Debunking myths on genetics and DNA

Wednesday, June 3, 2015


This is a monthly event started by the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh and organized by the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Click here to find out more about the group and sign up for the next event.

For today's IWSG, I want to share a FB post I published a couple of weeks ago on my page hoping that it is inspirational to all of us. This is my original text:
Today is a good day. Back in 2011 my agent submitted Chimeras to a bunch of BIG 6 acquiring editors. One editor said my science wasn't solid. Another said my main character should've been a woman. Another said, "Why should I care?" 
Well, dear editors, this is why you should care: one year after I published CHIMERAS, over 8,000 people have downloaded the book. It has 98 reviews with a 4.6 ranking. At the same time, the books you acquired back when you rejected mine are ranking quite poorly and only have 20-something reviews. So think about that. 
And to all my readers and supporters I say: THANK YOU. Together, we accomplished something and proved a point.
It's true that most of those 8,000+ copies I've sold through promotions, while big publishers rarely put their books on promotion. But what this tells me is that even though I've been rejected by the BIG 6 editors, I feel like fate or the stars or whatever it is you believe in gave me the best option, the option where I was in control and I could reach out to readers. Instead, it seems like the authors that said editors picked at the time when I was following them have been forgotten. And I feel for them, because once the book is in the hands of a publishers, you have no control over it. You have no control over the price, over the cover, over when and for how long to run a promotion.

There's a good chance that if those editors had picked up Chimeras, then my book would have tanked just like those others books. Instead, I'm still here, still publishing and still making the best out of it. I take one step at the time, yet my readers and fan base have been growing. It took me 3 months to get 40 reviews for Chimeras. In May I published my 5th book (one year and one month after I published Chimeras) and I had 45 reviews within 3 days from launch.

The road to publishing is full of obstacles, setbacks and frustrations. That's why it is so important that we focus on the good things and always stop to listen to the forest growing rather than the one tree falling.





11 comments:

  1. Well, I'm glad it is doing well. It was the right path if not the first choice. :-)

    Anna from Elements of Writing

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  2. A friend of mine is published through a big publisher, and there is a lot of promotion they won't let her do. She does it anyway and doesn't tell them about it anymore. But it's bizarre that they won't promote her book and don't want her to either. Weird stuff.

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  3. Selling 8000+ copies of your book is good. Big publishers are not too high on promotions because they feel that their books will fly off the shelves without any effort from their side. Smaller publishers try their best to push their books.

    Rachna Chhabria
    Co-host IWSG
    Rachna's Scriptorium


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  4. You picked the best path for your book. Eight thousand is really impressive! And YOUR science wasn't sound? Right...

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  5. Wahoo! I'm so happy for you and the success of your book! Congratulations!

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  6. Wow, congrats on all your success so far! I'm in the middle of reading Chimeras and loving it so far, so that success doesn't surprise me. Glad this path ended up being the best one for you to take!

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  7. It makes a person feel a little smug being able to see their work sail when editors and publishers passed it over. Congrats to you and keep writing. =)

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  8. It's a nice feeling to see that success when there was so much doubt before. Congrats to you for not giving up!

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  9. Great post. I am so proud of you. I love Chimeras as you already know. You go. You are such an inspiration and so talented. Never doubt. I'm letting making the rounds this month, busy and distracting day, lol.

    Best of Luck Always, Your Fan and fellow Writer,
    Juneta at Writer's Gambit

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