Success Story: SHELLEY MARTIN!

Hi Brook, I’m so glad to be here!  As you know getting published in the traditional manner is getting more difficult day by day.  I really started getting serious about being published when I finished my first manuscript, around four years ago.

I stalked the internet, applying all the tricks I could find on how to write a query and synopsis.  I rewrote my manuscript over and over until I thought it was perfect, then I sent out the queries.  And then it happened.  Rejection.  The big no’s kept coming and I wasn’t getting anywhere fast.  After a year I realized I must be doing something wrong so I joined a local writer’s group, the Idaho Writer’s League.

IWL gave me the confidence and encouragement I needed to push on.  When their state competition came up I entered several categories.  I wrote Wingless first, but the editor I hired to help had some very painfully honest words for me about it.  Then I wrote Gargoyle, which won me an award.   Wingless and my other manuscript got above average scores, but were barely noticed. 

I began sending out queries for Gargoyle, but still, no one would bite.  Eventually I asked one of my author friends what her publisher wanted.  She said novellas. So I picked up Wingless, worked it into a novella and submitted it.

For the first time I got a request.  And then another, and another.  After careful consideration I decided to go with Pink Petal Books.  They were highly recommended on Predators and Editors, and I know I made the right choice!  What a fun and supportive team.

Wingless was released on August 2nd, and Gargoyle will be released Nov. 1^st. Spirit Tracks, a free short will be available to anyone who requests to receive Pink Petal Books newsletter, and will be released to amazon a month after that, still free for a limited time.  Already other projects are in the works.