Kim Hornsby visits today.

I'm welcoming Kim Hornsby today, a fellow Wild Rose Press author. I can truly sympathise with Kim since two of her novels have been released in the same month and I know exactly how much time and effort it can take. My situation last August was having two very different romance sub-genres (one a fun contemporary and the other a historical) published by two different Publishers. I thought it was an exciting, exhilarating, but hard time back then. 

What Kim has just had happen is even more so.  Let's find out what she's been up to...

I Had Twins a Month Apart! (Publishing Two Books in the Same Month)

I happened to publish two novels in the same month quite by accident and now I feel like the mother of twins. Well not quite, but it’s a busy time promoting two books. The experts say that, like twins, one will amuse the other, and in this case, I’ve seen a lot of crossover business. If a reader likes one, they’ll probably buy the second. Can’t complain about that. Actually, I can’t complain about anything except that one lady who wrote a bad review, but that was Wednesday’s blog and I’ve moved on. 

A year ago, I hit a wall as a writer. Over the course of six years, I’d sent out roughly 100 queries for representation, on three books. I’d attended 6 conferences, driven many agents to and from the airport, schmoozed with several to the point of lending them my boots and one my wiglet, and been continuously rejected. Not being a standard romance writer (not formulaic enough, one agent said) I’ve seen a lot of rejection. 

I write what I call Romantic Women’s Fiction which means the story centers around the woman’s journey but there is a heaping helping of romance. Now the RWA is including our ‘genre’ but six years ago, not so much. The thing that kept me writing over years of rejection letters was that I got close to securing an agent at least five times, but for various reasons, it didn’t happen. (Boots, wiglet, but also phone calls, genuine interest) I couldn’t submit to editors at publishing houses because I wasn’t writing standard romance. 

Then I saw a call from an upstart indie publisher online. She wanted a fairytale-type story and I submitted my second novel which is loosely based on Goldilocks, and while I waited for them to offer me a publishing contract (ever the optimist) I submitted it to a second publisher, to start a bidding war. (optimist) Long story short, the second publisher wanted my second book and had enough insight to suggest some changes that would allow the story to fit into their romantic suspense line. I signed a contract, did the changes and waited for a cover. While that was happening I had my third novel with the editor, in preparations to self publish. It was a scary thought but two of my critique partners got theirs out before me and I was ready to forge ahead with my third novel. 

Things move slowly in publishing and I was finally told that the novel I’d submitted in June 2012 would be officially published with The Wild Rose Press April 5^th. 

By this time it was December and I tell you, if I didn’t have the other one coming out I would’ve been a wreck, waiting. Well, probably I’d have written another novel by now to keep myself busy but I didn’t have to. Not yet. I’d been preparing my third book for months and was ready to self publish, push the button and send my words into cyber space for everyone to see and love. I published my first novel November 19^th but didn’t tell anyone until December because it wasn’t quiet ready. I hadn’t realized when I clicked on a certain button that it would be up there and available. I’d thought there was at least one more step similar to pushing the button from the station in the Arctic to release nuclear warheads. But no, I was published and didn’t even have a finished version of a cover. Eek! When I finished my cover, I told everyone, sent out a huge email to my address list and sat back to watch the sales come in. 

And they did. I wasn’t disappointed, except for the fact that as I read it, I found a few typos and had to go back to fix them. Which, I’m pleased to say, I can, because it’s my publication and I can change the price daily, the text every 10 hours, or fiddle with the cover. I’ve done all of those things many times because I just can’t seem to leave the book alone. (I mother this way too—poor kids).

So now, I have both experiences under my belt, of having a publisher behind my second book and me behind my third book. There are definite advantages to each situation. One eliminates the hundred hours I spent finding a photo for the cover of my book, the cost of an editor and the relief that I’m appreciated in the publishing world, the other has me in complete control of my novel and getting more money. 

I’m not sure what I will do for the third book, coming out this summer, but because it’ll be a few months, I can think on it awhile. At least I didn’t have triplets two months apart.

Kim Hornsby is the author of Necessary Detour with The Wild Rose Press and...

The Dream Jumper’s Promise with Top Ten Press. 

Both are available on Kindle, the latter available in print late March.

http://amzn.com/B00AU50M76

http://amzn.com/B00AA4FAJC

The Dream Jumper’s Promise

Necessary Detour

Contact Kim at: 

www.kimhornsby.net

www.kimhornsby.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/kimhornsby

Thank you for visiting today and sharing your story, Kim. My best wishes to you for all your new novels!  

Slainthe!