Doing Some Grown-up Work

*sigh* It's sad to say, but I've had to abandon my silly side and become more of an adult, even if it's only temporary...

Those of you who follow me elsewhere - Facebook, Twitter, or on my other blog - will know that I had some exciting news at the beginning of the month. My book baby got accepted!! I spazzed a bit over at my Princess of Procrastination blog (not to mention all over Twitter and Facebook *shifty*), so I won't repeat myself here, but suffice to say I am still squealing. I think it's taken a couple of weeks for the initial shock to wear off, but now that it has, I've had to knuckle down.

The first order of the day was regarding the title. Much as I love the play on Cinderella, and the fact that my home town was a part of the original title, I had to agree that Cardiffella wasn't going to work. Unless you know Cardiff, the reference was going to be lost, and readers would just be confused. So I did some brainstorming on Facebook, and after coming up with a few possibilities, I settled on a shortlist. Fortunately, the editors immediately liked my first choice, and as of now, Cardiffella is no more *sniffs*. Despite being a bit teary over it, I am incredibly happy with the new name, and there is a funny little story behind it too.

Bye bye baby... *dabs eye*

As I was thinking of new titles, I added them to my Facebook poll, whether I thought they were good or not. I just wanted to sound them out, you know? Anyway, I'd thought of If The Shoe Fits, but didn't add it to the poll. I think it was mostly because I had a vague notion that it had already been used as a book title before now, though I have no idea why I thought this (you already know how nutty I am, yes?). Then my good friend Tami (also known as The Watery Tart) suggested it to me, and it just tickled me that she had the same idea as me. I did a little research, couldn't find anything obvious in my investigations, and added it to my poll after all.

Eventually I had a shortlist, which I dutifully sent to my editor. Now comes the really funny part. You see, just as I hit 'send' on the email, I had an email alert. Another editor, who was working on my cover art, needed me to send her my ideas for the new title so that she could get a feel for the tone. Over the next few minutes, both editors and myself engaged in crossed emails, and BOTH came back with immediate approvals for If The Shoe Fits. Have I mentioned how fabulous the editors at Crimson are? No? Well they are! Fabulous, that is. Super friendly, super helpful, and all round awesome, actually. And that's a genuine endorsment from me, I'm not saying it because I have to, I'm saying it because I mean it. They've made what could have been a daunting process for a newbie author incredibly easy.

So anyway, I guess it was kind of meant to be. I'm happy, they're happy, and most of the people I polled are happy. Sorted!

Currently I am busy editing. I'm happy to say that there were no major revisions needed. The majority of changes are due to the fact that it's an American publishing house, which means that I've had to format according to American English rather than British English. Aside from typos and a few grammar boobies, the original manuscript is virtually unchanged. I'm currently 50 pages in, so I'm about 25% done, but it is an easy job and I'm aiming to finish by the end of the week, which is a full week ahead of my deadline. Not only am I determined to show that I will be a good client, I am also committed to taking part in a WriMo in March, where I fully intend to get the next book finished, so that I can spend April polishing and revising it. My aim is to submit it to my editor just as If The Shoe Fits releases.

This is where a series title comes in. You may have noticed that as well as the book, the title for this blog has changed too. I've had to be ruthless and get rid of it. *wipes away tear* But again, I'm really happy with the new name. The Furry Tale Chronicles is what I can hopefully call the series, though until I contract a second book, a series title is not up for discussion. Crossing my fingers that things will go to plan, though!

Lastly, and again I'm wiping away a little tear, I won't be able to use the cover art that was so beautifully created for me. Ana did a wonderful job on it, and I will keep it on display not only because I love it so much, but because I'm super grateful to her for finding the time to do it for me. Not to mention Joris (Joris Ammerlaan Design), who is the exceptionally talented graphics whizz who spruced up the original drawing. Between the two of them, they made a fabulous cover design that I will always be fond of.

I'm waiting with bated breath for the new cover to be finished. I have no idea what it will be like, which is part of the excitement, but I'm confident that it will be fabulous!

