Tag: agents

Three Months Time

Three months ago I said I was not going to submit to anymore agents or publishers. I said I “was not going to wait for someone to tell me that I am good enough”, but three months ago I had just barely stepped into the ring, joining the legions of self-published authors swimming against the tide to claim the title for “Best Seller”. I had no idea that there was more than agreeing to the terms and conditions that Amazon required before one’s book was live and ready for purchase. Writing the book was easy. The hard part is marketing and building a platform. I am a part of Lord knows how many Facebook author/writer/blogger/editor groups my news feed is a long list of confusion. And, in each and every one of those groups that claim to offer support and advice to authors is just another place for authors to saturate news feeds with their latest works, and it makes it difficult for anyone to make any sense of it all.

Then, there are the authors who consider themselves established because they are selling more than $1.50 a week, and their noses are so up their own behinds they hardly want to offer any advice to a newbie author for reasons that are more than obvious. Self-publishing has become a cut throat swamp of authors who only think about themselves-which they should to some degree because the hard work as well as the costs fall on their shoulders, but still. Authors should support each other because who is better suited to understand the highs and lows of writing? So unless one can quit their day jobs and live lavishly off of their work, there is still much more ground to cover and it doesn’t hurt to at least throw someone who is new to the game a bone.

Three months ago I did not have anything else in completion that I could believe in again that would capture the attention of an agent or a publisher. Now I do. I finished Blind Salvation two weeks ago, spent hours working on my queries, synopsis, outline and researching potential agents and publishers that might spend less than 15 seconds on my submission and I decided to give it another go. Self-publishing is fine…its perfect for those who want 100% control over their work but I could not go another year writing something that I am in love with without trying to see if an agent would love what I had I had devoted a great portion of myself too. 11 agents and 13 publishers later, so far I have been declined by four, which is fine and I am waiting to see what the others will have to say. In three months I will know if I will be offered a contract, or if I should go back to the drawing board or just focus on developing my career in self publishing.

In the mean time I am working on four additional works to keep my mind off of sitting around checking my email every 15 seconds for a reply. In the mean time I have also created a personal website, an author page, and I have been offering my services to other independent authors to help promote their newest releases. I have also scored a book on self publishing to help me further understand what I am up against and in three months time when I reflect on this blog, I will be much more in tuned with myself as writer, as a business person (because let’s face it, the books that we authors create are our brands), and should a newbie author ask for a bone, I will give him or her a whole dinner plate. I guess I should use the quarter system to evaluate my personal growth: all I need is three months time.

BLACK GIRLS LIKE ROMANCE TOO: F*CK A THUG, GIVE ME A FAERY

Romance novels bring in millions of dollars in sales per year which is big indicator that the need for a little romantic fantasy is alive and well. Within recent years, Paranormal romance has saturated the market, taking the need for romantic fantasy up a notch and onto another level; giving vampires or werewolves the leading man roles and becoming every woman’s sexual fantasy. I was never really a fan of romance until I would say around 2009 when my mother introduced me to J.R. Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and let me tell you I fell in love after the first page of reading Lover Revealed and now I have the entire series and I am waiting with tremendous anxiety for her release of The Shadows. And then, in September, a close friend of mine introduced me to another author whom has been around longer than what I initially assumed with her Highlander books, Karen Marie Moning, and now I am completely hooked on her stuff and I am desperate to begin her Fever series. So, now I have a deep appreciation for the romance/paranormal romance genres and as a writer, I find myself headed over in that direction. I mean, what woman does not want to read a story that has a great plot, juicy sex scenes and a man that you pray to the stars above to grant you one wish of making him a reality? Which leads me to this:

So far, I have yet to stumble upon a series of romance/paranormal romance novels where the leading lady is black (hell, I will even take Hispanic, Asian, whatever just so I don’t just make it a “black thing”). Do interracial and/or African American romance novels just not appeal to traditional readers? Unfortunately, too many black writers are fascinated on Street Sagas: you know, the stories involving drugs, prison time, death, snitching, promiscuous and scandalous women, and the sex scenes resemble something out of a cheap porn video? Yes, those. Now I will admit in my younger years I was into it because the stories were juicy and intriguing, but now that I am older, my tastes have changed. I want something different. I want love making and not fucking. I want a chivalrous and valiant man to come to my rescue even over something as small as what am I going to eat for dinner. I am a black woman and I like romance too.

What is even worse is that after Googling (is that a word? lol) black authors of romance novels, quite a few of them used white characters. I don’t know if it is just their thing and it’s just easier for them or if they think that is the only way that they can sell their books but I did not like it one bit. Why should anyone of color feel like the only way to sell their stories is to create an all white cast? Or, the leading man is black but the leading lady is white? What is so wrong about creating a strong, sexy, intelligent female character that happens to be black? I am tired of what is labeled as “Urban” fiction. My first novel happens to be of the urban fiction genre but not because that is where I saw myself but because the story simply came to me and I had to write it down, BUT my leading man Trey, was positive. He was romantic and most importantly, he and Danielle had a happy ending. The point is, I have spoken to a number of my friends and associates who happen to be black, and they have shared an interest in reading paranormal romance/romance. White women are not the only ones who want those Fairytale happy endings with a man who is built like stallion and possesses the stamina of a god. Publishers and agents alike should see that there is a market for interracial, and African American romance/paranormal romance. Not all of us are into the street sagas.

