For the month of February, I’ve asked a few authors to come share their experience the first time they submitted a manuscript to a publisher and/or agent–regardless of what the outcome was. Now  it’s time for the flat out awesome Stacey Kennedy to share her experience with you. 😀

First Submission Series:

February 1: Emily Cale
February 7: Gina Gordon w/ Giveaway

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I’m really excited to be here at Sara’s place. Well, because she is the best critique partner a girl could have, but I suppose I should get to it and chat about my first experience of submitting a novel.

I should start by saying that I never had dreams of becoming an author. In fact, I didn’t even know I could write. I guess now looking back I can see little hints that this was going to be what I did when I grew up. I always did really well in my English classes and the short stories I had to write got awesome grades. But I didn’t have the itch to become an author at any point in my life and actually went to college to be a law clerk.

It wasn’t until I had my daughter, gave up my career to become a stay at home mom did the desire appear. I had read an obscene amount of books in the first year of my daughter’s life because she napped so much that it gave me a lot of free time. Through all those stories, an idea came to me and that was the life of Nexi Jones.

So I just decided one day to write her story. I honestly didn’t think anything would come of it. I was really just writing for fun. But when I finished the story, I got to thinking that it was kinda neat. And after I let a few of my friends and family read it—which was horribly terrifying—they all agreed that it wasn’t bad. LOL! After I got the green light, I jumped in and learned everything I could about the publishing industry.

After hours and hours of research, I decided to send the story to a round of agents first and see what happened. I sent out five query letters and honestly didn’t expect anything to come of it, but a ‘are you kidding me? This story sucks!”.

One of the agents on my list that I thought I’d make a good match with responded to me in a half an hour after I sent out the query letter. Yes, a half an hour! I was so shocked and thrilled considering I read that it took weeks before they responded. It was one of those, holy crap moments because the agency was at the top of my list and represented one of my favorite authors.

Then, I panicked. My heart raced at the idea of sending her a proposal. I read my sample chapters twenty times before I hit that send button. Even after I hit it, I read the chapters some more.

It’s a totally nail biting, think you’re going to vomit, stalking your inbox type of moments. It took her two months to read the chapters and when I saw her email in my inbox, I was scared out of my wits to open it.

While, she didn’t offer representation, she did give me some of the greatest advice I’ve ever had as author. Her message to me was powerful and uplifting. While, some might think a rejection means, oh crap, I suck. I had the opposite effect. This was honestly the moment that I realized that I was better at writing then I thought I was. I walked away from that rejection feeling a whole lot more confident than I did going into my first query letters.

And it made me smart to what I needed to do next. My grammar needed work and I needed to restructure the story because in all honesty I had zero experience in writing a novel. I hadn’t taken a workshop or even knew any other writers. And her advice is what made Nexi’s first book into The Willow. I seriously cannot thank her enough for the positive rejection letter she sent and the advice she gave.

It made me work harder, get it right and best off all, it didn’t make me want to give up. And that I think is what your first manuscript submission should be all about. If you get a rejection and if they offer advice, think on it, you might discover they are right. Or you might be one of those lucky ones that gets an offer to represent right away.

Things from that moment have only continued to move upward! So yes….my first manuscript submission and rejection is one of those experiences that I’ll never forget.

If you’re getting ready to send off that first query, GOOD LUCK! I wish you all the best and always keep that chin up. It only takes one “yes” to see your dreams come true!

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Stacey Kennedy’s novels are lighthearted fantasy with heart squeezing, thigh-clenching romance, and even give a good chuckle every now and again. But within the stories you’ll find fast paced action, life threatening moments and a big bad villain that needs to be destroyed. Her urban fantasy/paranormal and erotic romance series have hit Amazon Kindle and All Romance Ebooks Bestseller lists. If she isn’t plugging away at her next novel, tending to her two little ones, she’s got her nose deep in a good book. She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband.

Be sure to drop her a line at www.staceykennedy.com, she loves to hear from her readers.