When I started this blog and my LJ, it was to post the failures and the victories. Having said that, I got turned down by Samhain for my Mark and Josh story. In my heart I had a feeling, I was aiming as high as I could and it was a real long shot. Of course it's disappointing. I'll wallow in it for a few days and set it up for my next choice of ePublisher.
This publishing world is so different for me from 20 years ago. I haven't given up, I'll still shop it around, it would be foolish not to and I won't give up that easy. But I'd be lying if I said this hasn't shaken my confidence up some.
There are dozens and dozens of ePublishers. I'm hoping that it being a contemporary m/m romance with a military background with men who are older was simply not a good fit for Samhain and the reason why it wasn't picked up and not because my query and synopsis sucked.
I'll post when I send it out again, hopefully, this weekend, and of course keep everyone updated who is interested.
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My sympathy, Gwenna! I've been rejected from Samhain, too. It's hard to know why something gets rejected, but often it comes down to a story just not quite fitting thematically into their catalog as you alluded to. The good thing is that your submissions strategy is exactly what it should be -- always start at the top!
ReplyDeleteBest, Val
Thanks Val! I appreciate the support, believe me. I realize this one may not be an easy fit for some of these catalogs but I had to try. But I'll move onto my next choice and we'll see. :) Meanwhile, I'll keep up with my other Gwenna Projects as well.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! Vietnam War fiction may be a hard sell for some catalogs like you say, but it's very much worthwhile to get something like this into print. When you do, the reviewers are going to say, "Finally, something unusual we haven't seen before!" Sometimes the fiction that doesn't have an obvious niche is the most refreshing and original fiction out there.
ReplyDeleteBest, Val
I know you're going to find a home for it! Keep on pushing. And keep working on those others too. Publishers do look you up and if they see that you're producing and working on other things, that can only help you.
ReplyDeleteVal:
ReplyDeleteYou are wonderful support, thank you so much. I'll keep trying and hopefully a publisher will eventually pick this up. It's got a lot of things that make it harder to find a place for- with the characters older than 40 and vivid flashbacks to times in Vietnam. I'm not going to give up though, I'm sending it out to my next choice this weekend and we'll see from there.
Elle:
ReplyDelete*hugs* Well we are going for your publisher next- LOL. We'll see what happens. But meanwhile, I've definitely got a plateful of other projects here and I love that. :)