It's in the process!!!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012, I signed my contract with Tate Publishing from Mustang, OK, my book was accepted and the publishing process has begun!  As expected, I am very excited about this process and hope the 6-7 month process will go swiftly.

So far I've reformatted my manuscript to their requirements and am waiting for the person writing my Introduction to finish his piece.  He is my therapist and needed to check with staff to ensure he wouldn't be overstepping his boundaries of our relationship of patient/therapist.  He has been with me during the hardest steps in the book and his input would gladly be accepted.  I'm hoping for a positive outcome.

Without revealing actual costs (this is a self-published company) I'd like to tell everyone not to take any self-publishing company's original price as the final say.  I think every one of them will work with you either with a payment schedule or a reduced price.  Don't be afraid to ask...it won't hurt and you might come away with a better deal.

I'll keep you updated as I go through this process.  My prayer is that things will go smoothly and we'll come away with a money making book in the end.  I'll keep being realistic and realize that most books, unless they hit the New York Best Seller's List, aren't going to make you a lot of money.  All I want is to help with our retirement since my husband and I are reaching that stage in our life.

If it's successful then you'll be seeing my next book, an Amish romance novel.  I'm in the research and outline stage of my new book now and it's taking a lot of reading to delve into their customs and lifestyle.  After being told that they (publishers) can't get enough Amish romance novels, I thought it would be the best place to start with my second book.

In the meantime I am submitting query letters to magazines on two different articles I have written.  This may not turn out to be fruitful, but having the right to say I have a book in the publishing process will carry more weight in my query letter.  I've done my reseach well and only have submitted the query letters to magazines that might be interested in my articles topics.

Join me in the joy of reaching this stage as an author.  Getting your book published is like giving birth (almost) and it's only 6-7 months long instead of 9!  lol

The Publishing Process - Step Two

Step One was submitting my book for publication and now we are on to Step Two, the acceptance email and phone call.

I received an email last Friday...my book has been accepted for publication by Tate Publishing!  My original email from them said it would take weeks to hear from them was correct, but not as long as I had anticipated. The email said the contacts in the mail and little else except for the fact that my book, "Jeremiah's Journey", had been accepted.

I received a phone call yesterday while I was at the dentist, and the message that Eric, my Acquisitions Editor, left was positive, upbeat and helpful.  He called to follow-up the email and to offer support and the next step in the publishing process. Since this is my first book I have a lot of questions and will call Eric today to ask some of them.

I've read some of the books published by Tate and was pleased with their covers and inside details and professionalism.  It's my hope that my book will turn out just as good or better.  One thing they said was that they receive approximately 15,000-16,000 submissions each year and only accept between 4% and 6% for publication. An impressive number to be a part of and I hope it wasn't just to make me feel better about choosing their company to publish my book.

It's my understanding that they (Tate) will set up book signings at local book stores, and put together a notice for the newspaper.  While my book was written in Oklahoma and will be published by an Oklahoman publishing company I hope that it will not limit us to this state.  It will be available on Amazon in book and e-book formats so I'm hoping for a broader audience.

I'll keep you posted on the publishing process.  I'm sure there will be some editing as Eric put it "I think your material has a lot of potential..." which translates to me...editing.  I look forward to the next steps and sharing my journey with you.