Baen of My Existance

Here's something unexpected that I did yesterday - I submitted my manuscript for consideration to Baen Books.

I was going to wait until I got word back from my main Beta Reader, but that's not likely to happen until mid-April. Yesterday afternoon I had finished the umpteenth edit of my story, and I rearranged, rewrote and deleted a surprising amount. I suppose waiting a while really did clear my head (which means that the submission to Tor must have been terrible indeed!). Of course, whether or not Baen decides to accept the book is entirely up to them. Here's the kicker, though, it can take anywhere between 9 and 12 months.

12 months?!

Oh boy. All this waiting! I was warned that it would take a while... but this is nauseating! To be fair, it isn't Baen's fault. They publish awesome titles and pay very competitive rates. Lots and lots of people want to be published by Baen. Hey, I'm one of them. As this is the case, Baen receives mountain-loads of submissions a year, I am certain.

That it takes so long to go through each manuscript... and the thought that they do go through each manuscript is really quite comforting.

The downside, of course, is that they really prefer it if you don't submit to multiple publishers at once. That's fair, I suppose. So I am obliged, if only because they have such an awesome, relaxed and helpful website (which makes them seem very friendly and nice), to wait out the 12 months.

That said, I still intend to find an agent for the manuscript. That search is likely to take at least 12 months, especially since I'm so busy with all this other writing and editing and marking and editing and judging and editing and writing... did I mention editing?

So, with my submission I.D. #5558, I shall wait and edit and wait some more. In the meantime, the search for agent continues and I shall continue to write, and edit, and edit...

Oh, in case you're concerned, yes, I will edit the manuscript again once I get the feed back in April, but I figured I may as well submit as not. I'll try again next year if it doesn't work out!

Cheers everyone! Here's to positive thinking! I will get published... I will get published... I will get published... I will get published... I will get published... I will get published....