I sold God’s War and its sequel, Infidel, twice.
This may sound like it was the coolest thing that could ever happen.
In fact, it sucked.
It sucked big time.
God’s War has had one of those long, weary trudges toward publication that you find buried in some off-hand hazy past alluded to by a now-famous author who’s signing a six or seven figure deal (because if it’s less than that, you’re not going to be reading about it in some major news outlet, let’s be honest). “Ho-ho, oh yes,” they’ll say, “things are not as easy as they appear. Let me tell you about my last thirty years of failures.” At which point the reporter interrupts them and asks what they’ll spend all the money on. So you never hear the story. And you figure it’s all rainbows and puppies and land yachts.
I like the failure stories far more than the success ones. We gloss over failure, poor luck, and celebrate only massive, sky-high success. Trouble is, those sorts of stories do very little to prepare you for failure. For getting back up again when things just don’t work out. Or when you screw things up. Or when bad things just… happen.
An early version of God’s War was requested by an editor at a big house before I had my agent. A mutual friend recommended I query them under her recommendation, and the query resulted in a request for the first three chapters, then the manuscript. We went through a couple of rounds of revisions, but to no avail (the strangest comment I received was, “Can you make it relate more to things going on right now?” This still boggles me. What, you wanted me to name the characters after current American presidents and wax on didactically about the horrors of holy war?). While the book sat over there, I picked up my agent, Jennifer Jackson (who, it’s worth noting, had rejected another book of mine four years or so before. This one was much stronger than that one, far less generic, and had already garnered a little interest from an editor. So hey! Always remember a “no” is not necessarily a “no” to you, just a “no” to the book you’re currently shopping).
Turns out that house passed on the book (in part for my inability to “relate the events in the book to things happening now” and of course, the inevitable, “I just don’t know how we’ll market this”), and so began the also inevitable round of agent-sends-book-agent-collects-rejections. Which garnered many, many more of the “I just don’t know how we’ll market this” comments.
Among the rejections was one from an editor at Bantam. However, a few weeks later, another editor at Bantam asked to see the same book. Within 24 hours of receiving the book, the editor sent my agent a book contract for all three books in the proposed series.
Boggles the mind, really. I was pretty stunned.
Dream, right?
Well, real life often steps on pretty things, and that happened here, too. The editor who bought my book was laid off during the great New York Publishing House Shakedown of 2008 (I believe over 1500 publishing employees lost their jobs that November) and I was handed off to another editor. We completed edits on the book, and I got so far as to send in my dedication and acknowledgements (and for the book to get through copyediting) before the house decided they weren’t just going to layoff staff, they were going to layoff books.
Including mine.
So my contract was terminated.
Bonus to having a great agent?
They did, in fact, pay out my contract for all three books (this is why signing contracts can save your ass. Read them carefully and get a good agent).
So though I was marginally richer, I was left holding a book that had no publisher.
This is also less cool than you might imagine.
People tell you to do all sorts of things when this happens. Mainly, they tell you to just write more books. So I managed to finish book two, but as I was working on revisions, the urge to write slowly bled out of me… and eventually died.
I started opening and closing word documents listlessly, like a former junkie who wasn’t quite sure where they used to get their fix.
I didn’t write a word of original fiction for six months, and didn’t finish anything for over a year.
The Big Bad Book Depression had set in.
I don’t know that there’s an actual cure for Book Depression. I’ve spent a long time writing books. I believed that if I just wrote good books, they’d eventually sell, and I could be a real writer.
What I learned is that at a certain point in your writing career, you can write more or less well. Your books are more or less “good.” What it comes down to after that is blind luck. Market trends. Word of mouth. What’s “hot.” And whether or not your book has the same kinks as the editor who buys it and the team at the publisher who works on it.
A lot of things have to go right.
And sometimes you have to push.
I wrote about my failed book contract and book depression in a guest post over at Jeff VanderMeer’s blog in November of 2009. It was a tough post to write. Nobody wants to admit failure, so on the long road to success, we don’t talk about failure much. But it happens. And it was time to talk about it.
Though God’s War was already making the publishing circuit via my agent, the post caught the attention of a couple of publishers, including Jeremy Lassen at Night Shade, who asked to see the book.
