Getting my first book published, Rhonda Roberts

Rowena, here. For an unpublished writer it is so hard to get your work in front of an editor. The manuscript can be really good, but if you can't get past the 'gate keeper' you'll never sell the book.

Back in 2006 while I was on the Fantastic Queensland committee, I organised a Pitching Opportunity for Spec Fic writers to pitch their books to Stephanie Smith from Harper Collins.

Marianne de Pierres, Louise Cusack and Kim Wilkins kindly agreed to help select the 10 lucky aspiring writers and run a workshop on how to pitch. Rhonda Roberts was one of these writers. Here's her story ...
(Look out for the Give Away question. We have a copy of Gladiatrix for one lucky blog reader).

Getting published seemed like a long shot but I read everything I could find and joined the NSW Writer’s Centre in Sydney. The Centre was invaluable. Nothing like listening to writers, publishers and agents talk about their industry and being able to ask questions.

Inspired I planned my series, honed the first book (for the tenth time), started the second and sent out query packages to publishers and agents.

I had no success until I did one of Terry Dowling’s workshops. He said I had to find a way to get my manuscript past the slush pile - the manuscripts that never make it to the editor’s desk.

So I looked for competitions to enter and came across one with the prize being an opportunity to pitch to a publisher at that year’s National SF Convention. It was organised and judged by Rowena Cory Daniells, Marianne de Pierres, Louise Cusack and Kim Wilkins. To my surprise I won a place with nine others.

Rowena and Kim ran a workshop to prepare us for the pitch, which was wonderful. They reminded us to be extremely concise in our presentation – we only had a few minutes to make an impression.

At mine the publisher was very kind but non-committal and especially interested to know how far I was along with the rest of the series.

Later she sent me an encouraging email… She liked my work but it wasn’t the right length so I could resubmit when I’d expanded the draft by a quarter.

I resubmitted and while I was waiting worked on the second book. When the call came I expected the worst – but instead HarperCollins bought the first three books in my Timestalker series. The first one, Gladiatrix, came out in May 2009.

Rhonda's bio:

I have a Ph.D and worked as an academic specialising in the sociology of knowledge. I trained in Aikido in Japan and now Tai Chi near my home in the Illawara.

And Rhonda is a fan of SF Comedy so the Give Away question is:

In what SF comedy series does the Big Giant Head appear and who played him?

Five things I wish I knew before I got the call!

With the announcement of her first major sale, Nicole Murphy shares the excitement and the trepidation.

After nine years, more than a dozen novels written and ten drafts of the first novel of this trilogy, I’ve finally achieved my teenage dream and I’m going to be a published novelist. Yay!

My fantasy romance trilogy Balance of Power will be published by HarperCollins under the Voyager imprint here in Australia and New Zealand, with book one Love in Control to hit the shelves in July next year.

The lovely, talented and generous Rowena Cory Daniells asked me to write a piece for you readers of Ripping Ozzie Reads about the experience, and after much thought and consideration, I’ve decided to go with five things I wish I’d known before I got that fateful email on July 3. Oh, and one thing I’m glad I already did do.

1. I wish I’d known about all the extra things I needed to pass acquisitions, such as a synopsis of the trilogy and a biography. Honestly. It was probably stupid of me, but all I had written was the synopsis of the first book. Sure, I knew what happened in the other two books, but I didn’t have it written down in any form that would be suitable for convincing a publisher to take on all three books. Thank goodness I had fabulous friends that were able to read and critique it quickly. As for the biography… If you’re like me and you hate writing about yourself, tackle this one first, get it done and save it somewhere. Then you just need to update it from time to time.

2. I wish I’d known I needed an ABN. Get one, right now. It costs (I think about $127), but it’s easily done on the internet (if you don’t already have an accountant who can do it for you) and it means that you can get paid. An important step, I think. And it means you can sign off on the offer when you get it, instead of having to wait.

3. I wish I’d known how much my life would change. Well yes, I knew, but I didn’t really KNOW. The pressure that comes with working two jobs, and trying to keep on top of things like family, friends, housework (eek!) can be overwhelming. In the first two months of being a professional writer, I had just one full weekend off, and another three full days. Otherwise, I was working the day job, or writing. That takes a toll on you, your family, your relationships, the housework (eek!).

4. I wish someone had told me how emotional the whole thing was. I was intellectually prepared – I had studied the industry, educated myself on the possibilities, knew what would happen. But I wasn’t emotionally prepared, and the fact that suddenly the dream of more than 25 years could be coming true hit me like a Mack truck. I vacillated between terrified, overjoyed, unsure and overconfident for a couple of weeks before I realised I didn’t have time for it and pulled myself together.

5. I wish I’d known this was going to happen. Seriously, I wish someone had contacted me and said “just had a squiz in the crystal ball and you know what? You’re going to sell the trilogy in July”. Cause then I could have PREPARED myself. But the thing is, you don’t know. Whether you approach publishers yourself (like I did) or go through an agent, you’ll never know just when you’ll get the email/phone call saying “Guess what…” So work on getting ready right now.

And the one thing I’m glad I did? Early last year, I left my job in journalism and had to make a decision – find another full-time job, probably in the public service that probably utilised my writing and publishing skills and would probably hinder my fiction as much as journalism did; or to get a part-time job in an industry far removed from writing, so I could focus on my fiction in my spare time.

I chose the later, got a job at a local supermarket, and started to discipline myself to write every day that I could – mostly mornings, either of days I had off or before going in for a late shift. And this habit meant that when I sold the trilogy and was suddenly facing deadlines, I was already working hard on my writing and had organised my time to do it.

Not everyone can take my route and go to work part-time to focus on their writing (thanks to my husband), but it’s important to organise your time and start working as if you are a professional now, cause as I said earlier you really don’t know when you’ll need to and finding time to work is something you don’t want to deal with on top of everything else.

So, that’s what I’ve realised so far. But I’m just taking the first steps into my professional writing career, and no doubt I’ll make many more mistakes with which to enlighten you all. Keep writing, keep learning, keep improving, and this could be you!

Are you prepared for your major sale?