Classical Values :: Plan B From Outer Space

June 27, 2007

Plan B From Outer Space

My friend Sgt. Mom, from the Daily Brief has an idea and some chapters of a book she wants to get published. She needs your help. I'll let her explain:

So here's the story, of a blogger (me, of course) who wrote a long multi-part essay a couple of years ago about an incident in history which had always intrigued her, and after posting it, some readers were also intrigued, since they had never heard of it before. And one the readers thought it might make an interesting movie proposal, so I did one, which didn't go anywhere except to a friend of that reader about a year later. The friend thought it would be better to write a novel, because movies based on published novels were an easier sell. So, when I got let go from a corporate admin job a year ago, I sat down and wrote a ripping good historical read, based on all the stuff I had written before.

I was obsessed by the original story of the 1844 wagon-train party who were the first to take their wagons over the Sierra Nevada ., two years ahead of the Donner Party, yet who did not loose a member of the party, even though they also were caught in the snow. Since they were the first to discover the Truckee Pass over the mountains, they also met an incredible challenge of establishing a new trail. How did they manage to work together? Who were they, and what sort of experience did they bring to this great venture? And what did they experience, this handful of men, women and children, once they stepped off into the trackless wilderness a hundred and sixty years ago,?

I had come to believe that their story was the sort of story that we needed to rediscover. We need to be reassured that our forbearers were brave, competent people, capable of working together, of looking out for each other, of daring the wilderness, or any other challenge with grace and courage. We need to get back to our stories, and I felt very strongly that this is one of them.

So I went gamboling playfully in the literary trenches for much of the last year trying to interest an agent and/or a publisher. I have now gone through all the Book of Agents and the Book of Publishers Who Deign To Consider Un-Agented Submissions (all both of them) and been rejected. Hey, and it isn't because I suck as a writer, either. Everyone who has read the manuscript over the last year has said "God, what a riveting story... and why have I never heard of these people!?"

The problem seems to be, as I gather from lurking meaningfully in neighborhood of a lot of book and literary-industrial blogs, is there is a hell of a lot of dreck along with the merely OK to Pretty Damned Good Stuff. The traditional publishing world seems to be swamped up to it's gorgeously nipped and tucked neck, which kind of seriously affects how they can handle the not-inconsiderable quantity of fairly OK to Pretty Damned Good stuff which winds up on the shelves of your local Borders or Barnes & Noble.

And that stuff which makes it past the gatekeepers is still in absolutely unmanageable quantities. All the competent and ethical agents seem to have about all they can do to look at hundreds of similar OK to Pretty Damned Good submissions clamoring for their attention and time and make a snap decision on accepting and managing the tiny percentage of those that will pay off with the least amount of effort on their part.

They kept sending me these letters admitting that they just didn't feel the passion for my book that they felt was necessary to represent me adequately. No one feels sufficiently passionate about "To Truckee's Trail" except for me, and those dozen people who have read the entire thing and loved it passionately too. Unfortunately, all those people were just readers and other writers.

And being a military retiree with a mortgage and trying to make it as a freelance writer, I am perennially broke so, here goes Plan B.; a fund drive to do a POD version, to buy advertising, and put review copies where they will do the most good. I've set up a Paypal link at The Daily Brief, for anyone who wants a good old-fashioned ripping yard about the Frontier, about the people who built America, or maybe even just have the fun of seeing an unknown writer make an end-run around the literary-industrial complex.

I think I can promise an autographed copy of "To Truckee's Trail" to anyone who contributes over a certain amount, too.

Hey, it works for Public Radio, doesn't it?

Sample Chapter

Cross Posted at Power and Control

posted by Simon on 06.27.07 at 11:24 AM

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Comments

Lulu. Give them a shot.

Alan Kellogg · June 27, 2007 03:53 PM

Rather than go the POD route, you might try contacting Steve H. of Hog on Ice, and picking his brain on the topic.

He did his first book as POD with small success, but has worked his way into a multiple book deal with a real publisher.

Arrange to send him a copy of your draft. Given that he's broken through the Paper Curtain, he might be able to help.

Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Jim · June 27, 2007 09:23 PM

Get 'totruckleestrail.com'.
Put up a PayPal begicon, sitemeter, AdSense ads, and so on
Post the first x chapters online, where x is anything between 1 and N, inclusive. Offer the other N-x chapters to those who pay their $10.

After that, it's up to you whether you hire parasuits to push traffic to your book site, or just do it from your blog.

Socrates · June 28, 2007 12:38 AM

Sgt.Mom

Have you tapped on the door of the Truckee town counsil? Tourist towns might be hungry for the promotion angle.
I have watching local stories such as this featured every week on California's Gold. (hotlink soliciting new stories of California's past on front page)
Sacramento Bee is continuing a historical anecdotal series celebrating their 150th anniversary as an online feature.(contact information at bottom of the link) Perhaps one of them will be interested.

OT/ Here's a pic of Gov. Schwarzeneggar touring the Tahoe fire.

Papertiger · June 28, 2007 02:14 AM

Useful suggestions! Thanks! I had thought of approaching various pioneer museums and Old West publications, but not the Truckee Town Council. There is an active Truckee historical association with a lovely website, which you have just now reminded me of....(wanders off, scribbling notes and mumbling to herself.)

Sgt. Mom · June 28, 2007 08:55 AM

You are correct about the problem: everyone and his brother thinks he is a great writer, and everyone wants to be famous. My first five books I managed to get published (by relatively small publishers) without an agent. My sixth book was the first with an agent. It still isn't exactly jumping off the shelves.

Clayton E. Cramer · June 29, 2007 06:06 PM

The book sounds great. I read the excerpt and wanted to read more. I think all the ideas you've been given are great ones but I wouldn't give up on the literary agents.

I assume you wrote a query letter and sent it to the agents. I have two suggestions. Change the title of the book and make significant changes to the query letter. Being an expert in marketing can be as important as or more important than the ability to write when it comes to getting published.

You mention that you wrote to two agents or publishers, “I have now gone through all the Book of Agents and the Book of Publishers Who Deign To Consider Un-Agented Submissions (all both of them) and been rejected.” I assume you’re referring to Jeff Herman’s “Guide To Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents.” You want to write to no less than 20 agents. I would send a query letter to agents who represent writers of historical novels. There has to be a lot more than two. At this point, the agents don’t care if you wrote a book. They need to be sold on the idea of the story.

I think you have to do everything you can to get the book published. In this country success sells and your book is all about success. You need a group of people who are very creative to help you create a title that grabs your attention and a query letter that will knock the agent's socks off.

Don't ever give up.

Rich · July 3, 2007 12:48 PM

The book sounds great. I read the excerpt and wanted to read more. I think all the ideas you've been given are great ones but I wouldn't give up on the literary agents.

Don't ever give up.

Rich · July 3, 2007 12:51 PM

The book sounds great. I read the excerpt and wanted to read more. I think all the ideas you've been given are great ones but I wouldn't give up on the literary agents.

Don't ever give up.

Rich · July 3, 2007 12:51 PM