Guest Author Rebecca Carlton

Halo, fine friends! It's been a little while since I've had a guest, so just to remind you... if YOU have a book release or event coming up and would like to be a guest, I am thrilled to have regular readers, and open to other authors most of the time... my sidebar has a link to my policy...



And SPEAKING of book releases, Gae Polisner's Pull of Gravity comes out today! I got my notice Sunday mine had shipped (though I am beta reading for a friend and therefore didn't splurge on two day... probably will be Thursday before mine arrives... still SQUEEEEEEEE (Gae is my hero). BTW, Gae is one to watch on HOW TO for book promo... she has gotten articles in both the New York Times and Newsday (I know, right?)

And NOW, back to the present. Becky and I made friends through the Amazon connection. It all becomes murky as to 'where first' but we've chatted quite a lot on Facebook. Becky has self-published, and has noticed quite a lot of venom on the Amazon boards when authors try to promote themselves, and decided to conduct a little experiment to help you learn what can happen (Man, I love a deviant). I for one, WELCOME the heads up that comes with this, and the opportunity for all of us to learn a little about how people may respond (time to toughen our skins, I think—but also to realize there are no short cuts).



So without further ado, Welcome Becky! (look how young she is! *pinches Becky's cheek*)



*****



I’m thrilled to be a guest tart. If anyone is curious, I’d like to let everyone know that in attempt to prolong my life as a tart I have chosen to be a grape hard candy tart. They taste odd and most people don’t want to eat them. I thought you all might be interested in a little insight into the experience of an Indie author over on the Amazon.com forums. It would probably take three or more installments on Hart’s blog to let you guys in on all the fine details of what Indie authors should expect on those forums- screen shots and all. But out of respect of your time I’m going to make this as concise as possible and I’m going to use bullet points to do it!!



Two promo threads created in the forums yielded:



• 21 No-voters present [Tart note: Amazon gives viewers an option to vote 'yes' or 'no' on whether comments are helpful.]

• 9 Verbal attacks on either me or my writing

• 7 Reminders of TOS [Tart note: Terms of service]

• 5 Claims to lose readership simply by posting

• 5 Accusations of my thread being spam

• 4 Admittances of not minding promo threads

• 4 Twists of my words into presumptuous attacks on readers

• 3 Valid answers on why they wouldn’t buy my book

• 3 Displays of disapproval of my thread’s existence

• 3 Accusations of insulting readers

• 2 Claims of not being a real author

• 2 Non-constructive offers of posting advice

• 1 Constructive offer of posting advice

• 1 Add to their wish list

• 1 Download of my sample

• 1 Reminder of Community posting guidelines

• 1 Proclamation of informal TOS being violated (etiquette)





One attempt at joining an existing thread yielded:

 • 17 No-voters present

• 6 Verbal assaults towards me or my writing

• 3 References to TOS

• 2 Accusations of posting inappropriately

• 2 Accusations of attacking readers

• 2 Claims they would never read and/or buy one of my books simply for posting

• 2 Actions or statement provoking the others to attack me

• 2 Denials or defense of their actions

• 1 Non-constructive piece of advice on how to post



After I felt I had gathered enough information to provide a learning experience to other Indie Authors, I made a post outing my true intentions. This was my post after the OP inquired why they attacked me-

“Because I posted on the forums in a way they interpreted as a guise of self-promotion, which many other authors outright do or try to be clever about doing. I wanted to collect information on how many readers are on the forums during a given time by getting feedback on the content of my description so I could share the information with other authors. I had to provide a link to a book to get the type of responses I was looking for. The truth is, I simply wanted to evaluate which forums have users who attack Indie authors, and I got my answers. There are many readers on these forums who welcome Indie authors providing links to their books, and then there are some people such as those who have openly attacked me on this forum. Most of whom are the same as those who attacked me yesterday. Then they attempted to "school" me on THEIR guidelines of amazon forum ettiquite and told me to "jump into conversations" which is what I did today, and as you can see from the post directly below mine, in a manner of minutes, they attacked like a pack of rabid dogs.”

