Fifty Can Be a Marvelous Wake up Call
Michael Lindley February 13, 2008
It is quite surprising what the age of fifty will do to your motivation levels in actually finishing one of those numerous incomplete manuscripts that have been filed away deep within your hard drive over the years. Accepting a corporate severance package in the latest round of layoffs at your job can also help. Both of these life events came together for me in 2002 and in addition to a new job search and quite a bit of time in trout rivers and salt flats with a fly rod, I also found the energy and excitement to get back to work on one of the books that I had started years earlier. Reading back through the original manuscript I realized how much more research and background were needed to really bring life to the story and over a period of three more years, the finished manuscript for THE SEASONS OF THE EMMALEE stared back at me from the laptop screen. It's a love story of relationships challenged by class barriers and family betrayal set in the idyllic resort town of Charlevoix in Northern Michigan in the 1940's as well as present day.
After a very brief celebration and deep breath, I began the typical process of sending queries out to literary agents. Perhaps naively, I began writing to some of leading agents in the industry that represented writers that I admired and had what I felt were similar styles and stories. Over about six months I received 25 rejections, some with polite "
no thank you, it's not what we're looking for"; others with more pointed and terse "no's". Being somewhat prepared for this early frustration, I kept on but then met a friend who had recently self-published his first novel to some success. As I explored the various options here I became more excited about the prospect of getting the book out into the market, getting real feedback from reviewers and readers and actual sales results that I could take back to agents. I decided to move forward and formed my own small publishing company, Sage River Press. I hired a good editor and book cover designer and found a great distributor at Partners Book Distributing. Thompson-Shore printers in Ann Arbor, Michigan were also terrific to work with and I was off on my own little publishing career.
The first year was terribly exciting as reader and reviewer response was wonderful.
Traverse magazine named THE SEASONS OF THE EMMALEE a "
super summer read" and River Bank Books selected it as their "
book of the month" in April of 2006. It went on to become their bestselling fiction title of the year. Book groups and library discussion groups across the state of Michigan also began selecting EmmaLee and I have been traveling to meet with these groups for over a year now and the feedback, interaction and word-of-mouth that it creates were well worth the effort. EmmaLee is still selling well in the independent and chain bookstores across Michigan. We decided to limit our distribution initially to our home state, and of course through Amazon, just so that I could spend the necessary time to get on the road nights and weekends to meet with store owners and library directors and book groups, while spending my days at my new corporate job.
While I have yet to secure an agent or publisher for broader regional or national distribution of EmmaLee, I continue the contact work. One publisher wanted to move forward but their timeline was 18 months and I wanted to move more quickly because my second book, the sequel to EmmaLee is now complete. After a year's work, ON PAST HORTON CREEK will be released in March '08, again through my own publishing firm. Review copies are out now and my book launch efforts to retailers and libraries are underway. I'm excited about another season of being on the road and on the phone and internet with readers, store owners and libraries. We're expanding distribution to adjoining states where there are many people who have summer homes or vacation in northern Michigan where the stories are set. There seems to be real excitement and anticipation for the sequel and I'm feeling quite good about the prospects for Horton Creek. It's been a fantastic adventure, requiring more time than I could have imagined, but I'm also making time for book three which is well underway for release a year from now. Its remarkable how quickly the story can come together if you keep focused and positive.
About Michael Lindley
Michael Lindley was born and raised in Michigan and spent much of his early life in northern Michigan, catching fish off the dock of his uncle's boatyard on Lake Charlevoix. He dreamed of someday growing up to become a writer... or a fisherman.
A marketing and advertising executive, Michael Lindley, lives with his family in Ada, Michigan. He has written professionally for years and more recently has begun publishing his works of fiction.
Michael Lindley Profile at OnceWritten.com
