Reply #5: I'm trying to sell a book, but no luck

[LiberalEsto]

Maybe my experiences can help you.

A couple of years ago I finally pulled my unfocused thoughts together and wrote a book for kids 8-12. It's a modern fairytale. I had started lots of book efforts before, always by starting with the first page and going on from there. They always fizzled out before I finished a single chapter. I've been a professional writer for many years -- initially as a newspaper reporter and more recently as a marketing writer. But everything I'd written was fairly short, except for a few investigative series.

Then I tried a brainstorming technique I'd picked up somewhere. You write down your main thought in one or two words and circle it. Then draw lines out from this circle to other thoughts, ideas, characters, and circle each one. Eventually it develops into a web-like structure on the page, filled with ideas. From this I worked on developing a formal outline, with numbers and letters like we learned in school. Once I got this done, I was able to start filling in areas as ideas developed, and then start writing it chapter by chapter. Just finishing it was a huge step for me.

Alas, I'm not good at marketing myself or my work. I dithered around for a couple of years trying to work up the nerve to send it to an agent. As a journalist, I was accustomed to having my work accepted and used every day, with minimal editing and with my byline on it. So I was not used to having my writing rejected. When I finally sent it out to an agent, it was rejected. I waited another half year before sending it out again, and then got three rejections and a no response this past year. Intellectually I know that many published writers have to send their manuscripts out dozens of times before getting a bite. But the fact is that I'm hypersensitive to rejection. At the moment I'm trying to work up the nerve to start sending it out again.

This all might be a bit boring, but I'm hoping you can find some ideas in it for making your own writing efforts work. The brainstorming technique is extremely helpful. So is composing the list of good qualities that I described in my earlier post. Try the list.

I vaguely remember studying Artaud in a theater arts class in college in the early 1970s. At the time I was volunteering at a small, very hip local theater that often hosted off-off-off-off Broadway productions from NYC. If my memory serves right, I believe some small acting company may have brought an Artaud play there for a couple of weekends.