0 of 17 people think this post adds to the discussion.



Unfortunately for the pack, no amount of no-votes can get something that is not a violation of Amazon’s TOS deleted. Since so many of them yes-voted their own actions and are so proud of themselves they most likely will never delete their posts, their infantile behavior is there indefinitely for the education of newbie Indie Authors. A side note: oddly enough, not one of them took the opportunity to correct my spelling, grammatical or capitalization errors in that post to further invalidate me as a legitimate writer. Feel free to read between the lines on that comment.



Later that day I discovered some old and new threads for tagging and exchanging information with other Indie authors to expand Indie author networking. I did my best to join every tagging group, follow every twitter account and blogspot listed. Even though I’m sure there are a few authors in those threads that will throw their names onto the lists and not make the effort to return the favor, I’d prefer to operate on positive assumptions for now. A few other forum regulars have the negativity angle covered quite well.



Disclaimer** I’ve contacted Amazon for clarification and they do state that it is a violation of their Terms of Service for authors to create threads with the purpose of ‘shilling’-to advertise or promote. When I asked why so many authors are able to have thriving threads for such purposes and some are deleted immediately I was given a stock answer. Amazon claims that there are too many to keep up with and they rely on the community members (no-voters and abuse-reporters) to let them know where to concentrate their efforts. So that means that not enough people no-voted or clicked the abuse button to get every promo thread deleted, only yours! I'd also like to state that I appreciate all current readers and potential readers of my work. My intentions were to show other Indie authors how not to behave on the forums to advance all of our success rates on the forums. I am still a person who wishes to be treated with respect. I stand firm that despite the outright attacks taken towards me I never attacked a single person during these posts. When I asked for forwards of email notifications where I clearly attacked someone I received no responses.**



Biography:

Rebecca Carlton is an Indie Author from Richmond, VA. She is married with a daughter and a son. Her writing offers plots that are unique and at times sensitive in nature that send the characters through twists and dives down unexpected paths. She appreciates developing characters that are “real people” who dare to say what’s on their mind and steal your heart at the same time. With every book she strives to make an offering that multiple age groups can benefit and learn from.

Book Blurb:

Geric is lured by Dalis to a remote island to practice medicine until his license is reinstated. Upon arrival, Dalis reveals that Geric must erase memories and personal identities from abducted women or face his own demise. While Geric bides his time until an opportunity arises to escape, he is presented with a patient that is resistant to treatment but manages to catch Dalis’ eye. Livia’s life is spared with the mindset that her immunity is the key to developing an alternate therapy for other resistant women. She serves as Geric’s medical assistant while enduring the aggressive advances of Dalis. The stress of their living conditions proves to be too difficult when the consequence of their reckless behavior triggers a deadline to escape. A deadline that will expose their transgressions…and cost them their lives.



*****



I loved this little experiment, by the way... and DO find it interesting some authors are attacked right away, and others 'get away with it' (guess those 'terms of service' reminder guys are actually trying to be helpful?) But absolutely... no substitute for real life networking. I'm with you there!

Prose, Plot and Personality

I see things every once in a while about improving prose... I read things from fellow bloggers who ponder every single word. And I LOVE reading a work that holds EXACTLY the right language. But you know what? It's not me.

Oh, don't get me wrong... I PARTICULARLY love a nice double entendre, either to amplify meaning, because innuendo is my favorite thing, or to give double possibility and therefore mystery.

But I can't write literary fiction. I just don't have the personality to think about EVERY WORD... I am more an 'eh, close enough' kind of gal. What I want JUST RIGHT is the STORY.

Now I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, but I think that weaving a plot with a lot of twists and turns is a different animal from choosing really beautiful language, and honestly, with a complicated plot, literary language is just going to stop up and confuse the reader—the mind is already having to jump to keep up with the STORY. Adding language that you have to slow down and savor could easily cause the reader to get LOST.

