Friday, May 30, 2008

Are you trying to publish something, too?

If you are, there's a great blog here at http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/.

Nathan runs contests and gives advice and info about publishing. He's fun to read and seems like a good guy. He also will consider your query and is very prompt at sending his rejection email back to you. I've been trying to develop a thicker skin to deal with all of these rejections. Apparently, a ton of publishers passed on the first Harry Potter. At least, that's what my husband says; I'm not sure that I believe him, unless the slush pile readers were evangelical Christians who saw the wizard theme as satanic.

But I digress.

My brother, who is a screenwriter, recommends becoming two people; one who writes the manuscript, and the other who sends out the queries. The second person can then choose not to tell the first when the rejection letters come flooding in. It's actually a pretty good idea; I've put myself into "marketing mode," rather than "writing mode." I now have a new job; my new job is to sell this book. I also have a written promotional plan, in anticipation of the next phase.

So, today is a two-fer. I gave you Nathan's link above, and here is your second fun-thing-for-the-day:

http://www.mrdeity.com/

This is a series of mini-episodes that is absolutely hilarious, especially if you (like me) are recovering from a conservative, religious upbringing and have a deep-seated distrust of religious dogma. You can also find these as iTunes podcasts and on YouTube (at least in countries that don't censor the internet). Enjoy!

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