March Madness is a little like Publishing Madness!

Tip of the day: Does your novel have conflict? Nathan Bransford has a good post about conflict HERE.

So guess what time it is? It’s time for March Madness! Woo hoo, I love, love, LOVE this time of year! I got my bracket filled out and entered and I’m in the pool at work. I’m in it to win it, baby!
The funny thing about a March Madness bracket is you can research the teams to death, go with the “sure things” and each and every time you’ll be surprised because a team will do the unthinkable, have a great game sprinkled with a little luck, and win when they weren’t supposed to.

Wow, that sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? I have long been aware that this whole business of publishing is about having a great manuscript sprinkled with a little luck. Sometimes, even, a lot of luck.

When my agent requested my manuscript from a query letter? A whole lot of luck right there. She happened to have had a client mention to her that she was thinking her next book would be a novel-in-verse. Then my query letter came across her desk for a novel-in-verse. She told me – I’m curious! I’d love to read it.

She ended up offering representation, and then when we started sending out the manuscript, editor after editor said no. I was really getting depressed. It didn’t seem like anyone would want to take on this different book that wasn’t quite your ordinary literary fare but wasn’t quite your normal paranormal fare either.

And then, luck struck again! One of the editors we sent the manuscript to didn’t feel it was for him. BUT instead of just rejecting it outright (which he could have easily done, right?), he sent it to another division at the house to see if anyone there might be interested. My editor picked it up out of the pile and read it on the train home. And he loved it. He came back and rallied other people to read it, and fought for it.

I know I’m so lucky to have books on the shelves. Next year, I have three more coming out, one of them a midgrade novel, something I’ve dreamed about since I started writing. Of course, whether any of these books get good reviews, sell well, make any reading lists, etc. etc., well, that’s a whole other story. Will luck be on my side?

I better start searching for 4-leaf clovers now!