Pass It On



So I thought maybe I'd share a couple things with you... opportunities, advice, blog recommendations...



Blog Crusade:  nervous as the idea of a crusade makes me, Rachael has a goal of compiling a list of the WRITERS who BLOG to connect us, and that seems an admirable aim.  We have had a ton of it happen around here, organically, but why not add another route, eh?



That in mind, I think I am going to put together a post of all my followers and their blogs... this will take AGES, but then there should be easy reference for my readers to see who else is here and what else they might be interested in.



And the Query Letter Manifesto (and the second part the next day) is a FABULOUS reality check for all you queryers.

Compaesthetics

Am I trying too hard now, on the making up words thing? I know it's not as fun to say as Tartiversary, or as clever as Procrastinakeding... but it gets across what I want to talk about...



I was supposed to have a guest blogger today, but I didn't hear from her. Now I have a hard enough time keeping track of things in my life that I can hardly blame her if I fell off the radar screen... or if communication fell apart—her email address didn't work for me—she may not even know she was expected! But a couple WEEKS ago I was supposed to have a guest, and when I sent the reminder “Hello? Where's your blog, please?” I got back a very sweet, apologetic note that she wasn't comfortable with the content on my blog.

FAIR ENOUGH. As much as I may encourage all o' y'all to get naked and you go along or ignore me as you will, YOU ALL are here because you picked it. I am at the VERY LEAST not out of your comfort zone (very far—or you are twisted and LIKE me pushing you out of your comfort zone). The guest blogging circuit, on the other hand, gets their suggested assignments for where to visit and may know NOTHING about it until... you know... it's time to go.

Party Metaphor



Since we are such a fun group, lets say all these blogs are parties, and people roam from party to party, doing their sampling of this fare and that. Then somebody comes along and helpfully says, “Hey! I'm part of the Music Association and I can get some bands to cycle through!”



And everybody at my blog starts singing “Louie, Louie” and shouting “Toga! Toga! Toga!” and who should show up, but a gospel singer? Now some of you limboing, toga wearing party nuts really LIKE gospel, and are going to be a perfectly good audience (all o' ya would be NICE)—but Miss Gospel singer looks out at the crowd smearing honey on each other and taking belly shots and she is REALLY uncomfortable, because... you know... she's over-dressed. And it's MY PLACE so nobody WORE their church clothes. Even people that LIKE all that, are hard to see! You are the nicest, most receptive people in the world, but all she is seeing is the line-up of fine man-butts I have arranged.





Now if it were ME, I figure I'd just cater who was there—alter my content accordingly. But I also don't write anything really incompatible with... well... anything... My reputation as an author is hardly going to be slandered because I show up somewhere. The Erotica authors might poke fun because the most sexually graphic part of my cozy is an occasional goosing, but me showing up THERE can hardly be any worse that what I get up to HERE. In reality, exposing myself to varied audiences is the best way to... you know... grow my audience. Or so I see it.

There are writers, however, who have more stake in keeping up some respectability, and I respect that. Compatible Aesthetics are the right of any of us, and it is not up to me to call it.



THAT SAID, none of us should be afraid to say that. Something isn't going to work out? Say so. Communicate. Let people know. Because even the naked among us need to keep up the professionalism so that Tarts don't have to fly by the seat of their pantslessness any more than necessary... if you know what I mean...

Stuff Wot I Neglected

So Lola pointed out yesterday that I had goofed REAL BAD in neglecting certain Viking Icons, and when I went to find what I'd been missing, MAN OH MAN! THANK YOU LOLA! You're my HERO!



In case there was anyone similarly lacking in education, I present for you:

Erik the Viking Vamp



This is no SPARKLY Vampire! THIS, is a NAKED Vampire!!! A HOT Naked Vampire. None of that rated G monster for the Tart. Lola, Dahlink, I hereby grant you lifetime membership on the executive board of the Naked World Domination Tour!

