we’re rejected or denied our desires. We need to be able to accept both, knowing that both make up the fabric of our lives. Take heart if you have been rejected. That doesn’t have to be the final comment on your life. As the old expression goes, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get on with your life.

Once the manuscript was complete I experienced a feeling of accomplishment. If I could never take another step with it, I had done it! I had written a book! That was the first part of my dream fulfilled.

I made the decision that I would advance as far as possible with the story. If I could find a publisher, that would be my first preference. If no publisher materialized, I would self-publish. One way or the other, I would be able to hold my first book in print.

I spent several weeks editing the manuscript. Spell-check is the first line of defense, but as most of you know, it helps some but is not reliable to find all the errors. Once that was complete, I read through the entire manuscript on the computer, making changes, tweaking, adjusting the flow; anything I felt would improve the story.

Once that was done, I printed the pages and checked it once again, this time in hard copy. Maybe it’s from my years as a junior high teacher marking a multitude of papers, but I do my best editing when it is on paper in front of me.

About this time, a friend directed me to a public library that was hosting a “writer in residence.” I was able to sign up for one of his workshops. Fortunately the topic was, “How to Publish Book.” I learned many things from him. One of the most important was that you need to know when to stop working on your manuscript and consider it done. There are always changes you can make, but you must stop or it will never be published.

He also encouraged us to be prepared for rejections. Every author gets them. He said you must be prepared to believe in your book and keep going until you find the right publisher. I left with renewed determination to continue with the process.

Another thing I learned was that it is a worthwhile experience to enter writing contests. The library was holding one at that time, so I wrote a short story and entered it. I didn’t win, but the exercise of writing the story and preparing the manuscript was rewarding.

It’s interesting how so many factors come into play when you want to move ahead with a goal. When you are ready, let others know your goal; they’ll be alert to opportunities to help you along the way.

And never, ever give up on yourself. Believe in your work and go as far as is humanly possible. Others may enjoy your work, but only you will experience the satisfaction of accomplishing your goal.