write « Robin Writes

How long does it take?

What’s a contract?

Should I accept that offer?

The first question is loaded – and I mean LOADED. And the answer is that it depends.

At RHP, we get a lot of submissions. Sometimes, I know right away that a manuscript is good and that I want to turn it into a book – sometimes, I know right away that I can sell this book.

But again, it depends. Sometimes, I’m pretty backlogged and I might not get back to you as soon as you think I should. After all, I have to READ these submissions, these BOOKS. How many books do you read in a day? One? More? Let’s say I receive three manuscripts on a Monday. Okay, maybe not on a Monday, Mondays are pretty hectic, but you get my point.

That’s three books to read – and some weeks, I’m lucky to be reading one. And sometimes, I just want to read for fun, ya know? And if I ALSO get two on Tuesday, and one on Thursday, and another Sunday afternoon, well – that’s seven “books” to read that week. Or the next week.

Lots of things take priority over reading manuscripts: getting a cover finalized, marketing and promoting current and upcoming titles, editing those that will be released soon. And a million other things – I’m not a robot, after all, and I still have a family. They’re around here somewhere . . .

My point is that it could take months for me to get back to you. Myself, I’ve been waiting over a year since I hastily sent off a manuscript to a Big Five publisher, before RHP was founded. And I can’t just message them every day or send emails every week – and THEY have TONS of people working on this stuff!

Sometimes, too, I get manuscripts that might need some work; or ones that don’t quite “fit.” And sure, sometimes I procrastinate in sending a “no” to authors – who wants to do that? Do YOU like to tell people no?

Let’s say I love your concept, your manuscript, and I think you have a decent platform, etc., etc. Yes, platform matters – your blog, your social media, your personality – are YOU marketable? If all these things fall into line, I’ll send an offer.

An offer is just a simple email, outlining the contract basics. If you’re amenable to these, I’ll send a formal contract. That contract will tell you exactly what RHP will do for you. It tells you what you can expect, and yes, it covers the money part and the rights part. Two very important parts.

Should you accept it?

Probably. Or not. It depends on what you envision for your book. Oh, it’s a good contract. Not much wiggle room for negotiation, but you retain your copyright, it’s only for two years, we have first right of refusal for subsequent, serial books. We don’t pay advances, but you get above-average royalties.

But seriously, read it over, talk to friends or family, even have your attorney take a look. There’s no deadline, but it’s best if you don’t take too long – when you accept, we’ll schedule publication.

Yesterday must have been some sort of official “I left my mind at home” day . . . Oh, not me! Ha. That never happens . . .

Anyway, I fielded the usual “do you BUY books?” “No, I’m sorry, we’re a bookSTORE, we SELL books,” – and no, I don’t really say that. But I want to. And I answered the phone and listened to the up-to-three-times-a-day automated call from Google.

I called a customer to tell her that the book she’d ordered had arrived. She asked me “which bookstore,” and okay, I can understand that. If you frequent several bookstores in a week’s time. When she came in, she looked perplexed and asked to see my note to make sure it was HER name and HER number. Then she wondered who had ordered the book.

Um, yeah, it was her – late last week. And her name, and her number. That’s how I knew to call her . . .

About an hour later, an elderly gentleman came in and said he wanted a couple paperbacks. I showed him the section in which he said he was interested, and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he NEVER BOUGHT USED BOOKS.

So I took him back up front, to our local section, and pointed out several mysteries, new books. He barely paused to look as he stomped out the door, muttering that HE didn’t buy used books.

Just goes to show that simply because you’re an elderly WWII vet – at least that’s what his cap said – doesn’t mean that you can’t be a jerk. And in case you’re wondering, his hearing was perfectly fine . . .

Stuff like that always bothers me, on two levels. First, I never think customers are “bothering” me unless well, they do something like this. Like when you’re focused on a task and your kids are doing the “Mom, Mom, Mom, never mind” thing and so you’ve been interrupted for no good reason.

But second, and mostly, because I like to chat with customers, find out what they like to read, talk about books or whatever – and someone like this, whose interaction is so one-sided, perplexes me. Like the lady who came in one day, first time, and flat-out told me that I should rearrange my entire store and buy all her “practically brand new” hardcovers. More like she demanded that I do these things, because it was ALL ABOUT HER.

Sure, the customer is always right. Well, no, I don’t really believe that. The customer is always right if our policies (or me) are wrong. And yes, for my husband, I CAN admit when I’m wrong!