One Author’s Journey to Publication

There are many roads to getting published…here's the one I took.

Sometimes readers send me questions. I always answer them, because hey, what kind of a jerky author wouldn’t reply? But sometimes instead of sending a full answer, I let the reader know I’ll answer it here, on my blog, and share it with the whole wide world.

Such is the case today. Here’s the question… “What was your road to publication?”

Well, kids, sit back and relax while I tell you the story of how the heck I managed to get published. And let me put to rest right up front that no, indeed, I did not win a magical publishing lottery.

Way back when dinosaurs roamed the face of the earth…okay, so more like seventeen years ago, I was a mom of four small mammals. Two boys and two girls who were making me crazy, as kids often do. My husband was gracious enough to manage the fort one night a week so I could run away. I ran to the library, where it’s quiet and nobody is drooling.

I started out reading because books, right? But as I read, pride reared its ugly head and whispered, “Girl, please! You can write a better story than some of these.” I figured why not? How hard can it be?

Turns out that it’s way hard! It took me three years to finish my first manuscript—one that will never see the light of day because it’s just that bad. But I loved the process and started another one. That one (Gallimore) sold to a small press (Black Lyon Publishing) that took unsolicited queries. And hot dang! I was a published author. I’d been writing for seven years at that point.

My second book also sold to a small press, and my third book hit the jackpot by getting picked up with a bigger publisher: David C. Cook. Out of the blue one of their editors stumbled across my blog and asked to see a writing sample of mine. That sold A Heart Deceived.

From there, I started attending national writers’ conferences and met editors face-to-face. I was turned down by most. Okay, so actually all of them, but one brave soul (waving at Annie Tipton at Barbour) emailed me back several months after rejecting me, saying that indeed, she was interested in what I had to offer after all. And voila, I’ve been with Barbour ever since.

Through this whole journey, I had three different agents. Not one sold a manuscript for me. Each book was sold by me engaging either in person or via email with an editor at a publishing house. Networking is critical to getting published. Not to disparage agents, mind you. I have an awesome agent now.

So, that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Does that answer everyone’s questions or do you have more? Feel free to ask me anything I left out in the comment section.