Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Odyssey of Getting a Novel Published

Today I'd like to welcome the amazing Mark Noce on my blog. His debut, Between Two Fires, is released today! At last! He'll be sharing with us the long journey it took to get to this point.


Thanks for having me here, Lynda! My debut historical novel, Between Two Fires, comes out today (August 23rd) with St. Martin’s Press! It’s set in medieval Wales and chronicles the life of a young woman named Branwen who must marry a man she’s never met in order to save her people.

It’s been a long road getting here, and I thought I’d lay out some of the highlights of my journey into the world of traditional publishing. Needless to say it’s been fruitful, but certainly full of as many twists and turns as a piece of fiction. I’m sure this comes as no surprise to some of you, but lots of people I share my story with are shocked to realize that it’s taken over two years for my novel to actually hit the bookshelves. It didn’t take two years to write it (that part only took a few months), but it took two years after I had already signed with my agent and my publisher!

In fact, I’ve already long since written the sequel and have that in the publisher’s hands as well, but no firm release date as of yet. So it begs the question, why does it take so long to get a book published once you’ve already written the thing and signed a contract?

I’m really lucky that my editor is also the head of the Thomas Dunne Books imprint that is publishing my book (they’re owned by St. Martin’s and Macmillan). My editor is a very cool guy and he doesn’t have to go to higher ups for approval, he’s also the boss! So that eliminates some of the red tape, but on the flip side he’s SUPER busy all the time. Because of how much is on his plate it can often take many months to get edits back for a revision or a firm date on a release, ARCs, quotes, etc. This means more patient waiting between revisions or when waiting on something else from the publisher. Six months here, another nine months there, it starts to add up after a while. So what’s an author to do?

Write, of course! I found that the best way to work through the dry spells was to write the next book or even the one after that. So the funny part is that I’ve got a total backlog of novels written, I just have to wait for the publisher to be ready for them. Not necessarily a bad scenario. I’ve found that the biggest lesson I learn along the way (so far) is to discover new levels of patience within myself, shrug off setbacks and rejections, and just keep on writing. It may sound simple, but that’s what’s gotten me here…to the day I’ve dreamed of, my novel finally landing in bookstores!

Amazon/ Amazon Kindle

Thanks again, Lynda, for having me here! I hope you all enjoy Between Two Fires. It was a long journey, but certainly a labor of love as well.

Mark Noce writes historical fiction with a passion, and eagerly reads everything from fantasy to literature. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he’s an avid traveler and backpacker, particularly in Europe and North America. He earned his BA and MA from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where he also met his beautiful wife. By day, he works as a Technical Writer, having spent much of his career at places like Google and Facebook. In addition to writing novels, he also writes short fiction online. When not reading or writing, he’s probably listening to U2, sailing his dad’s boat, or gardening with his family.
Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

29 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Congratulations on the release of your very first book, Mark!
There is a wait between signing that contract and the book's release. Like you said, good time to write another one.

Mark said...

Thanks for having me here, Lynda! So excited!

And thanks Alex...a good time indeed;)

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

Congratulations on your book release today, Mark. And congratulations that the sequel is already in your publisher's hands! Well done!

Pat Hatt said...

Congrats indeed. Yep, everything takes time, especially when dealing with a busy person's schedule too. But have to keep on writing away.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

You are most welcome

Jemi Fraser said...

The publishing journey certainly demands patience on many, many levels!!

Mark said...

Thanks, Elizabeth!

Mark said...

Thank you, Pat:)

Natalie Aguirre said...

Congrats on the release of your book. I think many authors have your experience of a long wait from signing a contract to having your book release.

Neurotic Workaholic said...

Sounds like a very good idea to work on the next novel (or two) while you're waiting; then that makes it easier to continue writing afterwards.

Melissa Sugar said...

Congratulations on the release on your book, Mark and thanks for the introduction to Mark, Lynda. I love the premise and I enjoyed reading about your journey to publication. It helps those of us still struggling along to know what lies ahead. Great idea, write while you wait.

DEZMOND said...

congrats to Noce!

Crystal Collier said...

The hurry, hurry, wait, game. *sigh* It's definitely a pain, but it pays off in the end if you can buckle down an survive. I'm eating cake to celebrate your release. True, honest cake.

Rachna Chhabria said...

Hi Mark and Lynda,I agree with you Mark that the waiting is killing, it stretches our patience to the limit. Glad that you are using the waiting period to write more books.

Mark said...

Thanks, Natalie:) It's definitely an endurance test:)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Getting ahead of the game is smart, Mark. Publishing does take time and smart authors use that to their advantage.

Mark said...

Thanks, Melissa! :)

Mark said...

Thanks, Diane:) I mean writers write, right? ;)

Mark said...

It helps to have an awesome CP backing you up too;)

Chemist Ken said...

That first book is always so special. Good to hear that you have plenty of other books ready to go. It's better when your publisher is slowing you down instead of doing it yourself.

Carol Riggs said...

Super congrats, Mark, on the publication of your intriguing-sounding book, as well as having the necessary patience to wait until it released. Now you can celebrate!!! :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Lynda - good to have Mark here - and it's always fascinating to read other's journeys - even when they know the boss ... good for Mark ...

... but as we all know - keep on writing, don't hang around waiting and waiting ... cheers Hilary

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Mark. Being patient and going through the process is well worth the wait. I write as I wait.

Nas said...

Congratulations Mark. I enjoyed reading your process. How awesome that your editor is the big boss!

Nick Wilford said...

Congrats, Mark! Glad to see you've got a good approach to dealing with the long wait. I suppose that means the final product is as good as it can be and that you can get plenty of future books lined up!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Congratulations, Mark! Patience is tough, but it sounds as if you used your time wisely by writing.

Blue Grumpster said...

Over two years... Unbelievable. Well, you sure didn't give up. Congratulations.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

My 2nd novel took 18 months until it was released. Then they sat on my sequel for 24 months. Mine wasn't as good an experience as yours. I left my publisher last year. Scary but wise. Congratulations, Lynda. I'm thrilled for you. Life is hectic right now, but I will read your book and get a review done next year.

Unknown said...

Congrats on the release. Having a backlog is a wonderful thing. You can be choosy about which one you hand over next.
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