Since my original intent was to write about creating artwork, it suddenly seems odd to me now that the art creation is done that I still need to write about the whole process that led me here and that I am still pursuing, even though the way is not clear.
But it’s the task I set for myself, to document the whole process, warts and all. So I will tell you about buying stamps.
To begin with, I bought the latest edition of Writers Market, an invaluable directory of book and magazine publishers, authors’ and artists’ agents, and lots of related, very valuable information for those willing to do the research. It’s enormous and a little intimidating but if you plow into it you will inevitably find valuable information. For instance, I bought my first edition about five years ago and in the very front, under Useful Hints or some such heading, the advice was START A BLOG, which is what brings us here!
Now, the drawback to what I am trying to accomplish here is that there is no current category for illustrated novels, at least not for adults. The listings of artist’s agents are primarily, if not entirely, aimed at children’s book illustrators. I still feel that I can make some headway by contacting appropriate people in the book publishing field.
Note that I say appropriate! The reason this book is so voluminous is that the level of detail regarding any given editor’s or agent’s taste, area of interest, or publishing plans is extremely high. Scattershot pitch letters will end up being way more work than they’re worth, so a good part of the legwork involved is reading every individual’s wants and needs. Some want regular mail only; some want email only. Some want the first ten pages, some want a synopsis and/or resume. Some want romance, some want how-to books, some want NO VAMPIRES, some cut off acceptances in June, and on and on.
So the first thing I did was to narrow down the list of appropriate agents, and see which publishers might accept an artist/author’s submission without an agent. I ended up with a list of about thirty, which is a good start. I had some postcards printed as a handy promotional piece and handout, so I thought as a first step I would send postcards to the list I had compiled. As the postcards had info on the back I didn’t need to write a note, so I just addressed them.
Then, I needed stamps.
I had a few stamps laying around, maybe fifteen or so, and stamped the ones I could. I had about another dozen to stamp. I went off to the post office to get a book of twenty stamps. Sorry, they said, no books of 20 on hand. We can sell you a roll of 100. Which costs $53.00! No, I said, I’ll stop back.
I returned a week later. They still had no sheets of 20 postcard stamps but the clerk dug around in the back and found six loose stamps. I would like 20, I said, and decided to stop back another time.
I returned the following week. They still had no sheets of stamps, but the clerk dug around in the back and said they had ten loose ones. Ten! Last week they had six! So I said yes, I will take the ten stamps. The clerk then said, if you want to leave your name and number I’ll call you when we get the stamps in. Well this was really thoughtful and though I was skeptical I gave her my name and number and bought the ten stamps.
That was a week ago and yesterday the phone rang. THEY HAD STAMPS! So the postcards, which had sat for a full month, are finally in the mail and I can move on to the next exciting chapter of getting my book published!!!
Thanks for reading. you can reach me at dickens@mooneyart.com
