New Blog Design!

I'm getting closer and closer to self publishing my novel (yes I am for sure publishing this one). I'm hoping to get the book up and ready in about two weeks. I still have a lot to do including: editing, book cover, summary, etc. so I don't know if it's actually going to be up in two weeks (but I'm crossing my fingers).

And because the date is rolling around so quickly, I now have a new blog design! I wanted it to be professional and for everyone to know who I, Morgan Mavetz, am-which is why I have the: Young Adult Paranormal Romance Author under my name. Do you like it? I love it! It's so pretty and simple. Tara from Pip Designs created it. Thank you so much, Tara!

Busy perfecting my novel

Yes, you read that right. I am busy perfecting my novel. Well not me, exactly because right now I'm beta-ing other people's work. A beta is someone who reads and fixes anything that needs to be fixed and gives opinions on the other person's work. Right now I have three people's manuscripts sitting on my hard drive and I'm almost half way through one of them.

On the other note, I have received back two peoples opinions on the first sixty pages of my own manuscript (the title will not be named, lol). The opinions have been surprisingly very positive and the comments have been so helpful. I have a lot of things to do to still make my book better but I think this is good-and I'm excited.

On cover news, I'm still waiting in line (she said it would take 1-2 months) until she will be able to start designing my to-be-announced.

Follow-Up

Well guess what? I got that dreaded-"I'm sorry but we don't think your work is right for our agency. We wish you the best of luck" email. I'm not discouraged though. And right now, I'm staying positive. I am also continuing on the verge of Indie publishing.

Right now my manuscript is in the hands of betas (very nice people who take their time out of their busy days to help make my work better than it is). In return I'm doing the same for them and am liking the friendships I have made through my book writing. I'm very nervous though, to receive their comments. What if they hate the book? What if they love it? What if they don't know what the books about?

See where I'm coming from?

It's a Good Day!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have officially received my first request for a partial (first fifty pages) from an agent. My very first partial! I am very excited-I have just sent it about two minutes ago and am keeping my hopes up. 

This has definitely made my day life. You don't know how good it feels to receive a partial request when all the other emails were "I'm sorry but your work is not for us. Please keep in mind that literary agents are very selective. I wish you the best for you and your manuscript. Thanks, (agent)" Yup, I've received around 50 of those. So when I woke up this morning, glancing at my phone-I noticed I got an email from an agency. I opened it and of course it was short (like all the other emails) but I was surprised that it said "We would like to view your first fifty pages). Ahh...maybe there's hope for me yet.

I'm going to hold off self publishing until I've done more agent hunting. I feel that I want to do whats best for my manuscript-and maybe this is it. I don't know though, I'll fill you in-when I either get that dreaded rejection email or (and this would totally be amazing!) they send the-we would like to view your full manuscript.

Keeping My Spirits Up

I've really been contemplating over the last few days about where to go with my writing. I've received at least five more "no" queries in my inbox but I'm all right with them-I know agents are very hard to come by and if you happen to snag one-you're very blessed. Right now in my life, I feel that I would be better off self publishing for several different reasons. I've been researching a lot about it and have even emailed people about beta reading before I get my ebook up on the kindle.

I decided to start with the kindle only. I'll ask a few fellow book bloggers if they would like to review it over ebook and write a review for it. Hopefully a few people will buy it-if not that's okay too. When I raise enough money, I will probably put it through CreateSpace and start selling paperbacks as well.

I don't know why, but I have a very good feeling about this. I even went over to Parajunkee Designs (she does such beautiful work), and signed up to be on the waiting list. I decided that I have no idea how to create a book cover, and the book cover is very important, so I will hire someone to do it. Her prices are very fair (even on the lower side) but her work is phenomenal.

I also found an amazing book on amazon on how to format your book for the kindle. It's only three dollars and if I would hire someone to do it-it would be around 200. I like the book option a lot better because I'll learn a lot and save a lot of money. I'm feeling very positive about everything but who knows, I still have to tell my parents lol. I don't know how they feel about self publishing, so I'll have to let them know what I think is best right now.

Indie vs. traditional

I've gotten to the point where I'm frustrated with the rejection letters. I have officially sent 58 queries by email after researching literary agents that would be a good fit for my genre: young adult paranormal romance. And I know that 58 isn't a whole lot but of those I've probably received 25 rejection letters and nothing other than that-no partials or fulls. I just feel disappointed and I want to get somewhere with my writing. I want to change someone's world or how they they view things with my novels.

So I know this is a big jump from continuing querying agents, but I'm still thinking that maybe Indie publishing (self publishing) is the way that I should go.

I'm going to list the pros and cons of each Indie and Traditional publishing to help make my decision a little easier.

Indie (self) Publishing
Pros:
1. I get to have a lot of say in my writing
2. They receive more commission than traditional publishing
3. I get to publicize my novels myself
4. It sounds like fun
5. ebooks are becoming a lot more popular

Cons:
1. It's a lot of hard work
2. I have to publicize my novels myself
3. There probably won't be a lot of editing
4. There's a negative string attached to self publishing
5. It's hard to get your novels "out" there


Traditional Publishing:
Pros:
1. They do a lot of work for you
2. There's a lot more editing done to your novels
3. people may think higher of me and my writing
4. They can probably sell your books better

Cons:
1. You only get 15-20 percent commission
2. They have a lot of say in your writing
3. It's hard to get into
4. It's hard to get an agent

Okay, so here's my not so realistic pros and cons. By unrealistic I mean that some of the points I made probably aren't true. But I think being your own business manager and own publicity and cover person (as in Indie) would be a lot of fun-I believe I would enjoy it.

By making this list-I'm not rushing into Indie or self publishing. I'm going to sit on it a few more weeks, and wait to maybe get that one "yes" in the pile of queries I sent out. I'm crossing my fingers-wish me luck.

Well Here it Goes...

My name is Morgan and (as my blog's titled) am trying to become a published writer. Now before you think, oh not another one of those (which you probably already have) this has been my dream most of my life and I'm not going to give up.

I'm not new to blogging either-I have a successful book blog titled Smitten With Books which I really enjoy doing. I love reading just as much as I do writing so I thought it would be fun to do a writing blog as well-even though no ones probably going to be reading it, lol.

I think this blog more has to do with me, than anyone reading it. I need this website to write down my thoughts and frustrations about the publishing world. Journaling isn't as compelling to me, because I hope, someday, someone will read what I have to write and they will be supportive over my decisions.

So thank you...