My blog has moved! Redirecting…

You should be automatically redirected. If not, visit http://celisedowns.com/blog/ and update your bookmarks.

13 December 2005

About face...Part 2

A while back I had thoughts of going the traditional route with my forthcoming teen series. One of my goals for the New Year was to get an agent. To go along with that, I had wanted to have Book One finished before the new year so I could concentrate on the editing part and finding an agent. Getting sick--again (*irritated sigh*)--will dash the latter goal. As for the other, well, I had gone to a local NAWW chapter meeting in November and the speaker we had was eye opening to say the least. In a nutshell, he had changed my mind about getting an agent. On the outset, my fiancee had been excited for me when I had made the initial decision to get an agent. When I told him that I had changed my mind, I guess he filed it in the back of his mind. To be brought up again some time last week. He was mad that the speaker would discourage anyone from getting an agent and going the traditional route. Even though the speaker had denied that claim several times during his speech.


Truth be told, the whole thing wasn't meant to be negative or discouraging. There were two sides to his speech. There's the "as an author going the traditional route, there's info you need to know but never told" portion. The second part was the "as an author going the traditional route, here's what you can do to be more prepared". He also pointed out that as a self-publisher, which is the other category I fall into (the first being a writer, of course), I have a better advantage over the bigger houses. They tend to think bigger (i.e. chain stores). As a self-publisher, I have the opportunity to reach the smaller markets  (i.e. indie bookstores, gift trade, public schools, associations, non-profit organizations, etc). I took the first portion to heart and changed my mind about going the traditional route. Steven thinks I should still try it. "If it doesn't work out, you can always publish it yourself," he says. "You never know until you try."


So, I took it to the streets. Sort of. I created an opinion poll and sent it out to my subscribers. Although I didn't get as many responses as I had wanted, I got more A (self-publish) than B (traditional). But I also got the same advice Steven had given me. After thinking about it some more, I have decided to go the traditional route...just not right now. I want to start out the series the way I had intended, the way I had envisioned. I want to see what I can do on my own first. After the 4th book has been written (I'll probably have hit my writing stride by then), I'll start looking for an agent with the 5th. Maybe by that time I won't have to look for a traditional publisher. They'll be looking for me.

posted by GeminiWisdom @ 7:26 PM |

0 comments

<< Home