I will conclude with this : F*ck a thug and give me a Faery (a vampire or werewolf will do ;)). I want to tap into the wild side of the supernatural and the paranormal. I want to wake up on the other side of reality where the man in the mirror is my destiny or the vampire, desperate for redemption needs only my love to save him. Yes, give it to me please. I hope that this blog simply gives you readers something to think about and I look forward to whatever comments you have to share.

My Press Release

THERE COMES A TIME WHEN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ANSWER THE CALL…

Will YOU answer the CALL?

Newbie writer and lover of science fiction/ fantasy books, Delizhia D. Jenkins has finally stepped into her shoes as an author. It has been greatly anticipated by friends and family alike just WHEN she would understand her talent as a writer and put something out there for the world to share. Finally, after almost three years of contemplation, research, and prayer Nubia Rising: The Awakening is available and may be purchased as an e-book or as a paperback through Amazon starting at just $2.99 (for the e-book) and $11.25 (as a paperback).

Noted for her colorful play on words, Delizhia went from daydreaming about the day when she could breathe life into her characters to that dream becoming a reality. “I never thought that I would see this day,” she writes on her Facebook page and WordPress account the moment she completed the design of her book cover. “I refuse to wait for someone to tell me I am good enough”, she writes in her blog detailing the frustration and heartache that comes with the territory of being a new writer. Delizhia D. Jenkins is not only creative and passionate about her craft, she is also fearlessly unflinching in her pursuit of a career in the literary world.

Nubia Rising: The Awakening is a science fiction/fantasy adventure that crosses millennium and fuses it into present time. It offers not only relatable and multicultural characters, but a story of pain, personal discovery, sisterhood, and forgiveness as Kitara and her fellow Destroyers embark on a journey across time to correct an unholy abomination from eons ago. Nubia Rising: The Awakening will not only touch your heart, but will leave you breathless and aching for more. It is a reminder that we are all destined for something great and regardless of what we go through, we can overcome it.

Delizhia D. Jenkins is a proud mother of a seven year old rock star and currently resides in Paramount, CA working on her next masterpiece. For more information and updates, giveaways and more all you have to do is LIKE her Facebook page “The D Code”, or you can follow her on WordPress at: https://authordelizhiajenkins.wordpress.com/.

To place an order for the book, visit Amazon’s website at:

http://www.amazon.com/Nubia-Rising-The-Awakening-Volume/dp/1502991934/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414622407&sr=8-1&keywords=Nubia+Rising

Or, if you are interested in general information please email her at: septembershope@gmail.com.

I Refuse to Wait for Someone to Tell me I am Good Enough

No more queries. No more submissions. No more early mornings and hopeful nights of waiting for an agent or a publisher to say, “Yes, I love your work!” No more. There is room for more than one at the top. You don’t have to follow trends when you know you can create them. You don’t believe in my dream, well fine. I do. And if you are not a believer now, you will be later. I could have easily given up; thrown in the towel…discarded my dreams into the dumpster of deserted goals and fleeting passions. But, that is how you know you are destined to do something. It is when you don’t give up. It is when, you find away over, around and through an obstacle. Maybe it is better to have the agents chasing you because you hold the ball. Now, you can say how it’s going to go. So, with that being said it’s your dream: believe in it. That is my motto. It is my dream and I believe in it. And you will too.

Find me on Twitter @authordelizhia

I am now on Amazon so check out my author page:http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00OWX108W

And last but not least check out my Facebook page entitled: The D Code.

Let’s Talk-Where Does This Leave me?

So, after submitting my query to dozens of agencies and a couple of publishers the answer is always the same: “No, and good luck with your publishing endeavors.” A slap in the face right? The only reason why I keep going is because once I get something planted in my mind, that is what I am going to do. When God gives you a vision then that is where your journey will ultimately lead you-unless you quit. Ever since I picked up the pen (well it was a pencil first) and figured out that I possessed the power of creation or better yet the gift of story telling, teachers, family and friends have encouraged me to write. And I don’t do it just to say,”hey, I’m a writer”, I do it because the characters refuse to leave me alone…I do it because I find solace in the imaginary world I bring to life. Am I the best at grammar? Nope. If anything I am fair to say the least. I understand the importance of a comma here, and a period there or if my character is an emotional wreck then of course an exclamation point. But isn’t that the purpose of an editor? To clean up the grammatical mess that authors leave behind in their quest to finish a story?

One publisher told me that my writing was passive. Well that stung…and she told me that on a scale of 1-10 my writing was a 7. Then she went on about her company worshipping the One True God and that they couldn’t support a story telling of gods and goddess? Uh, ok… I am not atheist-one. Two, she totally missed the entire truth of the story because she was looking at the wrong elements. And three, she said I used too many bad words. A few of my characters curse, so what? She totally had me all wrong. I have read many successful books where words such as “bitch, pussy (I hate that word just so we are clear and I do not use it ever), ass, fuck, shit” and of course the N-word are used. Repeatedly. It just depends on the nature of the story itself and how the usage of the words define the characters. For instance, if you have a character who just so happens to be a rapper then what do rappers do? They are misogynistic, expletive, aggressive, hood (for those of you who do not understand what hood means, think urban), etc…

As tough as all of this has been I keep my head up. I understand that agents and publishers are looking for authors who can make them money. They are not looking for someone whose words can heal the world one reader at a time or challenge society’s morals and whatnot, no. They are looking to make money. It is really kind of sad because it becomes less about the art itself or the author. So, where does that leave me? Well I am up early on a Saturday morning blogging about my troubles just ro avoid working on my latest story because I am suffering from writer’s block. That is where all of this leaves me… Stuck.