Tag Archives: the writing market

Darcy Pattison’s Random Acts of Publicity, Part I

Posted on by under children's writer, writing

Literature Blogs 

This week (7th-10th) is Darcy Pattison’s Random Acts of Publicity, a week she invites authors and illustrators to publicize others.

However, is it really a random act if I plan it, which I have done. But renaming it to Sandy’s Planned Acts of Publicity might be a short cry to the plagiarism police. To me, random would be to go blindly into a library or bookstore or to one of my own bookshelves, and without knocking too many others down or otherwise insulting them, reach out and pick a random book to review.

So, what’s this all about? For four days, September 7-10, 2010, Darcy has sent the word out for us writers to be intentional about giving book reviews on Amazon and/or blogging about them. Brilliant idea, Darcy.

So, readers of this blog, consider this the prologue blog for Sandy’s Planned Acts– I mean, Darcy’s Random Acts of Publicity — which starts tomorrow.

(Oh, whom to randomly choose? Whom to randomly choose? So many fantastic books and awesome authors and illustrators. Just for four days? Focus, Sandy!)

Manuscript Rejections — The Bottom Line

Posted on by under Best Selling Book, children's writer, Publication, Submitting Your Manuscript, Times are Changing, writing

 Literature Blogs

I’m friends with Jane Yolen. Gosh. Well, me and a zillion others, on her FaceBook page. Jane commented today about receiving 7 rejections  (yesterday?), with editors commenting on her gorgeous writing, but….

I’m not really being sadistic, but I found this tid-bit of news quite encouraging to pre-book-published me.

She later wrote:
“The people who have been on my site (and my journal) before are not surprised by my rejections. Nor am I. I get them all the time. Got 5 rejections for OWL MOON, 13 for SLEEPING UGLY, both of which have now been in print for well over 20 years. I had 113 rejections for my poetry before I ever sold my first poem.

Dr. Seuss had over 30 rejections for TO THINK THAT I SAW IT ON MULBERRY STREET, his first book; Madeleine L’Engle, when she was already published, got 29 rejections on A WRINKLE IN TIME.

No one is saying you are ugly and smell, your mother dresses you funny, better give up writing (though all those things may be true.) A rejection letter is about the mss. and the perceived market. That’s all. As the don’s men said to the Mafia foot soldier they are about to execute in THE GODFATHER, “it’s just business.”

So (Sandy here, again), the bottom line for writers is:

1) Keep on writing (and, to finish your mss and revise them are givens);

2) Keep developing your craft (style, voice, plotting, etc) to produce page-turning, gorgeous writing;

3) Keep submitting your gorgeous works;

4) Rejections are not always about bad writing. In this present economy, it’s more about marketing. So, when you receive those rejections, eat some chocolate, cry if it feels good, run a marathon or two, and then get right back to #1 — Keep on writing.