How is it even POSSIBLE I have missed this man morsel? In my defense, that whole bad writing, ending out of left field thing did serious damage to a genre that doesn't deserve it. I mean seriously... Dracula is pretty good (great, if you consider its 1900 decade peers), I loved Interview with a Vampire (though confess to being a less sophisticated reader 20 years ago--I may have even liked Twilight back then). I enjoyed The Historian. All those though, deal with the monstrosity of Vampirism, even if the Anne Rice version was sympathetic (I guess I expect the narrator to be sympathetic, so it makes sense). I even have a rather classy Vampire (Dracula himself) featured in one of my fan fictions (The Best Laid Plans) that ends up in Romania (because of course that is where Rowena Ravenclaw's WAND should have been (it was my theorized Ravenclaw horcrux... Y'all know I spent YEARS trying to predict Deathly Hallows, right?) Victor Krum even gets BITTEN by a Vampire—it's a fun tale! *cough*



But anyway, again, THANK YOU LOLA for introducing me to Erik, my newly preferred vampire...

Welcome Newbies!



On my Flag counter, I had 3 new countries yesterday! Malaysia, The Czech Republic and Iceland! I also, embarrassingly, had a new Swedish visitor (embarrassing because I poked a little fun at them). I just love watching the Naked World Domination Tour take off! Though I have to wonder a little bit when one of my new visitors is looking for spankings in the bathtub *snort *







And the FINALE: Old Friends... well not OLD, but LONG-TIME



I told you guys all about WAITING for Marie on Saturday, but I DIDN'T tell you about our visit!



I don't know how many of you share this experience, but I suspect, given the dominance of writers among my readers, that it isn't uncommon... you have a more peripheral friend... one you get along with, but don't KNOW particularly well... you find each other on line (two people who LIKE to interact in WRITING) and you find out you enjoy each other more and have more common ground than you ever realized, because in the REAL world, you just run in different circles.

This is Marie and I. Marie is a year older (not apparent) and the personal trainer between us (much more obvious) but we went to the same GRADE school--we're talking 35+ YEARS—her sister is my age and actually the only person who ever inspired ME to act competitive (I am rather mellow unless provoked)--Marie and I seem to share this...



We both took Spanish, and so went to Europe on the same school trip, circa 1980... okay, it was IN 1980...--she encouraged me to 'go for' a boy who was very cute but much older and therefore intimidating to inexperienced me. She was always bubbly, outgoing and popular... I was NICE (nobody really DISliked me), but didn't really find my social footing until college. I never offended, but neither was I the center of attention (that is only my writer persona)--but Marie is the real deal.



When I was first tempted into the social media, after more than a year sticking exclusively to a Harry Potter site... that's right, only the one... (HPANA, I love you-and Cheeser, if I sell a book, you can expect a check!)... I was convinced to give MySpace a try. I had my 14 HPANA friends... and Marie. She was the first person from my high school I found who I knew well enough to say—hey yeah—this would be a fun connection to make... There were more, eventually, though at MySpace I think I only EVER had 50 friends before I switched over to Facebook. But in that early era of social networking, Marie and I had a chance to reconnect before 'the party started to fill up' so to speak. I LOVE each new friend I connect with, but I feel like MOSTLY it is 'catching up' where those first early ones allowed a 'get to know' time before things got noisy—ifyouknowwhatImean...



So I was thrilled and flattered when I shouted out that I was going to Baltimore for my conference, that Marie said she would drive up from Virginia to meet me for dinner.



And you know what I noticed?



