X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter, 11 August 2019

Greetings Dear Subscribers to X.HoYen's Author Newsletter, working to get MINIMUM SAFE DISTANCE properly published!

11 August 2019 (last one was sent 03 July 2019)

MSD Status

The query rejection phase is tough. My professional editor's words "the manuscript is too strong to receive across the board rejections" make it easier to not take rejections personally but as agent/publisher perception of the market.

I still have ten active queries out there, but I'll start querying my lower-likelihood list of agents anyway. This is a long-term process. The pros say that it can take years for a book to be picked up, and even then it can take years to actually reach bookshelves.

As a reminder, the plan for MSD has always been to self-publish if the market just isn't interested in my Hard Sci-Fi story right now. Ultimately, if everyone out there just wants more Urban Fantasy, or formulaic Genre Sci-Fi or Sci-Fi/Fantasy, then MSD *will* be self-published. And you'll hear about it.

If, on the other hand, MSD does become traditionally published, they tell me that pre-orders are a big part of a book's success. Pre-orders fuel the buzz ads. (Marketing has always felt slimy to me, but this is how it works.) You, dear subscribers, are the vanguard. Thank you!

Other Writings

Just so you know, I wrote a short story that was spun off the MSD world, specifically the Preet character, and submitted it to Rocky Mount Fiction Writers for their 2020 Anthology. I'll know in October if it merited notice. And I'm attending RMFW's Colorado Gold Writers Conference (my first one) in September. If they do NOT accept my story for the anthology, I'll probably share it, probably on my web page, and will let you, dear subscribers, know.

I also wrote a tiny flash fiction piece for submission to the Aussie's Furious Fiction monthly flash fiction context. I intend to keep doing that, to keep the juices flowing and not let MSD marketing occupy me entirely! That monthly contest announces its winners three weeks into each month. If they do NOT call it a winner, I'll probably share it, like the short story mentioned above.

It would be grand if I could get some writing out there for people to see, and maybe add some publishing creds to my name. This writing business is tough for us dayjobbers!

The latest Expanse novel, Tiamat's Wrath, was great, as usual. Those guys are so good. Strongly recommended.

Standard stuff

Please do share the URL with fellow sci fi fans, especially anyone who enjoyed The Martian or is enjoying The Expanse. Surely Minimum Safe Distance would appeal to the same audience. :) And the more twitter followers and newsletter subscribers (who aren't immediate friends) I can report to possibly interested agents and publishers, i.e. the more possible pre-orders, the greater the chance that MSD will get traditionally published. Self-promotion is often disallowed, e.g. on certain Reddit fora, etc., or at least seems slimy (to me...).

Thanks for your support,
XHY
https://XHoYenAuthor.com
https://twitter.com/XHoYenAuthor