Rethinking a launch

A new approach to a new series

I recently finished the first draft of book one for a new series. My intention was to do what I’ve done with other books—edit it launch it. Self publishing.

I’m not good with book launches. I’m not good with marketing, for that matter. I have a mailing list that doesn’t grow despite following the online ideas and participating in “grow your newsletter” promotions. I’m missing some magic, and that’s okay. I’m a writer, not a marketeer, and while I approach writing in a businesslike way, I have no interest in spending fifty percent of my time on marketing, as I’ve heard suggested is necessary.

Two years ago, I got back into writing short stories inspired, in part, by a resurgence of magazines and anthologies. I viewed it as a way to build reader recognition for my name and ensure that editors of magazines agreed that I was writing what their audience wanted.

I wrote a number of crime stories and found a character that kept showing up on center stage. I liked her well enough to want to write a novel, and quickly realized she was going to insist on a series.

As I said, the first draft of the first book is done and has sat long enough for me to begin fixing the gotchas.

Starting that, I stumbled across the submission page for a literary agent. I know you never simply read through sites, but I was procrastinating, and for me that is a useful tool. I know nothing about the agency. They might be the best in the world or a scam (some, unfortunately, are), but they had a clear form for making submissions, and they work with thrillers, which is where my new series fits squarely.

As I said, my intention was to rush into self publishing (my intention wasn’t to rush, but if past performance is any indication…) but I stopped and took a breath. What if I came up with the various things the agent asked for? What if I pretend I’m going to submit this series for their consideration.

That meant writing the synopsis and blurb and finding the comps… doing all those things. Even if I self publish, pausing to do that I might give me a better handle on the project, and maybe information that would be useful for the second draft and the launch.

So I put on my “author submitting to an agent” hat and got to work. It is interesting so far. In providing information about the series, I realized that a potential agent would want to know that I have two short stories featuring the main character in print already and others under consideration. I have another that didn’t work out as a short and will become another book.

Of course, I can’t send an agent the draft of a novel, so I need to finish the book. But writing the synopsis of the book and another for the series clarified a few things. I could see that I didn’t make certain points clear and maybe beat others to death. I can fix all that.

And then, if I submitted to an agent, once I sent all that in, I’d immediately start book two. Well, actually, book two is about half done already. I’d worked on another story as book one, before I realized the series couldn’t start there. They are standalone stories, but I want them in sequence. When I finish book one, I’ll finish that one. If I don’t send it out, then, on launch day for book one, I can have book two on preorder (while I edit it). And the short stories will flesh out the overall story.

That’s where I am now. Not in limbo but being wishwashy about what will happen. I love self publishing (the immediacy, the royalties…) but I think the series has potential for television or movies and I have no idea how to sell those. That tempts me to reach out to people who know how to do that. An enthusiastic agent might be an asset worth dealing with a large publisher.

Either way, this is turning out to be a constructive exercise and if a fiction writer can’t take the time to imagine various possibilities, he or she or they are probably in the wrong line of work.

And I’ve already got the book cover…