By Sandra Saidak
Author of Daughter of the Goddess Lands and Shadow of the Horsemen
I can clearly remember the feeling, almost thirty years ago,
of walking to the post office with a stack of manila envelopes. Each contained a short story, or the first
one, two or three chapters of my first novel—whatever the agent specified. I remember the anticipation I felt every day
when I checked the mail—and the excitement of seeing one my SASEs. (It was years before I realized that my own
handwriting was NOT a good sign: that an envelope with the publisher’s
letterhead was likely to bring better news.)
I have wonderful memories of meeting my favorite authors at
conventions and book stores. Mostly we
talked about their books, but many of them were kind enough to give advice and
encouragement to an aspiring author.
I believed, for thirty years, that if I just tried harder,
learned more and never gave up that I would someday join the ranks of the ranks
of the published. Someday, I would be
found worthy by Random House or Simon and Schuster or Tor or Daw. The pursuit of that elusive book deal—and the
fame and fortune I hoped would go with it—became my unicorn; my golden fleece. The gold ring on the carousel.
As the years went by, I sold a few short stories and a
couple of poems. But the acceptances
were few and far between, the rejections became less encouraging, and the news
from the publishing world went from discouraging to bleak. I had been hearing a lot about self
publishing, but I still thought of it as a kind of vanity press, or worse, the
last refuge of failed authors.
But I was growing tired of pinning my hopes of a career on
people who didn’t know or care that I existed.
About a year ago, a life-long friend who had read everything
I had ever written asked me which of my novels (I had written five by then) was
the most ready for publication. Since I
was currently getting a great response to a fanfic I had posted on ECfans.com
(a site dedicated to the work of Jean Auel) I told him I thought it was
“Daughter of the Goddess Lands” a prehistoric novel strongly influenced by
Auel. He told me what he had been
hearing about self-publishing, and by the time he was done, self-publishing no
longer sounded like a negative thing. He
asked me a lot more questions, but the one that brought the whole thing into
the realm of reality was this: how much would I be willing to spend on this
project? I said “$300.00.” I thought he’d laugh. When he didn’t, I felt in control of my
writing future for the first time in a very long while.
So now I don’t spend hours
poring over the latest posting of a new market that might—if I do everything
right—glance at my first page sometime in the next year--and then send me a
form letter stating that my novel is not right for them.
When someone at my writers
group mentions a magazine that will be
accepting submissions for a three week period starting next month, I wish him
luck, then wait for a chance to see who wants to talk about marketing
strategies.
And now that many of my
favorite authors are self-publishing their back lists--or even their next
novel—the lines that separate the fans and the pros; the big names and the
newbies—just don’t seem as clear as they used to.
When I go to a convention, I
still want to meet authors I’ve read, and participate like I used to. But now I go to market my books as well, and
exchange information with other authors about what works.
I guess what I’m saying is: I
finally made it to where I wanted to be.
Just not the way I thought I
would.
#
SANDRA SAIDAK is a high school English and history teacher, mother of two daughters, and has
been writing fiction since the fifth grade. Learn more at http://sandrasaidak.com/
Daughter of the
Goddess Lands
Cultures clash in the late stone-age when peaceful
goddess worshipers meet patriarchal warriors.
Shadow of the Horsemen
Time is
running out, as Kalie must find the weapon that will defeat horsemen before
they ride west and destroy her home.
This time, she has allies and a measure of power. Will it be enough?
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