by Carmen Shirkey, guest blogger and author of The List: Can Pefect Be Put On Paper?

Greetings!

As an author of a newly released romantic comedy book, The List, I'm often asked, "Wow! You had time to write a book? How'd you do it?"

Let me just say that getting to the point where I actually saw my idea in print was not an easy process. As a matter of fact, the time from concept to writing was about two years. The time from writing to sending to agents was about one year. The time from giving up on the traditional publishing process ("It's a great book, but we can't sell it") to self-publishing was another two years.

It all started with the idea. I'm an idea person - I always have wacky things floating around in my brain at 2 a.m. I have a friend who is a screenplay writer, and I originally pitched the idea of The List to her. I thought the story of a woman who had a list of qualifications for her next boyfriend would be a universal theme. I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to about the book tell me that their wife had a list, or their sister has a list, or that THEY have a list. One such woman wrote into the advice columnist for the Washington Post asking if she should stick with her list, or let herself be in a relationship with a wonderful man who didn't match her list. See? Universal.

My screenwriter friend guffawed at me. "It's your idea, you write it," she told me. Plus, her genre really wasn't the happy-ending, mainstream commercial hit.

Then I learned of a Web site called NaNoWriMo.com. This is the site for the National Novel Writing Month competition, and it's what finally kicked my butt into gear. As an uber-competitive, type-A nut, this was just the thing that it would take to get the story on paper, or at least into the computer anyway. I started on November 1 and wrote about 3,000 words a day for the next 30 days to reach the 55,000-word goal set by the Website. I had to be disciplined. I gave up TV (or just DVR'd everything to watch it in December), I didn't talk on the phone, no Internet time - I just wrote.

I spent the next few months editing and editing and editing.

Then, I started writing pitch letters. One of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich, once said that she had a box full of rejection letters from agents. Heck, she now had a gazillion books, and she's a great writer. So I didn't get discouraged, at first, with the piles and piles of envelopes containing canned "sorry, but" letters. However, after I had three agents read - and like - my book, but still rejected because they said the market was saturated and they couldn't sell it, I gave up. It's bad, I know, but I was disheartened.

Then, my boyfriend suggested that I publish it myself. "You think it's so good," he said, "publish it on your own and prove it." So, now I have a book in print. I hired an illustrator to design the cover image, I went through a print-on-demand house (though I don't know that I am happy with how things went) and I launched a marketing campaign.

I have outstanding initial reviews on Amazon, and I'm thrilled that I was right about it being a good read. However, I don't have the marketing arm of a publishing house to really get it out there. It's okay, because word-of-mouth is a strong force, and I just think that the right person is going to see it this time. I have faith!

Join in the conversation on The List blog at http://thelistbook.blogspot.com and follow the author on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/thelistbook or Twitter at http://twitter.com/carmenshirkey.

Originally posted 2009-02-02 05:58:19. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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advice columnist, brain, butt, carmen, Carmen Shirkey, comedy book, Genre, greetings, mainstream, matter of fact, national novel writing month, novel, november 1, romantic comedy, screenplay writer, self publishing, story of a woman, traditional publishing, universal theme, washington post, wonderful man