Before we interview the author about her inspirational book for writers, here's more about this book:
You’ve been writing and honing your craft for months or years and are curious about seeking publication for your latest project. Perhaps you wonder about the next steps in the process. Look no further!
This book has a little something for every writer interested in expanding their audience and sharing their writing with readers, from pre-writing and writing your drafts to choosing your market and the writing life before, during, and after publication.
Topics covered include:
- The Lovely Littles: Breaking into Literary Magazines
- The Spinning Spider: Keeping Track of your Brainchildren
- Options, You’ve Got ’em: Traditional, Indie/Small, University Press, or Self-Publishing
- Two Streams with One Stone: To Simultaneously Submit or Not
- Monetize it! Part One: All about the Benjamins; Monetize it! Part Two: Risk and a Swimming Metaphor
- The Myth of the Fancy-Pants Tools
- The Art of Writing the Author Bio
- Paradox Meets Passion: Writer vs. Author
- The Slam-Bam Reply: Now in Two Painful Varieties; Creative Noodling
- F.U.N.
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press (May 2022)
ISBN-10: 1925965929
ISBN-13: 978-1925965929
ASIN: B09V88F1SC
Print length: 184 pages
You can purchase a copy of this book in ebook or print at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. Be sure to also add this to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author, Melanie Faith
Melanie Faith is a night-owl writer and editor who moves through the daytime world with her camera. She’s an introvert who likes to wear many hats, too, including as a poet, photographer, professor, and tutor. She’s been a doodler for years but just recently started to share her perfectly imperfect doodles. She loves to write about historical settings in poetry and prose, and this fall she taught both a Leaping Worlds class for historical fiction and time-travel writers as well as a university class about publishing. She especially enjoys creating nonfiction craft books that assist fellow authors on their writing paths, including books packed with tips about writing flash fiction and poetry. Her latest published craft books are: Photography for Writers, guides for teaching online and writing a research book respectively, and From Promising to Published: A Multi-Genre, Insider's Guide to the Publication Process (all from Vine Leaves Press). Read more about her books, classes, and arts projects at https://melaniedfaith.com/.
---- Interview by Nicole Pyles
Melanie: Thank you! I’m so excited about this book and sharing it with readers. I’ve
taught online classes in publishing and marketing books for several years,
and I love the process of sharing the many options for how writers can go
about taking a manuscript from a file on a computer or a draft in a notebook
to an e-book or tactile book.
I remember very clearly how confusing and unfathomable the process felt to
me before I got my first publication credits. I didn’t know where to start. I
really want to give writers an easier, clearer view of their options for
breaking in than the way I approached submitting work and publishing in a
very prolonged, stumbling, unsure way for the first few years of my writing
career.
WOW: That's so awesome! You start out in your book saying you've submitted your writing more than 1,300
times! I'm so impressed (especially as someone who has only gotten close
to the 200 mark). What has kept you motivated to submit so many times?
Melanie: That’s such a great question!
First off, I had no clue when I started trying to get published in my teens
how often I would submit or how many rejections I’d get—or that getting
rejections is routine and completely normal. Often, it’s best just to keep
looking forward; one tiny step at a time creates marvelous momentum.
That said, after I received my first rejection slip from a publication when I
was 16, I kept writing endlessly but I didn’t make any submissions to
editors outside of a school setting for four years. It stung deeply! So, I fully
understand how painful rejection can be and how very personal it feels
every time.
On the other hand, I genuinely want to connect with readers, and I know
that having endless project files just sitting on my laptop won’t help me to
connect with my fellow readers and writers, so it’s important to me that I
submit my writing regularly. As I developed as a writer and a person,
knowing that I was trying became more important than whether it was a yes
or no response (although I still savor each and every yes!), which gave me
the courage to submit more and more. One tiny step at a time adds up over
time.
Both rejections and acceptances have reinforced for me that it’s important
to keep persevering and sending work out there. You just never know when
it’ll be a yes, so it’s important to interpret a “no” as a “not yet” or a “not for
us,” and submit the work again and again and again to other markets who
will be a better fit for the work.
When I first started, I put a lot of pressure on myself and on my writing to
get immediate (or almost immediate) yeses or I stopped submitting, instead
of editing my manuscripts more and then sending to other editors. I gave up
on pieces too soon, which is very common.
For the past several years, I’ve aimed to submit at least three pieces a
month, whether that’s a guest blog, an article, a batch of poems,
photography, or a complete book manuscript. Also, once I started to submit
simultaneous submissions to editors who accept them (always check
guidelines before submitting), that increased the number of submissions I
made because I didn’t need quite so much new material all at once. That
way, I always have multiple projects in rotation on editors’ desks which
increases my chances at a yes. The yeses, along with reader and fellow
writer encouragement, really make a huge difference in motivating me and
keeping me going.
"You just never know when
it’ll be a yes, so it’s important to interpret a 'no' as a 'not yet' or a 'not for
us,' and submit the work again and again and again to other markets who
will be a better fit for the work."