I think that's enough news for one day. Now I have to get back to my edits...

If The Shoe Fits releases with Crimson Romance April 29th.

PS - Okay, apparently it wasn't enough news for one day. My signed contract just landed on my doormat! Clearly I am still not over the initial shock, and am still in the Spazzing Phase. *squeals*

Something To Blog About

*dusts off page*

I finally have some news on my book baby, though sadly not as good as I could wish for. The last time I updated you guys was way back in September - all of five months ago!- but to be perfectly honest, there really hasn't been anything to report. Several times I stopped by, opened up a 'New Post' window, then left. After all, what on earth could I say when I was still in the land of Limbo?

The beginning of January arrived, and I'd yet to hear from either of the two publishers that I submitted to, so I figured it was time for a gentle pester. The minimum 16 weeks had passed, you see, and while there are those who say 'no news is good news', I'm more of a believer of the 'no news is wearing on the nerves' train of thought.

Both publishers replied, asking  for a little more patience as my manuscript was currently under review with their editors. Great news, I thought! At least it wouldn't be too much longer until I heard anything. Two weeks late I got my first official rejection, and it sucked, despite having more or less expecting it. Still,I wasn't disheartened.

This week, on Wednesday to be exact, I got my second rejection. Boo-hoo!! I was gutted, obviously, but again I wasn't overly surprised. I was also really encouraged though, because despite getting turned down, my book baby actually did rather well. Although the rejection email was pretty much a form letter, it did tell me that my MS had reached the acquisition team, and that the entire book had been read by a number of people. My understanding of the process is that you need a 'yes' from an editor, and one from a member of the acquisition team. If the team member passed on it, a second member would also read to give it a fair chance. Two agreeing votes are needed to decide the outcome. So, unless I completely misunderstood, I was literally one vote short. Bummer, huh?

Now, despite the disappointment, I was fairly buzzing. I'm new to all this, but I know that getting this far, especially on a debut submission, is really good news. It would have been helpful to know WHY I didn't get my final 'yes', but feedback is rarely provided, so it's just one of those things.

My guess is that my feline fairy godmother is is the culprit. That's going to be a hard sell, and I've always known it. But as a good friend pointed out to me - and I fully agreed with her (she's a Smart Tart, after all) - it is this hard selling point that will probably be the 'win' factor if and when I eventually get a 'yes'.

So I will keep plodding along. In fact, I've already submitted to four more publishers! Unfortunately, I've already received a pass from one of them, but again, it was an encouraging rejection. That particular editor was already working on a series that was similar apparently, so she declined before reading the full MS. Having sent the blurb and first three chapters, though, she also commented that she thought it was a 'fun' idea and that she 'loved my voice', which was AWESOME, as I finally had a teeny tiny bit of feedback.

This leaves me with three queries currently pending, and as soon as I have anything of any interest to report, I shall be back. In the meantime, I need to continue working on the sequel - something that is loosely based on the Beauty & the Beast story. After all, this is a series I am trying to sell, so it stands to reason that I need at least one more book written and polished ready to submit as soon as I get a 'yes' for the debut, right?

*positive thoughts*

Belle, the muse for my Muse character, fainted with shock at the news that her mistress's book got so far!

Oh My Daisies!

Or as Ella would say... 'crap!'

I finally bit the bullet and sent my manuscript off to two publishers this week. I have to admit, it's been ready for a while now, but I was too chicken to send it. I kept telling myself that I needed to add a few thousand more words, even though, deep down, it was one of those projects that practically wrote itself, and too much tweaking with it would have ruined the voice. Sure, I edited a few things out, and added little bits here and there, but really, there was never any chance that the story would have an extra twenty thousand words added to it.

The story is a fast paced, mad-cap romp, and aside from a few minor adjustments to do with timing inconsistencies, a truck-load of excess wordage would have removed a lot of the mood.

