Someday, I am going to be accepting a prestigious literary award, and I am going to include this in my speech: “…and I would like to thank Valence Publishing and acquisitions editor Batu Sleeve* for rejecting me in 2025 and forcing me to find a good publisher…” Not that I am bitter.
Yes, this year, I finished a manuscript, a science fiction book. I sent it to a developmental editor, and then I revised it. I registered for the Realm Makers conference 30 seconds after it opened and reserved a time with editor Batu Sleeve. I went to Indochino tailors and ordered a new suit. (Finding clothing is a bit challenging when you’re my height and weight, even at the big & tall shop.) I made a proposal that included the three-page summary (longer than what most people want, but it’s what his website says to do) and printed it out. I flew to Grand Rapids, Mich., for the Realm Makers conference and presented the manuscript during my allotted 15-minute window. He suggested a title change and then said he would read the full manuscript, which I sent a couple of days later, with the title change.
And nine weeks later, I received… a four-line form-letter rejection. &$#!
I know, I know, such is the author’s life, but it still hurts.
I should add that the Realm Makers’ conference was an excellent experience overall, with many helpful seminars and many, many interesting authors with whom I hope to maintain long connections. Realm Makers is an organization for sci-fi writers who are too weird for the Christian Writers’ conference but too religious for the sci-fi writers’ conference. The conference also had a nice cosplay day where I got to be “Ralph the Guard” from “Animaniacs.” (That’s the picture at the top.) Also, there was a book expo highlighting the work of the authors attending the conference. I saw many books I wanted to read but couldn’t, and I resolved to read the Amazon free preview of all of them, and I have, so far, actually read none of them. But I will read them and highlight them in this blog at some point. Since the conference, I have returned to my day job, writing small amounts each day, wishing for a return of that exciting writer-conference feeling.
But I still have the manuscript, which I will likely self-publish. And since it is a sci-fi book, it is easier to market than my previous young-adult coming-of-age dramas. Before I self-publish said book, I need beta-readers to review it and provide comments. This is a super-helpful thing you can do both to help the author and the characters in his book express themselves effectively. Here’s a link to the page where you can sign up to receive an ebook and help out.
Here’s the back-cover summary for the book so you know what you’re getting into…
After the civil war takes her brother’s life, Princess Keira is forced to be head of state. Then environmental catastrophe hits, and she’ll do anything to save her people – even marry the wrong man to unify the kingdom before a daring attempt to reach another solar system. But when she finds that her fiancé and other elites in the kingdom don’t care whether everyone can make the trip, she must choose between her crown and the religious teachings that have held her people together for centuries.
And just so you know, that’s not the only book I’m working on right now. I’m also writing a rom-com set at Camp St. Innocent, with most of the characters from the first three books present. The working title is “The Spoonfighter” (likely to change later), and it will be marketed as Book One in a new series because it’s a rom-com. There will be a shift in reader expectations from the other three. This rom-com will end with a happily-for-now rather than just have the characters have a little bit of adventure and progress on their character development. The book will feature dogs outsmarting their humans, toddlers outsmarting their adults, and ridiculous Biblical puns, including a dog named Moreover, after the dog in Luke 16:21, the only dog mentioned by name in the Bible (look it up!). I haven’t written the blurb yet, but it will be something to the effect of “Silouan is eighteen and in his first year of college and is so intent on being popular with the girls he fails to notice the perfect…”
Okay, folks, thanks for reading this blog post. Please let me know if any of it resonates with you. Your help is what makes an author’s life possible.
*The publisher’s and editor’s names have been changed.
