Shannon Page - The Usual Path to Publication: 27 stories about 27 ways in

THE USUAL PATH TO PUBLICATION

27 stories about 27 ways in

Edited by Shannon Page

www.bookviewcafe.com

Book View Caf Edition
June 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61138-601-1
Copyright 2016 Shannon Page

Alma Alexander

Elizabeth Bourne

K. Tempest Bradford

Chaz Brenchley

Jennifer Brozek

Amy Sterling Casil

Tina Connolly

Brenda Cooper

Chris Dolley

Laura Anne Gilman

Rhiannon Held

Randy Henderson

Jim C. Hines

Katharine Kerr

Mindy Klasky

Trisha Leigh/Lyla Payne

David D. Levine

Nancy Jane Moore

Ada Palmer

John A. Pitts

Cherie Priest

Phyllis Irene Radford

Deborah J. Ross

Ken Scholes

Sara Stamey

Mark Teppo

Jo Walton

The Cascade Writers Workshop Class of 2015

And particularly to Claire Eddy

Thank you for theidea and the encouragement!

Cherie Priest:

Alma Alexander:

Mark Teppo:

Laura Anne Gilman:

Jim C. Hines:

Katharine Kerr:

David D. Levine:

K. Tempest Bradford:

Ada Palmer:

Ken Scholes:

Nancy Jane Moore:

Jennifer Brozek:

Rhiannon Held:

Jo Walton:

Chris Dolley:

Brenda Cooper:

Chaz Brenchley:

Tina Connolly:

Randy Henderson:

Elizabeth Bourne:

John A. Pitts:

Mindy Klasky:

Amy Sterling Casil:

Deborah J. Ross:

Phyllis Irene Radford:

Sara Stamey:

Trisha Leigh/Lyla Payne:

Last summer, during an ask us anything panel at theCascade Writers workshop, an audience member asked the writers to discuss theusual path to publication. When the bemusement at this impossible questionhad subsided, we told her that there are as many answers to that as there arepublished authors. We continued sharing stories all weekend, and by the end ofthe workshop, this project was born.

In the pages to come, I have collected the unusual, amusing, inspirational,bizarre, even dreadful tales of how writers actually got publishedand then what happened. There are missedconnections, dead agents and editors, serendipity, technology woes, ignoredadvice, and deeply altered expectations; but most of all, there is persistence. If one thread unites allthe essays in this book, it is that of authors who did not give up.

Though a second thread builds on the first: breaking in isonly the start of the adventure. As the publishing landscape continues tochange, seemingly faster all the time, established writers are facing canceledseries, merging or vanishing houses, agents quitting the business, editorsjumping ship, and the bold (and terrifying, and exciting) new world ofself-publishing.

Where do we go from here? Im sure I dont know, in anydetail; but I will say with confidence that the authors who stay in the gameare the ones who remain as persistent as they had to be to get there in thefirst place.

I hope you find these collected stories as enjoyable,entertaining, and inspirational as I do!

Shannon Page
February, 2016

Cherie Priest

Technically, my first foray into publishing was anindie-press hot mess. Without going into too much unnecessary and aggravatingdetail, I got a $300 advance, a lot of broken promises, and a bill on mybirthdayfrom my publisher, who claimed I owed him hundreds of dollars. Forreasons.

But lets not dwell on that.

My first real book dealthe one that ultimately launched mycareerhappened in a round-about fashion that is unlikely to be recreated inthe future. I mean, Jesus, I hopenot, because it partially hinged on the death of an editor.

Oddly, my records suggested that Id never queried theeditor in question, though I didreceive a form rejection from one of her(?) fellow editors in a differentdepartment, at a different imprint under the same publishing umbrella. Who evenknows, man. The point is, I had received my official form rejection, and Iexpected no further contact from this publisher.

~o0o~

(Side Note #1: When I say form rejection I mean theself-addressed, stamped envelope Id included with a printed copy of themanuscript proposal in question. This was back in the Stone Age, when we dideverything via the post office.)

~o0o~

I added the polite thanks-but-no-thanks to my pile ofsimilar rejection slips, and kept trying elsewhere.

Two years passed.

Somewhere in the middle of those two years, I rashly signedmy soul away for $300 and the promise of glory, which worked out Not So Well,as you may recall from my first paragraph.

But yes, two years passed from the form rejection... and thenone day I was sitting at work, checking emails when I shouldve been doingsomething marginally more productive. Lo and behold, a message popped up with ator.com return address. This message had a subject line that read (somethingalong the lines of), I hope youre still checking this email. Confused,intrigued, and wary... I clicked that subject line.

And then I was full of light. Joy. Delighted bafflement.

For I had received an email from a real live editor! Anassistant editor, actually (at the time, I believe). But a real editor! From areal publisher! Sure, it was a real publisher that had sent me a formrejection, some two years ago... but who cared? Glory be,somehow theyd circled back around!

According to this email, the interested editor had sent aletter asking to chat with me about my book, but the letter had come backundeliverable. The editor had then tried to call me, but my phone number hadchanged.

~o0o~

(Side Note #2: This was the Stone Age, remember? If youmoved, you lost your land-line phone number. Almost no one had a cell phone.)

~o0o~

Finally, shed tried the email address on my querysheader.

Id only included my email as a lark. At the time, there wasactually some debate as to whether including an email address was consideredprofessional when it came to queries. My own email started with cmpriestessand was... well, it was not the most professional thing on earth, I confess. ButIm eternally glad that I included it, anyway.

At any rate, this lovely assistant editor and a friend hadbeen tasked with cleaning out the office of an editor who had sadly passedaway. If I remember correctly, my proposal packet had been in a box, under thedesk of the deceased. The assistant editor who had improbably pulled me fromthe deepest, most unlikely slush pile you can imagine... was the inimitable LizGorinsky. I was her first official acquisition as an editor in her own right,and she was my first real editor.

We still work together today.

* * *

Cherie Priest is the author of 19 books and novellas, mostrecently I Am Princess X, Chapelwood, and the Philip K. Dick Awardnominee Maplecroft; but she isperhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century,beginning with Boneshaker. Her workshave been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction, andhave won the Locus Award (among others)and over the years, theyve beentranslated into nine languages in eleven countries. Cherie lives inChattanooga, TN, with her husband and a small menagerie of exceedinglyphotogenic pets.

Alma Alexander

So, then. Way back sometime in the last century I wrotethis massive doorstop of a fantasy novel (250,000 words. MINIMUM.) I quiteliked the beast, but I was an unpublished newbie with no record andwellaquarter million words of fantasy. Yike.