After some negotiations and back and forth, Night Shade bought God’s War and the sequel, Infidel, three months later. And, as I gleefully surmised back then, the cover did not suck (because Night Shade covers never suck. It’s one of the big bonuses to signing with them).
I got my copies of God’s War Christmas week, did my first book giveaway early this month, and folks who pre-ordered from Amazon.com are starting to get shipments. The official release is February, but as it happens in publishing, nothing is really as simple as it seems, and plenty of folks are getting copies before that.
To be honest, I still don’t quite believe it. The book had such a rocky road to publication that I didn’t believe it was being published until I held the actual finished book in my hands.
There are so many people involved in getting a book from manuscript to bookshelf, it’s obscene. There are so many things that can go wrong. So many back-and-forths and miscommunications, and so much love and diligence and hard work. People go on and on like writing a book is difficult. And sure, whatever, it is. But getting a book to print and distribution is much, much harder. And continuing to sell books?
Well, as Martha said, that’s a whole other journey in itself, and one I’m trying hard not to obsess about right now. Because I’m working on a third book in my God’s War series, and only have a contract for two. What will decide on the publication or not of book three is very simple: how well book one sells.
And, as a writer, that’s one thing you have very little control over once you’ve done your book marketing push (which is the subject for another post).
So for today I’m going to be happy that there’s a book of mine trickling onto shelves this month, and I’m going to try and stop obsessing over Amazon rankings and book scan info.
Because I’ve got more books to write.
Martha on January 10, 2011
Oh man, sorry to hear about the Bantam deal. I know people who’ve had similar (horrible) things happen, where their books were purchased and the contracts were signed, only to be canceled when the publisher or the line shut down. I had it happen with a two book deal, but fortunately it was a British edition reprint, and the books were already out in the US, so not nearly as bad.
I’m very glad God’s War is coming out at last. I ordered it from B&N, but I don’t think it’s shipped yet.
JB Lynn on January 10, 2011
Sorry you had to go thru such an ordeal, but thank you for sharing your story,
I bet the success is that much sweeter!
Elise Stephens on January 10, 2011
Thank you for sharing this story. I am early in my writing career and just starting to query my first book. Hearing about the long hard road is encouraging to me, and I appreciate your courage in writing it.
Sometimes when I hear the success stories of authors during interviews, I get flustered because it sounds so easy and it’s not my experience that writing is easy. It’s hard and it takes a lot of dedication.
Thanks for sharing your journey!
Janet Reid on January 10, 2011
Jennifer Jackson totally rocks.
I know that for a cold hard fact.
And congrats on the publication. May it be the first of many more.
Courtney on January 10, 2011
Holy crap, Kameron. You know, the more I learn about this crazy business, the more engineering seems like a paradise of rainbows and gamboling unicorns in comparison. I can’t even imagine how much it sucked to get that awful call from your agent. But yay for happy endings, and huge props to you for having the guts to stay in the game. I hope God’s War is a huge success!
Ara Burklund on January 10, 2011
Wow. Thanks for having the guts to share your journey, Kameron. It’s not easy blogging about the down side of the business–people don’t often want to hear the truth, and as writers, it’s easy to worry we’re perpetuating a negative cycle, when all we want to do is comfort someone else who might be trudging a similar rough path. Here’s to God’s War selling millions!
stina on January 10, 2011
Wow. Thanks for relating this story. Holy cats. Like Courtney says, that must have hurt really bad. I’m glad you picked up and got going again, but damn. What a nightmare. I have to say, you’re one tough woman. Go you.
Catherine on January 11, 2011
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I’ve been enduring publishing ups and downs with two agents during the past fifteen or so years. I love hearing experiences like yours–it’s one of the reasons I keep plugging away.
John on January 11, 2011
Wow. Incredible ups and downs. Thank you for sharing this story.
Anita on January 18, 2011
Congratulations on your book FINALLY getting published. Can’t wait to read it.
Kristin Laughtin on January 19, 2011
I came here from Jennifer Jackson’s blog, after being intrigued by how this book sold twice and had a difficult road. Occasionally I like to post “true writing stories” on my own blog, anecdotes about authors who had a tough road to publication but made it anyway. Next time I get around to one of those posts, I hope to remember to link to this! It was very inspiring and reinforces all those old lessons about determination, perseverance, and having the right timing. I’m really interested in reading this series now.