It's not perfect - of course it's not - but this first submission is the first step on the road to publication. It'll never be accepted (frankly, if it was, I'd probably die from shock - just how many projects ARE accepted first time around?), but if nothing else, it's a learning curve. And while I wait (anything up to sixteen weeks!!), there are things to be done. *nods*

I've tweaked the heading on this page to reflect the present change in circumstances, and I've spruced up my author page on facebook with a shiny new banner. While writing my query, I added a few things to the book blurb, and it occurred to me that the very first sentence would actually make a good tag line. When researching marketing and the like, I kept seeing the word 'brand' being bandied about, and I wanted to do something about that immediately. I didn't quite know what it would be, but the thought was lurking in my brain nevertheless.

So I now had a tag line. I even googled it to make sure that nothing else came up too prominently, just to reassure myself that it hadn't been used before. So far, so good. Now I needed a theme, and I thought... hmmm... STARS! (My brain is a bit odd sometimes, but that's a whole other blog).

Why 'stars?' Well, to be fair, it took a while to come up with the idea. It was only as I uploaded a basic picture to photobucket (a purple background with the tag line in a pretty script), that the idea formed. Looking through all the editing tools on the site, I spent some time adding different effects and what not just to see what would happen. Eventually I came across a 'space' feature, and I heard a little 'ping!' in my head. (I did! Honest!) One of the more famous themes from Fairy Tale World is wishing upon a star, and, after having made that connection, my banner was born.

I might be biased, but I think it's rather nice. It could do with some more 'prettying' up, but I like the way it turned out regardless. As a side note, I seem to have a slight obsession with all things purple. Not only is the banner purple, but so is the background for this blog. And my other Writing Personality - the one that (occasionally) writes fantasy - has an entire book theme centered on purple. Maybe there is a reason for this, but I'm not going to look into it too deeply. I just like purple.

Anyway, thats my news at the moment. I won't say the names of the publishers that I have submitted to, but shrewd people who know me might take a guess. And that's the way the way it will stay... that seems to be the way it works in this publishing game. Nothing named until contracts are offered, and that suits me just fine.

I have a short list of publishers to send to for round two of the submission process, but I am going to wait for rejections first. Which I am pretty sure I will get if they base their decision on my synopsis - the nightmare of which deserves a post all to itself. *snort* I was so tempted to add a couple of sentences at the bottom of the darn thing:

Please don't refuse on account of this synopsis. It sucks, and I know it. But the manuscript is much better! Honest!

Not sure that would have helped though...

Yoikes!!!

Yes, the 'o' in 'yoikes' is meant to be there, it's not a typo. It's just how I say 'yikes'. And why am I saying 'yoikes'? Well, because I did it. I actually got off my butt, thoroughly tidied up my manuscript to the best of my ability (which probably means it isn't as tidy as it should be), and entered it into this year's ABNA.

Yoikes indeed.

The good thing about this is that I finally did something with my manuscript (rather than let it continue to gather digital dust on my laptop). I had a good go at fixing it up before, and it was a fairly legible piece of work. But it was in no way ready to be seen by a publisher. To be fair, it probably isn't now, either. I mean, apart from tidying up the punctuation and spelling errors, and an odd word change here and there, I haven't actually added to it, so it is still my first draft.

But let's be realistic here. I am under no illusions that my modern little fairy tale will be able to stand up to the drama and suspense giants that I am competing against. I've had a good nose around the various ABNA discussion boards, and I haven't actually come across anything remotely similar to the chick-litty genre that my book mostly belongs to. This could be a good thing because, as one friend pointed out to me, it may stick out from the crowd. But I tend to look on the flip side, and I figure that my story may be considered too lightweight to be a contender for the incredibly distinguished sounding 'Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award'.

Let's break that down a little. Amazon is just the name, so nothing to break down there really. And 'Novel' and 'Award' tend to explain themselves. But 'Breakthrough'? This is where I may struggle. Plots filled with suspense, thrills, drama, and all kinds of other epic-type elements, lend themselves well to being contenders for a 'breakthrough' kind of story. Me? I've loosely - and I DO mean loosely - based my plot upon Cinderella, which, I might add, is something that's been done many a time before now, and doesn't seem to me to have anything breakthrough-y at all about it.