That it's TRUE that all this online communication grows a friendship--I KNEW this among 'never met friends', but it works for these 'growing friendships' too. That it is EASY to talk to somebody you've been 'talking to' because you know what to expect. I also noticed that we had a LOT of differences in our perceptions 'back then'. Part of it was probably Marie being older and popular—we had shared events that I remembered HER and she didn't remember ME. But part of it was just our very different interactions with different people, or the TIME when history happened... for instance, my class in the elementary was the LAST for the most popular 5th and the most popular 6th grade teachers... Marie didn't KNOW because she was at the Junior High before that. (I have a THEORY about my class with its 8 Valedictorians—4 of whom I went to grade school with—of 5 grade schools—but that is a DIFFERENT kind of story).  And me... being the 'good girl' (I hear you snorting, don't think I don't) had different expectations from teachers, than poor Marie, who is drawn like Jessica Rabbit.





Mostly, it is just REALLY fun to reconnect. I'd like to say even way back when that Marie saw the potential of the Inner Tart—encouraging the wildness that makes life more interesting at a time when others were painting me 'nice'. Though it's possible she just took on the 'corrupting young minds' mission well before I did.  So Marie—THANK YOU! It was fabulous!

Honoring Aitches

JK Rowling and the H<-->J Reciprocity Conspiracy [brought to you by Delusional Thursday]

JK Rowling has an H-Fetish (and who can blame her really?) but what you probably don't KNOW, is it's all about ME! You see Jo and I go way back with this brain connection—I've channeled her with some regularity for about 5 years now... I've blogged about it before—me using Orion as the daddy of Sirius and Reggie, and Cygnus as the daddy of the Black sisters LONG before the Black Family tree was published (okay, maybe about 3 months before... still, it was before)... Her having Harry wind up NAKED when he dies—I mean WHO, other than ME could be responsible for such things?



But there are more clues in the simple swap of H's and J's...



Jo starts with J. Hart starts with H. (see, this is good, right?)



Jo named her principle character in her first book HARRY (with an H).

Hart named her principle character JESSIE (with a J).  Are you buying this yet?



Jo has Hedwig, Hagrid, Hermione (not to mention a Hippogriff)

Hart has a Jack, a Jim...



But see all this is strictly minor evidence PROVEN when she used “Best Laid Plans” on page 4 of Deathly Hallows, and AWRY on page 11—my 2nd novel-length work, finished on the day before the release of Deathly Hallows, and so WRITTEN at the same time was called Best Laid Plans Sometimes Go Awry.



So there you have it.

Honoring Hope



Fellow Tart (though she's fruity, while I'm wet) got a HUGE honor yesterday. Writer's Unboxed (linked in my sidebar) is a collaborative effort of Agents, Publishers, and Authors (some real bigwigs, including the likes of Donald Maass). They have a SINGLE unpublished author they like to include in their ranks for their pre-published perspective, and HOPE was just chosen—out of all the three gazillion pre-published writers, and somebody I KNOW was picked!!! (and you know what, Hope's real name is JAN. See, that H<-->J conspiracy thickens).



Go read Tartitude. You will see why her voice was so loved, though I suspect her ability to NETWORK as an UNKNOWN played a role—the article mentioned her interview with Laura Kinsale, a famous author—so she undoubtedly impressed more and more impressive people to work up to that coup (smart will ALWAYS help, and it doesn't hurt to NETWORK smart as well as WRITING smart), but she writes SASSY too, which, you know... is a Tart thing.



So Hope-Jan the Tart, Hart Johnson the Tart says WELL DONE! (you see how I'm trying to catch her coat tails don't you? That's one of these tricksey things that isn't actually cheating in the Networking world)



*cough*



So hopefully I haven't annoyed my friend, as Jan and I connected aside from the Tart thing, having similar real life interests...









High Hopes vs. Hi-Ho Hi-Ho



This writing business can really get us down... rejections are downright depressing, aren't they? And I KNOW 95% of people get in frontward, the Querying route.... improve the writing, improve the writing, improve the writing. And it can't be DONE without adequately improving the writing. But then what?



Hope is hard to maintain in that world. And I SWEAR there are other options. They aren't normal or common, and they aren't easy... in fact they are downright unpredictable, or other people would use them more.



