Book Publishing Secrets with David Armstrong, Author of 'The Rising Place'

Name: David Armstrong

Title: The Rising Place

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Find out more: The Rising Place by David Armstrong

Website: therisingplace.com

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published. Is this your first book?

No, this is my debut novel, but The Rising Place is actually my second book. My third novel, The Third Gift, will be released this summer, and I’m currently working on a fourth novel. I have also written four screenplays. I had an aunt who wrote murder mysteries and who was successful at it. I used to brag about having an aunt who was a writer—that seemed so cool to me. And though the idea of following in her footsteps was intriguing, I never cared for her genre. I was a huge William Faulkner fan, though, growing up, and I still am. After I read his last novel, The Reivers, and Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, I was hooked on writing. I think most southern writers—if not all southern writers—have been influenced by both these great authors, to some degree. And then came John Kennedy Toole’s, A Confederacy of Dunces. After I read this wonderful novel, there was no turning back.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

I went with an independent fiction publisher based in New York. I initially tried going the traditional route with a major publisher but had absolutely no luck with this. Unless you’re already an established author, it’s virtually impossible to get one of the big publishers to give you a look. I believe I read somewhere that the odds of this happening are 1/1000, but I think it’s much greater than that. There’s just too much competition out there for a big publisher to consider a new writer—even a very talented, new writer.

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?

There are always pros and cons about anything or anybody. The writing cons are: writing is hard, demanding, and time consuming—especially if you’re working another full-time job, as I currently am. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for a working mother to find the time to write! Writing is a lonely pursuit, and it costs money to get your book noticed by readers. Some people pay to have their book published. That wasn’t my choice, but I did pay an excellent publicist to help me get The Rising Place noticed. Writing is a cathartic, artistic endeavor, but it’s also a business. And, as in any business, you have to spend money to make money. So, find and hire a good publicist to help you sell your book. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a major publisher take you on and promote your book, you still have to be willing to do whatever it takes to help promote it. With over 2000 new books being released worldwide every day, it’s unrealistic to think you can write a book, have it published by whomever, and that it will sell like COVID19 masks. Not this day and time.

Now to the pros: Like I said above, writing is a cathartic, artistic endeavor which can be one of the most—if not the most—rewarding experiences you will ever have. It can also be financially rewarding. If you have the talent, dedication, and discipline to endure in your writing and querying of an agent or publisher, you will probably succeed. And even if you don’t, you will be so much better off for simply having tried—sort of like that old saying, “Shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you’ll still be among the stars.” Corny, perhaps, but true. One more pro: When I write, I am literally “in the flow”—meaning, I’m basically oblivious to everyone and everything around me, except my story and my characters. Sometimes, I can sit at my laptop for eight or nine hours and be totally unaware of how long I’ve been writing. And I’m somehow able to get inside my characters heads and feel, experience, what they’re doing and saying. For me, this is a major turn-on. Nothing has ever done this for/to me, like writing has. Well, there was this young woman once, who….

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Unless you self-publish or pay a vanity press (I know, they really don’t like to be called that, anymore, but….) to publish your book, the publishing industry is a tough nut to crack. I compare it to trying to get into Harvard Law School or make it in Hollywood. Yes, it can be done, but it’s very hard to do so. That’s why dedication and discipline are so critical to a writer’s success. And you have to have tough skin—really tough skin. When I first started writing in the early 1980s (Yep, I’m an old dude.), there were no computers or emails. So, you hand-mailed query letters to potential agents and publishers. They usually wrote you back (there wasn’t as much competition, then, prior to the advent of self-publishing avenues, like Amazon), generally via a form, rejection letter. I received so many that I could tell if it was a rejection letter, just by examining the envelope. And you’ve heard this story before: I received so many rejection letters that they could have covered my bedroom walls. Funny, but also true. But this all was before the advent of a lot of small presses and independent publishers. I feel blessed to have found (or have been led to) an excellent and successful, Indie publisher, The Wild Rose Press.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Absolutely. Forget the big publisher route. Find a good, small publisher, or an Indie publisher with a successful track record, write a great query letter, and email it to them. It’s still challenging, to say the least, but this is the method I’d recommend. And don’t forget to find and hire a good, experienced publicist, like I did, once your manuscript is accepted. It’s never too early to find a good publicist. They’re in high demand and well worth the investment.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Write something every day. It’s like playing the piano or practicing your golf swing (both of which, I’ve never done well)—you have to just do it and keep on doing it. Also, be patient and never give up. And like Joseph Campbell once wrote: “Follow your bliss.” If you do, you’ll never be disappointed.

About the book:

The Rising Place is an epistolary novel with an intriguing premise: What if you found a box of love letters written during World War II—would you read them? And what if you did read them and discovered an incredible story about unrequited love, betrayal, and murder that happened over seventy years ago in a small, southern town?

A young lawyer moves to Hamilton, Mississippi and meets Emily Hodge, a 75-year-old spinster, shunned by Hamilton society. The lawyer is intrigued by her, though, and can’t understand why “Miss Emily” lives such a solitary and seemingly forgotten life. But the letters Emily leaves for him reveal how her choices caused her to be ostracized, though definitely not forgotten.