A Novel Journey: Part Two

In Part One of this article, I described how National Novel Writing Month played a critical part in my completion of my first novel, God, Guns, and the Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak. After all the years of trying to finish and never even getting close, when the first draft was finally completed in November 2005 I thought the hard part was over. I was wrong.

After leaving the first draft in a drawer for about six weeks to give myself some distance from it, I went back and started the second draft. What I learned was what none of the how-to books on writing tell you. Revising and editing is even more difficult than writing the first draft. You struggle with what to cut, what to leave in, how to keep up with the plot lone over 200-plus pages. It can make you a little nuts.

Once the revision nightmare was over, and after having a freelance editor make a final pass, I did what you're supposed to do next: I sent query letters to agents. Lots of them. Six months later I'm still getting rejection letters on queries I sent in October 2006. It wouldn't bother me as much if they weren't all form letter addressed to "Dear Author". I wonder if anyone besides the mail clerk even read the damn things. As inspiration, I have around 30 of these rejection letters tacked above my computer.

Oddly enough, this semi depressing turn of events led me back to something I had seen on the National Novel Writing Month website during the 2006 contest. NaNoWriMo has an agreement with the Print On Demand (POD) company Lulu (www.lulu.com): at the end of each year's contest, Lulu will print one copy of each contestant's book for free. Since traditional publishing was not being particularly kind to me, I though I would at least look at the self-publishing option, and I started with Lulu.

In many ways, Lulu is actually more of a printer than a publisher. You keep all rights, format and upload the book yourself, and pay none of the upfront fees most self-publishing companies charge. Some POD companies cost $500 to $1000 or more, which is insane when you consider that as a self-published author the likelihood of ever coming close to making that amount back is remote.

With Lulu, you can sell it yourself, through Lulu's website, or with a $100 distribution package, get an ISBN and listing with Books In Print, Amazon, Borders.com and Barnes and Noble.com. The biggest drawback is that POD books, because they typically can't be returned, have trouble getting placement in brick-and-mortar bookstores. But since outside the distribution fee you pay nothing unless something sells (Lulu takes a percentage), it's really a no-lose proposition. If you're looking at self-publishing and have the patience to format everything yourself, it's a good way to go.

I uploaded the final draft of God, Guns, and the Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak and had them send me a copy. The quality of the binding, the cover and the overall look was very good, so I purchased the distribution package. The novel is available on their site now; it will take six to eight weeks before it makes its way through the pipeline and is available on Amazon, Borders, and the other online retailers. My struggle to get placement in bookstores and the whole marketing aspect may eventually make up Part Three of this story.

If you'd like to check out God, Guns, and the Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak it is available at www.lulu.com/content/591093, or you can link to it through my website, www.brunosomerset.com.