Please welcome our Vice President,
Kathleen Marple Kalb, to our SMFS blog today.
YOU
NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU PITCH
Guest
Post by Kathleen Marple Kalb (Nikki Knight) SMFS Vice President
Never
be afraid to pitch.
At
SMFS Watercoolers, we hear that a lot from people like Michael Bracken and
Robert Lopresti, who sell and/or edit incredible amounts of great work.
But
it applies to us ordinary hopefuls, too.
With
one very important caveat.
Unless
you’re a legend, if you pitch widely, you’re going to get a lot of rejections.
I’m (mostly) okay with that. If I take a long shot and it doesn’t pay off,
well, at least I have the consolation that I took a risk.
But
your mileage may vary. So, if you’re one of those folks who curls up in a
pained ball for weeks over a rejection, the following advice may not be for
you. If, on the other hand, you view rejection as simply an annoying and
painful part of the process, ride with me.
Submitting
work is never going to hurt you.
Well,
clarifying a little: properly submitting your best work is never going to hurt
you. That means rigorously following call rules and submission guidelines, and
turning in clean, well-thought-out pieces that really represent what you can
do.
As
long as you’re doing that – fire away.
Got a
great story that probably fits an anthology call? Easy – send it.
Think
your work is good enough for one of the top magazines? Go ahead, take a chance.
The
absolute worst that happens is that an editor looks at your work, decides it’s
not for them, and rejects it. If you’ve followed all the guidelines and you’re
not doing anything stupid or outrageous (submitting a rom-com fairy story to a
noir mag, say) you’re doing your job as a writer, and everyone respects that.
Of
course, in rejecting it, they’re also doing their job as an editor – so you
have to deal with all of those no’s in the in-box.
But
you might also get acceptances. Or you might impress the editor with the
quality of your work and your professional approach and get a personal
rejection of the “I’d like to see your next piece” variety.
The
editors I’ve asked say they don’t send rejections like that to be kind – they
do it because they really DO want to see more from you. So that’s definitely a
win. Or at least a move in the right direction. It’s never bad to have someone
aware of and interested in your work.
On a
larger level, it’s never bad to be out there, doing good work, whether or not
you’re selling to a given editor at the moment. Remember, writing is a small
world, and it does you no harm to develop a reputation as a pro who does good
work. At least that’s what I tell myself when I get one of those nice graceful
rejections!
And
sometimes, taking a wild chance really does pay off.
Just
ask Grace the Hit Mom.
Back
in the winter, I heard about a new startup publisher who was looking for
lighter mysteries, but not conventional cozies. I knew one of the editors at
Charade Media, so I pitched. With the understanding that this proposal wasn’t for
everyone, and if it didn’t work out, I’d be back again later with something
else.
And
so, I sent off the proposal for WRONG POISON, a cozy mystery featuring an
amateur sleuth who’s a suburban mom with a secret life as an assassin. The proposal had been written for another
publisher who took one look and ran screaming into the night.
I’d
even had a hard time selling a short story featuring Grace the Hit Mom. (To
this day, it’s in my files waiting for a home!)
But
Charade Media said they wanted different, out-of-the-box ideas, and this
definitely met that bar. So I sent the proposal, figured it probably wouldn’t
go anywhere, and went on with my day.
Except…
They
got it. They loved it. And the first Grace the Hit Mom mystery, WRONG POISON,
was published July 11th.
Never
be afraid to pitch!
WRONG POISON:
She's a nice suburban mom and an assassin...and Grace Adair’s secret life has
just become a problem. When a death at the Library Book Fair turns out to be
murder – by a poison used only by Grace’s ancient sisterhood, she knows she’s
in trouble. Now, she’ll need all her skills as a PTA mom and former prosecutor
to find the killer and protect her friends…and their secrets. Hopefully without
using her other skills. About those other skills: Grace and her sweet
senior pal Madge are members of a 700-year-old order of lady poisoners, sacred
to the Archangel Gabriel and sworn to remove evil men who elude human justice.
Think #MeToo with untraceable poison.
Call it a cozy with a twist. You’ve never met anyone like Grace…and
you’ll never forget her.
Check it out here: Wrong Poison: Knight, Nikki: 9798987684740:
Amazon.com: Books
Kathleen Marple Kalb ©2023
Nikki
Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An
award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes
short stories and novels. Her stories appear in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery
Magazine and Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies – and have been
short-listed for Black Orchid Novella and Derringer Awards. Active in writers’
groups, she’s currently Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and
Co-Vice President of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. As
Kathleen Marple Kalb, she writes the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mystery series.
She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight
