Debut young adult writers, Barbara Baker, Summer of Lies, and Lyndi Allison, The Lines Between Our Stars share their journeys to traditional and self-publication.
Barbara Baker, Summer of Lies and Traditional Publishing: Thanks for inviting me to talk about traditionally publishing my YA novel, Summer of Lies. For anyone who’s published a book, you know it’s a journey. When you’re holding a copy of your book, it’s a pretty sweet feeling.
You can do yourself a huge disservice if you send out queries and your book is not in the best shape it can be in. Chances are you won’t get a second opportunity to resubmit just because you tell them it’s a cleaner version.
In 2015, I finished the first complete draft and sent it to a professional editor who said I had snappy dialogue, sensory details, and an amazing setting. My novel takes place in Banff National Park so I was glad I did Banff justice. Then she paused and asked if I had any questions. Well of course I didn’t, I was a rock star.
Her pause was followed by ‘you have a lack of conflict, a great lack of conflict’. Her advice sits on my shoulder every time I write. She said Canadian authors are too nice to their characters. Conflict needs to happen to them … all the time. She also said I needed to put pressure on my characters, make their agendas hard, and their choices harder.
It was a few weeks before I absorbed what she said about my novel. I Googled conflict to death. I read comparison novels, I researched and wrote and revised. A year later I was ready for another edit.
When the editor called, he started with ‘your story starts on page 120’. How could that be? It’s only 225 pages long. He said, “Yes, I realize that.” We talked for a long time. He sent my manuscript back covered in stickies and notes and full pages of writing. I shoved it under my desk and carried on with new writing projects.
In 2017, I heard about the When Words Collide conference in Calgary and reviewed their schedule. I dug my novel out and started going through the editor’s notes. Darn it. How could he know my characters so well? He had some great suggestions. Some, not so great, but I went through my manuscript and got it ready.
At the conference, a must-attend for writers, I learned some editors edit first chapters for free to benefit the writer and themselves. If they don’t get the story or characters, or if the author doesn’t feel okay with their edits, they’ve only lost a couple hours’ time.
I virtually pitched at the When Words Collide Writers Festival in 2020 and BWL Publishing, a small Canadian publishing company, picked up my story. I chose traditional publishing because I wanted validation my story was good and I wanted people who knew how to get it into the world, to do the leg work. I had no idea what that entailed and no desire to figure it out.
BWL Publishing set up all the electronic IT stuff to get it into Amazon, Book Stores, eReaders. I knew from their contract that some marketing would be up to me, but it was COVID times and I chose to ignore that detail for now. Self-promoting is tough and I don’t like it but figured I’d deal with it when the world opened.
I’ve used LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to get my book out there. I’ve made a great contact with a high school librarian who has gotten it onto library shelves. A few bookstores in Canmore have sold copies. I hope to get it into shops in Banff when the tourists come back.
Lyndi Allison (The Lines Between Our Stars and Self-Publishing): Young people inspired The Lines Between Our Stars and the other two books in the Summer Triangle Trilogy. Many of my grade 9 and 10 students’ first criteria for reading a book was the length. They would check the number of pages and if the book had fewer than 200, they would consider it. They wanted a good story told in a few words.
While conducting market research, I found several agents and publishers who accepted novella trilogies but when I went to pitch my story many of them were closed to submissions. I sent queries to a few who remained open.
While I waited, I listened to many webinars about writing and publishing and one highlighted the pros and cons of traditional and self-publishing. The presenter talked about the kind of person who ought to self-publish and I saw myself as someone who had the attributes they suggested are needed.
Someone who enjoys creative control; for me, that meant the final story, book formatting, cover, and pricing;
Someone with business skills, who likes creating and implementing a business plan.
Starting a publishing company meshed well with my two existing businesses—facilitating writing workshops and writing retreats.
I never heard from some of the agents/publishers. A few sent form letter rejections. Others provided me with feedback, some contradictory and some helpful. I received suggestions to make changes and resubmit and another invitation to submit once I completed all three books and if I put them together as one.
I became a little confused at this point. After years of trying to write my story and apply what I was learning, it felt like I hadn’t accomplished what I set out to do. At a minimum, I knew I needed to edit my book again.
About this time, I interviewed Jonas Saul, who wrote the Sarah Roberts thriller series. He’s written over 30 books and has a wide audience. He shared how he experienced ten years of rejections before going on to self-publishing success and his journey inspired me. Jonas gave me a great suggestion. When hiring an editor, ask for a test edit to see if you’re a good fit.
Also at this time, I noticed on Canada Writes, a Facebook group, how author Rae Knightly was experiencing success with her self-published The Alien Skills Series, a six-book middle-grade science fiction series. I contacted her and interviewed her for my blog. She shared her experience and suggested if I was going to self-publish, I hire a designer for my book cover and an editor. You can read Jonas Saul’s and Rae Knightly’s interviews elsewhere on the blog.
These two authors gave me the confidence to take creative control of my project. I hired Cristy Watson to edit my book, made a plan and worked it step-by-step. Now I am learning how to reach my audience and market my book.
Barbara Baker grew up in Banff, Alberta. She and her family of outdoor enthusiasts explore the Rockies year-round. Barb documents their adventures in pictures, which she shares on Facebook and Instagram, in articles and books. When she’s not tromping through the trails or skiing down the slopes, she’s reading stories to her grandkids or teaching them to ski and ride bikes. Many of her short stories are published in magazines and anthologies. Carousel Pictures made a mini film of her essay, Life Support, which played in the Toronto International Film Festival, in 2019. You’ll be glad to know you’ve not read the last of Jillian and you can continue to follow her on her adventures in a forthcoming sequel.
