Blog Tour Guest Post + Giveaway: The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy

Please join me in welcoming

debut author Nelle Davy

to Let Them Read Books!

The Legacy of Eden is on a

Blog Tour with a Scavenger Hunt.

Click here for all the details.

Check out Nelle's guest post on the publishing process

and then enter to win your own copy of

The Legacy of Eden!

(Click here to read my review.)

An Insider’s Look at the Publication Process

The only thing that surprised me during the publishing process was how hard I found it. Of course I knew what would happen, the pitfalls and the difficulties but going through it yourself is something else entirely. It is hard and horrible and personally cutting, especially as I was surrounded by a litany of authors either watching their own dreams come true or fall away. I also was determined that I would be published on my own merit and not because of who I knew or where I worked. Because of that I did not say where I worked in any of my submission letters and it was also partly why I wrote under my married name to separate me from my work life and that way if my manuscript was called in by an agent it was really because they wanted to read it and not because they were intrigued by who I worked for or what I did. Because of that however I had to experience what it was like coming up through the slush pile (the term publishers and agents give to unsolicited manuscripts) of which they get tons every single day. It was incredibly harsh. It took me just under a year to get an agent and then 4 months to get a publisher so in total the process was 18 months. This is actually by no means the average. And it was also doubly awkward when publishers I was working with started rejecting my book. But I think things happen for a reason, because what I learned going through all that has made me kinder and more understanding to my own authors. It still does. I can really empathise with their worries and concerns but I have been incredibly lucky with my own publishers who have been nothing but enthusiastic and supportive throughout.

Thanks, Nelle!

Want to win your own copy of

The Legacy of Eden?

Simply leave a comment with your email address

and you're entered to win one of two copies.

This giveaway is open to U.S./Canada residents only

and ends at 11:59pm Wed., March 7.

Thanks, and good luck!

This giveaway is closed and the winners have been selected.
Stay tuned for more great giveaways!