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| Regina Scott |
Persistence is imperative in the publishing industry, and
there’s never a guarantee that once we reach the mountain top we’ll remain
there. A tumble may require us to get back on our feet and start the climb all
over. Today, author Regina Scott
shares her personal journey to publication and how she got back on the road to
success. ~ Dawn
Try,
Try Again
We all know the pattern. An author struggles for years to
polish that first book for publication, collects her fair share of rejections, and
then, voila, she sells and goes on to a fulfilling writing career using her
God-given talent to enrich the lives of many. Helpful critique partners, doting
family, perhaps even publishing partners like an agent assure us that this is
the given path trod by countless authors before us and likely trod by countless
others after us.
But sometimes, it doesn’t work that way.
My career started out like that story. With encouragement
from my husband, I finished one of my many romance manuscripts that were gathering
dust after two children and work outside the home had left writing a distant
dream. I was stunned and delighted when the story was bought by a New York
publisher, with an offer for a second book, sight unseen. More books followed
in quick succession, and I was encouraged to write longer stories, meatier
plots. I was someone. I was going places.
Fifteen books later, my publisher cancelled my contract.
Stories like mine weren’t selling well. I was devastated. I was certain God
intended me to be a writer, to share my stories with readers. How could I do
that if no reader ever saw them?
Today, we have more choices in these situations, but at that
time, e-books were rare, self-publication something only the desperate tried.
My agent suggested writing for young adults. I threw myself into the process,
reading the best examples and taking courses before penning a book I loved.
Again I sent that precious manuscript out into the wild, and again heard those
fateful words, “I want to buy your book.”
And again, there was no subsequent contract offered. I was
orphaned, a one-book wonder.
But publishing, I have learned, is for the long haul.
Publishers come and go. Editors change houses. You and your agent may part
ways. What is popular today among the reading public will be unpopular
tomorrow. In the end, it is all about you and the words God has given you to
share. Be true to that, and never give up.
April marks the publication of my twenty-seventh work of
romantic fiction. I currently have an editor I adore and an agent who has been
there for me through all the ups and downs. I have acquired the rights to my
backlist from those early years and have brought most of them out as e-books.
I’m working on an original story to self-publish as well. But if all that went
away tomorrow, I would dust myself off and try, try again. Because as long as
God wants me to write, the only person who can truly keep me from prospering is
myself.
Tweetables:
Dust yourself
off and try, try again. Click to tweet.
In the end, it
is all about you and the words God has given you to share. Click to tweet.
As long as God
wants you to write, the only person who can truly keep you from prospering is
yourself. Click to tweet.
The
moment John, Lord Hascot, encounters a young woman sheltering in his abandoned
stable, his future is sealed. To prevent scandal, and protect Lady Amelia
Jacoby from her parents' ire, he must propose. John's ability to trust vanished
when his former love married his twin brother. Yet he offers Amelia everything
she could want, except affection.
Amelia
sees John's true nature shine through when he cares for his horses. But the
brooding aristocrat seems determined to keep her at arm's length. Little by
little Amelia will turn Hollyoak Farm into a home, but can she turn a marriage
of convenience into a joyful union?
Regina Scott has
survived the publishing industry for more than 15 years, winning awards,
penning more than two dozen stories, and seeing her work translated into many
languages. She currently writes for Love Inspired Historical. Reviewers have
been raving about her April release, The
Husband Campaign, calling it “a stirring inspirational romance” and saying
“Regina Scott’s writing style is as graceful as her heroine.”
You can connect with Regina online at her website www.reginascott.com, the blog she shares
with author Marissa Doyle at www.nineteenteen.com,
and her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/authorreginascott.