Elise in AZ on January 20, 2011
What an incredible story! As an unpublished writer with a full-time job who thinks there’s never enough time to write, it’s good to hear that I am not alone on the very long road to publication. Stories of other writer’s trials–especially those that end in the huge success that yours did–keep me going.
Thank you for sharing this May you sell enough books, no, more than enough books, to make book three a reality..
Scooter Carlyle on January 31, 2011
I swear my heart caught in my throat while I was reading. What a horror story, and major kudos to both you and Jennifer Jackson for persevering. I sincerely hope your next book goes more smoothly.
Francis Cossette on January 31, 2011
What an amazing post, Kameron!
I`m going to be really honest with you and admit I found it both inspiring and uplifting to read about your failures. It’s true: we always hear about the big advances, the amazing book deals and the rocky adventures of some writer that, for some reason, always end well (or almost) when you read about it in an article or a blog.
It’s though to remember that for every writer that succeeds, probably a thousand have been rejected again, and again, and again. It’s always nice to remember failure pays off if you learn from it.
I’m really happy you got what seems to be a well deserved deal! Congratulations
JohnO on February 1, 2011
Wow, Kameron. Thanks for posting this. First, because it takes guts not to gloss over the business’s bloodier aspects, and second, because you just put a name to the exact feeling I’ve been struggling with for the past few months. In a weird way, it’s good to know it isn’t just me. Best of luck with God’s War and your other books.
Kelly Bryson on February 1, 2011
Kameron- congrats! Night Shade does have some amazing covers. I’m curious- did you include your first editing team in the acknowledgments? lol. What a a terrible situation and I’m so glad it’s working out.
Good luck to you and thanks for sharing. Sometimes I think I’m going to be sick if I read another journey to getting published like this: “I wrote this book in three months and found an agent after sending out ten queries and now I have a six book deal!” I’m happy that deals like that happen, happy for those writers, but it makes me feel like there’s something wrong with me if my path isn’t quite so smooth. And I know there’s not something wrong, it’s just different for everyone. Thanks!
Kameron Hurley on February 1, 2011
@Kelly I did indeed thank all the editors and copyeditors involved at both houses
And don’t forget that those newsworthy authors sold that six book deal for $3.75M! There’s a reason these deals are “news.” They simply aren’t the norm in the industry.
jennifer echols on February 1, 2011
Kameron, I’m very sorry for what you’ve had to go through, but the longer I hang around this biz, the more stories like this I hear. Horror stories aren’t all that uncommon I’m afraid.
This is brilliant:
“What I learned is that at a certain point in your writing career, you can write more or less well. Your books are more or less ‘good.’ What it comes down to after that is blind luck. Market trends. Word of mouth. What’s ‘hot.’ And whether or not your book has the same kinks as the editor who buys it and the team at the publisher who works on it.”
And kudos to you for making it through the Big Bad Book Depression. That is no easy feat. Good luck with your book release–you deserve it–and congratulations!!!
Midnyte Reader on February 1, 2011
Thank you, thank you, thank you *so* much for writing this and sharing it.
Debra D. on February 1, 2011
Thanks so much for sharing your journey, and YAY for happy endings. I agree–it seems like writers are cautioned right and left about not sharing bad news. The unfortunate consequence of that is often unrealistic expectations, and also feeling like something is “wrong” with you if you don’t sell within two days of going on sub.
Wishing you many sales!
TK Kenyon on February 17, 2011
Hi Kameron,
Bless your heart for relating this story. Personally, I went through a Book Depression for 2 years due to the futility of it all, mostly because I had a publisher who loved me, who published my first two books, and then had to close in the Great Recession. Suddenly, my 2 novels that I did publish were out of print.
I was an ex-author.
I could not flipping breathe for 2 years. There were also some personal/family reasons why I couldn’t get back to the keyboard, but every time I sat down to write, I played Spider Solitaire or FreeCell, or surfed the innerwebs. I just could not bring myself to do it. And the longer I was away, the harder it was to go back.
I’m doing better now. I’m at least typing.
Thanks again for your story. It’s good to know that other people have dealt with Book Depression and come out the other side.
TK
happy release day | Et in arcaedia, ego. on February 18, 2011
[...] The book so nice, I sold it twice. This one didn’t have an easy road. I’m glad Kameron hung in there, and that she kept believing in me while I was believing in her. Kameron goes into more detail here. [...]