When I first began writing in earnest, I used a small portable typewriter with elite type that had once belonged to my mother. On this typewriter, I wrote and rewrote my first of two family sagas. In order to submit it to a publisher, I typed each page making sure there were no mistakes. Then I put all five hundred pages into a box with my name on it and return postage. That box went inside another slightly large box which I addressed to the publishing house.
Back in those days, these double boxes were sold to writers like me just for this purpose. When the box came back with a rejection slip—this happened nearly thirty times—I went through the pages carefully, retyped any pages that looked the worse for wear, and sent the book off again to another publisher. There was no such thing as a copy machine back then, so I made carbon copies of every page.
About every five time the book was returned, I rewrote it—typing all 500 plus pages again. And yes, eventually that book was published by a major publishing house.
I graduated to an electronic typewriter before sending the next book off. It had a handy correction tape. By this time I was able to take my many pages off to a copy center for duplication. But the process for sending manuscripts off remained the same.
Personal computers came on the scene and I purchased one from a friend who helped me learn how to use it. They were oh so much more complicated back then. Mine had two floppy (and they really were) floppy discs, one for the program, I used Word Star back then, and one for the book I was writing.
Fortunately, computers quickly became easier to use and along with these changes came the Internet.
I’d been writing but wasn’t having too much luck getting anything else published, though I had dipped my toe into co-op publishing, but the company was run by a man who turned out to be a crook and gambled away all the royalties and eventually ended up in jail.
I had other experiences with crooked agents and editors and yes, another publishing company, but I kept on writing, completing several books. In Writer’s Digest I found a publishing company looking for police procedural mysteries and I just happened to have one—the first in my Rocky Bluff P.D. series. As it turned out, this publisher was one of the first to do e-publishing—but it was long before any such thing as an e-reader. The book looked great, but it was difficult to figure out how to purchase it and download to a computer.
More e-publishers came on the scene and along with them the wonderful Rocket e-Reader, the first e-book reader. Several of my books were picked up by different e-publishers, but no one knew much about how to promote these books except to other e-authors who had joined together to form Epic, an online organization for e-pubbed authors.
And then people began figuring out that the Internet had lots of ways that books could be promoted. About the same time, many of the e-publishers started putting their already published books out in trade-paperback format. This made it possible for all of us e-publisher authors to promote our books to people who wanted to hold a paper book in their hands.
I’ve embraced all these changes as they come along and oh, how they have made my life easier. Now, when I send a book off to one of my publishers, it’s as an attachment to an email. All of our transactions are made through email—except after I’ve printed a contract and signed it, I send it back the old fashioned way, in an envelope with stamps.
For my print books, I do some book store signings, but I’m more apt to give talks in libraries and to social groups, attend book and craft fairs.
As for Internet promotion, a virtual book tour like the one I’m one now is a great way to promote my books. Of course I have a website where you can read the first chapters of all my books – http://fictionforyou.com and I’m on Facebook and Twitter and other such sites. I also have my own blog http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com and I blog every Tuesday on http://thestilettogang.blogspot.com and the first and third Tuesday of each month on http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com
Because I’ve been at this writing business for a very long time, I’ve seen many changes, and believe me, most of them have made my life easier.
Marilyn
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Marilyn Meredith is the author of nearly thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Dispel the Mist from Mundania Press. Under the name of F. M. Meredith she writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series, An Axe to Grind is the latest from Oak Tree Press.
She is a member of EPIC, Four chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Internet chapter, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com
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Have you ever dreamed of being immortalized in print? Well, here’s your chance! Award-winning author Marilyn Meredith is running a contest during her Lingering Spirit Virtual Book Tour, which runs from July 6th through July 30th. Marilyn will name a character in her next Rocky Bluff P.D. book after readers who comment at any of the blog stops during her virtual book tour. This book is currently scheduled to be released in 2012. Leave a comment and get your name in Marilyn’s next Rocky Bluff P.D. book!
