Your first sale: now what?

[Laer Carroll]

OK, so you've finally made your first sale, maybe a short story or novelette, maybe a book. You celebrate, tell all your friends and family you want to impress.

Now what?

A lot of people just fumble along, turning out a few pieces of stuff that over the years get published, until finally they give up, or the publishing world gives up on them because every thing they do just sort of dribbles out.

Or you can be more organized, although that has its perils too. You can be too organized, plan too far ahead, and stifle your creativity by ignoring the occasional wild creative impulse that could turn out to be a masterpiece or a wonderful new direction for you.

What you do will vary according to who you are and what your situation is - which may change as time goes by. But generally you will want to begin turning out more works, find an agent (or a better agent), and become a recognized name to readers and publishers. Not necessarily a famous name, though that's (usually!) good, but a name that will make others pay you more attention than they would a total unknown.

What would/will you do, or suggest others do?


Laer Carroll

 

[BrightStar]

If I ever get published, people will probably critisize me for being a bit of a "safe" writer, because I expect that whatever I write after my first book, it will be set in the same world as the one I already have published.

I didn't start writing because I wanted to be a writer. I started writing because my character chose me to tell his story. Therefore, whatever (if anything) I planned to do if/after I got published would probably be based around what I'm familiar with most.

I don't consider this a bad thing, since the story I am trying to tell is very complicated, and spans many thousands of years. I think it's easy to write stories based on the characters that inhabit the world I have created, and to allow the reader to actual follow the events that shape that world's history.

In the end though, it'll all depend on how I feel about things if/when I get published.

 

[Susan Boulton]

I am just going with what my agent jokingly calls "Our four year plan."

It's fun, hard work, and sometimes I think my head is going to explode!

Honestly I would advise anyone to first write. Get the idea down on paper. Join a critique group, badger people to read it. Then edit your story/novel. If you feel it is good enough try to sell it. File the rejections. Rinse and repeat with the next story/novel. Keep going, once you make a sale, or get an agent. Then things get serious, it is a whole other world. That is the time to start worrying/thinking about what will you do now.

 

[kmtolan]

Well, when you are in the middle of a series, you pretty much stay with the publisher you have. So, for the next two novels, I stay put and write like mad (already 30k into the novel after the one coming out at the end of the year.)

Once the series has been finished, I will have enough of a track record to consider approaching an agent with realistic expectations of getting a reply. By that time I expect to have finished the start of a new series or something else that I can offer. Busy busy.

Kerry

 

[Ana Khouri]

I have had quite a few short stories published, and I think I have a good handle on splitting my free time between writing more and working on getting more published (which takes far more time than I would have believed!).

As for books, I like to think I would continue to write whatever I felt like, and who cares if it sells? I don't write series, and I don't like other people telling me what to write.