Actually, opportunity did not knock. It came in the form of a letter. From a publisher. And not only that, it wasn’t a form letter, the traditional fare of publishers. It was a personal letter with my name at the top. And address.
The letter was written in response to a manuscript I had sent out a while back. So long ago that I had forgotten about it (this is why it’s important not to wait around for responses – move on to other projects). The response was positive: They liked the topic. A lot. They just had some issues with the way in which I addressed the topic. Would I be willing to make revisions and resubmit?
Uhhh…let’s see…YES! Even though my track record for such exercises is quite poor ( = I have never had a manuscript accepted after having made significant changes as requested). My experience has been that if a pub thinks enough of the manuscript, they will offer a contract and THEN work out the revisions. But, times have changed in the biz, and this is what you sometimes get. Hey it’s better than a “Thank you for submitting, but no thanks.”
So, I’m going to give it a try. In fact, I’m in the process of doing it right now (this post is a short break). Notice I haven’t named the topic? It’s not because I’m afraid someone will take the idea, run with it, and get it published before I finish. It’s because I want to focus my energies on doing the work and not telling about the work (other than this!).
Okay, that’s enough about this. Time to get back to the revision.
Leave a Reply