About half a year ago, I gave a friend my manuscript to read. And that was that. I never heard back from her. At first, I thought her busy life had gotten in the way - two active kids, a budding business, and an adoring husband. And then I realized that six months is just too long for other things to get in the way.
I had to face it - she didn't like it. She hated it and she didn't know how to tell me. Not wanting to hear how pedantic it was, I never asked her about it. We talked about other things, but I never brought up my book again.
Sure - I've been working on that series for nearly a decade and I felt that the first book (the one she read) was ready to be published. Sure - I had pinned all of my hopes and dreams on this series. But, I had to move forward.
I moved on to other things. For Camp NaNo, I wrote a twisted fairy tale. For NaNoWriMo, I wrote a romance novel (those are easier to get published, right?) I thought I would pursue other genres, get my name out there, improve my writing, and try the YA thing again in another decade or so.
And then my friend contacted me. Things had gotten in the way. She hadn't been able to get to it. But, the first day she opened it, she contacted me to tell me that she had to run an errand, but she couldn't put my book down.
SHE COULDN'T PUT MY BOOK DOWN!!!!
Oh my goodness! The sun shone more brightly than ever, the heavenly choir sang, and rainbows were sprouting up all over the place. Could a more beautiful sentence ever be said to an author?
The next day, she let me know that she had finished it and she wanted more.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can die happy right now.
So, here's the quandary - I've heard that authors need a platform. I'm no good at building platforms. I need to build a following. I'm a painfully shy introvert. How does one make friends and get people to follow you?
I'd like to think I'm good at writing. I've always said I was born in the wrong time. In previous eras, an author was selected by how good the writing was, not how many people followed him or her on Facebook.
So, do I spend the next year trying to develop a following, or do I just submit and hope that my manuscript is good enough to stand on its own?
I had to face it - she didn't like it. She hated it and she didn't know how to tell me. Not wanting to hear how pedantic it was, I never asked her about it. We talked about other things, but I never brought up my book again.
Sure - I've been working on that series for nearly a decade and I felt that the first book (the one she read) was ready to be published. Sure - I had pinned all of my hopes and dreams on this series. But, I had to move forward.
I moved on to other things. For Camp NaNo, I wrote a twisted fairy tale. For NaNoWriMo, I wrote a romance novel (those are easier to get published, right?) I thought I would pursue other genres, get my name out there, improve my writing, and try the YA thing again in another decade or so.
And then my friend contacted me. Things had gotten in the way. She hadn't been able to get to it. But, the first day she opened it, she contacted me to tell me that she had to run an errand, but she couldn't put my book down.
SHE COULDN'T PUT MY BOOK DOWN!!!!
Oh my goodness! The sun shone more brightly than ever, the heavenly choir sang, and rainbows were sprouting up all over the place. Could a more beautiful sentence ever be said to an author?
The next day, she let me know that she had finished it and she wanted more.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can die happy right now.
So, here's the quandary - I've heard that authors need a platform. I'm no good at building platforms. I need to build a following. I'm a painfully shy introvert. How does one make friends and get people to follow you?
I'd like to think I'm good at writing. I've always said I was born in the wrong time. In previous eras, an author was selected by how good the writing was, not how many people followed him or her on Facebook.
So, do I spend the next year trying to develop a following, or do I just submit and hope that my manuscript is good enough to stand on its own?
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