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Sparkle (1)
Welcome back to the How to Get Published series.
We're now at the end of the journey -- the book is in hand, the readings are set-up, the reviews are pouring in ... so what happens next?
Well, first of all, I think we need to examine where you are emotionally. Anne Lamott described it best in Bird by Bird, and if you haven't yet read her book, this will be the perfect receptacle for all of the anxiety that accompanies the release of a book.
I believed, before I sold my first book, that publication would be instantly and automatically gratifying, an affirming and romantic experience, a Hallmark commercial where one runs and leaps in slow motion across a meadow filled with wildflowers into the arms of acclaim and self esteem.
This did not happen for me.
It didn't really happen for me either. Which is not to say that there weren't exciting moments; happy moments that came close to Hallmark-land. For instance, the first time I held the galleys, the first time I held the finished book, the first time someone read it and told me they liked it, the first review to go up on Amazon. All of these were huge happy moments.
But in between, there was self-doubt and jealousy and anxiety and frustration. You wonder if you chose the best words for that paragraph and wish you could still pick at the manuscript. You're jealous of other writers and what you perceive to be their easy success (after talking to them, you realize that they too are going through the same emotions as you, so "easy success" becomes more myth than reality.) You worry that no one will read the book. You're frustrated with the pace -- it's race, race, race, wait.
Hopefully, knowing that everyone else is going through those same emotions will help you be able to set them aside for the moment and savour the happy parts of the experience. Because if you don't, you may miss the fact that this is a very happy experience too -- a nerve-wracking one where you never feel as if you are doing "enough" or getting "enough," but happy nonetheless.
And you wouldn't trade having a traditionally published book for the world.
You're also probably wondering what happens next, I mean, after the book signing parties and interviews and readings and reviews peter out. Because traditional publishing is a bit like a drug. You want to quit -- book writing feels so good, but publishing makes you feel terrible -- yet you can't because you're also addicted to the book publishing highs. I mean, there is someone out there who thought your writing was good enough that they were willing to make an investment in it. And then there are people -- not even people who know you at all -- who are willing to buy your book and read it. And those highs are what make you wrack your brain for the next book project.
Something you should know before you dive into the next book is that you probably have a ROFR or Right of First Refusal written into your book contract. This means that your publisher has the right to see your next project before anyone else and decide whether or not to purchase it. Even if you have a fantastic ROFR that says that you can show your next project to your publisher two days after you turn in your final manuscript, you are probably going to see a large lag time between when you can start working on your next project and when you should.
Publishers are going to want to wait and see how the first book does with sales. Unless you already have a multi-book contract, they are not going to want to see your next idea for a bit unless there has already been incredible pre-sale buzz for your book. So you may find that there are years between when you turn in the manuscript for your non-fiction book and when you should aim to turn in the next book non-fiction book proposal to that publisher (and yes, baring a terrible working relationship, you do usually want to remain with the same publisher if you had a decent deal the first time around.