WOW: I love you keep things in rotation. You also teach students! What kind of lessons do you gain from your role as
a teacher?
Melanie: I love teaching fellow writers. They are some of the most imaginative,
talented, hopeful, determined people I’ve ever met. They are generous with
sharing their thoughts, struggles, and goals. I feel a sense of community
with my students. We all understand the cycle of hope, angst, and hard
work involved in pursuing publication. I love how each writer’s path shares
commonality and yet is also highly personal and unique.
Working with students teaches me how marvelously diverse and important
writers’ voices are as well as underscores that there is room for all genres,
styles, innovations, and writers at the table.
My students teach me again and again the value of having writing dreams
as well as perseverance, flexibility, and acceptance as our skills and our
projects evolve over time.
WOW: Those skills are so important! Your first chapter talks about the importance of calling yourself a writer. Personally speaking, I've been a writer for as long as I can remember but
it's only in the last few years it's now officially part of my email's signature
line. Why do you think it's such a struggle for writers to label themselves as
a writer?
Melanie: This is such an important question; thank you!
When we practice the arts—whether it’s sculpting, painting, writing a novel
or a collection of poetry, or recording a collection of songs—one of the first
questions any artist gets asked is, “Have you sold/published [your project]?”
Another is, “Where can I read/see your work?”
It’s often very challenging to keep growing as writers while also
experiencing the pressure to write faster to have publications available that
showcase our writing to the best of our abilities as we are still developing as
artists.
Crafting the work alone in a room or in a small workshop group of trusted
friends is much different than sharing it with a wider audience that often
doesn’t include writers. People often mean well in showing interest or
curiosity, while at the same time not knowing how very much effort and
time go into writing, editing, publishing, and marketing a single work of art.
We can feel hurried or a little foolish or embarrassed at times when we don’t
have immediate publications after many months’ work or study—even
though that’s 100% normal. Writing is a slowly built craft; not fast food.
It’s natural to self-protect and not tell many people (if anyone, even
ourselves) that we are writers for years—but to keep writing, revising, and
learning, just without the title. Although, after a while, claiming the title
becomes important.
I understand hesitating to call oneself a writer, because I took photographs
for many years before I dared to call myself a photographer aloud, much
less on my website and social media, even though I ran around taking
photos with a camera for almost as long as I’ve been a writer. I always felt
like someone would call me out on it, because I didn’t professionally study
photography, and I don’t make my living from photography, and because for
very many years I hadn’t had my work in an art show yet. It was so
liberating when I finally felt ready to call myself a photographer, not just a
person who “likes to take photographs now and again.”
Still, we wouldn’t go up to a plumber and say, “Well, since you haven’t fixed
7,000 faucet leaks this year, you’re not a real plumber, are you?” or a chef
and say, “You don’t have a three-star restaurant, so why’s your name on
the door?” but that’s often part of the message writers receive, that there
are benchmarks before publicly saying we are writers—through words or
body language or even self-talk—which makes writers understandably
hesitant to claim the title of writer. Many wait until they get a first
publication or a writing-related job or a degree in writing or have won a
writing contest as a protection mechanism against the questioning or
judgment of others.
Also, it’s not easy to claim space as a writer. There’s a ton of competition,
and writing is a craft that we learn and improve on over time and with effort
and energy before we gain more and more confidence in our abilities. It’s
totally normal that sometimes it takes many of us months or years to say
aloud that we ARE writers.
The great thing is that it gets much easier to say it the more we type it in
our emails; say it aloud to new acquaintances, friends, and family; and start
putting it on our websites, front and center.
It’s a subtle shift, but a big one. Being a writer is an identity as well as a
vocation and a lineage of all the writers who came before us and those yet
to follow this path after us—it’s a very exciting, honorable, frustrating,
mysterious, worthwhile path, and it just takes as long and it takes to feel
comfortable voicing that we are writers. No benchmarks needed before
applying.
You are a writer if you practice the art of writing, period. Publications,
workshops, classes, conferences: all of these can be wonderful and very
helpful parts of the writing journey to experience—just know that you are
already a writer before, during, and after them.
No shade at all to any writers still getting to the point where they can type
or verbally introduce themselves as writers. You’ll get there. Nurture
yourself and support what feels best for you.
Once we do claim the title “writer” aloud or in print—whether it’s in our own
handwriting in a notebook or all over the internet—it’s that much sweeter
for the journey it took to get us there.
"You are a writer if you practice the art of writing, period."
WOW: It's such a profound journey to finally call ourselves a writer. What do you hope readers take away from your book after finishing?
Melanie: I hope this book infuses readers with self-belief and courage to pursue
publication in whatever ways are the best fit for them and their projects.
I want writers to feel prepared to put in the work over years—writing,
publishing or self-publishing, and marketing are often more of a marathon
than a sprint—and also to know that they deserve success.
I’d love for readers to know from the book that we’re living in a golden age
for ways to become published (from self-publishing and blog posting to
small-press publishing to publishing with a university press to getting an
agent to publishing with big-name traditional publishers) and also myriad
ways to study craft and keep improving (from reading craft books, taking
online or in-person classes, starting or joining a workshop, and much more).
