Some thoughts on getting published

I must say that I feel extremely blessed. About a month ago, I received an email that many writers hope to receive: Yes! We would like to publish your book. 

At first, I didn't realise that was what the email from NineStar Press was telling me. In fact, I saw the subject line (Submission: Beneath the Surface) and actually rolled my eyes, because I instinctively assumed I was about to experience rejection. I opened the email on my phone with a cynical trepidation. The first few lines felt like a generic rejection (thank you for submitting etc etc.) Then, I got to the second paragraph. Suddenly, the editor was telling me what she liked about my novel and then she was offering me a contract for publication.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't release an audible yelp! in the middle of my staff room at work. 

One of the reasons I was so surprised is because it was only the second publisher I had submitted to. I knew the first would reject the manuscript because it was completely the wrong style of story for them. I only sent it in because they had some open calls that sounded interesting and I thought "what the hell?".  Sending the book off to NSP was, in my head, my first real submission. The first one where I'd feel genuinely disappointed when I received the inevitable rejection. 

I've read a lot of stories about how long it can take to be accepted by a publisher, which I why I feel so lucky. But....there are some other factors that I believe helped.  I'm no expert...this is my first book and I have so much to learn, but at this early stage, some may find this useful. Some of these may seem obvious, but sharing them certainly can't hurt, so if these reflections help even one person, then I'm glad.

• Research.  I made a fairly long list of somehow-relevant publishers and undertook research about them. The idea was to investigate whether they print what I write. I had several questions of each publishing house:  Do they print books with lesbians? Do they print books with both lesbians and secondary male leads? Do they print speculative fiction? How about books written by writers outside of the United States? Do they sell their books in Australia (where I live)?  This certainly narrowed the list down.  I truly think that one of the most important factors in being accepted by a publisher is making sure you're submitted to the right publishers in the first place.  

• Editing. Everyone says it...but don't submit your first draft. Or your second. I found this really hard, because I was impatient. I'd finished a bloody novel! I wanted to send it out. See what people thought about it. See if was any good (i.e....someone please validate my work!).  I found Scribophile to be extremely helpful. Not only did people help to proofread my work, but to critique the pacing, world-building, characters and plot. I re-wrote the opening chapters and the final chapters no less than ten times each. I think the prologue was edited close to 40 times (some of them minor changes, some of them huge). The chapters in the middle were re-arranged, torn apart and put back together. It hurt. Truly.  I would estimate that, bit-by-bit, the entire novel was re-written from the beginning twice over. But it was necessary...and there's still plenty of editing to do with my NSP editor. That'll certainly be interesting!

• Sharing.  When I asked a few of my friends to read the novel, it was quite terrifying. They had some really good things to say, but they also pointed out some important aspects of plot and character I needed to improve (including the fact my two leads were apart from one another for far too long in the last few chapters of the book. I ended up adding a new chapter that I think is integral to the whole novel). Some of their comments left me shaking my head for a couple of weeks, thinking "how the f*** do I fix that?!". 

None of this is all that different to what everyone else has to say, but I know I trawled the internet for hours looking for posts and ideas on any little thing I could do to improve my novel and increase its chances of finding a home. Consider this post just one more voice validating the important points many, many others have made before me.