I have no CLUE how Hope got her gig—they mentioned essays she'd sent, so maybe there was an application process-- either that or somebody recommended her (which is highly plausible—I mean seriously, the woman can WRITE), but her SIDE WRITING got her that gig--not her book and query, and I guarantee (because I'm in charge of these things) when her novel is done and polished, one of those agents she is now WORKING WITH will read it, or at LEAST will look at her as a referral, rather than a cold contact.



It likewise looks like I might get in some backward route through my SIDE WRITING. My route is different... a reader recognized the appropriateness of my voice for a genre I had never considered WRITING and suggested I give it a shot. I am SO GRATEFUL she did. She writes in the genre and KNEW the required voice and just SPOTTED IT. All I had to be was me. (and prolific, and maintain deadlines—yes, there was a spotting of the habits as well as the style--I may do a lot of things I'm not supposed to, but I do a lot I am supposed to, too... the FOMS and all).



But my point is (yes... I STILL try to have a point on Delusional Thursday) I doubt those side doors say 'Tarts only", no matter HOW MUCH I'd like it if they did.



So keep your hopes HIGH—or you may feel like giving up. But I think some hard side work can really pay off, sometimes when you least expect it.





And because you've been so tolerant of my insanity...





A HUNK, and tres HINEY's with a message

Man, is that LEGAL? *fans self*

And something we can all get behind. *cough *

For Susannah

[And anyone else in early stages: finishing first book or taking first steps after that]



Before I believed I really could FINISH a book, back in the day I was debating how Half Blood Prince and then Deathly Hallows would go, I met a relatively large group of people that, like me, had writing aspirations. We had varying degrees of confidence in whether we could do it, and varying degrees of skill (stages where we were in our writing, mostly—most people called to write can develop the skill).



When one of THOSE people (my early aspiring writer friends) tells me now that they have finished, or are approaching the end of that first book, I am THRILLED for them. It is stepping stone that is hard enough to make, that once up, there is no turning back—a person who has written a book and has the call to write is truly a writer.  And we've made this journey together.



So yesterday I saw a status message on Facebook from one such friend (one I met trying to prove JK Rowling was a Monty Python Fan), a woman on a VERY short list of women sassier than I am (the only one I know of running a competing Total World Domination Plan, though hers lacks the nudity, so I'm sure you'll stick with mine) but she is nearing the end of that first book. I thought maybe I'd offer some unsolicited advice, cuz you know... I like to tell people what to do.

DEADLINE



You can be 'almost done' for a LONG time. It can linger and hover. I suggest looking at time periods you felt very productive in writing—whatever they are TO YOU. Is it a thousand words a day? A chapter a week? A scene a day? Different people think of their writing differently. But figure out your PACE at that time when you were already productive, and apply it forward.  Choose when you intend to be done by and try to keep on pace to making it.



With CONFLUENCE, that pace for me was two chapters a month. I wasn't thinking in word count (probably because of that writing long-hand thing) but I figured if I could finish two chapters (about 30 pages) a month then I could finish by XYZ date. I had to change it once, because I spent August of that year traveling, but the last 7 or so chapters actually went FASTER. Whatever the case, a deadline helps most people keep on track—it will push you to write every time you are debating between writing and some other activity. Set a deadline.





SOCIAL NETWORKING



Susannah asked me specifically about the blog. She'd put hers on hold because she felt it was distracting her from book-writing time. For book #1, I think that was the smartest thing she could have done. ANY distraction is like a giant wall in your way and you just need to concentrate on the book for now.

Some of the social media you can dapple in and not harm yourself if you don't really do much for a while. I think an author profile on Facebook is a GREAT idea early (I know she has one)--but it is time to start friending and fanning authors, publishers and agents now, then just check in on what they do now and again. They might be offended by you friending them with your PERSONAL profile if you have a lot of updates about family (and your friends and family will eventually be annoyed by the writing updates), but NOBODY is going to be offended if you start building up a network of writers to keep an eye on well before you intend to contribute (same with Twitter)--so both of these are things you can start already—looking for writers and seeing what you like and what you don't from what they do.

