Welcome to Donna Weaver, who is providing a guest post today in honor of her "Torn Canvas" blog tour. Enjoy Donna's musings on her road to publishing!
My road to publishing? Hmm
I wasn’t ever going to be published. I got into this writing gig because I wanted to learn how to write my personal history. Now I’m having so much fun, I wonder when I’ll get back to that.
· * Wrote first book
· * Knew I needed to learn more
· * Joined a critique group
· * Started attending writing conferences
· * Wrote another book
· * Continued editing the first one
· * Spent two months writing a query, including submitting for online critique
· * Started querying and collecting rejections
· * Submitted to a small press I’d been watching for a while and received an R&R
· * Reworked manuscript for three months and resubmitted.
· * They made an offer, and we had a deal.
· * Published in June 2013
· * Submitted second book, which they wanted
· * Audiobook released
· * Due to personal family situation, publisher closed their doors five months after my first book published
Um...
So, what do you do when you have a series where the first book’s been published by someone else? I write clean romance, and I didn’t want to be pressured to write steamier. My old publisher had been wonderful to work with, so how could another publisher even compete?
· * Got my rights back and went down the indie road
· * Went to work on old publisher’s suggestions for Torn Canvas
· * Hired old publisher’s cover designer
· * Hired old publisher’s editor
· * Hired old publisher to do interior formatting of paper book
· * Hired old publisher’s publicist to do my launch
I’m grateful for what I learned and the publishing connections I’ve made. I can’t imagine going indie on my own.
Being indie is wonderful and awful.
· * Wonderful--I love the freedom of making the final decision, but I’m careful to consider seriously anything my trained professionals advise me to do.
· * Awful--I have to work harder for the same credibility, and I don’t have the connections or reach that a publisher has.
My road to publishing? Hmm
I wasn’t ever going to be published. I got into this writing gig because I wanted to learn how to write my personal history. Now I’m having so much fun, I wonder when I’ll get back to that.
· * Wrote first book
· * Knew I needed to learn more
· * Joined a critique group
· * Started attending writing conferences
· * Wrote another book
· * Continued editing the first one
· * Spent two months writing a query, including submitting for online critique
· * Started querying and collecting rejections
· * Submitted to a small press I’d been watching for a while and received an R&R
· * Reworked manuscript for three months and resubmitted.
· * They made an offer, and we had a deal.
· * Published in June 2013
· * Submitted second book, which they wanted
· * Audiobook released
· * Due to personal family situation, publisher closed their doors five months after my first book published
Um...
So, what do you do when you have a series where the first book’s been published by someone else? I write clean romance, and I didn’t want to be pressured to write steamier. My old publisher had been wonderful to work with, so how could another publisher even compete?
· * Got my rights back and went down the indie road
· * Went to work on old publisher’s suggestions for Torn Canvas
· * Hired old publisher’s cover designer
· * Hired old publisher’s editor
· * Hired old publisher to do interior formatting of paper book
· * Hired old publisher’s publicist to do my launch
I’m grateful for what I learned and the publishing connections I’ve made. I can’t imagine going indie on my own.
Being indie is wonderful and awful.
· * Wonderful--I love the freedom of making the final decision, but I’m careful to consider seriously anything my trained professionals advise me to do.
· * Awful--I have to work harder for the same credibility, and I don’t have the connections or reach that a publisher has.
Torn Canvas, Safe Harbors #2
Tagline:
Even a hero needs rescuing sometimes
Blurb:
Modern-day pirates took more than Jori Virtanen’s friends; they stole his face. Not only does the twenty-four-year-old former model have to confront months of reconstructive surgery, he discovers his previous life was as superficial as his looks. Jori struggles to make a new life for himself as an artist while evading the press. They expect a hero, but he knows the truth. His beauty masks a beast.
Olivia Howard’s given up a normal life for her job, and the sacrifices are finally paying off. The twenty-six-year-old talk-show host’s ratings are heading to the top of the charts. Her dream is to make a difference in people’s lives, but the studio wants mind fluff—like interviewing hot model Jori Virtanen. When Olivia learns the guy helped rescue passengers on a cruise excursion from kidnappers, she knows this is the story she needs to make her case. The only problem is the hero was injured, and now he’s disappeared.
The more Olivia learns about the man behind the scar, the more intrigued she becomes. But Jori is no girl’s happily ever after. Once she finds him, Olivia has to free his heart and help heal the beast.
Links:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | KOBO | GOODREADS
Trailer on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z07kxkS53Ys
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/z07kxkS53Ys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Author Information:
Author of the Safe Harbors series and Second Chances 101, Book 5 in the Ripple Effect series. A wife, mother, grandmother, Harry Potter geek, Army veteran, and karate black belt.
Contact the author: donnakweaver@gmail.com
Find the author on:
Blog | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | Google+
Tagline:
Even a hero needs rescuing sometimes
Blurb:
Modern-day pirates took more than Jori Virtanen’s friends; they stole his face. Not only does the twenty-four-year-old former model have to confront months of reconstructive surgery, he discovers his previous life was as superficial as his looks. Jori struggles to make a new life for himself as an artist while evading the press. They expect a hero, but he knows the truth. His beauty masks a beast.
Olivia Howard’s given up a normal life for her job, and the sacrifices are finally paying off. The twenty-six-year-old talk-show host’s ratings are heading to the top of the charts. Her dream is to make a difference in people’s lives, but the studio wants mind fluff—like interviewing hot model Jori Virtanen. When Olivia learns the guy helped rescue passengers on a cruise excursion from kidnappers, she knows this is the story she needs to make her case. The only problem is the hero was injured, and now he’s disappeared.
The more Olivia learns about the man behind the scar, the more intrigued she becomes. But Jori is no girl’s happily ever after. Once she finds him, Olivia has to free his heart and help heal the beast.
Links:
AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES | KOBO | GOODREADS
Trailer on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z07kxkS53Ys
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/z07kxkS53Ys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Author Information:
Author of the Safe Harbors series and Second Chances 101, Book 5 in the Ripple Effect series. A wife, mother, grandmother, Harry Potter geek, Army veteran, and karate black belt.
Contact the author: donnakweaver@gmail.com
Find the author on:
Blog | Amazon Author Page | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | Google+
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