Thursday, October 13, 2011

Guest Author: Lorraine Nelson

Evernight's debut author, Lorraine Nelson, is here today and she's talking about ever author's favorite topic. THE CALL! I think we all remember the first time we got that "We would love to publish you" email. I know I looked at mine for a week, making sure it wasn't just a dream, before I signed the contract and started the publishing process.

This is Lorraine's call story:

Writing – my passion, my dream. I started writing adult fiction as a hobby almost three years ago while on medical leave for hand surgery. With the aim of gaining more flexibility in my fingers, I began typing. I just sat at the computer and started writing.  When I finished that first manuscript seven weeks later, I was thrilled! Then came the process of editing, tweaking, and polishing until I felt it was ready to send.

Boy, was I wrong!!!

Needless to say, I’ve suffered through my share of rejections, but instead of giving up, they made me more determined to succeed. I’ve joined several writing groups and forums and have made many online friends, people who have been supportive and encouraging throughout this journey. By nature, writing is a lonely job, so it helps to have people with whom you can share with and do a little brainstorming. Except when the characters start talking to me. LOL That’s when I can immerse myself in the tale and write for hours on end, crafting their story their way.


With the help of a terrific editor at Wild Rose Press, I discovered where my writing lacked substance, studied those areas, kept writing, revising and submitting. I’ve entered contests and pitches, even won a couple, but publication still evaded me… until this past July when perseverance paid off.

It wasn’t a call that came, per se, but an email. Evernight Publishing wanted my book. So, by receiving an email notification I didn’t have to stutter excitedly through a phone call and embarrass myself, but without speaking directly to someone on the publishing end, it didn’t really feel real – until I opened another email that Sunday night and saw my cover. Squee! Fantastic!

I’d been waiting on the edits/revisions to come in and wasn’t expecting to see any cover art, especially at 11:30 pm on a Sunday night. My surprise was immediate and vocal. My son came running, alarmed, but smiled when he saw the cover. Everything had happened so fast!

On July 17th I subbed my manuscript to Evernight, on the 18th I received the contract, signed and returned it on the 20th and on the 25th, received the covers. No matter how you look at it, this team is super efficient. Marketing and promotion commenced with the release of the covers and my first book, Zakia and the Cowboy, was released on October 5th.  It’s currently a Featured Title at All Romance Ebooks and in the top 100 on two of their lists… cowboy/western and mystery/suspense.

It’s been a pleasure to share my journey with you. I hope this serves as inspiration to other writers to just keep learning, writing, and submitting; and, for my readers, provide a little "behind the scenes" info.


Post a comment or question for your chance to win a free download of Zakia and the Cowboy. Check my blog tour schedule at http://www.lorrainenelson.weebly.com/ to follow along and enter a few more times, increasing your chances of winning. I’m giving away one free download at every stop along the way. Winners will be announced on the 20th.

 Zakia and the Cowboy is available at:
Evernight Publishing
Amazon
All Romance Ebooks
Bookstrand
1 Place for Romance
 
 
Lorraine can be found:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter: lornelca
Goodreads

3 comments:

  1. Good morning, Angelina! Thank you so much for having me here today. :-)

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  2. Perserverance certainly does pay off, Lorraine! That was such a quick turnaround, too, from submission to cover art. At least the process wasn't dragged out for you, right? I adore your cover and I'll be making a visit to All Romance to check you book out in detail. :-)

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  3. The winners for the second round of my blog tour for Zakia and the Cowboy are:
    Renee Silvana - boundlessasthesea.blogspot
    Elyzabeth M Valey - inadreambeyond.blogspot
    Fiona - angelinarain.blogspot
    Adonis Devereaux - reneesilvana.blogspot
    Congratulations! Thank you for your support!

    Fiona, please contact me to receive your free download. lorrainenelson_author@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete