I got an email back from the editor in chief at the publisher where my children's book ms has been sitting for over 7 months. Finally.
The good news is she didn't say no. The bad news is she didn't say yes either. The neither good nor bad news is it needs revision. The good news is she told me exactly what needs to go. The bad news is I'm just not quite sure how to fix the couple other things she told me about. This particular book also requires the permission of an NFL football team and the NFL itself. So, I guess I'll have to research that. Bottom line though, she didn't say no. So, it's feedback. The criticism was not negative in any way. AND, she said that they editorial board all agreed that it is a "book that will sell." Of course, I knew that when I wrote it.
However, even though the feedback wasn't negatively critical and they thought the book would sell, I just kinda thought I'd get a little more help than that. I know I'm a newbie to the publishing world but if they think the book will sell, why didn't she say, "Ok, we're in. Let's sit down and talk and make this as good as it can be" and then really work with me. I know they don't have a lot of time. But if she tells me the book will sell then why wouldn't they want to invest in its perfecting? I guess maybe it could be because it's a small publisher. Don't know. So, in considering all that, it's just sort of left me in kind of a funk.
At first, I wanted to run to my computer and begin working on it immediately. But then, I felt like what's the point--I'm not even sure if I can fix some of the parts. And approaching an entity like the NFL seems a bit overwhelming. I don't know. Maybe it's not all that bad.
I'm not giving up. But for some reason I'm just not in a hurry. Maybe I should be. Maybe I'll have a sudden surge of devotion toward the manuscript again. I know I sound wishy-washy. I bet I probably sound ungrateful too. I mean how often does a writer query a publisher (the first one I've ever queried) and a month later, they actually asked to see the manuscript? That's like unheard of. Even with small publishers.
Okay, okay. I can actually hear you yelling at me to stop whining and get to work.
I'll keep you posted on that.
So anyway, I thanked her--the editor, of course, and told her I appreciated the helpful remarks and that I would work on it and get back to her. So I told her that and I have to do it. Because when I tell somebody something, I follow through.
I have two other children's books and now I'm free to query this same publisher about one of them (you can only query about one at a time and only submit one manuscript at a time with any publisher). Or, I can query another publisher about this book--which I definitely won't do. Just wouldn't feel right about it and this book is perfect for this publisher. But, I may play around with submitting queries on the others. I might even query agents. What the heck? Nothing to lose and all kinds of experience and criticism to gain, right?
About the novel I'm currently working on:
I'm at 28,757 words and 93 pages. Which I think is about half way. My goal was to finish it this summer before I went back to work. What? It could happen! Yeah, I know. I've been so lazy about writing. Maybe I need encouragement. Maybe I need tough love. Like, "NO chocolate until you give me 5,000 words!" You know? I think that would work. I'll have to talk my husband into threatening me with stuff like that. More later . . .
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