(Warning, long post ahead)
Hello, fantastic reader-type people! So...the contest is over as is Impervious’ funding run. It was... Well, I’ll be honest. It was always the loooooooongest of shots. Needless to say, Impervious didn’t make it. Started off nice and strong but after I dropped off the top 10 in the first week, it just wasn’t going to happen.
Why didn’t it happen? Well, mostly because I hate self-promotion. This is something that I actually didn’t know until about a week into the campaign. Looking back, I should have had solid plans for the campaign, some kind of contest... regular planned updates, a much more active Twitter following... And every one of those things feels like pulling teeth. Without painkillers. While listening to country music. I have very little stomach for the two to three hours a day I would have spent sending individual emails, and crafting subtle but funny tweets directing people to Inkshares. I kinda just want to write...and not worry about all that self-marketing stuff. The life of an indie-author might not be for me.
Anyway, enough blame casting. It was a contest. I didn’t win. I’ve acknowledged my faults. Moving on!
The big question is: "What does this mean for Impervious?" That’s a fair question, given that some of you put down actual money to make it happen. Rest assured, I’m not giving up on Impervious at all. But, its future is...complicated. I’ll do my best to simplify it, and explain where I’m coming from.
The first thing I’m going to do is polish up the second draft a little bit, then kick out a third and maybe fourth draft. Get the story in a state that I think is fit for shopping around to agents and editors. Then, the submission process will begin. At WorldCon, I learned that this process is not what you’d call "fast" so, best case scenario, if Impervious were picked up by a publisher we’re looking at a couple years (at best) before it could be in print.
Unfortunately, there’s a problem with that plan.
Impervious is a big book for a first time author to shop around. Not only is it a big book, but its got two sequels that will be equally as big. It would represent a large risk for a publisher to take on a book like Impervious from an unproven author. So, chances are that while I might find an agent who likes my writing style and is willing to shop it around, I’m unlikely to find a publisher to take a chance on it as my first book. I’m not saying I’m not going to give it a try, but I am saying the odds are pretty long.
Now, this still leaves me with a book in pretty good condition, a story that I love and want to get out there. I’ve got a couple different options that I’m considering. First is to hire an editor and give it a bit more polish. Well, that’ll have to happen no matter what. What do I do with it then?
One option I’m considering is to try my hand at audio and doing a chapter-a-week podcast. I think it would be fun, it would help me develop my voice for reading my own work and, who knows, maybe it would take off. I’d also have a completed novel that I could put up on Amazon and perhaps the podcast would drive a little traffic to it. This would be a lot of work on my part, but it would be fun.
While I’m doing that, I’d be writing some books that would be more saleable to a publisher. That pretty much means that I’d have to wait on Book 2 for a bit, but its probably the best option in the long run.
In conclusion, thanks everyone for following me and supporting me on this, the first of my adventures in publishing! You haven’t heard the last from me at all. If you want to keep up with what I’m currently working on, check me out on Twitter (@writerSeth) or on my blog http://seth-swanson.com for all the latest news, rants, and cat pictures. It’s been fun! See you next time!
.jpg)