I also want readers to take away that all writers (even frequently published
ones) experience setbacks, rejections, and support during our careers that
make this writing path a varied and meaningful one. Perseverance and some
humor, too, are assets I hope writers will take along on their journeys to
make their writing and publishing dreams come true.
Mostly, I hope readers will feel excited that what they have to say will find
its target market and readers who will appreciate their writing. You’ve got
this!
WOW: Thank you so much for your insights, Melanie! Best of luck on your book!
---- Blog Tour Calendar
December 5th @ The Muffin
Join WOW as we celebrate the launch of Melanie Faith's blog tour of From Promising to Publishing. Read an interview with the author and enter to win a copy of the book
December 5th @ Karen Brown Tyson
Visit Karen's blog today and read about whether to monetize your writing or keep it a hobby.
December 7th @ Create Write Now
Visit Mari's blog today to read a guest post by Melanie Faith about how to self-motivate.
December 8th @ Margay Leah Justice's Blog
Join Margay as she reviews From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith.
December 9th @ Blunt Scissors Book Reviews
Jennifer shares her thoughts about Melanie Faith's helpful book From Promising to Published.
December 10th @ World of My Imagination
Visit Nicole's blog to catch her review of From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith.
December 11th @ Shoe's Seeds and Stories
Visit Linda's blog as she reviews Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published.
December 12th @ One Writer's Journey
Sue shares her thoughts about Melanie Faith's helpful book for writers From Promising to Published.
December 13th @ Lisa Haselton's Book Reviews & Interviews
Visit Lisa's blog for an interview with author Melanie Faith about her book From Promising to Published.
December 15th @ Mother Daughter Bookclub
Join Cindy as she reviews From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith.
December 16th @ The Faerie Review
Lily shares her thoughts about Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published.
December 18th @ Michelle Cornish' Blog
Come by Michelle's blog and read Melanie Faith's guest post about overcoming imposter syndrome.
December 20th @ A Storybook World
Deirdra features a spotlight of Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published.
December 21st @ Elle Backenstoe's Blog
Join Elle as she reviews Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published.
December 22nd @ Author Anthony Avina's Blog
Visit Anthony's blog and read his review of From Promising to Published.
December 23rd @ Help Me Naomi
Noami shares a review of From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith.
December 24th @ The Mommies Reviews
Join Tara she reviews Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published and hosts a giveaway too.
December 27th @ Mindy McGinnis' Blog
Join Mindy's blog today where author Melanie Faith shares tips on writing author bios that have personality and heart.
December 27th @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Join Beverley as she reviews Melanie Faith's book From Promising to Published.
December 29th @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Visit Beverley's blog to read a guest post by Melanie Faith about the benefits of hiring a freelance editor and how to find a good fit.
December 30th @ Jill Sheets Blog
Join Jill as she interviews Melanie Faith, author of From Promising to Published.
January 2nd @ Elle Backenstoe's Blog
Visit Elle's blog again and read Melanie Faith's guest post about the benefits of beta readers and how to find one.
January 3rd @ Editor 911
Join Margo as she features a guest post by Melanie Faith about the taking-on-too-much spiral.
January 4th @ Liberate & Lather
Visit Angie's blog and read her review of From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith. She hosts a giveaway and also interviews author Melanie Faith about her book.
January 5th @ Word Magic
Fiona reviews this helpful writing book From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith. Don't miss it!
January 7th @ Leslie's Voice
Join Leslie as she reviews From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith.
***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****
Enter to win a copy of From Promising to Published by Melanie Faith! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below. The giveaway ends December 18th at 11:59 CT. We will announce the winner the next day in the Rafflecopter widget and follow up via email. Good luck!
Thank you Nicole and Melanie for such an inspiring interview! :) Melanie, I relate to what you said about giving up too soon on submitting. I've always been a submit-4-times-and-put-it-away type of person, but this year I changed that and have been submitting widely. I'm up to around 15 submissions on one essay. I LOVE what you said about calling yourself a writer! Your plumbing analogy is perfect! And it's definitely a marathon, not a sprint. This year I started to realize it's rejection that helps us grow as writers. Congratulations on your book and good luck on your tour! It looks like a great one! :)
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Angela! Kudos on your submissions and all of your successes! I love hearing about your 15 submissions on one essay, too--such perseverance is wonderful, and I can definitely relate. Some of my favorite pieces have been rejected a dozen or more times before finding the perfect home, and I love it when we writers have tenacity and believe in our work to keep sending it out there until it finds publishers who can't wait to publish it. :)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed my analogy and metaphor. :) I appreciate all of your support. To this continued writing life, and much ongoing success to you and WOW! writers and readers in 2023 ahead! :)
A very inspiring read for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI like the first part about the littles breaking into literary magazines. Do you think that is a good place for people to start?
ReplyDeleteThis could be a very helpful read.
ReplyDeleteAll that info in one book! Thanks would be very helpful!
ReplyDelete