OK, so I have a talking cat, which, while not unheard of in literature, is probably not so common in the real world. And despite a talkative tabby, my story is very definitely set in the real world.

Anyway, the book is definitely not 'breakthrough' in general terms. I suppose I could go with the definition of 'breathrough'  as being that of an unknown author making a splash with her fantastical tale of nude nosedives, cussing heroines, and magical pussycats. Yeah, I could go with that.

Of course, the odds seem pretty stacked against me. In my category, there are a potential 5,000 entries, and only a 1,000 maximum will go on to the next stage. Less, if the judges don't rate the pitches that high. So in reality, I have to have a pitch so good that it will beat 4,000 other pitches. Erk.

But if I flip that coin to the other side, and at least try to be optimistic, I could also say that I have a one in five chance of getting to the next round., and you know, one in five isn't all that bad. Sounds much better than saying I have to beat 4,000 people to the post, anyway.

Much as I would love it, I really don't envision myself at the beginning of June anxiously waiting to see if I have won. I don't envision myself making the semi-finals either. Reaching the quarter finals is probably as far am my doubting self will let me dream about, if only to be able to get real feedback from real publishers. Honestly though, I'm just hoping to get past the pitch. Unfortunately, there is a month to wait before we get to find out.

It's going to be a long month. And not a talking cat in sight to distract me.

Sneaking Back In...

So, after nine months of nothingness (my bad, very bad), I am returning with some actual news. Those who know me well know that I dither and put things off for as long as I possibly can. I don't know why I do this, as it's not exactly conductive to getting a book published, but there we are. Anyway, the new year brought with it a new determination to push my debut novel out into the general public.

I think a lot of the dithering is down to the fear that nothing will ever come of it, but that kind of attitude will definitely never get anyone anywhere, so once again I am going to give it a go. This time, hopefully, I will be able to keep going despite the Fear Of Getting Nowhere cloud hanging over my head.

The first big news is that off and on subtle pestering from my good friend Hart Johnson (Confessions Of A Watery Tart), has pushed me into entering this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. It's been mentioned more than a few times over the last two years, but I've always backed away from the idea. That fear again, I suppose. Anyway, this year I thought why the heck not? I mean, I've got nothing to lose, right?

With this in mind, I wanted to spruce up my cover art. My good friend Ana Karina Padilla Preston drew my original cover, but I wanted to make it all shiny and new to go with my fresh start. I have no talent at all with graphics - drawn or computer generated - so after a few abysmal attempts, another friend stepped in to help.

Joris Ammerlaan is a genius. *nods* He's already designed cover arts for several of my writer friends, and he offered to 'do something pretty with it'. Using Ana's drawing as a base, he enhanced the colours, created a new background, added some text, and just generally did some techy stuff which goes right over my head. This is the result:

Isn't it great?

Only now I had a wee problem. I needed a name. Who had written this book? Should I go with my real name, or pick a pseudonym? Once again, I turned to my friends for suggestions, then I put up a poll on my facebook page. I also asked for ideas on my Princess of Procrastination blog. Finally, today, I decided. After looking at the poll results and discussing it with family and friends, I went for 'Amber T. Smith', and I'm really happy with it. It's a pseudonym, but it also contains my real name. Most importantly (for me, at any rate), it has my daughter's name, whom I lost just over twelve years ago. Amber was actually a sort of lucky charm for me when I was writing Cardiffella back in 2009, as I'd used her name as my NaNoWriMo profile name, and it was the first time I'd ever completed a challenge like that. It seemed fitting.

So there we have it. I have a book (almost completely edited, by the way *faints*), a cover art, a pen name, and a competition to enter. Ooh, and Amber T. Smith also has a shiny new author page on Facebook. I'd say that qualified as news. wouldn't you?

Query Tweaking

I entered a Query Blog Fest yesterday on my main blog, and got some fabulous feedback from several people. I thought I'd post the original query, and then my revised version on here, just to see how they compare, and what your thoughts are. So here goes...

