Well -it's official. My second novel - "Where No One Can Hear You Cry" is one of the semi-finalists for Amazon's Breakthrough Novel contest. This is the same manuscript that was one of the top three finalists for the James River Writer's Unpublished Manuscript award last year. It always seems that just when I am about to give up writing, I will get a little nudge from the universe that reminds me that despite my failed attempts to acquire an agent, my writing ability, in reality, does not "suck." Good to know, I guess.
This business of getting an agent is beyond frustrating. Sure, it would be great to win this contest - at least then I would be published by a mainline publishing house (Penguin). Then I would have some credentials to ATTRACT an agent. But that seems backwards, to me. In the current publishing market, agents want a sure thing - they want someone who has already proved themselves in the market...which is next to impossible to do without an agent.
Some authors insist that they cannot stop themselves from writing - that it is a compulsion. For me - writing a novel is hard work. I have finished two - and have two others partially completed. Every word is an effort. Oh sure, there are parts of it that flow - but for the most part, it requires a lot of research and rewriting. So, without the hope that someone somewhere will actually read the damn thing, then I find it hard to keep at it.
But now I have received another jolt of encouragement...and it makes me consider pulling out the unfinished manuscripts and having another go at them.
We'll see. If you are interested in a free download of the first 17 pages of "Where No One Can Hear You Cry" - just go to Amazon, and scroll down the left side of the page...choose Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Contest....once directed to that page, click on "Mystery, Thriller, Suspense" category...go to page 4...look for the title. Gee - that's not too complicated, is it???
Sigh. There are 202 semi-finalists in this category. Sounds like a lot - but not considering the thousands of entries. So, who knows how this will turn out? Keep your fingers crossed for me!
0 comments:
Post a Comment