Don't Give Up Dinah

There is a very talented writer out there who is getting very frustrated. Well, I guess that description fits more than a few people. Let me be more specific -- Dr. Dinah has a blog. Read her plaintive posting here -- http://psychiatrist-blog.blogspot.com/2007/05/does-anybody-out-there-know-good.html

I tried to email Dinah, but couldn't find the right email address. So let me put what I said to her on my blog in hopes that she will see it. If anybody wants to add anything to what I have said or to the comments in Dinah's blog, feel free. I've got a feeling the world will lose a great novelist if she gives up.

My email to Dinah:

I am assuming this is Dinah's e-mail address. If I am wrong, delete it. Dinah, it will be almost impossible to find an agent for your book because it already was self-published.

Live, learn and move on. You may get it published, if it wins an award, so get it entered into contests. That's how my friend John Shors got his novel, Beneath the Marble Sky
published. The book was first published by a smaller house then Penguin picked it up when it got the award.

Dan Brown wrote two other books before his big one. The DeVinci Code created an opportunity for him to sell the two manuscripts he had sitting on the shelf. That could happen
to you as well. But keep writing. And as I said before, get coaching and advice from professionals. My wife has been a professional journalist for more than 20 years, she still
seeks out, uses and appreciates the advice of novelists and agents. I have been writing for money off and on for nearly 35 years. My book was self-published in 1998 and I
sold almost 5,000 copies in less than two years. My marketing was totally my creation and it wasn't easy. I am seeking an agent and publisher for the revision, which is made
up of more than 50% new material. Publishers will take on revisions of nonfiction that is significantly different from the first edition.

I can't emphasize the importance of joining a good writer support or critique group. But joining is not enough. Participate and appreciate criticism. A good site you can use is goodreads.com, but Writers Digest has good stuff too. Google "writer support groups," there are dozens to choose from. Do all of this and write a boffo second novel that is betterthan the first. You'll manage to find an agent and perhaps sell both books and a third you will have an outline for. A trilogy!! You may get a 7-figure advance.