A warm welcome to Amanda Meuwissen joining us today to talk about the release of A Model Student.

Welcome Amanda 🙂

Write Because You Have a Story to Tell

I’ll never forget my first foray into a writer community online. I posted my submission email and synopsis for a screenplay I wanted to option and kept having rejected, hoping for feedback on how to make the hook better.

Most people had helpful critique or encouragement, but one person simply said, well if it keeps getting rejected, throw that story aside and move on to your next project.

I remember thinking what terrible advice that was because I wasn’t trying to make it big and get a movie deal, I had a story to tell, the story was what mattered, not just a sale or success. I think I needed that experience though to realize what I wanted from being a writer.

It didn’t happen for me with the screenplay, but I persevered with other stories that mattered to me and eventually found a publisher for my novels. Thankfully, today’s publishing industry is much easier to break into because we no longer need the Big 5. We can do it on our own or find fantastic indie and genre publishers that fit our niche and audience without the heartbreak of repetitive rejections.

That’s not to say it’s EASY, just easier than it might have been even a decade ago. It was worth it for me to be patient, to keep working on the stories I love, and find ways to share them even if it wasn’t by acquiring an agent or movie deal.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be published or famous but decide early on what is most important to you. If you have stories to tell, then it doesn’t matter how many rejections you get, keep at it until you find the right avenue to be heard.

I think a healthy combination is the best way to reach the broadest audience, working both with publishers who fit your subject matter and self-publishing stories that are maybe too long or not catching enough publisher attention.

Don’t count a story out completely just because no one’s biting. There are tons of resources on how to do it yourself these days, and I can tell you, I make far more sales through eBooks than paperbacks because convenience is the name of the game. Getting into bookstores is fun but not what’s going to build a fanbase in the digital age.

All that said, stubbornness is both an asset in this business and a danger. Stick to the stories you love, yes, but get as many people to read them as possible before you submit to a publisher and be open to criticism. No matter how many books I publish, I know I can improve. It’s frustrating to see a negative review on a published title, but you learn to ignore the ones that you could never have pleased to begin with like serial reviewers who don’t give positive reviews to anyone, and you learn to accept and grow from the ones that point out things you can improve on.

In the end it still comes to not giving up and remembering that if sharing stories is what drives you, there are ways to get your work out there even after the dozenth rejection. My experience with online writing communities was eye-opening if not what I wanted to hear at the time, and it stuck with me so that I’m that much more willing and excited to mentor others just getting started, writers who need encouragement rather than dismissal.

The best part about being an author is how we don’t compete with each other, we compete with ourselves. Readers always want more, and by helping each other, we keep our communities richer, learn more, and expand the ways new voices can be heard.

A Model Escort, a story, in many ways, about starting over and having faith in what you can make of yourself if you believe and keep trying, is my first title with Dreamspinner Press, the second publisher I’ve worked with besides several self-published titles, and an exciting new way for me to reach more readers. I didn’t succeed my first year attempting to get published, but much perseverance later, I am so happy I never gave up.

Amanda Meuwissen is a primarily gay romance writer, as well as Marketing Operations Manager for the software company Outsell. She has a Bachelor of Arts in a personally designed major from St. Olaf College in Creative Writing, and is an avid consumer of fiction through film, prose, and video games. As author of the paranormal romance trilogy The Incubus Saga, young adult novel Life as a Teenage Vampire, the novelette The Collector, and superhero duology Lovesick Gods and Lovesick Titans, Amanda regularly attends local comic conventions for fun and to meet with fans, where she will often be seen in costume as one of her favorite fictional characters. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, John, and their cat, Helga, and can be found at www.amandameuwissen.com.