Sometimes another struggling writer will ask me how I found a Publisher. My short answer is ”Serendipity.”
Horace Walpole coined the word in 1754 when he described The Three Princes of Serendip (Serendip being an old name for Sri Lanka). By definition, serendipity is having good luck for making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.
My longer answer is that I was lucky to have discovered the Florida Writer’s Association (FWA) http://www.floridawriters.net/dnn/ shortly after moving here.
True, it was through this very organization that I had the bad luck of meeting my first (and only) agent, Susan Graham with the About Words Literary Agency. How was I to know that her friendly, helpful façade would change so abruptly into a inactive, silent stonewall? (See my May 18,2007 blog http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/2007_05_18_archive.html for more whining on this subject.)
Perhaps if I had visited Predators and Editors http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peala.htm, I’d never signed that contract, but that’s a subject for another day.
Still, I considered myself fortunate because I was in the Southwest Florida division of the FWA and Bob Gelinas of Archebooks Publishing http://archebooks.com/ is the regional director of the group.
Although Archebooks Publishing only accepts submissions from agents, I got lucky again. At one of the luncheons I revealed the sad saga of my agent experience and how I dreaded searching for another. Bob agreed to bend the rules and take a look at my manuscript. And…well the rest is history.
Looking forward to seeing you next week when I hope to have some progress to report on The Ride. The production list has been stagnant for a long time, it’s bound to start moving soon. Isn’t it?
Wishing you all a little serendipity of your own.
Jane Kennedy SuttonAuthor of The Ride (to be released by ArcheBooks Publishing)janekennedysutton@gmail.comhttp://janekennedysutton.googlepages.com/
Tags: The Ride, Archebooks, Susan Graham, About Words, literary agent, serendipity, Florida Writers, Predators and Editors
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