Tag Archives: Hastings book store

A Typical Friday Morning

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I walk through the door on the the cafe side of Hastings in Benton. It has become my usual place to be on Friday mornings.

I sit at one of the tables that are situated between the magazines and the Hardback Coffee Cafe. Immediately I begin pulling out my notebook, pen, and the current manuscript I’m working on and begin to work.

My other writing places are at home, Pulaski Tech’s library, and the Bryant public library. The change of scenery seems to help my creative mind. This is how I have learned to break my writer’s block.

I love it here, being surrounded by books. It’s just like being at the library, but it has a different atmosphere. The aroma of coffee, my favorite smell, teases my nose. Its alluring magic overwhelms my sense of want like an imaginary hand, pulling my attention towards the coffee counter. I get up and place my order, Chai tea frappe.

I watch the tall blonde young woman make my order. Her hair pulled up in a short pony tail. She has a colorful tattoo on her arm that I cannot quite make out and a bracelet that looks to be made out of blue plastic beads. She sets my cup down in front of me and tells me how much it is. I hand her exact change and return to my seat.

I slowly drink my frappe and the cold taste hits my taste buds; a wonderful mixture of vanilla and creme, sweetness and cold. It hits the spot and the imaginary hand soon disappears.

I finally begin to write. The words just pour out onto the page. Customers come in and out through the door behind me, ordering their drinks. I never stop to look up to watch them, though I can see them in my peripheral view. Some sit and tap on their laptops, or browse through the magazines before moving into the other part of the store.

A lady sitting at the table next to mine taps away at her laptop. She’s been here every Friday like me, though she arrives before I do. I listen unintentionally to her long fake nails clicking on the keyboards. They make a rhythmic, yet annoying sound, but only last for a few minutes as she packs her laptop into its bag and leaves.

The employees behind the register rotate out. The young blonde woman is replaced by a tall, dark haired young man with a beard. He turns the music on, playing it low on the speakers overhead. Immediately he begins to sing along. First it’s Adele, followed by Christina Aguilera. i smile, still staring down at my notebook. Soon I find myself humming along. I don’t seem to mind listening to him sing as he isn’t bad.

He walks around the small cafe, wiping the table tops. I look up and my eyes wonder to the magazines. Famous places, cars, faces, and movie stars stare back at me. It’s time for a mental break. I pack my things into my bag and head back towards the books.

After a few minutes of walking through the aisles at a snail’s pace, my phone rings. My sister wants to meet up for lunch. Pizza. My stomach helps me answer yes. I didn’t realize the time, it was almost 1 PM. I had been here for three and a half hours. Time had surely flown, but yet I made great use of that time. I’m looking forward to next Friday morning and begin, what seems like a routine, all over again.

Getting published

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It took me about a week to write the story for a children’s book. I had a friend proofread it for errors. I searched the internet and spent a lot of time browsing the shelves at the book stores. I would thumb through Writer’s Digest magazines, Self Help books, publishing books, how to publish books, whatever I could find to help me learn the process to get to my next step.

The next thing I needed to know was if I need to illustrate the pictures in my children’s book myself or will the publisher’s do that for me? This was also another thing I spent many exhaustive hours trying to find the answer to. Finally I found my Eureka moment. I didn’t need to draw the pictures myself, or hire anyone; the publisher’s had an illustrator that does that kind of work.

The next step, finding a publisher; this was another reason why I spent time in the book stores. I would flip the book to the inside cover to find the publisher’s name. I would then write the information down in my notebook. I would look them up online and see what all they had to offer, what Better Business Bureau said about them, then also, how many of their books did I see on the shelves?

After finding a publishing company of the genre I’m writing, I’ll pick one of the publisher’s and write down their names and email addresses. I also make sure the publisher is also interested in the genre that I’m writing about. Next would be to work on a query letter.

  • A query letter talks about your book and a little bit about yourself all on one page. Make sure your query letter is in Times New Roman, size 12 and submit it to the publisher. You don’t necessarily have to send to one publisher, you can send to more than one at a time.
  • When they accept your query letter and wish to read your manuscript, make sure it is in Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced, also your name, address, phone number, email address in the top left corner, then email it to that publisher. Sometimes they may request the first ten pages or the first chapter or the first three chapters. Each publisher is different.

I was lucky, I made a phone call and left a message on the publisher’s machine, she was on vacation at the time. The next day she called me and I told her that I was curious what all they had to offer, that I had a manuscript finished and was looking for a publisher. She told me a little about their company that wasn’t listed on their website. She told me some pricing information, also not listed on their website. She asked me how many words are in my story, I told her almost 700 words (children’s book requirements 24-40 pgs). Then she asked me if I would be willing to email her my manuscript so she could read it. I told her I would. The next morning, the phone rang really early in the morning; she had called to tell me she loved my story and wanted to publish it if I was willing to accept them (her company). I said sure!

Something about her company is that they don’t just accept everyone that sends query letters or manuscripts to them. So I was really lucky to be accepted.

She had sent an email and then the UPS had sent me a contract. My grandma and I went over the contract and I signed it. The next thing I had to do was break into my savings. It cost a nice chunk of change to get a book published, so be prepared. She had emailed me when they received my contract and then told me that I will be assigned an adviser. I then got an email from my adviser telling me what all I needed to do next.

She continues to email me every other week with tidbits of useful info about publishing and writing. Then she sends me the email to tell me when my book will begin production; which is in September. She told me that it’ll take 180 days to go through production. She also has sent me emails telling me what all to expect during that time and what I should do during my last month of production. I am really pleased with this company that I chose. How helpful they are. They are even most helpful in answering any questions that I have and I had many. I told the publisher that I would have many books after this one, as they are a series, she told me that she would offer me a discount, but if my books are popular I would get a much bigger discount.

I chose to go with this company because of the offers they give and the royalties are much greater than most of the companies out there. They also have a good standing record with BBB. I’ve also seen quite a lot of their books on shelves at bookstores and on amazon and not to mention, I met one of their authors during a book signing.

It was a dream of mine to finally become a published author. I have finished another book, a Young Adult novel and am in the editing process. I’m planning on finding a literary agent, hopefully this summer. I will let you know how the process of that goes as I did here with the publisher. I imagine it will be the same.