Book Contest

This is a self indulgent post. I'm not going to apologize--just warn.

I've been trying to sell my book for what seems like super-ever, though it's probably just about almost two years. I had a few false starts where I thought it was ready to sell and sent it out to a few agents and then I was like, "This thing is not ready to sell." And then I tried to find an agent. I got a couple very good bites (where agents wanted to read the full manuscript), but no contracts. So I shifted gears and started looking at small publishers who don't require (or sometimes even want) an agent. In some ways the small publishers seemed to have the potential to make more money (like, they won't drop you as quickly if your book isn't a quick success) and they supposedly lovingly nurture your book along.

Well, when I started sending to smaller publishers, I had some more success. Two were quickly interested--one asking for more of the manuscript and one, having read the manuscript, was interested but she wanted revisions.

Along about this time, I submitted my story to a contest. It seemed kind of silly. Contests seemed hard to win. Only the first place prize would get publication, but the others would get a professional edit and that seemed pretty appealing too. So I submitted my manuscript--on almost the last day at 11 o'clock at night. (Which, for the record, is not the greatest time to submit anything to anyone.)

The winners were to be announced December 1st, but I kind of forgot about it. By that time I was working with another publisher on the revisions she'd suggested. And then last Monday (December 7th), I was working on my book and randomly (super randomly--just in the middle of some paragraph somewhere), thought, "Hey, that contest should have announced its winners by now. I should have a look." There was never a thought that I had won or even placed. I hadn't gotten an email or phone call or anything. So I went to the web page, scrolled down from third, to second, to first place. And there was my name just sitting there. It was a strange little moment that still tastes good when I think about it. I was just like, "That's me." I read it several times to be sure.

But I hadn't gotten an email or anything. I went right to my account to check my spam, but I didn't get to my spam because there in my regular email, at the top, was an email from Ink Smith Publishing informing me that I'd won. I'd just checked my email an hour and a half ago. It was so weird--the timing so random. But it was fun. So fun. Still sweet. I hope it stays that way when I get the contract and start the process. I hope everything's amazing.