March 6, 2012 I got an e-mail from Terri:
"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG....got home tonight and there was an email from Eternal Press: they want to publish my book. I'm...stunned and shocked and thrilled and dazed and confused....I don't know if I'm up or down. My novel is going to make it print (and five digital formats apparently!)!
And after all the drama of 8 months of rejections - I'm home alone tonight, my husband is traveling. No one is picking up the phone...there's no one to tell, no one to celebrate with....well, this is just....boring!!! LOL!"
I can't wait to be in that position. I'm still chipping away at my ms, and editing and cutting etc. So I am thrilled to see Terri about to be published.
Terri has proven to know so much and so we talked about her journey and why she went with Eternal Press. So here is Part One of our five part interview.
I
am thrilled to be here today to talk about navigating the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly of publishing. Many, many wonderful people helped me on my road to
publication—sharing information, resources, and their experience—and I jumped
at the chance to do the same when Emily and Dean offered me the opportunity.
With
so many indie presses, conflicting information, and scam artists out there, Dean
and Emily asked me to stop by and talk about what I learned while I was
searching for a publisher and why I made the decision to work with a small
press with a questionable (internet) reputation.
Why
did you decide to go with an indie press/small publisher?
The
three main terms people like to throw around are “traditional publisher,”
“indie publisher,” and “self-publishing.” Psst…here’s the first thing you
should know: they’re really all versions of the same thing. A bodega and a
giant chain grocery store are both grocery stores. Sure, there are key
differences from an operations stand point and there are also some key
differences from the consumer’s perspective—such as price and selection, but at
the end of the day, they’re both grocery stores. People tend to make sharp distinctions
between the three publishing models and rather than thinking of them all as,
say, cats, people speak as though they are a cat, a dog, and an elephant. When
you, the author, do that, you start muddying the water for yourself. It makes
it very hard to do an “apples to apples” comparison of publishing opportunities
if you’re looking at one of the items as an apple and the other as a sofa.
When
I hear authors say they only want to pursue one type of publishing model, to
me, that feels like they are saying “I only buy groceries at the grocery
store”—which means they never, ever buy any type of grocery item at a place
like Sam’s Club or B.J.’s, a convenience store or drug store, or Wal-Mart.
Which is ridiculous—of course they do. We all do. You buy your grocery items at
whatever place offers the best combination of price, product availability, and
convenience. If I need a gallon of milk, I’m going to stop at the convenience
store I’m driving past on my way home, rather than drive five extra miles out
of my way to go to the big chain grocery store. On the other hand, I’m not
going to buy a full week’s worth of grocery items for a family of four at the
drug store—first of all, they don’t carry everything I would need, like meat or
fresh vegetables, the price would be prohibitively expensive, and they aren’t
equipped to check out and bag a large grocery order (can you imagine the look
on the other customers’ faces as I wheel my overflowing cart up to the checkout
counter?).
So…why did I choose an indie publisher over a traditional
publisher or self-publishing? I didn’t. I submitted my manuscript to a variety
of agents and publishers (of all sizes) and accepted the first good offer that
would best help me meet my goals for this
novel—in my case I was lucky because I actually had three interested
publishers to pick from. But, at the end of the day, it really came down to
picking the best of three perfectly good offers.
Come back tomorrow for Part II.
Pop over to Em's blog to see what Terri has to say about Publishers.
Biography:
Terri Bruce has been
making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first
writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make
people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces
fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she
lives with her husband and three cats. Her
first novel, HEREAFTER—a contemporary fantasy about a woman’s search for
redemption in the afterlife—will be released by Eternal Press later this year.
Visit her on the web at www.terribruce.net.
Connect with Terri:
Website/Blog:
http://www.terribruce.net
Goodreads
Profile: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8244272-terri-bruce
Facebook
Profile: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100003716022408
HEREAFTER
Thirty-six year old Irene Dunphy didn't plan on dying any
time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of
getting behind the wheel after a night of bar-hopping with friends. She finds
herself stranded on Earth as a ghost, where food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t
get you drunk, and the only person who can see her is a fourteen year old
boy-genius who can see dead people, thanks to a book he found in his school
library. This sounds suspiciously like hell to Irene, so she prepares to strike
out for the Great Beyond. The problem is, while this side has exorcism, ghost
repellents, and soul devouring demons, the other side has three-headed hell
hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment. If only there was a third option…