(Believe me, there will be things that bug the hell out of you—it's probably personal, but there are some super-marketers offering advice that are WAY too 'in your face' for me—I don't want a daily facebook message in my inbox (status update, fine—THOSE are easy to scroll, filling my inbox for perpetuity? No thanks. I'd appreciate saving it for when there is a BOOK RELEASE or Call to ACTION, and help is needed, or MAYBE a once a week report. THIS IS NOT WHERE BLOG UPDATES GO *cough* can you tell I have issues with this one?  It is why I most often 'unfan')



But back to the blog... THIS is something, that when you want to get blogging AS A WRITER (whether it is about writing, about your content, or a mix of stuff) you want to commit to doing it right.



I blogged about this last month and think the advice on HOW to do it well is still good (Be A Blog Slut). Until you are ready to do it right, I would hold off.  Though I think when it can be committed to, it is VERY important.





First Readers and EDITING



I don't want to be the evil person to break this to you, but there will be SEVERAL rounds of this. I would identify or ASK first readers what their specialty is AS A READER. I would then divide them up.



Your FIRST first readers PLOT READERS should be the ones who spot places you need MORE or that seem INCONSISTENT, or that you're UNCLEAR. They are meta-readers looking at the big picture and the things they identify need to be done before the other stuff can really even be LOOKED at. (I am good at this, possibly because of my psych, so I spot places where motivation is unclear or behavior seems inconsistent)



It is REALLY NICE if you have experienced writers who can do 'scene by scene' letting you know what works, what needs work, and what should be dropped--but only let people do this who have either published, or read REALLY WIDELY IN YOUR GENRE—the people who know what they're talking about.



Some readers are good at things like PACING or STYLE—spotting where things slow down (the style of writing needs to shift a little, depending on the action, and it isn't necessarily easy as a writer to see than in progress.)



And finally, you need a Leanne... The Grammar Police is one way to put this... somebody happy to go through line by line with a red pen, but do this LAST, or you will need to do it AGAIN.





Querying



I apparently don't know what the hell I'm doing here, as I've only had limited success, but there is a LOT of help to be had.  Take advantage of it.  Read the AGENT blogs on the matter--the Nathan Bransford, Kirsten Nelson, Janet Reid variety.  They have great advice--sometimes their preferences are different, which is helpful in that you see it is not a one size fits all thing, but on MANY things they agree--those things should ALWAYS be followed.



This is a skill worth developing because unless you know somebody you can sleep with to get in, 95% of unknown authors get their first work read this way (maybe 4% through a pitch session at a conference, which is even HARDER) and 1% through flukey things (this last appears to be the route I'm on... never have done things the normal way)

PERSISTANCE



This is a marathon. I laugh when I think about how I thought things would go... query, get CONFLUENCE sold, and suddenly I'd have to quit my day job. I was actually worried about things like insurance and such. BAH! I am now a year after my first Query Submissions and have had 3 rounds where I was DEAD SERIOUS in thinking it was ready—I am back to thinking it isn't quite ready (book nor query).



So you HAVE TO in between, be working on that next book, but periodically there will be rewrite/query rounds built in. You will become a MASTER at multi-tasking (or serial tasking) I recommend thinking about things like Amazon because there are people HAPPY to give feedback on things like pitches and that first chapter or so (great people, for the most part)--and they are people who have DONE this.



When you are in this CYCLE though, you need to also be building your network and blogging is part of that. It helps because there is a ton of great advice, and it helps your name and voice get out there. I happen to think this is NOT a normal route, but my BLOG voice is why Elizabeth thought of me when her agent had a cozy project and she didn't have time for it. There are people looking all over, so every little bit helps, but I think every little bit ALSO requires some give. I wouldn't have my following if I didn't follow, comment... all that slutty stuff.





So I wish you (any of you in this early achievement stage) a HUGE amount of luck. It's a very long road, but it can be traversed