Original Query:

Name

Address

Contact numbers

Email

Dear Ms Agent,

Take one damsel unknowingly in distress, add a fairy-godmother, a spattering of nudity, and a Prince-in-the-making. Mix thoroughly and let simmer for a while.

Ella, a twenty-something woman from Cardiff, loves her job, her little house, her two best friends, and her cat. She enjoys nights out on the town, drinking a little too much vodka, and swearing more than she should. She's happy with her life, and it doesn't need changing, right?


But what will she do when her cat starts talking and insists she is Ella's fairy godmother? And what will happen when a new man arrives to take over as boss at Cardiff Mode, the modeling agency where Ella works? Will Max Charming change her mind about needing a man?


Cue plenty of laughs, cursing, accidental nudity, and several trips to the local hospital, as Ella flies from one disaster to the next in her quest to capture her very own Prince Charming.

A modern fairytale, Cardiffella is complete at 60,000 words. It is the first novel in a mini-series that is set in my home city of Cardiff. I have enclosed a SAE for your convenience, and a full synopsis and/or sample chapters are available on request. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Tara Smith.

General feedback was much the same - keep the first and last paragraphs of the pitch, but condense the middle two and make them less 'list-y' and 'question -y'. Bearing this in mind, here is my first revision:

Name

Address

Contact numbers

Email

Dear Ms Agent,

Take one damsel unknowingly in distress, add a fairy-godmother, a spattering of nudity, and a Prince-in-the-making. Mix thoroughly and let simmer for a while.

Ella Gibson loves her life as a typical twenty-something Cardiffian. With great friends, a job she enjoys thoroughly, and a loving father, everything is pretty much perfect. Then one day things suddenly change. Ella's cat begins to talk, causing Ella to think she is insane (and quite possibly the cat too). Then the feline insists she's a Fairy Godmother, and hatches a plan to set Ella up with her new boss, Max Charming. Throw in an evil ex-stepmother, and a new tendency for clumsiness, and Ella starts to think that maybe her life could do with a little perfecting after all.

Cue plenty of laughs, cursing, accidental nudity, and several trips to the local hospital, as Ella flies from one disaster to the next in her quest to capture her very own Prince Charming.

A modern fairytale, Cardiffella is complete at 60,000 words. It is the first novel in a mini-series that is set in my home city of Cardiff. I have enclosed a SAE for your convenience, and a full synopsis and/or sample chapters are available on request. Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Tara Smith.

So, does this sound any better? It's nowhere near 'done', but hopefully it's an improvement at the very least.

Image borrowed from here.

Query Hell

So I'm around a month into my editing schedule (more or less), and I'm not quite on target, but further along than I thought I'd be. Editing is a Nightmare. *nods* Anyway, in between adding a few hundred words here and there (and cutting some of the dead weight), I have also been worrying about the big 'Q'.


Yes, The Dreaded Query. *cue theme from Jaws*

Whether you are submitting to a literary agent or a publishing house, the first obstacle you have to overcome is the querying hurdle. One little page is all you need to prepare, but this one page is more important than any of the 300+ pages of your manuscript.

A hook. A short synopsis. A brief bio. That's it. Three little paragraphs. And they terrify me.

I've been doing a lot of online research lately, both on publishers and independent agents. I believe my best course of action would be to submit direct to a publisher, and I have a small but steadily growing list of prospectives. Of course, that's the easy part.

The Dreaded Query itself is the next monster I have to face, and he's pretty scary. Not only do I have to make it brief - itself a daunting prospect for a committed rambler - but it has to 'pop'. It has to have something that will immediately grab the attention of whoever is reading it. With legitimate publishing houses probably receiving 100+ queries on any given day, if you don't stand out right away, you are sunk. The ratio of unpublished authors to publishers seeking new clients is probably so high that it's far too depressing to even contemplate.

So... hook; synopsis; bio. Gah... maybe editing isn't such a nightmare after all.

Image borrowed from picasawebdotgoogledotcom. 

Don't forget to pop along to my other blog, Princess of Procrastination, where I am currently plodding through the fabulous A-Z- Challenge, and having a marvelous time!