WANNABE WRITER'S SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS: Sure-fire or Backfire? #Writing #First Romance Sale #Book marketing

"The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry"(Robert Burns).

Have you have ever been the victim of a
scheme so well-planned you knew it simply could not fail?

If so,  read on.

* * *

Vancouver, Washington. Summer 1976.

In the 1950s, Mom and I discovered Avalon Books, a line of  wholesome career romances. We read hundreds of titles over the next twenty-five years, appreciative of the high ideals, lack of profanity and suggestive conduct.

On this particular day I finished yet another exciting title and told my almost-eighty-year-old mother-- a former teacher--"I could write a book as good as this." 

My mother's blue eyes twinkled. "So, why don't you?" she asked.

 I stared at her, heart pounding. "You really think I could?"

"Why not? You've been selling stories and articles for the past few years. You know what Avalon wants. You grew up thinking you'd be a nurse and devoured all the information you could find. Later you became a secretary. You write. I'll edit."

My imagination took fire. "Remember our driving trip through Arizona last fall?" I said. "My nurse heroine could take her beloved housekeeper and follow our route after learning shocking news that disillusions her about her fiance." So began The Heritage of Laurel O'Hara. No outline. No idea of where the story would go beyond the trip. No problem. I had THE PLAN.

"I am not going to spend a year or so writing a book that will never sell," I announced. "I'll write the first chapter, and send to Avalon. By the time I get a 'thanks, but no thanks' rejection in a month or two, I'll have two or three more chapters ready and can submit to another publisher."

I should have listened to Robert Burns.

Two days after I mailed my lone chapter to New York with a cover letter saying the book was in progress, I received a response. The editor loved it--and wanted me to send the entire manuscript.

Heartsick, I told Mom, "There goes my big chance."

"Maybe not. Wait a few days, write a few more chapters, then remind her the book is in progress. Tell her you will send in sections as completed."

After writing the next two chapters as if my future career depended on it, I followed Mom's advice. I panicked two days later when the editor said not to split the manuscript up but to submit the whole thing as soon as possible! How could I do that while working at a full-time government job? 

Early Bird

 

Four-thirty a.m. came early for the next month. I wrote for two hours, got ready and went to my day job. Each time my boss stopped dictating to answer the phone, I scribbled ideas in my shorthand notebook for reference that night while writing. A month later, the book was finished and proofed. Mom said it was good, but I waffled between agreeing and knowing my big chance with Avalon was gone forever. 

I mailed the complete manuscript late Saturday afternoon. The editor must have taken it home and read it the night it arrived for the contract came on Wednesday. She praised the book, changed the name to The Heritage of Nurse O'Hara, then added, "It is so nice o have a nurse heroine who does more than put a bandage on a cut. I hope you have another book in the works."

My reply? "I do. I will send it to you when it is completed. No more Ms. Wise Gal with a plan to skip rungs on the ladder to success.

I received $250. against royalties of 3500 copies for all rights, not realizing they didn't reprint. However, I did ten more books for Avalon. The last title brought $600 advance. Decades later, a new publisher returned rights to me on all my titles. They became Large Print Library Editions. 

The up side is, writing for them was an apprenticeship. I learned to work with editors. Avalon gave me the freedom to include table grace, characters who prayed in times of trouble, etc. I was also laying the foundation for writing dozens of Christian novels in the years to come.

I also discovered what to look for in contracts, especially the need for clauses that if my books went out of print in a specified length of time and were not to be reprinted, all rights would revert back to me.

In 1978 the time had come for me to pursue my dream. I walked off my government job and into the uncertain world of free lancing. Early years brought success and disappointment, but I always made enough money for my modest needs, supplementing book sales with magazine articles and stories. Mom proofed and edited my work and helped me brainstorm until she passed on in 1992 at almost 96.

I now have 150 published "Book You Can Trust," six million copies sold. Never again have I taken shortcuts while hoping for success.  Neither should you. Wait until you are established with enough clout to sell a novel on the basis of a few chapters and good outline. Otherwise  it is mandatory to have a rough draft of the entire book. Or at least be firmly convinced a project can be completed in a timely way and to an editor's satisfaction before contacting him or her.

In other words: "Do as I say, not as I did." Things worked out for me, but the best-laid plans do go awry, often with unexpected, unwelcome results. 

Avalon Edition, 1977

 
  Large Print edition, 1999


Large Print Edition available at